Star Wars_ Splinter of the Mind's Eye - Alan Dean Foster [31]
“I don’t understand, Captain-Supervisor,” Luke admitted blankly.
“I am told,” Grammel continued, “that you have in your possession a small gemstone.…”
Luke froze.
V
“GREAT Captain-Supervisor,” he finally managed to say “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Please,” Grammel requested, showing a hint of genuine emotion for the first time, “don’t toy with me. You were observed conversing with a local person,” the last words uttered with obvious distaste, “whose presence here is barely tolerated by the Imperial law. She remains always just the safe side of illegality. Despite personal feelings, deporting her illegally and unnecessarily would irritate certain segments of the populace who find her amusing. Besides, it would be expensive.
“You were seen showing her a small glowing red stone. Something you acquired during your illegal sojourning on Circarpous, perhaps?”
Luke’s thoughts were in turmoil. Unquestionably some informant of Grammel’s, probably the tiny cloaked figure the Captain-Supervisor had talked with some minutes ago, had seen the shard of Kaiburr crystal that Halla had presented to them. But the spy hadn’t seen Halla bring it out and show it to Luke.
So Grammel and his spy were assuming that the stone was something Luke had brought with him and was showing to Halla! Which was fine for the old woman, he thought. She shouldn’t be drawn into this now.
For an awful moment Luke thought that Grammel might be a Force-sensitive with the knowledge and ability to operate the crystal, or at least to sense its special property. But a hasty reaching out revealed only the usual vapid vacuum associated with normal humans hovering about Grammel’s mind. He couldn’t suspect anything about the fragment’s real importance. Nevertheless, Luke balked at turning over the precious splinter to a servant of the Empire.
Grammel wasn’t one to waste time. “Come on, young man. You seem like a sensible sort. Surely it can’t be worth additional inconvenience to you?”
“Really,” Luke insisted, stalling frantically, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, if you will press me,” Grammel responded, not particularly displeased. He turned his attention to the Princess, who continued to sit on the floor nursing her bruises. “The young lady is something more than a business associate, maybe? She means something to you?”
Luke shrugged elaborately. “She means nothing to me.”
“Fine,” said the Captain-Supervisor. “Then you won’t mind what’s going to happen next.”
He gestured to the sergeant. The armor-clad soldier walked over and reached down for the Princess. Leia reached up to grab his hand, slipped a leg under his, and pulled and kicked simultaneously. As the trooper went crashing to the floor, she was rushing for the doorway, calling for Luke to follow.
No matter how she tried the door key and switch, it wouldn’t open for her.
“You’re wasting your time, my dear,” Grammel advised her. “You should have gone for his weapon. The door is keyed to me personally, to certain close members of my staff, and to troopers who have the proper resonator built into their armor. You don’t qualify at any level, I’m afraid.”
Angry now, the sergeant was back on his feet, moving toward her with open arms. She started to run past him, stumbled, and went sprawling to the floor. Grammel loomed over her, his right hand forming into a fist.
“No,” Luke exclaimed at the absolute last possible moment. Grammel’s hand paused in mid-air as he glanced back at him.
“That’s much better,” he advised Luke. “Better to be sensible than obstinate. I’d find the stone anyway, of course, but you’d find the finding unpleasant.”
Luke unsnapped a pocket, reached in. “You can’t!” a voice objected. He turned to see the Princess staring up at him. Evidently she’d come to believe at least part of Halla’s story. Or maybe, he corrected himself, she was simply playing out her part of the petty thief reluctant to part with hard-won goods.
“We’ve no choice.” As long as Grammel didn’t ask for names, he saw no point in volunteering any, faked or otherwise. Unwrapping the small box,