The Ruins of Dantooine (7 page)

Deciding to take one more look at the sky before retiring for bed, he stepped through the double doors, almost tripping over a body in his way. At first he thought someone had fallen and injured himself, but then he realized that some of the more raucous patrons had literally spilled out onto the walkway. A brief inspection told him they were no worse for the wear. Then, as he started to shuffle along, he saw Dusque walking back toward the casino. He smiled, but his two mouths gradually turned down as he got a better look at her.

She was walking with her head down, her eyes partially squeezed shut. With both hands, she was rhythmically rubbing her temples. She was so distracted that she nearly marched right past him. Tendau reached out with one long hand and brushed her shoulder. She twisted around with such a fearful look on her face, the Ithorian didn’t know which of them was more startled.

“Are you well?” he asked her, concern echoing from both his mouths.

She didn’t answer right away, and Tendau got an even closer look at her by the light of the casino sign. Her light brown hair was more askew than usual. Her face was flushed, and her eyes had the glassy quality of unshed tears. While Tendau knew that the human female was prone to fluctuations in
hormone levels not seen in many other species, he had never known Dusque to fall victim to their cyclical nature. In fact, he could not recall ever seeing her so distraught.

When he had first met her months ago, he had been struck by how earnest she looked. He had not been in the service of the Emperor for very long, and his colleagues had still regarded him with mistrust. As the only Ithorian in the group, he was certain he would always be a bit of an outsider. So he readily sympathized with the newest arrival. Because she was the only female there, he knew she would have an uphill climb to mesh with the other bioengineers. She was diligent, hardworking, and, he discovered from his personal experience, immaculate in her collecting techniques. It didn’t take him long to recognize that the woman didn’t make mistakes; she was very intentional about every aspect of her profession. What had impressed him the most, though, was her affinity with other creatures.

Whether it was collecting DNA from anesthetized animals or sneaking into a lair or warren to investigate, he saw that Dusque moved as if she were a natural part of her surroundings. In those situations, she displayed a sense of balance that he rarely saw when she was with people. She appeared content when she was with animals, and at peace. She did not look that way now.

He reached a gentle hand toward her face and laid it briefly against her brow before brushing an
errant strand of hair from her eyes. She lost some of her fearful look and closed her eyes at his touch.

“What’s the matter?” he asked her again.

Dusque shrugged her thin shoulders and said tiredly, “Nothing is wrong, Tendau. I think the day has finally caught up with me. So I’m going to call it an evening, if you don’t mind,” she added and started to leave. But the Ithorian was not so easily avoided.

“As long as you are going back in, why don’t you join me for something soothing to drink? You know it will help you relax,” he reminded her, not willing to have her go before he could find out why she looked so troubled.

She smiled weakly up at him, and he knew her heart was not in it. But she agreed anyway. And he knew she did it for his sake alone.

“You never do take no for an answer, do you?” she quipped.

“Not where you are concerned.”

Dusque shook her head and waved briefly. “It’s nothing, really,” she said, dismissing her obvious distress. “But maybe something to drink would be good before retiring.”

Tendau nodded and motioned back to the casino doorway. He walked slightly behind her as they both sidestepped the drunken Trandoshan who was still lying on the ground. The doors slid open with an airless
whoosh
, and the sounds of the gamblers hit them like a wave. He saw that Dusque faltered a bit and seemed unsure of her footing. The Ithorian
stepped alongside her and offered her the crook of his slender arm. She hesitantly accepted, and he led her toward the bar. He lowered his head enough so that one of his mouths was near her left ear.

“Just one drink, maybe a little something to eat, and we’ll turn in. All right?”

“All right,” she replied, and this time he saw that she smiled at him with some genuine warmth.

