burn products." "Can we all make it into the lock at once?" Luke asked.
"Well, the lock is big enough," said Sonsen. "I don't think we should try
all of us at once. The lock is normally sei with this side closed. There's a
control panel on this side of the lock and it has to be operated by hand.
I'll have to open the lurbovalor door, run for the lock, and get it open. I
don't think it would be so smart to have everyone waiting on me getting the
door open. We should do it in two passes." "This is going to be
interesting," Lando said. Sonsen smiled humorlessly. "So it will. But we
might get lucky. Maybe the turbovator airlock will work." "Maybe it will.
But if it doesn't, and you have to run for the other airlock, I'll go with
you. I used to run a place called Cloud City. I had to go in and out of
toxic atmosphere a lot. If you run into trouble, it might be smart to have
some help along." "Lando, if anyone should go with her, it should be me,"
Luke said. "No," Lando said. "Your Jedi powers give you the best endurance.
We might all need your help. You'll have to watch everybody. All I want to
have to worry about is Sonsen and that airlock." Luke seemed about to
protest, but then nodded reluctantly. "Maybe you're right," he said. "And
the bad air won't bother the droids. That'll be some help." "It's not as if
Kalenda and I are helpless or anything," Gaeriel said. "No, ma'am, and I
didn't mean to imply that you were," Lando said. "But we don't have time to
do this politely. The fact of the matter is Sonsen has to go because she
knows the lock. Someone should go with her. I'm no hero, but someone who's
had toxic air training is the best choice to go with her. That makes it me.
And for what it is worth, next to Luke, we're all helpless. And I might add
that Lieutenant Kalcnda doesn't seem to be protesting the arrangement."
Gaeriel Captison looked from Lando to Kalenda's expressionless face. "All
right," she said. "I was in politics long enough to know when it's time to
back off." "We're getting lower," Luke said. "And the heating is starting to
move some serious air." Lando looked out the window. Luke was right. The
lower, thicker layers of air were heating at a different rate than the
upper, thinner layers. Hot and cold air at different air pressures was a
recipe for weather in any circumstance, but especially in a spinning,
inside-out world with a gravity gradient. Dust devils were spinning up
everywhere, miniature tornadoes, funnel clouds spewing Just and debris up
into the air. The wind began to howl as the car moved lower and lower, into
the nightmare dust storms popping up everywhere. A wall of gritty dust
enveloped the car, cutting off the view as the wind peppered the car with
thousands of small impacts that clicked and clattered on its exterior. It
seemed as if the winds abruptly reversed direction, and the outside world
reappeared as suddenly as it had vanished. They seemed to have crossed under
some sort of cloud deck. The car was moving along the inner wall of the
spinning sphere, from the spin axis toward the equatorial regions in a long,
swooping curve. By now the car was moving forward as much as it was down,
and the increase in apparent weight was more and more noticeable with every
moment. Lando realized his eyes had made a subconscious adjustment, deciding
thai the car was no longer proceeding down the side of a cliff, but down a
long hill that was getting less and less sleep wilh every moment. Some son
of till-tahle mechanism kept the lioor even as the car moved down [he track.
''Close now." Sonsen said. "We should start slowing in a minute." As it on
cue. trie car began 10 decelerate smoothly. Lando reached out a hand io
steady himself againsl the wall of the car, bul he thought better of it at
the last moment. Tic held his hand a centimeter or two back from the wall,
and tell plenty of heat that way. The car slowed even further, unlil it was
barely moving, maybe twenty-five centimeters a second. The swirling clouds
cleared again for a moment and revealed a large two-story building dircclly
ahead. "That's llie main entrance complex for Ihis secior." said Sonsen. The
turbovator's track led to a large sel of pressure doors, the sort lhat split
down the middle, wilh the two halves sliding apart to either side. "So let's
see what happens,'' she said. Til let the automatics try it first." The car
eased to a complete halt a meter or two in front of the doors, and then
nothing happened (or a moment. "Is it broken?" Gaeriel asked. "It just lakes
a liltle lime for the pumps 10 match pressure. Here we go." The pressure
doors started to move apart smoothly enough-but then jammed up when they
were only about a meter apart. "Blast it." Sonsen said. "Exactly what they
did before. Lei me try cycling them on manual and see if I get lucky." She
went to the panel by the car's door and twisted a dial that was poinied to
ALiro over to manual ovER-ride. She pressed another button marked oPEn
hoLlowtown SIDE AIRLOCK doors. The doors strained a bit, but didn't move any
farther apart. She pushed the cLOSE doors button-and the doors moved all of
three centimeters back toward each other before grinding to a halt. Sonscn
ran through the whole procedure again, but the doors refused to move more
than that three centimeters back and forth. "Thai's that," she said. "They
won't open far enough to get the car in. and they won't shut at all. The
inner doors won't open at all unless the outers are shut." "No emergency
override on that?" Lando asked. "No way to force inner doors open if the
outer ones are jammed?" "Nope," Sonsen said. "Why bother, when there was
supposed to he breathable air on both sides of the lock, and there's another
airlock ten meters away? I keep telling you people. This is a fancy
elevator, not a spacecraft system." "All right, then," said Lando. "Looks
like we get out and walk. Time to do a little getting ready." He pulled his
blouse off. pulled out his vibro-shiv, and started slicing the blouse into
ribbons. He saved one larger wad of cloth and stuffed it in his pocket along
with the knife. "Wrap one of [hese around your mouth and nose," he said. "If
you pass out, or your breathing reflex gets the better of you, a little
cloth might lilter out the worst of it. And if you have to breathe, if you
can't stop yourself, do it through your nose. It does a much better job of
cooling and filtering than your mouth." "Let's hope the personnel airlock
opens so fast that you've lost your shirt Tor nothing," Sonsen said. Lando
grinned. "It breaks my heart to mess up rny wardrobe when I don't need to."
