But I will save that time because I know now, that you do not really read what I or others have written. But by replying, you are pretending to have done exactly that. And that is dishonest.
It is obviously that nothing say can convince you or change your view even if only for a iota.
If you want to think that a narrator who can tell what has happened at different places and different times with different persons is not an omniscient third person narrator - it's okay.
If you want to think that, when a limited third person narrator gives facts about the surrounding of the person, he is focused on, he gives only subjective impressions of sad person - it's okay.
If you want to think that that this
- [...]
The smoke that Luke saw as he drew near the homestead was of a different consistency from that which had boiled out of the jawa machine.
He barely remembered to shut down the landspeeder's engine as he popped the cockpit canopy and threw himself out. Dark smoke was drifting steadily from holes in the ground.
Those holes had been his home, the only one he had ever known. They might as well have been throats of small volcanoes now. Again and again he tried to penetrate the surface entrances to the below-ground complex. Again and again the still-intense heat drove him back, coughing and choking.
Weakly he found himself stumbling clear, his eyes watering not entirely from the smoke.
Half blinded, he staggered over to the exterior entrance to the garage. It too was burning. But perhaps they managed to escape in the other landspeeder.
'Aunt Beru ... Uncle Owen!' It was difficult to make out much of anything through the eye-stinging haze. Two smoking shapes showed down the tunnel barely visible through tears and haze. They almost looked like- He squinted harder, wiping angrily at his uncooperative eyes.
No.
Then he was spinning away, falling to his stomach and burying his face in the sand so he wouldn't have to look anymore.
The tridimensional solid screen filled one wall of the vast chamber from floor to ceiling. It showed a million star systems. A tiny portion of the galaxy, but an impressive display nonetheless when exhibited in such a fashion.
Below, far below, the huge shape of Darth Vader stood flanked on one side by Governor Tarkin and on the other by Admiral Motti and General Tagge, their private antagonisms forgotten in the awe-someness of this moment.
'The final checkout is complete,' Motti informed them. 'All systems are operational.'
He turned to the others. 'What shall be the first course we set?'
Vader appeared not to have heard as he mumbled softly, half to himself, 'She has a surprising amount of control. Her resistance to the interrogator is considerable.' He glanced down at Tarkin. 'It will be some time before we can extract any useful information from her.'
'I've always found the methods you recommend rather quaint, Vader.'
'They are efficient,' the Dark Lord argued softly. 'In the interests of accelerating the procedure, however, I am open to your suggestions.'
Tarkin looked thoughtful. 'Such stubbornness can often be detoured by applying threats to something other than the one involved.'
'What do you mean?'
'Only that I think it is time we demonstrated the full power of this station. We may do so in a fashion doubly useful.' He instructed the attentive Motti, 'Tell your programmers to set course for the Alderaan system.'
Kenobi's pride did not prevent him from wrapping an old scarf over nose and mouth to filter out a portion of the bonfire's drifting putrid odor. Though possessed of olfactory sensory apparatus, Artoo Detoo and Threepio had no need of such a screen. Even Threepio, who was equipped to discriminate among aromatic aesthetics, could be artifically selective when he so desired.
Working together, the two droids helped Kenobi throw the last of the bodies onto the blazing pyre, then stood back and watched the dead continue to burn. Not that the desert scavengers wouldn't have been equally efficient in picking the burned-out sandcrawler clean of flesh, but Kenobi retained values most modern men would have deemed archaic. He would consign no one to the bone-gnawers and gravel-maggots, not even a filthy jawa.
[...]
'You mean, there's nothing you can do?' Luke asked, feeling unbelievably helpless.
Solo studied the overloaded sensor readouts and shook his head. 'Not against this kind of power. I'm on full power myself, kid, and it's not shifting out of course a fraction of a degree. It's no use. I'm going to have to shut down or we'll melt our engines. But they're not going to suck me up like so much dust without a fight!'
He started to vacate the pilot's chair, but was restrained by an aged yet powerful hand on his shoulder. An expression of concern was on the old man's face - and yet, a suggestion of something somewhat less funereal.
