When the massive metallic clang came and the elevator started to climb, Han said a silent thank-you to whatever force of the universe protected heroes and fools. A new round of tremors hit, shaking the floor hard enough to knock him to his knees. Scarlet held on to the control panel to stay upright, but Leia was knocked onto her backside with a thump. Hot wind rushed past them, blowing Scarlet’s dark hair into wings on the sides of her head. Han smelled hot metal and lubricant. He hoped the K’kybak had built their transport as well as they had their control panels.
When the shaking stopped, Leia climbed to her feet with a grunt and a wince. “I’m going to need a very long soak in a very hot bath after this trip.”
“You know,” Scarlet said to Han, eyes narrowing, “I spent two years of my life tracking down the leads that eventually led to this place. Two years of dangerous undercover work. And when we found it, you blew it up on a whim.”
“Wasn’t a whim,” he replied. “It was intentional and well thought out.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” Leia said to Scarlet. “With Han, it’s easy to mistake well thought out for spur of the moment. They look exactly the same.”
“As much as I’d like to argue the point, we don’t have time,” Han said, then pulled out his comlink. “Chewie, buddy, you there?”
The only answer was static.
“Chewie, I hope you’re not sleeping, because we’re all going to die.”
That got a yowling response.
“We seem to be high enough to get through, if you want to call Luke with an update,” Han said to Leia. As she nodded and turned her attention to her comlink, Han went back to Chewbacca. “We need the Falcon up right now. Get it over to the temple. Jungle’s too thick there to land, so we’ll climb up to the top for pickup.”
Chewie rumbled out a reply and closed the connection.
“Again with the climbing to get picked up,” Scarlet said with a sigh.
“No stormtroopers shooting at us this time,” Han replied.
“No, you’re right. Instead we get a planet blowing up below us.”
“Just saying it’s not exactly the same.”
“You done?” Leia said to them. “We’re almost at the top.”
The room they found themselves in had a doorway leading out to the narrow, disturbing hallways they’d come in through. The glittering in the strange alloy walls seemed more frenetic now, as if the architecture itself knew it was in danger. Scarlet pulled up her datapad, but the holographic map was as fuzzy and imprecise as a dream. Scarlet closed it out, shut her eyes in concentration, and then a moment later opened them.
“Follow me,” she said, and took off at a fast limp. Han shrugged and followed, Leia right behind.
Scarlet did seem to know where she was going. She took several turns that Han didn’t remember from the first time, but at the end they wound up at the glowing metal hatch. The planet cooperated by keeping the shaking to a minimum while they made their way to the upper temple. But the minute they stepped foot on the stone floor, all restraint was lost. The planet shuddered like a bantha with spurs in its flanks, bucking and shaking as if it were trying to throw them off. After several seconds of tossing them from one side of the corridor to the other, the quaking settled into a sullen but constant low rumble.
“Run,” Scarlet said. Han was already running, Leia’s hand in his. He grabbed Scarlet’s as he went by. If he lost either of them in the dark of the temple, he’d never have time to track them down.
If there were stormtroopers left at the site, they were hiding or had run off into the jungle. Imperial-issue equipment lay scattered on the ground, much of it knocked over by the quakes, some of it crushed flat by stones falling from the ceiling. As they sprinted, a massive block of stone the size of a landspeeder dropped from above and cut their passage in half.
Scarlet didn’t hesitate, turning at the next junction and leading them through a side passage to get around it. Dust was filtering down from the ceiling, thickening the air. A pit in the floor opened a few feet ahead as they ran, and Scarlet yelled, “Jump!”
They didn’t break stride as all three leapt across the abyss, then two turns and a long sprint later they were out in the free air of the dying planet.
All around them, the jungle was bucking and rolling like the surface of a stormy ocean. The massive trees cracked and split with the motion. Leaves the size of starships fell out of the sky, crushing anything beneath. Energy fields filled the skies with rainbows where the shear forces were enough to refract the light. The vast planetary mechanism was fighting to regain its equilibrium and failing.
Han jumped up, grabbed the edge of the first level of the pyramid-shaped temple, and pulled himself onto it. He reached down to help Scarlet up, then ran to climb the next level while she hauled Leia up. Far to the east, a cloud of dust rose toward the sky. When they’d gone up a dozen levels or so, the layers got shorter, allowing them to run individually and make much better time.
As he jumped from step to step a hundred meters above the rolling jungle floor, Han pulled out his comlink and yelled to Chewbacca, “Where are you?”
The Wookiee roared back.
“What do you mean the start-up cycle keeps shorting out? You better make this work, pal, or we’re all gonna die.”
Passing him, Leia pulled herself up onto a square stone block and stopped. They were at the top. Scarlet joined her and bent over at the waist, panting. Han looked around and saw nothing but the pyramid of stone below them and the quivering jungle all around. No ship in sight.
Scarlet gasped. Han followed her gaze. To the east, where the great plume of dust had risen, the ground was crumbling away. Island-sized swaths of jungle fell away, and the white-gold light of the unstable core blazed out. Whatever forces had kept the planet steady until now were failing, and Seymarti V was eating itself.
“Is he going to make it?” Scarlet asked. Han thought she meant Chewbacca, so he started to answer, but Leia cut him off.
“He should be here any second.”
As if summoned by her words, an X-wing screeched out of the sky toward them. It came to a hovering stop a few feet from the top of the temple. Out of Leia’s comlink Luke’s boyish voice yelled, “Get on!”
Leia climbed onto a wing, and Scarlet followed.
“This is not a permanent solution,” Han said. They couldn’t exactly ride off the planet on the wing of a starfighter. But he followed. Buying himself a few extra seconds was what he did when it was all he could do.