Outside the small adobe hut, the sandstorm wailed like a beast in agony, refusing to
die.  Inside, the sounds were muted.
    It was cooler in this shelter, more hushed, and darker.  While the beast without
howled, in this place of nuance and shadow a shrouded figure worked.
    Tanned hands, holding arcane tools, extended from the sleeves of a caftanlike
robe.  The figure crouched on the ground, working.  Before him lay a discoid
device of strange design, wires trailing from it at one end, symbols etched into its flat
surface.  He connected the wires end to a tubular, smooth handle, pulled through an
organic-looking connector, locked it in place with another tool.  He motioned to a
shadow in the corner; the shadow moved toward him.
    Tentatively, the obscure form rolled closer to the robed figure.  "Vrrr-dit
dweet?" the little R2 unit questioned timidly as it approached, pausing when it was
just a foot from the shrouded man with the strange device.
    The shrouded man motioned the droid nearer still.  Artoo-Detoo scooted the last
distance, blinking; and the hands raised toward his domed little head.

    The fine sand blew hard over the dunes of Tatooine.  The wind seemed to come
from everywhere at once, typhooning in spots, swirling in devil-winds here, hovering
in stillness there, without pattern or meaning.
    A road wound across the desert plain.  It nature changed constantly, at one
moment obscured by drifts of ochre sand, the next moment swept clean, or distorted
by the heat of the shimmering air above it.  A road more ephemeral than navigable;
yet a road to be followed, all the same.  For it was the only way to reach the palace
of Jabba the Hut.
    Jabba was the vilest gangster in the galaxy.  He had his fingers in smuggling,
slave-trading, murder; his minions scattered across the stars.  He both collected and
invented atrocities, and his court was a den of unparalleled decay.  It was said by
some that Jabba had chosen Tatooine as his place of residence because only in this
arid crucible of a planet could he hope to keep his soul from rotting away
altogether—here the parched sun might bake his humor to festering brine.
    In any case, it was a place few of kind spirit even knew of, let alone approached.
It was a place of evil, where even the most courageous felt their powers wilt under the
foul gaze of Jabba's corruption.
    "Poot-wEEt beDOO gung ooble DEEp!" vocalized Artoo-Detoo.
    "Of course I'm worried," See-Threepio fussed.  "And you should be too.  Poor
Lando Calrissian never returned from this place.  Can you imagine what they've
done to him?"
    Artoo whistled timidly.
    The golden droid waded stiffly through a shifting sand hill, then stopped short, as
Jabba's palace suddenly loomed, suddenly dark, in the near distance.  Artoo almost
bumped into him, quickly skidding to the side of the road.
    "Watch where you're going, Artoo." See-Threepio resumed walking, but more
slowly, his little friend rolling along at his side.  And as they went, he chattered on.
"Why couldn't Chewbacca have delivered this message?  No, whenever there's an
impossible mission, they turn to us.  No one worries about droids.  Sometimes I
wonder why we put up with it all."
    On and on he rambled, over the desolate final stretch of road, until at last they
reached the gates to the palace: massive iron doors, taller than Threepio could
see—part of a series of stone and iron walls, forming several gigantic cylindrical
towers that seemed to rise out of a mountain of packed sand.
    The two droids fearfully looked around the ominous door for signs of life, or
welcome, or some sort of signaling device with which to make their presence known.
Seeing nothing in any of those categories, See-Threepio mustered his resolve (which
function had been programmed into him quite a long time earlier), knocked softly
three times on the thick metal gate, then quickly turned around and announced to
Artoo, "There doesn't seem to be anyone here.  Let's go back and tell Master Luke."
    Suddenly a small hatch opened in the center of the door.  A spindly mechanical
arm popped out, affixed to which a large electronic eyeball peered unabashedly at the
two droids.  The eyeball spoke.
    "Tee chuta hhat yudd!"
    Threepio stood erect, proud though his circuits quivered a bit.  He faced the eye,
pointed to Artoo, and then to himself.  "Artoo Detoowha bo Seethreepoiosha ey
toota odd mischka Jabba du Hutt."
