Grammel stood just out of the long reach, not smiling, as Hin lunged for his throat. A huge hand flailed at the air centimeters away while the Captain-Supervisor massaged his neck. The Yuzzem grabbed the bars, pulled in opposite directions, straining, straining.
Looking on with academic interest, Grammel reassured the subofficer standing next to him. “There’s no more danger, Puddra. They can’t break those bars. Not a dozen Yuzzem could.”
Despite this confidence it seemed that Hin, with a supreme effort, actually did bend one bar slightly. Then he gave up, gasping deeply. Holding the bars and shaking with rage, he gave Grammel a stare of naked hatred.
Grammel sighed a little in spite of himself. “See, I told you,” he confided to the subofficer.
“You’re all right, Captain-Supervisor?” the man inquired from behind his armor.
“Fine now, Puddra,” he assured the subordinate. He made a show of wrinkling his nose. “Except for the smell, of course.” He spoke easily to Luke: “You two must be special. Anyone who can stand the odor of a Yuzzem …” He made a face, shook his head in mock astonishment. “To exist in that stink for more than a few minutes requires some special quality.” Hin obliged by howling madly at the Captain-Supervisor. “Go ahead and rage,” Grammel told Hin pleasantly. “As soon as I can convince the mine director that you two aren’t worth the risk of rehabilitation for work, I’ll disassemble you personally. After having you thoroughly deodorized, of course.” He turned to leave.
As he did so, Hin made a strange sound. It was followed by a forceful phut from the long snout. The huge blob of spit struck Grammel on the back of the neck, just above the high collar. Wiping it away, the Captain-Supervisor growled viciously back over his shoulder.
“You grinning travesty of a man. Soon, very soon, I promise.” He gestured sharply to the troops, and they disappeared in a body up the corridor.
Hin left the bars, walked back to check on the Princess. She had fainted and Luke was supporting her with one arm. A grumble and Luke commented knowingly.
“Yes, he’s a prince, our jailer, isn’t he?”
By way of reply, Hin picked up a piece of gravel from the floor. Rolling it between two long fingers, he pulverized it effortlessly and let the dust trickle back to the ground.
“I hope you can do that to him someday, Hin,” Luke agreed, eying the Yuzzem. “Right now, though, I’m afraid our chances of getting out of here, let alone of getting to the Captain-Supervisor, aren’t very good.”
A moan, and the Princess reached out toward Luke. He caught her hands and she opened her eyes in surprise. An uncertain glance, then she saw the huge-eyed Hin staring at her curiously.
“I’m sorry, Luke.” He helped her to her feet. “The thought of going through an Imperial interrogation again … I lost control.”
“That’s understandable. You won’t go through another session. I’ll see to that.”
She smiled at him. Why discourage such confidence with mere facts?
Luke had moved to the single window, was testing the bars with exploratory pulls. “They’re just as solid as they look,” he grunted. “No way out of here.”
“The Yuzzem probably already tried that,” she pointed out reasonably.
A small section of stone wall slid aside and she jumped. A reassuring rush to the wall from both Yuzzem caused Luke to relax. Several bowls and dishes of something steaming were slipped into the cell on smooth metal trays before the stone panel slid back into place.
Hin and Kee left no doubt as to the contents of the dishes. They grabbed one apiece and started wolfing down the contents.
“I don’t think much of Yuzzem table manners,” Luke observed. “I think if we want something to eat, we’d better hurry or they won’t leave us a thing.”
Exchanging glances, they studied the contents of the two remaining trays. Luke sniffed of the contents of one bowl, shrugged, and tried a spoonful.
“Some kind of stew,” he decided. “Not bad for prison fare.”
“Remember,” Leia said, “Grammel’s under instructions to keep us healthy. Until the Imperial Governor’s representative arrives.”
Luke paused between mouthfuls to venture hopefully, “At least if we do get a chance to escape, we’ll be able to do it on a full stomach.”
Luke finished his meal, rose and walked over to the bars forming their cell. He stared down the corridor at the distant spot on the stone wall where the cell entry control was emplaced. Leia eyed him quietly.
