Star Wars_ Millennium Falcon - James Luceno [82]
“Run the spot—now!”
A 3-D image of a snarling feline with two rows of razor-sharp teeth all but leapt from the mount, baffling some of the nearby spectators, surprising others, and frightening the rest. But only in the Colicoid did the twenty-meter-high visage inspire panic. Leaping straight up from the ramp, the star witness for the plaintiffs curled its body into an armored ball two meters in diameter and went rolling down the ramp at incredible speed.
The chief Holessian hurried to the observation window. “What sort of advertisement is this? What is that creature?”
“It's called a hueche,” Jadak said, without taking his eyes from the rolling alien.
Spectators still climbing the ramp were leaping for cover as the ball flew into their midst, kept on track by the duranium fences that lined the ramp. At one point it looked like the Colicoid had gathered enough momentum to leap the fence entirely, but Rej Taunt's henchmen were on hand to see that that didn't happen. Throwing open one of the rest-area fences, they effectively flipped the balled Colicoid back onto the ramp, where its spiraling descent continued. Farther down, a second team of henchmen did the same, directing the fleeing alien toward the base of the mount where a speeder truck was waiting. In its bed sat a huge containment sphere, its hemispherical lid open wide.
Jadak signaled Poste to head for the airspeeder. He thought about putting a couple of blaster bolts into the control booth's communications suite, but decided that they had already done enough damage. Chances were that security patrols had already been notified, and that he and Poste were going to have to do some evasive flying.
The Holessians were too busy restoring normalcy to the broadcast to attempt to slow or prevent their retreat. Hurling themselves into the airspeeder, Jadak and Poste launched from the platform just in time to see the balled Colicoid swish into the speeder truck's gapping container, which slammed shut, trapping the insectoid inside.
“Case closed,” Poste said from the passenger's bucket seat.
At the same time, security vehicles circling above the truck broke from their holding patterns and began to race for the control booth.
“Here we go,” Jadak said.
They already had a good lead on the patrols and with any luck would arrive at the spaceport long before the speeder truck. Twisting the yoke, Jadak swerved the T-11 away from the mount, just in case anyone got reckless and decided to bring the turbolaser battery to bear. The throttle maxed, Jadak was angling for a cluster of tall buildings in the southern part of the city when he heard Poste loose a string of epithets.
“What?” Jadak shouted.
Poste was leaning out of the speeder, looking at something behind them. “They lost it! The sphere, the Colicoid—they dropped it.”
“Dropped it?”
“I didn't see exactly what happened but the kriffing thing is rolling down the street!”
A dozen possibilities fought it out in Jadak's mind: the truck had taken fire from one of the security vehicles; the tractor system that anchored the containment sphere had failed; the Colicoid had somehow decompressed itself just enough to rock the sphere from the bed of the truck …
“Is it still rolling?”
“And picking up speed,” Poste said, looking over his shoulder. “It's downhill all the way to the river.”
“Where's the truck?”
“Chasing it.”
“How many patrol craft on our tail?”
Poste pivoted in the seat. “I make it three, but they're way behind us.”
Jadak settled himself at the controls and blew out his breath. “Buckle up.”
Poste had no sooner fastened the seat straps than Jadak threw the speeder through a twisting half loop and sped back toward the Mount of Justice.
“You promised no more stunt flying!” Poste said after he had reswallowed his breakfast.
“Old habits die hard.”
Jadak had the rolling containment sphere in sight, but the security vehicles