Venus and Cupid

Venus and Cupid
Vermeer girl with the pearl earring
virgin of the rocks
Woman with a Parasol
"What?" Luke was startled out of his examination. "If you'll not be needing me," Threepio declared, "I think I'll shut down for a bit.It will help the armature nerves to knit, and I'm due for some internal self-cleansinganyhow." "Sure, go ahead," Luke said absently, returning to his fascinated study of thewhatever-it-was. Behind him, Threepio became silent, the glow fading temporarilyfrom his eyes. Luke noticed that Kenobi was watching him with interest. "What isit?" he finally asked, unable despite his best efforts to identify the device. "Your father's lightsaber," Kenobi told him. "At one time they were widelyused. Still are, in certain galactic quarters." Luke examined the controls on the handle, then tentatively touched a brightlycolored button up near the mirrored pommel. Instantly the disk put forth a blue-white beam as thick around as his thumb. It was dense to the point of opacity and alittle over a meter in length. It did not fade, but remained as brilliant and intense atits far end as it did next to the disk. Strangely, Luke felt no heat from it, though hewas very careful not to touch it. He knew what a lightsaber could do, though he hadnever seen one before. It could drill a hole right through the rock wall of Kenobi'scave—or through a human being. "This was the formal weapon of a Jedi knight," explained Kenobi. "Not asclumsy or random as a blaster. More skill than simple sight was required for its use.An elegant weapon. It was a symbol as well. Anyone can use a blaster orfusioncutter—but to use a lightsaber well was a mark of someone a cut above theordinary." He was pacing the floor of the cave as he spoke.