The Evil Experiment

  Temple," Obi-Wan said. "A pile of credits isn't going to help Didi if

  you're dead."

  Astri hesitated.

  "I know you think I have no right to tell you what to do," Obi-Wan

  said. "That's true. But I represent the Jedi. You must trust us, not just

  me."

  Reluctantly, Astri nodded. "So we're a team?"

  Obi-Wan nodded grimly. "For now."

  Astri was hopeless with a blaster, but she was adept with a

  vibroblade. Obi-Wan gave her a quick lesson in strategy and defense. Her

  body was agile and strong, and she was surprisingly quick.

  "Try to stay behind me or at my side," Obi-Wan told her. "But don't

  get in the way of my lightsaber."

  "Don't worry," Astri told him.

  The door to the training room opened and Tahl hurried inside. She

  immediately turned her face toward Didi's daughter.

  "Astri, you're here, too?"

  "Yes."

  "I have a clue," she said. "It's not much, but it's something. I

  couldn't find anything on Reesa On, but just on a hunch I ran the name

  through the language of Sorrus."

  "The bounty hunter's home planet," Obi-Wan told Astri.

  "It turns out that 'reesa on' means something in an obscure Sorrusian

  dialect," Tahl said. "It's spoken by a tribe living in a remote area of

  Sorrus."

  "What does it mean?" Astri asked.

  Tahl's mouth twisted. "'Catch me.' There is actually a childhood game

  among this tribe called 'reesa on."

  "So the name is a taunt," Obi-Wan said. "Catch me if you can."

  "Exactly," Tahl agreed. "I have the coordinates of the tribe's area.

  I doubt that the bounty hunter is there. Jedi teams have been sent on other

  leads. Most are working on finding Zan Arbor's lab by tracking medical

  shipments. This is such a tiny lead. Still..."

  "We could find out more about her," Obi-Wan said.

  "And we have nothing else to go on," Astri agreed.

  Tahl cocked her head as if testing the meaning behind Astri's words.

  "We?"

  "I'm going with Obi-Wan," Astri declared. Tahl shook her head. "You

  can't go on a Jedi mission, Astri."

  "But this isn't a mission," Astri argued. "There's no danger

  involved."

  "Where the bounty hunter is or could be, danger is there," Tahl said

  sharply. "Don't forget that."

  Astri's chin set defiantly. Even though Tahl couldn't see her, Tahl

  was able to pick up her stubbornness. She frowned.

  "I promised Astri she could come with me for a time," Obi-Wan told

  Tahl. "The bounty hunter shot her father, Tahl. She has a right to track

  her, too. And she'll be in less danger if she's with me. I'll send her back

  to the Temple if I think the bounty hunter is on Sorrus."

  "I don't like this," Tahl declared. "I should confer with Yoda. You

  need to be temporarily assigned to a Jedi Master, Obi-Wan. Or else stay at

  the Temple."

  "But I'm not going on a mission, just scouting out a lead. Qui-Gon

  needs my help," Obi-Wan argued.

  He saw the hesitancy on Tahl's face.

  "I have to find my Master, Tahl," Obi-Wan said steadily. "I feel him.

  I know he needs me. Let me go."

  "I'm sure we are breaking several rules here," Tahl murmured.

  Obi-Wan smiled. "Qui-Gon would like that."

  Tahl smiled, too. "Yes," she said softly. "There is a tech transport

  ship that could drop you off at the capital city closest to the desert

  tribe..."

  Obi-Wan looked at Astri. "Let's go."

  CHAPTER 7

  Qui-Gon waited for his hour of freedom. He did not know when Zan

  Arbor would grant it. He wanted it so badly it was difficult for him to

  think of anything else.

  Being suspended in this vapor without sight and sound was a

  particular kind of torture. Deprived of his senses, he experienced

  dislocation. He had to be conscious of his mind at all times, wrench it

  back to its surroundings. He could move his muscles very little, and he

  flexed them, one by one, every half hour. That was an effort. The constant

  withdrawal of blood was beginning to sap his strength.

  He knew that at the Temple he was appreciated for several things: his

  physical strength, his connection to the living Force, and his patience.

  Now he hung in a chamber, and none of these things were available to him.

  He would just have to find other things he was good at.

  The loss of his patience was the worst. He could not calm his raging

  desire to be free. He dreamed of freedom as another might dream of food.

  So much for his great forbearance. Now he realized that he had many

  more lessons to learn. How many times had he heard Yoda advise an advanced

  student that for a Jedi, true mastery of a skill was only the beginning

  step to understanding it? How many times had he said the same to Obi-Wan?