'If it's a fight you cannot win - well, my boy, there are always alternatives to fighting ...'
The true size of the battle station became apparent as the freighter was pulled closer and closer. Running around the station's equator was an artificial cluster of metal mountains, docking ports stretching beckoning fingers nearly two kilometers above the surface.
Now only a minuscule speck against the gray bulk of the station, the Millennium Falcon was sucked toward one of those steel pseudopods and finally swallowed by it. A lake of metal closed off the entryway, and the freighter vanished as if it had never existed.
Vader stared at the motley array of stars displayed on the conference-room map while Tarkin and Admiral Motti conferred nearby. Interestingly, the first use of the most powerful destructive machine ever constructed had seemingly had no influence at all on that map, which in itself represented only a tiny fraction of this section of one modest-sized galaxy.
It would take a microbreakdown of a portion of this map to reveal a slight reduction in spatial mass, caused by the disappearance of Alderaan. Alderaan, with its many cities, farms, factories, and towns - and traitors, Vader reminded himself.
Despite his advances and intricate technological methods of annihilation, the actions of mankind remained unnoticeable to an uncaring, unimaginably vast universe. If Vader's grandest plans ever came to pass, all that would change.
He was well aware that despite all their intelligence and drive, the vastness and wonder were lost on the two men who continued to chatter monkeylike behind him. Tarkin and Motti were talented and ambitious, but they saw things only on the scale of human pettiness. It was a pity, Vader thought, that they did not possess the scope to match their abilities.
Still, neither man was a Dark Lord. As such, little more could be expected of them. These two were useful now. and dangerous, but someday they, like Alderaan, would have to be swept aside. For now he could not afford to ignore them. And while he would have preferred the company of equals, he had to admit reluctantly that at this point, he had no equals.
Nonetheless, he turned to them and insinuated himself into their conversation. 'The defense systems on Alderaan, despite the Senator's protestations to the contrary, were as strong as any in the Empire. I should conclude that our demonstration was as impressive as it was thorough.'
Tarkin turned to him, nodding. The Senate is being informed of our action at this very moment. Soon we will be able to announce the extermination of the Alliance itself, as soon as we have dealt with their main military base. Now that their main source of munitions, Alderaan, has been eliminated, the rest of those systems with secessionist inclinations will fall in line quickly enough, you'll see.'
Tarkin turned as an Imperial officer entered the chamber. 'Yes, what is it, Cass?'
The unlucky officer wore the expression of the mouse chosen to bell the cat. 'Governor, the advance scouts have reached and circumnavigated Dantooine. They have found the remains of a rebel base ... which they estimate has been deserted for some time. Years, possibly. They are proceeding with an extensive survey of the remainder of the system.'
Tarkin turned apoplectic, his face darkening to a fine pomegranate fury. 'She lied! She lied to us!'
No one could see, but it seemed that Vader must have smiled behind his mask. 'Then we are even in the first exchange of "truths." I told you she would never betray the rebellion - unless she thought her confession could somehow destroy us in the process.'
'Terminate her immediately!' The Governor was barely able to form words.
'Calm yourself, Tarkin,' Vader advised him. 'You would throw away our only link to the real rebel base so casually? She can still be of value to us.'
'Fagh! You just said it yourself, Vader: we'll get nothing more out of her. I'll find that hidden fortress if I have to destroy every star system in this sector. I'll-
A quiet yet demanding beep interrupted him.
'Yes, what is it?' he inquired irritably.
A voice reported over an unseen speaker. 'Sirs, we've captured a small freighter that was entering the remains of Alderaan. A standard check indicates that its markings apparently match that of the ship which blasted its way out of the quarantine at Mos Eisley, Tatooine system, and went hyper before the Imperial blockade craft there could close on it.'
Tarkin looked puzzled. 'Mos Eisley? Tatooine? What is this? What's this all about, Vader?'
'It means, Tarkin, that the last of our unresolved difficulties is about to be eliminated. Someone apparently received the missing data tapes, learned who transcribed them, and was trying to return them to her. We may be able to facilitate their meeting with the Senator.'
