The Crystal Star (41 page)

loose the last tied-up Proctor, to fling away his lightsaber, and then she walked out of the theater without

looking back.

The Proctor staggered to his feet. He looked so funny, with the arms and legs of his uniform cut off, that

Jaina laughed. He glared at her, but there was nothing he could do. He glanced after his lightsaber, but he

was too frightened to retrieve it. Stumbling, awkward, he fled.

On the stage, the gold sphere contracted to the size of a ball. Hethrir must be squished up inside it.

Jaina felt safe.

Leia feared for no one for the first time in too long. She worried about Rillao and Tigris, reunited, yet

separated by Hethrir's lies.

But she could not bear more fear.

"Let's go home." Han stared at the diminishing sphere that had been Waru.

"This place gives me the creeps." "It gives me a headache," Rillao said.

"I do not like this system at all. It is. disconnected." Leia went to her brother. She set Jacen on the

ground and reached up for Jaina, still on Luke's shoulders.

"Come down, sweetheart," she said. "Your Uncle Luke is tired." Jaina dove into Leia's embrace and

hugged her tightly, then jumped down and wrapped her arms around Luke's waist.

"You lean on me, Uncle Lukeffwas she said.

Luke looked gray with fatigue and pain; "Thank you, Jaina," he said. His gaze kept returning to Waru's

sphere.

"What did it want from us?" Leia asked.

Waru whispered to my brother, she thought, and told him--tempted him.

"It was stranded," Luke said. His gaze was haunted. "It could only gain energy by annihilating the Force

of our universe with the anti-Force of its own." "And Waru reached the Force..." Leia said, horrified.

"Yes. Through people. By destroying people." "Lusa said it eats people," Jaina said.

"The Ithorian child," Han said.

Luke nodded. "But Waru didn't always kill its victims. Sometimes, if it was satiated, it would feed the

power back. It really could heal people, or strengthen them. That's what happened to Hethrir's Proctors

if they survived--if they were reborn. And that's what Hethrir wanted for himself. To have his connection

to the Force strengthened and refined. It is... a very tempting offer." Luke shook his head as if flinging off

a memory. "Hethrir had to satiate Waru before he'd risk himself. He needed someone stronger than he

was, someone Waru would prefer--yet someone Hethrir could control." "Anakin," Leia whispered. Han

smoothed Anakin's dark hair, holding him protectively.

"Anakin get down!" Anakin said.

Reluctantly, Han let him down. Anakin ran to Luke, and gazed up at him.

"Waru didn't care what Hethrir wanted," Luke said. "Waru needed enough power to rip a path through

space-time back to its own universe. Like an electron and a positron.

Bring them together, and--" He clapped his hands together. "Annihilation. Unimaginable energy." He

closed his eyes. "Hethrir thought he'd be able to tap into that power. And... for a moment, so did I." "Is it

gone for good?" Han asked.

Luke nodded. "And Hethrir, too. Waru wanted to go home." Leia could not make herself feel the least

sympathy for Waru.

Luke drew Jaina and Jacen and Anakin into an embrace. He kissed them each on the forehead.

"Thank you, young Jedi Knights, for calling me back." "You're welcome, Uncle Luke," they said.

"Hey," Han protested. "Don't Leia and I get any credit?" Luke hugged the children, and smiled.

Leia and Chewbacca gathered the stolen children together. Rillao put her arm around Tigris.

He shrugged it off angrily. He tried to pick up the gold sphere that had been Waru, but he could not lift it,

he could not move it. He ran out of the theater, leaving Rillao behind. Leia took Rillao's hand and

squeezed it, hoping to give the Firrerreo some comfort.

"Oh, Lelila," Rillao said. "My sweet son..." "Give him time." "Yes. And peace, if we can find it." "I'll help

you," Leia said. "Luke can help--" "No!" Rillao gripped Leia's hand intently. "Tigris has been too much

under the influence of Hethrir. He cannot counter it. He must be left alone, to find himself. If he returns to

me, it must be of his own free will." Leia's eyes filled with tears of sympathy for the distress in Rillao's

voice.

"I know a place where you can rest, and think, and talk, and play--a refuge, for as long as you need it. A

place of peace." Rillao tensed. It was not the custom of her people to accept charity or even sympathy.