  The more you know, Padawan, the less you know.

  By the time this was over, he would see how much he still had to

  learn about patience.

  Was it his imagination, or was the vapor beginning to thin? Qui-Gon

  looked down and could see his feet. Yes, the vapor was slowly siphoning

  away. Did that mean that Zan Arbor was about to release him?

  He had made no plans for his first release. His only intention was to

  talk to Zan Arbor again. Somehow he felt he would gain a clue of how to

  proceed.

  The vapor cleared. His heartbeat quickened. He saw movement outside

  the transparent wall of the chamber.

  "I see you're excited, Qui-Gon." Zan Arbor's cool voice penetrated

  the chamber. "Try to contain yourself. I didn't throw you a party."

  The chamber walls slid down, disappearing into the floor. Qui-Gon's

  knees buckled and he fell forward. The floor against his cheek felt like a

  gift. Sense had been deprived for so long that the texture of the stone,

  the coolness of the temperature, felt like fresh rain on his face.

  He saw Zan Arbor's boots approach, centimeters from his nose.

  "Men have fallen at my feet, but it was in my younger days," she

  remarked. "How nice to see I still have that power."

  He would not speak until he knew his voice would be steady. He

  reached deep inside for the reserve of strength he knew was still there. He

  had protected that reserve during the long hours of his captivity.

  He did not raise himself to his knees until he knew he would be able

  to get to his feet. He stood in one smooth motion. He locked his knees.

  He had always seen her in rich robes, her hair elaborately styled.

  Now Jenna Zan Arbor was dressed simply in a white tunic and trousers. She

  was smaller than he remembered. Her hair was drawn back and held with an

  intricate silver clip.

  "I would have thought you were the type of woman who prefers beings

  to meet you eye to eye," he said.

  She smiled. "But so few can. I am told I am intimidating."

  "That's what makes the few who match you more valuable."

  "I have no interest in other beings anymore, or any conventions of

  what the majority of those in the galaxy want," Jenna Zan Arbor said

  coolly. "I don't need friendship. Only my work drives me. Nil!"

  A tall, thin being shuffled forward. Qui-Gon recognized a being from

/>   the planet Quint. Quints were covered in delicate fur and had small heads

  with triangular eyes. They were extraordinarily quick and fast. Nil had two

  blasters strapped to his waist. He put his sharp-nailed hands on his

  blasters and gave Qui-Gon a contemptuous glance.

  "Watch him," Zan Arbor instructed Nil. "Even an unarmed, weakened

  Jedi is a formidable opponent." She turned back to Qui-Gon. "I should tell

  you that my security is state of the art. And if you attempt escape, Nil

  will not hesitate to shoot you."

  Qui-Gon had no intention of attempting to escape. He knew he was too

  weak. He didn't acknowledge what she'd said, but ignored Nil and returned

  to their conversation.

  "How does your work drive you?" Qui-Gon asked. While they talked, he

  examined the space around him without seeming to glance. It was a Jedi

  skill. To Zan Arbor, he appeared to be totally fixated on her face.

  "How does my work drive me?" she repeated, puzzled. "That seems

  obvious."

  Stone floor. Long metal lab tables. Records piled neatly on a desk.

  Sensors, computer bank, lab equipment along one wall.

  "Not at all. Scientists are driven for different reasons," Qui-Gon

  said, beginning to stroll about to stretch his legs. Nil followed a few

  paces behind. "Some for pure research - they have a hunger for how things

  work. Some want to be remembered, to have their name on a discovery. Some

  think of living beings and want to help them. Which kind of scientist are

  you?"

  Only one exit, a durasteel door. A security pad mounted to one side.

  He would need a code to exit. Or his lightsaber. Of course, he would have

  to get by Nil, too.

  "Why don't you tell me?" Her gaze was amused as she crossed her arms,

  tracking his movement. "Which describes me?"

  "None of them," he said. "Your ambitions are even grander, I fear.".

  "You fear? What is wrong with grand ambitions?"

  Qui-Gon stopped and faced her again. "You search for the unknowable

  and attempt to tame what cannot be tamed. Such an effort is doomed to

  failure."

  Only a flare of her nostrils told him that he'd upset her. "So you

  say," she said, waving a hand. "It doesn't matter. I'm used to being

  underestimated. You have no idea what I'm capable of."

  "On the contrary," Qui-Gon said dryly. "I have a very good idea of

  how far you will go to get what you want."

  "Excellent point," she said, amused again. "You are a worthy

  adversary, Qui-Gon Jinn."

