Nude on the Beach

Nude on the Beach
My Sweet Rose painting
Naiade oil painting
Nighthawks Hopper
they traveled father and deeper into the bowels of the gigantic station, they foundit increasingly difficult to maintain an air of casual indifference. Fortunately, thosewho might have sensed some nervousness on the part of the two armored trooperswould regard it as only natural, considering their huge, dangerous Wookie captive.Chewbacca also made it impossible for the two young men to be as inconspicuous asthey would have liked. The farther they traveled, the heavier the traffic became. Other soldiers,bureaucrats, technicians, and mechanicals bustled around them. Intent on their ownassignments, they ignored the trio completely, only a few of the humans sparing theWookie a curious glance. Chewbacca's morose expression and the seemingconfidence of his captors reassured the inquisitive. Eventually they reached a wide bank of elevators. Luke breathed a sigh ofrelief. The computer-controlled transport ought to be capable of taking them justabout anywhere on the station in response to a verbal command. There was a nervous second when a minor official raced to get aboard. Sologestured sharply, and the other, without voicing a protest, shifted to the next elevatortube in line. Luke studied the operating panel, then tried to sound at once knowledgeable andimportant as he spoke into the pickup grid. Instead, he sounded nervous and scared,but the elevator was a pure-response mechanism, not programmed to differentiate theappropriateness of emotions conveyed vocally. So the door slid shut and they wereon their way. After what felt like hours but was in reality only minutes, the dooropened and they stepped out into the security area.