Leia was afraid Rillao would snarl, "Who asked you for your help?" and stalk stiffly away.

"My family owes yours so much!" Leia said sincerely. "We'll always be in your debt, Firrerreo." I'll never

speak Rillao's name in public again, Leia realized. I'll never again use that power over her.

"Please let me repay you a little." Rillao hesitated. "I accept, Lelila," she finally said.

Rillao glanced at the altar. The sphere contracted to half its size, to half its size again, and again. Each

contraction happened more quickly.

The sphere was the size of an orange, an egg, a marble. It blurred.

A grain of golden sand lay on the altar.

With a blaze of energy, the pop! of air filling a vacuum, it disappeared.

Rillao shivered and turned away.

"Come with me," Leia said.

"Very well, Lelila." Together, they walked into the light of the crystal star.

Tigris had run halfway to the hill, and then he had stopped. He sat on the ground with his back to them,

his head down. Rillao watched him from a distance.

Leia passed through the archway of Waru's retreat. Heat and brilliance hit her. Her knees trembled with

exhaustion. She sat abruptly on the ground. Jacen ran to her, worried, and cuddled in her lap. She held

him, smoothing his unruly hair. Rillao sat on her heels beside them, gazing toward her son.

The sky beyond the dome amazed Leia. The crystal star orbited the black hole, closer and closer,

crashing through the glowing whirlpool.

Gravitational stress was ripping it apart. The black hole pulled a swirl of glowing star-stuff from the

dwarf's surface and spun it into the accretion disk, which blazed more and more brightly.

Leia had to look away, before it dazzled her.

Mr. Chamberlain's wyrwulf flung itself at her feet and gazed at her with wide gold eyes, panting.

Free for the first time in--how long?--the stolen children ran and shouted and played. Lusa leaped in a

capriole, jumping high in the air and kicking her hind feet.

Han sat behind Leia.

"Are you okay?" She nodded, too tired to speak.

Jaina nestled in her lap next to Jacen. Anakin ran over and cuddled with his brother and sister. Leia

hugged them. Han put one arm around them all, and stroked Leia's hair. Leia leaned gratefully into Han's

warmth and strength.

"We'd better get out of here," he said. "But first we have to find Threepio." "And Artoo," Leia said.

"Speaking of," Luke said.

Artoo-Detoo and See-Threepio descended the trail, Artoo rolling and bumping along at full speed,

Threepio walking as fast as he could.

"Mistress Leia! Master Luke, Master Hanffwas "Mr. Threepffwas Anakin jumped up and ran toward

Threepio and grabbed him around the leg.

"Master Anakinffwas Threepio said. "I'm delighted to see you well!" Anakin stood on Threepio's foot to

ride back to Leia. He shrieked with delight.

Both droids slowed when they saw Tigris, but the youth did not react to them. Artoo rolled on by;

Threepio passed him with a curious glance.

Anakin jumped off Threepio's foot and ran to Tigris. He grabbed Tigris's grubby shirt and pulled him

toward the others.

Tigris shrugged, pulling his shirt out of Anakin's hands.

Mr. Chamberlain's wyrwulf loped after Anakin. The heavy chain attached to its collar clanked and

rattled.

Threepio reached Leia and Han. "We must hurry, Master Hanffwas he exclaimed.

"Where have you been?" Han asked. "And what happened to you?" Threepio's new purple varnish had

crackled all over like the glaze of an antique pot.

"A strange man--he was with that boy--" Threepio gestured toward Tigris. "Master Anakin was with

him! When I requested an explanation, why, the man struck me! With a lightsaber! I was of course

completely disabled.

I was lucky not to be dismembered! Master Luke, if this is the caliber of the people you are looking for, I

beg you not to try to find any more of them!" "Don't worry, Threepio," Luke said.

"They imprisoned me! Artoo discovered me, and resuscitated my circuits--" Artoo-Detoo trilled

emphatically. his--but no time for that!" Threepio exclaimed.

"Artoo has made an ominous discovery!" "I'm not sure we can stand another ominous discovery," Han

said indulgently. "Can it wait till after supper?" "I fear not, sir. The white dwarf star has cooled into a

perfect quantum crystal. Very rare--unique, to my knowledge! As the black hole increases the amplitude

of its resonance--" "The crystal star is resonating?" "I beg your pardon, Master Luke?" "The crystal star

is resonating." "Indeed it is, sir--I believe I said as much. The resonances destabilize its orbit.

