Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 05_ Darkest Knight - Kevin J. Anderson [21]
Jaina drew a long frigid breath, blinking her eyes. Even with their thick Wookiee fur, Lowie and Sirra shivered, though Tenel Ka in her scanty reptilian armor displayed no sign of discomfort. "Fascinating' " she said.
TheIbur Droid turned and, with long scarecrowish strides, led them through the cold room. The next chamber was large and bustling, filled with hardworking Wookiees, each wearing a mesh bodysuit made of fine wires that held their fur in place. White cloth masks covered the lower halves of their hairy faces.
The workers looked up and chuffed greetings to the visitors. Lowie waved, recognizing his mother at her workstation. Kallabow nodded, blinking her eyes in their whorls of dark fur, then bent back to her tasks, carefully concentrating on the circuits.
"For the past few months our workers have logged extralong shifts and odd hours to meet the heavy quotas necessary to prepare our defense against the Second Imperium," the Tour Droid said. "Here the Wookiees are installing finished chips. The mesh suits you see them wearing are electrostatic screens to prevent even the faintest stray foreign particles from drifting into the air. Any contamination could be disastrous, since these components are so complex."
"I can believe it," Jaina said.
The Wookiee technicians bent over their workstations, using delicate forceps and tweezers to remove minuscule chips patterned and cut from the large glittering wafers they had just seen in the cryogenic lab.
"These basic designs are used for many different systems," the Tour Droid said. '@ile our specialties are in tactical systems, central guidance computers, and mainframe system controls, some of our chips are used in sophisticated droid models. Most droids are manufactured on robotic industrial worlds, however, such as Mechis III."
"Oh my, did he say droids?" Em Teedee chirped. 'Do you suppose any of my components might have been manufactured here?"
Lowie rumbled a comment, and Jaina nodded. "Chewbacca helped put you together, Em Teedee. I suspect that lots of your components came from here."
"Oh dear, you don't think he used defective or rejected parts, do you?"
Em Teedee asked.
Lowie chuffed with laughter, and the little droid scolded him. "My question was entirely serious, Master Lowbacca."
After they walked through the chamber, Em Teedee continued to exhibit his curiosity.
"Master Lowbacca, would you mind turning around so that I can see the entire room? If this is my birthplace, I'd like to give it a good look.... How fascinating!"
Lowie obliged, turning his waist so that the small translating droi&s optical sensors could record every detail. "And I thought this trip was going to be dull," Em Teedee said. "Ms is ever so much more interesting than those dangerous adventures you insist on having."
For the end of their tour the long-legged droid took them to the highest platform in the entire facility, the transportation control and shipping tower, a computer-filled room with workstations so high off the floor they were at Jaina's eye level where she couldn't easily reach them.
Several Wookiees stood around the stations, gazing up through the transparent dome overhead. The dome was reinforced with support girders that crisscrossed in triangular patterns against the hazy sunlight shining down.
"Because we are such a busy commercial facility," the Tour Droid said, "a constant stream of space traffic comes through this complex. Here we verify every incoming transport craft to make certain we receive no unwelcome visitors. We also have security monitoringsatellites in orbit, ready to defend Kashyyyk, once they receive orders from the control tower."
The Wookiee traffic controllers worked as a team, communication headsets mounted to their shaggy heads and voice pickups clamped to their throats.
They did not divert their attention even for a moment as the visitors