    The eye looked quickly from one robot to the other, then retracted back through
the little window and slammed the hatch shut.
    "Boo-dEEp gaNOOng," whispered Artoo with concern.
    Threepio nodded.  "I don't think they're going to let us in, Artoo.  We'd better
go."  He turned to leave, as Artoo beeped a reluctant four-tone.
    At that, a horrific, grinding screech erupted, and the massive iron door slowly
began to rise.  The two droids looked at each other skeptically, and then into the
yawning black cavity that faced them.  They waited, afraid to enter, afraid to retreat.
    From the shadow, the strange voice of the eye screamed at them:  "Nudd chaa!"
    Artoo beeped and rolled forward into the gloom.  Threepio hesitated, then
rushed after his stubby companion with a start.  "Artoo wait for me!"  They stopped
together in a gaping passageway, as Threepio scolded: "You'll get lost."
    The great door slammed shut behind them with a monumental crash that echoed
through the dark cavern.  For a moment the two frightened robots stood there
without moving; then, haltingly, they stepped forward.
    They were immediately joined by three large Gamorrean guards—powerful
piglike brutes whose racial hatred of robots was well known.  The guards ushered
the two droids down the dark corridor without so much as a nod.  When they reached
the first half-lit hallway, one of them grunted an order.  Artoo beeped a nervous
query at Threepio.
    "You don't want to know," the golden droid responded apprehensively.  "Just
deliver Master Luke's message and get us out of here quick."
    Before they could take another step, a form approached them from the obscurity
of a cross-corridor: Bib Fortuna, the inelegant major-domo of Jabba's degenerate
court.  He was a tall, humanoid creature with eyes that saw only what was necessary,
and a robot that hid all.  Protruding from the back of his skull were two fat,
tentacular appendages that exhibited prehensile, sensual, and cognitive functions at
various times—which he wore either draped over his shoulders for decorative effect
or, when the situation called for balance, hanging straight down behind him as if they
were twin tails,
    He smiled thinly as he stopped before the two robots.  "Die wanna wanga."
    Threepio spoke up officially.  "Die wanna wanga.  We bring a message to your
master, Jabba the Hutt."  Artoo beeped a postscript, upon which Threepio nodded
and added:  "And a gift."  He thought about this a moment, looked as puzzled as it
was possible for a droid to look, and whispered loudly to Artoo, "Gift, what gift?"
    Bib shook his head emphatically.  "Nee Jabba no badda.  Me chaade su
goodie."  He held out his hand toward Artoo.
    The small droid backed up meekly, but his protest was lengthy.  "bDooo EE
NGwrrr Op dbooDEEop!"
    "Artoo, give it to him!" Threepio insisted.  Sometimes Artoo could be so
binary.
    At this, though, Artoo became positively defiant, beeping and tooting at Fortuna
and Threepio as if they'd both had their programs erased.
    Threepio nodded finally, hardly happy with Artoo's answer.  He smiled
apologetically at Bib.  "He says our master's instructions are to give it only to Jabba
himself."  Bib considered the problem a moment, as Threepio went on explaining.
"I'm terribly sorry.  I'm afraid he's ever so stubborn about these things."  He
managed to throw a disparaging yet loving tone into his voice, as he tilted his head
toward his small associate.
    Bib gestured for them to follow.  "Nudd chaa."  He walked back into the
darkness, the droids following close behind, the three Gamorrean guards lumbering
along at the rear.
    As See-Threepio descended into the belly of the shadow, he muttered quietly to
the silent R2 unit, "Artoo, I have a bad feeling about this."

    See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo stood at the entrance of the throne room, looking
in.  "We're doomed," whimpered Threepio, wishing for the thousandth time that he
could close his eyes.
    The room was filled, wall to cavernous wall, with the animate dregs of the
universe.  Grotesque creatures from the lowest star systems, drunk on spiced liquor
and their own fetid vapors.  Gamorreans, twisted humans, jawas—all reveling in
base pleasures, or raucously comparing mean feats.  And at the front of the room,
reclining on a dais that overlooked the debauchery, was Jabba the Hutt.