There were twenty or so customers lined up along the bar. As Tendau and his colleague walked the length of it in search of two free seats, he noticed that more than one male turned and stared at Dusque. It happened quite frequently, and Tendau was saddened that she should always be so distressed by the reactions of others. Like most Ithorians, he revered nature and saw the beauty in all creatures. It was not hard to see her beauty; it was just sad that so few managed to look past it and really see her. And he knew Dusque was aware of that, as well. No matter how she excelled at a very difficult job, her gender was always a stumbling block. And he had noticed that lately she had accepted more and more hazardous missions. He suspected it was in an effort to erase her gender in the eyes of their superiors. He feared that her growing desire to dive into risky situations was going to land her in some very hot water, and he wouldn’t be there to help.

Toward the far end of the bar, he saw a small empty table. Tendau motioned to it, and Dusque
nodded. When the waiter droid left with their order, Tendau tried again to find out what was wrong.

“Where did you get off to?” he asked her.

“I was just wandering around, taking in the sights,” she replied evasively. “Isn’t that what you were doing, too?”

“Did you try your hand at some of the games of chance?” he asked, sidestepping her question.

“Oh yes, I got a little more than I bargained for,” she answered, and Tendau could discern a trace of bitterness in her voice. “What about you? Where did you end up?”

“Oh,” he answered slowly, “I just walked around and made observations.”

“Did you find Mastivo and pass along your regards?”

“No, I was unable to locate him. I’m afraid I saw no one we know, after all.”

“Oh,” she answered, “no one at all. Hmm …” She seemed to be fishing for some kind of answer, and the Ithorian wondered why. Normally, Dusque was one of the most straightforward beings he knew. Now she was coming across almost as devious in her approach with him.

The droid returned with their order, and Dusque grew silent. Tendau observed that while she picked at a bowl of melon, she was surreptitiously scanning the room. He wondered who she was looking for, or if she even knew herself. Starting to worry, the Ithorian tried a different approach.

“Our hosts have thought of everything tonight,”
he told her. “They even brought in a nalargon player. He is not bad.”

“I can just hear him over the crowd,” she replied. “I’ve actually been listening for the last few moments. Surprisingly, I think his playing is making my headache fade a bit.”

“They are known to be very calming,” Tendau agreed. The music and the food seemed to be relaxing her a bit. He tried again. “Will you tell me what happened tonight?”

Dusque looked at him sharply and seemed to be weighing something in her mind. She leaned slightly forward and he could see that she was chewing her lip. It was a behavior he had noticed she exhibited when something serious was bothering her. She seemed on the verge of speaking when she heard a piece of a conversation off to one side and shut down again.

“Not here,” she said.

The Ithorian decided to let the matter rest for a while and they ate silently, the only ones in the casino who weren’t talking. He concluded that she would tell him or not in her own time and fashion.

To their right, a few of the handlers from the arena had gathered. Tendau noticed that the ones who hadn’t won had moved on from commiserating about their losses to discussing some of the latest gear that was available to them. The topics ranged from reinforced gloves to more specific tools used for training and animal enrichment. He was half paying attention to their discussions in case
they had some interesting insights into their animals. He valued all perspectives, even those that were obviously skewed.

“It can’t be done,” one of the handlers said. “You can’t tame those bats.”

“Aw, you just haven’t tried hard enough,” her companion joked.

The Zabrak who had made the initial claim slowly pulled off her left glove. She slammed her elbow down on the table and waved her left hand in the air. Tendau could see she was missing two fingers.

“Believe me,” she said, “I’ve tried.”

Her companion lost some of his haughty air and lowered his eyes.

“Borgles are more than mean,” she continued. “It’s like they’re evil right down to their core. Maybe because of all the time they spend in their caves, in the dark.”

“Are they native to Rori?” her chastised friend asked, and Tendau saw that he was treating her with slightly more respect since she had revealed her compromised hand.

“Don’t know,” Fingers replied. “There’s so much speculation about Naboo’s moon in general, I don’t know if anybody knows the straight answer.”

“What do you mean?” he asked her.

“Well, I’m no historian,” she began, “but I don’t think folks can even agree on who colonized Rori, let alone what is and isn’t indigenous to the place. As I understand it, some say the original human
colonists of Naboo landed there first, hated it because it was too inhospitable, and then came here. Others say that a group of spice miners went there first in search of the mother lode. Nobody can agree.”

