Peckhum. "He's right, you know. I'm sure we can repair enough subsystems to
keep you going until we find Zekk. So what are we waiting for?"
"But why should you want to do that?" Peck hum asked.
"You need the help, don't you?" Jaina asked, momentarily confused. She
didn't want to admit that Zekk was the real reason she was doing this.
"Besides," she rushed on, "we've been having trouble mapping debris paths in
certain areas. Maybe we'll get a better perspective from orbit. Meanwhile,
Jacen, Tenel Ka, Anakin, and Threepio can keep searching for Zekk down here
in the places you suggest."
"All right," Peckhum said. "You've got me convinced, but will your parents
agree to it?"
Lowie growled a comment. "Master Lowbacca is confident that he can use his
powers of persuasion to convince his uncle Chewbacca to accompany us into
orbit," Em Teedee said.
Jaina's eyes lit with confident enthusiasm. "If you can do that, Lowie, just
leave my parents to me.''
Jacen half-closed his eyes, reached out with the Force, and listened for any
sign of Zekk in the deserted building. But he heard only the hollow echo of
their footsteps as he and Tenel Ka walked through the gloomy corridor.
He clicked on his comlink. "Hey Anakin--it's Jacen''
"Go ahead," his younger brother answered, transmitting from another
building.
"Heading into section seven on the map. Nothing to report so far."
"Okay," Anakin said. In the background, Jacen heard Threepio say in a
dismayed voice, "I certainly hope we can locate Master Zekk soon. I'm sure I
would much rather be at home than inspecting such . . . unsavory places!"
"I hope we find him soon, too," Jacen said, then clicked off and followed
Tenel Ka down the empty hall on the seventy-ninth level of the crumbling
building.
The floor was littered with old cartons, canisters, bits of plasteel, and
other items too broken-down to be scavenged. Some dry leaves were scattered
about as well--though how leaves had come to be in this building, nearly a
kilometer below the upper greenhouse levels, Jacen had no idea.
A thin, icy breeze whistled through a crack in the wall, skittering the dead
leaves across the floor. The breeze did nothing to dispel the odors of
mildew and decay that hung around the old structure, but it did send a chill
of apprehension up Jacen's spine. He let his eyes fall half closed again in
concentration as he walked slowly along.
Suddenly, something light and warm touched his arm. Jacen's eyes flew open.
Tenel Ka's hand rested on the sleeve of his jumpsuit. "I thought you might
stumble," she said, pointing at a small pile of rubble ahead of them, where
part of the ceiling had given way. In these old buildings, nothing was
repaired unless someone planned to use the space. Floors and ceilings were
no exception. If she hadn't stopped him, Jacen would have fallen on his
face.
"Thanks," he said with a lopsided grin. "Nice to know you really care."
Tenel Ka blinked once. She stood still beside him, not rising to the
bait--or perhaps not noticing it. "It is simpler to prevent an accident than
to carry an injured companion."
That wasn't the response Jacen had been hoping for. "Well, hey, I'm glad you
didn't have to strain any muscles," he said, kicking at the rocky debris
with the toe of one boot and sending a cloud of dust into the air.
"It is not a question of strain." Tenel Ka coughed, but her voice remained
detached and gruff. "I could lift you easily, should the need arise." She
stepped around the rubble. "But I saw no need."
Jacen followed her, wondering why he always managed to make an idiot of
himself in front of the calmly competent Tenel Ka. He grimaced. At least if
he had twisted an ankle, he might have had the compensating pleasure of
Tenel Ka's arm around him to help him out. . . .
Jacen shoved the surprising mental image aside, realizing that Tenel Ka
would probably be aghast if she knew the turn his thoughts had taken.
Besides, the only thing he should be thinking about right now was finding
Zekk.
Using a map on their datapad, they tried to be methodical in their search,
concentrating on buildings where old Peckhum said Zekk most often did his
scavenging. Walking from one end of the building to another, each of them
would reach out with Jedi senses, trying to find their friend, looking for
any sign that he had been there.
Once they were convinced Zekk was not close, Jacen and Tenel Ka would take
the stairs, a turbolift, or a chute-slide a few floors down, and begin a
search of the next level. If they again found no trace of Zekk, they would
move to the next likely location, using the aerial catwalks that bridged the
gaps between buildings. Many of these walkways had not been repaired for
hundreds of years, and they creaked as the two young Jedi crossed them.
Anakin and Threepio were doing the same in other buildings. Jacen's younger
brother was absolutely delighted to have a break from the golden droid's
daily tutoring.
