[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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."
file:///G|/rah/Alan%20Dean%20Foster/Alan%20D...0-%20Splinter%20of%20the%20Mind
's%20Eye.html (28 of 128) [2/9/2004 10:37:50 PM]
Page 25
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Splinter Of The Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster
"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
do 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."
file:///G|/rah/Alan%20Dean%20Foster/Alan%20D...0-%20Splinter%20of%20the%20Mind
's%20Eye.html (29 of 128) [2/9/2004 10:37:50 PM]
Splinter Of The Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster
"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.
Page 26
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
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?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

  • zanotowane.pl
  • doc.pisz.pl
  • pdf.pisz.pl
  • supermarket.pev.pl

    •