When the beast reached the top of another ice slope, Luke brought the animal to

halt. He pulled off his dark-lensed goggles and squinted for a few moments, just

long enough for his eyes to adjust to the blinding glare of the snow.

Suddenly his attention was diverted by the appearance of an object streaking

across the sky, leaving behind a lingering trail of smoke as it dipped toward the misty

horizon. Luke flashed his gloved hand to his utility belt and clutched his pair of

electrobinoculars. Apprehensive, he felt a chill that competed with the coldness of

the Hoth atmosphere. What he had seen could have been manmade, perhaps even

something launched by the Empire. The young commander, still focused on the

object, followed its fiery course and watched intently as it crashed on the white

ground and was consumed in its own explosive brilliance.

At the sound of the explosion, Luke's Tauntaun shuddered. A fearful growl

escaped its muzzle and it began to claw nervously at the snow. Luke patted the

animal's head, trying to reassure the beast. He found it difficult to hear himself over

the blustering wind. "Easy, girl, it's just another meteorite!" he shouted. The

animal calmed and Luke brought the communicator to his mouth. "Echo Three to

Echo Seven. Han ol' buddy, do you read me?"

Static crackled from the receiver. Then a familiar voice cut through the

interference. "Is that you, kid? What's up?"

The voice sounded a little older and somewhat sharper than Luke's. For a

moment Luke fondly recalled first meeting the Corellian space smuggler in that dark,

alien-packed cantina at a spaceport on Tatooine. And now he was one of Luke's

only friends who was not an official member of the Rebel Alliance.

"I've finished my circle and I haven't picked up any life readings," Luke spoke

into his comlink, pressing his mouth close to the transmitter.

"There isn't enough life on this ice cube to fill a space cruiser," Han answered,

fighting to make his voice heard above the whistling winds. "My sentry markers are

placed. I'm heading back to base."

"See you shortly," Luke replied. He still had his eye on the twisting column of

dark smoke rising from a black spot in the distance. "A meteorite just hit the ground

near here and I want to check it out. I won't be long."

Clicking off his comlink, Luke turned his attention to his Tauntaun. The

reptilian creature was pacing, shifting its weight from one foot to the other. It gave

out a deep-throated roar that seemed to signal fear.

"Whoa, girl!" he said, patting the Tauntaun's head. "What's the matter…you

smell something? There's nothing out there."

But Luke, too, was beginning to feel uneasy, for the first time since he had set

out from the hidden Rebel base. If he knew anything about these snow-lizards, it

was that their senses were keen. Without question the animal was trying to tell Luke

that something, some danger, was near.

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