Nighthawks Hopper

He neglected in his excitement to consider the possibility that it might not be ofhuman origin. "So I cut off my power, shut down the afterburners, and dropped in low onDeak's tail," Luke finished, waving his arms wildly. He and Biggs were walking inthe shade outside the power station. Sounds of metal being worked came fromsomewhere within, where Fixer had finally joined his robot assistant in performingrepairs."I was so close to him," Luke continued excitedly, "I thought I was going to fry myinstrumentation. As it was. I busted up the skyhopper pretty bad." Thatrecollection inspired a frown. "Uncle Owen was pretty upset. He grounded me for the rest of the season."Luke's depression was brief. Memory of his feat overrode its immorality. "You should have been there, Biggs!" "You ought to take it a little easier," his friend cautioned. "You may be thehottest bush pilot this side of Mos Eisley, Luke, but those little skyhoppers can bedangerous. They move awfully fast for tropospheric craft—faster than they need to.Keep playing engine jockey with one and someday, whammo!" He slammed one fistviolently into his open palm. "You're going to be nothing more than a dark spot onthe damp side of a canyon wall." "Look who's talking," Luke retorted. "Now that you've been on a few bigautomatic starships you're beginning to sound like my uncle. You've gotten soft inthe cities." He swung spiritedly at Biggs, who blocked the movement easily, makinga halfhearted gesture of counterattack.