[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
anywhere?"
"Sorry," Luke said, dropping gracefully into a cross-legged meditation
posture. "Sit where you like, and I'll put an air cushion under
you."
He waited until Han was comfortably settled, then went on. "As you
see, I can hide well enough, even from Leia. But I'd rather be left
alone. I hope that you'll go back and ask her to accept that. If she
doesn't--well, she's not going to get what she wants. She's only going
to drive me away from Coruscant."
"I don't get it," Han said. "Why? You two have always been close.
What happened?"
"Nothing," Luke said. "I just can't be close with anyone right now."
"Go on. I'm listening."
Luke nodded, but looked down into his lap before continuing. "I don't
know if you can understand or not. When I first met Obi-Wan, he'd been
a hermit on Tatooine for ten years or more. When I first met Yoda, he
had been a hermit on Dagobah for a hundred years or more. I never
thought to ask either of them why."
"A little late for that now," Han said with a wry smile.
"At the time, I assumed they were both in hiding.
Hiding from the Emperor, from my father. But that makes no sense."
"No? Nothing personal, but hiding from that pair
makes great sense to me. I can think of a couple of times I'd have
been glad to do it if I could have."
"But why in the middle of a desert, or a jungle?"
"Eh--isn't that obvious?"
"No," Luke said, shaking his head. "It's much easier for Han Solo to
hide---even with a price on his head--than for a powerful Jedi, whether
Knight or Dark Lord. A Jedi's physical presence is only a small
portion of his connection to the universe. Change his face, hide him
from sight, and I'll still feel his presence when he draws on the
Force. It doesn't matter if he's in the next room or across the
system. Remember when we were taking the stolen shuttle to Endor, to
destroy the second Death Star's shield?"
"Yeah," Han said. "You were pretty jumpy. You said Vader could sense
you."
"He did sense me," Luke said. "I didn't have the skill yet to make the
waters still. But Obi-Wan and Yoda were Masters. If they could hide
from the Emperor--and I believe they could--why, they could as easily
hide in Imperial City, or on Vader's own Star Destroyer, as anywhere.
And if their skills weren't equal to Palpatine's, neither distance nor
isolation could save them from being discovered."
"Maybe they hid out in the sticks so no one else would get hurt if
Vader showed up," Han suggested.
"You've gotta admit, when you guys fight, it has a way of getting
messy. We've got a few monuments to that fact downtown in Imperial
City.
Luke shook his head. "No. I discovered the real reason while I was on
Yavin--the dilemma that every Jedi eventually faces. I discovered a
very important and difficult truth, Han--a frustrating truth. The
stronger you become in the Force, the more that you can do, the more
that's expected of you, and the less your life belongs to you."
"Is this the answer, then?" Han said, gesturing at the room with one
hand. "Running away?"
"Call it that if you must. It's one answer. There's another, even
less appealing," Luke said. "Han, I'm
convinced that for each Jedi, there comes a point at which he or she
must choose. When the world presses in on you, threatens to drive you
mad, there're only two ways you can find peace. One is to impose your
will on everyone and everything around you. The other is to surrender
your will, your ego, and withdraw from those who are always wanting you
to 'fix' their lives."
"I don't see it," Han said stubbornly.
Luke smiled. "Try to imagine that you're at home. One of the children
is screaming, and the other two are tugging at your elbows, each
demanding that you punish the other for some slightre" "Routine," Han
said.
"Chewbacca is playing tree-drum music at ear-splitting levels.
SeeThreepio is nattering on about nothing. Artoo-Detoo is behind your
chair, arguing with the household droids in Basic. The hypercomm is
blaring two channels at once, both too loudly. Your comlink is
chirping in your pocket. You have three messages from people who want
you to come do them a favor, and Leia's insisting on your attention.
Lando has a raucous sabacc game going in the next room, there's someone
at the front door, and a flight of airspeeders keeps buzzing right over
your head."
"Okay, that'd be a little worse than routine," Han conceded. "A
little."
"Now imagine it goes on around the clock for a day, ten days, a month,
half a year, a year--not only without a break, but getting worse all
the time. Until you reach your limit, whatever your limit might be.
What are your choices? Control your environment, or leave it."
"Or go mad and destroy it," Han said. "Which hardly counts as a
choice. Yeah, I think I get the picture now."
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
