The Three Ages of Woman

Dodonna smiled tightly. "There won't be any 'after that.' " The man noddedslowly, understandingly, and sat down. "Anyone else?" Silence now, pregnantwith expectation. "Then man your ships, and may the force be with you." Like oil draining from shallow pot, the seated ranks of men, women, andmachines rose and flowed toward the exits. Elevators hummed busily, lifting more and more deadly shapes from burieddepths to the staging area in the primary temple hangar as Luke, Threepio, and ArtooDetoo walked toward the hangar entrance. Neither the bustling flight crews, nor the pilots performing final checkouts, northe massive sparks thrown off as power couplings were disconnected captured Luke'sattention at the moment. Instead, it was held by the activity of two far more familiarfigures. Solo and Chewbacca were loading a pile of small strongboxes onto an armoredlandspeeder. They were completely absorbed with this activity, ignoring thepreparations going all around them. Solo glanced up briefly as Luke and the robots approached, then returned to hisloading. Luke simply watched sadly, conflicting emotions careening confusedly offone another inside him. Solo was cocky, reckless, intolerant, and smug. He wasalso brave to a fault, instructive, and unfailingly cheery. The combination made fora confusing friend—but a friend nonetheless. "You got your reward," Luke finally observed, indicating the boxes. Solonodded once. "And you're leaving, then?" "That's right, kid. I've got some old debts to pay off, and even if I didn't, Idon't think I'd be fool enough to stick around here." He eyed Luke appraisingly."You're pretty good in a scrap, kid. Why don't you come with us? I could useyou." The mercenary gleam in Solo's eyes only made Luke mad. "Why don't youlook around you and see something besides yourself for a change? You know what'sgoing to happen here, what they're up against. They could use a good pilot. Butyou're turning your back on them." Solo didn't appear upset at Luke's tirade. "What good's a reward if you're notaround to spend it? Attacking that battle station isn't my idea of courage—more likesuicide."