    His head was three times human size, perhaps four.  His eyes were yellow,
reptilian—his skin was like a snake's, as well, except covered with a fine layer of
grease.  He had no neck, but only a series of chins that expanded finally into a great
bloated body, engorged to bursting with stolen morsels.  Stunted, almost useless
arms sprouted from his upper torso, the sticky fingers of his left hand languidly
wrapped around the smoking-end of his water-pipe.  He had no hair—it had fallen
out from a combination of diseases.  He had no legs—his trunk simply tapered
gradually to a long, plump snake-tail that stretched along the length of the platform
like a tube of yeasty dough.  His lipless mouth was wide, almost ear to ear, and he
drooled continuously.  He was quite thoroughly disgusting.
    Chained to him, chained at the neck, was a sad, pretty dancing-girl, a member of
Fortuna's species, with two dry, shapely tentacles sprouting from the back of her head,
hanging suggestively down her bare, muscled back.  Her name was Oola.  Looking
forlorn, she sat as far away as her chain would allow, at the other end of the dais.
    And sitting near Jabba's belly was a small monkeylike reptile named Salacious
Crumb, who caught all the food and ooze that spilled out of Jabba's hands or mouth
and ate it with a nauseating cackle.
    Shafts of light from above partially illuminated the drunken courtiers as Bib
Fortuna crossed the floor to the dais.  The room was composed of an endless series
of alcoves within alcoves, so that much of what went on was, in any case, visible only
as shadow and movement.  When Fortuna reached the throne, he delicately leaned
forward and whispered into the slobbering monarch's ear.  Jabba's eyes became
slits…then with a maniacal laugh he motioned for the two terrified droids to be
brought in.
    "Bo shuda," wheezed the Hutt, and lapsed into a fit of coughing.  Although he
understood several languages, as a point of honor he only spoke Huttese.  His only
such point.
    The quaking robots scooted forward to stand before the repulsive ruler, though
he grossly violated their most deeply programmed sensibilities.  "The message,
Artoo, the message," Threepio urged.
    Artoo whistled once, and a beam of light projected from his domed head,
creating a hologram of Luke Skywalker that stood before them on the floor.  Quickly
the image grew to over ten feet tall, until the young Jedi warrior towered over the
assembled throng.  Al at once the room grew quiet, as Luke's giant presence made
itself felt.
    "Greetings, Exalted One," the hologram said to Jabba.  "Allow me to introduce
myself.  I am Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight and friend of Captain Solo.  I seek an
audience with Your Greatness, to bargain for his life."  At this, the entire room burst
into laughter which Jabba instantly stopped with a hand motion.  Luke didn't pause
long.  "I know that you are powerful, mighty Jabba, and that your anger with Solo
must be equally powerful.  But I'm sure we can work out an arrangement which will
be mutually beneficial.  As a token of my good will, I present to you a gift—these
two droids."
    Threepio jumped back as if stung.  "What!  What did he said?"
    Luke continued, "…Both are hardworking and will serve you will."  With that,
the hologram disappeared.
    Threepio wagged his head in despair.  "Oh, no, this can't be.  Artoo, you must
have played the wrong message."  Jabba laughed and drooled.
    Bib spoke in Huttese.  "Bargain rather than fight?  He is no Jedi."
    Jabba nodded in agreement.  Still grinning, he rasped at Threepio, "There will
be no bargain.  I have no intention of giving up my favorite decoration."  With a
hideous chuckle he looked toward the dimly lit alcove beside the throne; there,
hanging flat against the wall, was the carbonized form of Han Solo, his face and
hands emerging out of the cold hard slab, like a statue reaching from a sea of stone.

    Artoo and Threepio marched dismally through the dank passageway at the
prodding of a Gamorrean guard.  Dungeon cells lined both walls.  The unspeakable
cries of anguish that emanated from within as the droids passed echoed off the stone
and down the endless catacombs.  Periodically a hand or claw or tentacle would
reach through the bars of a door to grab at the hapless robots.
