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weetuskenraiderSeveral days later their situation hadn't improved much, not in a living ship that was already acting up and had been further damaged by a run-in with the gravity well from an Imperial Remnant interdictor, with tension growing between the Jedi and Yuuzhan Vong on board. They'd been jumping from point to point in a largely uncharted region of space, Corran playing headgames with Nen Yim and Harrar about their real destination and Tahiri halfway wanting to knock all their heads together.
The latest jump had brought them to the fringes of an unnamed star system whose primary planet appeared as a tiny blue sphere haloed by a vast ring that shone as if it were made of a few hundred trillion corusca gems. It was fascinating, and gorgeous, and Tahiri couldn't stop looking at it.
"You must have seen many such wonders," Nen Yim said; Tahiri had heard her coming, but hadn't turned to acknowledge her.
"Doesn't matter," she said. "Every star system is unique. Every star system has its own beauty."
"This one certainly has. Is that ice?"
"I would imagine," Tahiri said. "I wasn't trying to figure it out -- I was just enjoying the sight of it."
"Perhaps the system is poor in heavy elements. The original torus of matter condensed into ice balls, which were then torn apart by tidal forces."
Struck by a sudden flight of fancy, Tahiri mused, "Maybe a wandering giant made it as a wedding gift for a nebula."
Nen Yim looked like the statement had rocked her back on her heels. "Why should you assert such a ridiculous explanation?"
"Why must you pick everything apart?" Tahiri retorted. "Besides, if you believe Yun-Yuuzhan made the universe from his severed body parts, you ought to be able to believe anything."
"Belief is a strange thing," Nen Yim said after a moment of silence so long Tahiri had thought the conversation was over. "It has immense inertia. My master did not believe in the gods at all."
"And you?"
The shaper's headdress tendrils knotted thoughtfully. "Religion, I think, is metaphor, a way of relating to the uni-verse that does not require reason. It's not very different from your appreciation of this star system for its mere appearance. My joy comes in understanding. You're right -- if I could take the universe apart and put it back together, I would."
"And thus rob yourself of half the wonder," Tahiri replied.
Nen Yim snorted disdainfully. "Wonder is you making up stories about giants and wedding gifts. Wonder is my people attributing the creation of the universe to an act of dismemberment. It is avoiding true mystery through fantasy. And if the universe refuses to conform to your fantasy, does it cease to be wonderful? That is a conceit of the highest order."
It almost sounded like she was back in Master Atreides's class again, and Tahiri almost smiled. "Your own explanation was no better than a guess."
"True. But it is a guess that can be investigated and tested. It is a guess I will gladly relinquish if proven wrong. It is a guess that will serve as a tool to help me find the truth. For me, that is a far greater wonder than anything taken on faith."
"So you don't believe in the gods?"
Nen Yim considered this. "I think there must be something behind them that is real. I do not think they are real in the orthodox sense."
"That's interesting. What do you think they are?"
"I've no idea. I don't have even a guess to use as a starting point."
"How about this?" Tahiri mused. "Here's a guess for you. Your gods are actually a misunderstanding of the Force."
"The energy field you Jeedai claim informs your powers?" She sounded dubious.
Tahiri pressed, "You don't believe in the Force?"
"In the sense that it's clear you draw on some sort of energy to perform your tricks, as your machines draw on a power source, yes. That does not mean it is some all-pervasive mystical energy with a will of its own, as you Jeedai seem to believe. Indeed, if it is, how can you explain the fact that the Yuuzhan Vong do not exist in the Force?"
"Well, that's a mystery," Tahiri replied. "But the Force isn't like a battery. It's a lot bigger than that."
"So you believe. If so, perhaps your Force and our gods are both misunderstandings of something that somehow encompasses us all."
Tahiri's eyes went wide, and a chill ran down her spine as she stared at Nen Yim. "You believe that?" she asked -- because it was incredibly close to what Anakin had.
"Certainly not," the shaper replied. "But . . . thank you."
She was still a little stunned as she asked, "For what?"
"At least I have a guess to proceed from, for now." Nen Yim looked around the cockpit. "Where is Corran Horn?"
"He's taking a break before the next jump to hyperspace. What did you need to see him about?"
"I don't want to raise any undue alarm, but I think something is wrong with the ship."
