Star Wars: The Last of the Jedi, Volume 3 (9 page)

“Not necessarily a bad thing,” Oryon said. “It might get us some answers.”

They took over several small tables and ordered drinks and food. They saw that they were being observed. Ferus took a small sip of his drink, then got up and brought it to the bar to see if
anyone was in the mood to chat. Meanwhile, Keets struck up a conversation with the table next door.

They ate the food and finished four pots of tea and talked to almost every person in the bar, but no one was able to get directions to Solace. Everyone had heard of it, but no one knew where it
was. Finally, the cantina cleared out and they had to admit defeat. Trever had been feeling woozy for some time. He yawned.

“We might as well get some sleep,” Ferus said.

The room was large, with sleep couches and one receptacle and outlet that dribbled pale yellow water. The couches were just planks with a blanket on top. Not the most
uncomfortable bed Ferus had ever slept on, but it was definitely in the top ten.

He turned on his side and looked at Trever’s tousled hair sticking up from his blanket. He felt bad about not being the one to help Trever earlier. He’d made sure Trever was safe
during the battle, then concentrated on their attackers. He had heard Trever’s cry, but by the time he’d started to run, Keets was already there.

He couldn’t be there for him every time. Or so he tried to tell himself.

He didn’t know where his responsibility to the boy began or ended. He knew, of course, that Trever was hardly as self-sufficient as he professed to be. Even though the boy had lived on his
own for years, he occasionally needed guidance, someone to watch over him.

Was that his job?

If he were still a Jedi, if the galaxy hadn’t changed, he’d be old enough to have a Padawan now. But Trever wasn’t his Padawan. Ferus didn’t have the connection with him
that a Master Jedi would. He didn’t have the link that he’d had with Siri. He lost track of him occasionally. And he couldn’t tell what he was thinking or feeling.

It was better that they part, that he find a haven for Trever so he could grow up safe and secure. Even loved, if that were possible.

Because Ferus would just keep burying them deeper into complications and danger. It wasn’t fair to Trever. Today it had been a ten-foot duracrete slug. But what would tomorrow bring, and
the day after that?

With those disquieting thoughts, Ferus felt himself slipping toward sleep. The soft breathing in the room told him that the others had succumbed, despite the hard, flat beds.

Suddenly he heard a noise. Ferus put his hand on his lightsaber, but soon saw it was Trever, crawling toward him quietly so as not to awaken the others.

He stopped by the head of the sleep couch, his eyes gleaming.

“I know where to find Solace,” he said.

“It was when the slug started to pull me down—”

“Trever, I’m sorry I—”

“Enough with the guilt wallow, Feri-Wan—I’m trying to tell you something. I dropped an alpha charge and when it went off, the light showed me something. More than a ten-foot
predator chewing on my ankle, I mean. There’s something down there.”

“Something?”

“Something more than a duracrete slug nest. I was thinking about it. There was a glint...like there was metal or something, or water. I’m not sure, but it was like there was...space.
Like a room. Or something. It’s just that...remember when some of the rumors said
below
the crust?”

Ferus didn’t have to ask if Trever was sure. He trusted this boy’s perceptions.

“I’ll wake the others. Let’s go.”

It was now what many called the empty hours. Too late for even those who walked these dangerous areas at night, too early for those who rose before dawn. They kept close
together as they walked.

Trever led a yawning Keets and the others to the spot where the duracrete slug had tried to pull him through the crack. Ferus leaned over and shined a glowlight down into the space. He
couldn’t tell, but he thought Trever was right—there
was
something down there.

“I think I can fit,” Ferus said. “Let me go down, and if I see anything, I’ll call up.”

Keets leaned against a column and yawned. “Take your time.”

Ferus eased into the opening. There was a crumbling half-wall once he got below, he saw. It was deeply gouged with the tracks of a slug, but that gave him toeholds and handholds. To his
surprise, Trever began to climb down after him.

“Stay up there,” Ferus told him.

“No way. I found this place, I’m coming.”

Ferus knew it would be a waste of breath to argue. He continued to climb down slowly. He jumped the last few meters. His boots hit solid ground. Trever jumped next to him a moment later. He held
a glow rod over his head for illumination.

Ferus could see now that they were in a tunnel. Gigantic blocks of stone formed the walls and ceiling. The floor was deeply grooved and he could see the remnants of machinery buried in the
tracks.

“That’s what you saw glinting,” he told Trever. “This must have been some kind of transportation system.”

He shouted up to the others that the way was clear, and they began to climb down, one after the other.

Hume avoided a steaming yellow pool that released a rank odor. “Careful,” he said. “Looks like some toxic waste down here.”

“The system must have been primitive,” Rhya said. “They used rails for transport.”

Keets looked up. “There are still conduit lines in the ceiling. I wonder where they lead.”

