Abyss

Author:Troy Denning
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Star Wars, Solo, Leia, Space warfare, Luke (Fictitious character), Star Wars fiction, Skywalker, Princess (Fictitious character), Fiction, Science Fiction, Adventure, Han (Fictitious character), General, Space Opera
ISBN: 9780345509185
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Published: 2009-08-18T05:29:07.859882+00:00

WITH PUCKERED BROWS HANGING LOW AND HEAVY OVER HOLLOW EYES and bony cheeks, Rolund and Rhondi Tremaine reminded Ben of Ugnaughts more than humans. The two Mind Walkers were seated in the Shadow’s galley, sucking down sip-packs of hydrade from the medbay and squeezing raw nutripaste straight from a ten-kilogram storage bladder. Their yellow hair lay helmet-pressed to their heads, their nostrils were inflamed and flaky, and their lips were so chapped and split, it was a wonder the hydrade wasn’t dribbling out through the cracks.

Having just checked the supplies in medbay, Ben knew that the hydrade had come from the last case, while the nutripaste was the third bladder that he had lost to hungry Mind Walkers in a week. If the drain on their stores continued at this rate much longer, the first thing the Shadow would need to do upon leaving the Maw was reprovision. Still, he did not chase the pair off, or even object to their foraging. What little he had managed to piece together about Sinkhole Station—as the inhabitants called it—had come from talking with hungry Mind Walkers, and on their last visit the Tremaines had proven more informative than most.

Ben stopped in the galley hatch and studied the wretched pair for a moment, then shook his head in disgust. “I could get you a couple of glasses of hyperdrive coolant,” he said. “Your deaths would be long and painful, but it has to be better than what you’re putting yourselves through.”

Rhondi shook her own head and pulled the sip-pack away. “Too hard to go beyond shadows when you’re barfing blood,” she explained. “But thanks for the suggestion.”

Rolund licked a gob of nutripaste off his fingers, then nodded at the equipment satchel in Ben’s hand. “What’s with the tool bag?” he asked. “The last time we were here, you said you were just finishing the repairs.”

Ben nodded. “I did.”

He stepped into the galley and started to join the Tremaines at the table, then thought better of it and put the bag on the staging counter opposite. Mind Walkers were ravenous for fluids and food when they returned from beyond shadows, and he didn’t want to share the contents of the satchel. He covered the maneuver by drawing a glass of hubba juice from the conservator, then left the satchel on the counter and turned back toward his guests.

“We’ve been spaceworthy for two days,” Ben said, joining them at the table. “Now I’m just bored waiting around.”

“If you say so,” Rhondi said. Her gaze slid across the aisle. “So what don’t you want us to see in that satchel?”

Ben smiled. “Sorry—I guess that wasn’t as subtle as I thought,” he said. “It’s just an intravenous kit, and I don’t want you guys draining the drip bag on me.”

“An IV?” Rolund asked, his frown mirroring Rhondi’s so precisely that it unsettled Ben. He still hadn’t established whether they were twins or just regular siblings, but sometimes they seemed as close as Killiks. “What for?”

“My dad’s suck-nozzle keeps coming out of his mouth,” Ben explained.

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