Luke looked genuinely puzzled. "I don't know. It had me—and then I was

free. It just let me go and disappeared. Maybe I didn't smell bad enough for it."

"I've got a very bad feeling about this," Solo murmured.

Again the distant rumble filled the room; again the walls began their inward

march. Only this time neither sound nor movement showed any sign of stopping.

"Don't just stand there gaping at each other!" the Princess urged them. "Try to

brace them with something.

Even with the thick poles and old metal beams Chewbacca could handle, they

were unable to find anything capable of slowing the walls' advance. It seemed as if

the stronger the object was that they placed against the walls, the easier it was

snapped. Luke pulled out his comlink, simultaneously trying to talk and will the

walls to retreat. "Threepio…come in, Threepio!" A decent paused produced no

response, causing Luke to look worriedly at his companions.

"I don't know why he doesn't answer." He tried again. "See Threepio, come

in. Do you read?"

"See Threepio," the muted voice continued to call, "come in, See Threepio." It

was Luke's voice and it issued softly in between buzzings from the small hand

comlink resting on the deserted computer console. Save for the intermittent pleading,

the gantry office was silent.

A tremendous explosion drowned out the muffled pleadings. It blew the office

door clean across the room, sending metal fragments flying in all directions. Several

of them struck the comlink, sending it flying to the floor and cutting off Luke's voice

in midtransmission.

In the wake of the minor cataclysm four armed and ready troopers entered

through the blown portal. Initial study indicated the office was deserted—until a

dim, frightened voice was heard coming from one of the tall supply cabinets near the

back of the room.

"Help, help! Let us out!"

Several of the troopers bent to inspect the immobile bodies of the gantry officer

and his aide while others opened the noisy cabinet. Two robots, one tall and

humanoid, the other purely mechanical and three-legged, stepped out into the office.

The taller one gave the impression of being half unbalanced with fear.

"They're madmen, I tell you, madmen!" He gestured urgently toward the

doorway. "I think they said something about heading for the prison level. They

just left. If you hurry, you might catch them. That way, that way!"

Two of the troopers inside joined those waiting in the hallway in hustling off

down the corridor. That left two guards to watch over the office. They totally

ignored the robots as they discussed what might have taken place.

"All the excitement has overloaded the circuitry in my companion here,"

Threepio explained carefully. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take him down to

Maintenance."

"Hmmm?" One of the guards looked up indifferently and nodded to the robot.

Threepio and Artoo hurried out the door without looking back. As they departed it

occurred to the guard that the taller of the two 'droids was of a type he had never seen

before. He shrugged. That was not surprising on a station of this size.

"That was too close," Threepio muttered as they scurried down an empty

corridor. "Now we'll have to find another information-control console and plug you

back in, or everything is lost."

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