"Ain't surprised we haven't met before. You two are strangers here, ain't you?"
That statement seemed to snap the Princess out of her paralysis. She gave the old woman a startled stare, then looked away... anywhere but at those knowing, accusing eyes.
"What makes you say a ridiculous thing like that?" Luke stammered.
She leaned conspiratorially close. "Old Halla has a pretty good eye for faces. You're not residents of this town and I ain't seen you in none of the other four. Sick and decrepit as this world is, I know all the sickies and decrepits inhabiting it. You're new to me."
"We... we came in on the last ship," Luke alibied blindly.
She grinned at him, unimpressed. "Did you now? Tryin' to fool old Halla, ain't you? No, don't look so frightened, boy and girl. Your face is turnin' white as the inside of a trooper's belly. So you're strangers... That's good, good. I need strangers. I need you to help me."
The Princess swerved to stare wonderingly at her. "You want us to help you?"
"Surprised, ain't you?" Halla cackled.
"Help you do what?" Luke queried in confusion.
"Just help," she said, casually cryptic. "You help me, I help you. And I know you need help, because there are no strangers on this world, and yet you're here. Want to know how I know you're strangers?" She leaned over the table again and wagged a knowing finger at Luke.
"Because, young man, the Force is strong within you."
Luke smiled sickly at her. "The Force is a superstition, a myth people swear by. It's used to frighten children."
"Is that so?" Halla sat back and folded her arms in satisfaction. "Well then, boy, the superstition is strong in you. Much stronger than in anyone else I've met on this forsaken scoop of mud."
Abruptly, Luke was peering closer at her. "What is it, Luke?" the Princess asked, seeing the expression that had come over his face. He ignored her.
"You said your name was Halla." The woman nodded slowly, once. "You have a little of the Force about you, too."
"More than a little, sapling," she argued Indignantly. "I am a master of the Force, a master!"
Luke said nothing. "You want proof then?" she went on. "Watch!"
Concentrating hard on a spice shaker in the middle of the table, under one of the spigots, she made it quiver slightly. It bounced once against the table, twice, and moved several centimeters to its left. Sitting back, Halla took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from her brow.
"There, you see? A little of the Force, indeed!"
"I'm convinced," Luke confessed, with a curious look toward the curious Princess, a look that said he was anything but impressed by such parlor tricks. "You do have a lot of the Force about you."
"I can do other things when I want to, too," Halla announced proudly. "Two manipulators of the Force... we're destined to join hands, eh?"
"I'm not so sure..." the Princess began.
"Don't worry about me, little pretty," Halla instructed her. She reached out to touch the Princess' hand. Leia drew hers away uncertainly. Halla studied her, smiled, grabbed the wrist hard.
"You think I'm crazy, don't you? You think old Halla's crazy."
The Princess shook her head. "No... I didn't say that. I never said that."
"Eh, but you thought it, didn't you?" When Leia didn't reply, Halla shrugged. If she was offended, she didn't show it. "No matter, no matter." She let go of the Princess' wrist and Leia drew it away slowly, rubbed it with her other hand.
"Why do you want to help us?" Luke inquired firmly. "Assuming just for the sake of discussion that we need any help and that your guesses are right."
"Just for the sake of discussion, boy," she mimicked him, "I'll get to that. Tell me what you need from me."
"Now look, old woman," Luke began threateningly.
She wasn't intimidated. "It won't work with me, swaddle-clothes. You don't want it widely advertised that you're strangers here, do you?" Her voice rose slightly with the last, and Luke made shushing motions at her, glancing around to see if anyone had overheard.
"Okay. Since you know we're strangers, you know what we need. We have to get off this planet." The Princess gave him a warning look, but he shook it off.
"No, relax. She does have the Force about her." He turned back to face the oldster. "Who are you, anyway?"
"Just old Halla," the woman declared blankly. "And you just want to get off Mimban. You didn't pick me a simple one, did you." She frowned slyly. "Say, how did you two get here, anyways? You can't convince me you came on the regular supply ship."
