leonardo da vinci self portrait

directions. The giant multiocular creature still stood staring, dazed, at the old humanwho was poised motionless before it, the shining lightsaber held over his head in apeculiar fashion. The creature's chrome pistol fired once, blowing a hole in the door.Then the torso peeled away as neatly as had the body of the rodent, its two cauterizedsection falling in opposite directions to lie motionless on the cool stone. Only then did the suggestion of a sigh escape from Kenobi; only then did hisbody appear to relax. Bringing the lightsaber down, he flipped it carefully upward ina reflex saluting motion which ended with the deactivated weapon restinginnocuously on his hip. That final movement broke the total quiet which had enshrouded the room.Conversations resumed, as did the movement of bodies in chairs, the scraping ofmugs and pitchers and other drinking devices on tabletops. The bartender andseveral assistants appeared to drag the unsightly corpses out of the room, while themutilated human vanished wordlessly into the crowd, cradling the stump of his gunarm and counting himself fortunate. To all appearances the cantina had returned to its former state, with one smallexception. Ben Kenobi was given a respectful amount of space at the bar. Luke barely heard the renewed conversation. He was still shaken by the speedof the fight and by the old man's unimagined abilities. As his mind cleared and hemoved to rejoin Kenobi, he could overhear bits and snatches of the talk around him.Much of it centered on admiration for the cleanness and finality of the fight. "You're hurt, Luke," Kenobi observed solicitously. Luke felt of the bruise where the big creature had stuck him. "I…" he started tosay, but old Ben cut him off. As if nothing had happened, he indicated the greathairy mass which was shouldering its way through the crowd toward them.