"It seems designed to be most amusing," Tenel Ka observed in a deadpan
voice.
As they walked along, Lando squinted up at the uniformed workers.
A gray-tufted Ugnaught shift supervisor chittered at him, then squeaked
what must have been an announcement for all the construction workers to
take a brief break. The shift supervisor descended from the top of a
tall hovercoaster section, swinging down arm over arm from a lattice of
support structures until he landed in front of Lando.
He chattered along in a lengthy speech, waving his arms and
gesticulating as he made some sort of explanation. From Lowie's side
Em Teedee piped up, "I believe I speak Ugnaught rather well, Master
Calrissian. Would you like me to translate?"
" Not necessary, Em Teedee," he said. "I spent plenty of years on
Cloud City. I wouldn't have been much good as a Baron-Administrator if
I couldn't speak Ugnaught, now would I?"
Lando chattered something back in the alien-sounding language.
The Ugnaught shift boss nodded, then leapt to a crossbrace on the
hovercoaster track and clambered up, yelling for the crew to get back
to their duties. The other Ugnaughts returned to work, attaching
crossbraces to the high-speed levitating hovercoaster.
"The new shift supervisor says everything's on schedule," Lando told
them.
"What happened to the previous supervisor?" Zekk asked, narrowing his
eyes against the flickering play of shadows, dazzling laser light, and
high-spectrum glowpanels.
"Cojahn fired him a few days before he fell from the balcony. Kind of
a feisty Ugnaught. He was always arguing with Cojahn about
something.
Distinctive-looking guy, I guess. According to the records, a patch of
fur got burned off his head in an accident, because he refused to use
appropriate safety procedures." Lando frowned suspiciously.
"Apparently Cojahn disagreed with the former supervisor's methods. His
replacement, though, assures me that Cojahn was a good boss, very
attentive, insisting that all work be done to exacting standards. He
accepted slower progress just so they could add more safety
features."
Lando shook his head.
Jaina stepped closer to him. "If Cojahn was so concerned with safety,
it doesn't seem likely he'd be careless enough to slip and fall off a
dangerous outer balcony."
"Not on your life," Lando said vehemently. "Cojahn was so careful, so
protective of other people and his own safety he wouldn't even let his
daughters sit in their repulsorswings without being strapped in.
He'd never have just fallen off a balcony."
"He could have jumped though," Anja suggested in her usual sour tone.
She tossed her long mane of hair behind her shoulders and straightened
the headband. "Couldn't take the pressure or the responsibility,
maybe? You never can tell about some people."
"I can," Lando said. "And I can tell you that Cojahn would never have
taken a swan dive-and certainly not at this time in his life.
Everything was going right for him. This was gonna be our big
break."
Together, they continued walking through a narrow, oddly angled
corridor. The trapezoidal walls and upwardly sloping ramps seemed
designed to disorient and confuse any visitors. Moving mirrors added
to the confusion, and Jaina found it difficult to keep her footing.
As they stepped past a set of hidden sensors that triggered a new
display, glimmering images of slavering holographic monsters suddenly
appeared in the air. Scaled and clawed beasts lunged out of darkened
alcoves with ferocious synthesized roars.
Zekk yelled. Lowie snarled. Tenel Ka leapt into a battle stance,
yanking the rancor-tooth lightsaber loose from her belt. But Jacen
just laughed, making a face at the hideous images. "Those simulated
creatures are ridiculous, Lando," he said. "Who could believe anything
that ugly would exist in this universe?"
Anja just snorted. "I've seen plenty of ugly things."
"Okay, but the feel is all wrong. If these are supposed to be
landbound predators, they need some sort of camouflage coloring, not
glowpanel yellow or repulsodet blue. They wouldn't all come from the
same direction, either. You could add some high ledges or branches.
And it wouldn't be hard to program your holobeasts to respond to
visitors' movements."
Lando glanced appraisingly at the illusionary monsters, which still
roared and slashed ineffectively at them. He waved his hands in front
of the nearest image; the projected beast didn't react. "Maybe you're
right, Jacen. We should make the holothreats a bit more interesting at
that." Next they passed an enormous antigravity playchamber-currently
nonfunctional. The spherical room had padded walls and strange
formed-foam obstacles protruding from the sides. As Jaina peered
through one of the observation ports, she could see that the chamber
must have been tested at least once, judging by the discarded, dented
paint containers and the splatters that had all fallen in an impact
pattern around the curved walls.
