Luke was tired, not alarmed. "What is it? What’s wrong with him now?" He was beginning to see how Threepio’s patience could be worn thin. He had had about enough of this addled instrument himself.
Undoubtedly the Artoo unit had acquired the holo of the girl by accident, then used it to entice Luke into removing his restraining module. Threepio probably had the right attitude. Still, once Luke got its circuits realigned and its logic couplings cleaned, it would make a perfectly serviceable farm unit. Only…if that was the case, then why was Threepio looking around so anxiously? "Oh my, sir. Artoo claims there are several creatures of unknown type approaching from the southeast." That could be another attempt by Artoo to distract them, but Luke couldn’t take the chance. Instantly he had his rifle off his shoulder and had activated the energy cell. He examined the horizon in the indicated direction and saw nothing. But then, sandpeople were experts at making themselves unseeable.
Luke suddenly realized exactly how far out they were, how much ground the landspeeder had covered that morning. "I’ve never been out in this direction this far from the farm before," he informed Threepio. "There are some awfully strange things living out here. Not all of them have been classified. It’s better to treat anything as dangerous until determined otherwise. Of course, if it’s something utterly new…" His curiosity prodded him. In any case, this was probably just another ruse of Artoo Detoo’s. "Let’s take a look," he decided.
Moving cautiously forward and keeping his rifle ready, he led Threepio toward the crest of a nearby high dune. At the same time he took care not to let Artoo out of his sight.
责任编辑：mman
