Part 18 (1/2)

They moved on, Han keeping a sharp eye on the spider. But it never rose from the perch it was feeding upon, never turned their way. It did not even pay attention to the centipedes moving across the tops of adjacent fungi, and realizing that, only then was Han half certain the thing had to be disinterested in animal life.

Another kilometer farther on, Leia made a noise of surprise. Another bogey emerged, this one from a silver-gray structure the size of the building where the Solos kept their quarters on Coruscant. It had a darker color scheme, its lights a more muted arrangement of violets and reds. The noise it made was quite musical, like a harp being played by a Kowakian monkey-lizard.

Leia did not hesitate, but approached it and brushed her hand across its outer nimbus. Again she crackled with static electricity; again her hair stood out in a display that suggested electrocution.

”Start talking, Princess. I need to know you're not unconscious on your feet.”

”Looking,” she said, her tone distant. ”Variables. Unimaginable numbers of them. Maintaining.”

”Maintaining what?” Reluctantly, Han turned his back on Leia and the bogey, once again keeping guard against the sea of fungi and the life-forms within it.

”I don't know ... The data will be lost. Cycle ending, cycle winding down.”

That had an ominous sound to it. But Han was distracted by something in the distance. If they were following a north-south wall-and he had no reason to believe they were, for the speeder's sensors were long gone, but he called it north-south because he had to call it something something of his own-then off at an angle, maybe a kilometer away due northwest, there was something in the middle of the fungus field. It looked like a mound of-he wasn't sure. Steel barrels, lashed together, like an improvised fuel dump in a wartime encampment. of his own-then off at an angle, maybe a kilometer away due northwest, there was something in the middle of the fungus field. It looked like a mound of-he wasn't sure. Steel barrels, lashed together, like an improvised fuel dump in a wartime encampment.

”Centerpoint ... Oh. Oh.” Leia gasped. Han turned to see her staggering back, the musical bogey disappearing into the stone at their feet.

Han grabbed her, held her upright while she recovered. ”Why did you say Centerpoint Centerpoint?”

”I saw Centerpoint Station! As clear as a holo.” Her eyes darted back and forth as she reviewed what she'd just experienced. ”Han, that image I had before, the millions of random intensities?”

”Yeah?”

”Gravity wells, I'm sure of it. A galaxy's worth of gravity wells.”

”Huh. Is this thing one gigantic astronomical observatory?”

”Maybe.” She straightened, recovered, but did not break his embrace. ”But for what purpose?”

”Centerpoint Station was all about gravity. Its super-tractor-beam was gravitic in nature.” Han glanced along the seemingly endless row of machinery. ”Could this be from the same makers? The so-called Celestials? It doesn't look that old.”

”Neither did Centerpoint.”

Han gestured at the distant mound of barrels. ”Something different to look at.”

”Let's eat first. Communing with energy blobs is hard work.”

Half an hour later, fortified by travel rations, they reached the mound.

Traveling through the fungus forest to get there had not been safe. Most of the life-forms fled at their approach, but the red-and-yellow centipedes were aggressive and fast moving. Fortunately, they were also loud, skittering forward with all the subtlety of a two-year-old flying a speeder bike. Han shot two before they approached closer than ten meters, and Leia cut one in half with her lightsaber when it reared up over the fungus ahead of them.

And then they were there, at the foot of the apparatus Han had seen.

It rested on a disk of something like durasteel, six meters in diameter and a meter thick. Rising from that was a central pole with something like a broad sensor antenna stretching out from it. The antenna was curved like a dish; given the way it was situated, Han was certain it was meant to rotate. Piled up against the back of the dish, strapped to it by metal cabling, were the numerous barrel-like objects he had seen, each large enough to hold a full-grown bantha. The whole structure towered some fifteen meters into the air.

Leia looked at him. He shrugged. ”You got me.”

”I-hey!” Leia's deactivated lightsaber suddenly stretched out toward the apparatus, as if leaping toward it, and she staggered in that direction.

So did Han. It was as though his weapons and backpack were suddenly caught in a tractor beam, dragging him along.

Then the pull ceased. Resisting it, Han and Leia were abruptly stumbling in the other direction.

Leia straightened. ”Magnetic pulse. Why don't we, um-”

”Move back a ways, yeah.”

They did so, observing the apparatus from what they felt was a safer distance: thirty meters.

Han was unsurprised when a bogey emerged from the base of the apparatus. ”Call for you, sweetie,” he said.

Leia shot him a half-amused look and approached the bogey.

”Ask it what the gizmo is for and if there are any good bars or clubs around here.”

”Your sense of humor is returning-ah.” She offered a little gasp as her hand came in contact with the bogey. Again her hair whipped up into an electrocuted nimbus.

”Draw in,” she said. ”Push out. Deactivate. Next. Next. Next. Acceleration. Interaction.” Clearly pained, Leia kept up the contact.

”Leia-”

”Not now, Han. I can see the sequence. They're everywhere, it's huge huge. Evaluations almost complete, then terminus.” Finally, she staggered back. This time she did fall, sprawling on the mulchy cavern floor, eyes open but glazed.

”Leia!” Han knelt over her, torn between making sure she was unhurt and keeping a wary eye out for centipedes. He decided to rely on his ears for the latter danger and bent over his wife.

She was panting, the meter on her breath mask indicating the increased demands on its processing, but her vision was clearing. She sat up almost as abruptly as she had fallen. ”We've got to go.”

”Where?”

”The surface.”

”I knew that already.” A cold suspicion formed in Han's gut. ”Why?” knew that already.” A cold suspicion formed in Han's gut. ”Why?”

”This cavern is going to blow up, and then another few, and then the rest all at once, and that's the end for Kessel.”

As they ran, she explained. ”That antenna-thing is an electromagnet. A super-electromagnet. When it starts spinning, it will yank the machinery off the walls and drag it all to itself.”

”Not a chance. Across all those kilometers?”

”Han, the makers of this place might also have built Centerpoint Station. Remember how powerful it it was?” Centerpoint's gravitic tractor could, in theory, move planets and suns; could collapse and destroy whole solar systems. Han didn't miss its presence in the universe. was?” Centerpoint's gravitic tractor could, in theory, move planets and suns; could collapse and destroy whole solar systems. Han didn't miss its presence in the universe.

”Point taken. Super-destructive.”

”No, that's only the start.” They charged through the fungi toward the nearest wall, almost heedless of the dangers. Leia had her lightsaber in hand, and twice had to cleave red-and-yellow centipedes as they struck at her. Once they raced by a fungus with a crimson spider atop; they were ten meters past before the adrenaline hit Han and gave him a burst of speed, but the spider did not follow.

”Those barrels are explosives,” Leia continued. ”I didn't get a sense of how they functioned, whether they're protonic or nuclear or something we don't even understand, but when all the machinery is encrusted onto the antenna, they blow up and incinerate it all ... and collapse the cavern.”