The group went around a crowded corridor, passed through a valve door leading underground, and finally, after Joan unlocked it, entered a hidden space.
This was her usual laboratory.
As soon as they entered, they saw Kahalman standing on a hoverboard, operating an instrument with all four of his arms.
"You're back, Joan. And Amir, 32, adorable Millisyn. Since everyone's here, let's discuss the specifics of our cooperation." It was clear that Kahalman was also eager to return and continue researching the exoskeleton.
Beside Kahalman stood a young girl who was helping him.
After seeing Amir and the others, she smiled. "We have new guests today, Doctor?"
Both Joan and Kahalman held doctoral degrees, but Kahalman preferred being called "doctor."
"Valera, they're Doctor Kahalman's friends."
"Hello," Valera greeted them.
Amir nodded in response. This time, he noticed early on that she was a robot.
Because there was no response of living Force from her body.
Valera walked forward. "Is there anything you need help with?"
"Prepare some drinks," Joan said. Hearing that, the girl left the research room and headed inside.
"How's the data?" Amir asked Kahalman.
Kahalman gave him a reliable smile. "There's absolutely no problem with the data. Joan is an expert in this field. I've already roughly gone through it once."
When faced with excellent research results, Kahalman still maintained a respectful attitude and did not show his usual arrogance.
Amir trusted Kahalman's academic judgment. Since he said it could be used, there was no need to worry. Next came the price.
"When you begged me for my research data back then, I generously gave it to you for free. Otherwise, you old hag wouldn't be what you are now," Kahalman said with a teasing tone.
Fortunately, Joan did not mind.
"These things don't have much value to me anymore. I could give them to you directly. But recently, I've had a problem. Since you're here, I'll take an appropriate profit." Joan spoke calmly, as if she could not express much emotion.
"What is it?" Amir asked.
"It's not a major issue for you." Joan organized her words. "Nar Shaddaa has been very lively lately. A lot of people are looking for something."
"You mean that ancient object? Haha, don't tell me you actually believe it's real. An ancient vessel carrying a 'soul.'" Kahalman had arrived a day earlier and had heard something about this.
Joan was not angry either. "Whether it's real or not, I'm very interested in it."
After saying that, she looked at Amir and explained, "About a month ago, a bounty hunter claimed he had brought a relic out of some ancient ruins. It was a vessel containing a 'soul.' It caused quite a commotion across the galaxy. Supposedly, it contained a path to achieving immortality."
"After some time spent hyping it up, he decided to sell it to the Hutts for an extremely high price. So he came to Hutt Space, arriving first on Nar Shaddaa."
"But that idiot had only just gotten off the ship when he was stripped clean by the children around the port. The relic he intended to trade was also swapped without him noticing. By the time he realized it, he could no longer find any clues."
"Under the Hutts' fury, the man lost his life. So the final lead was cut off. But there's no doubt about the attraction of a relic that had already been hyped to an astronomical price. Even so, a large number of bounty hunters are still searching for clues on Nar Shaddaa, hoping to make a fortune."
Amir found the story strange as well. "A path to achieving immortality? No matter how you listen to it, that sounds like a scam."
"But there will always be people who believe it. As long as someone offers a price, there will be people willing to serve for it."
"Do you believe it?" Amir asked Joan.
"My goal has never been so-called immortality. I want to figure out whether that vessel truly contains a person's soul, or some kind of created consciousness. If it was created…"
Kahalman cut in at just the right moment. "There's also a leaked video. Do you want to see it? That vessel really can speak."
With Joan's help, Amir found the leaked video: a square stone slab constantly emitting obscure, incomprehensible language. Blue light also flickered across it, showing that energy was flowing through it.
"The video is real. There are no traces of editing. I specifically had someone verify it." Joan dispelled Amir's final doubt.
Looking at the footage, Amir fell into thought. He had just personally contained a Sith phantom, so he had some understanding of matters related to souls. This stone slab really might be the soul vessel of some ancient person.
"The most important reason I'm interested is this." Joan pointed at the stone slab. "These blue energy lines left a complex pattern on the slab. That pattern looks like a very high-order circuit. In that case, this stone slab might be a traceable artificial object. That is extremely significant to me. My research has basically taken shape, but it always feels as if something is missing."
"Take Valera, for example. You've probably already seen that she is a robot. But she is still constructed from programs. Although everything has met my expectations, it still isn't enough. I can clearly see through her thought patterns. None of her actions can surprise me. So I hope to draw inspiration from this relic and see whether machinery can be used to cultivate something close to the essence of a soul."
Even Amir clicked his tongue after hearing Joan's words.
This was indeed an extremely constructive idea.
But the chance of success was also vanishingly small.
The robots of this world had their own set of templates. Some fully independent robots were actually not much different from other intelligent life-forms. They could think, had emotions, understood how to seek benefit and avoid harm, were willing to strengthen themselves, and could even become obsessed with enjoyment.
It could be said that they had already become a special species, worthy of respect and equal treatment from other life-forms.
But for Joan, even that was still not enough.
Judging from Kahalman's impression of her, Joan had an almost pathological pursuit of complete human simulation. If she only wanted to "try it," she had already achieved her goal back in university.
Even Kahalman did not understand the purpose behind what she was doing.
Perhaps it was simply because of her interest.
Amir stopped thinking further. He first needed to complete this deal.
"I don't have any special advantage when it comes to finding things. I may not be able to…"
"We do have an advantage," Joan suddenly said.
"What?"
"I was at the scene the day the object was stolen. Heh. It almost ended up in my hands, but two little brats got there first!"
Although her tone was still flat, Amir could sense the resentment in it.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌌 STAR WARS: RELICS OF THE PAST
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
✨ THE FORCE STILL HAS SECRETS.
The galaxy remembers its wars.
The Jedi remember their teachings.
But beneath forgotten worlds and ancient ruins...
Something older is still waiting.
Star Wars: Relics of the Past has 100+ chapters ahead available now.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌌 THE PAST NEVER TRULY DISAPPEARS
⚔️ Jedi mysteries
📜 Ancient history
💫 Forgotten relics
🚀 Galactic exploration
🔥 Hidden powers
☠️ Dangerous discoveries
✨ Secrets of the Force
Some relics can change a life.
Others can change the fate of the entire galaxy.
And the deeper you dig into the past...
The harder it becomes to leave it buried.
🔥 100+ CHAPTERS AHEAD.
👉 Uncover the galaxy's secrets before everyone else.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌐 SrMagnusCorp: https://srmagnuscorp.com/
🔥 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/MrMagnus
🐦 X / Twitter: https://x.com/SrMagnuscorp
⚠️ Let your Power Stones guide future releases!
🌌 May the Force be with you.