[Dark Forces] - 03 - Jedi Knight ...

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STAR WARSDark ForcesJedi Knightby William C. Deets & Ezra TuckerThe airspeeder, a world-weary affair built from salvage and held tosether by incessant prayer, couehed, sputtered, and lurched through the air. It had been yellow once, but that was long ago, and large islands of rusl dotted the sun-bleached paint. An outcropping of rock rose ahead.The machine's sole occupant had a two-day growth of beard and eyes that peered from skin-draped caves. He saw the danger, swore, and fiddled with the controls.The repulsorltft engine cut out, caught, and pushed the machine higher. The top-most spire passed within a meter of the speeder's bellv. The vehicle sagged as if exhausted bv ihe effort, and Grif Grawlev patted the console."Thata girl.., you done good.,. real good "The settler peered over the side - saw the airspecder's shadow flit across the land - and watched his gra bounce along the flats below. He knew where thev were headed. The wind-sculpted hill, one of many left to mark the retreat of an ancient glacier, had triggered one of their preprogrammed instincts: "Look for the high ground when the light starts to Jade - and watch for predators "A survival strategy that seemed natural - but was actually the result of extensive genetic engineering. Genetic engineering that had proven so reliable that gra sperm and ova were normally sold "bv the herd" and came with an electronic manual.A manual that Grif had memorized during the long trip to Rmisan,A pile of boulders appeared in their path, and the herd splil into two groups, one that followed Alpha, the dominant male, and one that trailed Beta, his male.The hill was closer now, and Grif dumped speed. The speeder was fragile, very fragile, and the settler didn't fancv a fifty-kilometer walk to Fort Nowhere, the onlv human outpost on Ruusan,The speeder slowed, hovered over the summit, and settled onto skid marks left from previous landings. Grif cut power, ran the check list, and secured the tie-downs. The wind came up at night - - and it paid to be careful.Then, with the surely of someone who has done somethine a hundred times, Grif set up camp. The shelter opened and locked with authoritative "snap " The combination cook chest and lood locker extended its lees and stood beside the lent.That's when Grif opened a much-abused metal ease. Components, each hand crafted from whatever Grif could bee, borrow, or steal lav snuggled within.He removed ihe assemblies one by one, held them up to the auieklv fading light, and blew imaginary grit from their workings. Each unit made a satisfying "click" as it mated with the next. The object, which Grif called "Fido " was shaped like a boomerang and equipped with an assortment of sensors. The miniature fiver was designed to stay aloft all night, watch for signs of daneer, and alert Grif should any appear. The machine beeped as it came to life and shivered while its gyro spun up.The settler checked the machine's readouts, assured himself that all systems were green, and threw the device off a nearbv cliff. Fido propelled itself into a thermal, switched its power plant to standby, and soared into the quickly darkening skv.Grif checked a monitor, verified the quality of the incoming holos, and returned to his chores. The gra were halfway up the hill bv then, picking their way through the scree, and nibbling on tough, rubberv plants. A series of cliffs would hold them at that level until morning came.Half an hour later, with a tumbler of what the locals referred to as "Old Trusty" to keep him company and a fabulous view of the setting sun. Grit called his wife.Carole Grawlev was expecting the call and smiled as she lifted the handset"Grif?""Hi, honev.., I'm sitting on top o! hill 461,,, and everything's fine "Carole carried the cornm set out onto the flat piece of hard-packed dirt thev jokingly called "the veranda " The house, which had been dug into a hillside twenty klicks south of Fort Nowhere, faced south to take advance of the winter sun. Hill 461 was southwest of her position, and Carole looked in that direction. "How's the sunset? It looks marvelous from here "Grif pictured his wife's face, still beautiful in spite oi the heavilv ridged scar tissue, and smiled-"It's gorgeous, honey,.. just like you "Carole Grawley smiled, knew he meant it, and changed the subject."The pump's acting np attain. I have drinking water, and enough for the garden, but the irrigation system is dry. The crops have started to droop "Grif thought about the fact that the cave farmers had all the water they could use and wondered if they were right. "Outcropping " which was the name they used to describe what he and his wife did, was much more difficult than it had been on Sulon, Of course, working down in a cave, using light piped in from the surface, had its drawbacks, too. Like being closed in. Grif