The Crystal Star (7 page)

native language, is it?" "Certainly not," the barkeep said in a highly insulted tone.

"It works better if you speak plainly." "Pay!" "That's plain enough," Han said. He took a coin from his

pocket and tossed it on the bar. The tentacle coiled over it, placed one sucker delicately on its surface,

and lifted the coin. The tentacle snapped away behind the bar, and when it reappeared, the coin had

vanished.

"What do you folks do for entertainment around here?" Han asked.

"We are doing it." The tentacle waved its tip toward each corner of the room, each table, each meeting

pond. "Do you require additional entertainment?" "I don't mind a game now and then." "Bolo-ball? There

is a league." "I was thinking of something more sedentary... and riskier." The tentacle twisted into a

knotted shape, rising over Han's shoulder, pointing. Han turned around, and ran nose-fst into the chest of

a giant.

Han looked up. An enhanced human grinned merrily down at him.

"A sporting man?" The enhanced human, her size increased by genetic manipulation and her strength

increased by surgery, was a head taller than Chewbacca.

"I've been known to place a bet from time to time." "Will this suit your fancy?" She opened her hand. In

her wide palm lay a deck of cards.

A design of complex knots decorated the back. The enhanced human moved her hand, and the deck

flipped over. Chance and Hazard, illuminated with gold and emerald paint, topped the stack.

Han grinned. "That will do fine," he said. "Just fine."

Anakin wriggled furiously in Jaina's arms, trying to get down.

"Bad mens, Jayaffwas he said. "Bad mens!" "Stop wiggling, Anakin," Jaina said. She hugged her little

brother, but that just made him struggle even more. His face was streaked with furious tears.

He had stopped crying, but he was still so angry and scared that his whole body trembled.

"Papa!" he shouted. "Papa! I want Papaffwas He started to cry again.

Jaina was scared, too, and confused. She pretended not to be.

They were on a perfectly circular patch of Munto Codru feather grass. Jacen and Mr.

Chamberlain's black-furred wyrwulf slept on the grass beside Jaina. Jaina wanted to wake Jacen up. But

she had just woken up. Waking up had hurt. It never hurt to wake up before. Never before in her whole

life.

The patch of grass was not part of the meadow anymore. It was in a big metal room. It sat in the middle

of the metal floor, as if someone had cut it out with a big round cookie-cutter. Metal walls rose very high

above, all around. Jaina could not see any doors. She could not see any windows. Big lights glared down

at her from the ceiling.

"Don't cry, Anakin," Jaina said.

"Don't cry. I'll take care of you. I'm five, so I'll take care of you, because you're only three." "Three and a

half!" he said.

"Three and a half," she said.

He sniffled and rubbed his sticky face.

"Want Papa," he said.

Jaina wished Papa was here, too. And Mama. And Winter. And Chewie. But she did not say so. She

had to be the adult. She was oldest. She was almost already getting her grown-up teeth. Her right front

tooth was really loose.

She wiggled it with her tongue while she thought what to do.

She was two years older than Anakin.

Okay, one and a half years older. She was only five minutes older than Jacen. They were twins, even

though they did not look exactly alike. Her hair was light brown and very straight. Jacen's was dark and

curly. But she was still oldest.

"Down!" Anakin demanded. "Jaya, down!" "I'll let you down," Jaina said, "if you promise to stay on the

grass." Anakin stuck out his lower lip. His dark eyes sparkled with tears of frustration and anger. He was

always stubborn when anyone said no to him. About anything.

"Promise?" Jaina said.

"Stay on the grass," he said.

She let him down. He dashed across the grass. He peered over the edge. Jaina took her gaze off him for

a second. She crouched down next to Jacen, wishing he would wake up. The wyrwulf twitched and

moaned.

Jaina looked around for Anakin. He was sticking his foot over the edge of the grass. Jaina ran after him

and pulled him back.

"I said stay on the grass!" "Am on the grass," he insisted. He pointed toward the floor. "Just a floor, Jaya.

No krakana!" The last place they had been, on Mama's tour, they had not been allowed to swim in the

ocean.

Mon Calamari was mostly ocean, and its ocean was full of krakana. Krakana would eat anything, even

children. Especially children.