If only they could cover the recessed photosensitive switch with something, he mused. His gaze traveled around the cell. The trays on which their food had appeared were smooth, unmalleable metal. No way to attach them to one another. The result wouldn’t be nearly long enough to reach the far-off switch anyway. And it was, self-evidently, well out of the extended reach of the two Yuzzem.
“We’ve got to get a hand or something over that switch,” he muttered in frustration.
“Or something, Luke boy.”
Everyone started at the unexpected voice, especially the excitable Yuzzem. Hin rushed toward the window but Luke, fortunately, got there before him.
“No … it’s a friend, Hin.” The Yuzzem gibbered and clacked at him, but finally moved away. Luke rushed to the opening himself, grabbed the bars and stood on tiptoe to look out. A wrinkled, smiling face stared brightly back at him.
“Halla!” he almost shouted. “You didn’t forget us after all!” He tried to see past her. “What about Threepio and Artoo Detoo?”
“Your ’droids are fine, boy. As for me, I never forget a partner. Besides, I need you two. So don’t go emotional on me. It’s the crystal I’m after.” Her grin faded and she stared hard at him. “Did you tell that maggot Grammel anything about me?”
“No,” Luke assured her. There was a cough and he noticed the Princess staring at him. “Well, not exactly,” he corrected himself. “He thinks we were trying to sell the crystal fragment to you.”
Halla chuckled. “So that’s why I wasn’t brought in for questioning. Grammel always did see things through the wrong end. He’s taken the fragment, I guess?”
“I’m sorry.” Luke looked downcast. “We couldn’t do anything about it.”
“Never mind, boy. We’ll have the whole crystal soon. Soon’s we get you out.”
“How? You’ve got something to blow the wall?”
“Now, that would be a waste of time, boy. What would you do, run away from here?” She paused, realization striking. “Say, I’ll bet you can’t see down out of this window, can you?”
“No, only in a straight line,” Luke admitted.
“Boy, I’m standing on a ledge about ten centimeters wide, over a forty-meter-deep trench. There’s a barrier on the other side that would detect any energy weapons or explosives anyone tried to carry over here. Or did you think I was pressing this close to the wall because I like the way your breath smells?”
“Halla, you’re crazy! What if you slip?”
“I’ll make a small splash, Luke boy. As for the first, since everyone seems so sure I’m crazy, I don’t see any harm in acting like it. Only a crazy old woman would come sliding out on this little bitty ledge here. That means you couldn’t negotiate it. No, boy. The only way out of here is back the way you came.”
A loud, exuberant grunting sounded behind Luke. Hin came over, put a hand on Luke’s shoulder and eyed Halla imploringly. Then he and Luke engaged in a rapid exchange of grunts. Hin walked back into the cell and commenced a low dialogue with Kee while Halla looked on uncertainly.
“What was that all about?” she asked Luke. “I don’t understand that monkey talk.”
“Hin told me,” Luke translated for her, “that if you can get us out of the cell, Kee and he will take care of getting us out of the building.”
“You think they can?” Halla wondered, licking her lips.
Luke looked confident. “I wouldn’t want to bet against a pair of desperate Yuzzem. There’s something else. If
we help them escape, they’ll help us in the hunt for the crystal.”
“A help they’d be,” Halla admitted readily. “And I can see why they’d throw in with us. Once they break jail, they’ve no hope of leniency from Grammel.”
“How are you going to get us out of here?”
Halla adjusted her precarious stance above the sheer drop, then said proudly, “I told you I was a master of the Force. Stand aside, young man.”
Not knowing what to expect, Luke did as he was told. The Princess folded her arms and looked skeptical and anxious simultaneously.
Halla’s eyes closed and she appeared to enter some kind of trance. Luke felt the stirring, knew that she was manipulating the Force in a way he could never manage well. Not necessarily in a superior fashion, just … different. His greatest concern was that in her altered condition she might lose her grip on the temple’s exterior. But she remained in place as if frozen there, her brow contorted as she strained.
