Part 12 (1/2)
Ben felt slightly light-headed the moment they stepped down the ramp, but the sensation wasn't extreme. They approached slowly, giving the Aing-Tii plenty of time to exit his own vessel. Several large, gray rocks were cl.u.s.tered within a few meters of the s.h.i.+p. Ben wondered why the Aing-Tii had chosen such a landing site when a few hundred meters to the north there was a large area that was completely clear.
Luke slowed the pace even further the closer they drew. He frowned a little, revealing that he was as puzzled as Ben. ”Perhaps this is part of the challenge,” he murmured slightly.
And then one of the rocks near the s.h.i.+p moved.
It uncurled slowly, languidly, extending a long tail, two powerful lower limbs, two smaller forelegs, and a large head on a sinuous neck. It fixed them with large, dark, unblinking eyes as it curled its tail beneath it and sank back on its hind legs. Ben instinctively knew that the slow revelation of its presence was deliberate and for their benefit. This creature could probably transform from appearing to be a simple rock formation to a deadly threat in a heartbeat. Even now that it was not curled up but rather sitting, it still blended in with its environment.
It was much more imposing than the holographic image Ben had studied. Something about its plating and its stillness was unsettling. Ben glanced at his father.
Luke bowed politely and Ben followed suit. ”I am Jedi Luke Skywalker. This is my son, Ben. Thank you for being willing to meet with us. We have come as requested to accept your challenge.”
Ben and Luke waited. The being did not move. Ben took in the geometric designs on certain pieces of the jointed plating that covered its body. He recognized a few of them as being the same as some of those he had seen on the Sanhedrim s.h.i.+p. This close to the creature, he could see now that the patterns were not simply painted on but were etched into the Aing-Tii's sh.e.l.l and then stained. Ben wondered if it had hurt, or if, as it appeared, the plating was more like armor or some kind of exoskeleton than like skin.
”I don't think he understands Basic, Dad,” Ben said quietly after a few minutes.
”Doesn't look like it, no.”
Ben glanced at the vessel. ”They seem to be highly advanced technologically. And we know that they've been able to communicate with humans before. So why is he not making use of his equipment? How's he supposed to tell us what our challenge is?”
Luke smiled slightly. ”Because I'm willing to bet that our challenge is to figure out a way to communicate with him without the use of technology. Which is going to be a fine challenge indeed, as the Aing-Tii communicate among themselves by tasting, smelling, and touching one another with their tongues,” he added.
As if it had heard and completely understood everything that had been said, the stone-still creature suddenly opened its mouth. Six thin, bright green tendrils shot out and flickered about wildly.
”Oh gross,” said Ben.
Then he wondered if the Aing-Tii actually had been able to understand everything they had said, and he blushed a little.
The Aing-Tii withdrew its glistening green tongues and was as still as if it had never moved at all.
”How are we supposed to learn that kind of language?” Ben asked, his voice slightly sharp. He would have died before admitting it, but the sudden movement of the previously motionless being-particularly when that movement involved green tongues-had startled him.
”We don't,” Luke said quietly. His gaze was locked with the dark, s.h.i.+ny, fist-sized orbs of the Aing-Tii. ”We don't learn his language, and he doesn't learn ours.”
”But we have to communi-” Ben blinked. ”Wait a minute. How do you know it's a he?”
”The same way I intend to communicate with him,” Luke replied. His voice was softer, slightly deeper, and although he was still regarding the Aing-Tii, Ben realized that his father wasn't really seeing the being. Luke took several steps forward, closing the s.p.a.ce between himself and the Aing-Tii, and then eased himself to the rocky ground to sit facing it. Him.
And then Ben got it.
Without another word, he followed his father's example, moving to sit cross-legged beside Luke, turning his face up-for even seated, the Aing-Tii was taller than they-to the alien. He let his gaze soften but did not close his eyes, and slowed his breathing despite the thinness of the atmosphere.
He felt a touch on his hand, and turned it so that his father and he were clasping hands. Luke needed physical contact if he was to extend the ha.s.sat-durr technique to protect both himself and Ben. Ben wasn't accustomed to holding hands with his dad, but he felt a slight tingling and was grateful for the s.h.i.+elding Luke was offering.
He sensed his father in the Force immediately, of course. Luke Sky-walker was a bright, s.h.i.+ning presence to anyone who was Force-sensitive, and his bond with Ben enabled the youth to connect with him at once.
Ben did not sense the being before him, and wondered if the Aing-Tii knew the same technique for masking his presence in the Force as he, Ben, knew. He felt a little puzzled. He was certain his father had gotten it right. But if this being truly wanted to communicate with them in the Force, then why the- And then suddenly he was there, s.h.i.+ning as bright as Luke Sky-walker but in an entirely different way. Tadar'Ro, for suddenly Ben knew his name, was a completely different type of Force-user than any Ben had ever encountered. His presence felt-splintered somehow, but not in a negative way. This was not a splintering caused by being broken, but by choice, by design. It was as if Tadar'Ro's Force self was a sort of fabric, woven of many threads, and he was now permitting the Skywalkers to see and comprehend this.
