"I am sorry," she said, looking nervously up at Qui-Gon's imposing figure. "You are not a laborer are you? I thought maybe you were a laborer coming to visit. The laborers seem to think life ends when the work is finished. They are too busy to visit. But I heard someone out here and I thought — "
"I would be happy to visit with you," Qui-Gon said gently. Even in his distracted state, his heart went out to this woman.
"Oh, would you? I do not get many visitors. And do not get me wrong — I do not blame them. It is the Vorzyd way."
Qui-Gon followed the woman into her small room and sat across from her on a chair. She did not ask him who he was, but continued to talk, simply enjoying the fact that there was someone there to listen.
"We live to work, you know. Nobody realizes that there is life beyond the work. Nobody knows. Sometimes I wish there was not. The life, I mean. I wish I could die like the others. But there is Tray. Tray still comes. She says things will change. That everything will be different. I want to believe her, but they are just children…"
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.