Lowbacca growled a comment.
“What do you mean you’re willing to take the risk?” Em Teedee said. “Dear me, I believe Master Calrissian was actually emphasizing the hazards in the hope that you would not want to go.”
“Well, we’d like to go anyway,” Jacen piped up.
Lando held up a hand, grinning as if he had just thought of something—though Jacen could sense that he had been planning it all along. “Well, maybe it is time I got back to doing some real work around here instead of all this management stuff. All right, I’ll take you down myself.”
To Jacen, the Submersible Mining Environment looked like a large diving bell. Its hull was thickly armored, a dull gray with oily smears of color that reflected weirdly in the lights. The hatch appeared thick and durable enough to withstand turbolaser fire.
“This is called the Fast Hand,” Lando said, “a little ship we designed exclusively for going to the greatest depths of Yavin 4. It’s gone almost all the way to the core, where we can reach the biggest Corusca stones.” He ran his fingers over the oily hull plating.
“The Fast Hand is covered with a fine skin of quantum armor,” Lando said, awe apparent in his voice, “a little something developed by the Empire. But we turned the military applications to our own uses—the ultimate in commercial spin-off technology.” Lando sounded as if he were giving a speech to a board of directors, and then he remembered his audience. “Well, never mind. The armor on this baby is strong enough to withstand even the pressures deep in Yavin’s core. We’ll be lowered down, connected to GemDiver Station by an energy tether—like an unbreakable magnetic rope.”
“Not even the storms can snap it?” Jaina asked.
Lando spread his hands wide, dismissing her concern. “We might get jostled around a bit, but …” He laughed. “The seats are padded. We’ll be okay.”
Lowbacca stooped, but still banged his head on the low doorway as he climbed into the diving bell. Jacen and Jaina jumped in after him. As Lando followed them into the Fast Hand, he pulled the hatch shut.
He rapped his knuckles against the inside wall with a metallic thump. “Safe and sound,” he said, then settled into the cushioned seat in front of the piloting controls. Jacen strapped into the copilot’s chair beside him, while Jaina and Lowie took the rear seats. Thick, square windows covered the walls and floor, giving them a view no matter which way they looked.
“Oh my, isn’t this exciting?” Em Teedee said. Lowie grunted in agreement.
3
Lando keyed in some instructions on the control panel. “I’m telling Lobot we’re ready for departure.”
Red lights flashed on the bay walls, signaling the Fast Hands status as it prepared for release into Yavin’s atmosphere. Three technicians trotted out of the room, and the airlock doors sealed behind them.
“Hang on,” Lando said.
The floor beneath the Fast Hand slid away. Jacen’s stomach lurched as the armored diving bell fell from GemDiver Station, down into the swirling fury of gases. Lowie yelped in sudden astonishment. Jacen’s pulse raced. Jaina gripped the arms of her seat.
The Fast Hand hurtled downward, but soon Jacen sensed their descent stabilizing, slowing, becoming more controlled.
“I can feel the energy tether holding us,” Jaina said.
Jacen reached out with his Jedi senses and detected a shimmering cool thread that connected them to the orbiting station high above. Eager and interested, he unclasped his crash restraints and looked out the nearest windowport as the roiling clouds rushed closer, slamming toward them.
Jacen saw a fleet of tiny ships like agricultural drones skimming across the tops of the rising gases. The small ships hauled a glowing golden web behind them, like a faint net dragged through the clouds.
“What are those?” Jaina asked, curious as always about how things worked.
“Contractors of mine,” Lando said. “Corusca fishermen. They take a fleet of skiffs along the cloud tops, trailing an energy seine behind them. As they fly through the clouds, the energy differential in the net reacts to the presence of tiny Corusca stones. They pick up only smaller stones and Corusca dust. It may not seem like much, but it’s still quite valuable and worth the effort.
“I help support their operation, and they give me a percentage of their catch. But the larger Corusca gems are deeper down. The great pressures near the core always made it impossible to mine those big gemstones, but with this new quantum armor, we can take the Fast Hand all the way down.”
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Jaina asked.
“Right. Let’s go,” Jacen said, rubbing his hands together. Then he flashed a mischievous grin. “Hey, Lando, I heard two droids talking the other day. The first one said, ‘Well, did you beat the Wookiee at sabacc?’ and the second one said—”
“—‘Yes, but it cost me an arm and a leg,’” Lando finished. “That’s an old joke, kid.”
Jacen frowned at first, then giggled. “Maybe that’s why Tenel Ka didn’t laugh at it.”
Jaina looked at her brother. “I don’t think that’s the reason she didn’t laugh.”
The diving bell continued its descent. Lando plied the controls, unreeling the energy tether. As the dense organic mists and colored aerosols folded around them, the winds became gentle fingers drumming against the walls, growing louder and more insistent.
The storm systems increased in fury. Bolts of blue lightning shot across the murky sky as far as Jacen could see. Static electricity crawled over the outer hull like jagged caterpillars, sparking and snapping against the connecting point of the energy tether.
Lowie uttered a long and concerned-sounding sentence in Wookiee language, and his translator droid piped up. “A good question, Master Lowbacca. What does happen if the energy tether is severed? How would we get back?”
“Oh, we’ve got life-support supplies aboard,” Lando said, waving his hand again. “We could survive quite a while down here until a rescue mission was mounted from GemDiver Station. We have communications and energy backups—but it won’t happen, don’t worry.”
As if to disagree with him, an unexpected gust of wind slapped them sideways so that Jacen tumbled from his seat. He pulled himself back up and sheepishly refastened his crash webbing.
Suddenly the Fast Hand seemed to snap free from its connecting line. They dropped like a cannonball, plunging and plunging for a full ten seconds. Lowie yowled, and Jacen and Jaina cried out. Lando pumped up the energy levels until finally he managed to reconnect the tether.
“See? No problem,” he said with a nonchalant grin, but Jacen could see the beads of sweat on Lando’s forehead. “You all might want to tighten your crash webbing, though,” he said. “These storms make for some hefty turbulence in the lower atmosphere. That’s what stirs up the interface level and gives the Corusca gems a nudge. Once we get a little lower, we’ll start hunting.”
“I’d like to try my hand at it,” Jaina said.
“I’ll let you each have a turn at the controls, but I should warn you that Corusca gems are very rare, even down here. Don’t expect to find anything.”
Jacen asked, “If we’re at the controls and we find a Corusca gem, can we keep it?”
Lando smiled indulgently. “Well, I suppose … but we can’t spend a lot of time down here looking for gems.”
“Oh, we won’t,” Jacen said. “But it’s still good to have some incentive.”
Lando laughed. “Just like your father,” he said. Jacen smiled, thinking of all the times Lando Calrissian and Han Solo had worked with each other—or in competition against each other—over the years of their long friendship.