The old man's voice had dropped to a mesmerizing buzz. As he finished, the

chrome bulb darted at Luke. Dazed by Kenobi's hypnotic tone, Luke didn't see it

charge. It's doubtful he saw much of anything with clarity. But as the ball neared,

he whirled with amazing speed, the saber arcing up and out in a peculiar fashion.

The red beam that the globe emitted was neatly deflected to one side. It humming

stopped and the ball bounced to the deck, all animation gone.

Blinking as if coming awake from a short nap, Luke stared in absolute

astonishment at the inert remote.

"You see, you can do it," Kenobi told him. "One can teach only so much.

Now you must learn to admit the force when you want it, so that you can learn to

control it consciously."

Moving to one side, Kenobi took a large helmet from behind a locker and walked

over to Luke. Placing the helmet over his head effectively eliminated the boy's

vision.

"I can't see," Luke muttered, turning around and forcing Kenobi to step back out

of range of the dangerously wavering saber. "How can I fight?"

"With the force," old Ben explained. "You didn't really 'see' the seeker when

you parried its beam. Try to let that sensation flow within you again."

"I can't do it," Luke moaned. "I'll get hit again."

"Not if you let yourself trust you," Kenobi insisted, none too convincingly for

Luke. "This is the only way to be certain you're replying wholly on the force."

Noticing that the Corellian had turned to watch, Kenobi hesitated momentarily.

It did Luke no good to have the self-assured pilot laugh every time a mistake was

made. But coddling the boy would do him no good either, and there was no time for

it anyway. Throw him in and hope he floats, Ben instructed himself firmly.

Bending over the chrome globe, he touched a control at its side. Then he tossed

it straight up. It arched toward Luke. Braking in midfall, the ball plummeted

stone-like toward the deck. Luke swung the saber at it. While it was a

commendable try, it wasn't nearly fast enough. Once again the little antenna glowed.

This time the crimson needle hit Luke square on the seat of his pants. Though it

wasn't an incapacitating below, it felt like one; and Luke let out a yelp of pain as he

spun, trying to strike his invisible tormentor.

"Relax!" old Ben urged him. "Be free. You're trying to use your eyes and

ears. Stop predicting and use the rest of your mind."

Suddenly the youth stopped, waving slightly. The seeker was still behind him.

Changing direction again, it made another dive and fired.

Simultaneously the lightsaber jerked around, as accurate as it was awkward in its

motion, to deflect the bolt. This time the ball didn't fall motionless to the deck.

Instead it backed up three meters and remained there, hovering.

Aware that the drone of the seeker remote no longer assaulted his ears, a cautious

Luke peeked out from under the helmet. Sweat and exhaustion competed for space

on his face.

"Did I--?"

"I told you you could," Kenobi informed him with pleasure. "Once you start to

trust your inner self there'll be no stopping you. I told you there was much of your

father in you."

"I'd call it luck," snorted Solo as he concluded his examination of the readouts.

"In my experience there is no such thing as luck, my young friend-only highly

favorable adjustments of multiple factors to incline events in one's favor."

"Call it what you like," the Corellian sniffed indifferently, "but good against a

mechanical remote is one thing. Good against a living menace is another."

As he was speaking a small telltale light on the far side of the hold had begun

flashing. Chewbacca noticed it and called out to him.

Solo glanced at the board, then informed his passengers, "We're coming up on

Alderaan. We'll be slowing down shortly and going back under lightspeed. Come

on, Chewie."
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