  "I'm hardly an adversary," he responded. "Am I not your subject?"

  "I have a feeling you are subject to no one," she answered, the same

  faint smile on her face.

  Nil glanced at her and then gave Qui-Gon a look of pure loathing.

  He is jealous, Qui-Gon realized. Perhaps that is something I can use.

  Zan Arbor might have regretted her softer tone, for she turned away

  and said briskly, "Now for your part of the deal."

  She seated herself at a monitor. "I implanted sensors in your body

  when I treated your wounds. I am waiting. Use the Force."

  "I need strength to use the Force - ""Stop stalling," she snapped.

  Qui-Gon was weak, but he knew he could reach out for the Force and it

  would be there. He could not show Zan Arbor how much he could depend on it.

  He gazed at a clipboard on the table. Using the Force, he caused it

  to slide rapidly off the table and clatter to the floor.

  "A trick a first year student could accomplish!" Jenna Zan Arbor

  sneered. "I can't get a reading from that!"

  Good. "It is the best I can do," Qui-Gon said.

  "Liar!" She sprang up from her chair. "How dare you defy me! Don't

  you realize that you are at my mercy?"

  "We made a bargain. You would give me an hour of freedom if I

  accessed the Force. I did so. I do not think you have the right to be

  angry," Qui-Gon said steadily.

  She moved closer to him. "I... rule... you," she spat out in his

  face. "Don't forget that."

  She snapped her fingers at Nil. "Put him back in the chamber."

  "I see you do not keep your word," Qui-Gon said, as Nil grabbed him.

  "Do not play with me, Qui-Gon Jinn," she answered angrily. "I know

  exactly how much strength you have. You think you can deceive me. I will

  always be one step ahead of you. Don't you understand yet how much I know?

  You barter for your freedom with nothing. So you will get nothing from me."

  Only too glad to use brutality against Qui-Gon, Nil roughly pushed

  him back to the square outline of the chamber. The transparent walls began

  to rise.

  "The amount of effort you use for the Force will result in the amount

  of time you are given your freedom," Jenna Zan Arbor told him. "Think about

  it."

  The vapor rose around him as the walls surrounded him. Qui-Gon felt

  despair rise with the enclosing walls.

  I need you, Obi-Wan. Find me soon.

  CHAPTER 8

  Obi-Wan and Astri hitched a ride on a tech transport to Sorrus. The

  planet was a large one, with varied climates. Over its vast surface were

  rugged mountain ranges, huge deserts, and sprawling cities. Large bodies of

  water were scarce, and a complex irrigation system crisscrossed the planet

  in an intricate series of waterways and pipes.

  The pilot of the tech transport landed in Yinn La Hi, one of three

  capital cities. Obi-Wan thanked him for the lift.

  The pilot gazed out at the city. "Good luck to you. I hope you know

  where you're going."

  "A desert region called Arra," Obi-Wan told him, picking up his

  survival pack. "Are the Sorrusians a friendly people?"

  The pilot grinned. "Sure. As long as you don't ask them any

  questions."

  Obi-Wan understood the pilot's words within a short amount of time.

  He asked three different passersby for information on where to find

  transport to Arra. Each Sorrusian ignored him.

  "Friendly place," Astri said. "I can see where Reesa On gets her

  sparkling personality."

  Ahead Obi-Wan glimpsed a transport center. There, a clerk behind an

  information desk directed them to a public air transport that made one stop

  at an outpost in the desert of Arra.

  Although it was customary throughout the galaxy for Jedi to hitch

  rides on public transport without payment, here on Sorrus there was no such

  courtesy extended. Astri and Obi-Wan paid for their seats with their few

  credits.

  It was a journey of several hours to the desert. The cities thinned

  out and the landscape became rugged. They flew over a mountain range. On

  one side were green fields, on the other desert. Dunes stretched as far as

  the eyes could see, with not a green plant growing. All Obi-Wan could see

  were rocks.

  The transport pulled up to a desolate landing platform. Obi-Wan and

  Astri were the only ones to exit.

  The air transport rose and disappeared. They stood on the platform

  and gazed at the sea of sand. The wind blew pellets into their faces, and

  they pulled up their hoods.

  "What now?" Astri asked.

  "I have the coordinates of the last-known camp of the tribe," Obi-Wan

  said. "Let'
s start walking."

  "I'm beginning to worry that this might be a waste of time," Astri

  said as she trudged beside him. "We might not find the tribe at all."

  "It's too soon to worry," Obi-Wan answered. But he, too, felt