[Legacy Of The Force] - 01(107)

Han leaned farther forward, almost pressing his forehead against the transparisteel, his attention fixed on Wedge. He heard Leia whisper, “Oh, no.”

Thrackan, sounding cheerful, boomed, “Admiral Karathas, I think this plan deserves close scrutiny …”





Chapter Twenty-Four


KUAT SYSTEM, TORYAZ STATION

JACEN SAT IN THE ROLLING CHAIR WITH HIS FEET UP ON THE DESK BEFORE him. He knew that the image he was holocasting would show his boot soles up close, the rest of his seated body at a slightly greater distance, and then Ben, solemnly standing behind his chair. “A what?” he asked.

The three-dimensional image of an old Twi’lek male, his skin a wrinkled desert tan, his head-tails wrapped artistically around his neck, was less than a meter tall and situated atop the center of the desk. It was large enough for Jacen to make out the Twi’lek’s expression, one of merry amusement. “It’s a thought,” the Twi’lek said. “An idea.”

Jacen held the grouping of tassels up before him and studied it. “All of it?”

The Twi’lek’s head-tails twitched, then he apparently realized that he wasn’t speaking to another of his own kind and indulged in a cruder, broader gesture-a shrug. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I can only speak for the one at the very bottom.”

Jacen examined that tassel in greater detail. It was composed of six separate braids of tan and red beads, each one knotted intricately. “How is it a thought?”

“It’s like writing,” the Twi’lek said. “A pattern of knots so individualized, so specific that they can carry thoughts the way writing does. I actually had to take the highest-detail holocam scan you sent me of it and run it through a sculpture interpreter, generating a three-dimensional replica in a flexible material, before I could interpret it. It must be held, manipulated by touch, in order for its meaning to become clear.”

“And its meaning is what?”

“As close as I can translate it into Basic, it means, ‘He will strengthen himself through pain.’ “

Jacen gave the Twi’lek a close look.

“You look startled, Master Solo.”

Jacen shook his head. “I’m not a Master, just a Jedi Knight, For’ali. I apologize if I’ve led you to believe that you’re speaking with a social equal.”

“I do not think in such segregated terms, Jedi Solo.”

“As for my startlement-that phrase has echoes of an old Jedi saying, ‘There is no pain where strength lies.’ Could it actually be translated that way?”

For’ali shook his head, the gesture deliberate and artificial. “No. It is closest to ‘He will strengthen himself through pain.’ “

“And you can’t read any of the others?”

“No. They are not Twi’lek. In fact, the one I can comprehend isn’t universally Twi’lek. It is a remnant of the Tahu’ip culture of Ryloth, an ancient subset of our modern culture. We are not one homogeneous people any more than humans are.”

“Of course. How long has it been since a recording technique like this was used?”

“Perhaps five hundred standard years? Now the technique is known only to a few scholars. I do not elevate myself too much by claiming to be one of three individuals with sufficient knowledge to have translated that item through a reproduction.”

Jacen considered. “So these other tassels, if they are not of Twi’lek make-“

“Of Twi’lek cultural origin, at any rate.”

“Yes, that’s what I meant. Could they still be the same sort of item? A form of writing?”

“Yes. Or, I think, several. They are distinct in the ways they were made, each fabricated through a different technique; I suspect it means that, if they all convey messages, each does so through a different method of communication. Perhaps from a different world or culture altogether.”

Jacen gave him a smile. “I know that this is going to sound lazy-“

“But is there a central source of knowledge that might be able to decode all of them?”

“You’re very good at mind reading, For’ali. Are you Force-sensitive?”

“No, I am merely well acquainted with academic laziness.” The Twi’lek considered. “I would recommend the world of Lorrd. It is a repository of academic knowledge, and its people, like my own, have developed a greater facility with nonverbal communication than most. Perhaps it would improve the odds that they have concentrated knowledge in this field. But you must take the item there. I can’t guarantee that experts in other fields of communication could interpret the meaning of one of those tassels from a replica.”