Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 02_ Dark Apprentice - Kevin J. Anderson [17]
“Each player may select one and only one of his cards for a spin-change, and then we tally to see who comes closest to a score of positive or negative twenty-three, or zero.”
Han scanned his cards, concentrating, but found no set that would add up to an appropriate tally. Lando wore a broad smile—but Lando always carried such an expression when he gambled. Han took a sip of his bitter spiced ale, swallowed hard, and chose a card. “Ready?” He raised his eyes to look at Lando.
Lando pushed the small scrambler button on the bottom left corner of a card. Han did the same, watching the image of the eight of coins flicker and re-form into a twelve of flasks. Together with a nine of flasks in his hand, he added to twenty-one. Not great. But when he saw Lando scowl at his own new card, he hoped it would be good enough.
“Twenty-one,” Han said, slapping his cards on the table.
“Eighteen,” Lando answered with a scowl. “You get the difference.”
“Change of rules! Time has elapsed!” Threepio said. “Three points in favor of Master Solo. Next round is by … Empress Teta Preferred system.”
Han looked at his new hand of cards, delighted to see a firm straight—but, if he remembered right, under Empress Teta rules the players swapped one card at random, and when Lando reached over to pluck a card from the right side, Han hoped to replace it with a Commander of Sabers—but the hand failed. Lando won the round and came out with a small lead, but before they could tally the scores, Threepio chimed in with another “Change of rules!” This time, scored under the Bespin Standard system, Lando’s lead doubled.
Han cursed to himself as he stared at a chaotic mess in the next hand, not knowing what to bid, what to throw away. Before he made his decision, though, the random clock in Threepio’s electronic brain forced him to call another rules change. “Corellian Gambit this time, sirs.”
Han whooped in delight, for under the new rules the suits fit together with a completely different pattern. “Gotcha!” he cried, laying down his hand.
Lando grumbled, showing a wild card that, while valuable only moments before, now cost him fourteen points under the new scoring system.
Han crept ahead over the next several hands, then lost ground when rules changed back to Cloud City Casino style, which deemed all wild cards forfeit. Han reached forward to snatch one of Lando’s cards, just as Lando selected one of his cards to change at random. They both froze. “Threepio, tell us again which rules we’re playing under.”
“New time interval anyway,” the golden droid said. “Change to Bespin Standard. No, wait—new time interval again! Back to Empress Teta Preferred.”
Han and Lando looked at their new cards again, minds whirling in confusion. Han took another sip of his spiced ale, and Lando drained his fruity concoction with a grimace. At the bottom the bright-colored flower had begun to sprout writhing roots that crawled on the bottom of his glass.
“Threepio, tell us the scores one more time,” Lando said.
“Calculating for the last rules change, sirs, the total is ninety-three points for Master Solo and eighty-seven for General Calrissian.”
Han and Lando glared at each other. “Last hand, buddy,” Han said.
“Enjoy your remaining few seconds of ownership, Han,” Lando said.
“Corellian Gambit rules, last-hand special case,” Threepio announced.
Han felt his head pounding, trying to remember what happened in the last hand of the Corellian Gambit. Then he saw Lando locking in the denomination of only one of his cards, making ready to place his hand into the flux field in the center of the sabacc table.
Han studied his high-ranking face cards, Balance and Moderation, either of which would nudge him over the total score of a hundred. He pushed the retainer button on Balance, for eleven points, then thrust the rest of his hand into the flux field.
Han and Lando leaned