Ben had felt it when people's life essences had winked out of the Force. He was accustomed to the sickening sensation. He had been told that his namesake, Obi-Wan ”Ben” Ken.o.bi, had staggered and appeared faint when Alderaan had been blown to bits by the Death Star. So many deaths all at once had to have been traumatic.
What Ben experienced now, though, while overwhelmingly intense, was not horrifying, not at all. He realized his breathing had speeded up, and that the air that he was sucking into his lungs wasn't quite doing the trick, and the s.h.i.+mmering, many-stranded being that was Tadar'Ro had somehow gotten hold of him in the Force and- He had no option. Ben abruptly withdrew from the Force and slammed the door shut.
He realized he was sweating heavily and shaking. He turned to look at his father, who had lifted a hand in a dismissive yet gentle gesture.
”Go back to the Shadow, Ben,” Luke said. He was still gazing raptly at Tadar'Ro. ”I'll be there soon.”
Ben felt his face flush a second time. He hadn't been able to handle it-whatever it was.
He rose and walked back to the s.h.i.+p. As he started to ascend the ramp, he turned and looked back to see Tadar'Ro's long, thin green tongues flickering and caressing his father's upturned face.
BEN WAS GLAD TO RETURN TO THE MORE FAMILIAR, COMFORTABLE ARTIFICIAL atmosphere of his mother's s.h.i.+p. Once back on board, though, he threw himself into his studies of the Aing-Tii as a sort of penance for what he perceived as a failure, only to realize how very little specific information there actually was. He therefore amused himself with a holodrama, embarra.s.sed that he was doing such a thing but too agitated to bestir himself to do anything else.
He was lying back in the flowform chair, going over what he had experienced with one part of his mind and observing the acting with the other, when he heard the door slide open and Luke's voice calling him.
”Ben?”
Ben turned off the holodrama quickly. ”Dad ... How did it go? What was he doing? I'm sorry I couldn't-”
”You did just fine,” Luke said rea.s.suringly. ”Even I've never experienced anything like what Tadar'Ro tried to share with me.”
He did look a bit drained, Ben thought. The knowledge mitigated his own feeling of falling short.
”Did you communicate with him in an acceptable way?”
Luke got a gla.s.s of water, gulped it down, refilled it, and dropped into the chair beside Ben. Ben seemed to notice, really notice, the creases in his father's face and the gray in his blond hair. The fingers that curled around the gla.s.s were strong and calloused and nicked. Luke Skywalker looked quite mortal at the moment, and Ben realized that the revelation made him uneasy. Then he thought about how wiped out he'd felt after a much shorter stay in the thin atmosphere, and convinced himself his father was just fine.
Almost.
”Yes, though it was quite exhausting.”
”They're a very ... alien species, aren't they?” Ben said.
Luke chuckled slightly and took another swig of the water. ”Very. It's absolutely fascinating. I can see why Jacen was so intrigued by them. They're ... like no other species I've ever met.”
”So,” Ben asked with fake casualness, ”are we going to have the opportunity to meet more of them, or am I going to be stuck watching second-rate holodramas while we head on to the next possible clue?”
”Let me put it this way,” Luke said. ”Get used to being licked.”
ABOARD THE JADE SHADOW.
”IT'S NOT TELEPATHY, IS IT?” BEN INQUIRED AS HE PLOTTED OUT THE jump according to the information Tadar'Ro had transmitted to the Jade Shadow.
”No. But there's more of an understanding of specifics than you and I are accustomed to experiencing when we touch someone through the Force,” Luke said. ”And it seemed to be enough for them to understand Basic.”
”But how are they going to talk to us?” Ben inquired. ”I mean ... those tongues don't look like they'll operate the way ours do.”
”Tadar'Ro didn't seem to think there would be any problems once we arrived,” Luke said. Ben frowned a little. He knew that sometimes you simply needed to accept the way a circ.u.mstance was, but his father was sometimes so cryptic. Luke caught his expression and said, ”Don't look at me this time. That's as much as I know, too.”
The jumps were easy and precise. Tadar'Ro had given them directions as to not only where to jump, but also when. It had been calculated down to the second.
”So that's how they manage it,” Ben said. ”They know when it's safe to jump into one of the corridors. You think it has to do with flow-walking?” Ordinary Jedi could touch the future to a greater or lesser degree, enough to give them a slight edge in combat, but Ben was thinking about Jysella Horn knowing exactly where the hidden security droids would emerge ... and exactly when.