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I reached down and hefted Orange up by his belt, letting Ooryl grab Yellow and Purple. “I know where we can take them, but getting information out of them will be tough. They know how to use the Force, and I’m not sure we can break through to find out what we want to know.”

“I think I have something that can help us in that regard.” Luke gestured, allowing Red and Blue to float up into the air. “Lead on, Keiran. As Ooryl explained it to me, when is just an aperture in time, and we don’t want it to snap shut before we can get through to your wife.”

We took our five opponents back to the hotel. I called Elegos and had him meet us in the back, at the freight-lift. Ooryl left the two he’d carried to Elegos, then returned to the spaceport to fetch something for Luke. Awaiting his return we stripped our prisoners out of their armor, separated them and treated the cuts and bruises they’d earned in the fight.

When Ooryl returned he brought with him a cagelike device that had suspended inside of it a small, furred reptile. A nutrient mix flowed through a network of tubes, sustaining the creature which, if it were capable of movement, seemed singularly disinclined to show it. I did see it blink an eye, but even that movement was slower than I would have expected in a living creature.

“This is an ysalamiri, one of two I brought with me.” Luke rested a hand on the cage and looked a bit fatigued. “It is unique among living creatures—at least I don’t know of any others—in that it seems to project a field that negates the Force. On its homeworld some predators evolved with a Force sense that lets them hunt, so its negation sphere acts as camouflage.”

“Okay, that’s why I feel so weird. Thought I was just tired.” I tried to reach inside myself to tap the Force, but I got nothing. “It’s like I’m back where I started, back before the academy.”

Luke nodded. “You’re fortunate in that you spent most of your life only having a fringe sense of the Force. I’ve been involved much longer than you and in the presence of an ysalamiri, I feel lost, like a limb has been lopped off.” Luke flexed his mechanical hand. “Worse, actually.”

“How do you think this will affect our guests?”

Luke managed a smile, but that seemed to tax him. “I think they’ve been involved with the Force longer than I have. They seem to armor themselves well with it. I suspect they will feel very vulnerable.”

“Good.” I gave him a feral grin. “Just what we want if we’re going to get anything out of them. Just follow my lead.”

The Jedi Master caught hold of my shoulder. “I’ve not done anything like this before, interrogating prisoners.”

I winked at him. “ ’Sokay, I know enough for both of us. Just stay over there, by the door, and look as malevolent as you can. Keep your face straight and you really don’t need to say anything.”

“Malevolent?”

“Think Hutt, but with eyebrows.”

“Got it.”

We picked Red to be the first subject—actually, Elegos did, for reasons of his own—but I didn’t mind. Interrogating women is always tricky, mainly because they tend to be suspicious of any claims made by a man and often believe they can use their looks and wiles to fool a detective. Red, who really was a slender beauty with wavy brown hair and blue eyes, could have melted many a detective’s steel heart, but the surprise and fear twisting her face as she awakened robbed her of her beauty. The ysalamiri made me feel as if I was seeing in black and white, so for her it must have seemed as if she was blind.

When I saw her eyes flicker open, I looked back at Luke and nodded as if I’d received a telepathic message from him. “Yes, I will see what I can find out. Give her a moment to recover.”

Luke stared at me for a second, then impatiently flicked a hand in my direction.

I smiled. Quick study. Let’s hope she isn’t.

I squatted down next to the chair in which we had bound her. “Forgive me for having to restrain you like this. I wish I could make things more pleasant, but