'Spare me,' he said with a sigh, running his fingertips across her cheek. 'All right, I'll lift you over there. Be careful, okay?'
'Don't worry,' she said, taking a deep breath and pulling her lightsaber from her belt. 'Ready.' Stretching out to the Force, he lifted her over the railing and across the room to the transparisteel wall. Her mind touched his, her thoughts indicating she was ready, and he lowered her into the water. She took a few more deep breaths, then bent at the waist and ducked her head beneath the surface. A single vertical kick of her legs, and she was gone.
Across the ledge, Artoo moaned nervously. 'She'll be all right,' Luke assured him, gripping the top rail as he stared anxiously at the choppy water. He could feel Mara's thoughts as she maneuvered her way back and forth across the wall, making short, deliberate cuts with her lightsaber. Stretching out harder, he could sense the change in flow against her skin as the water began to seep through the cracks.
And if the water level rose high enough in there to reach the generator before she was finished...
'Come on, Mara, come on,' he muttered under his breath. 'It's good enough—let's go.' He felt her negative thought; the wall wasn't yet shredded to her satisfaction. Luke pressed back his impatience and fear, the faces of Callista and Gaeriel hovering before him. Only a week ago he'd told himself firmly that he could never permit himself to love Mara, that such a closeness and commitment from him would inevitably put her in danger.
And now he'd reneged on that determination. And sure enough, like all the others, his actions or inactions had put her in deadly danger. He felt a flicker in her emotions, mixing with the fear and dread rising chokingly from within him—
And suddenly her head breached the surface. 'Got it,' she gasped. He had her moving before the second word was even out of her mouth, pulling her toward him with all the speed he could manage. He flipped her over the railing and lowered her flat on her stomach on the ledge, stretching himself protectively down on top of her as she landed. 'How soon?' he asked, reaching out to the Force to try to create a low-level shield that could provide at least a minimal barrier against the impending explosion.
'Could be anytime,' Mara answered, her voice muffled by the rock wall she was facing. 'And by the way, just for future reference, don't you
Luke grimaced in embarrassment. 'You weren't supposed to hear that.' Behind him, he heard the sudden crack and surging of water as the transparisteel wall collapsed—
And with a brilliant flash he could see even with his eyes squeezed shut, the generator blew up. The sound of the blast itself was almost muffled; but the roar of the wave that slammed over them more than made up for it. The water surged and roiled all around them, effortlessly picking them up and slamming them back and forth between the wall, the ledge, and the railing. Luke held grimly on to Mara, wishing belatedly he'd thought to tie Artoo down somehow.
And then, as suddenly as it had struck, the swirling water fell away, leaving them bruised and drenched but otherwise unharmed. Shaking the water out of his eyes, Luke pushed himself up on one arm and looked out into the chamber.
And caught his breath. Only one of the room's glow panels had survived the explosion; but by its dim light he could see that the water level was rapidly going down. 'Mara—look. It worked.'
'I'll be Kesseled,' she said, spitting out some water. 'Now what? We jump in and follow the flow?'
Luke leaned over the railing, trying to see the exit tunnel. If it wasn't still full to the ceiling... But it was. 'It's not quite that simple,' he told Mara. 'The flow should carry us back into the caverns, all right, but there's still the matter of getting through the tunnel and underground room.'
'Why don't we just wait until the level goes down far enough?'
'We can't,' Luke said. 'I don't know why.'
'Jedi hunch,' Mara said. 'Then we're back to hibernation trances. How fast can you put me in one?'
'Pretty fast,' he told her. 'Take a few deep breaths, and tell me what phrase you want me to use to snap you out of it.'
'A phrase, right,' she said, inhaling deeply, a strangely cautious mood touching her mind. 'Okay. See if you can handle this one...'
She told him, and he smiled. 'Got it,' he said, and stretched out with the Force. A minute later she was fast asleep in his arms. 'You go first, Artoo,' Luke told the droid, lifting him up with the Force and easing him over the railing. 'We'll be right behind you.' The droid warbled; and then he was in the water, his dome bobbing above the waves as he was swept toward the tunnel. Wrapping his arms protectively around Mara, Luke jumped in behind him. The current grabbed them, pushing them along behind the bobbing droid as Luke struggled to keep their heads above water. The wall and the top of the tunnel archway loomed ahead; and just before they reached it, Luke took a deep breath and pulled them both under the surface. The rest of the trip was a blur of dizzying speed, continual buffeting of the water, near-collisions with smooth walls and rough stone, aching eyes and lungs. Through his half trance Luke was vaguely aware of where they left the tunnel and entered the underground room; was more sharply aware of where they slammed through the newly enlarged gap in the wall and the protective cortosis ore barrier as the turbulence threw them back and forth against the rock. The torrent dragged them, twisting and turning, through the
