"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 co-ops. 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 land-speeder 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 furry 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.
Luke threw up a warning hand and the four would-be escapees slowed to a halt. "There's the exit," he informed them, pointing around the corner.
Ahead lay double transparent doors leading to the now-attractive damp ground outside. An unarmored so
ldier sat scribbling at a desk to one side of the doorway.
"They haven't gotten the alarm here yet," Luke muttered.
"That won't last long," the Princess declared knowingly. "He's not alone." She indicated the two guards flanking the exit. Each was armed with assorted devices in addition to a brace of heavy rifles.
Luke leaned against the wall, thinking furiously. It was a long way across an open floor to the doorway.
"We could cover the Yuzzem," the Princess suggested. "If they can take out the man at the desk before he can sound an alarm..."
"No," Luke objected. "Too risky. If the two guards are good shots Hin and Kee will both be killed. Maybe if you and I put our weapons down and fake one of us being in trouble..."
"Well," Luke went on thoughtfully, "we could make some noise here, maybe draw one or both of them away from the alarm switches..."
Hin and Kee listened a minute longer to the two humans chattering, then exchanged glances. Hin grunted and Kee nodded in reply.
An ear-splitting shriek made both Luke and Leia jump. Waving their gangly arms and brandishing their rifles like toys, the two Yuzzem went charging around the corner like a hirsute avalanche.
The tactic was unrefined, but it worked. All three guards became momentarily paralyzed by the sight of the two giants bearing down on them. At the desk the uniformed trooper shakily hit two studs... neither of them the right one.
Hin was on the first guard before he could raise his heavy weapon. It went off, blasting a gaping hole in the floor. Without bothering to remove the man's armor, Hin proceeded to dismember him.
Kee picked up the entire desk and communications console and brought it down on the terrified trooper behind it. The other guard finally unlimbered his heavy weapon. He was taking aim on the nearest rampaging Yuzzem.
"Kee, look out!" Luke yelled, even as he and Leia were charging around the corner and across the alcove. A bolt of energy ionized the air above the Yuzzem and then exploded against the far wall. Luke dropped the guard with one burst from his pistol.
By then the Princess had reached the double doors and was trying the manual release frantically. "It's no good, Luke! It's got to be activated remotely. From that, probably." She pointed to the demolished desk.
Luke looked around, started fumbling at the body of the soldier he'd shot. There were several smooth, hand-sized canisters attached to the man's waist and he was carefully removing them.
Taking action of his own, Hin yanked the helmet off the man he had killed. Placing it over his fist, he began punching at the transparent doors. Despite the Yuzzem's enormous strength, the fragile-looking material refused to crack.
"That won't work, Hin," Luke finally informed him, hurrying up alongside. "Security material... you'd never break through. Get behind the corner. You too, Princess."
She didn't argue with him. Together with the two Yuzzem she rushed to take cover around the bend from which they'd attacked.
Luke twisted the dial set on top of the canister, flipped the small cylinder over and adjusted a matching dial set on the bottom. After placing it at the junction of the double doors, he ran to join his companions. Several seconds passed.
The blast gave the feeling that lightning had struck just behind them. Green fire flared around the corner, faded instantly to acrid smoke. When they peered around the wall, they saw that both doors and a portion of the building's foundation had vanished.
"They've improved those things," Luke observed professionally. The Princess didn't wait for the smoke to dissipate. She was already picking her way toward freedom through the steaming rubble. Hin and Kee followed close behind.
A shot passed over Luke's head and he ducked, hesitated. Leia had reached the gaping hole where the doorway had been. She paused, looked back and waved anxiously. "Come on, Luke!"
But Luke was busy. Kneeling on the floor while bolts continued to strike around him, he activated the remaining three canisters he'd taken. One energy bolt struck dangerously close, making him blink. Rapidly, he rolled each canister down the hallway, then rose and ran madly after his companions.
Grammel and the mass of troops behind him pulled up short as the canisters came rolling and bouncing innocently toward them. The corridor cleared with inhuman speed.
Luke passed through the blown doorway, counting out loud to himself. When he got to six, he threw himself to the ground and placed both arms over his face. Three titanic explosions erupted inside the temple, sending shards of both modern metal and ancient stone whoo-whooing over his head.
When the debris finally stopped falling, he scrambled to his feet and ran on. Leia and the Yuzzem left their concealing trees and rushed to meet him.
"Nothing broken," Luke assured them in response to the unvoiced question. He brushed mud and plastic splinters from his coveralls. "I feel filthy all over, though."
"Funny," said the Princess tightly, "that's the feeling I got whenever Grammel looked at me." She gestured behind him. "They won't be chasing us for a couple of minutes, anyway."