Lando punched a command into his datapad and reoriented his holographic
model. As the others drew closer to look at the tiny rendering of the
amusement park, he pointed out the various rides and experience
chambers he and Cojahn had planned in their grand scheme for SkyCenter
Galleria.
"Some of this was going to be in Phase II." He shook his head.
He kept his voice flat as he struggled to control his emotions, though
Jaina could tell that Lando remained deeply disturbed. "We'd intended
this place to be a long-term investment, our greatest success. We had
a ten-year plan for expanding, bringing in new people."
He stared upward at the catwalks, support braces, and colorful
backdrops of cloth. "That's why it was so important for me to have you
kids here as 'test consultants." We wanted to get everything right-the
look, the details, the thrills. Now I don't know how I'm gonna do half
of this by myself."
"Can't you find other investors?" Jacen asked. "This place is a great
idea." Tenel Ka looked at him, and Lowie grumbled a comment.
Lando nodded sincerely. "Probably, in a pinch-but it won't be the
same. Half of SkyCenter Galleria was Cojahn's idea." They arrived at
the top of a vortex tunnel. "This one was my idea, though."
Bright red-and-white barricades blocked off the dangerous-looking pit
... but the barricades looked like props, part of the scenery.
Stepping closer, Jaina looked down into the ominous shaft, where mist
and colored lights swirled, increasing the mystery.
"Come on, it's about time we had a little fun," Lando said. "Follow
me, everybody."
He grabbed Jaina's arm and the two of them jumped into the hole.
Instinctively she cried out. Before she knew it, Jacen and Tenel Ka
had jumped in after them. Anja fought unsuccessfully when Zekk pushed
the older girl into the pit, then jumped in with Lowie close behind.
As Jaina dropped, she could hear the miniaturized transla
ting droid
scolding as they all dropped down, down...... Oh my! Master Lowbacca,
are you absolutely certain that this is safe? It may not have been
tested yet. We could be doomed......
Jaina clamped her mouth shut and let herself fall, drifting down,
confident that Lando would never have led them into danger, though she
realized his stunned grief might have caused him to be more impetuous
than he normally would have been.
One by one they dropped. First they descended through a blast of
supercold mist that froze into frost on the tiny hairs on Jaina's
arms.
Next they dropped through a warm, tropical steam. They kept falling,
swirling, spinning around as cyclonic winds tugged them from level to
level. Loud rushing sounds roared in their ears as they plunged past
speakers embedded in the walls, no doubt intended to increase the
sensation of speed and "danger" in their fall.
Finally, after they'd passed through a raft of semisolid bubbles that
slowed their descent, a blasting air cushion rocketed up from below.
Suddenly buoyant, they drifted gently down to land on a thick pad at
the bottom.
With a carefree laugh, Jaina reached up to catch her brother, while the
big hairy mass of Lowbacca nearly bowled Lando over on the mat.
They staggered off the padded landing platform into the holding area.
"Did you kids enjoy that?" Lando said, checking a bank of controls and
over-rides. All the lights registered green.
"We loved it," Jaina said.
:'Can we do it again?" Jacen asked.
"Dear me, no! Please feel free to enjoy the experience without me next
time," Em Teedee huffed.
"It was quite stimulating," Tenel Ka agreed.
Without a word, Anja smoothed back her hair and adjusted her
garments.
She glared daggers at Zekk, but he didn't seem to care.
"I'd call that a successful test run," Lando said, then sighed.
"Maybe this will work out after all."
"I sure hope so," Jaina said.
As he walked along between utility sheds and piles of supply crates,
listening to the construction sounds and the movement of materials from
the Port Town docks and the other levels on Cloud City, Lando placed
his hands on his hips. He had begun to recover from his shock and now
replaced it with a grim determination.
"The SkyCenter construction's on track," he said. "Cojahn took care of
that much, at least, but I've still got about a thousand administrative
details to take care of. That was my end of the bargain."
He heaved a heavy sigh and muttered to himself. "I sure could've used
your help right now, old buddy. Whatever made you stumble off the edge
of a city in the clouds?" He shook his head.
Jaina bit her lip and said out loud what she knew must have been on
everyone else's minds. "Maybe he didn't. What if he was pushed?"
Lando looked at her sharply, his big brown eyes narrowing. "I've
considered that."
An . a crossed her arms over her chest and let out a snort. "Yeah,
right," she said. "Always look for something sinister."
