So, skimming ahead, it looks like there are approximately twice as many chapters
in each book as there were in the Han Solo novels. Since I don't want to be reading
these for an entire year, let's see if we can take the chapters two at a time.

Chapters 3, 4
Exposition Ahoy! The villains arrive
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The chapters starts with Lando in the governor's office clad only in his pajamas. He has also been thoroughly, professionally beaten. No permanent damage, but his entire body is one
long sore.

The governor, Duttes Mer, is described as "squat, ugly, and powerful". "Thickly muscled,
improbably broad, resembling .. a weathered tree stump with crowned in fine, almost feathery
hair".

No image available.

Lando also notices that the carpet is expensive and imported, compared to the rest
of the office, which is spare and utilitarian. A working office, not a thronelike
Hall of Audience. Lando files this information for consideration when he has in mind.


The governor's voice is high-pitched, feeble, and seems nervous -- altogether
more nervous than would seem to be appropriate, given the circumstances. He's given no time to develop the thought, however.


All in all, Lando concludes, sizing him up, this is a man who would play his cards close to his
chest; a remorseless, implacable player who will nonetheless squeal for mercy like a rat in a
trap if the tables are turned. Useful to know, but these are not weaknesses Lando can leverage,
supported and restrained as he is by multiple guards.

The governor opens up by warning Lando he is on the hook for serious charges, breaches of law. Lando, after an initial sarcastic remark, smoothes his tongue and politely states he is unaware
of any lawbreaking. All the time he looks over his adversary and his office, searching for clues
to the man's makeup -- plain, mostly undecorated, holos on the wall showing scenes from other worlds --

-- then it hits Lando. His desk. The desk , transparent, is composed entirely of gigantic
life-crystals. The power to extend the lives of several hundred intelligent beings is
contained in that one desk. Power, then, is the keyy to Governor Duttes Mer. Not money.
Not display. That explains the plain and unremarkable office. Power is his lodestone and
his desire. Time to put that to work.

The governor pulls out the list of charges, a few of which are true, some of which are grey areas which need to be stretched to be construed as crimes, and some are outright fiction;
the governor has altered the landing records to make it appear Lando has set down without
permit or clearance or length of stay, none of which are true. Lando realizes, however, that he is over a barrel. None of this is stuff that an honest prosecutor would care about, and would dismiss in ten minutes. This is malice on the governor's part -- deliberately attempting to throw any possible charge that would stick, to the point of suppressing evidence to make the case.

So: Ante up. Lando defends himself against some of the charges while acknowledging the truth of others.

Raise: The governor suggests a sentence to the life-orchards.

Lando demurs, and then calls the hand: "I'd also say you're about to offer me a less
unpleasant alternative. That is, unless you make a custom of trumping up silly charges
against every independent skipper which makes your port. And I guess I'd have heard about it
long before I got here."

He's guessed correctly. A few minutes later he is sitting comfortable as the governor's chest,
enjoying a relaxing tea, while the guards fetch his clothes from the suite so he can
conduct negotiations in a more civilized fashion.

The servant bringing the tea is a Taka, one of the indigenous peoples of Rafa. The governor discusses them with some interest. "Domestic animals, really, nothing more. Useful as household
servants, they're too unintelligent to be anything but discreet. And harvesting the life-orchards. But nothing else. ... [they are called] the Broken People. Every one has the signs of advanced age upon their bodies, but these they carry from birth. ... the Toka are content to eat food intended for animals, and will quite willingly work themselves to death if that is demanded of them."

... Except ...

... except that , if any human or other intelligent creature is put in the life-orchards for any length of time, they show the exact same symptoms. That's why most human prisoners are supervisory capacity only; Those rare "specials" assigned to permanent menial labor alongside of the Toka become just like them, unintelligent, devoid of whatever spark or aggressiveness that makes people "people".

Conclusion? The governor drops the bombshell: The Toka are as human as we are.

Wha--? Really? Then why do you enslave them, if you believe that? Do you have a plan to restore their humanity to them..? Why are you telling me this?


Speculation
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I'm guessing that the life-orchards absorb the life/chi/"spark" or whatever it is from the people laboring in the orders, and this draining leaves the drained sapients the shambling
barely-functional specimens we encounter. As part of its lifecycle, the chi thus drained is transferred to the crystals, which can then be used to rejuvenate those who receive it. A form of vampirism at one remove.


Continuing.
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At this point the chapter ends when a cloud of smoke goes KABOOM next to the governor's desk and I think a bomb's been thrown in, wondering what OTHER faction could be in this mess ...

... only to be disappointed. It's not a bomb. It's another character making a grand entrance. Rokur Gepta, a Sorcerer of Tund.




'Sorcerer of Tund'?

Lando exposits in his thoughts for the audience: A mysterious and ancient order from the Tund system, given to flashy entrances. Nobody knows what species they are and this one, contra the image, is completely swathed in gray robes which hide all his features save his eyes. The eyes, Lando notes with a shiver,"twin whirling pools of ... insane hunger of some sort. These ravenous depths regard him for a moment as if he were an insect to be crushed."

A joy, a Voldemort clone. Just what I needed in my SF. I see from the first line of the wiki article -- which I pointedly did NOT read , not wanting to be spoiled -- that he has been retconned as a Force Sensitive. Even so, this is too much fantasy in my science fantasy.