Well, it had actually screamed a while back. "Wrong?"
"Yes. The space-folding function of the dovin basals seemed erratic in the last jump. I checked them, and there may be a problem."
"What sort of problem?"
"I think they are dying."
Oh. That kind of problem.
Another half-dozen or so jumps closer to Zonama Sekot, Nen Yim had had a chance to look further into the problem: the ship was definitely dying. It was in pain that most humane beings wouldn't wish on a living creature, and Tahiri found herself caught between accepting it matter-of-factly as the Yuuzhan Vong did, and rebelling against the idea. Nen Yim's assessment that the ship was basically eating itself from within every time they made a microjump was not terribly reassuring.
"I don't think it's biology," Tahiri jumped in. "I think it's the Force."
"Explain," Corran said.
"This ship exists in the Force. You can feel it, can't you, Corran? And the nearer we get to Sekot --"
"The stronger the connection becomes," he agreed. "Yeah, I've felt that." It was as if the ship was eagerly returning to a long-lost family.
She nodded. "So maybe this ship is rejecting the engines, because they don't exist in the Force, and the closer we get to Zonama Sekot, the stronger that rejection becomes."
"That seems unlikely," Nen Yim argued. "The Force, whatever it may be, should not govern simple biological reactions. The links between the Sekotan ship and our engines should work."
"Yet they don't, and you don't know why." Tahiri couldn't help being a little smug about it; she sensed Corran's disapproval in the Force, but also his pleased surprise at the way she was working this out.
Nen Yim had to concede that, however reluctantly, and Tahiri leaned against the bulkhead with her arms crossed as she laid out her reasoning: Yuuzhan Vong and Sekotan biotech were similar in a lot of ways, yes, but different in that one existed in the Force and the other didn't. And they were cancelling each other out, which meant that the closer they got to Zonama Sekot, the more they were killing their own ship.
Corran thought he could get them there in three more jumps or less, although it meant as soon as they arrived in the planet's orbit the ship would fail completely.
"Everybody to crash couches," Corran told them once they'd agreed to keep going. "This could get rough."
When it did, Tahiri wasn't surprised at all. What was one more crash landing on this mission, anyway? Might as well keep up the trend.
[OOC: Oh, you so know the acronym drill by now. Also that this is still adapted and in parts just ganked from The Final Prophecy by Greg Keyes.]
The latest jump had brought them to the fringes of an unnamed star system whose primary planet appeared as a tiny blue sphere haloed by a vast ring that shone as if it were made of a few hundred trillion corusca gems. It was fascinating, and gorgeous, and Tahiri couldn't stop looking at it.
"You must have seen many such wonders," Nen Yim said; Tahiri had heard her coming, but hadn't turned to acknowledge her.
"Doesn't matter," she said. "Every star system is unique. Every star system has its own beauty."
"This one certainly has. Is that ice?"
"I would imagine," Tahiri said. "I wasn't trying to figure it out -- I was just enjoying the sight of it."
"Perhaps the system is poor in heavy elements. The original torus of matter condensed into ice balls, which were then torn apart by tidal forces."
Struck by a sudden flight of fancy, Tahiri mused, "Maybe a wandering giant made it as a wedding gift for a nebula."
Nen Yim looked like the statement had rocked her back on her heels. "Why should you assert such a ridiculous explanation?"
"Why must you pick everything apart?" Tahiri retorted. "Besides, if you believe Yun-Yuuzhan made the universe from his severed body parts, you ought to be able to believe anything."
"Belief is a strange thing," Nen Yim said after a moment of silence so long Tahiri had thought the conversation was over. "It has immense inertia. My master did not believe in the gods at all."
"And you?"
The shaper's headdress tendrils knotted thoughtfully. "Religion, I think, is metaphor, a way of relating to the uni-verse that does not require reason. It's not very different from your appreciation of this star system for its mere appearance. My joy comes in understanding. You're right -- if I could take the universe apart and put it back together, I would."
"And thus rob yourself of half the wonder," Tahiri replied.
Nen Yim snorted disdainfully. "Wonder is you making up stories about giants and wedding gifts. Wonder is my people attributing the creation of the universe to an act of dismemberment. It is avoiding true mystery through fantasy. And if the universe refuses to conform to your fantasy, does it cease to be wonderful? That is a conceit of the highest order."
