Part 12 (2/2)

”Come on, Luke. Do we really have to put up with all this backchatter the whole trip? Can't we shut them down, or s.h.i.+p them home from the first port, or something?”

Luke smiled and shook his head no. ”Every time I've brought the two of them along, I've been glad I did, Lando.

Trust me, they'll come in handy.”

”Well, they'd better do it fast,” Lando growled. ”Otherwise they're going to keep an appointment with the spareparts bin.”

”Come on, take- it easy. Besides, you've got another appointment to keep first,” Luke reminded him. ”We should be breaking out, f hypers.p.a.ce into the Leria Kerlsil system any time now.

Lando glanced at the chronometer. ”Another fifteen minutes or so,”

he said as he stood up. ”We ought to go forward to the c.o.c.kpit.”

Threepio took a step forward, as if to follow, but Lando held up his hand. ”Hold it right there, golden boy,” he said. ”You two stay safely locked up and out of the way here in the wardroom while we're flying the s.h.i.+p and while we're planetside. is that clear?”

”Perfectly, sir,” Threepio replied, ”but might I suggest that-”

”Good,” Lando said, cutting him off. He turned toward the hatch.

”You ever been to Leria Kerlsil?” he asked.

Luke shook his head as he got up to follow Lando.

”No,” he said. ”Not too much about it in the data banks I searched either.”

”Well,” said Lando, ”we're about to find out more.

The hatch slid open and they headed for the c.o.c.kpit.

* * * Threepio watched as the hatch slid shut behind the two humans-and was astonished to hear the click of a bolt sliding to. Captain Calrissian had locked them in. ”Well!”

he said. ”This is not at all the refined sort of treatment I expected from Captain Calrissian, considering the circ.u.mstances. Rough-and-ready manners might be all right at a mining colony, but they certainly aren't the proper sort of thing for a gentleman searching for a wife. At least Master Luke was kind enough to come to our defense.”

Artoo let out a long, questioning series of bloops.

”What?” asked Threepio. ”No, I didn't catch the name of the place we're going. No one ever tells me anything.”

Artoo let out a low moan and then repeated his query a bit more slowly, with an extra flourish on the end.

”Well, if you noticed them saying we're going to Leria Kerlsil, why did you bother asking me?”

Artoo replied with a series of staccato bursts.

”That is not true!” Threepio said. ”I don't just bra about what I know. I do indeed make use of it. What point in my searching out all those obscure mating rituals in out of-the-way data sources if I didn't even think to examine the information and see-” Artoo beeped and hooped vigorously, and rocked back and forth on his roller legs.

”Oh! You mean I could look up what I have concerning Leria Kerlsil. Well, why didn't you say so?” Threepio paused for a moment, and accessed his data memory. ”Oh dear!” he said. ”Oh my!” he said.

”Artoo! Whatever are we going to do?”

Lando Calrissian was more than a little used to dealing with places he was not at all used to. He had long ago lost count of the planets on which he had done business of one sort or another. Now, as he set foot on Leria Kerlsil for the first time, he knew almost nothing about it-and yet he knew more about it than he knew about most worlds he had visited.

He had learned long ago how to improvise, how to watch the local customs and ways of doing things, how to spot which were the trivial differences, and which differences were vital.

But he had also learned about more than differences. He had learned how much all backwater worlds were the same.

Or at least, how much the same were all the backwater worlds a trader might be interested in.

There had to be a s.p.a.ceport, and that automatically meant all the things that went along with a s.p.a.ceport. Lodgings for crewmen, almost always a bar or tavern of some sort, cargo facilities, some place to change credits in and out of the local currency, and so on. In plain point of fact, Lando had seen little more than the s.p.a.ceport on most of the planets he had visited.

He would land, meet with the local reps for whatever he was buying or selling, keep an eye on the cargo going on and off his s.h.i.+p, make and receive whatever payments were required, get a bite to eat and something to drink in the bar, perhaps catch a night's sleep in the hostelry if his bankroll was up to it and the beds looked comfortable enough, and then he'd be on his way in the morning. All the s.p.a.ceport bars and cargo facilities and customs clerks seemed to blur together after a while. It didn't help that so many of them looked alike. He had ”been” to dozens of worlds wherein he had seen nothing of the local culture beyond the customs clerk.

It wasn't always that way, of course. There had been plenty of times when he had stepped outside that imaginary bubble around the s.p.a.ceport into the real life and culture of the world. Lando was determined this would beone of those times he got out and saw the world he was on. After all, if things broke the right way, he was going to end up living on this planet-at least part of the time-for years to come.

It would behoove him to get a look at as much of it as he could before he agreed to anything rash.

At first glance, at least, it seemed like a rather pleasant place.

The sky was a crystal blue, with fluffy white clouds scudding along, riding a freshening breeze. The air smelled pure and clean. The s.p.a.ceport itself was small but well maintained, with every surface well polished and gleaming, all the staff cheerful and helpful.

As on so many small worlds, the s.p.a.ceport had been built far outside the city limits, and then the city had grown up around it. A five-minute ride in a hovercar brought them into the center of town, and a handsome-looking center of town it was. Waist-high trees with pale blue bark and small round purple leaves lined the neatly kept avenues.

Wheeled vehicles moved quietly and sedately over the well-paved roads.

The houses and shops were of modest size, but clearly it was a city of house-proud folk. Everything was tidy and clean, everything handsome and well made.

”Not bad,” Lando said as the two of them walked along.

”Not bad at all. I could see this as a very nice little base of operations.” Luke laughed. ”You're getting a bit ahead of yourself,” he said. ”Wouldn't it be better to wait until you had met the lady in question?”

”We will, we will,” Lando said. ”The appointment's not for another half an hour. I don't want to get there too early and seem eager.”

”What will you do if she seems eager?” Luke asked.

Lando looked over at his friend and winked. ”Then I'll raise the ante, of course. That's how the game is played.”

At that, both of them laughed, and turned a corner to get a look at another street in the pleasant capital city of Leria Kerlsil.

”Hurry! Hurry! Burn it open if you have to, you miserable bucket of bolts,” Threepio shouted at Artoo. The little astromech unit was struggling to get the wardroom hatch open. His datalink probe was plugged into a wall socket, and he was trying to find a circuit link that would allow him to operate the lock from inside. ”Captain Calrissian could be in great danger. Hurry! Don't bother with all your fancy data slicing! It's not going to work.”

Artoo replied with a testy-sounding series of buzzes and clicks-and then the door slid halfway open, just far enough for the two of them to get out of the wardroom. ”Oh, good work, Artoo,” Threepio cried. ”I knew that you could do it. Oh, why couldn't Captain Calrissian or Master Luke be carrying a comlink so we could warn them. It could be too late already. We must get to a city dataport and find out if my information is correct. Hurry! Hurry!”

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