Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 21_ The Unifying Force - James Luceno [182]
It was while aboard the seedship that had delivered Jacen and the dhuryam to Coruscant that they had first reached an understanding. By destroying the brain’s would-be rivals, Jacen had essentially determined which of several dhuryams was to have the honor of transforming Coruscant into “Yuuzhan’tar.” More important, he had installed a World Brain whose very disposition was informed by the rapport it shared with him. All that the planet had become since then—beautiful and monstrous, delicate and coarse, symbiotic, and parasitic—owed something to Jacen. And yet when he reached out with his Vongsense he again found himself in competition for the brain’s attention. Some of that was due to the brain’s preoccupation with Coruscant. Over and above that, there was the energy the brain was pouring into executing Shimrra’s requests.
Aboard the seedship and afterward Jacen had found the dhuryam to be an intelligent creature, but specifically engineered to be intractable. Now the dhuryam was twisted by conflict and anger. Shimrra had succeeded in cajoling it into believing that the fires and drenching rains, the demolition and destruction were necessary to repair the damage done to Yuuzhan’tar by Zonama Sekot’s close passage. But in doing so, the brain understood that it was destroying much of what it had created, in addition to reneging on its pledge to compel Shimrra and the Yuuzhan Vong to accept compromise. Neither accustomed to being disobedient nor inclined to tolerate disorder, the brain was at war with itself for having brought harm to the world in its trust. As on the seedship, it understood that its domain was suddenly falling to ruin and becoming a wasteland. The brain was struggling with the idea that it might do better by simply ignoring Shimrra.
Calling on his Vongsense, Jacen promised the dhuryam that he would help put an end to its inner conflict. He told it that he would force Shimrra to release his hold. In return he could feel it reaching out to him as one might a friend in time of need. A wave of gratitude, a plea for salvation washed through him …
Abruptly Sgauru and Tu-Scart turned toward him, clearly under the influence of the brain.
Jacen grasped that the moment had come for him to demonstrate his faith in the agreement he and the brain had forged.
Ignoring Luke and Jaina’s loud-voiced misgivings, he advanced on the coupled symbiots.
Almost immediately his waist was encircled by two twisting appendages. Then Sgauru picked him up off the demolished concourse and swung him out over the canyon. Not toward the Citadel, though, but as if to drop him directly into the midst of the slave soldiers and their artillery beasts.
From the Falcon’s cockpit comlink came the sound of blasterfire and cries for help. C-3PO recognized the voice of Captain Solo.
“Threepio, lower the landing ramp! Threepio! Threepio!”
The protocol droid stopped his worried pacing long enough to raise his hands in distress to R2-D2, whose extensible computer interface arm was inserted into an access port in the ring corridor, near the head of the ramp.
“Artoo, do something before its too late!”
Stiffly, C-3PO hurried into the cockpit. All he could see through the viewport panes was an impenetrable tangle of heavily thorned branches. He made a clumsy about-face and shambled back to the ring corridor, where he began to pound his hand against the landing ramp switch.
“Oh, it’s no use! The thorn hedge has the Millennium Falcon in a death lock! Captain Solo and the Princess will die, and we’ll be imprisoned like museum exhibits!”
R2-D2 toodled an encouraging phrase, and C-3PO ceased his pounding to stare at him.
“You can do what? Reroute power from the deflector shield to send a charge through the hull?” C-3PO’s hands flew up once again. “Well, why didn’t you say so earlier?”
The little blue-and-white astromech chirped and chittered in protest.
“Nonsense,” C-3PO rejoined. “You’re simply trying