The woman stopped speaking and cocked her head. Outside in the hall
Qui-Gon heard boot steps. Obi-Wan.
Qui-Gon excused himself and stepped into the hall. His brief
conversation with the retiree had awakened new questions in his mind. There
were many things he wanted to ask the woman, but they would have to wait.
At the moment he needed to talk to his Padawan.
CHAPTER 12
"The shuttles are set to blow tonight when everyone is sleeping.
Grath assured me that no one will be in the shuttle bay." Obi-Wan tried to
sound confident as he reported the Freelie prank to his Master. He wanted
to mask the unease that he felt. Already he thought that infiltrating the
Freelies was taking too long. He wished he'd been able to keep the kids
from planting the explosives, but he hadn't seen a way to do it. It was too
soon to reveal himself.
Qui-Gon was silent.
"They don't want to hurt anyone," Obi-Wan added.
"Someone will be hurt just the same," Qui-Gon said when he finally
spoke. "People were almost hurt today."
Obi-Wan knew that his Master was right. The Freelies were going too
far and there was more at stake than they realized. All they wanted was to
show their parents that they were alive, that they needed more from them
than work training. But they were going about it the wrong way.
Now Obi-Wan wondered if his plan to stop them was all wrong, too.
Looking at Qui-Gon's face, he could not help but get the feeling that his
Master doubted him.
"I fear the pranks have risen to a new level. The children are in
over their heads. Today Chairman Port contacted the leader of Vorzyd 5. She
was outraged at his accusations and is prepared to take action if they
continue. There was also an attack on the central control computer. If I
hadn't been there to help, it could have resulted in a power outage for the
entire city. And many lost lives."
Qui-Gon spoke evenly, but Obi-Wan felt reprimanded all the same. Even
though he shared his Master's doubts, he found himself railing against
them.
"I have two more days," Obi-Wan said with new resolve. "I can do
this." Why couldn't Qui-Gon trust him to follow through? Obi-Wan suddenly
felt desperate to be allowed to continue his plan. It seemed more important
than anything else.
"It's not that I don't trust you," Qui-Gon said, locking eyes with
his Padawan.
It never failed to startle Obi-Wan the way Qui-Gon sensed what he was
thinking.
"The situation is complicated, and impossible for any single person
to control. We must proceed carefully," Qui-Gon finished.
Obi-Wan nodded. He was prepared to defend his plan further, but Qui-
Gon had not cut him off as he'd suspected he would. He was being given the
freedom to carry on.
Why? Obi-Wan wondered later, lying on his sleep couch. Why was Qui-
Gon letting him continue when he obviously had no faith in Obi-Wan's plan?
For a moment Obi-Wan thought his Master was giving him room to fail, to
teach him a lesson. But that could not be. A Jedi would never risk the
lives of other beings simply to prove a point. Qui-Gon hadn't given Obi-Wan
the chance to fail, he had given him the chance to succeed.
Lying in the dark, Obi-Wan felt torn. He wasn't at all sure that what
he was doing was right. Yet he had no choice but to move forward.
My plan will work, Obi-Wan told himself. It had to.
The lock on the door clicked and whirred. Obi-Wan was on his feet
before he realized he was awake. The door opened to reveal a very rattled
Chairman Port.
"The shuttles," the chairman gasped. "Vorzyd 5 is blowing up the
shuttles. The morning laborers..." Port's antennae twitched rapidly and the
Vorzydiak leaned against the portal for support. He appeared to be in
shock. "Wounded," he said in a hollow voice. "Some may not live."
"The shuttles are exploding with passengers on them?" Obi-Wan asked,
disbelieving. "When? Where?"
"Everywhere," the chairman whispered. "Now."
"Contact the shuttle bay. Tell them to evacuate. Tell them to stop
all shuttles," Qui-Gon commanded.
Chairman Port pulled himself together enough to hurry toward the
communication station near the entrance of the building.
Without a word to Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan ran toward the exit. He could hear
his Master's footsteps behind him. They needed to keep as many Vorzydiaks
as possible from boarding the shuttles.
Outside, a half-full shuttle was just pulling in to pick up the
nearly twenty laborers ready to go to work.
"Stop!" Obi-Wan shouted, waving his arms to try to keep the crowd
from boarding. But the appearance of the strangely dressed Jedi had the
opposite effect, and the group attempted to squeeze onto the shuttle in a
panic.
