Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 02_ Omen - Christie Golden [63]
He sensed them all in the Force as they settled the Jade Shadow down on a rocky plateau. Accustomed as he was to experiencing the vast, luminous variety that was the presence of many lives, this staggered him for a moment. As he had said to Ben, there was something unique about the Aing-Tii presence in the Force.
Tadar’Ro was waiting for them. He stood with that inherent stillness as they lowered the ramp and disembarked from the Shadow. In each foreclaw, he held a long, cylindrical metal object that flared to a rounded bulb at the end. A third device, a flat circle about the size of Luke’s fist, was affixed to his chest. Small lights blinked and chased one another around the face of the circle.
Luke and Ben approached him, nodded acknowledgment, and stood quietly, waiting. Tadar’Ro held up one of the strange metal wands and indicated the bulb at the end, bringing it to his mouth, then handed it to Luke.
“It looks like a microphone of some sort,” Ben said quietly. Luke nodded, lifting the device to his mouth and watching Tadar’Ro.
“Is this how we will be able to speak to you?” he said, holding the instrument up to his mouth as the Aing-Tii had indicated.
Tadar’Ro’s head bobbed up and down on his long, plated neck. It did not look like it was a natural gesture, but it was definitely a nod. He lifted his own wand to his mouth, opening his jaws and extending his tongues. Each one was capped with a small, glowing mechanism; they flickered over the end of the “microphone.”
“Yes,” said Tadar’Ro in a completely human, masculine voice. The sound had a slight mechanical tinge to it, like a droid’s, and it issued from the circular device on his chest rather than his now closed mouth. But it was unmistakably human, and Ben and Luke exchanged glances.
“We tended one of your species. His knowledge of your language enabled us to create this device, so that we might speak with you.”
“I am very glad of this,” Luke said, speaking into the device. He was, indeed, quite relieved. He’d wondered how they would be able to bridge that barrier.
“How does it work?” Ben asked, peering at the device.
“We communicate through pheromones,” Tadar’Ro said. “It took time, but the device is able to analyze the pheromones we emit and find corresponding words in Basic for them. Now. You are expected. Follow.”
He turned and began striding across the rocky ground at a brisk pace, heading for the single means of egress, a narrow tunnel through the sheer stone face. Luke and Ben broke into a trot to keep up with him. The thinner air of this planet made the short run harder than it should have been, and Luke found himself tapping into the Force to enable his body to absorb more oxygen. Beside him, Ben was panting, just a little.
As they emerged on the other side of the tunnel, Luke realized that the jagged rocks they were approaching were artificial constructs—the city he’d glimpsed from above. There was no structure to their arrangement; it appeared as random as if nature itself had created them.
But there was a long, long line of motionless Aing-Tii, standing like the stone themselves and fixing the two strangers with their large, unblinking black eyes.
“They will say something to you. Respond with the phrase the Wounded One used,” Tadar’Ro said. “As Those Who Dwell Beyond the Veil will it.”
Luke and Ben both nodded. Luke stepped up to the first Aing-Tii in line, observing that neither this one nor, as far as he could tell, any of the others held a translation device. This one was a very large male. His plating was chipped, and the geometric patterns etched on them were obviously very old. Sensing that this was a respected elder of the group, Luke bowed graciously. He waited for a name to come into his head, but it did not. Apparently, Tadar’Ro was the only one willing—so far—to disclose such information.
Luke stood still as the Aing-Tii’s tongues flickered over his face. It wasn’t an unpleasant