Star Wars: The Last of the Jedi, Volume 3 Read Online Free PDF Page A

left marks?”
    “The bins. This was a food storage area.” He sniffed. “You can still smell the dried herbs.”
There’s one for you, Siri. You knew it would come in handy.
    “Fascinating. Now can we continue escaping?”
    Ferus was thinking fast, remembering. “Dry food storage had a separate delivery system. If the cooks ran out of anything, they could plug in what they needed on tech screens in the kitchen
and the information would be transferred down here. Droids would monitor the readouts, find the items, and carry them to vertical lifts. The lifts run on compressed air. They would shoot the cans
up to the food halls, where they’d be held in a temporary zero-gravity immersion—in other words, in midair. The lifts are small, but we might be able to squeeze in—that is, if the
compressed air system still works.” While he spoke, Ferus was quickly checking the control panel.
    “You mean you’re going to blast me up on thin air?” Trever didn’t seem sure of
that.
    “You’ll have the ride of your life.”
    “Can I remind you that I’m not a can of beans?”
    “We’re in luck. It still works.”
    “Hey, what happens if the zero-gravity part doesn’t work?”
    “Look for a handhold on your way down. Trever, it’s the only way to escape the stormtroopers. They’ll never figure it out.”
    “This just keeps getting better and better,” Trever groaned. But he squeezed himself into the small vertical lift, tucking his knees under his chin. “By the way, have you given
any thought to how we’re going to get out of the Temple?”
    “I’m thinking.”
    “That doesn’t sound very promising.”
    “I don’t make promises. Only plans.”
    “It’s a pleasure doing business with you, Ferus.”
    “One last thing—if I can’t make it, try to make it to the landing platform and steal a ship. Meet me back at the asteroid.”
    He shut the door on Trever’s incredulous look. The
whoosh
of air told him that the transport had succeeded.
    Ferus crossed to the next lift tube. He flattened himself and twisted, but he could not fit himself into the opening. He slammed his head and bumped his elbow as he tried to jam himself in.
    Wait, Ferus.
    He focused on remembering.
    Siri bent down to help him. He had fallen during a routine hike, just because he hadn’t been paying attention. Fallen from a boulder, straight down, and hit the dirt.
    First her expert hands made sure he was all right. Then she leaned back on her heels, balancing expertly despite the fact that they’d been hiking for six hours in rugged
terrain.
    “When you felt yourself falling, why didn’t you use the Force?”
    Because he was only fourteen, and it didn’t come as easily to him. But Ferus didn’t want to tell his Master that. “There wasn’t time.”
    “There’s always enough time for a Jedi,” Siri said. “The point is, the Force is always around you.”
    Ferus struggled to sit up. He was growing fast, and his legs and arms always seemed to get tangled up underneath him. That’s why he had fallen.
    “Our bodies aren’t just bone and muscle,” Siri said. “They’re also liquid. And air. And the ground isn’t as hard as it looks.”
    Ferus seemed to feel every bruise. “So you say.”
    She sprang to her feet, reached out a hand, and hauled him up, laughing. “You make everything harder than it has to be, Ferus. Even dirt.”
    Ferus felt his body relax. The Force moved through him, and his muscles suddenly felt fluid. He bent and twisted easily and fit into the small space. Then he closed the compartment door and flew
upward on a rush of air, so fast that he felt dizzy.
    The compartment door opened as he felt himself held up on the zero-gravity field. He pushed himself out and landed on his feet on the floor of the vast Temple kitchen, capable of feeding
hundreds of Jedi. Trever was waiting.
    “You were right,” he said. “That was some ride.”
    Ferus glanced around. The kitchen had always been a busy place.