The garbage chamber grew remorselessly smaller, the smoothly fitting metal

walls moving toward one another with stolid precision. Larger pieces of refuse

performed a concerto of snapping and popping that was rising toward a final

shuddering crescendo.

Chewbacca whined pitifully as he fought with all his incredible strength and

weight to hold back one of the walls, looking like a hirsute Tantalus approaching his

final summit.

"One thing's for sure," Solo noted unhappily. "We're all going to be much

thinner. This could prove popular for slimming . The only trouble is its

permanence."

Luke paused for breath, shaking the innocent comlink angrily. "What could

have happened to Threepio?"

"Try the hatch again," advised Leia. "It's our only hope."

Solo shielded his eyes and did so. The ineffectual blast echoed mockingly

through the narrowing chamber.

The service bay was unoccupied, everyone apparently having been drawn away

by the commotion elsewhere. After a cautious survey of the room Threepio

beckoned for Artoo to follow. Together they commenced a hurried search of the

many service panels. Artoo let out a beep, and Threepio rushed to him. He waited

impatiently as the smaller unit plugged the receptive arm carefully into the open

socket.

A superfast flurry of electronics spewed in undisciplined fashion from the grid of

the little 'droid. Threepio made cautioning motions.

"Wait a minute, slow down!" The sounds dropped to a crawl. "That's better.

They're where? They what? Oh, no! They'll only come out of there as liquid!"

Less than a meter of life was left to the trapped occupants of the garbage room.

Leia and Solo had been forced to turn sideways, had ended up facing each other. For

the first time the haughtiness was gone from the Princess's face. Reaching out, she

took Solo's hand, clutching it convulsively as she felt the first touch of the closing

walls.

Luke had fallen and was lying on his side, fighting to keep his head above the

rising ooze. He nearly choked on a mouthful of compressed sludge when his

comlink began buzzing for attention.

"Threepio!"

"Are you there, sir?" the 'droid replied. "We've had some minor problems.

You would not believe—"

"Shut up, Threepio!" Luke screamed into the unit. "And shut down all the

refuse units on the detention level or immediately below it. Do you copy? Shut

down the refuse—"

Moments later Threepio grabbed at his head in pain as a terrific screeching and

yelling sounded over the comlink.

"No, shut them all down!" he implored Artoo. "Hurry! Oh, listen to them—

they're dying, Artoo! I curse this metal body of mine. I was not fast enough. It

was my fault. My poor master—all of them…no, no, no!"

the screaming and yelling, however, continued far beyond what seemed like a

reasonable interval. In fact, they were shouts of relief. The chamber walls had

reversed direction automatically with Artoo's shutdown and were moving apart again.

"Artoo, Threepio," Luke hollered into the comlink, "it's all right, we're all right!

Do you read me? We're okay—you did just fine."

Brushing distastefully at the clinging slime, he made his way as rapidly as

possible toward the hatchcover. Bending, he scraped accumulated detritus away,

noting the number thus revealing.

"Open the pressure-maintenance hatch on unit 366-117891."

"Yes, sir," came Threepio's acknowledgment.

They may have been the happiest words Luke had ever heard.

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