Star Wars_ Planet of Twilight - Barbara Hambly [43]
“I believe so, yes, sir, but the stasis box is certified for full-spectrum biological security.” Though scrupulously programmed to have no personal opinions about humans whatsoever, Threepio could not help comparing this young man to Captain Solo as he had been when Threepio and Artoo had first encountered him in company with Master Luke. This man seemed to have a far more casual attitude about things, however, and to walk with more of a swagger, aside from dressing in a fashion that Threepio recognized as both flashy and not in the best of taste. “Eighty percent of the crew had perished by the time we were able to … Here, sir, what are you doing?”
“What’s it look like I’m doing?” demanded Captain Bortrek irritably, pausing in the midst of ripping the stasis box’s connectors free of the walls. “Gimme a hand getting this to the other airlock, Goldie—over there, you stupid hunk of junk! Antigrav lifters!”
Threepio automatically filled in—as he was programmed to do—the context and gesture to mean, Bring me those antigrav lifters under the cabinet. He could not but compare the man’s tone to Master Luke’s—and Her Excellency’s—invariable use of polite nonessential grammatical elements such as Please and Thank you—not that any protocol droid worthy of his battery packs would take offense at being referred to as a hunk of junk or even by the patently untrue epithet stupid. Threepio knew quite well that he was not stupid.
But it was contrary to his programming to correct the man’s deeply inaccurate estimate of his mental capacity, as it would have been for him to object to Bortrek’s manhandling of the stasis box onto the antigrav lifters and shoving it out into the corridor with the patent intention of dispatching Yeoman Marcopius’s mortal remains into the outer vacuum, box and all. Captain Bortrek was a human.
Thus Threepio kept his reflections to himself, as he assisted the captain in maneuvering the detached box into the smaller, secondary airlock. Marcopius had been a loyal retainer of Her Excellency’s, a good pilot, and, as far as Threepio was capable of judging, an admirable young man. Though Threepio personally saw no reason why human remains should not simply be jettisoned, burned,or for that matter stewed and eaten by other humans in an emergency (provided they were certified free of harmful bacteria first and, if possible, aesthetically prepared), he was acutely aware that neither Her Excellency, the young man’s family, nor the deceased himself would have considered this send-off at all respectful. Respect and custom being the foundation stone of protocol, Threepio was deeply offended.
Not nearly as offended as he later became, however.
“Nice ship,” remarked Bortrek again, turning from the airlock door before the cycle had even cleared.
“My counterpart informs me that it is a top-of-the-line scouting vessel designed for short-range deep-space travel and limited hyperdrive,” replied Threepio helpfully. “It has ten-point-two engines and a hull capacity of thirty-five hundred cubic meters.”
“What,” grunted Bortrek, “you trying to sell it to me?” He passed a hand close to an auxiliary door on the way down the passage, nodded with approval of the opening speed without going in. “Sure beats hell out of the old Sabacc. Pity it’s not bigger.”
Having seen the Pure Sabacc as the large, ramshackle Y164 had maneuvered into docking position on the scout, Threepio was inclined to agree, though he knew his own judgment on such matters was limited. Artoo had checked the Sabacc by scanner and had confirmed the opinion: The other vessel’s power output ratios were all far lower, and though clearly a long-distance hyperdrive vessel, she appeared to be less maneuverable as well.
“The engines of this vessel were seriously damaged by collision with debris during the recent battle,” Threepio went on, still trailing Bortrek as the man made his way around the little ship, flicking readouts to life, tapping walls, bending to look into access hatches. “It is imperative that my counterpart and I obtain passage to the fleet installation