"Michael Stackpole "I, Jedi"" - читать интересную книгу автора

The third tower-also a tall, narrow cone-had been shaped entirely out of a blue crystal. I would have almost called it sapphire, because it did glow with its own internal light, but the light did not shift as we moved closer. Instead it seemed more to flow as if it were a liquid bubbling up and around inside the crystal, swirling in some great cycle.
УThe Sullustan said the stone feels oily, and you can feel the tingle of energy pulsing off it.Ф Brakiss rubbed his hands to-gether. УCare to confirm the veracity of that report?Ф I shivered. УNot me. Not yet.Ф
Kam extinguished the blade on his lightsaber and clipped it back to his belt. УI'11 take a pass. You probably ought not to touch it either.Ф
Brakiss frowned. УYou're no fun.Ф
УTouching that thing will not be fun.Ф I walked closer to it, being careful not to step into the circular pit surrounding it. The nearer I drew to it, the colder I felt. The energy pulsing out of it was not palpably evil, but I could sense a host of negative emotions like despair and anger. Worse yet, as I stared into the translucent stone's depths, I saw ghostly images drifting past. Some seemed utterly unfamiliar: gangling creatures with clawed hands and feet. Others were more familiar, often hu-man, with their faces destroyed by damage or just contorted in agony. Even so, I thought I recognized some of them. A few comrades who had fallen along the way, more enemies I had slain.
Then Gantoris' face appeared and stared at me with dead eves.
I jerked back and pointed. УDo you see it? Do you see Gantoris?Ф
Kam's head snapped around to took at me, his eyes slowly focusing. УI didn't see him. I saw . . . others.Ф
The hint of a smile played over Brakiss' face as he turned toward us. УI really didn't see much of anything.Ф
I glanced back at the stone and Gantoris' image had van-ished. УI could have sworn I saw him.Ф
Brakiss shrugged. УTrick of the light.Ф His voice came weight-lessly, scourging me with a hint of scorn.
I fixed him with an emerald stare. УYou still want to touch
it..).,
He shook his head. УNo, that's okay.Ф
Kam wore a grim expression. УI don't know what this thing is or why it is, but I do know I'm not comfortable here.Ф He jerked a thumb at the lightbars on the floor. УAnd the way the sunlight moved between when we started looking and now, we were staring into that thing for a good fifteen minutes.Ф I shook my head. УNot possible.Ф
УVery possible. Very odd.Ф Kam frowned heavily. УI'm all for leaving.Ф
Brakiss agreed. УNo sign Gantoris was ever here.Ф
УRight. Let's go, then.Ф
It wouldn't really do to suggest that three grown men, Jedi apprentices all and two of them armed with lightsabers, fled from an uninhabited temple. I prefer to think of it as our hav-ing moved quickly to upset the plans of anyone preparing to ambush us. The fact that we didn't know of anyone else being on the world save our friends still didn't preclude that possibil-ity and I thought our caution quite admirable.
As we retreated from it, Brakiss took one long look back at the Blueleaf Temple. УIt's rather amazing, I think, that crea-tures lacking in sophisticated technology could build such a monument and have it stand the test of time. Unnh's commen-tary suggests these ruins were all millennia old.Ф
УThe Old Republic was well established by that time.Ф I held a branch back, opening the way to the trail that had brought us to the temple. УFor all we know they could have used lasers to quarry the rock and carve it, then slid it into place with re-pulsorlift technology.Ф
УMoreover,Ф Kam offered, Уthey could have used the Force. As massive as those blocks are, do you think it would be impos-sible for Master Skywalker to move them?Ф
УImpossible for him to move them, no, not at all.Ф I heard doubt in Brakiss' voice. УI don't know that I believe Master Skywalker could create a temple like that, however.Ф
I laughed. УHave you forgotten, 'size matters not?'Ф
УI haven't forgotten it at all, but that's not my point.Ф Brakiss
snapped a dead branch from a Massassi sapling and broke him-self off a forty-centimeter length of it. УMaster Skywalker might have the power, but he's a farm boy from some desiccated, silicon ball. He would be incapable of creating such a work of vision and elegance.Ф
As Brakiss spoke he waved the stick through the air. Kam and I exchanged secret smiles behind his back, then Kam cleared his voice. УSo you don't think Master Skywalker could learn to create something like that?Ф · 'Certainly he could, but it would take him forever.Ф
У[ see.Ф I narrowed my eyes. УAnd the crystal cone, could he create one of those?Ф
Brakiss' shoulders twitched through a shrug. УI don't know, but I would love to try. I think that crystal was incredible. I'd hesitate to call it a work of art because it was unsettling.Ф He turned around, his eyes ablaze. УImagine having the power to be able to create such a thing.Ф
УWouldn't want it.Ф Kam shook his head. УI didn't like the crystal at all.Ф
УYes, but imagine the power to make something like it, something you would like. Using the Force to create a work that would endure for so long.Ф Brakiss laughed aloud and spun as if dancing to some music neither Kam nor I could hear. УIt would be fantastic.Ф