Luke turned. The entire entrance of the temple had collapsed. Smoke and flame were issuing from cracks in the walls and roof. Sirens and alarms were beginning to sound from the town.
Moving at a fast trot, with the Yuzzem hurrying to keep pace with the two humans, they rushed off in the direction specified by Halla. Eventually they encountered the stream, hurried on alongside it. Before too long they reached the maintenance yard, which was larger and more imposing than Luke had expected. It was dark out now. The vast, silent open space was littered with huge sections of mining machinery and portable transporters, some lying about in assorted stages of breakdown.
"I don't see anything," Luke whispered. Beside him, the Princess' suspicions were returning. "Do you think she left without waiting for us?"
Luke shot her a look of irritation. "She risked her life to get us out of that cell."
"Even certifiable heroes can panic," was the Princess' cool rejoinder.
"I will panic," came a voice, startling them all, "if we don't get out of here and fast!" Halla emerged from the shadows cloaking the vast assembly shed on their left. Two figures, one humanoid, the other not, trailed her.
"Threepio... Artoo!"
'Master Luke!" Threepio called. "We were worried you wouldn't get free. Oh."
Threepio was staring at the squat, snouty shapes standing behind Luke and the Princess.
"Don't worry. These are Hin and Kee, a couple of Yuzzem. They're with us." Artoo beeped querulously. "I know they look ferocious, Artoo, but they helped us escape." A pleased whistling.
Halla was looking admiringly at Luke. "What did you do, boy?" A faint explosion sounded by way of footnote to her comment, from the general direction of the temple headquarters. "Sounds like the mine itself's going up."
"I just tried to delay our pursuit a little while," he explained modestly. Another explosion made them all wince reflexively. A pillar of yellow flame lit the night sky, piercing the mist. "I might've overdone it a little."
Halla led them inside the open shed, directed them between a long line of massive shapes to an open vehicle mounted on bloated, multiple wheels. They climbed in. Halla positioned herself behind the controls. "At first I didn't know how I was going to start this beast," she told them. "Your little friend took care of that. Artoo, get us going."
The stubby Detoo unit trundled forward. Extending an arm, it positioned a tool part of itself into a coded, locked slot. The engine rumbled to life immediately.
"Occasionally," Threepio was forced to concede, "he's useful for something."
"Are you sure you can drive something this size?" the Princess inquired.
"No, but I can drive anything smaller, and I learn fast." Halla touched something with a finger and the crawler leaped forward with startling acceleration for so bulky a vehicle. They exploded out the shed entrance, nearly ran over several mechanics who were walking toward them to investigate the noise the engine had made. They scattered, one man throwing h
is helmetcap after them in disgust and frustration. Others ran to notify their superiors.
Halla put the wheel hard over. They smashed through a wire fence. In seconds the graded ground gave way to bog and jungle. She headed the swamp crawler over soft bog and through trees and bushes with reckless disregard for whether or not they might be traveling over solid earth or bottomless peat.
After barreling for half an hour through total darkness broken only by the crawler's multiple fog lamps, Luke finally put a restraining hand on Halla's arm. "I think we can slow down now," he said, with a glance back the way they'd come. At least, he thought it was the way they'd come. Halla had made so many frantic turns and swerves during their wild flight he couldn't be sure anymore.
"Yes, slow down," the Princess urged, "Luke may not have left anyone capable of organizing immediate pursuit."
Halla brushed a strand of gray hair clear of her eyes, brought the crawler to a gradual idle. Using a flex-lamp set on her side of the crawler's open cab, she hunted through the mist until it settled on a high clump of vegetation. After driving the crawler into it, she switched off the engine, leaving only the internal cab lights on.
"There!" she exclaimed tiredly, leaning back in the driver's chair. "Even if they're right behind us, which I'd bet against, they'll have a time finding us here." The cab lights gleamed eerily in the gentle, swirling mist.
A querulous chittering sounded behind them. "Kee wonders if we have anything to eat," Luke asked. A second grunt. "Hin wonders, too."
"Never heard of a Yuzzem that wasn't always hungry," Halla replied. She turned in the chair, pointed toward the rear of the vehicle. "There's a big storage locker back there. It's full of rations." She permitted herself a smug grin. "I checked through the yard pretty thorough before settling on this particular mud-mauler. Engines are full-charged and we can run on them for weeks. Plenty of food and equipment on board. Water's never a problem on Mimban, so long as you take care to kill the things that live in it before you drink."
"I'm impressed," the Princess admitted. "How did someone like you-not authorized, I mean-manage to set up the theft of a fully equipped, expensive vehicle like this crawler?"
Splinter in the Mind's Eye Page 10