“Actually,” her friend said, “I heard that it was Gungans who first built a settlement there.”

“See what I mean?” Fingers agreed. “No one has the same story.”

“I heard it was the spice miner theory,” Dusque whispered to Tendau. The Ithorian cast a surprised glance at her, unaware that she had been paying attention so closely. But when he saw the way she regarded Fingers, he realized Dusque was becoming intrigued by the thought of an animal that couldn’t be trained.

“What someone should do,” Fingers continued, unaware that her conversation was being so closely regarded, “is investigate a little more. I mean, there are so many unusual animals there. You’d think somebody would want to know.”

“She’s got a good point,” Dusque told Tendau. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, because he was afraid he knew where her interest was going to lead.

“If some of the animals could be sampled and it turned out that they were originally indigenous to another planet, it might help narrow down just who did colonize the place,” she finished.

“It might,” Tendau agreed tentatively. “But by
the same logic, it might increase the speculation, as well.”

“Even conflicting data has value,” Dusque argued.

Tendau was torn. He was glad she was starting to act more like her old self. Still, the gleam in her gray eyes was making him nervous. Although Tendau did not know the Zabrak handler, the woman looked capable enough. If she had lost two fingers trying to handle one, there was no telling what might happen to Dusque, with no experience tangling with borgle bats.

“All data is valuable,” he said. “All right, just what do you have in mind?”

“Well,” she began with an innocent tilt of her head, “as long as we’re already here, I don’t see why we couldn’t look into this a little more ourselves.”

Tendau sighed inwardly. It was as he expected. “The only issue, as I see it, is that we don’t have the opportunity to get our superiors to approve it. This idea of yours doesn’t have the sanctioning of the Empire.”

He saw Dusque straighten her back almost imperceptibly at his concerns. She had resumed her wary stance, and he wondered again what had transpired this evening to cause her to become so distrustful of him.

“Since when do you care so much about Imperial endorsement?” she snapped, and folded her arms. “Are you afraid someone is watching us?” Her voice had dropped, and she cast a quick eye around the room.

“You know me better than that,” he replied.

Dusque dropped her stern gaze as the Ithorian’s words sank in.

“You’re right,” she admitted. “I guess I’m just surprised that you could walk away from a mission that has this potential for discovery. Doesn’t seem like you.”

“
Walk
is exactly the point, Dusque. You know how painful it can be for me to move around planetside,” he explained. “Even here, where it is somewhat civilized, I have had some discomfort. Those two we were eavesdropping on mentioned that Rori was relatively inhospitable. I suspect that I will have some difficulty moving around there. I am afraid I would slow you down.”

“I could go alone,” Dusque said. “I have to go,” she added more intensely. “I have to get away from … all these people. I need—I don’t know, some space to think, I guess.” For a moment it seemed as if she were going to say more, but then she just clammed up. She looked unhappy.

“Even if I were to agree to this,” Tendau said slowly, “we only have enough funds to pay for our lodging here and transport back to the labs.”

Even as he threw up another excuse to dissuade Dusque, he watched as one corner of her mouth slowly curved upward. He knew that grin only too well. She always looked that way when she trumped one of their supervisors. She reached into her trouser pockets and pulled out handfuls of chips, which she
promptly dumped onto the table. They lay there like a spotted rainbow.

“I think that’ll cover it,” she said gleefully.

Tendau tilted his curved neck and knew he had lost. She was determined to go, and if he didn’t go with her, he was certain she would attempt it on her own. He shook his head at her, but found a small chuckle inside.

Dusque leaned back in her chair and slowly rolled her head from one side to the other. Even over the bar chatter, Tendau could hear the joints in her neck crack several times. He worried even more about what it was that was weighing on her so heavily. It looked to him as if the small trip would be the quickest way for him to find out.

“I just want to get out of here,” she added quietly. “I feel like there are too many eyes on me. Just to have the ground under my feet and a sky overhead for even a little while …” She trailed off.