Madonna Litta

As abruptly as he had vanished, Luke reappeared—and so did part of somethingelse. A thick whitish tentacle was wrapped tight around his throat. "Shoot it, kill it!" Luke screamed. "Shoot it! I can't even see it," Solo protested. Once again Luke was sucked under by whatever that gruesome appendage wasattached to. Solo stared helplessly around the multicolored surface. There was a distant rumble of heavy machinery, and two opposing walls of thechamber moved inward several centimeters. The rumble ceased and then it wasquiet again. Luke appeared unexpectedly close to Solo, scrabbling his way clear ofthe suffocating mess and rubbing at the welt on his neck. "What happened to it?" Leia wondered, eyeing the quiescent garbage warily. Luke looked genuinely puzzled. "I don't know. It had me—and then I wasfree. It just let me go and disappeared. Maybe I didn't smell bad enough for it." "I've got a very bad feeling about this," Solo murmured. Again the distant rumble filled the room; again the walls began their inwardmarch. Only this time neither sound nor movement showed any sign of stopping. "Don't just stand there gaping at each other!" the Princess urged them. "Try tobrace them with something. Even with the thick poles and old metal beams Chewbacca could handle, theywere unable to find anything capable of slowing the walls' advance. It seemed as ifthe stronger the object was that they placed against the walls, the easier it wassnapped. Luke pulled out his comlink, simultaneously trying to talk and will thewalls to retreat. "Threepio…come in, Threepio!" A decent paused produced noresponse, causing Luke to look worriedly at his companions. "I don't know why he doesn't answer." He tried again. "See Threepio, comein. Do you read?"