Thinking quickly, Qui-Gon stepped in front of the shuttle to keep it
from moving. Obi-Wan understood and dove underneath. With the simple
removal of two wires, the explosive was rendered harmless. But this was
just one shuttle.
Suddenly Chairman Port's voice echoed over the shuttle system's
speakers.
"Evacuate the shuttles at once. Please exit and move away from the
shuttles. All shuttle systems will be shut down until further notice."
Confused Vorzydiaks did as they were told. But some of them started
in with their droning, and a few others rocked from side to side.
Eventually most of them began to walk the long distance to work.
"We cannot allow this to be blamed on Vorzyd 5," Qui-Gon said quietly
behind Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan nodded. Just as Qui-Gon had predicted, the Freelie plan had
gone horribly wrong - and so had Obi-Wan's.
"I will find out how extensive the damage is and ask the chairman to
have every shuttle in the city inspected," Qui-Gon continued. "You should
contact the Freelies. You must convince them to come forward before I am
forced to do it for them. We haven't much time."
Obi-Wan nodded again. He had not expected Qui-Gon to let him continue
with his infiltration - not after this. He knew his Master had every right
to go directly to the chairman and tell him everything. But, he realized,
there was reason not to as well. It would be better for all Vorzydiaks if
the Freelies came forward in peace. Forcing the kids and adults into a
hostile meeting could actually make the situation worse. Qui-Gon had
obviously considered this.
Obi-Wan sighed. Whatever the reason, Qui-Gon was giving Obi-Wan one
last chance to do it his way. And he was grateful.
But as he watched his Master walk away, Obi-Wan was suddenly overcome
by a strange feeling. He had the sense that someone was watching his every
move.
Turning quickly, Obi-Wan looked up. High above him, in a window of
the retiree complex, Obi-Wan thought he saw a face staring down at him.
Then it disappeared.
CHAPTER 13
Obi-Wan scanned the window for another moment to see if he could
catch a glimpse of the person inside. He couldn't. Still thinking about the
conversation he'd just had with hi
s Master, he walked toward the Ports'
dwelling. It was time to wait for Grath.
It wasn't long before Grath appeared. When the boy had walked some
distance ahead, Obi-Wan called out to him and ran to catch up. Even before
he got a good look at Grath's face, Obi-Wan could tell that he was upset.
"I don't know how everything went wrong," Grath said shakily. He
looked exhausted and his eyes were ringed in red. There was no sign of the
charismatic, playful boy Obi-Wan had met the day before.
"There must have been a failure in the remote triggering device. It
went off during..." Grath's voice trailed away.
"I know," Obi-Wan said, putting a hand on Grath's shoulder.
Grath swallowed. "I've called an emergency meeting. I just hope
nobody notices that so many of us are not in work training, or at work."
Obi-Wan tried to look more optimistic than he felt. It wouldn't do
any good to have Grath more worried than he already was. "Let's go," he
prompted.
The meeting was held in the refuse facility. Grath managed to pull
himself together, and once again looked like a leader as he stepped up on a
pile of rubble to call the meeting to order.
"We have a problem," he began. "The explosives did not go off last
night as planned. Instead they exploded during the morning commute."
There was a concerned murmur among the students, but an excited voice
rose above the rest. It was Flip.
"And the city is in chaos!" he exclaimed. "We knew we could make a
bigger bang if we just put our minds to it and waited until people were
paying attention. Now our parents will really have to take notice!"
The group was silent as everyone stared at Flip.
"You did this?" Grath asked the boy. "You tampered with the remote?"
Flip nodded proudly. "Yes!" He looked up at Grath expectantly. It
seemed to Obi-Wan that the younger boy was waiting for Grath to shower him
with praise. But the Jedi was certain that no praise was coming.
Grath's mouth hung open for a moment before he snapped it closed. His
antennae hung low over his forehead and his mouth contorted into a scowl of
fury. But his eyes revealed another emotion: guilt.
Obi-Wan was not sure which of Grath's emotions was going to win out.
Then Freelies all over the room began talking.
"What are we going to do now?"
"I hope my parents are okay."
"It's about time somebody took some real action."
Obi-Wan turned to see who had made this last remark. But the facility
was crowded and it was impossible to tell.