took a pull from his drink."No problem, honey I'll fix ol' Jennv soon as I get back."Carole Grawley smiled at her husband's propensity for naming machinery and watched the sun disappear beyond the western horizon."I know you will, Grif - - take care of yourself out there ""You can count on it " Grit replied. "Be sure to set the perimeter alarms. I'll call tomorrow ""Love you...""Love you, too - good night 'With no sun to warm it, the air cooled quickly. Grif was able to see his breath by the time dinner was over and the first of Ruusan's three satellites popped over the Eastern horizon. The smugglers who built Fort Nowhere referred to the moons as "the triolets" and swore there were ruins on one of them. Not that it made much difference to Grif. He bad other things to worry about.The settler tossed back his drink, poured himself another, and checked Fido's scanner readings. The fiver, which circled the hill at regular five- minute intervals, assured him that everything was under control.All of tbe gra were accounted for, no predators had infiltrated the area, and atmospheric conditions were normal.In fact, the only anomaly, assuming it qualified as such, was that the planet's network of sixteen combination weather and surveillance satellites had gone off the air. Not unheard of, but unusual, especially in light of the fact that the smugglers who had placed the machines in orbit were fanatical about maintenance.Still, things can and do go wrong, and Grif assumed that the problem would be identified and subsequently fixed.The third moon had risen by that time and, with help from its siblings, threw a soft while cloak across the land. Grii finished the second drink, considered a third, and knew Carole would disapprove.That being the case, he removed the electrobinoculars from their place in the skimmer and walked to the highest point on the hill. There was very little chance that he would spot the elusive natives, bouncing and floating across the land, but he never stopped trying. What some of his fellow settlers regarded with fear and loathing, he considered beautiful and fascinating.Grif switched the electrobinoculars to infrared, chose a spot on the southern horizon, and quartered the area.Rocks, still warm from the sun, glowed green in the viewfinder. Light streaked across the screen as a bush runner dashed from one location to another. He moved the glasses farther to the right - - and that's when he saw the bouncer's telltale shape. It was round, like a ball. The settler felt his pulse pound as he pressed the zoom control. The image grew larger.But wait, something was wrong, wry wrong. The heat signature was too large, too intense, and too high in the air.Grif knew how much ihe indigs loved to roll in front of the wind, bounce into the air, and float until gravity pulled them down. They got fifty or sixty meters' worth of altitude off a good bounce sometimes, but this object was a good deal higher than that.So what could it be? Whatever it was had the capacity to hover - and move against the prevailing wind. Grif watched the glowing, green globe grow larger, realized it was coming his way, and felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. Since he could see it. - - it could see him!Memories flickered through his mind, memories of Imperial probe droid that drifted through the mist, memories of energy beams that stabbed the walls of his home, and the knowledge lhat he had no way to slop them.He remembered the explosion, the flames, and the sound of Katie's screams. He remembered how Carole had tried to enter the house, how he had pulled her out, and how the structure had collapsed a few seconds later.Carole had been on fire by then, screaming her daughter's name, kicking and biting as he pulled her away. All because the family had taken part in a brave but futile proiesl against the Imperial presence on Sulon. A Rebel leader named Morgan Katarn had spirited them away - - and brought them to Ruusan - - but there was no escaping the memories.Grif watched the image grow and knew it had locked on to the heat radiating off the airspeeder. The only question was whether the droid had been launched by an Imperial vessel on its way through the system - - or by a ship in orbit. The first theory was consistent with the way Imperial scout ships were known to operate, while the second would explain why the weather satellites had gone off the air.Not that it made a whole lot of difference, since the course of action would be the same. Destroy the probe, warn ihe others, and hope for the best. It was all that Grif or anyone else could do,The settler's heart pounded against his chest as he ran downhill, skidded to a stop, and used his hunting knife to sever the tie-downs. The speeder creaked as he climbed aboard.Work-thickened fingers ... [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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