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Lowbacca dropped his chin and studied the droid for a moment, then moaned a question.

“I could not possibly know that yet,” C-3PO replied. “I’m still running my diagnostics!”

Lowbacca shrugged and set the droid on his feet, then growled and rubbed his chest.

“It’s not my fault my elbow gave you a bruise,” C-3PO said. “I was merely trying to minimize my own damage.”

The shriek of folding metal sounded from the pit. Raynar stepped to the edge and, through a veil of blowing blue dust, saw a huge heart-shaped head poking out of the bottom. It was rolling the crumpled landspeeder around in its mandibles, using its mouth to tear off pieces and crush them into meter-wide spheres—which it quickly found unpalatable and spat out.

A small hand grasped Raynar’s arm and tried to pull him away from the pit. He pulled back just hard enough to stay where he was, and Tekli stepped to his side.

“Raynar?” Tekli whispered. “Is it really wise to stand where that thing can see you?”

Raynar shrugged. He wasn’t sure what that thing was, but there was a reasonable chance it was some variety of Killik. He took a deep breath, both calming himself and filling his lungs, then raised both forearms in greeting.

“Thuruht?” he called.

The insect stopped chewing and pushed its head another meter out of the pit, revealing a huge bulb that was probably a vestigial eye. The ground trembled beneath Raynar’s feet, and he felt a faint rumbling deep in his stomach.

“Oh my!” C-3PO said, speaking from three meters away. “She would like to know who is asking, and why you are disturbing her work.”

Raynar smiled as much as the flesh of his burn-scarred face allowed. “Tell her I’m an old friend,” he said. “UnuThul needs help.”

“Jedi Thul, I’m not sure that’s wise,” C-3PO said. “Killiks rarely cooperate with liars, and you haven’t been UnuThul for quite—”

Lowbacca growled, warning C-3PO to be careful about what he said.

Raynar glanced over at the droid. “Tell her, Threepio.”

Before C-3PO had a chance to obey, the ground trembled again. The droid cocked his head, then said, “As it happens, that won’t be necessary. Thuruht comprehends Basic quite well. She has invited us to the Celestial Palace.”

Raynar looked into the pit and dipped his head. “We’re grateful.”

The ground trembled in reply, and Raynar led the way around the pit and started toward the palace. The air was arid and choking hot, and with a haze of blue dust obscuring everything below their waists, it was difficult to find the best path across the plain. Twice, Raynar sank to his thighs when he inadvertently stepped into another pit.

Several times, Raynar glimpsed a ridge rising in the dust ahead as one of Thuruht’s giant guardians burrowed across the plain to greet him and his companions. Usually, the greeting consisted of little more than coming alongside them and emitting a subterranean rumble so deep they felt it in their stomachs. But about three hundred meters from the palace, a huge head burst from the ground, blocking their way and clacking its mandibles.

It had been a long time since Raynar had been part of a Killik hive mind, but he didn’t think the creature was trying to threaten them. He motioned his companions to lower their weapons and stepped forward. Keeping his prosthetic arm at his side, he raised his flesh-and-blood hand in greeting. The insect responded by dipping its head and rubbing its wormlike antennae across his forearm. Then it emitted a soft, muffled boom and withdrew.

As soon as the creature vanished into the ground again, Tekli stepped to Raynar’s side. “You’ll be coated in pheromones now,” she observed. “You still have your nasal filters in place, yes?”

Raynar sniffed hard. Finding it difficult to draw air, he nodded. “No worries,” he said, starting toward the palace again. “No one who’s been a Joiner wants to become a Joiner again—including me.”

Lowbacca observed that no one ever wanted to become a Joiner in the first place. The pheromones just made it happen.

“We’ll be okay,” Tekli assured