Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 01_ Jedi Search - Kevin J. Anderson [136]
“Yes, you finally caught me,” Lando said with a sigh. “What do you want? I can get the best legal representation in the galaxy here in Imperial City.”
“That won’t be necessary,” the investigator said, heaving his armored briefcase onto the table, then fiddling with the cyberlock. “I’ll be glad to be rid of this.”
He lifted the lid of his case, and glittering light sparkled out. Other people in the lounge turned to gape.
The briefcase brimmed with carefully sorted packets of firefacet gems and shimmering chrysopaz.
“I am from the planet Dargul, and this is the reward owed to you by the Duchess Mistal for the safe return of her beloved consort Dack. You can have them appraised, but I am told these jewels are valued at approximately one million credits. Plus the briefcase, which is worth another forty.”
Lando stared, hunched over the briefcase and dazzled by its contents. “A million?” he said.
“A million, plus forty for the briefcase.”
“But I was only supposed to get half of the reward.”
The investigator reached into his pocket. “I neglected to give you this. It is a message wafer for you from Slish Fondine, the owner of the blob stables where you assisted apprehending our consort Dack.” He handed Lando a small rectangular object.
Lando turned it over in his hand, frowning, then ran his fingernail along the crease in its center. He cracked the message wafer open, then folded the two halves back to stand it upright on their small table.
An image of the blob-stable owner wafted up. “Greetings, Lando Calrissian. Since you are listening to this message, I will assume you’ve received your reward. I’m happy to say that your suggestion of not executing the criminal Tymmo has proved advantageous to all concerned. Duchess Mistal was so delighted to receive her consort back that she insisted on paying you the full reward, as well as offering to build a subsidiary blobstacle course for me in the main stadium on Umgul. We are already hiring creative engineers to design even tougher blobstacles for the new course, which, at the Duchess Mistal’s request, will be called the ‘Dack Track.’
“I am forwarding these firefacet and chrysopaz gems to you and hope you will spend the reward wisely. Why not come to Umgul and do some gambling? I’d be happy to be your host.”
As the message dissolved into wisps of light, Lando could do little more than stare open-mouthed at his fortune.
Han laughed, then gestured for the short investigator to sit down. “Join us for a drink. In fact, here—you can have mine! It’s too sweet for me anyway.”
The investigator shook his head, the hard expression remaining on his face. “No, thank you. I don’t think I would enjoy that. I’d rather get back to my work.” With that the investigator left the lounge.
Han clapped Lando on the shoulder. “What are you going to do with all that money? Still thinking of investing it in spice mining?”
Lando came back to reality with a streak of defensiveness. “I hate to say this, but when Moruth Doole showed us around, I was rather impressed by the potential there. Spice has plenty of good uses, too—perfectly legitimate alternatives in psychological therapy, criminal investigation, communication with alien races, even artistic inspiration and entertainment. You knew that, Han, or you wouldn’t have run spice yourself in the old days.”
“You’ve got a point, Lando.”
But Lando’s imagination kept working on the problem. “I don’t see why the spice mines have to be run as some sort of slave-lord operation. A lot of that could be automated. Even if there are more of those energy spiders running around, we could just use supercooled droids down in the deeper tunnels. No big investment. I don’t see what the problem is.”
Han looked at him skeptically, took a gulp of his sweet drink, then puckered his lips.