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Jacen drew a deep breath. "So why didn't you report this?"

"We don't know who we can trust." M'kim shook his head vigorously.

"Do you know how easy it would be for someone to sabotage one of our harnesses or drug one of the thrantas before a show? We've already received warnings and threats-nothing specific... butenough to make us worried." He drew a deep breath.

"Cloud City has a reputation as a clean place. If you gamble here, you know everything's fair. But someone's trying to change that. We do our sky rodeo, and our performances are well-attended. We've always been paid well; we risk our lives. But now"-he cleared his throat-"other factors are making life... uncomfortable." Jacen felt decidedly uneasy. "I need to get back to Cloud City," he said. "I have to tell my friends."

M'kim hung his head. "I know. We can go now. My people will be.worried about me too, I suppose." He placed his long fingers to his lips and blew a loud shrill whistle, startling Jacen. Instantly, the thranta flapped up above the edge of the island, hovered overhead, and bobbed about playfully.

"Climb up," M'kim said as the thranta dipped one of its broad, sturdy wings. Jacen scrambled onto the smooth back. The thranta rider leapt into place, grasped the harness with one hand, and snapped it lightly to set the flying creature in motion.

As they flapped away from the algae island, Jacen looked down to watch the matted mass disappear in the mists below. The thranta swept its wings gracefully in broad powerful strokes that carried them higher and higher into the sky.

Thick clouds had gathered, knotted conglomerations of mist and gas, turning the sky dark. Jacen couldn't tell in which direction Cloud City lay, but he hoped they would get back before the storm.

"Hey, how do you know where we're going?" he said close to M'kim's ear.

The thranta rider shrugged. "We know."

The thranta flew onward and upward as a thunderhead nearly the size of an asteroid rose in front of them. The thranta circled around, keeping a good distance between them and the storm cloud. Lightning crackled inside the huge cloud like tiny explosions.

Jacen spotted several black shapes circling the outer surface of the great storm. M'kim seemed more uneasy now, and the thranta gave the thunderhead an even wider berth.

"Are those more thrantas?" Jacen said, pointin, to the other large flying creatures that seemed drawn by the discharges from the storm.

"No. We have to stay clear," M'kim said. "Those are velsers."

Jacen watched with a mixture of dread and fascination. He'd heard of the sleek, fast-flying predators on Bespin that could swoop in and rip apart their prey with rows upon rows of ja,ged teeth.

"If those velsers see our thranta," M'kim said, "we're done for."

"But why are they so close to the storm?" Jacen asked. "Isn't it dangerous for them?"

"Velsers are always attracted by storms. I think the lightning discharges give them some kind of energy." With a nervous chuckle, M'kim shrugged again. "All I know is that I don't want to get close enough to one to find out." Though Jacen would have loved to see such a spectacular creature up close, he realized that would be foolish. He had already come too near to death for one day.

They climbed higher and swept past the thunderhead. The velsers didn't notice them, and Jacen could sense M'kim relaxing. Jacen patted the side of the thranta. "Good work," he whispered, though he had no idea if the creature could hear him.

Finally, he spotted the gleaming metropolis of Cloud City up ahead.

Lights spangled the sides of its hemispherical dome. The thranta drove toward it, and Jacen drew a deep breath. He couldn't remember ever seeing such a beautiful sight in his life.

He'd survived his ordeal-and he fervently hoped that Lowie and Tenel Ka had survived theirs as well.

Flanked by a stoic Lowbacca and a disturbed but aloof-looking Anja, Tenel Ka waited for the Lady Luck to cruise back into the docking port on Cloud City. Feeling her stomach muscles knot,