he said, "but I think ! could deal with it just this once." Lando wrapped a
strip of cloth around his own mouth. "Where's the other airlock?" Lando
asked, his voice a bit muffled by the cloth. "You can't quite see it from
here," Sonsen said. "The window is too small. But it's about ten meters to
the left of the main airlock. It should be matched to pressure on the other
side, but it shouldn't take long at all to match-" Sonsen stopped talking,
and looked up at the ceiling of the car, where the air tanks were hanging.
"Match pressure,
" she said. "Wail a second. I jusi got an idea. We've got
air tanks up there. If we dumped the air into the car here, we could get air
pressure higher than the outside. Then when we opened the door, our air
would push out, inslead of the bad air pushing in- "And we'd have a pressure
curtain," said Lando. "Good idea! Then the second group could close the
doors after we go, and maybe still have some air to breathe." "Boost me up
there," Sonscn said. Luke knell down and made a slirrup out of his hands.
Sonscn put her hands on his shoulders to balance herself and stepped into
his hands. "Okay," she said, "up." Luke stood up as easily as if there was
no weight on him at all. "Whoa." Sonsen said. "Captain Cairissian, your
friend in strong. Sleady now. A little to the right-no, my right, your left.
Back a bit. Okay, good," Sonsen reached for the pressure regulator and
touched it gingerly. "Definitely getting hot," she said, "but not quite hot
enough to burn. Not yet." "I would suggest hurrying." Threepio said. "The
Glowpoinl has now increased its brightness by thirly-five percent." "How
about we leave that droid behind when we go?" Sonsen said as she cranked the
regulator up as high as it would go. A loud hissing started almost al once.
Lando worked his jaw and felt his ears pop, "You've got my vote." he said.
"I've lieen trying to leave him behind for years." "Forget it, both of you,"
Luke said. "I've been through a lot with Threepio." "All right," said
Sonsen. "That should do it. Lei me down." Luke lowered her to the ground.
"Okay." said Lando. "Administrator Sonsen-Jen-ica-what's the plan, exactly?"
'I'm going to open the door here," she said. "When I do, we should let a
good-sized blast of our air out, and that'll at least slow down the bad air
coming in. Lando and I will get out as fast as we can and run to Ihe other
lock. You"-she pointed at Gaeriel-"as soon as we are out the door, close it
again, by pressing this button here. Okay?" "Okay." "Once the door is shut,
the regulator will come back on and pump in clean canned air, but there is
still going to bo a lot of that junk out there in the mix. But no matter how
bad the air gets in here, breathe it. It's only going to be worse outside.
So breathe as best you can once that door is shut. Give us three minutes-no
more, no less-and then pop the door again ard come running. That will give
us time to get through the lock ourselves, get to the other side, and then
cycle the lock so the outer door is open. Get into the ockfast. If the
droids can get there with you without slowing you up, great. If not, leave
them on this side, and we'll cycle the lock again for them once you're
through. They don't have to worry about breathing. Got il?" "Got it.'' Luke
said. "We'll be left behind for sure!" Threcpio said in his most theatrical
tones, and even Artoo let out a sort of low moan. Lando paid them no mind.
Not when this whole Hollowtown place was about to get burned to another
crisp. If only that were the worst of it. If the Glowpoint's flaring again
meant what he thought it did, a little thing like five people and two droids
being roasted alive wasn't going to matter much at all. "Okay,'' Lando said,
"tie your eloths over your mouth and nose, and then let's do one more thing
that might help us get through this in one piece. We need to get as much
oxygen into the bloodstream and lungs as possible before we go out there.
The high pressure will help, but we need to do more. Everybody, start
breathing in rapid, shallow breaths. I'll help you hold your breath a little
bn longer when the lime comes." Lando followed his own advice, and started
to breathe in fast, shallow, panting breaths. Not the healthiest thing to do
for long, bul it would help get him through the next few minutes. He looked
out ihc viewport at the swirling clouds of murky ash and soot ami shook his
head. "Don't brealhe this stuff al all." he said, around his panting
breaths. "I'vcn if il had all ihe oxygen you needed, that crud would
probably burn a hole in your lungs." Lando started to follow and kept up his
rapid, shallow breathing until he started to feel just this side of
light-headed. He only hoped he was remembering all ihe procedures properly.
