Part 10 (1/2)

Of course, their broken skyhoppers were a clue. The fiery shards of durasteel were clues. The scorched desert, gashes in the ground, the smoldering ruins, all clues.

But not the kind of clues Leia was looking for.

While Luke's friends poked halfheartedly through the wreckage, already mourning the lost pilots, Leia and the two droids scoured the crash site.

Suddenly, R2-f0 D2 beeped eagerly, twirling in circles on a patch of empty ground. C-f0 3PO tottered over to him, then waved a golden hand at Leia.

”Princess! Artoo says he's found something!”

Leia hurried over to the droids. ”What is it?”

R2-f0 D2 let out a long string of beeps and trills. C-f0 3PO waved his index finger through the air. ”Are you certain?” he asked the astromech. ”We don't want to be too hasty-”

R2-f0 D2 beeped indignantly.

”Of course you wouldn't be reckless at a time like this,” C-f0 3PO said. ”I only meant that perhaps in your eagerness to help-”

R2-f0 D2 cut in with a series of high-pitched, angry beeps.

”Fine,” C-f0 3PO gave in, and turned to Leia. ”He says that he's picked up traces of an airspeeder, heading away from the crash site.”

”Traces?” Leia looked around, seeing no telltale signs of any other vehicle.

”What kind of traces?”

”Oh, patterns in the sand, trace amounts of baridium, any number of things,”

C-f0 3PO said. ”We droids are very sensitive to minor changes in the environment. Why, I once found a Zenji needle buried in a thirty meter high stack of-”

”Enough!” Leia snapped. ”Can he track the airspeeder?”

R2-f0 D2 beeped, then rolled a few meters toward the west. He paused, as if waiting for Leia to follow him.

”He says if we follow him, we'll find Master Luke,” C-f0 3PO said.

”Well, what are we waiting for?” Leia asked Luke's friends, as she hopped into the rusted landspeeder. ”Let's go.”

Fixer and the others hadn't moved.

”What is it?” Leia asked impatiently.

”Those are the Jundland Wastes out there,” Fixer said finally. ”You don't know how dangerous they are. We'd have to be crazy to head out there at night.”

”Luke would do it for you,” Leia said.

”And I'd do it for him,” Fixer said, ”but...”

”But what?”

No one spoke. Fixer and Windy looked awkwardly at each other. Finally, Windy cleared his throat. ”But we don't know that Luke and Jaxson are even out there,” he said. ”You have to admit, it doesn't make much sense. Where would an airspeeder come from out here? And why would Luke and Jaxson ride off on it?”

”That's what we're going to find out,” Leia said.

”How?” Fixer asked. ”By following your crazy droid?” He shook his head.

”Look at this crash, Leia. I know you don't want to believe it, but-”

”They're not dead,” Leia said firmly. ”How many times do I have to tell you?”

”And we're supposed to trust you enough to risk our lives in the Jundland Wastes?” Fixer asked.

Leia shook her head in disgust. ”Don't bother,” she said. ”I'll go myself. I don't need the help of a bunch of cowards cowards.” The droids clambered into the landspeeder, as she started the engine. ”I a.s.sume you don't mind me borrowing this?”

Fixer glanced at Windy and Deak. Camie shook her head. ”You can't,” she told Fixer, pleading. ”It's too dangerous!”

”I can't let her go out there by herself,” Fixer said. He lowered his voice to a loud whisper. ”And she called me a coward coward.”

”I a.s.sure you, I'm quite able to take care of myself,” Leia said indignantly.

”That's what you think,” Fixer said. ”You've never seen the Wastes.” He jerked his head at Deak. ”You ride back with Camie. Windy and I'll go with Leia.”

”We will?” Windy asked. He looked nervously into the distance, where dark clouds billowed on the horizon, hanging heavy over the Wastes. Then he sighed. ”I guess Luke'd do it for me. Let's go.”

As they steered the landspeeder deeper and deeper into the desert, shadows played against the canyon walls. The unbroken stretches of sand, which had been blinding in the light of the setting sun, now faded into the night, as if the world ended in nothingness only a few meters away. The ground grew rockier, the landscape increasingly barren, but R2 claimed they were still on track, and so they pushed forward.

After they'd gone several kilometers, a warning light flickered on the landspeeder's instrument panel.

”The booster coils are failing,” C-f0 3PO said worriedly.

”That's it,” Fixer said. ”We have to turn around, head back-before it shuts down completely.”

”Artoo can fix it,” Leia said calmly. ”Can't you?”

R2-f0 D2 beeped proudly.

”He says he can fix it,” C-f0 3PO translated, ”but it could take some time.”

”Just make it fast,” Leia said, and slowed the landspeeder to a stop.

”We can't stop here!” Fixer yelped. ”Are you nuts? The Sand People are everywhere. If they catch us...”

But Leia had already jumped out.

”Lady, you don't want to be wandering around here,” Fixer said. ”Not in the dark.”

Leia reached into her utility belt and flicked on a small glowrod. The dim light illuminated the underbelly of the landspeeder. ”It's not dark anymore,” she said.