Part 23 (1/2)

In the meantime, she could get some sleep.

They flew past the clouds, and down below them, the rolling landscape of Corellia came into view. Low treeovered hills and steep valleys broke up the steady march of tidy fields, and here and there, a small town slid past the left or right of the hovercar's line of flight.

Han looked down, and it felt good to see it all. This was the Corellia he remembered, or at least he could pretend it was. Perhaps all those tidy little farms, all those handsome little towns, were as dest.i.tute as Coronet. But at least he could imagine they were happy and prosperous.

The autopilot alert beeped, and an indicator light came on. They were getting close to the archaeology dig. Han looked ahead, and saw a huge pit, a dark blot on the landscape. ”Ebrihim!” he called out.

Ebrihim undid his seat belt, hopped out of his seat, and came forward. ”Yes, Captain Solo. What is it?”

”Is that where we are going?” he asked.

”Yes, sir. At least that looks like what I have heard described.”

Han looked at the Drall in surprise. ”You've never been here before?” he asked. ”I thought you were gonig to be our guide.”

”And so I shall be,” Ebrihim said smoothly. ”I have studied this site from afar for some time. I have read all the published papers concerning it, and talked with many of the princ.i.p.al investigators. It is the first major archaeology site ever studied on this planet, and thus of considerable interest. It is just that I have never before been able to get clearance to get to it.”

”So you're using the Chief of State of the New Republic as your personal ticket into this place?” Han asked, his tone somewhere between annoyance and amus.e.m.e.nt.

”Absolutely,” said Ebrihim. ”How could I pa.s.s up the opportumty?”

”This is the first ever archaeological dig on the whole planet?”

Leia asked from the second row of seats. ”How could that be?”

”Yeah. No one was interested in that kind of stuff when I lived here,” Han said. ”Why are they interested now?”

Ebrihim turned the palms of his hand upward and shook his head.

”It's hard to explain,” he said. ”I believe it comes from the sudden strong species-ist feelings on Corellia and the other worlds in this system.

”I don't see the connection,” Leia said.

”Well, the past has beeome an issue of pride. Who was here first?

Who has the strongest claim to this or that spot of land, or this or that planet? Even among those not particularly interested in that sort of politics, antiquities have become all the rage all on five worlds. I'm told there are teams of human, Selonian, and Dm11 researchers on all the Five Brothers, performing digs, doing research, vying against each other to prove their species was the first to arise, or had the highest achievements earliest, and so on.

”Political archaeology,” Han said. ”That's a new one on me. What are we going to see down there, anyway?”

”That is the interesting question,” Ebrihim said. ”No one quite knows what it is. It is an extremely ancient system of artificial underground chambers, many of them collapsed or filled in by sediment or what-have-you. Some of the chambers are in quite good condition, however.

They are full of machinery of one sort or another, and no one knows what the machines are for, or who built them, or why.”

Han frowned. ”Isn't archaeology usually mud huts and pottery shards?” he asked.

”That's the way we usually think of it,” Ebrihim admitted. ”But civilization has been around a long, long time in one way or another. We talk of the thousand generations of the Old Republic, as if that was all that came before.

But that is only, what, twenty thousand standard years or so?

Perhaps twenty-five thousand at most?”

”That's a long time,” Jacen said.

”Is it?” Ebrihim asked. ”How long have the stars been s.h.i.+ning? How long has there been life on the planets?”

”A really long time?” Jacen asked.

Ebrihim laughed, a sort of er-er-er noise. ”It certainly has been a long time,” he said. ”A thousand times, three or four thousand times as long as those thousand generations. More than enough time for all sorts of things to happen that we don't know about anymore.

”So some time before the Old Republic even got started, someone built the whatever-it-is down there?” Han asked.

”The belief is that it is that old,” Ebrihim said. ”No one really knows for sure. There are dating techniques we could probably use, but no one in the Corellian Sector knows how to use them. Perhaps, in better days to come, that sort of expert will come in and visit us again.”

Han checked his controls. ”Maybe they will,” he said, ”but just now we've got to come for a landing. Back to your seat, Ebrihim, and the rest of you, check your seat belts and here we go.”

The surface level of the dig resembled a colony of social insects that someone had stepped on, with the insects now frantically racing to repair the damage.

Workers-all of them human-were rus.h.i.+ng in all directions, moving piles of din and debris out of the excavation in big roller cars. Droids of all sorts and descriptions were carrying various sorts of hardware in and out of the huge pit.

It was organized chaos, and Han and his family stepped from the hover car a bit uncertain about where to go or what to do. But there was more than uncertainty in Han's mind.

”Leia,” he said under his breath. ”Look at the uniforms on the workers.”

”What about them?” she asked.

”They're the same as on the fun boys who roughed me up. The only thing missing is the Human League armbands.

The marchers around Corona House had them on, too.”

”You're right,” she said. ”But we can't talk about it now. Here comes our guide, I think.

A man of middle age, looking rather on the portly and well-fed side, was coming toward them. He was darkskinned with short-cropped dark hair and a broad, toothy smile. He wore the same uniform as the rest of his team, and his uniform had the same sweat stains as everyone else, but there was an elaborate insignia pinned on the shoulder boards of his tunic, and no one else had that. His hat was a bit more elaborate as well, and he wore it at a jaunty angle. ”Greeting to you all,” he said in a surprisingly soft and mellow voice, with the slightly slurred accents of the northern reaches of the main Corellian landma.s.s. ”I am General Brimon Yarar,” he said. ”Welcome to our little project.” He bowed respectfully to Leia. ”Madame Organa Solo. It is an honor to have you here.” He stuck his hand out to Han. ”Captain Solo, an honor as well.” Han could not help but notice that their host was giving him a good hard look, as if Han were some particular curiosity he had been eager to see for some time. It was not a pleasant sensation. ”Thanks,”

he said slowly as he accepted the proffered hand. ”We're glad to be here. General of what, if I might ask? Were you in the war?” And on which side? he wanted to ask, but did not.

”Hmmm? What? Oh, that,” the general said, clearly a bit nonplussed. ”An honorific only, I am afraid. An informal t.i.tle in a private organization.”

”The Human League, perhaps?” Han asked. ”Are you with them?”

Yarar's smile dimmed, if just for a moment. 'Why, yes, ' he said.

”The provide the bulk of our financing. But we try not to advertise that too broadly. Some people might get the wrong idea. But the workers today are from a Human League Heritage Squad, working to reveal our species' glorious part here on Corellia Are you familiar with our work, Captain Solo?”

I'm becoming so,” Han said.

”And these must be your children,” Yarar said, sweeping on past the awkward moment. He squatted down and gave Jacen a friendly wink. ”I'm surely glad to meet you all,” he said.