the night watch by rembrandt

up and down a gorgon scale. The sandpeople remained poised a moment longer. Then they were utteringloud grunts and moans of fright as they rushed to get away from the highly visiblelandspeeder. The shivering howl sounded again, nearer this time. Bu now the sandpeoplewere halfway to their waiting Banthas, that were likewise lowing tensely and tuggingat their tethers. Although the sound held no meaning for Artoo Detoo, the little 'droid tried tosqueeze himself even deeper into the almost-cave. The booming howl came closer.Judging by the way the sandpeople had reacted, something monstrous beyondimagining had to be behind that rolling cry. Something monstrous and murder-bentwhich might not have the sense to distinguish between edible organics and inediblemachines. Not even the dust of their passing remained to mark where the Tusken Raidershad only minutes before been dismembering the interior of the landspeeder. ArtooDetoo shut down all but vital functions, trying to minimize noise and light as aswishing sound grew gradually audible. Moving toward the landspeeder, thecreature appeared above the top of a nearby dune…

the night watch by rembrandt

themeantime." "I'll be at the Academy the season after," Luke insisted, more to encouragehimself than Biggs. "After that, who knows where I'll end up?" He soundeddetermined. "I won't be drafted into the starfleet, that's for sure. Tale care ofyourself. You'll…always be the best friend I've got." There was no need for ahandshake. These two had long since passed beyond that. "So long, then, Luke," Biggs said simply. He turned and reentered the powerstation. Luke watched him disappear through the door, his own thoughts as chaotic andfrenetic as one of Tatooine's spontaneous dust storms. There were any numbers of extraordinary features unique to Tatooine's surface.Outstanding among them were the mysterious mists, which rose regularly from theground at the points where desert sands washed up against unyielding cliffs and mesas. Fog in a steaming desert seemed as out of place as cactus on a glacier, but itexisted nonetheless. Meteorologists and geologists argued its origin amongthemselves, muttering hard-to-believe theories about water suspended in sandstoneveins beneath the sand and incomprehensible chemical reactions which made waterrise when the ground cooled, then fall underground again with the double sunrise. Itwas all very backward and very real.