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In the end the guard found a large misshapen suit that had once been worn by some alien creature that had three arms, but it fit Chewbacca well enough after they sealed off the third arm; the empty sleeve and glove dangled down his chest.

A heater-pack between the shoulder blades powered the whole thing to keep them warm down in the frigid mine tunnels. Han was relieved to see a small breath mask attached to the suit.

Skynxnex backed toward the elevator. The guard had already entered the airlock chamber. One last time, as if he felt he hadn’t used enough tiresome threats for one afternoon, Skynxnex pointed the double-blaster at Han. “Next time maybe Moruth will let me use this.”

“If you clean up your room without being told, and if you eat all your vegetables,” Han taunted, “then he might let you have a special treat.”

“Shift alpha, ready for work detail!” Boss Roke bellowed into the muster room, and dozens of weary people shuffled to squares painted on the floor. Roke pointed to two empty squares. “You two, positions eighteen and nineteen. Now!”

“What, no new-employee orientation?” Han asked.

With a sadistic grin on his face, Boss Roke shoved him toward the squares. “It’s on-the-job training.”

At some unspoken signal the workers mounted breath masks on their faces. Seeing this, Han and Chewbacca followed suit. A big metal door on the far side of the wall slid open to reveal an illuminated chamber a hundred meters long, in which floated a centipedelike mine transport of little cars linked together by magnetic attractors.

A high-pitched tone pinged through hidden speakers, and the workers took their seats on one of the floating mine cars. As people climbed aboard, the separate sections of the cars swayed back and forth.

Chewbacca grunted a question. Han looked around, blinking. “I don’t know any more about this than you do, buddy.” Now that Skynxnex had departed, he no longer needed to continue his blustering. Fear started to trickle into his limbs.

Boss Roke took a seat in the pilot car; other guards were stationed evenly throughout the open tram. All the guards wore infrared goggles. Every one of the prisoners sat motionless. Behind them the metal door slammed shut. Everyone seemed to be waiting for something.

“Now what?” Han mumbled to himself.

All the lights went out. Han and Chewbacca plunged into an absolute suffocating blackness like a blanket of tar.

“What the—” Han drew a sudden deep breath. The blackness was palpable. He couldn’t see a thing. Beside him Chewbacca groaned in alarm. He heard the other workers moving, shuffling. Han’s ears strained as his imagination tried to understand what was going on. He heard a clunking, sliding sound. “Hold on, Chewie,” he said.

A metal door at the opposite side of the chamber opened up. The sound of its movement along rough metal tracks echoed in the enclosed space. Wind rushed around their ears as the air spilled outward into the mine tunnels of Kessel.

In a sudden panic Han pushed his breath mask tighter against his face just as he felt the atmosphere grow thin. The fleeing air took with it whatever heat had remained, making his exposed skin tingle with cold.

The mine cars lurched on their repulsorlifts, picking up speed. Acceleration slammed Han into his hard, uncomfortable seat. He could hear the air roaring past his head, feel the tunnel walls around him. The transport whipped around a curve, and Han grabbed the cold metal railing to keep himself from flying out of his seat. The mine cars whisked along, tilting downward, then lurching sideways. He had no idea how Boss Roke could possibly see where he was going unless the whole system was computer controlled.

Behind them, just after they had passed under an echoing archway, a heavy metal door slammed shut with a sound like an avalanche of scrap metal.

Han couldn’t understand why the spice miners didn’t string up at least some cheap illuminators as guideposts along the tunnels. But then it came to him like a slap in the face: the realization