It almost sounded like she was back in Master Atreides's class again, and Tahiri almost smiled. "Your own explanation was no better than a guess."
"True. But it is a guess that can be investigated and tested. It is a guess I will gladly relinquish if proven wrong. It is a guess that will serve as a tool to help me find the truth. For me, that is a far greater wonder than anything taken on faith."
"So you don't believe in the gods?"
Nen Yim considered this. "I think there must be something behind them that is real. I do not think they are real in the orthodox sense."
"That's interesting. What do you think they are?"
"I've no idea. I don't have even a guess to use as a starting point."
"How about this?" Tahiri mused. "Here's a guess for you. Your gods are actually a misunderstanding of the Force."
"The energy field you Jeedai claim informs your powers?" She sounded dubious.
Tahiri pressed, "You don't believe in the Force?"
"In the sense that it's clear you draw on some sort of energy to perform your tricks, as your machines draw on a power source, yes. That does not mean it is some all-pervasive mystical energy with a will of its own, as you Jeedai seem to believe. Indeed, if it is, how can you explain the fact that the Yuuzhan Vong do not exist in the Force?"
"Well, that's a mystery," Tahiri replied. "But the Force isn't like a battery. It's a lot bigger than that."
"So you believe. If so, perhaps your Force and our gods are both misunderstandings of something that somehow encompasses us all."
Tahiri's eyes went wide, and a chill ran down her spine as she stared at Nen Yim. "You believe that?" she asked -- because it was incredibly close to what Anakin had.
"Certainly not," the shaper replied. "But . . . thank you."
She was still a little stunned as she asked, "For what?"
"At least I have a guess to proceed from, for now." Nen Yim looked around the cockpit. "Where is Corran Horn?"
"He's taking a break before the next jump to hyperspace. What did you need to see him about?"
"I don't want to raise any undue alarm, but I think something is wrong with the ship."
Well, it had actually screamed a while back. "Wrong?"
"Yes. The space-folding function of the dovin basals seemed erratic in the last jump. I checked them, and there may be a problem."
"What sort of problem?"
"I think they are dying."
Oh. That kind of problem.
***
Another half-dozen or so jumps closer to Zonama Sekot, Nen Yim had had a chance to look further into the problem: the ship was definitely dying. It was in pain that most humane beings wouldn't wish on a living creature, and Tahiri found herself caught between accepting it matter-of-factly as the Yuuzhan Vong did, and rebelling against the idea. Nen Yim's assessment that the ship was basically eating itself from within every time they made a microjump was not terribly reassuring.
"I don't think it's biology," Tahiri jumped in. "I think it's the Force."
"Explain," Corran said.
"This ship exists in the Force. You can feel it, can't you, Corran? And the nearer we get to Sekot --"
"The stronger the connection becomes," he agreed. "Yeah, I've felt that." It was as if the ship was eagerly returning to a long-lost family.
She nodded. "So maybe this ship is rejecting the engines, because they don't exist in the Force, and the closer we get to Zonama Sekot, the stronger that rejection becomes."
"That seems unlikely," Nen Yim argued. "The Force, whatever it may be, should not govern simple biological reactions. The links between the Sekotan ship and our engines should work."
"Yet they don't, and you don't know why." Tahiri couldn't help being a little smug about it; she sensed Corran's disapproval in the Force, but also his pleased surprise at the way she was working this out.
Nen Yim had to concede that, however reluctantly, and Tahiri leaned against the bulkhead with her arms crossed as she laid out her reasoning: Yuuzhan Vong and Sekotan biotech were similar in a lot of ways, yes, but different in that one existed in the Force and the other didn't. And they were cancelling each other out, which meant that the closer they got to Zonama Sekot, the more they were killing their own ship.
Corran thought he could get them there in three more jumps or less, although it meant as soon as they arrived in the planet's orbit the ship would fail completely.
"Everybody to crash couches," Corran told them once they'd agreed to keep going. "This could get rough."
When it did, Tahiri wasn't surprised at all. What was one more crash landing on this mission, anyway? Might as well keep up the trend.
[OOC: Oh, you so know the acronym drill by now. Also that this is still adapted and in parts just ganked from The Final Prophecy by Greg Keyes.]