I gave him a hard cold look, but he didn't notice. УThe lure of that sort of power can be seductive, but it's not easy to come by.Ф
УUnless you resort to the dark side.Ф Kam hunched his shoulders forward. УI know what it is like, and as exhilarating as it can be, it leaves you hollow. Better to work for the true Force than settle for its shadow.Ф
УYes, but think of what you can do with that power.Ф Brakiss thrust his stick up toward the sky. УA Jedi Master with enough power could have reached up from here and have torn the heart out of the Death Star. Wouldn't have mattered if he was using the dark side, he would have done a good thing.Ф
I reached out and grabbed the back of Brakiss' neck. УWait just one minute. What you're saying is that the ends justify the means for attaining them, and that's just plain wrong. It's as wrong as anything because it allows you to rationalize away any behavior as good. Sure, let's murder this criminal because we know he's killed folks in the past, or probably will kill them in the future. Or let's destroy this planet because we know, some-day, it will slam into that planet. So what if folks on the planet we destroy die-they would have died anyway, and with our way the folks on the other world are saved.Ф
Brakiss spun and nearly slashed my face with his stick. Fortu-nately for me I'd had forewarning about the arc of his arm and ducked beneath it. A momentary mask of anger slipped over his face, but it almost immediately dissolved into shock and remorse. УKeiran, I'm sorry.Ф
УIt's okay, Brakiss. No blood, no report.Ф
Kam came around and draped an arm rather heavily over Brakiss' shoulders. УWhat Keiran's telling you is right, kid. Peo-ple start telling themselves they're amassing power for this goal or that, and they convince themselves that it's a good thing. Then when they get enough they find circumstances have changed. They find they need more power or they need to wield this power in ways they didn't expect before. An opponent who won't listen to reason becomes a bug to be squashed instead of a friend who just needs to be convinced. Power comes to poison those who hoard it. They assume others want their power, will resort to any means to get it, and that frees folks up to retaliate in any way they can.Ф
I nodded. УAnd there's no good that comes from evil. Your example of someone using dark-side power to destroy the Death Star is fine until you ask why he would do that. Is it for his own good, and that of his people? If so, how will he deal with the next threat to them? If he hears of another Death Star and knows someone like the Caamasi are building it, does he destroy them?Ф
Kam frowned. УBad example. Everyone knows the Caamasi were committed pacifists.Ф
УI know, Kam, but someone could rationalize them as evil and go after them.Ф I opened my hands. УFace it, someone did go after them and nearly wiped out the whole lot of them. I even heard there was a big Caamasi refugee group on Alderaan when it was destroyed. If someone could have seen the Caamasi as a threat, they could have seen anyone as a threat. A child. Anyone.Ф
Brakiss furrowed his brows. УI hear what you are saying and I want to believe you. Part of me says, though, that you can't argue an absolute case that no good can come from wielding dark-side powers. There has to be a time when that could hap-pen.Ф
УThat's theory, Brakiss, but we've got to deal with the practi-cal realities of manipulating the Force.Ф I shook my head. УI don't want to entertain the idea that I could remain uncor-rupted by dealing with evil for what I see as a good purpose. That's setting the first foot on a very steep and slippery slope. Maybe, with the help of Master Skywalker, it would be possible to get back to the top, but someone will pay a fearful price during my descent, and I don't want to inflict that on anyone. Neither should you.Ф
A quick blast from the trans-port's landing jets lifted debris on a searing wind that made some of the other apprentices duck back or raise their hands to shield their faces. I pulled the heat in and immediately used that energy to impose a tiny Force shield before me. It split the wind and saved me the annoyance of having to blink grit from my eyes and spit dirt from my mouth.
The boxy transport touched down as gently as a feather, but I expected no less from the pilot at the helm. As it settled on its landing struts and the passenger compartment gangway slowly lowered, the apprentices moved in behind Master Skywalker. Kam directed all of them but me to the opening cargo hatch. I walked over by Luke and smiled as Wedge descended from the ship's interior.
Luke waved a greeting at Wedge and the blue-skinned woman following in his wake. The bright-eyed young man com-ing third down the gangway won a smile from Luke. УWelcome, Kyp Durron.Ф
The wiry youth returned Luke's smile. УI'm ready, Master Skywalker. Teach me the Jedi ways.Ф
УIt will be my pleasure.Ф Luke waved him toward the line of folks hauling supplies from the transport's cargo hold. УWe will start by unloading the ship. Keiran, if you will see to General Antilles' and Qwi Xux's comfort.Ф
УAs you wish, Master.Ф I smiled at Wedge and waved him toward the Great Temple. УYou will find our accommodations are a bit less primitive than they were when last you dropped off supplies. This way, please.Ф
Wedge nodded solemnly. УIt appears you have made much progress.Ф