3 Father hobby

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The pearl itself did not impress me. It was a translucent green ball the size of a tangerine, with a pale green, almost white center, and veins of the same color stretching away from the center. I knew in my mind that it was rare and expensive, but I'd seen a shitload of it in my world.

- That's nothing," said my father. - When I have it honed, like the Jedi do, then it will be really beautiful.

Two hundred and thirteen thousand. My dad's speederbike cost one and a half grand of credits. It's new. And he wants to sharpen this thing? Isn't he afraid of breaking it?

- Aren't you gonna break it? - My mom voiced my thoughts.

- Me? No way. I won't do it by hand," he explained to my mother. Who raised an eyebrow skeptically. - It would cost more after that.

- How do you know how the Jedi grind them? - My mother wouldn't budge.

- "I've seen it," my father said curtly. - When I was a Youngling.

What? A Yongnling ? That's the kind of kid they teach at the Jedi Academy. My father was a Yongnling? That's crazy. So maybe he's a Jedi. Man, I don't know how to ask. I'm not supposed to know anything about that.

- Yongnling? - I finally came out.

- They are gifted children, son, who are trained in the main Jedi temple on Coruscant.

- Is Dad a Jedi? - I asked a new question. Which made my father sigh sadly.

- No, little one. I never learned to be a Jedi. I was too weak, so I quit.

That's crazy. You can get out of there?

- Dad's strong," I said as confidently as I could.

- Ha-ha-ha. Of course, son. Your dad is the strongest dad in the galaxy," he patted my head. And his sadness was going away in front of his eyes. - Come," he said, putting the pearl in the container, "I'll show you my collection. You don't seem to be very impressed with this one," he grinned.

- Well," said my mother with a smile, "you go ahead, and I'll go and prepare dinner. Come back in an hour.

- Whatever you say, dear," he kissed his wife.

My father had a workshop in his backyard. A shed wasn't a shed, a hangar wasn't a hangar. In short, something big and tinny. Except we didn't go into the workshop, we went behind it. About ten meters away from the building there was a boulder on the ground, and my father approached it.

- Look closely, son. See this notch here, press here and... pop. A disguised console opens. You enter the code... even though you can't remember it the first time... but watch carefully. - He slowly typed in ten digits and looked at me, "Don't worry, you'll learn it later if you need to. - Oh, you shouldn't do that, father. My memory is really good. After he pressed "enter," something clicked a meter away from us, and my father came to the place and raised the hatch, merging with the ground. - Come here. - He picked me up under the armpits and put me on his neck, and Daddy started to climb down. - Hold on tight, son," he said, "if you fall, my mother will kill me.

When we came down we found ourselves in a room two meters by two meters, right in front of a metal door and another console. But this time it was more elaborate. After lowering my mortal body to the ground and taking my hand, my father approached the door.

- Now, kid, we're going to put you on the list of those who can come in here. Here, put your finger here. - When I put my finger where it was pointed, I felt the place heat up, and then I felt a sharp prick. - You see, it doesn't hurt at all. Now, look here," he said, as he picked me up and held me up to the glowing blue lens. Flash, and I'm back on the ground. - Well done, son, you're a real man. Dakari! - My father said proudly. I guess he thought I was going to get hysterical, first stabbing my finger, then blinding me... - And now there's another code... that you don't need... Okay. Now memorize it. We'll memorize it later, though. - And ten more digits. - That's it, you can go in.

The space behind the door wasn't that big. It was about ten meters by five meters. The wall opposite the door was a huge glass shelf, decorated with a multitude of colorful stones. Some at a glance were defined as crystals, and some could not be called other than cobblestones. There was even something that looked vaguely like ginseng root.

- Here it is, my pride! - Dad stuck out his chest. - I've been collecting these crystals ever since I ran away from the Academy. Four hundred and eighteen crystals for the lightsaber. Most are the usual, common cheap stuff, but there are some pretty rare ones here, too. - Looks like my father needs new ears. - Look," he said, walking over to the glass and pointing his finger at one of the stones, "Opila. It's mined from the asteroid field in the Fith system. Increases the slashing power of the sword. It was relatively easy to obtain. And this one," he pointed to another stone, "is Nextor. It comes from the planet M'haeli. I can't say for certain what it is, but I spent three months wandering around the planet, trying to get it from someone. I ended up winning it in a sabakk. Though I'll tell you a secret, I can't play cards at all. It was probably the luckiest game I ever played. Or," another stone, "this blue beauty is called an upari. It's found in the orbit of the forest worlds, and gives a lot of advantages to the lightsaber. But it is not a great one. I got this one on Kashyyyk. I just bought it from a local merchant; they use it as jewelry. Twenty thousand for the little bastard. Yeah. Almost every crystal in this collection has a story behind it. Both common and my own. For example, because of this red crystal, which is very rare, your father, little boy, had to lead three Jedi by the nose for two months. Because the quixoni is a very powerful crystal that increases the power of the dark side. I don't even want to talk about its uniqueness. I received it free of charge, but on the black market it will cost you five hundred thousand dollars. I'd say it was a bit steep, though. He pointed to the milky-white stone, and I think it comes from a huge earthworm that lives on one of the planets of the Undiscovered Territory. If you knew what it took me to get it.... I almost started looking for the planet itself. Sigil," he said, pointing to a pale pink stone. - "An extremely powerful crystal, capable of increasing the power of a sword. I'd rather not say anything about the price. I still don't feel good about it.