He heard a gasp, and he spun around to look where the Princess was pointing. One of the metal food trays had risen, drifted lazily in the air of the cell. It began moving toward the bars. Luke looked back at Halla. It was a simple parlor trick, but one he could never have duplicated. Levitation was not a skill he had mastered very well. But it seemed to be the one thing Halla could do. He remembered the spice shaker on the tavern table, and held his breath.
Sweating, her face twisted with the effort, Halla moved the tray. It thumped against the bars. Luke winced, thinking it might be too wide to squeeze through any of the openings. But the tray turned, angled to match the bars, and slipped through with a slight scraping sound. Fluttering, it continued drifting up the corridor.
Halla was hardly breathing now, her entire being thrown into the tremendous effort she was making. Luke watched as the tray dipped, rose to its former height, dipped again before continuing on up the corridor.
“Boy,” came an echo of the old woman’s voice, “you got to help me.” Her eyes were still closed.
“I can’t, Halla,” he told her tightly. “I’m no good at this.”
“Got to, boy. Can’t hold it myself much longer.” Even as she finished the tray dipped, struck the ground with a clang before rising once again.
Luke shut his own eyes and tried to concentrate only on the tray, ignoring the cell, the Princess, everything but that floating flat plane of formed metal. A familiar voice seemed to remind him of something.
“Don’t try so hard, Luke,” the voice said. “Remember how I taught you. Relax, relax, let the Force work through you. Don’t try to force the Force.”
Letting other thoughts leak into his mind, pleasant thoughts, Luke strove to comply. A general sense of well-being flowed through him and he smiled. The tray lifted firmly to its former height, continued on up the hallway at a rapid pace.
The Princess switched her gaze constantly from Luke to Halla and back. Striking the corridor wall, the tray commenced bumping along it. It finally reached the recessed control, turned itself flat to the wall and covered the depression. A very faint click sounded. An open ellipsoid appeared in the middle of the cell bars.
Halla let out a long, slow sigh and wavered, almost falling. She caught herself as the tray plunged toward the floor. Hin and Kee gasped, as did the Princess.
Luke leaned forward, his brows lifting sharply. Something caught the tray barely a centimeter above the hard stone floor and lowered it gently, and silently, the rest of the way.
First through the gap were the two Yuzzem. The Princess followed immediately behind. Once clear, she turned and called to Luke. “What are you waiting for … come on!”
But Luke was back at the window. “Are you all right, old woman?”
“I will be,” Halla quipped, her face still showing the strain, “if you don’t call me that too often. Couldn’t have done it without your help, boy. Your control is good.”
“Not as good as your guidance,” he responded gently. “You showed me the way. I’ve been lucky. I’ve had good teachers.”
She reached through the bars and patted his hand. “You’re kind, Luke boy. There’s a big landspeeder garage and maintenance yard nearby. You turn right as you exit this mausoleum and pass some prefab administrative coops. Continue on until you hit a small adjusted stream. Turn right again, follow the stream. You’ll pass a few more, larger buildings. Eventually you’ll reach the depot.
The garage is the big structure on the immediate left. I’ll meet you there with your ’droids.”
“What happens when we get there?”
“Happens? Why boy, we’ve got to steal a landspeeder or crawl-high. Or do you think we’re going to walk to the crystal? Not on this planet! See you there.”
“Right,” Luke acknowledged.
“Hurry up, Luke!” the Princess was calling to him, expecting a flood of troops at any moment. When he didn’t reply, she rushed back into the cell, grabbed one arm and pulled. He came willingly, still glancing back toward the window Halla had already abandoned.
A loud commotion sounded ahead and Luke made worried noises.
“What’s wrong?” the Princess asked, trying to see around corners in front of them.
“It’s the Yuzzem.”
“Sounds like they’re having fun,” she demurred, after an especially violent crashing echoed down the corridor.
“We ought to be trying to sneak out of here quietly.”
