“Partly local legend,” Karrde said. “Mainly, the fact that you’re standing here talking with me. How else could a man with a stun weapon and an extremely nervous mind have walked right up behind a Jedi without being noticed?”
Luke looked at him sharply, the last piece falling into place. “You had ysalamiri aboard the Wild Karrde.”
“Correct,” Karrde said. “Purely by chance, actually. Well-” He looked up at Mara. “Perhaps not entirely by chance.”
Luke glanced again at the ysalamir above Karrde’s head. “How far does this bubbling extend?”
“Actually, I’m not sure anyone knows,” Karrde conceded. “Legend says that individual ysalamiri have bubbles from one to ten meters in radius, but that groups of them together have considerably larger ones. Some sort of reinforcement, I gather. Perhaps you’ll do us the courtesy of participating in a few experiments regarding them before you leave.”
“Perhaps,” Luke said. “Though that probably depends on which direction I’m headed at the time.”
“It probably will,” Karrde agreed. “Well. I imagine you’d like to get cleaned up-you’ve been living in that flight suit for several days now. Did you bring any changes of clothing with you?”
“There’s a small case in the cargo compartment of my X-wing,” Luke told him. “Thank you for bringing it along, incidentally.”
“I try never to waste anything that may someday prove useful,” Karrde said. “I’ll have your things sent over as soon as my associates have determined that there are no hidden weapons or other equipment among them.” He smiled slightly. “I doubt that a Jedi would bother with such things, but I believe in being thorough. Good evening, Skywalker.”
Mara had her tiny blaster in hand again. “Let’s go,” she said, gesturing with the weapon.
Luke stood up. “Let me offer you one other option,” he said to Karrde. “If you decide you’d rather pretend none of this ever happened, you could just return Artoo and me to where you found us. I’d be willing to take my chances with the other searchers.”
“Including the Imperials?” Karrde asked.
“Including the Imperials,” Luke nodded.
A small smile touched Karrde’s lips. “You might be surprised. But I’ll keep the option in mind.”
The sun had disappeared behind the trees and the sky was noticeably darker as Mara escorted him back across the compound. “Did I miss dinner?” he asked as they walked down the corridor toward his room.
“Something can be brought to you,” Mara said, her voice little more than a thinly veiled snarl.
“Thank you.” Luke took a careful breath. “I don’t know why you dislike me so much-“
“Shut up,” she cut him off. “Just shut up.”
Grimacing, Luke did so. They reached his room and she nudged him inside. “We don’t have any lock for the window,” she said, “but there’s an alarm on it. You try going out, and it’ll be a toss-up as to whether the vornskrs get to you before I do.” She smiled, mock-sweetly. “But don’t take my word for it. Try it and find out.”
Luke looked at the window, then back at Mara. “I’ll pass, thanks.”
Without another word she left the room, closing the door behind her. There was the click of an electronic lock being engaged, and then silence.
He went to the window, peered out. There were lights showing in some of the other barracks windows, though he hadn’t noticed any other lights in his own building. Which made sense, he supposed. Whether Karrde decided to turn him over to the Empire or release him back to the New Republic, there was no point in more of his associates knowing about it than absolutely necessary.
All the more so if Karrde decided to take Mara’s advice and just kill him.
He turned away from the window and went back to his bed, fighting back the fear trying to rise inside him. Never since facing the Emperor had he felt so helpless.
Or, for that matter, actually been so helpless.
He took a deep breath. For the Jedi, there is no emotion; there is peace. Somehow, he knew, there had to be a way out of this prison.
All he had to do was to stay alive long enough to find it.
Chapter 20
“No, I assure you, everything is fine,” Threepio said in Leia’s voice, looking just about as unhappy beneath his headset as a droid could possibly look. “Han and I decided that as long as we were out this way we might as well take a look around the Abregado system.”
“I understand, Your Highness,” Winter’s voice came back over the Falcon’s speaker. To Han, she sounded tired. Tired, and more than a little tense. “May I recommend, though, that you don’t stay away too much longer.”