"All right," he said "Artoo, you time it. Come after us in three minutes.
Let's do it." Sonsen tied her own cloth over her mouth and nose, looked
around to make sure everyone else had done the same, and then hit the door
oPEn button. The air blew out of the turbovator car with terrifying speed,
and then a blast-furnace wall of air rushed in, pulling a stream of noxious
dusi and smoke and soot with it. Sonsen dove Ihrough the dooi. and Lando
followed afiei her, already half blinded by the slinging. burning fumes thai
wore everywhere. There had been nothing they could do about eye protection.
Where the devil was Sonsen? Had he lost her already1 The air-if you could
call it air-screamed past in ihe howling wind and cleared the view for just
a moment. He spotted her, through watering eyes, heading toward the
building. The heal was nearly as bad as the poisoned air and the dust.
Already the sweat was streaming out of his body, dripping down his brow,
getting into his eyes, making it that much harder to see. He resisted the
urge to wipe his brow-and the urge to breathe. Amaz- ing how fast you wanted
to start again once you stopped. Never mind. Sonscn-Jenica-was at the
airlock, trying to work the very old-fashioned-looking controls-but the
metal buttons and knobs were already too hot to touch. Lando pulled the
torn-up piece of cloth out of his pocket-being careful to keep his
vibro-shiv from falling out-and handed it to her. She nodded gratefully, nol
wasting breath on words, and wrapped the cloth around her hand. She threw
back the spill lever, equalizing pressure between the interior of the lock
and the outside. It would seem the pressure was higher on the outside,
judging by the column of smoke and soot that got sucked into the lock.
Jenica threw back a big lever and the door swung out and open. She waved her
arm vigorously, urging Lando in-and he needed no urging. It was a big lock
compartment, capable of handling twenty or thirty people at once. That
wasn't good. The bigger the lock, the more air there would be to move, and
the longer it would take. The dust and smoke swirled around in the wretched
air as Lando stumbled into the oven-hot interior of the lock-and suddenly
realized that Jenica was not with him. He turned around to find her slumped
over by the lock entrance, face-down on the ground, coughing and retching.
His own lungs feeling as if they were about to burst, Lando forced himself
to go back outside after her. He grabbed her under the arms and dragged her
in, wishing mightily for enough breath to curse the too-high gravity here in
the equatorial regions of Centerpoint Station. Half blinded by the caustic
chemicals burning his eyes, Lando hauled Jenica Sonsen into the lock. He was
about to let her slump down onto the deck when he realized just how hot that
metal deck had to be by now. He threw her left arm over his shoulder and
held her up as he searched frantically for the inside lo
ck controls. She
managed to take a bit of her weight on her own feet. Coughing horribly, she
pointed an unsteady finger over to one corner of the lock. Lando looked in
the direction she was pointing. There! He dragged himself over, Jenica still
draped over him. and pulled the close-lock lever, burning his hand in the
process. The metal was hot and getting hotter. It seemed to take forever for
the door to swing back shut. He had his finger jammed down on the air pump
button almost before the'door latches had closed, but the automatics cut in
at once anyway-nol pumping in good air. but dumping the bad stuff out into
the other side of the lock. Shell One, Jeniea had called it. The air pumps
whirred busily, stirring the ashes and soot up into a new blinding cloud of
dust. Lando's lungs were screaming for air, demanding that he breathe
immediately. He felt as if he were about to pass om. but he knew he did not
dare, if he tainted, his reflexes would start him breathing again- and that
would probably kill him. The pressure equali/.cd. and the far lock door
opened. The air outside was far colder than the stuff in the lock, and the
temperature difference was enough to make up a sharp little gust of wind as
the hot bad air expanded out into Shell One-and good cool air swept into the
lock chamber. Lando let go ol Jenica and dropped to his knees. He barely
noticed ihe burning heat ol the deck as he gasped for ;iir. coughing,
gagging, Ins lungs heaving. He pulled the cloth away from his mouth and
coughed harder, spitting out ihe horrid slime that seemed to have gotten
into his mouth, even if he hadn't been breathing thai mess. "Out." he said,
his voice little more than a weak creaking noise. "We need-get out-set lock
lor others." Jenica had collapsed next to him. She nodded, unable to speak
even that much. They helped each other to their feet and staggered out of
the lock chamber. The air here was a swirling mass of dreadful, suifurous
smoke-but there was air there too, good air. They could not breathe easily
just yet, not until the dust and smoke dispersed. But at least they could
breathe. Jenica went to the Shell One side control panel and pulled the
old-fashioned lever to swing the interior door shut. "Hold it!" Lando
shouted. He had spotted something. There was a rack of emergency equipment
Showdown At Centerpoint Page 13