As the day wore on, Jacen grew tired. The longer they spent in the murky
lower reaches, the more uncomfortable he grew. A sense of urgency stabbed
like a needle at the back of his mind. Zekk had been missing for days, and
they had to find him--soon. Before long, it would be too late for the
dark-haired boy. He wasn't really sure why, but he knew that it was true.
They searched dozens of buildings and crossed as many walkways, but found no
clues. The deeper they descended, though, the more signs of life they found.
Low life.
Creatures scuttled past them to hide in every shadowy corner. When corridors
were too narrow for them to walk side by side, the two young Jedi took turns
leading. Jacen watched Tenel Ka in the light of her glowrod as she headed
down another cramped stairwell into the inky darkness. Her reddish-gold
braids bounced slightly as she made her quiet descent.
At one point Tenel Ka faltered, then regained her footing and continued her
smooth pace.
"Broken stair," she said, turning to point out the rough area. "Be careful."
Just then a dark fluttering shape rose up behind Tenel Ka with a keening
shriek. Instinctively, she whirled and lashed out at the thing, dropping her
glowrod in the process--but the more Tenel Ka batted at the creature, the
more frantically it shrieked and flapped about her head.
As soon as Jacen understood what was happening, he reacted. "Hold still!" he
said, moving toward the squealing creature, which had managed to tangle
itself in Tenel Ka's long braids. "It's probably scared of the light."
Tenel Ka instantly held still, though he knew it must have gone against her
instincts. Jacen's thoughts reached out toward the struggling creature,
sending soothing messages to it. Gradually, the winged rodent grew calmer
and allowed Jacen to touch it. Careful not to make any startling movements,
he gently disentangled its claws from Tenel Ka's hair. Then, still crooning
reassurances to the agitated beast, he set it behind himself in the
stairwell and backed away.
> He picked up the fallen glowrod and returned it to Tenel Ka. "Hey, are you
all right?" She nodded curtly, and Jacen suspected that she was embarrassed
at having been unable to handle a small flying rodent without his
assistance.
As they resumed their search, he tried to get her mind off the incident.
"So, do you know why the bantha crossed the Dune Sea ?"
"No," she said.
"To get to the other side!" He laughed out loud.
"Ah," Tenel Ka said, without even stopping to look at him. "Aha."
He had expected her to be subdued after the encounter with the winged
rodent, but she continued at her usual pace. Jacen began to wonder if
anything could penetrate her cool confidence. Though part of him admired her
fortitude, another part wished that she had been more impressed by the way
he'd gallantly come to her rescue.
At the next walkway, it was Jacen's turn to go first. The rickety bridgework
was littered with the usual debris of rocks and plasteel. It creaked when he
stepped out onto it, high above the ground.
"Be careful," Tenel Ka said from behind him, completely unnecessarily, as
far as he was concerned.
"I think we're getting close to that old crashed shuttle," he said, choosing
to ignore her remark. "I'm pretty sure it's just on the other--" The walkway
shuddered beneath him, and his heart gave a lurch as metal support struts
sheared away with a shrieking noise. He grabbed the rusty rail.
"Hold still!" Tenel Ka called, but it was too late.
With a sound of popping bolts and twisting plasteel, the walkway sagged
downward, split in the middle. As if in slow motion, Jacen watched large
chunks fall away as the bridge floor beneath his feet tilted at a crazy
angle.
A whizzing sounded in his ears, followed by a soft clank. He felt himself
slide toward the deadly gap and he grasped the railing, but the corroded
metal broke away in his hand. He yelled for help, reaching back for anything
to hold on to-and felt a strong arm wrap around his waist, then found
himself being swept forward. Almost before he realized what had happened,
Tenel Ka had swung both of them across the chasm on her fibercord rope and
deposited them onto a sturdy metal stairway on the opposite side.
With a creaking groan of protest, the remainder of the bridge gave way
behind them and fell in ominous, eerie silence into the deep blackness
below.
It wasn't until Tenel Ka released him that Jacen realized they had been
clinging together for dear life. After what they had just been through, the
metal stairway where Tenel Ka had anchored her rope seemed none too safe to
Jacen. Nevertheless, the two young Jedi Knights stood in silence for a
moment longer, staring down into the bottomless gap between the buildings.
"I guess we make a good team--always rescuing each other," Jacen said at
last. "Thanks."
Without waiting for an answer, he turned and climbed down a few steps to a
building entrance. Once inside, he sank to the floor in relief, reveling in
its comparative solidity.
Tenel Ka lowered herself shakily beside him. In the dim light, her face
looked troubled and serious. "I was afraid I might lose a friend."
You almost did, thought Jacen ruefully. But instead he said, "Hey, I'm not
that easy to get rid of."
