Trouble on Cloud City

15

Jacen fell for the second time that day, but this time he landed on the soft, squishy mat of tangled algae clusters. It was like a damp organic mattress that floated aimlessly, carried by the winds. The bumpy green masses made a soft, uneven surface, like a cluster of lighter-than-air pillows.

Watching him, M’kim lay back laughing as Jacen stumbled, then fell on his face into the wet algae nodules. The greenish clusters shifted like a living mass of solid bubbles. One greenish-brown bubble popped with a splat in front of him, spraying Jacen with the strong, earthy smell of compost.

He struggled to wipe away the sticky juice, but finally lounged back and forced himself to relax. He could change his clothes later, and he desperately needed a rest.

Rootlike tendrils dangled from the bottom of the algae island to soak up moisture droplets and nourishing chemicals. Jacen listened to the breeze rustling the tendrils. He heard the little fluttering noises of small flying creatures darting in and around the tangled organic mat. He spotted tiny insects and colored plant-like things that made up the island complex, forming an entire ecosystem.

“I’m surprised there’s so much life around here,” Jacen said. “I thought Bespin was just…just an empty gas giant.”

“Nothing in the universe is really empty,” M’kim said. “Our troupe has traveled all over, and I’ve found very few places that are truly dead. Life is … tenacious.”

“Yeah, I sure didn’t expect to still be alive after that fall.”

Bespin had many different levels where life clung, whether in artificial cities, gas-storage refineries, or temperate-layer algae islands. Thunderheads gathered in the vast sky overhead.

Jacen crawled to the edge of the squishy algae platform and looked over the edge toward the soup of clouds far below. He saw flashes of lightning and deep glows that skittered beneath the surface. Large storms rose up as deep heat currents in the lower layers of the gas giant stirred and shifted. It still looked impossibly far down.

Jacen gulped. If M’kim hadn’t rescued him on his thranta, he would still be falling….

Free of its rider, the thranta swooped above and below them, circling the algae island, nibbling at the tender ends of the dangling root threads and playing in the sky. Watching the exuberant creature, M’kim laughed.

Jacen turned to the thranta rider. “What did you mean when you said that other people were ambushed and fell off Cloud City? Someone we know recently vanished off a balcony. The official report said he jumped to his death.” He shuddered, thinking of Cojahn and the long, long terror he must have endured during his drop through the clouds.

M’kim looked nervous and sad. “When was this? When did it happen?”

Jacen counted back. “It would have been… six standard days ago, I guess.”

M’kim nodded, pursing his lips. “Twelve Bespin days. Yes, that’s what I thought.”

“You know something about it?” Jacen jerked and tried to sit upright too quickly; the algae nodules shifted under him, and he had to squirm to regain his balance. “Please, tell me.”

M’kim looked away. His thranta swooped overhead again, giving its near-silent high-pitched call. “I saw it with my own eyes,” the thranta rider admitted.

Jacen scrambled closer to the thin, painted boy. “What happened to Cojahn? We need to know.”

The thranta rider stared off into the distant skies. The sunlight filtering through layers of mists dappled the tattoos on his face and skin. M’kim said, “I can tell you this much. Your friend didn’t jump of his own free will.”

“What happened to Cojahn?” Jacen pressed again.

“We were out practicing, flying around on the other side of Cloud City. We’d gone to the top to do loops around Kerros Tower. I was behind the rest of the group, because I’m not part of the actual act yet, even though I practice with the team. I saw a man on one of the outer balconies, but he wasn’t alone.”

“Who? Who was with him?” Jacen said.

“One big, angry man who looked like he was in charge, and a couple of thugs. I was surprised that the two thugs didn’t do the dirty work for the angry man.”

“What did the man look like?” Jacen said.

“Pretty strange. He had some sort of visor across his face, a red optical sensor, and short green hair the color of this algae you’re sitting on. He was quite unmistakable.”

Jacen swallowed hard as he recognized the description: Czethros! But the former bounty hunter and smuggler who had once promised to take revenge against Han Solo was now a respectable businessman on Ord Mantell—wasn’t he?

“I know who you’re talking about,” Jacen said, “but what would Czethros be doing on Cloud City?”

“That man shows up every once in a while,” M’kim said. “Things go on in Port Town and in some of the casinos that the Cloud City Gambling Authority intentionally ignores. I’ve heard rumors that a powerful criminal organization is trying to take over the gambling, entertainment, music … everything that happens on Bespin—and probably other planets as well. Nobody pays much attention to us thranta riders, but we see things….”

