The Crystal Star by Vonda McIntyre Read Free Book Online Page A

completely different domes.
    The noise and excitement of the first dome faded away. They passed into a region of huge machines and
    warehouses, then into a lush park, where alien vegetation clambered up the walls and moderated the
    whirlpool light with leaves in all the colors of the rainbow.
    "Where are we going?" Han demanded. "There's got to be lodges back in the carnival dome." "Not for
    you," the hairy being said. "Not good enough for you." They traveled farther away from the lights and the
    noise and the action, into quieter regions.
    Gardens and low, organically engineered buildings surrounded them. Instead of being excited by the
    atmosphere, Han felt as if the very air were wrapping him in hot, damp blankets.
    "Luke," he said under his breath, "we're never going to find anything, out here in the middle of nowhere."
    "Be patient," Luke said.
    "Patient! I've been patient! We've been walking half the day." Except to grin at Han's exaggeration, Luke
    ignored the complaints and continued on after the hairy being.
    They entered the largest dome so far. The top curved so far overhead that small clouds floated at the
    apex, and a breeze circulated the heavy warm air. The being led Han and Luke to a building that
    followed the contour of a crater. The front of the building spilled down to a pool at the crater's floor, and
    rose to a tower at the crater's rim. Two wings of the building followed the rim of the crater.
    "Here," the hairy being said. "Here is perfect." It pointed through an irregularly arched opening.
    Han stepped over the threshold into a cool dim room filled with the sound and scent of running water. He
    glanced back. Luke stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the harsh light. Han started. For a moment he
    could see both Obi-wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, Lord Vader, in Luke's stance. Luke came
    toward him, gazing around curiously, and the illusion vanished.
    Han returned to the entryway and looked outside. The hairy being had disappeared. He scowled.
    "Why'd you want to follow that guy all the way out here?" he asked Luke, who sat on his heels at the
    edge of the indoor pool, scooped his hand through the running water, smelled then briefly tasted it.
    "We needed a native guide." "We're supposed to have one," Han pointed out.
    "And he might be useful to us," Luke said.
    "I doubt it," Han said.
    "And... he reminded me of Yoda." "You think he might be one of the Jedi?" "I thought he might be. Now
    I don't think so. But he could have been." Han started to make a crack about Luke's highly honed
    decision-making abilities, but thought better of it for the moment. Luke's uncharacteristic lack of
    composure and self-assurance troubled him.
    "Hey!" he shouted. "Anybody here?
    Is this a lodge or not?" It occurred to him that the place might not be a lodge; the hairy being might have
    brought them to a business or even a private house as a joke.
    "Yes, human being, I am here." An image formed above the pond, flickering, reflecting, shooting shards
    of light throughout the irregular room. Han could not make out a definite shape amid the hypnotic aurora.
    "We want three rooms," Han said.
    "Two for humans, one fitted for a droid." "For what duration?" The musical voice took on color, like the
    image.
    "We'll be here indefinitely." "Payment two standard days in advance, if you please."
    Han slammed the door as he entered his room.
    The lodge now possessed all but the very last of his ready cash.
    Not that the room wasn't worth it. It was luxurious, with everything from instant-delivery high cuisine in
    the alcove to a patio overlooking the spectacular crater lake far below. Nevertheless, if he could not
    negotiate the letter of resources, he and Luke would be on a dangerously short rein.
    He had a bad feeling about the letter of resources. Crseih Station was too far off the spaceways; it had
    been left too far outside the embrace of the New Republic. The rights and privileges and services he took
    for granted did not exist