'I see,' Tarkin said. 'I chose the right man for this mission, Raith. I had a feeling you'd be up on all this.'
'Now that you've seen my expensive but disappointing prize,' Raith said, 'can I offer you some breakfast? It's late, and I haven't had time to dine.'
'No, thank you,' Tarkin said. 'I have many more visits to make today. Keep your schedule open, my friend. Something could happen at any minute.'
'Of course,' Raith said. My time is yours, Tarkin. I am patient.
Chapter 12
Obi-Wan paused on the way to the bridge and leaned into the small cubicle where the food-kin, the small crablike creatures, made their homes when they were not working. Anakin sat on a small stool in a circle of food- kin. His brow was knit in concentration.
He looked up at Obi-Wan. 'I can't decide whether I like this or not,' he said.
'Like what?'
'This arrangement they have with Charza. They seem to revere him, but he eats them.'
'I would trust their feelings rather than your own, in this case,' Obi-Wan said.
Anakin was not convinced. 'I don't feel comfortable around Charza.'
'He's an honorable being,' Obi-Wan said.
Anakin stood, his waterproof boots splashing. The food- kin backed away, clattering their claws. 'I understand a lot of what they're saying. They're smart, for being so small. They tell me they're proud that Charza only eats them.'
'Eating food or being food-simply matters of timing and luck,' Obi-Wan said, perhaps a little too lightly. He admired the discipline and self-sacrifice he saw in the crew of the Star Sea Flower. 'We're due for a briefing from Charza in a few minutes. And we'll be making our first emergence from hyperspace in an hour.'
Anakin snapped his fingernails in farewell to the little food-kin and sloshed out of the cubicle to join Obi-Wan in the central corridor. 'You just like the arrangement because they obey orders without question,' he said.
Obi-Wan drew himself up, indignant. 'It's deeper than that,' he said. 'Surely you sense the underlying structure here.'
'Of course,' Anakin said, walking ahead of him. They passed a fall of freshened seawater. It slid down a wall from a duct near the ceiling, filled with tiny shelled creatures no bigger than a fingertip. Three food-kin lined up beside the base of the fall, where it dropped into a pool and was carried away behind the bulkhead. They fished busily with their claws and ate ravenously.
Just beyond the fall, the Padawan and his master entered the pilothouse. Charza Kwinn was surrounded by a host of helpers and kin. Obi-Wan had not seen them all together before. The sight was impressive. There did not seem a square centimeter of the bridge's equipment that was not attended by several creatures, ranging in size from the food- kin, about as broad as his hand, to meter-long replicas of Charza himself.
Charza sat on his backless couch waving tools clutched in his spikes. The bristles of his 'head' scrubbed against the upper curve of the foot, making a loud, rhythmic sound like ocean breakers striking a shore.
Charza stopped when he noticed his passengers had arrived. The food-kin clacked in disappointment. Apparently, Charza had been singing to them. He shifted his bristles slightly around his spiracles to imitate human speech.
'Welcome. The quarters are comfortable?'
'Quite,' Obi-Wan said.
'I'll tell you more now about this place you go to. First, size. Zonama Sekot is nine thousand salt pans broad, that is, in Republic measure…' He conferred with one of his smaller duplicates. 'Eleven thousand kilometers. Its star system is a triple, in a hidden region of the Gardaji Rift, surrounded by great dust clouds. Two stars, a red giant and a white dwarf, orbit close to each other. Zonama Sekot circles the third star, a bright yellow sun, which orbits much farther out, several light-months distant. It is almost impossible to find if you don't know the way.'
Charza paused as two food-kin enthusiastically offered themselves for his breakfast. He waved his head gently back and forth, and they retreated in apparent disappointment. 'Their biological clocks chime,' Charza explained. 'Must eat them before the day is over, or their children spoil. But I am so full now!'
Obi-Wan observed Anakin's reaction. Charza was perhaps not the most appropriate father figure for the boy to puzzle over at this time in his life.
'Now,' Charza said, leaning to one side and pulling two heavy, parallel levers, 'we come out of hyperspace.'
The forward ports opened again. The strange display outside collapsed to a dazzling point. With a sharp lurch, the stars returned-the stars, and the distinctive flaming red and purple pinwheel that dominated the skies of Zonama Sekot.
'Wow,' Anakin said, eyes wide. The display was stunning, Perhaps the most beautiful he had ever seen. 'Where's our Planet?' the boy asked eagerly.
'Zonama Sekot's sun is behind us,' Charza said. 'These two spectacular dancers, the red giant and the white dwarf, with their long spiral tail, are its companions.'
The pinwheel began as a ribbon of starstuff pulled from the red giant. It then curled around the white dwarf, which flung it outward in interwoven braids of ionized gas.
'You can see Zonama Sekot itself… it is that tiny green point just ahead.' Charza grabbed a long rod with his