Although she did not smile, Tenel Ka's mood lightened. "This is a fact."
They came upon the crashed shuttle less than ten minutes after they resumed
their search. When they saw it, they both spoke at once.
"Zekk's been here," Jacen said.
"Something is wrong," Tenel Ka said. Hearing her, Jacen realized that
something was indeed wrong. Tenel Ka noticed his hesitation, and stepped
forward. "It is my turn to go first. You may wait here, if you prefer."
"Not on your life," he shot back. "After all, I've got to stay close to
you--just in case you need me to rescue you again."
"Ah," she said, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Aha." She entered the shuttle,
and Jacen heard her say, "It is all right. No one here."
Following her inside, Jacen saw that while the shuttle was unoccupied,
someone had been there recently, picking out the remaining salvageable
items. Tangles of wire and cable snaked across the dusty deck plates.
Stripped bolts and broken fasteners lay strewn about. Several access panels
gaped open, showing empty spaces that had once housed the shuttle's vital
equipment.
"Looks like Zekk may have been scavenging here after all," Jacen said.
"That's a good sign."
"Perhaps,'' Tenel Ka said, lifting a finger to trace the frighteningly
familiar symbol that was etched with crude strokes into one of the access
panels. "Or perhaps not."
Jacen looked at the fresh scratches that formed a triangle surrounding a
cross-the threatening symbol of the Lost Ones gang. Jacen swallowed hard.
"Well," he said, "I guess we know where to look next."
* 16 *
STILL DEEPLY WORRIED about Zekk, old Peckhum piloted his battered supply
ship, the Lightning Rod, out of its sheltered hangar. The New Republic would
have provided him transportation if he'd requested it, but Peckhum liked to
take his own ship, though even on its best days it functioned less reliably
than the Millennium Falcon. And it had never been made to carry so many
passengers.
Lowie crammed himself beside Jaina into the back compartment, his
ginger-furred legs stiff and awkward as he maneuvered his lanky Wookiee body
into a seat built for someone little more than half his size. Lowie wished
he had the T-23 skyhopper his uncle Chewbacca had given him the day he
started at the Jedi academy, but the small craft was still on Yavin 4.
Peckhum had cleared tools and cartons of junk from the Lightning Rod's
cockpit--he usually flew the ship alone--so that Chewbacca could ride in the
copilot's seat. Chewbacca brought his own tool kit of battered hydrospanners
and diagnostics, gadgets he used while working with Han Solo to keep the
Falcon up and running . . . if just barely. When the Lightning Rod received
clearance from Coruscant Space Traffic Control, Peckhum angled upward
through the misty clouds at high acceleration until the glowing atmosphere
faded into the night of space. Lowie watched, bending his shoulders to stare
out the front viewport as Peckhum maneuvered the ship into a high and stable
orbit. The huge solar mirrors remained in position like a lake of silver,
spreading a broad blanket of sunlight across the northern and southern
regions of the metropolis-covered world.
Although the mirror station was temporarily empty because of the emergency
switchover of caretakers, the critical solar mirrors could not be left
untended. Peckhum's name was next on the roster, and he had to report for
duty, whether or not Zekk had run away from home.
Peckhum brought the Lightning Rod to dock against the corroded old station,
which looked like a tiny speck dangling beneath the kilometers-wide
reflector. Chewbacca and Lowie blatted to each other in Wookiee language,
expressing their admiration for the huge orbital mirror.
; The thin silvery fabric was like an ocean of reflection, only a fraction of
a millimeter thick. It would have been torn to shreds had it approached
Coruscant's atmosphere, but in the stillness of space the mirror was thick
enough.
Space engineers had connected it to the dangling guidance station by dozens
of fiber cables, gimbaled to attitude-control rockets that could direct the
path of reflected sunlight onto the colder latitudes.
With the Lightning Rod docked, Peckhum opened the access hatch, which still
bore markings from the Old Republic , and they all scrambled through into
the austere station where they would spend the next few days.
"Well . . . isn't this cozy," Jaina said.
"According to my dictionary programming, I should think cramped is a better
word," Em Teedee observed. "I am fluent in over six forms of communication,
you know."
The metal ceiling was low and dark, strung with insulation-wrapped coolant
tubes and wires running to control panels. A single chair sat in the middle
of an observation bubble, surrounded by windows that looked down upon the
glittering planet below. Old-style computer systems blinked with reluctant
readiness, waiting for Peckhum to awaken standby routines and be in the
tedious monitoring of the solar path.
Drawn by the spectacular view of space and the planet, Lowbacca went toward
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