Grath cleared his throat and calmed everyone down - at least for the
moment.
"Many people were hurt this morning," he said gravely, "and some may
not live. Our mission is to wake people up, make them see what is
happening. It is not to kill them." Grath looked directly at Flip. "You
should not have altered the plan," he said flatly. "It was wrong."
There was a brief moment of silence. Everyone looked at Flip. The boy
looked confused, then angry. He glared up at Grath. "It was necessary," he
said. "And it was the right thing to do. Now they're really paying
attention."
The group erupted. Obi-Wan could see a split beginning to develop.
Some of the kids felt that Grath was right. Acting peacefully was the only
way. Others had had it with the peaceful tactics. They felt violence was a
necessary part of revolution.
"The adults will never pay attention to us if we continue to act
peacefully," Flip shouted. "What we've been doing so far is not working.
Our pranks need to become tactics."
"We don't want to start a war!" someone shouted back. "We're talking
about our parents."
"We're talking about adults who ignore us!" yelled another.
Soon everyone was shouting so loudly that Obi-Wan couldn't understand
much of what was being said. He could only tell that everyone felt
strongly, and that the group was divided. Then a voice rang out over the
rest. It was Flip's.
"Only cowards are afraid to stand up and fight for what they need!"
he shouted.
This set the Freelies off again. The camaraderie that Obi-Wan had
admired in the group completely disappeared. Kids who had worked together
peacefully began to shout in one an-other's faces. Antennae jabbed wildly
in aggressive movements. The room was in chaos.
Finally Nania jumped onto a tall pile of rubble. "Stop!" she
screamed. The group quieted instantly and turned to look at her. Some of
the kids looked annoyed by the interruption, but nobody said anything.
"This fighting is useless," Nania said. "We need to work together or
we will accomplish nothing. Let's report to our work training spaces before
we are missed. Then tonight we can meet as planned."
Some of the Freelies grumbled aloud, but the group slowly made its
way out of the facility. There was little discussion, and Obi-Wan could
feel the tension in the air.
He could also feel the knot in his stomach. The division in the group
was not a good sign. lithe Freelies wanted to be taken seriously, they
would have to come forward peacefully and talk to the adults as a cohesive
group. It looked like the chances of that were getting slimmer by the
minute.
Obi-Wan decided to find Grath and see what he was thinking. He
circled a pile of rubble near where he had last seen him, but instead
spotted Flip and a dark-haired girl he didn't recognize.
The two were clearly deep in conversation, and Obi-Wan tried to look
casual as he tuned in to what they were saying.
"It's not enough," the girl said. "Grath is on their side."
He saw Flip nod slowly, and the girl leaned in closer. She spoke
almost in a whisper.
"We have no choice but to take action on our own," she said. "And
soon."
Obi-Wan took a step closer to the two Freelies. He wanted to hear
every word. But his movement caught their attention, and they immediately
split up. It was obvious they didn't want to be overheard. But he couldn't
tell if they knew he'd been listening in.
Obi-Wan's mind reeled. He needed some time to clear his head. Exiting
the refuse facility, he watched groups of kids make their way toward the
work training space. He knew instinctively that work training was not a
good place for him to think things through. So he turned in the other
direction, heading toward the home-space.
Walking along, Obi-Wan now noticed the adult laborers who were still
making their way to work. Some walked in pairs, talking. Others ambled
along, gazing at the sky. None of them seemed desperate to get to work. And
there was no audible droning. It was almost as if being forced out of their
work environment gave them a new perspective.
Perhaps the adults are ready for change, Obi-Wan thought. He felt a
small surge of hope. If he and Qui-Gon could just bring the kids and adults
together, Vorzyd 4 might have a chance.
CHAPTER 14
"Vorzyd 5 must pay," Chairman Port said as he and Qui-Gon entered the
Multycorp offices. "We shall contact them immediately."
Qui-Gon exha
led slowly. Although he'd expected the chairman to react
in this way, he had not yet come up with a plan to stop the communication
from going through.
He again questioned the wisdom of his decision to let Obi-Wan
infiltrate the Freelies. He'd wanted to empower his Padawan. And he
believed that Vorzyd 4 would have the best chance at a peaceful resolution
if the kids came forward on their own. Unfortunately, that belief was of no
help to him at the moment.