“It sure doesn’t look like Solace,” Hume said. “But the tunnel could lead us there.”

Ferus heard a whisper above. That was his only warning as a black shape suddenly dropped from the ceiling into their path.

He didn’t have time to grab his lightsaber hidden in his cloak. That’s how fast the creature was.

He was a short being, with compact muscles, and wore a close-fitting helmet over his features. His waist was tightly cinched with a belt that held a variety of weapons. He didn’t assume a
threatening pose, however. He seemed casual as he watched them move closer, the Erased all holding their weapons and training them on him.

“You mentioned Solace,” he said.

Ferus nodded, watching him warily. “We want to go there.”

Gilly and Spence moved to the man’s rear, and Keets, Oryon, Hume, and Rhya moved in even closer. The intruder didn’t seem rattled in the least.

“I can take you,” he said. “It will cost you.”

“Why should we trust you?” Trever asked.

“Because your choices are limited here at the crust,” he replied. “Either find it yourself, or use me.”

“How do we know you can find it?” Keets asked.

“Because I’ve been there. I’m the only one who’s been there and has come back.”

They knew part of what he said was true. They had heard of those who’d gone to Solace, but they’d never heard of one who had returned.

“You’ve got to do better than that,” Ferus said.

“What many don’t know is that long ago, before Coruscant was a city-world, it had vast oceans,” the intruder said. “The oceans were drained and pumped into caverns below
the crust. That’s where you’ll find Solace.”

The others exchanged glances. It sounded real to them. It made sense. That was why it was safe, why even the Empire would have a hard time finding it.

“What’s your name?” Ferus asked.

“Just call me Guide,” the intruder replied. “I left my name behind long ago. Like you, I have wiped out all traces of my past.”

Something is off here
, Ferus thought. There was something odd about Guide. But then again, there was something odd about everyone down here.

Guide was right. They didn’t have much choice. It was the only lead they’d found since they started. Slowly, Ferus nodded.

“Take us there,” he said.

Guide held up a glowlamp. “Best to keep close down here. Watch out for duracrete slugs. They’re especially aggressive.”

“I think we’ve already been introduced,” Trever muttered.

They kept to the middle of the tunnel as they walked. The walls dripped moisture. Occasionally they would pass a reeking toxic pool, glowing strangely in the darkness. They heard slithering
noises, but no creatures appeared.

“The original cities of Coruscant were built on the crust, centuries ago,” Guide explained as they walked. “Much of the infrastructure is still underground. Most of the water
and power tunnels have caved in, but there was a people-moving system that relied on some sort of primitive engine that connected to a track in the ground. These tunnels were built out of blocks of
stone, and some are still intact. Later they were used to pump the oceans into the caverns. That’s where we’re going.”

They walked until they lost a sense of where they were and whether it was day or night above them. Ferus began to feel the lack of sleep and decent food. He pushed on.

Suddenly he heard the echo of lapping water. Guide stopped. “The water will grow deeper, but we’ll come to catwalks that will take us above it.”

Soon they splashed through ankle-deep water. Up ahead he saw a crude stairway, and as Ferus followed the stairs with his eyes he saw that it connected to a series of platforms and more stairs.
When Guide reached the stairs, he began to climb.

They climbed from platform to platform in the darkness. Ferus didn’t know how deep the water was below them, but he could sense it. It was almost as though it still had tides, for it
seemed to roar and recede as though it were constantly moving. He couldn’t see it, he could only smell it and hear it now.

They heard a splash and looked over the side. Far below they could just make out a huge sea creature turning and slipping under the water again.

“Oh, yes,” Guide said. “I should warn you—don’t fall in.”

The scaffolding suddenly opened out into a wide space that ran the width of the cavern. Planks of plastoid and wood were laid in a pattern. Structures had been built in separate circular
encampments that connected to each other through metal walkways. It was like a small city.

In several of the structures Ferus saw lights come on. Whoever was inside was waking up.

Guide held up a small device, and an electronic noise pinged.

The denizens began to emerge from the structures. They were from many worlds, and all were armed with weapons. They slowly walked toward Guide.

The Erased found themselves pressed together in a small group as the settlers ringed around them.

Ferus began to feel uneasy. They were completely surrounded. Outnumbered.

A murmur began, some words passing from being to being. Guide held up a hand for silence.

“I brought them to you from above,” he said.

Then he suddenly turned on his heel and merged with the crowd. “They are yours now.”

The crowd began to move closer. Ferus, Trever, and the Erased backed up. But there was nowhere to go. Only the thin railing of the catwalk, and the long drop to the black ocean below.

It wasn’t as though he didn’t see this one coming from a kilometer off. Ferus had been poised for Guide to betray them. He would have been stupid not to expect
it.

But it turned out he was foolish anyway. He had thought Guide might lead them into an ambush of some kind. He didn’t expect the ambush to come from the members of Solace.