    Artoo beeped pitifully.  Threepio only shook his head.  "What could have
possibly come over Master Luke?  Was it something I did?  He never expressed any
unhappiness with my work…"
    They approached a door at the end of the corridor.  It slid open automatically,
and the Gamorrean shoved them forward.  Inside, their ears were assaulted by
deafening machine sounds—wheels creaking, piston-heads slamming, water-hammers,
engine hums—and a continuously shifting haze of steam made visibility short.  This
was either the boiler room, or programmed hell.
    An agonized electronic scream, like the sound of stripping gears, drew their
attention to the corner of the room.  From out of the mist walked EV-9D9, a thin
humanlike robot with some disturbingly human appetites.  In the dimness behind
Ninedenine, Threepio could see the legs being pulled off a droid on a torture rack,
while a second droid, hanging upside down, was having red-hot irons applied to its
feet; it had emitted the electronic scream Threepio heard a few moments earlier, as the
sensor circuits in its metal skin melted in agony.  Threepio cringed at the sound, his
own wiring sympathetically crackling with static electricity.
    Ninedenine stopped in front of Threepio, raising her pincer hands expansively.
"Ah, new acquisitions," she said with great satisfaction.  "I am Eve-Ninedenine,
Chief of Cyborg Operations.  You're a protocol droid, aren't you?"
    "I am See-Threepio, human-cyborg re—"
    "Yes or no will do," Ninedenine said icily.
    "Well, yes," Threepio replied.  This robot was going to be trouble, that much
was obvious—one of those droids who always had to prove she was
more-droid-than-thou.
    "How many languages do you speak?" Ninedenine continued.
    Well, two can play that game, thought Threepio.  He ran his most dignified,
official introductory tape.  "I am fluent in over six million forms of communication,
and can—"
    "Splendid!" Ninedenine interrupted gleefully.  "We have been without an
interpreter since the master got angry with something our last protocol droid said and
disintegrated him."
    "Disintegrated!" Threepio wailed.  Any semblance of protocol left him.
    Ninedenine spoke to a pig guard who suddenly appeared.  "This one will be
quite useful.  Fit him with a restraining bolt, then take him back up to the main
audience chamber."
    The guard grunted and roughly shoved Threepio toward the door.
    "Artoo, don't leave me!" Threepio called out, but the guard grabbed him and
pulled him away; and he was gone.
    Artoo let out a long; plaintive cry as Threepio was removed.  Then he turned to
Ninedenine and beeped in outrage, and at length.
    Ninedenine laughed.  "You're a feisty little one, but you'll soon learn some
respect.  I have need for you on the master's Sail Barge.  Several of our astrodroids
have been disappearing recently—stolen for spare parts, most likely.  I think you'll
fill in nicely."
    The droid on the torture rack emitted a high-frequency wail, then sparked briefly
and was silent.

    The court of Jabba the Hutt roiled in malignant ecstasy.  Oola, the beautiful
creature chained to Jabba, danced in the center of the floor, as the inebriated monsters
cheered and heckled.  Threepio hovered warily near the back of the throne, trying to
keep the lowest profile possible.  Periodically he had to duck to avoid a fruit hurled
in his direction or to sidestep a rolling body.  Mostly, he just stayed low.  What else
was a protocol droid to do, in a place of so little protocol?
    Jabba leered through the smoke of his hooka and beckoned the creature Oola to
come sit beside him.  She stopped dancing instantly, a fearful look in her eye, and
backed up, shaking her head.  Apparently she had suffered such invitations before.
    Jabba became angry.  He pointed unmistakably to a spot beside him on the dais.
"Da eitha!" he growled.
    Oola shook her head more violently, her face a mask of terror.  "Na chuba
negatorie.  Na!  Na!  Natoota…"
    Jabba became livid.  Furiously he motioned to Oola.  "Boscka!"