"Regular supply ship?" Leia exclaimed. "You mean Circarpous knows about this installation?"
"Now, woman, did I say where the transport was from?" Halla snorted derisively. "The Circarpousians... those provincials! This place is right in their backyard and they don't know about it. No, the Imperial government operates the mine and the towns direct."
"We suspected as much," Luke admitted.
"They monitor space out for many planetary diameters," Halla went on. "The Circarpousians have a pretty good colony going on Ten. If a ship passes anywhere close by, they shut down everything. The mine, the landing beacon, everything."
"I think I see why they didn't detect us," Luke ventured. Leia put out a restraining hand, looked at him warningly. He shook her off. "Either we trust Halla or we don't. She already suspects enough to turn us over to the local enforcers anytime she wants to."
He looked openly at the old woman. "We were traveling from Circarpous X to Four on business."
"You were coming from the Rebel base on Fourteen, you mean," Halla corrected him smugly. "So much for trust." When Luke choked on his reply, she waved it away. "Never mind, boy. The only government I recognize is my own. If I wanted to sell out the Rebels, do you think that base'd still be there?"
Luke forced himself to relax, smiled at her. "We were traveling in a pair of single-seat fighters. If the instrumentation here is standard, it's not calibrated to recognize anything that small. That must be why there's been no alarm raised. We got down undetected."
"Where are your two ships?" Halla asked with concern. "If they're nearby, they might be found soon."
Luke made an indifferent gesture in a generally northeast direction. "Out there, somewhere, several days' walking. That's if the muck that passes for ground here hasn't swallowed them up by now."
Halla gave a gratified snort. "Good! People don't stray very far from the towns. Not likely they'll be discovered. How did you manage to land without the field and beacon?"
"Land!" the Princess snapped. "That's funny. We ran into some kind of field-distortion effect, produced by the energy mining, I'll bet. It wiped out our onboard instrumentation. I'd expect a ship needs special shielding to pass through an atmosphere affected by that kind of waste energy. It's a damn good thing we did, though, or we would have set down right on the Imperials' field," she finished.
"You see, Halla," Luke explained. "You have to help us arrange off-world passage."
"Next to impossible, boy. Think of something else. You're here illegal, without proper identification. The moment anyone asks you to produce it and you can't, they'll dump you in the local lock-tight for questioning. The local head is a mind-ugly-ug named Grammel." She looked at each of them in turn, solemn. "A good man to avoid."
"All right," Luke agreed easily, "then if we can't leave through normal channels, you'll have to help us steal a ship."
For the first time since she'd joined them, Halla sat speechless. "Anything else you'd like, boy?" she finally wondered. "Grammel's cloak of office, or maybe the Emperor's Dualities? Steal a ship? You've got to be out of your mind, boy."
"We're in sound company, then," the Princess observed with satisfaction.
Halla turned on her. "I've had just about enough of you, little pretty. I'm not sure I need your help."
"Do you have any idea who I am?" the Princess started to tell her. She caught herself just in time. "Not that it matters. What does matter is that you can't d
o it, can you?"
Halla started to object but the Princess cut her off challengingly. "Can you?"
"It's not that I can't, little pretty," Halla said carefully. "It's that the risks involved to make it worthwhile..." She went quiet, finally looked up reluctantly at Luke. "All right, boy and lady. I'll help you steal your ship."
Luke looked excitedly over at the Princess, who continued to watch Halla. "On that one condition."
The Princess nodded knowingly. "What condition?" she inquired formally.
"You help me first."
"I don't see that we have much choice," Luke essayed. "What do you need us to help you with?"
"To find something," Halla began. "With your knowledge of the Force combined with mine, boy, it should be simple. But it's something I can't do alone, and something I can't trust anybody else with. I know I can trust you, because if you try to cross me, I'll sell you to Grammel."
"Sensible," the Princess noted easily. "You say the task will be simple. What are we supposed to find?"
Halla looked around the table with seriocomic intensity before turning back to them. "I don't suppose either of you children have ever heard of the Kaiburr crystal?"
