"Planet Of Twilight (Barbara Hambley)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hambly Barbara)

crystalline dust beneath the nailheads securing the panel behind which the
message had been found had revealed that it had been put together on Nam
Chorios.
Callista was on Nam Chorios.
Or had been, when she sent the message.
Artoo beeped again, more quietly. Artoo-Deetoo was the only droid Luke
had ever encountered who seemed to be able to sense human moods.
See-Threepio would catch on eventually if the problem were translated
into binary and jacked at full-blast into his receptors-and would then feel
and express genuine sympathy-but Artoo just seemed to know'.
Luke sighed and patted the little droid's domed cap, as if it were a
pittin's head. Through the gaping maw' of the magnetically shielded shuttle
port, the violet-white speck that was Nam Chorios's primary glimmered against
the powdery banners of starlight and galactic dust.
There was something about it. A curious tingling in the Force that Luke
could feel even at this distance. What it might be, he didn't know.
Do not meet with Ashgad Do not go to the Meridian sector.
"Can I be of any further assistance, Master Luke?" Threepio's voice was
diffident. Luke made himself smile, and shook his head.
"No. Thanks."
"According to my internal chronometers, Her Excellency's meeting with
Master Ashgad should be concluding now. Normal departure protocols occupy on
the average twenty minutes, and you did express a desire to be away from the
Borealis before Master Ashgad returns to the shuttle bay."
Luke glanced at the chronometer on the wall, an automatic gesture, since
he knew - Threepio's internals were accurate to two or three beats of atomic
vibration. "Right. Thank you. Both of you." He hesitated, then slid the plast
into the pocket of his gray flightsuit.
"Good luck, Master Luke," said Threepio. He hesitated a moment, then
added, "Given an estimated population of less than one million humans, and no
indigenous life forms on Nam Chorios, chances of locating Lady Callista within
a standard year should be well within the seventeenth percentile."
Luke made himself smile again. "Thanks." And the seventeenth percentile-
in a year-wasn't bad. Not when you considered how vast even the known portion
of the galaxy was. It had been a year already, since the Knight Hammer had
plunged blazing into the atmosphere of Yavin 4.
At least he had it narrowed down to one planet.
If she were still there. Why Nam Chorios?
He was turning toward the ladder that led up to the B-wing's hatch when
the main bay doors opened. His sister entered, golden boot tips flashing
beneath her figured gown and the great state robe of ruby velvet spreading
behind her like a thranta's wings with the speed of her stride. The young
Academy midshipman who accompanied her everywhere fell back and stood near the
door; as Luke held out his hands to her he glimpsed the Noghri Ezrakh, lurking
almost unseen in the shadows.
"So, did he whip out an ion cannon and try to murder you?"
Leia grinned, but the smile was a wan one and disappeared almost at once
as she shook her head. "There's just-I don't know. Maybe it's because he looks
so much like the holos I've seen of his father. I sympathize with his cause-
him and the Newcomers on that planet.