Fame and Fortitude

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Panicked, Han grabbed the side hand-holds on the plummeting lift. "The cable snapped," Han shouted. "This... isn't... good..."

Luke shut his eyes, reaching outward with the Force while pushing upward and slowing their descent until the lift creaked and groaned to a halt.

"I don't wanna break your concentration, but now what?" Han gasped, his heart racing.

"I have to keep all my focus on holding up this box we're in," Luke stated, keeping his eyes shut. "We need a way out. Use your lightsaber and cut a hole in the roof."

Without questioning his brother-in-law, Han ignited his teal-toned blade, reached high above his head, then cut a circular hole, allowing the metal disk to crash loudly to the floor. Solo turned off his saber, staring up. "I could boost you up, but I can't reach up that high to pull myself out."

"I have to concentrate on holding this thing from falling," Luke repeated. "Just jump, and use the Force to enhance your vertical leap toward the opening. "

"The Force?" Han asked, trying not to sound too dubious.

"You can do it. I have faith in you."

"Well, kid, I'm sure glad someone does," Han groused, taking a deep breath and jumping at the hole he'd just created. His fingers came tantalizing close to the rim, but he still landed back on his feet next to Luke. Damn it, I did it on Rion, an' I can do it again, Han thought as he tried again, this time his leap managed to get his fingers grasping the edge of the hole. Then he pulled himself out of the lift and onto the outside roof. "Hey... I got myself all the way up."

A moment later Luke jumped effortlessly upward, and landed softly next to Han. The Jedi opened his eyes, smiling serenely. "So did I."

"No one likes a show off," Han replied, shaking his head, as he shined his glow rod at the walls of the shaft. "Looks like these lifts are repaired by droids, so no maintenance ladders." He frowned and squinted into the gloom. "There are metal spikes spaced a few meters apart heading up the sides - probably for droids to grip as they're doin' repairs - so if we have real strong fingers we can hold onto those, and then try our best not to let go and die as we get pulverized when we hit the bottom."

Han had barely finished his comment when Luke pulled himself off the top of the elevator, gripping the spikes, so the Corellian quickly followed. No sooner had Solo's boots left the roof than the elevator box continued its downward trajectory, long seconds later crashing loudly as it reached the bottom, smashing into pieces and sending up a cloud of debris that billowed all the way up the shaft.

The Jedi Master pointed down, managing to make hanging onto the wall with one hand look easy. "We need to head down to the fifteenth level and find our lady spy."

Han gave a exasperated sigh, then started downward. "I'm sure hoping there's more than one lift so we can get back up, cuz it's not gonna be much fun tryin' to head back up this way with prisoners... especially if they're not in great shape...and it's not likely that they're gonna be in great shape after being held in this prison for so long."

"I knew there was a reason we brought Threepio along," Luke remarked as he followed Han on their downward journey. "He can quote us the odds of the NRI prisoners' being in good shape." Grinning, he spoke into the comlink, "Threepio, we broke our lift, so you need to have Artoo find us another way out of here."

Threepio's voice came over the small speaker, "Yes, Master Luke. I am certain that Artoo can locate another exit for you to use." A beep could be heard and Threepio added, "What did you say, Artoo? You've been checking this already? I don't know why I'm even necessary..."