Jacen thought of the sky-rodeo performers darting past windows, looking in. Nobody would think to watch for a spy from the outside on a city in the clouds.

“That man with the green hair—Czethros, was it?—he comes here, supposedly on legitimate business. He meets with some of the important Exex.” M’kim shook his head. “But something strange is going on.”

“What happened to Cojahn on the balcony? Was he pushed?”

“They were having an argument,” M’kim said. “The man with the green hair seemed very sure of himself, but when Cojahn didn’t agree, the two thugs came forward to threaten him. Czethros waved them away. He just picked your friend up by the collar, yelled something at him, and tossed him off the balcony. Just… threw him over like a piece of garbage. The man fell.”

Sickened, Jacen imagined Lando’s friend reaching out for help and dropping, dropping…. “You couldn’t help him? You couldn’t catch him like you caught me?”

M’kim shook his head. Tears glistened in his eyes. “We were pretty high above Cloud City. I swooped down, but the winds were too strong. Thunder clouds were rising, and the sky was so dark that the man just vanished into the black clouds. We couldn’t find him.”

Jacen drew a deep breath. “So why didn’t you report this?”

“We don’t know who we can trust.” M’kim shook his head vigorously. “Do you know how easy it would be for someone to sabotage one of our harnesses or drug one of the thrantas before a show? We’ve already received warnings and threats—nothing specific … but enough to make us worried.” He drew a deep breath.

“Cloud City has a reputation as a clean place. If you gamble here, you know everything’s fair. But someone’s trying to change that. We do our sky rodeo, and our performances are well-attended. We’ve always been paid well; we risk our lives. But now”—he cleared his throat—“other factors are making life … uncomfortable.”

Jacen felt decidedly uneasy. “I need to get back to Cloud City,” he said. “I have to tell my friends.”

M’kim hung his head. “I know. We can go now. My people will be worried about me too, I suppose.” He placed his long fingers to his lips and blew a loud shrill whistle, startling Jacen. Instantly, the thranta flapped up above the edge of the island, hovered overhead, and bobbed about playfully.

“Climb up,” M’kim said as the thranta dipped one of its broad, sturdy wings. Jacen scrambled onto the smooth back. The thranta rider leapt into place, grasped the harness with one hand, and snapped it lightly to set the flying creature in motion.

As they flapped away from the algae island, Jacen looked down to watch the matted mass disappear in the mists below. The thranta swept its wings gracefully in broad powerful strokes that carried them higher and higher into the sky.

Thick clouds had gathered, knotted conglomerations of mist and gas, turning the sky dark. Jacen couldn’t tell in which direction Cloud City lay, but he hoped they would get back before the storm.

“Hey, how do you know where we’re going?” he said close to M’kim’s ear.

The thranta rider shrugged. “We know.”

The thranta flew onward and upward as a thunder-head nearly the size of an asteroid rose in front of them. The thranta circled around, keeping a good distance between them and the storm cloud. Lightning crackled inside the huge cloud like tiny explosions.

Jacen spotted several black shapes circling the outer surface of the great storm. M’kim seemed more uneasy now, and the thranta gave the thunderhead an even wider berth.

“Are those more thrantas?” Jacen said, pointing to the other large flying creatures that seemed drawn by the discharges from the storm.

“No. We have to stay clear,” M’kim said. “Those are velkers.”

Jacen watched with a mixture of dread and fascination. He’d heard of the sleek, fast-flying predators on Bespin that could swoop in and rip apart their prey with rows upon rows of jagged teeth.

“If those velkers see our thranta,” M’kim said, “we’re done for.”

“But why are they so close to the storm?” Jacen asked. “Isn’t it dangerous for them?”

“Velkers are always attracted by storms. I think the lightning discharges give them some kind of energy.” With a nervous chuckle, M’kim shrugged again. “All I know is that I don’t want to get close enough to one to find out.”

Though Jacen would have loved to see such a spectacular creature up close, he realized that would be foolish. He had already come too near to death for one day.

They climbed higher and swept past the thunder-head. The velkers didn’t notice them, and Jacen could sense M’kim relaxing. Jacen patted the side of the thranta. “Good work,” he whispered, though he had no idea if the creature could hear him.

Finally, he spotted the gleaming metropolis of Cloud City up ahead. Lights spangled the sides of its hemispherical dome. The thranta drove toward it, and Jacen drew a deep breath. He couldn’t remember ever seeing such a beautiful sight in his life.

He’d survived his ordeal—and he fervently hoped that Lowie and Tenel Ka had survived theirs as well.