Tarkin started to say something, hesitated, then nodded in understanding. 'How convenient. I leave this matter in your hands, Vader.'
The Dark Lord bowed slightly, a gesture which Tarkin acknowledged with a perfunctory salute. Then he spun and strode from the room, leaving Motti looking from man to man in confusion.
The freighter sat listlessly in the docking hangar of the huge bay. Thirty armed Imperial troopers stood before the lowered main ramp leading into the ship. They snapped to attention when Vader and a Commander approached. Vader halted at the base of the ramp, studying the vessel as an officer and several soldiers came forward.
'There was no reply to our repeated signals, sir, so we activated the ramp from outside. We've made no contact with anyone aboard either by communicator or in person,' the officer reported.
'Send your men in,' Vader ordered.
Turning, the officer relayed the command to a noncom, who barked orders. A number of the heavily armored soldiers made their way up the ramp and entered the outer hold. They advanced with appreciable caution.
Inside, two men covered a third as he advanced. Moving in groups of three in this fashion, they rapidly spread through the ship. Corridors rang hollowly under metal-shod feet, and doors slid aside willingly as they were activated.
'Empty,' the Sergeant in charge finally declared in surprise. 'Check the cockpit.'
Several troopers made their way forward and slid the portal aside, only to discover the pilot's chairs as vacant as the rest of the freighter. The controls were deactivated and all systems shut down. Only a single light on the console winked on and off fitfully. The Sergeant moved forward, recognized the source of the light, and activated the appropriate controls. A printout appeared on a nearby screen. He studied it intently, then turned to convey the information to his superior, who was waiting by the main hatch.
That worthy listened carefully before he turned and called down to the Commander and Vader. 'There is no one aboard; the ship is completely deserted, sirs. According to the ship's log, her crew abandoned ship immediately after lift-off, then set her on automatics for Alderaan.'
'Possibly a decoy,' the Commander ventured aloud. 'Then they should still be on Tatooine!'
'Possibly,' Vader admitted reluctantly.
'Several of the escape pods have been jettisoned,' the officer went on.
'Did you find any droids on board?' Vader called.
'No, sir - nothing. If there were any, they must have abandoned the ship along with the organic crew.'
Vader hesitated before replying. When he did so, uncertainty was evident in his voice. 'This doesn't feel right. Send a fully equipped scanning team on board. I want every centimeter of that ship checked out. See to it as soon as possible.' With that, he whirled and stalked from the hangar, pursued by the infuriating feeling that he was overlooking something of vital importance.
The rest of the assembled soldiers were dismissed by the officer. On board the freighter, a last lone figure left off examining the space beneath the cockpit consoles and ran to join his comrades. He was anxious to be off this ghost ship and back in the comfortable surroundings of the barracks. His heavy footsteps echoed through the once more empty freighter.
Below, the muffled sounds of the officer giving final orders faded, leaving the interior in complete quiet. The quivering of a portion of the floor was the only movement on board.
Abruptly the quivering became a sharp upheaval. Two metal panels popped upward, followed by a pair of tousled heads. Han Solo and Luke looked around quickly, then managed to relax a little when it became clear that the ship was as empty as it sounded.
'Lucky you'd built these compartments,' Luke commented.
Solo was not as cheerily confident. 'Where did you think I kept smuggled goods - in the main hold? I admit I never expected to smuggle myself in them.' He started violently at a sudden sound, but it was only another of the panels shifting aside.
'This is ridiculous. It isn't going to work. Even if I could take off and get past the closed hatch' - he jabbed a thumb upward - 'we'd never get past that tractor beam.'
Another panel opened, revealing the face of an elderly imp. 'You leave that to me.'
'I was afraid you'd say something like that,' muttered Solo. 'You're a damn fool, old man.'
Kenobi grinned at him. 'What does that say of the man who allows himself to be hired by a fool?'
[...]
- [...]
I'll do nothing to convince you from the opposite because I know that this would be futile.
But maybe you should speak with your English-teacher.