By the way, I remember something about the sigil. I think I saw it in a game. Yeah, that's right. It did increase the damage. I'm just listening to my dad, and it makes sense that he'd take all those precautions with the bunker. If he's telling the truth, which I doubt, there's a lot more crystal in here than his brother said. While I was staring at the stones, thinking at the same time about great things, my father opened a shelf and put a pearl on one of the few empty spaces.

- That pearl, my boy," he said, staring at it, "can only come from the stomach of a krait dragon. It's a rare, enormous, and very dangerous creature that lives in the Tatooine Desert. The black pearl is considered the most valuable, but it would be a miracle to get it. Especially not from this planet. By the way," he went on, "there are crystal caves in outback Pzob, too. I don't know what they do for the Gifted. There they are," he said, waving to the right. - Just to the right, if you're interested.

Oh, my gosh. The Crystal Cave? Here?" he said. Oh, wow. After what my father said, I suddenly had a strong desire to look at this place. I really did. It was nothing, just curiosity. It's the damn crystal cave of the Star Wars universe, isn't it? Ahhhh, damn this fucking age. We'll have to wait.

- What's the matter, kid, interested? - Dad asked, looking at me. I never went to look at the crystals, and after what my father had said about the cave, I stood there staring at him. And when he asked about the interest, I nodded quickly. He laughed good-naturedly: "Don't nod so fast, kid, or your head will fly off. All right, I'll take you there. I'm going over there the other day to get some ore, so I might as well make a little detour for my boy's sake," said my father, at the last word, as if I were a teddy bear. However, for the sake of such a thing, I was ready to endure this abuse without words.

We went to the cave, or rather to get ore, which my father uses in alloys, a day later. My mother wore a face like we were going to war, and I responded by all the methods available to me to show how much I am looking forward to this trip. As a result, my mother was silent. And in the end she was no longer upset, but annoyed.

True, when they put me in the car and strapped me down, the thought flashed through my head - maybe I should give it up, but the thought flashed only once and very quickly. After all, it was a crystal cave! Shit, to get into this world and not look at a cave like that? Yes, I could do that later, but I was curious now. What if I'm a Forceuser myself and I can find my own crystal there? At least, I think that's how the Jedi find them. I can't be sure, but it seems to me that something like that is going around in my head. If I'm right.... No, I don't want to be a Jedi, nor do I want to be a Sith, I'm fine on this planet, but a Forceuser, a Gifted... or whatever they're called around here... ...I want to pull things with my mind. That's a little something I hope I can learn on my own. I don't EVEN need great power; it's enough to make me different from the others. And with that power, I'll be able to turn around.... Here on Pzoba, I mean. One problem - one of the Jedi, I think it was Obi-Wan, said that there are billions of living beings in the galaxy and only a few thousand Jedi. The chance of me being force-sensitive is one in several billion. Pretty bleak odds, wouldn't you agree? Even if the Jedi find only a small fraction of those children, still, one in a few million is, to the max of optimism, not a very bright chance.

For the first hour of the trip, Daddy wouldn't stop talking about his life stories of how he got this or that crystal. He only interrupted when we were passing a serpentine road, and a picturesque valley spread out on our right hand.

- Talar Valley," my father said. - That's where the crystal cave is, but we'll look there on the way back. We'll pick up cortosis ore first. It's a fragile metal, but it's very necessary in some places. If we turn west at the next fork, we can reach the deposits of lommite. That's what durastal and translucent steel are made from. It's not as expensive as Cortosis, but it's worth a lot. Pzob is rich in all kinds of ores. Someday our family will accumulate enough money to be able to start mining it all. The cheaper stuff first, so they don't get squeezed out, and then, when we're ready, the most expensive stuff, too. Like Cortosis. And when we're big men by Galactic standards, we'll take on the nearest asteroid belt," my father dreamed, while I was staring at him. - My father, your grandfather, found deposits of Frickeite and Tydirium there. And that, kid, is a lot of money.

That's a hell of a daddy. He's got Napoleonic plans, I'll give him that. And I don't mind at all - he's only got one heir. And even if I do have a couple of brothers,I'll still be the oldest. .... Hell, no. It's not a problem at all. That's two rats on my head.

- And the heir to all this, little one, will be you. So watch out for me, don't be lazy. Study diligently all that you will be taught. When you turn thirteen, we'll send you to the University of Alderaan. It's not cheap, but it's worth it. Though I'd have sent you to Coruscant, but your mother was against it. There are too many criminals, too many temptations and too many perverts.... Okay, I agree with her there. It's a better technical school, though.

And my father doesn't seem to need much of an interlocutor. He's got a lot on his mind. Well, whatever he says, I'm all for it. I'll see the world, and I'll gain knowledge.