Now, every time anybody told Anakin "no," he would argue by saying, "No krakana!" Jaina did not want

to scare him. She did not know if there was anything to be scared of yet. She wished she knew how they

had gotten here. Something bad must have happened, but maybe getting taken away like this was how

they got rescued.

She wished Mama and Papa and Uncle Luke and Winter and Chewie and Mr. Threepio were here. Or

even just one of them.

Jacen whimpered. Jaina grabbed Anakin's hand and pulled him across the little patch of grass to her

twin's side.

"Hold Jasa's hand," Jaina said. Anakin grabbed Jacen's hand in both his little fists.

Jaina took Jacen's other hand.

"Jasa, Jasa, wake up," Anakin said.

"Sleepybones!" Jacen opened his eyes. "Ouch!" he said, just as Jaina said, "Ouch!" She could feel what

he felt. He could feel what she felt. Jaina's head hurt, like somebody was screaming in her ear.

Their eyes were filled with tears. Jaina's lower lip trembled. She pressed her lips together to keep from

crying. Her front tooth wiggled.

She made the scream and the hurt go away. From her and from Jacen, before he was all awake.

She was not supposed to use her Jedi abilities unless Uncle Luke was with them.

Jacen was not supposed to. Anakin especially was not supposed to. Uncle Luke was teaching them what

to do. How to do it right.

But sometimes it was hard not to do something. Like now.

Jacen sat up. Bits of grass stuck to his homespun shirt. Some were stuck in his curly dark brown hair.

Jaina brushed her hands against her own hair, but she did not find any grass blades. Her light brown hair

was very straight, so hardly anything ever got tangled in it. Jacen roughed his fingers through his hair,

leaving it rumpled as usual. The grass fell out.

"Okay now?" she said.

"Okay now," Jacen said. He looked around.

"Where are we?" "Remember what happened?" "We were playing with Chewie--" his--and he jumped

up--" his--and then he fell down--" his--and then I went to sleep." "Me too." "Skiff!" Anakin said. "Jaya

forgot the skiff!" "What skiff?" "I saw it!" Anakin insisted.

"This isn't a skiff!" Jacen said.

He was right. The room they were in could hold a whole skiff.

"Maybe the skiff brought us here." "Where?" Jacen said.

Jaina shrugged. They might be on a spaceship. They might be in a great big building. They might even still

be on Munto Codru, underground. Jaina and Jacen had explored under the castle. They had found halls

and caves and tunnels. But they had never found any place that looked like this.

"Are you okay, wyrwulf?" Jacen bent over Mr. Chamberlain's wyrwulf and stroked its fur. The black

undercoat shone beneath the rougher, duller black guard hairs. The wyrwulf's eyelids flickered. It

whimpered and sat up, panting.

"Good woof," Anakin said.

Jacen looked around. "Maybe Chewie is here someplace, maybe he's still asleep too." He jumped to his

feet and walked right off the edge of the grass.

Nothing happened.

"See, Jaya?" Anakin said, pleased with himself. "No krakana!" He ran after Jacen.

The wyrwulf trotted after them.

Jaina took one step after Jacen and Anakin.

She stopped. She was sure that if they stayed on the grass, nothing could hurt them. But she did not want

her brothers to go off alone. She was the oldest, after all.

She ran back to the center of the safe patch.

She stooped and pushed aside fronds of feather grass. She was looking for her multitool. She knew it

was here. She had brought it to the field to look at things with. When Chewie fell down, she had jumped

up. Then she had fallen asleep. She must have dropped it.

There!

Jaina snatched up the tool. She shoved it deep into her pocket to keep it hidden. With her multitool she

would be safe.

She ran after her brothers.

Her feet clanged on the metal floor.

She caught up to Jacen. He was looking at the wall. Anakin did not bother to look. He kicked it.

"Bad wall!" "Don't do that, you'll hurt yourself," Jacen said.

Anakin glowered and bumped the toe of his shoe against the wall. Not kicking. Not kicking for real.

"There's got to be a door," Jacen said reasonably. "For us to come in." "Maybe there's a trapdoor," Jaina

said.