"Right so far," Leia admitted, unimpressed.
"Your ignorance ain't surprising," Halla explained. "Only a few people familiar with the exploration of Mimban have heard of it. Circarpousian xenoarcheologists first heard about it on their one and only exploration expedition to this planet. They eventually decided it was a myth, a local tall story concocted by the natives in an attempt to coax more liquor from them. Mostly they forgot about it. But it was in the Imperial records when the mining outfit set up their hole here.
"According to the myth, the crystal is located in the temple of Pomojema. It's a minor local deity, say the greenies I've talked with."
"All sounds plausible," Luke was willing to concede. "Where's the temple?"
"A long haul from here, again according to the native information I've been able to piece together," Halla went on. "This world is rotten with temples. And remember, this Pomojema's a third-rate god. So nobody's been too interested in finding his temple-house."
"Temples, gods, crystals," the Princess murmured. "Okay, suppose this legendary place does exist," she hypothesized, jabbing an accusing finger at Halla. "This Kaiburr crystal, just what is it supposed to be... a big gemstone of some kind?"
"Of some kind," Halla confessed with that sly smile of hers. "Interested in spite of yourself, ain't you?" The Princess looked away.
"We're interested in anything that brings us closer to getting off here," Luke admitted. "I have to say this story of the crystal sounds intriguing on its own. What kind of gem is it?"
"Pfagh! I could care less what kind of necklace it could make for some spoiled noblewoman, boy." She eyed the Princess meaningfully before continuing. "I'm more interested in a certain property it's supposed to have."
"More stories," the Princess murmured. "How can you be so absolutely convinced, Halla? So certain that the xenoarcheologists weren't right and that it's all a native tale?"
"Because," Halla returned triumphantly, "I have proof!" Reaching into her suit top, she extricated a packet of insulating material and unrolled it on the table. It contained a tiny metal box. Using the nail of her right-hand little finger she turned the miniature combination lock several times. With an infinitesimal pop the tiny lid flipped open.
Luke peered close for a good look. The Princess did the same.
What they saw was a splinter of something that looked like red glass and glowed softly. The color was deeper, richer than red corundum. It had a vitreous luster resembling crystalized honey.
"Well," Halla asked them after a long moment, "now are you convinced I'm telling the truth?"
Still skeptical, the Princess sat back and looked askance at Halla. "A small fragment of radiant glass or plastic, or an ordinary silicate treated to glow. You expect me to accept that as proof?"
"This is a piece of the Kaiburr crystal itself!" Halla insisted, offended by her disbelief.
"Sure it is," the Princess agreed, nodding. "Where did you get it?"
"From a greenie, in exchange for a bottle of tipples."
Leia gave her a strained look. "So you're trying to tell us that one of the primitive, superstitious locals would part with a shard of some half-legendary gem, from one of his own temples, for a lousy bottle of liquor?"
"It wasn't his ancestor's temple or god," Halla countered with mild contempt. "Even if it was, it wouldn't matter. Look at the pitiful things." She gestured, and they saw the degraded, crawling beggars pleading with patrons for a chance to perform the most servile acts in return for a sip of alcohol.
"They'll do anything short of killing themselves for a drink. Perform the most menial jobs for days for a tenth of a bottle."
"Maybe you're right," Leia had to admit uncomfortably. "Just maybe this could be a piece of what you claim it to be from where you say it came from. I still don't see why you have this drive to go hunting for it, especially if you insist its jewel potential doesn't interest you."
"Still can't see, can you?" Halla murmured. She turned sharply to face Luke. "Touch it, boy."
Luke hesitated, his gaze moving from the Princess to Halla and back again. Halla removed it from the box and extended it out to him in a cupped hand.
"See, it's not hot," she told him. "Go on, touch it and believe. Are you afraid?" Luke continued to hesitate.
"I'll touch it," the Princess volunteered, extending a finger. But Halla pulled it out of her reach.
"No. This isn't for you. Touching it would prove nothing to you." She reached out toward Luke again. "Go on, boy. It won't hurt you."