Not-Voldemort is in a hurry and presses the governor to tell the tale. But the governor is so
intimidated he can say nothing, so Not-Voldemort begins filling in the details himself.

The Toka, it seems, practice an ancient system of beliefs which may go a long way to explaining their current state, and also promise rewards to the daring and well-prepared. Getting ahead of ourselves, they need an adventurer to grab a Macguffin, and Lando's it. But I suppose we're getting ahead of ourselves.

The governor, meanwhile, orders a servant to bring the wizard-wannabe a chair, but the creature CANNOT approach Gepta. The governor takes it from the servant but he himself, has nearly as much trouble getting close, so heavy is the feeling of malice around the "Sorcerer". But the deed is done.

So , on with the exposition.

Rafa was settled in pre-Republic times and the records are fragmentary. The Toka, however, were already there to be found by the first human colonists. Not-Voldemort has been studying them for decades , employing anthropologists, ethnologists, and similar scientists, many of them prisoners on the planet laboring in exchange for a reduction of their sentence. From this study he has learned of the Toka oral history. To hear them tell it, they were also
interstellar colonists once upon a time. They were the first people to arrive, and they encountered the true original inhabitants of the planet, the Sharu, the makers of the great ruins and the many, many artifacts.

The Sharu, however, departed , apparently from some threat of which we know nothing beyond the fact the Sharu fled from it, whatever it was. And after they left. The Toka were the "broken people" we know today. Were they broken by contact with the Sharu? Did the Sharu's departure
"break" them? Or did the same event break the Toka and frighten off the Sharu? Again, we know nothing except what the Toka tell in their oral tradition, which isn't much.

So, to the point!

Not-Voldemort brings out an object which looks like a three-tined fork -- or perhaps four? , it blurs and is hard to look at properly -- but it is undoubtedly a Shaaru artifact, "obtained"
from a museum in another system by devious means, but it originally came from here. It is, Not-Voldemort believes, the Key which will provide access to the Mindharp of Shaaru.

The "mindharp", the focus of a thousand Toka rituals, is said to be a kind of musical instrument, but one which can control the thoughts and emotions of everyone within a solar system. It is likely that the Toka fell under the sway of this artifact , and that is why
they are currently broken, as it is no longer functioning properly. Perhaps.

Rokur Gepta wants that Mindharp. And Lando is the person who's going to bring it to him.

Now the negotiations begin. Lando quite reasonably asks what's in it for him? Rokur replies: His life, his liberty. The governor adds: And his ship.

Lando demurs; he intends to sell the ship. Not-Voldemort vetoes this; he will need the ship to
explore the system and find whatever-it-is that the Key unlocks. So he has to keep the ship at least for now.

Lando raises the ante just a bit: His life and liberty are absolutely things he wants, but
he had those things when he entered this system. What can they give him so he can come out
ahead?

The governor balks, but Rokur seeks sense. Carrot as well as stick. He offers a full cargo
of life-crystals, not merely the tiny unauthorized shipment he acquired in his game of chance
(and was one of the charges that brought him to this office). Wealth to last several lifetimes.
Lando observes that's a large hold to paper over, but Rokur, waving at Governor Mer, dismisses the problem. "That's what bureaucrats are for".

After more dickering Not-Voldemort agrees to put the cargo on the ship immediately as a show of good faith. However, the Millenium Falcon will have its hyperdrives , primary and backup, deactivated. It will only have sublight speed until the contract is complete.

Lando isn't happy about this because he is still being held "on the hook" to complete his contract, whatever else befall, but it's the best deal he's going to get. So he agrees.
"It beats sitting in jail", he says.

Hmm. Frankly, I don't think the villains have any intent of allowing Lando to go free. Quite aside from the malice they exudes which implies they aren't the type to deal fairly, there's also the issue that the sorcerer -- Rokur Gepta -- is the power behind the throne in this system, a secret to almost everyone. I notice, though I didn't mention it at the time, that he didn't enter the room until it was only Lando, Governor Mer, and the unspeaking servant. If his existence is a secret, then the fact he showed himself to Lando implies Lando will be in no position to tell anyone tales when this is all done. If I were Lando, I'd be looking for ways to get away from this system as soon as possible.



I find fascinating how Lando's skill as a gambler informs all his interactions
with other people -- the ability he's gained sizing up a player serve him well
sizing up people in law enforcement and risky situations also. I wonder if this
is partly what he was doing in Cloud City -- deliberately playing out a hand with
Darth Vader and making the best of a bad hand?

Actually, what happens in this chapter is not at all different from the events in Cloud City. In this chapter, the villains have Lando over a barrel and he has no choice but to play along until the opportunity comes along to turn the tables in his favor. I originally hated his guts
as a traitor back when the movie came out, but this novel is successfully making me think
better of his character. So job well done, Mr. Smith.

Speaking of Darth Vader -- it appears we've met our Sith Lord equivalent and his
mundane governing flunky, the Piett-equivalent. I gotta admit my first thought was:
"Ya gotta be kidding me. This ain't your story and this ain't your genre. Shouldn't you
bu**er off to Hogwarts to harass preteen wizards or something?"

"

So now we've got our quest hook and our villains. How will Lando turn the tables and come out rich?

Respectfully,

Brian P.