    Jabba pushed a button as he released Oola's chain.  Before she could flee, a
grating trap door in the floor dropped open, and she tumbled into the pit below.  The
door snapped shut instantly.  A moment of silence, followed by a low, rumbling roar,
followed by a terrified shriek was followed once more by silence.
    Jabba laughed until he slobbered.  A dozen revelers hurried over to peer
through the grate, to observe the demise of the nubile dancer.
    Threepio shrank even lower and looked for support to the carbonite form of Han
Solo, suspended in bas relief above the floor.  Now there was a human without a
sense of protocol, thought Threepio wistfully.
    His reverie was interrupted by an unnatural quiet that suddenly fell over the
room.  He looked up to see Bib Fortuna making his way through the crowd,
accompanied by two Gamorrean guards, and followed by a fierce-looking
cloaked-and-helmeted bounty hunter who led his captive prize on a leash: Chewbacca,
the Wookiee.
    Threepio gasped, stunned.  "Oh, no!  Chewbacca!"  The future was looking
very bleak indeed."
    Bib muttered a few words into Jabba's ear, pointing to the bounty hunter and his
captive.  Jabba listened intently.  The bounty hunter was humanoid, small and mean:
a belt of cartridges was slung across his jerkin and an eye-slit in his helmet-mask gave
the impression of his being able to see through things.  He bowed low, then spoke in
fluent Ubese.  "Greeting, Majestic One.  I am Boushh."  It was a metallic
language, well-adapted to the rarefied atmosphere of the home planet from which this
nomadic species arose.
    Jabba answered in the same tongue, though his Ubese was stilted and slow.  "At
last someone has brought me the mighty Chewbacca…"  He tried to continue, but
stuttered on the word he wanted.  With a roaring laugh, he turned toward Threepio.
"Where's my talkdroid?" he boomed, motioning Threepio to come closer.
Reluctantly, the courtly robot obeyed.
    Jabba ordered him congenially.  "Welcome our mercenary friend and ask his
price for the Wookiee."
    Threepio translated the message to the bounty hunter.  Boushh listened carefully,
simultaneously studying the feral creatures around the room, possible exits, possible
hostages, vulnerable points.  He particularly noticed Boba Fett—standing near the
door—the steel-masked mercenary who had caught Han Solo.
    Boushh assessed this all in a moment's moment, then spoke evenly in his native
tongue to Threepio.  "I will take fifty thousand, no less."
    Threepio quietly translated for Jabba, who immediately became enraged and
knocked the golden droid off the raised throne with a sweep of his massive tail.
Threepio clattered in a heap on the floor, where he rested momentarily, uncertain of
the correct protocol in this situation.
    Jabba raved on in guttural Huttese, Boushh shifted his weapon to a more usable
position.  Threepio sighed, struggled back onto the throne, composed himself, and
translated for Boushh—loosely—what Jabba was saying.
    "Twenty-five thousand is all he'll pay…" Threepio instructed.
    Jabba motioned his pig guards to take Chewbacca, as two jawas covered Boushh.
Boba Fett, also raised his weapon.  Jabba added, to Threepio's translation: "Twenty
five thousand, plus his life."
    Threepio translated.  The room was silent, tense, uncertain.  Finally Boushh
spoke, softly, to Threepio.
    "Tell that swollen garbage bag he'll have to do better than that, or they'll be
picking his smelly hide out of every crack in this room.  I'm holding a thermal
detonator."
    Threepio suddenly focused on the small silver ball Boushh held partially
concealed in his left hand.  It could be heard humming a quiet, ominous hum.
Threepio looked nervously at Jabba, then back at Boushh.
    Jabba barked at the droid.  "Well?  What did he say?"
    Threepio cleared his throat.  "Your Grandness, he, uh…He—"
    "Out with it, droid!" Jabba roared.
    "Oh, dear," Threepio fretted.  He inwardly prepared himself for the worst, then
spoke to Jabba in flawless Huttese.  "Boushh respectfully disagrees with Your
Exaltedness, and begs you to reconsider the amount…or he will release the thermal
detonator he is holding."