"A secret door." She rapped her knuckles against the metal. The knock was very solid. She looked up.

"Here's the support," she said.

Jacen, too, looked up at the ceiling.

Narrow metal beams curved over them.

The lights hung from the beams.

"We have to look for a door between the beams," Jaina said. She walked around the room, knocking on

the wall. She found some hollow spots. But she could not find a door. She took out her multitool. She

opened the drill part.

"You aren't supposed to do that," Jacen said.

"I didn't!" Jaina said. But she touched the drill part to the wall. She was only supposed to use it on

something she was making in the workshop. Not on walls or floors or furniture.

Anyway it would not work on metal, only on wood.

She tried anyway, wiggling her front tooth with her tongue while she concentrated. But the drill would not

do anything. It hid itself back inside the handle.

When Jaina was seven she could have a multitool that worked on metal. If she was good. If she was

responsible.

She wished she was seven. Seven was a long time away.

She opened the lens part instead. She used it to look at the wall as close as she could. She thought she

found a seam. A crack?

A door opened.

Jaina jumped back. She grabbed Anakin's hand and pushed him behind her. At the same time she

shoved her multitool back into her pocket.

She and Jacen stood side by side, defending their little brother.

The wyrwulf crouched and growled.

Anakin wailed and tried to burrow his way between Jaina and Jacen, to see what was happening.

A tall and very beautiful man walked out. He had gold-and copper-and cinnamon-colored striped hair,

very pale skin, and very big black eyes. His face was sharp and thin, all corners.

He wore a long white robe.

He smiled down at Jaina.

"You poor children," he said.

He knelt in front of them.

"My poor children! I'm so sorry. Come to me, I'll keep you safe from now on." "I want Papaffwas

Anakin shouted.

"Mama!" "I'm very sorry, sir," Jaina said with her best court manners. "We can't go to you." "We aren't

allowed," Jacen explained.

"We don't know you." "Ah, children, don't you remember me? No, how could you, you were only just

born. I'm your hold-father Hethrirffwas Jaina stared at him, uncertain. She had never heard of any

Hold-father Hethrir. But she and Jacen had lots of hold-fathers and hold-mothers.

Anakin had lots of hold-fathers and hold-mothers.

"Candy?" Anakin asked hopefully.

The beautiful man smiled. "Of course. As soon as we get you cleaned up." Their hold-parents always

brought them toys, and treats that were not often allowed otherwise.

"Do you know the pass^w?" Jaina asked.

Mama had told her never to go with anyone who did not know the pass^w.

Hold-father Hethrir sat crosslegged on the floor in front of them.

The wyrwulf flopped to the deck, leaning its head on its fangs, and stared at Hold-father Hethrir.

"Children," Hethrir said, "a terrible thing has happened. I came to visit you, to see my sweet friend Leia

and my old comrade Han.

To meet your Uncle Luke. But when I came, I saw a horrible thing! An earthquake!" He cocked his head

at Jaina. "Do you know what an earthquake is?" Uneasily, Jaina nodded.

"I'm sorry, children. The castle--it was so old! It fell down, and..." He stopped, and took a deep breath.

Jaina's lower lip started to quiver again. Her eyes got all blurry. She blinked. She did not want to hear

what Hold-father Hethrir had to say.

"Your mama was in the castle. And your papa, and your Uncle Luke. You were in the meadow--d you

remember?--andthe ground opened up and swallowed friend Chewbacca, and you were about to slide

down into the horrible crack in the earth, but I was right there and I swooped down and I saved you. But

I couldn't save friend Chewbacca, and..." He glanced down, and wiped a tear from his cheek, and

looked up again. "I'm so sorry, children, we could not rescue your mama or your papa or your uncle."

Anakin started to wail. "Papa! Mama!

Uncle Lukeffwas Jaina clutched his hand and pulled him close.

"Don't cry," she whispered. Anakin stopped wailing, but he still sniffled and sobbed.

"But Papa and Uncle Luke--" Jacen's voice was trembly, but suspicious.

Jaina nudged him. He shut up.

"None of that, now." Hold-father Hethrir smiled.

Somehow, he knew what she had done. And it made him angry, though he was smiling. Scared, Jaina