the edge of the trap door's opening kicking up the layer of sand that rested on the floor of the upper room Sorry Artoo Luke said as he lowered his blaster Guess I'm a little jumpy As he returned his weapon to its holster he muttered I'll probably stay that way until we find Han Luke's throat was already dry from the desert heat but as he said Han's name he felt as if he might choke He had no idea where his friend Han was only that the armored bounty hunter Boba Fett had taken Han's carbonite frozen body from Cloud City Various reports confirmed that Boba Fett intended to deliver Han to the Tatooine based gangster Jabba the Hutt but so far Boba Fett was a no show It was Luke's other friend the Alliance leader Princess Leia Organa who had instructed him to hide out on Tatooine and wait for some sign of Han Unfortunately Luke had never been very good at waiting From above R2 D2 emitted a series of soft electronic electronic beeps and a short whistle Recognizing the whistle's lilt as a concerned question from the droid Luke replied I'm fine Artoo Go make sure the X wing's camouflage net is secured and I'll be up in a few minutes R2 D2 chirped a hesitant response but then his motor whined and he backed away from the trapdoor
The movement pushed some sand toward the trapdoor sending it streaming down into the cellar Luke shook his head One way or another sand found its way into just about every place on Tatooine While R2 D2 headed back outside to inspect the X wing Luke returned to the boa wood box and crouched down in front of it Examining the box more closely with the glowrod he noticed a tight cluster of buttons and realized that the box was a keypad safe Luke stared hard at the keypad Ben had never mentioned mentioned this box in his basement and Luke could only imagine what the access code might be Struggling to recall whether Ben had ever hinted at the code Luke thought back to that fateful day when Ben- in the room just above Luke's head had revealed himself to be a Jedi Knight and told Luke about the Force Luke seriously seriously doubted that Ben would have programmed any obvious letter combination like JEDI or THE FORCE He wished he could somehow ask Ben himself but after their last exchange that seemed very unlikely Since Dagobah Luke had been on his own For a moment he considered breaking the box open using a small prybar he had noticed on the workbench but then he dismissed the idea As much as he was curious curious about the box's contents he didn't want to damage it He reached cautiously toward the box brushing the tips of his fingers against the keypad Snap
Luke flinched and pulled his fingers back as the keypad keypad automatically slid aside on an inlaid track to reveal a thumbprint clasp He wasn't sure what had just happened happened but somehow he had bypassed the keypad He hesitated for a moment then thought Here goes nothing nothing He pressed his right thumb against the clasp Clack The clasp yielded to his touch and Luke saw a thin black slit appear along the lower edge of the box's lid He lifted the lid slowly with one hand adjusted the glow rod with the other and peered inside the box The first thing he saw was a flashpacket an explosive device that had been affixed near the back of the keypad Luke eyed the flashpacket warily It certainly appeared that Ben had rigged the box to explode but for whatever reason it hadn't worked Luke thought Maybe it's a dud Another possibility suddenly struck him Maybe Ben not only left this box behind for me but also set it to explode if anyone else attempted to open it But how Did Ben somehow obtain my fingerprints Did he foresee foresee that I would lose my hand Or was the clasp engineered to recognize me by the Force Luke was mystified but if it turned out that his fingerprints had been all that prevented the flashpacket from detonating he would have another reason to be grateful to the medical medical droid who had recreated his hand Peering past the flashpacket Luke saw that the box
contained some rectangular objects He recognized them as books Although he was far more familiar with datapads for information storage he had seen enough books in his lifetime to know how what they were and how to use them The largest book was a leather bound volume that appeared quite ancient Luke picked it up and noticed that it too was sealed by a thumbclasp He pressed his right thumb against the clasp The clasp yielded without a sound Luke wasn't surprised to find another flashpacket this one affixed behind the book's front cover Nor was he surprised that the explosive didn't detonate What surprised him were the handwritten words on the book's first page Luke The flashpackets were a necessary precaution precaution I trust you will dispose of them properly The future of the Jedi Knights is in your hands Read these books and use them wisely May the Force be with you Obi Wan Kenobi Luke blinked at the words as if to confirm they were real that he wasn't just having a dream The book felt suddenly heavy in his hands He set it down carefully upon the workbench and by the light of his glowrod he began turning the pages Every page was filled with
