"Foster, Alan Dean - Star Wars - Splinter Of The Mind's Eye" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

Halla was hardly breathing now, her entire being thrown into the tremendous effort she was making. Luke watched as the tray dipped, rose to its former height, dipped again before continuing on up the corridor.
"Boy," came an echo of the old woman's voice, "you got to help me." Her eyes were still closed.
"I can't, Halla," he told her tightly. "I'm no good at this."
"Got to, boy. Can't hold it myself much longer." Even as she finished the tray dipped, struck the ground with a clang before rising once again.
Luke shut his own eyes and tried to concentrate only on the tray, ignoring the cell, the Princess, everything but that floating flat plane of formed metal. A familiar voice seemed to remind him of something.
"Don't try so hard, Luke," the voice said. "Remember how I taught you. Relax, relax, let the Force work through you. Don't try to force the Force."
Letting other thoughts leak into his mind, pleasant thoughts, Luke strove to comply. A general sense of well-being flowed through him and he smiled. The tray lifted firmly to its former height, continued on up the hallway at a rapid pace.
The Princess switched her gaze constantly from Luke to Halla and back. Striking the corridor wall, the tray commenced bumping along it. It finally reached the recessed control, turned itself flat to the wall and covered the depression. A very faint click sounded. An open ellipsoid appeared in the middle of the cell bars.
Halla let out a long, slow sigh and wavered, almost falling. She caught herself as the tray plunged toward the floor. Hin and Kee gasped, as did the Princess.
Luke leaned forward, his brows lifting sharply. Something caught the tray barely a centimeter above the hard stone floor and lowered it gently, and silently, the rest of the way.
First through the gap were the two Yuzzem. The Princess followed immediately behind. Once clear, she turned and called to Luke. "What are you waiting for... come on!"
But Luke was back at the window. "Are you all right, old woman?"
"I will be," Halla quipped, her face still showing the strain, "if you don't call me that too often. Couldn't have done it without your help, boy. Your control is good."
"Not as good as your guidance," he responded gently. "You showed me the way. I've been lucky. I've had good teachers."
She reached through the bars and patted his hand. "You're kind, Luke boy. There's a big landspeeder garage and maintenance yard nearby. You turn right as you exit this mausoleum and pass some prefab administrative co-ops. Continue on until you hit a small adjusted stream. Turn right again, follow the stream. You'll pass a few more, larger buildings.
"Eventually you'll reach the depot. The garage is the big structure on the immediate left. I'll meet you there with your 'droids."
"What happens when we get there?"
"Happens? Why boy, we've got to steal a land-speeder or crawl-high. Or do you think we're going to walk to the crystal? Not on this planet! See you there."
"Right," Luke acknowledged.
"Hurry up, Luke!" the Princess was calling to him, expecting a flood of troops at any moment. When he didn't reply, she rushed back into the cell, grabbed one arm and pulled. He came willingly, still glancing back toward the window Halla had already abandoned.
A loud commotion sounded ahead and Luke made worried noises.
"What's wrong?" the Princess asked, trying to see around corners in front of them. "It's the Yuzzem."
"Sounds like they're having fun," she demurred, after an especially violent crashing echoed down the corridor.
"We ought to be trying to sneak out of here quietly."
"A subtle Yuzzem. You might as well wish for a squadron of Y-wings," she snorted derisively. She picked up the tray and passed it over the cell lock, then slipped it back inside the bars.
"That should give them something to think about," she announced with satisfaction. "Let them think we dematerialized the bars. It won't bother Grammel, but it might make some of his troops uneasy. I want anyone trailing me to be as nervous as possible." Together, they started up the corridor. Hin and Kee were waiting around the second corner. The first Yuzzem was standing over the limp forms of three troopers. He was using a 'droid to beat a fourth soldier to pulp. The 'droid he was holding by one leg was coming apart at roughly the same rate as the man.
Kee had a long armful of weapons apparently taken from the decommissioned troopers. Luke caught a pistol tossed to him, as did Leia, while the two aliens armed themselves.
Kee promptly assumed a listening pose, turned and dashed toward a far doorway. "No, not now!" Luke protested. Reaching out, he came away with two handfuls of brown hair. This did not seem to affect the big alien in the least.
"I was afraid of this," he groaned. It took only seconds for Kee to flatten the door and burst inside. They followed.
The large room was a communications center, possibly the central one for the whole temple complex. Kee was rushing about, firing wildly with a rifle held in one massive hand while using the other to demolish both instrumentation and operators with casual indifference as to whether the target was inorganic or protesting.
Luke charged in behind, yelling in Yuzz: "We've got to get out of here, Kee! Listen to me!"
No use. The creature was beyond reason. Luke left the room. As he did so an energy bolt smashed into the wall just above him. Dropping to one knee, he whirled and fired his pistol, dropping an Imperial trooper down a secondary corridor. Leia caught another in the midsection and the remaining pair dove for cover, firing as they did.
"Regulars are beginning to show up, Luke!" she shouted. "We can't stay... we've got to get out."
"I can see that," Luke shot back nervously. He pressed back against the wall, pushed and shoved at Hin to get his attention. "Come on, Hin, use your head instead of your back for a change!"
The big Yuzzem growled dangerously at him. Luke didn't let that intimidate him, "I know this whole place stinks. I'd like to blow it to hell and be gone myself, but we're just a little outnumbered."
Hin bared sharp canines, grabbed Luke by the neck. Luke stared resolutely at his furry visage. Abruptly, the hand moved away and Hin nodded slowly, giving out with an apologetic grunt.
"Okay then," Luke sighed. "Go get Kee." Another bolt broke stone above them and he turned to return the fire. The hallway was starting to fill with Imperial troops. Luke retreated up the hall, called, "Come on, Leia!" Under his covering fire, she ran to join him. Then the two of them covered the alien's retreat.
As Kee emerged from the communications room, a tremendous explosion shattered the door frame behind him. Smoke and flame gushed from the ruined portal, singeing back fur, but that helped screen them from the massing troops.
Hin had a surprise for Luke and handed it to him expectantly. "My lightsaber! Where'd you find it?" The Yuzzem explained that the soldier who'd appropriated it wouldn't need it anymore.
Luke refastened the heirloom at his belt as the four of them ran for the front of the building, leaving confusion and blood in equal amounts behind them....

VII

GRAMMEL rushed into the corridor, several troops at his heels. The Captain-Supervisor finished buckling on his pants and screamed at the assembled mass of troops.
"What the double moons is happening here?"
"Get down, get down, sir!" one of the subofficers yelled frantically to him.
"What for, you idiot!" Grammel roared. "Can't you see they're interested in escaping, not in killing you?" Pulling a pistol from its holster, he grabbed at the sergeant next to him. "Get in there," he instructed the noncom as he gestured toward the communications room with the pistol, "and tell them to secure every exit. No one goes in or out of the complex until I give my personal okay."
"Yes, Captain-Supervisor!" As the sergeant rushed for the room, Grammel led the by now enormous body of armed troops up the smoking hallway.
Very soon the sergeant exited from the room, shouted after them that communications were out and everyone inside was dead or dying. But Grammel was already out of earshot. The sergeant rushed after him.
Luke threw up a warning hand and the four would-be escapees slowed to a halt. "There's the exit," he informed them, pointing around the corner.