The crystal star is in danger of falling into the black hole at any moment." Threepio paused to be sure

everyone knew what this meant.

Everyone did.

Threepio continued anyway. "When that happens --the violence of the explosion, the density of the X-ray

flux... No living being, biological or mechanical, will survive." "How long have we got?" Han demanded.

"The possibilities are never all calculable, I regret to say," Threepio said.

Artoo whistled insistently.

"I believe I said that, too," Threepio retorted. "It is clear to everyone that we do not have much time."

Leia shooed Jaina and Jacen out of her lap, and jumped to her feet.

"Children!" she called. "Come along! It's time to go home." None of the stolen children begged to be

allowed to run and play a little longer. Even Lusa, who had run all the way around Waru's retreat at a

dead gallop and passed Leia on the way to making another circuit, slid to a halt. She pranced and

danced in place.

"Home!" she said. "Home!" The stolen children set off up the hillside, shepherded by Chewbacca and

Threepio and Artoo.

Chewbacca looked like a pile of children, for he carried them on his back and in his arms. Two of the

little ones rode his feet, delightedly clutching his fur and squealing with each stride. The rest of the children

jockeyed for a place as near to him as they could get.

"Let's go, love," Han said to Leia.

They held hands and walked toward the hillside trail. Rillao and Luke and the twins followed.

As they approached Tigris and Anakin, Tigris unfastened the collar and chain from Mr.

Iyon's wyrwulf. He rose and threw the collar away, as hard as he could.

Mr. Iyon's wyrwulf sat on its haunches and gave its neck a good scratch with both feet of its central legs.

Rillao stopped a few paces from Tigris.

"My son," she said gently. "We must leave." Tigris glared at her. "No." "This system will die soon." "I

don't care!" Leia joined them. "Then it doesn't matter," she said, "whether you come with us or not. So

you might as well." Tigris glanced at her, quizzically.

"Tigris come home!" Anakin demanded.

Tigris laid his hand on Anakin's dark curly hair. "I have no home, little one." "Cookies!" Anakin grabbed

Tigris's hand and pulled.

Tigris raised his head and looked his mother in the eyes.

"You didn't steal the Force from me, did you?" "No, my sweet," she whispered.

"I never had any abilities at all, did I?" Sadly, she shook her head.

"Wait a minute!" Han said. "Kid, you saved my son's life. Maybe you can't use the Force. So what?

Neither can I, and it hasn't held me back." "Who are you?" Tigris said.

Han laughed, surprised. "Maybe my disguise is better than I thought. I'm Han Solo." "I was taught to hate

you." Tigris added thoughtfully, "As I was taught to hate my mother." "That's too bad," Han said with

genuine regret. "I'm grateful to you. Thank you for bringing Anakin back to us." "And I was taught to

respect you--" Tigris said.

"That's a start--" his--z an enemy." Han grinned his lopsided grin. "A weird start, but a start all the same.

Come on, kid.

Let's get out of here." "I don't have any choice, do I?" Tigris said belligerently.

"Not a whole hell of a lot," Han said.

With a show of revulsion, Tigris trudged after the other children. Rillao watched him go, her shoulders

slumped. Leia put her arm around her new friend.

"It is a beginning," she said.

"Yes, Lelila. A beginning." Han made a choking sound. Startled, Leia looked up.

He was doing his best not to laugh at Tigris.

"Han!" Leia said. "Stop it!" "Okay," he said, his voice strangled. He controlled his laughter by force of

will, and grinned crookedly at her. "I don't know what he does think," he said, "but I don't think he wants

to die." Even Rillao brightened at that. "I believe you are right," she said.

"Luke?" Leia said. Her brother was staring at Waru's retreat. Leia had the irrational fear that he would

run back inside.

"Resonance," Luke said. "That's it." "What?" Han asked.

"The resonance. Of the crystal star. It's disrupting the Force--t's what's been happening to me." "To me,

too," Rillao said.

Luke spun toward her. "You--a Jedi?" She drew the inactive lightsaber from inside her robe. She did not

try to engage it, but she fastened it to her belt in its proper place.