星球大战第四章(4)

会计考友 · 发表于 2012-8-15 00:26:22

　　"Before breakfast?" Owen frowned worriedly. "That’s not like him. Did he take the new ’droids with him?" "I think so. I am sure I saw at least one of them with him." "Well," Owen mused, uncomfortable but with nothing to really hang imprecations on, "he’d better have those ridge units repaired by midday or there’ll be hell to pay." An unseen face shielded by smooth white metal emerged from the half-buried life pod that now formed the backbone of a dune slightly higher than its neighbors.
　　The voice sounded efficient, but tired.
　　"Nothing," the inspecting trooper muttered to his several companions. "No tapes, and no sign of habitation." Powerful handguns lowered at the information that the pod was deserted. One of the armored men turned, calling out to an officer standing some distance away.
　　"This is definitely the pod that cleared the rebel ship, sir, but there’s nothing on board." "Yet it set down intact," the officer was murmuring to himself. "It could have done so on automatics, but if it was a true malfunction, then they shouldn’t have been engaged." Something didn’t make sense.
　　"Here’s why there’s nothing on board and no hint of life, sir," a voice declared.
　　The officer turned and strode several paces to where another trooper was kneeling in the sand. He held up an object for the officer’s inspection. It shone in the sun.
　　"Droid plating," the officer observed after a quick glance at the metal fragment.
　　Superior and underling exchanged a significant glance. Then their eyes turned simultaneously to the high mesas off to the north.
　　Gravel and fine sand formed a gritty fog beneath the landspeeder as it slid across the rippling wasteland of Tatooine on humming repulsors. Occasionally the craft would jog slightly as it encountered a dip or slight rise, to return to its smooth passage as its pilot compensated for the change in terrain.
　　Luke leaned back in the seat, luxuriating in unaccustomed relaxation as Threepio skillfully directed the powerful landcraft around dunes and rocky outcrops. "You handle a landspeeder pretty well, for a machine," he noted admiringly.
　　"Thank you, sir," a gratified Threepio responded, his eyes never moving from the landscape ahead. "I was not lying to your uncle when I claimed versatility as my middle name. In fact, on occasion I have been called upon to perform unexpected functions in circumstances which would have appalled my designers." Something pinged behind them, then pinged again.
　　Luke frowned and popped the speeder canopy. A few moments of digging in the motor casing eliminated the metallic bark.
　　"How’s that?" he yelled forward.

会计考友 · 发表于 2012-8-15 00:26:23

　　"Old Ben Kenobi is supposed to live out in this general direction. Even though nobody knows exactly where, I don’t see how that Artoo unit could have come this far so quickly." His expression was downcast. "We must have missed him back in the dunes somewhere. He could be anywhere out here. And Uncle Owen must be wondering why I haven’t called in from the south ridge by now." Threepio considered a moment, then ventured, "Would it help, sir, if you told him that it was my fault?" Luke appeared to brighten at the suggestion. "Sure…he needs you twice as much now. Probably he’ll only deactivate you for a day or so, or give you a partial memory flush." Deactivate? Memory flush? Threepio added hastily, "On second thought, sir, Artoo would still be around if you hadn’t removed his restraining module." But something more important than fixing responsibility for the little robot’s disappearance was on Luke’s mind at the moment. "Wait a minute," he advised Threepio as he stared fixedly at the instrument panel. "There’s something dead ahead on the metal scanner. Can’t distinguish outlines at this distance, but judging by size alone, it could be our wandering ’droid. Hit it." The landspeeder jumped forward as Threepio engaged the accelerator, but its occupants were totally unaware that other eyes were watching as the craft increased its speed.
　　Those eyes were not organic, but then, they weren’t wholly mechanical, either.
　　No one could say for certain, because no one had ever made that intimate a study of the Tusken Raiders—known less formally to the margin farmers of Tatooine simply as the sandpeople.
　　The Tusken didn’t permit close study of themselves, discouraging potential observers by methods as effective as they were uncivilized. A few xenologists thought they must be related to the jawas. Even fewer hypothesized that the jawas were actually the mature form of the sandpeople, but this theory was discounted by the majority of serious scientists.
　　Both races affected tight clothing to shield them from Tatooine’s twin dose of solar radiation, but there most comparisons ended. Instead of heavy woven cloaks like the jawas wore, the sandpeople wrapped themselves mummy-like in endless swathing and bandages and loose bits of cloth.

会计考友 · 发表于 2012-8-15 00:26:24

　　Where the jawas feared everything, a Tusken Raider feared little. The sandpeople were larger, stronger, and far more aggressive. Fortunately for the human colonists of Tatooine, they were not very numerous and elected to pursue their nomadic existence in some of Tatooine’考试论坛s most desolate regions. Contact between human and Tusken, therefore, was infrequent and uneasy, and they murdered no more than a handful of human per year. Since the human population had claimed its share of Tuskens, not always with reason, a peace of a sort existed between the two—as long as neither side gained an advantage.
　　One of the pair felt that that unstable condition had temporarily shifted in his favor, and he was about to take full advantage of it as he raised his rifle toward the landspeeder. But his companion grabbed the weapon and shoved down on it before it could be fired. This set off a violent argument between the two. And, as they traded vociferous opinions in a language consisting mostly of consonants, the landspeeder sped on its way.

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[阅读辅导] 星球大战第四章(4)