The Threat Within

  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.