uncertain. There wasn't a sign of life anywhere, not even vegetation. Who
could survive in such a harsh land? Perhaps the tribe had moved on.
They hiked to a sheltered canyon near the foothills of the mountain
range. The coordinates matched what Tahl had given him, but there was no
sign of a tribe. Obi-Wan slogged through the sand, looking for a clue.
"If they were here, they aren't now," Obi-Wan said. He kicked at a
rock. "I don't know how any living being could survive here. There's no
food, no water."
"I wouldn't be so sure." Astri bent down and showed him the underside
of the rock. It was covered in a greenish substance. She grinned. "Hungry?"
Obi-Wan smiled and turned to scan the walls of the canyon. "I think
there might be caves in the canyon wall."
Astri squinted. "Perhaps they take shelter there during the hot part
of the day."
"It's worth a look," Obi-Wan agreed.
Suddenly, an eerie, high-pitched sound split the air. Obi-Wan could
not tell if it was the wind, or some strange being.
"What was that?" Astri asked fearfully.
He glanced around, searching for movement. His hand went to his
lightsaber. He sensed danger, but he did not know where it was located.
The Force whirled around him, pulsating with the rhythm of the moving
sand. He saw a flicker of movement high above. Something was flying down
toward him from the canyon wall. Then, more and more shapes filled the air.
Not shapes. Sorrusians. Obi-Wan and Astri were under attack!
Obi-Wan leaped backward as one Sorrusian nearly landed on top of him.
They were armed with weapons Obi-Wan had never seen before. They were
carved from bone and sharpened on each end. His attackers whirled them in a
circle so fast that the sharpened ends were just a deadly blur. There were
ten, eleven, twelve of them. He was vastly outnumbered.
Unused to battle, Astri stumbled backward, panic on her face at the
numbers of Sorrusians. She fumbled for her vibroblade.
Obi-Wan needed to move fast to cover Astri. He leaped and spun,
neatly cleaving his opponent's weapon in two.
"Stay behind me, Astri!" he called. She moved a few steps backward,
already slashing with her vibroblade at an attacker from her right.
Obi-Wan cleanly sliced another Sorrusian's weapon in two, and sprang
to protect Astri from three Sorrusians advancing from different directions.
Astri's vibroblade came down on the sharp blade of the Sorrusian
weapon, slicing it to a dull end. Lightsaber pulsing, Obi-Wan whirled and
dispatched two opponents with a sky-to-ground sweep followed by a quick
reversal. He dropped to one knee and sliced the weapon of the third.
The others had seen what the lightsaber could do and began to
retreat. Obi-Wan saw this with relief. He did not want to harm any members
of this tribe. Any chance he had of cooperation would be lost.
One of the robed members of the tribe raised a hand and emitted a
harsh, cawing sound. Simultaneously, the rest of the tribe dropped their
weapons.
"We do not bring trouble to your people," Obi-Wan said to the
Sorrusian who had raised his hand. "We come for help."
"We do not help strangers."
There was a gasp when Obi-Wan deactivated his lightsaber and it
disappeared with a buzzing sound.
The Sorrusian leader circled around Obi-Wan and Astri. He said
something in a dialect Obi-Wan didn't understand. His gestures indicated
that they had hoped to find something worth stealing and were disappointed.
Obi-Wan reached into his survival pack. "I have food capsules." He
held out a handful of capsules, and they were quickly snatched away. A
female handed them out to the children first.
Obi-Wan watched the tribe eat hungrily. There wasn't much to satisfy
them. He wished he had more food. Astri quickly distributed her rations as
well.
Obi-Wan took a few steps toward the leader, who had refused the
rations and watched the tribe eat.
"Why do you stay here if you are starving?" Obi-Wan asked. "Across
the mountains is a fertile valley."
The leader said nothing. Obi-Wan feared the stony Sorrusian silence
would not crack. But the leader must have felt he owed Obi-Wan a response
since they had given a gift of food.
"You think we remain here because we choose to do so?" He shook his
head. "Once there were fertile patches in the desert as well. We planted
and had plenty to eat. It was a hard life, but it suited us. Then ten years
ago a dam was built. The water was diverted from our lands. Harsh winters
have followed, one after another. What little land we were able to
cultivate has dried up."
"Then why do you remain?"