    Instantly a disturbed murmuring circled in the room.  Everyone backed up
several feet, as if that would help.  Jabba stared at the ball clenched in the bounty
hunter's hand.  It was beginning to glow.  Another tense hush came over the
onlookers.
    Jabba stared malevolently at the bounty hunter for several long seconds.  Then,
slowly, a satisfied grin crept over his vast, ugly mouth.  From the bilious pit of his
belly, a laugh rose like gas in a mire.  "This bounty hunter is my kind of scum.
Fearless and inventive.  Tell him thirty-five, no more—and warn him not to press his
luck."
    Threepio felt greatly relieved by this turn of events.  He translated for Boushh.
Everyone studied the bounty hunter closely for his reaction; guns were readied.
    Then Boushh released a switch on the thermal detonator, and it went dead.
"Zeebuss," he nodded.
    "He agrees," Threepio said to Jabba.
    The crowd cheered; Jabba relaxed.  "Come, my friend, join our celebration.  I
may find other work for you." Threepio translated, as the party resumed in the
depraved revelry.
    Chewbacca growled under his breath, as he was led away by the Gamorreans.
He might have cracked their heads just for being so ugly, or to remind everyone
present what a Wookiee was made of—but near the door he spotted a familiar face.
Hidden behind a half-mask of pit-boar teeth was a human in the uniform of a skiff
guard—Lando Calrissian.  Chewbacca gave no sign of recognition; nor did he resist
the guard who now escorted him from the room.
    Lando had managed to infiltrate this nest of maggots month's earlier to see if it
was possible to free Solo from Jabba's imprisonment.  He'd done this for several
reasons.
    First, because he felt (correctly) that it was his fault Han was in this predicament,
and he wanted to make amends—provided, of course, he could do so without getting
hurt.  Blending in here, like just one of the pirates, was no problem for Lando,
though—mistaken identity was a way of life with him.
    Second, he wanted to join forces with Han's buddies at the top of the Rebel
Alliance.  They were out to beat the Empire, and he wanted nothing more in his life
now than to do just that.  The Imperial police had moved in on his action once too
often; so this was a grudge match, now.  Besides, Lando liked being part of Solo's
crowd, since they seemed to be right up at the business end of all the action against
the Empire.
    Third, Princess Leia had asked him to help, and he just never could refuse a
princess asking for help.  Besides, you never knew how she might thank you some
day.
    Finally, Lando would have bet anything that Han simply could not be rescued
from this place—and Lando just plain couldn't resist a bet.
    So he spent his days watching a lot.  Watching and calculating.  That's what he
did now, as Chewie was led away—he watched, and then he faded into the stonework.
    The band started playing, led by a blue, flop-eared jizz-wailer named Max Rebo.
Dancers flooded the floor.  The courtiers hooted, and brewed their brains a bit more.
    Boushh leaned against a column, surveying the scene.  His gaze swept coolly
over the court, taking in the dancers, the smokers, the rollers, the gamblers…until it
came to rest squarely on an equally unflappable stare from across the room.  Boba
Fett was watching him.
    Boushh shifted slightly, posturing with his weapon cradled like a loving child.
Boba Fett remained motionless, an arrogant sneer all but visible behind his ominous
mask.

    Pig guards led Chewbacca though the unlit dungeon corridor.  A tentacle coiled
out one of the doors to touch the brooding Wookiee.
    "Rheeaaahhr!" he screamed, and the tentacle shot back into its cell.
    The next door was open.  Before Chewie fully realized what was happening, he
was hurled forcefully into the cell by all the guards.  The door slammed shut, locking
him in darkness.
    He raised his head and let out a long, pitiful howl that carried through the entire
mountain of iron and sand up to the infinitely patient sky.

    The throne room was quiet, dark, and empty as right filled its littered corners.
Blood, wine, and saliva stained the floor, shreds of tattered clothing hung from the
fixtures, unconscious bodies curled under broken furniture.  The party was over.
