"The New Rebellion (Kristine Rusch)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

grew dim, and he felt the taint of a presence.
A former student.
A man.
Brakiss.


NINE

The closet the Kloperian had placed the droids in had a stained
permacrete floor, metal walls, and a metal ceiling. The walls were unadorned,
and there wasn't even a knob on the inside of the door. It was pitch-black
after the door was closed.
R2 whistled softly.
"You're right, R2," 3PO whispered. "I hear footsteps as well. And they're
coming our way." The computer lock on the door's knob clicked and beeped. As
the door opened, the closet flooded with light. A different Kloperian from the
one that captured them stood outside, work orders clutched in one tentacle, a
special key code in another.
"Oh, thank the maker," 3PO said. "I am C-3PO and this is my counterpart,
R2-D2. We belong to President Leia Organa Solo, the Chief of State, and to her
brother, the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker. We have been falsely imprisoned-"You
were trespassing," the Kloperian said.
"On the contrary," 3PO said. "We-"I don't care," the Kloperian said. "If
it were up'to me, I'd put you in recycling with all the other out-of-date
droids. But we ran your serial numbers and you are who you say you are. Next
time you come down here, your owners need to give us official notice. We can't
have just any old droids down here. This is a dangerous area, and some of my
assistants are overly enthusiastic. They might think you're scrap and use you
for parts." "Parts!" 3PO said. "I assure you, sir, we are anything but parts.
Why, my counterpart and I might even be considered-"You are a protocol droid
at least three models behind, and an astromech droid sixteen models out of
date. If you were part of our team here, we'd definitely recycle you." R2
blatted.
"As it stands, we'll let you see the X-wing. Then you have to leave." The
Kloperian crossed two tentacles. "Follow me." 3PO hurried out of the closet,
R2 at his side. The Kloperian slithered forward at a fast clip. 3PO dropped
back a few paces, just out of the Kloperian's hearing range.
"You see, R2. I told you that they wouldn't hold us once they knew who we
were." R2 bleeped.
"Well, it doesn't seem odd to me," 3PO said.
R2 blurbled.
"All right," 3PO said. "I admit they could have checked our serial
numbers quicker. But the point is, R2, that they did. Although I do admit,
things could have gone badly. Recycling! And I thought the scrap heap for out-
of-date droids was just a legend." R2's head swiveled as they walked, and the
tiny holocam in his unit flickered. He was filming.
"I don't believe you have permission-" R2 bleebled so loudly that the
Kloperian turned.
"Is there a problem?" it asked.
3PO glanced at R2. "There is no problem," 3PO said. "No problem at all."