precious time

All the excitement has overloaded the circuitry in my companion here,"Threepio explained carefully. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take him down toMaintenance." "Hmmm?" One of the guards looked up indifferently and nodded to the robot.Threepio and Artoo hurried out the door without looking back. As they departed itoccurred to the guard that the taller of the two 'droids was of a type he had never seenbefore. He shrugged. That was not surprising on a station of this size. "That was too close," Threepio muttered as they scurried down an emptycorridor. "Now we'll have to find another information-control console and plug youback in, or everything is lost." The garbage chamber grew remorselessly smaller, the smoothly fitting metalwalls moving toward one another with stolid precision. Larger pieces of refuseperformed a concerto of snapping and popping that was rising toward a finalshuddering crescendo. Chewbacca whined pitifully as he fought with all his incredible strength andweight to hold back one of the walls, looking like a hirsute Tantalus approaching hisfinal summit. "One thing's for sure," Solo noted unhappily. "We're all going to be muchthinner. This could prove popular for slimming . The only trouble is itspermanence." Luke paused for breath, shaking the innocent comlink angrily. "What couldhave happened to Threepio?" "Try the hatch again," advised Leia. "It's our only hope." Solo shielded his eyes and did so. The ineffectual blast echoed mockinglythrough the narrowing chamber.