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Luke and Dr. Eckels found Lobot curled up in a side tubule, floating, his eyes closed, his hands cupped against the side of his head. The transparent leads of his split interface tethered him to the rounded mass at the far end of the tubule.

“Do you have any idea what we’re looking at here, Doctor?”

Eckels peered into an adjacent tubule for an unobstructed view. “These are the size and geometry of the Qella remains we recovered from the ice,” he said in hushed awe.

“These don’t feel like remains to me,” Luke said, entering the tubule where Lobot was floating. “Lobot—it’s Luke. Wake up, fella—your relief’s here.”

“Are you saying that they’re alive?” Eckels demanded. “I had discounted those reports as unreliable.”

“Why?”

“Why, it’s unprecedented—unthinkable—”

“This whole ship feels alive to me, Doctor,” Luke said. “Though with a different quality than I’m used to.”

“Different how?”

“Usually this much power is matched with much greater awareness. It’s almost like—sleeping. Just like Lobot here seems to be sleeping.” Frowning, Luke reached out and dug his fingernails into Lobot’s elbow. “Hey—talk to me.”

“But these bodies have no limbs,” Eckels protested. “The creatures on the surface were quadrupeds.”

“I’m not trying to tell you what they are, Doctor. I’m just telling you that what Lobot reported is true—these things are alive, and this ship is alive. I’ll let you tell me the relationship between them.”

Lobot was stirring by then. “Waiting,” he murmured in a trancelike monotone.

“Waiting for what?” Luke asked. “What question is that an answer to?”

Behind him, Eckels was frowning. “Physically, the relationship mirrors one that exists inside the Qella, between the Eicroth bodies and—” His eyes widened in surprise. “Luke, I must see the rest of this vessel at once. I must see these exhibits Lando spoke of.”

“Lobot, talk to me,” Luke was saying. “What do you need from me?”

“We wait,” Lobot said dreamily.

“What are ‘we’?” Luke asked.

“Answers,” said Lobot.

“Yes, I need answers,” Luke said. “What are you waiting for? What do you need?”

The words came haltingly. “We wait … for … the thaw.”

Luke looked questioningly back at Eckels.

“I must see the ship,” he insisted. “I will not make wild guesses when there is evidence at hand.”

Nodding agreement, Luke said, “I think we need to break up Lobot’s new friendship, anyway—I can hardly find a boundary between his mind and everything else. Know anything about neural interfaces, Doctor, or should I just pull the plug?”

Eckels grimaced. “Do what you think best. I’ll wait outside.”

It was nearly an hour before either Lando or Lobot was fit for their final duties as host and guide. For Eckels, it was an hour of maddening impatience. For Luke, it was an opportunity to bring the droids back online and begin repairs to Threepio’s damaged arm.

“I’m very glad to see you, Master Luke,” the droid said. “You won’t believe the stories I have to tell you. I don’t know why I was sent on this mission in the first place. Why, I was nearly vaporized by the vagabond, and then we were attacked by an entire fleet of warships. Master Calrissian abandoned me to be captured by intruders—”

Luke grinned. “It’s good to see you, too, Threepio. And I promise to let you tell me all the stories, later. Twice, even, if you need to.”

“That’s very kind of you, sir.”

When the droids had been moved to the skiff, Luke went off to explore with Lando, while Lobot led Eckels on a separate tour. But before long Lando decided the familiar comforts of a starship, however humble, had greater appeal than Luke’s company, and excused himself from sight-seeing.

By then Luke understood the geometry and instrumentality of the vagabond well enough to manage on his own. The “museum” rooms and the interspace gallery were equally astonishing, but Luke found himself drawn back to the interior, to the maze of tubules and the clusters of what Luke had begun calling Eckels bodies. They were the center of the vagabond’s limited consciousness, the focus