And then the sheets of yellow bubbles appeared as the heat of the burning fraca set off the tertian beneath it, and for perhaps the next thirty seconds the entire formation was surrounded by a twisting fury of fire and light. Like a living creature writhing in the silent agony of its death throes—
And with a shower of multicolored sparks and one final flurry of bubbles, the formation collapsed into a pile of rocks.
Someone gasped; and as the sparks and bubbles faded and the blaze-lights began to come up again there was a ripple of spontaneous applause. The gallery's own lights came back, and with a buzz of excited conversation the audience began their exit back to the casino areas. Lando waited by the door as they filed out, smiling, accepting compliments, answering a scattering of questions covering the usual range of intelligent to banal, and as the last two Duros filed out he reset the doorway for general admission. The miners were scheduled to collapse one more ore formation today, but until that time the gallery would be open, free of charge, to anyone who wanted to come in and watch.
He was just starting down the corridor toward the Tralus Room when his comlink beeped. Pulling it out, he thumbed it on. 'Calrissian.'
'Transmission coming in on the surface link,' the voice of Chief Command Officer Donnerwin announced. 'It's encrypted and marked private.'
'I'll take it in my office,' Lando told him, keying off the comlink and changing direction. Tendra, perhaps, calling to say she'd wrapped up her Corellian trip and was heading back to join him. Or maybe it was Senator Miatamia or another Diamalan official with news about the security arrangements he was hoping to make with them for his ore shipments.
Either one would be welcome. Reaching his office, he sealed the door, dropped into his desk chair, and with twice the anticipation those gamblers back in the gallery had shown he keyed the comm.
It wasn't Tendra. It wasn't even Miatamia. 'Hi, Lando,' Han said, an all-too-familiar half smile on his face. 'How're things going?'
'A lot better two minutes ago than they are now,' Lando told him, the anticipation popping like a bubble and settling into the pit of his stomach like a bad feeling. 'I know that look. What do you want?'
'I need you to go on a little trip with me,' Han said. 'Can you get away for a few days?' The feeling in Lando's stomach got a little colder. No who-mes, no
what-makes-you-think-I-want-somethings, no banter of any sort. Whatever was going on, Han was deadly serious about it. 'That depends,' he hedged. 'How dangerous is this little trip likely to be?' Again, there should have been some banter. There wasn't. 'Could be pretty risky,' Han admitted.
'Could be worse than that.'
Lando grimaced. 'Han—look, you have to understand—'
'I need you, Lando,' Han cut him off. 'We're on a tight schedule, and I need someone I can trust. You've got the expertise I need, you know the people I need, and there's no one else I can get.'
'Han, I've got responsibilities here,' Lando said. 'I've got a business to run—'
'Karrde had a business to run, too,' Han interrupted again. 'He's not going to like it if you say no.'
Lando shook his head in resignation. No, Karrde certainly wouldn't be happy if he passed on this. Not after Lando had single-handedly talked him into heading out to Kathol sector to try to get an intact copy of the Caamas Document from the mysterious Jorj Car'das.
Whose ties to Karrde Lando still didn't understand. But that wasn't the point. The point was that Karrde hadn't wanted to confront Car'das, but he'd gone anyway. Now Han was calling the pot hand, and Lando was about twenty points shy of a twenty-three. 'All right,' he said. 'But only because of Karrde. Where and when?'
'Right now,' Han said. 'You have the
'On the surface, yes,' Lando told him. 'I can take the next shuttle up and be there half an hour later. Who are these other people you said we need?'
'Your old admin pal Lobot, for one,' Han said. 'And that Verpine he was working with for a while—what was his name?'
'Moegid,' Lando said, feeling his eyes narrowing. 'Han, this isn't what I think it is, is it?'
'It's probably worse,' Han conceded. 'Lobot and Moegid still running that little slicer trick you once told me about?'
'I don't know if they still are,' Lando said with a sigh. 'But I'm sure they still can. You haven't by any chance
