Star Wars_ The New Rebellion - Kristine Kathryn Rusch [107]
What had happened to these people?
He went through two more archways and carefully decorated rooms before discovering a kitchen. It resembled the kitchens he had seen among the wealthy on Coruscant. Modern appliances gleamed from the walls. Knobs, dials, and keyboards substituted for the crude cooking facilities he used on Yavin 4. All the pots and pans here were for decoration. But there was a water recycler and a purifying pot near the cooking pad. He staggered over to it, grabbed a porcelain mug, and turned on the recycler.
It groaned, then hummed to life. In a moment, he had clear, fresh water.
He drank it down quickly. One glass, then two, then three. He had never tasted anything so good. The dizziness was fading, and his mind was clearing. He studied the keypad. If it was like the ones on Coruscant, it wouldn’t have just kitchen information. It would also tell him what supplies were in the house, a family history, and a history of Pydyr. It would also carry news feeds and anything else he needed to know.
He leaned his hips against the counter, and used his right hand to activate the keyboard. His finger was all metal now, except for the charred pieces of synthetic skin hanging off it. He hoped the keypad wasn’t activated by fingerprint or retinal scan.
The screen sprang to life.
STRANGER.YOU ARE NOT IN OUR RECORDS.
Luke typed: I AM NEW HERE. YOUR OWNERS ARE GONE.
WE KNOW. IT HAS BEEN SILENT HERE. BUT WE ARE INSTRUCTED NOT TO GIVE INFORMATION TO STRANGERS EXCEPT IN CASE OF EMERGENCY.
IT IS AN EMERGENCY, Luke typed. I AM INJURED, MAYBE DYING. I NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION. HAVE YOU A MED KIT?
WE HAVE A MEDICAL DROID.
Luke started. He had seen no droids.
THE DROIDS APPEAR TO BE MISSING AS WELL, he typed. HAVE YOU MEDICAL INFORMATION IN YOUR STORES?
CERTAINLY, STRANGER. AND A MEDICAL KIT IN THE CABINET ABOVE THE KEYPAD YOU ARE USING.
Luke sought out the medical kit, found it, and removed the burn cream. He longed for a droid, but knew that he had to tend himself. He cleaned off his burns, wincing as he did so, then applied cream and a bandage. When he finished that, he devised a splint for his ankle.
Then he looked up. The screen held a single message.
PLEASE, STRANGER. TELL US WHERE OUR MASTERS HAVE GONE.
Luke shook his head and typed, THE PLANET IS EMPTY.
The screen shut itself off with a slight moan. He felt for a moment as if he were with Artoo. Artoo would have had a similar reaction. Artoo would feel loss if Luke died.
How curious. The change had happened so fast that this family hadn’t had time to inform its house computer. He remembered the chill and the voices. The Death Star had destroyed the planet. This new weapon left the planet, and destroyed all life.
Or at least all humanoid life.
He felt a flash of a presence again, the same presence he had felt when he had entered the Almanian system. It was watching him.
“Show yourself,” he said.
But no one did.
Han landed the Falcon on the far side of Skip 1’s landing strip. He had Chewbacca bundle Seluss off to the infirmary, such as it was, without promising to pay for Seluss’s care. Han hoped that Chewie would pay for a bit of care himself. That singed fur worried Han.
He was hanging upside down under the Falcon’s power core. The scarred metal looked as if it hadn’t been touched, but he wanted to be certain. On the way back to Skip 1, he had run a scan of the Falcon to make sure Seluss, the Glottalphib, or Davis hadn’t tampered with it. He could see no obvious sabotage, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there.
He hated being on the Run. It made him even more paranoid than usual.
He needed to get some information about Davis and about the Jawas, but he would do that after Chewie came back. Han wasn’t about to leave the Falcon again. He suspected he would need to make a quick getaway. Nandreeson wasn’t the type to give up.
The hatch hissed. Han grabbed his blaster, and pulled himself out of the well near the power core. Then he heard Chewie bark his