Licking his lower lip, Luke cautiously probed for the splinter with a finger. Touched it.
It felt exactly like what it resembled, a piece of glowing heatless glass. But the sensations that coursed through him did not come from his finger, were not carried by the nerves in his skin. He quickly drew back his arm as if he'd contacted a live current.
"Luke, what is it?" the Princess exclaimed, suddenly concerned. She stared accusingly at Halla. "You've hurt him!"
"No, little pretty mouth, I haven't hurt him. He has been startled and shocked and surprised, much as I was when I first contacted the crystal."
Leia faced Luke. "What did you feel?"
"I... didn't feel anything," he informed her softly, now utterly convinced of the old woman's sincerity. "I experienced it. This," and he indicated the fragment of red mineral, "increases one's perception of the Force. It magnifies and clarifies... in proportion to its size and density, I think." He gazed hard at Halla. "Anyone in possession of the entire crystal, if it's much larger than this fragment, would have such a lock on the Force that he could do almost anything, anything at all."
"My thought also, boy," Halla agreed. She replaced the fragment in its box and snapped the lid shut, then re-rolled it in the soft material. She handed it to Luke. "To show you I mean what I say, you keep it. Go on, take it." Luke did so, then slipped it into a pocket.
"And now, I think," she went on, "you have no choice but to help me, and without delay."
"Who says so?" the Princess grumbled.
"No one says so, little pretty. Facts say so. By touching the fragment, Luke here set up a tiny but perceptible stirring in the Force. I felt it. It might have traveled no farther than this tavern, or it might have affected sensitives halfway across the galaxy. There are Force-sensitives in the Imperial government who might feel such a stirring.
"However," she continued with a shrug, "as I said, the sensation might have gone no farther than myself. But can you take that chance, Luke? If you're both with the Alliance, as I'm pretty sure by now you are, then the Imperials should be real interested in Luke, here. From what I hear, they don't like to think of there being anyone on the Rebel side capable of handling the Force.
"Besides, boy, you know what kind of damage a Force master could do with the enti
re crystal in his hands. Can you take a chance on the Empire finding it first?" She looked almost apologetic. "Sorry, but I had to do something to shove you both past the no-return point. Couldn't risk having my first really secure helpers back out on me, could I?"
"She's right, Leia," Luke told his companion. "We can't take the chance of having the crystal fall into Imperial hands."
"You're right, Luke..."
"Besides, Leia, we have no choice. We need Halla to help us get off-planet, and she won't do that until we find the crystal anyway." He eyed her hopefully. "All right?"
"My, my, what's this? A miner asking permission from his servant girl?" Neither of them could meet her shrewd gaze. "Take it easy, children. I won't give you away, whoever you are." She glanced around. "This isn't the most private place to do business. Now, if you're finished with your supper, we'd do well to talk elsewhere."
Luke nodded. "It's about time we reassured Artoo and Threepio."
"Just a minute." Halla put out a restraining hand. "I thought there were only the two of you."
Luke grinned. "Two 'droids I acquired... inherited, you might say."
"Oh, that's all right, then. Never could afford a personal 'droid myself."
While paying their bill, Luke sneaked a glance in the direction of the Imperial civil servant. The man evidenced no further interest in them, didn't even look in their direction. The servant-girl story had apparently convinced him.
Once outside with the double metal door panels shut behind them, Leia kicked Luke sharply in the shins. He went staggering, tumbled off the narrow walkway into the mud-filled trench which separated walkway from more solid street. When he recovered his senses, he gazed at her in surprise.
"Now you look more like a miner," she grinned at him. "That's for slapping me inside. No hard feelings?"
Luke shook some of the mud from his hands, wiped at his chest, then smiled up at her. "No hard feelings, Leia." He reached up, extended a hand. The Princess leaned forward, her left hand gripping a supporting post, her right extended to help Luke.
Her caution didn't matter. Luke yanked hard, and she plunged messily into the trench beside him. He sat there, grinning, as she turned around, looked down at herself in distress.