    A dark figure moved silently among the shadows, pausing behind a column here,
a statue there.  He made his way stealthily along the perimeter of the room, stepping
once over a snoring Yak Face.  He never made a sound.  This was Boushh, the
bounty hunter.
    He reached the curtained alcove beside which the slab that was Han Solo hung
suspended by a force field on the wall.  Boushh looked around furtively, then flipped
a switch near the side of the carbonite coffin.  The humming of the force field wound
down, and the heavy monolith slowly lowered to the floor.
    Boushh stepped up and studied the frozen face of the space pirate.  He touched
Solo's carbonized cheek, curiously, as if it were a rare, precious stone.  Cold and
hard as diamond.
    For a few seconds he examined the controls at the side of the slab, then activated
a series of switches.  Finally, after one last, hesitant, glance at the living statue before
him, he slid the decarbonization lever into place.
    The casing began to emit in a high-pitched sound.  Anxiously Boushh peered all
around again, making certain no one heard.  Slowly, the hard shell that was covering
the contours of Solo's face started to melt away.  Soon, the coating was gone from
the entire front of Solo's body, freeing his upraised hands—so long frozen in
protest—to fall slackly to his sides.  His face relaxed into what looked like nothing
so much as a death-mask.  Boushh extracted the lifeless body from its casing and
lowered it gently to the floor.
    He leaned his gruesome helmet close to Solo's face, listening closely for signs of
life.  No breath.  No pulse.  With a start, Han's eyes suddenly snapped open, and
he began to cough.  Boushh steadied him, tried to quiet him—there were still guards
who might hear.
    "Quiet!" he whispered.  "Just relax."
    Han squinted up at the dim form above him.  "I can't see…What's happening?"
He was, understandably, disoriented, after having been in suspended animation for six
of this desert planet's months—a period that was, to him, timeless.  It had been a
grim sensation—as if for an eternity he'd been trying to draw breath, to move, to
scream, every moment in conscious, painful asphyxiation—and now suddenly he was
dumped into a loud, black, cold pit.
    His senses assaulted him all at once.  The air bit at his skin with a thousand icy
teeth; the opacity of his sight was impenetrable; wind seemed to rush around his ears
at hurricane volumes; he couldn't feel which way was up; the myriad smells filling his
nose made him nauseous, he couldn't stop salivating, all his bones hurt—and then
came the visions.
    Visions from his childhood, from his last breakfast, from twenty-seven
piracies…as if all the images and memories of his life had been crammed into a
balloon, and the balloon popped and they all came bursting out now, randomly, in a
single moment.  It was nearly overwhelming, it was sensory overload; or more
precisely, memory overload.  Men had gone mad, in these first minutes following
decarbonization, hopelessly, utterly mad—unable ever again to reorganize the
ten-billion kind of coherent, selective order.
    Solo wasn't that susceptible.  He rode the surge of this tide of impressions until
it settled down to a churning backwash, submerging the bulk of his memories, leaving
only the most recent flotsam to foam on the surface: his betrayal by Lando Calrissian,
who he'd once called friend; his ailing ship; his last view of Leia; his capture by Boba
Fett, the iron-masked bounty hunter who…
    Where was he now?  What had happened?  His last image was of Boba Fett
watching him turn into carbonite.  Was this Fett again now, come to thaw him for
more abuse?  The air roared in his ears, his breathing felt irregular, unnatural.  He
batted his hand in front of his face.
    Boushh tried to reassure him.  "You're free of the carbonite and have
hibernation sickness.  Your eyesight will return in time.  Come, we must hurry if
we're to leave this place."
    Reflexively Han grabbed the bounty hunter, felt at the grated face-mask, then
drew back.  "I am not going anywhere—I don't even know where I am."  He began
sweating profusely as his heart once again churned blood, and his mind groped for
answers.  "Who are you, anyway?" he demanded suspiciously.  Perhaps it was Fett
after all.
    The bounty hunter reached up and pulled the helmet away from his head
revealing, underneath, the beautiful face of Princess Leia.
    "One who loves you," she whispered, taking his face tenderly in her still gloved
hands and kissing him long on the lips.