"Ann Crispin "Han Solo. The Hutt Gambit"" - читать интересную книгу автора

Hah shrugged again. "But my eyes were playing tricks on me. When I finally caught up to her, she wasn't Bria. It was really aw-" He cleared his throat self-consciously. "Uh, that is . . . I was sort of disappointed. I really hoped I'd found her again." He took another gulp of the cooling tea. "I dreamed about Bria last night," he muttered, almost to himself. "I was wearing my uniform, and she was smiling at me . . ."
Chewbacca made a sympathetic sound. Han looked up at the Wookiee. "But, hey, Bria's part of the past. I gotta look ‘ahead. What about you, pal? You got a girlfriend?"
The Wookiee hesitated. Hah grinned knowingly. "Some-one special? Or someone you'd like to be special?"
Chewie fiddled with the STABILIZER CONTROl. button. "Careful, don't push that," Han said. "Okay, you don't have to tell me. But hey . . . I told you. If we're gonna be partners, doesn't that mean we oughta trnst each other?"
His hairy companion mulled that over for a moment. Finally he nodded, and began talking, slowly at first, then with increasing confidence. There was a young Wookiee female, Mallatobuck, that Chewie found attractive. She had come around several times to help care for elderly mem-bers of Chewie's arboreal "community" on Kashyyyk, and had helped Chewbacca care for his father, Attichitcuk, an aged and rather irascible Wookiee.
"So, you like her," Han said. "Does she like you?" Chewbacca wasn't sure. They'd never spent much time alone together. But there was a warmth in her blue eyes that he remembered . . .
"So, how long has it been since you've seen her?" Han persisted.
Chewie thought for a moment, then growled a reply.
"Fifty years{" Han yelped. He knew Wookiees lived many times longer than humans, but still . . .
He took another swallow. "Hey, pal . . . I hate to tell you. Mallatobuck might be married with six little Wooks by now. You sure ask a lot, wanting a girl to wait for you that long."
Chewbaeca agreed that perhaps he should return to Kashyyyk and reestablish contact as soon as possible.
"Tell you what," Han said. "When we've gotten our own ship, bought and paid for, Kashyyyk will be our first stop, okay?"
The big Wookiee roared an enthusiastic agreement. Han glanced over at him, and found himself thinking that it was nice to have someone to talk to during voyages. Space travel, once you made the jump to hyperspace, could be pretty dull.
"I saw that package you brought aboard," he said, changing the subject. "What did you buy?"
Chewbacca fetched the bundle, and returned to the co-pilot's seat. He opened the parcel. Inside was a jumble of various lengths of metal and wood, plus a handgrip and a powerful-looking spring attachment.
Han eyed the assortment, puzzled. "What's that?"
The Wookiee grunted a reply. "It's going to be a bow-caster," Han repeated. "Well, good luck puttin' it together. That spring is so strong that no human would be able to draw a weapon like that."
Chewie agreed and, taking out the toolbox, began put-ting his new bowcaster together.
"You a good shot?" Han asked.
Chewbacca modestly allowed that among his people he was considered quite a marksman. "Good," Han said. "We're headin' for Nar Shaddaa, so we'll need to cover each other's back. It's a moon that orbits the Hutt planet, Nal Hutta. You ever hear of it?" Chewie hadn't.
"Well, I've never been there, but from what I've heard, it can be a little rough. Even the Empire doesn't mess with Nar Shaddaa. If you're hot, or you want to make some kinda deal that the authorities would frown on-you go to Nar Shaddaa. It's that kinda place."
Han began checking the controls, making sure every-thing was shipshape. Not much longer before they emerged into realspace, not far from Nar Hekka. Chewbacca watched him with bright blue eyes, then asked a quiet question.
Hah glanced up. "I did try to find Bria," he admitted after a long moment. "At first I was mad at her, for leaving me, but hey . . . she was going through a lot. A couple of years ago, while I was on leave from the Academy, I looked up her dad, Renn Tharen. He said he hadn't heard from her in a year. He had no idea where she was." Han sighed.
"I liked her dad. The rest of her family was a pain in the
butt, but I liked Renn. He helped me out when I was in a
spot. Most of my first six months' paychecks when I was
commissioned went to pay him back some money he'd
loaned me. He was-"
The ship's hyperspace alarm sounded. "Coming out of hyperspace," Han said, his hands flying over the controls. "Next stop, Nar Hekka. We've got to find us a Hutt Lord named Tagta, pal."
After landing the Duros's ship at the spaceport the ‘alien had specified, Han and Chewbacca gathered up their scanty belongings and left it behind, under no illusions that it would be there when they got back. Together, they boarded a public tube-speeder that would take them into the city where Tagta the Hurt held court.