"It makes a whole lot more sense than to think that he jumped o his own
free will," Lando said, his nostrils flaring.
"We'll never know unless we investigate," Zekk said.
Lowie gave a Wookiee grumble, and the little droid translated.
"Master Lowbacca says there can be no doubt that something very much
out of the ordinary is going on here. Cloud City does not ...
smell right."
Jacen clapped one hand on his sister's shoulder and one on Tenel
Ka's.
"And we'll do our best to help you look into it, Lando. We're Jedi
Knights, after all. This is part of our job."
"This is a fact," Tenel Ka agreed.
"Well then, what're we waiting for?" Jaina asked. Lowie took up the
challenge with a roar.
Lando looked gratefully at the companions. "You know, kids, one of the
things I've learned in my life is never to turn down a sincere offer of
help-especially if the offer comes from a Jedi Knight."
With a swirl of his colorful cape, Lando Calrissian went off to file a
formal complaint and request an official investigation into Cojahn's
death from Cloud City Security. He still had a network of friends and
political connections from his days as Baron-Administrator.
Meanwhile, the young Jedi Knights found their way to a high observation
platform, an open atmospheric patio on the upper ring of Kerros
Tower.
Here at the top of the immense metropolis in the sky, they were
buffeted by winds. The temperatures varied: cool and warm breezes
swirled as updrafts caught around the structure, carrying snatches of
vapors from the cloud depths below.
Off at a distance in the clouds, they could see steaming Tibanna gas
refineries and drifting storage cylinders. Anja lounged back on a
chair, propped up one knee, and studiously ignored both the sights and
the glitz.
The Tourism Board of Cloud City had issued restrictions and setback
limitations for the chemical processing and industrial facilities.
Since rich patrons frequently came from halfway across the galaxy to
relax and spend their vacations on Bespin, the Board required that all
smelly and noisy activities remain far enough away so as not to spoil
the view.
The sun stole below the far horizon as the planet's rotation carried
them toward nightfall. Far beneath the patio platform the soup of
clouds turned pink and orange with the sheen of phosphorescent
microorganisms.
Bespin spun so fast on its axis that each day was only twelve standard
hours long. Jacen estimated that he would need to sleep only every
other night, and a small part of the day. Visitors to Cloud City found
that such a schedule kept the place bustling, frantic, and awake at all
hours.
Jacen pointed down to the colorful clouds, nudging Tenel Ka beside
him.
"Those colors are caused by microspheres of airborne algae," he said.
"They live on the little droplets of water vapor and other trace
chemicals that boil up from below. It's like a forest of sky plankton
down there."
"Ah. Aha," she said, but made no other comment.
"I thought you wanted to talk about this supposed foul play in Cojahn's
death," Anja said. "As if we have any chance of solving it."
"With such a negative attitude, why even start?" Zekk frowned at
her.
"I'm surprised you have so little faith in your own abilities, Anja."
She scowled back at the dark-haired boy. "It's not my abilities I
doubt." She turned away and stared off into the clouds.
Suddenly, light burst from all sides of Cloud City, colorful beacons
that swirled and played out across the sky. Distant music hummed from
speakers set into the hover-scaffolding at the edges of the
metropolis.
:'What's going on?" Jaina asked.
'A show, I think," Jacen said. Tenel Ka leaned forward to watch.
To the sounds of muffled cheers from all up and down the sides of the
huge levitating city, a group of creatures a
rrowed out of one of the
broad docking bays with a flutter of wings. The snub-nosed, bullet
shaped creatures flapped their broad wings like giant fish swimming
gracefully under thick water. They had no feathers, only gray leathery
skin, like sails stretched tight over flexible cartilage and a network
of thin bones. Except for the rushing of air, the beasts made no sound
in their flight.
"Hey, those are thrantas!" Jacen cried. He turned to Jaina. "We've
seen holos of them. Remember some of the images Mom has? Thrantas
were actually native to Alderaan, but someone brought them here many
years ago to use as beasts of burden at the gas refineries and for
constructing the floating cities." He nodded toward the cluster of
swooping batlike creatures that circled, dove, and flew in formation.
"Since Alderaan was destroyed, those are probably the last ones in
existence," Jaina pointed out.
"Only because Alderaan never made any attempt to defend itself," Anja
muttered. "Your Luke Skywalker proved that the Death Star wasn't quite
as unconquerable as the Empire thought."
The thrantas circled back toward the dazzling lights of Cloud City,
Under A Black Sun Trilogy Page 20