"We have tried to move to more fertile lands, but are constantly
driven back by other tribes. We are too weak to take land by force."
"The government of Sorrus will not help you? The planet has an
irrigation system - "
The leader gave a harsh laugh. "The government of Sorrus built the
dam. And worst of all, our tribe voted for it. We were told it would
benefit us. But to get irrigation systems, one must bribe officials."
The members of the tribe began to drift back toward the canyon wall.
"We have come looking for someone," Astri said to the leader.
He did not answer, but kept his glance on the sandy expanse.
"She uses the alias Reesa On," Obi-Wan said. "She is a bounty hunter.
She is about my companion's height and size, but with a shaved head. You
must know her. She comes from your tribe."
The leader did not answer this time.
"Please help us," Astri said quietly. "Lives of those we treasure
depend on it."
The leader simply walked away.
Astri looked after him, distress on her face. "Make him tell us, Obi-
Wan. We can't just give up. "
No, they couldn't give up. But what could they do?
A Sorrusian boy a little younger than Obi-Wan came forward. "I know
who you are looking for," he told them. "I know her real name and things
about her. I can tell you things."
Obi-Wan gave him a shrewd glance. "What do you want in return?"
The boy pointed to Obi-Wan's lightsaber. "This."
No Jedi was ever willingly separated from his lightsaber. Obi-Wan
reached out with the Force. He turned his attention to the boy's mind.
"You admire the lightsaber, but do not want to possess it," Obi-Wan
said. "You will tell us the information freely."
The boy looked puzzled. "No, I won't. I just told you that. It's a
trade, or nothing."
It never failed to amaze him. Just when he began to feel confident of
his Jedi abilities, he was reminded that he was only an apprentice. He
could not access the Force as surely as Qui-Gon. He could not affect the
boy.
"Come on. What do you say?" The boy's avid eyes rested on Obi-Wan's
lightsaber, tucked securely in his belt.
Stricken with doubt, Obi-Wan hesitated. He could not give up his
lightsaber. It was unthinkable. But was it the only way to save his Master?
He felt trapped between centuries of Jedi tradition and his own
anguish. The dilemma
squeezed the air from his lungs. He could not speak.
He could not choose.
And meanwhile, his Master could be dying.
CHAPTER 9
The next time she let him out of the tank, Qui-Gon was alarmed at the
extent of his relief. He had feared that she would change her mind.
Again, he fell to the floor of the lab. Again, he did not rise until
he was sure he would be able to stand.
Dressed once more in white, her pale hair drawn back, she surveyed
him with glittering eyes. "I am disappointed in you."
His small smile was an effort. "How tragic for me."
"You are not weakening as fast as the others. I don't know why."
"I am sorry to disappoint you. Should I try to die quicker?"
Nil sidled forward a few more steps, his hostile gaze on Qui-Gon. He
poked him with the barrel of a blaster. "Do not joke with Madame!"
"Are you going to help me this time so you can have your freedom a
little longer?" Zan Arbor asked sharply.
"If I'm to help you, I need strength. I must use my muscles," Qui-Gon
said. "If I could walk outside the lab..."
She shook her head. "Impossible."
"If you want me to use the Force, why do you weaken me?" Qui-Gon
asked. "When the body weakens, its ability to connect to the Force does as
well."
"I know that," Zan Arbor snapped. She prowled around the lab
restlessly. "I discovered that right away. But I need to analyze your
blood. I believe there is a way to harness the Force in it. But I can't
find it! If I can discover more properties of the Force and how it's used,
I can begin to break down exactly what it is."
Qui-Gon did not want to anger her, only distract her. He wanted her
to forget how long he was outside the chamber.
"What about your other research?" he asked. "Is investigating the
Force worth giving all that up? You saved beings throughout the galaxy. You
are renowned."
"I am tired of renown," Jenna Zan Arbor said, as sulky as a child.
"What did I get for it?"
"Respect," Qui-Gon answered. "And the knowledge that you have done
good for your fellow beings."
"I thought that mattered once," Zan Arbor said bitterly. "It does
not. I still had to fight in the Senate for research money. I still had to
convince half-brained leaders to run trials of my vaccines. I still had to
spend endless hours trying to fund my projects. I should have been working!
I am too valuable to have to waste my time."
"That is true," Qui-Gon said. "I did not realize your difficulty."