Hah had been to Nal Hutta, and found it an unpleasant world . . . damp, slimy, and smelly-rather like the Hutts themselves. He'd braced himself to endure more of the same on Nar Hekka, but he was pleasantly surprised. The planet was a cold world that orbited a dim red star on the edge of the Y'Toub system, but Hutt credits and colo-nies of various galactic species had transformed it into a technological wonder. Beneath enormous hothouse domes, the skies shone blue with a faint tinge of violet. Although the planet had little indigenous plant life, vegetation from many worlds had been transplanted and carefully culti-vated. There were numerous parks, botanical gardens, and arboretums. Everywhere Hah and Chewie looked, beds of flowering plants boasted large, lovely blooms of differing hues.
Once in the city, Han and the big Wookiee walked along enjoying file sights. Artificial convection currents wafted soft breezes that caressed their faces. Being "outside" on a balmy day was a wonderful change of pace from being cooped up in a cramped spaceship, Hah said, and Chew-bacca agreed with a throaty growl.
All too soon, it seemed, they approached an imposing white stone edifice that they'd been told marked the home and business center of Tagta the Hutt. Even though Tagta worked for Jiliac, he was still a prominent and wealthy Hutt Lord in his own right.
They walked up the ramp (Hutt designs did not utilize stairs, for obvious reasons) and then paused outside the huge doorway, large enough to admit even a corpulent Hutt on an anti-grav sled. The majordomo was a diminutive Sullustan female. Her jowls quivered as Han introduced himself and requested an audience with Lord Tagta.
The Sullustan left, ostensibly to check out their bonafides, and returned a few minutes later. "Lord Tagta will see you. He asks me to ask you whether you have eaten? He is partaking of the noonday meal."
Han was hungry, and he suspected Chewie was, too, but the thought of eating with a Hutt was not appetizing. Hutt body odor was strong enough to turn a sensitive human's stomach. "We just finished," Han lied. "But we thank Lord Tagta very much for his graciousness in inquiring."
After several more minutes, the two smugglers, escorted by three liveried Gamorrean guards, were ushered into the Hutt's private dining chamber. The room boasted high, vaulted ceilings that reminded Han of cathedrals he'd seen. A large, floor-to-ceiling window allowed reddish sunlight to flood in, making the white walls appear faintly rosy. Their host was reclining (Hutt anatomy didn't permit sitting, after .all) before a table, sampling various "dishes."
Hah took one glance at the wriggling, squirming fare that comprised the noontime repast, and averted his eyes. He didn't allow his squeamishness to show, however, as he and Chewbacca approached the Hutt Lord.
Hah had learned Huttese while on Ylesia, and under-stood it well. He couldn't speak it, though, because the language depended on subharmonics for subtle nuances in meaning, and the human throat was not constructed to pro-duce those sounds. He wondered whether he and the Hurt Lord would need an interpreter droid. He glanced around, but didn't see one.
Tagta was reclining on a hovering anti-gray sled, but Hah got the impression that the Hutt could move around if he wished. Some Hutts, he knew, grew so corpulent that they c, uld no longer glide about under their own power, but Tagta didn't seem either that old or that fat.
Still, watching the Hutt delicately select yet another wriggler from a glass aquarium filled with viscous fluid and stuff it into his mouth, Hah figured that Tagta would proba-bly make it to tile "fully corpulent" stage of Hutt life. Green drool gathered at the corners of Tagta's mouth as he rolled the live treat around in his mouth before, finally, swallowing it.
Hah forced himself not to look away.
Finally, after several more minutes of gluttony, Tagta's hunger seemed to be abating. He looked up at his visitors and said, in Huttese, "Does either of you comprehend the spoken communication of the only truly civilized beings?"
Knowing that Tagta meant Huttese, Hah nodded and said, in Basic, "Yes, Lord Tagta, I understand it. I cannot speak it well, though."
The Hutt waved a plump little hand and blinked his bulbous eyes in surprise. "That is much to your credit, then, Captain Solo. I understand your primitive Basic, so we will not require an interpreter to converse." He waved at the Wookiee. "And your companion?"
"My friend and first mate does not speak the language of your exalted people, Lord Tagta," Hah said. He hated hav-ing to stick flattery into each sentence, but he was highly motivated to stay on this Hutt's good side. When dealing with Hutts, that was generally the best policy-and Han didn't forget that he wanted this particular Hutt to do him a favor.
"Very well, Captain Solo," Tagta said. "Have you brought my ship, as you were hired to do?"
"Yes I have, Your Excellency," Han replied. "It is docked in berth number thirty-eight, Starport Complex Q-7." Nar Hekka boasted a huge starport, since it was the main crossroads of trade into and out of the Hurt systems.
"Excellent, Captain," Tagta said. "You have done well."
He waved a dismissal. "You have our leave to go."