“A subtle Yuzzem. You might as well wish for a squadron of Y-wings,” she snorted derisively. She picked up the tray and passed it over the cell lock, then slipped it back inside the bars.
“That should give them something to think about,” she announced with satisfaction. “Let them think we dematerialized the bars. It won’t bother Grammel, but it might make some of his troops uneasy. I want anyone trailing me to be as nervous as possible.”
Together, they started up the corridor.
Hin and Kee were waiting around the second corner. The first Yuzzem was standing over the limp forms of three troopers. He was using a ’droid to beat a fourth soldier to pulp. The ’droid he was holding by one leg was coming apart at roughly the same rate as the man.
Kee had a long armful of weapons apparently taken from the decommissioned troopers. Luke caught a pistol tossed to him, as did Leia, while the two aliens armed themselves.
Kee promptly assumed a listening pose, turned and dashed toward a far doorway. “No, not now!” Luke protested. Reaching out, he came away with two handfuls of brown hair. This did not seem to affect the big alien in the least.
“I was afraid of this,” he groaned. It took only seconds for Kee to flatten the door and burst inside. They followed.
The large room was a communications center, possibly the central one for the whole temple complex. Kee was rushing about, firing wildly with a rifle held in one massive hand while using the other to demolish both instrumentation and operators with casual indifference as to whether the target was inorganic or protesting.
Luke charged in behind, yelling in Yuzz: “We’ve got to get out of here, Kee! Listen to me!”
No use. The creature was beyond reason. Luke left the room. As he did so an energy bolt smashed into the wall just above him. Dropping to one knee, he whirled and fired his pistol, dropping an Imperial trooper down a secondary corridor. Leia caught another in the midsection and the remaining pair dove for cover, firing as they did.
“Regulars are beginning to show up, Luke!” she shouted. “We can’t stay … we’ve got to get out.”
“I can see that,” Luke shot back nervously. He pressed back against the wall, pushed and shoved at Hin to get his attention. “Come on, Hin, use your head instead of your back for a change!”
The big Yuzzem growled dangerously at him. Luke didn’t let that intimidate him. “I know this whole place stinks. I’d like to blow it to hell and be gone myself, but we’re just a little outnumbered.”
Hin bared sharp canines, grabbed Luke by the neck. Luke stared resolutely at his fu
rry visage. Abruptly, the hand moved away and Hin nodded slowly, giving out with an apologetic grunt.
“Okay then,” Luke sighed. “Go get Kee.” Another bolt broke stone above them and he turned to return the fire. The hallway was starting to fill with Imperial troops. Luke retreated up the hall, called, “Come on, Leia!” Under his covering fire, she ran to join him. Then the two of them covered the alien’s retreat.
As Kee emerged from the communications room, a tremendous explosion shattered the door frame behind him. Smoke and flame gushed from the ruined portal, singeing back fur, but that helped screen them from the massing troops.
Hin had a surprise for Luke and handed it to him expectantly. “My lightsaber! Where’d you find it?” The Yuzzem explained that the soldier who’d appropriated it wouldn’t need it anymore.
Luke refastened the heirloom at his belt as the four of them ran for the front of the building, leaving confusion and blood in equal amounts behind them.…
VII
GRAMMEL rushed into the corridor, several troops at his heels. The Captain-Supervisor finished buckling on his pants and screamed at the assembled mass of troops.
“What the double moons is happening here?”
“Get down, get down, sir!” one of the subofficers yelled frantically to him.
“What for, you idiot!” Grammel roared. “Can’t you see they’re interested in escaping, not in killing you?” Pulling a pistol from its holster, he grabbed at the sergeant next to him. “Get in there,” he instructed the noncom as he gestured toward the communications room with the pistol, “and tell them to secure every exit. No one goes in or out of the complex until I give my personal okay.”
“Yes, Captain-Supervisor!” As the sergeant rushed for the room, Grammel led the by now enormous body of armed troops up the smoking hallway.
Very soon the sergeant exited from the room, shouted after them that communications were out and everyone inside was dead or dying. But Grammel was already out of earshot. The sergeant rushed after him.