Jenna Zan Arbor was consumed with her own brilliance, he saw. Such beings
liked to talk about themselves. If he was careful not to annoy her, he
would be able to stay out of the chamber and learn more about her. His only
hope for escape lay in understanding his captor.
"No one does," Zan Arbor said, pacing back and forth. "When famine
struck Rend 5 and I bioengineered a new food to feed the entire planet, did
I get a reward? When the Tendor Virus struck the entire Caldoni system and
my vaccine cured millions, what did I receive in return? Not enough. I
learned my lesson."
"What did you learn?" Qui-Gon noticed that Nil was looking at Zan
Arbor worshipfully. His attention had drifted from guarding Qui-Gon.
"That I must not depend on the galaxy to recognize my greatness," Zan
Arbor said. "I must depend on myself to raise the funds I need. A famine
here, a disease there - what does it matter? They will get sick, they will
go hungry for a time. Then they will pay for a cure." "I don't understand,"
Qui-Gon said.
Zan Arbor did not answer him directly. "There is morality in the
galaxy, but I have not seen it," she mused. "I have seen greed and violence
and laziness. If you look at it that way, I do them a favor. I thin out
populations and the strong survive."
Qui-Gon saw behind the veil of her words to a truth that shocked him.
He struggled to conceal his disgust. His voice was calm and even when he
asked the next question. "So you introduce a virus into a population so
that you can then cure it?"
But Zan Arbor must have picked up something in his tone. "I forgot
for a moment about the Jedi morality. You think this is wrong."
"I am trying to understand your reasoning," Qui-Gon said. "You are a
brilliant scientist. It's hard to follow the turns of your thoughts."
The answer seemed to please her. "Of course I approached the problem
scientifically. I used models. I calculated how many deaths it would take
before a population panicked. Then I introduced the virus in a certain
amount and waited for it to replicate. When a certain amount of people were
killed, the leader would contact me. Then I would pretend to work on the
antidote I already had prepared. When they were desperate and ready to open
their treasuries to me, I dispensed it. So you see there were no
unnecessary deaths."
Zan Arbor's eyes were shining with the pride of accomplishment. Qui-
Gon saw that everything she said made absolute sense to her. He realized
that she was crazy.
Did that make his situation easier, or more complicated?
"You are greatness!" Nil burst out.
Zan Arbor did not seem to register his praise. "I had to do this, you
see," she said to Qui-Gon. "The mystery at the heart of the Force is my
greatest research problem. I had to fund that research. If I get to the
heart of the Force, I get to the heart of power. I get to the heart of
existence itself."
"And when you do that, what next?" Qui-Gon asked.
"I will have all the power I need at last," she said. "Then friends I
have left behind will understand that if sacrifices were made... I... made
them for a good reason."
Qui-Gon noticed the slight hesitancy. "Do you mean Uta S'orn?"
"She is my friend. She has stood by me. Supported my work in the
Senate. I was grateful, of course." Jenna Zan Arbor looked uncertain for
the first time. "But one cannot let gratitude interfere with science."
"So when you discovered that her son was Force-sensitive, you saw a
way to further your research," Qui-Gon guessed.
"He said yes right away!" Jenna Zan Arbor cried. "He would do
anything for money. He did not realize the commitment he had to make. He
was a scientific subject. Surely he should have known there were risks
involved..."
"But he did not expect to die," Qui-Gon said.
"I did not expect it either," she said quickly. "But what kind of
life did he lose? A life of despair. Uta grieved for her son every minute
of her life while he was alive. It is no different now."
"So you believe she will understand," Qui-Gon said.
Behind Zan Arbor's coolness, he sensed unrest. "She must. It is
logical."
"It will be an interesting conversation, I'm sure," Qui-Gon said
neutrally.
"It is time for you to use the Force," she said suddenly, as if she
regretted her words. "And this time, I want to see something more than your
moving an object a few inches."
Qui-Gon summoned the Force. He closed his eyes and felt it around
him, felt it
connect him to the living beings here and the world outside -
wherever he was. He gathered it inside his body to help it heal...
And he felt an answering call.
Someone else was here. Obi-Wan? Qui-Gon concentrated, drawing the
Force around him.
No, not Obi-Wan. Someone else. She was holding someone else here,
someone who was Force-sensitive. And whoever it was, he or she was very
weak.