by Джуд Уотсон
Obi-Wan eyes the fruit. "Do you think when he said don't touch anything, he meant fruit?" he asked Si Treemba.
Si Treemba's triangular head bobbed nervously. "Hard to say."
"Probably not." Obi-Wan looked around, then quickly swiped a yellow fruit. He tossed it Si Treemba, then got one for himself.
"We really shouldn't," Si Treemba said, biting into the fruit.
"Mmmffff." Obi-Wan waved a hand dismissively, chewing.
The fruit was sweet and succulent, yet had a crisp tang. It was the most delicious fruit Obi-Wan had ever tasted. "We'd better find someplace private to eat these," he said.
Just then he and Si Treemba heard footsteps. They exchanged guilty glances, their mouths full. With a jerk of his head, Obi-Wan indicated that they fall back behind the trees.
A group of gardeners came into sight, carrying baskets. They headed for the orchard.
"Uh-oh." Obi-Wan whispered. "We'd better get out of here." He didn't want the mission to end with a disciplinary problem. He'd already had enough troubles on the journey here from Coruscant.
"Hey!" one of the gardeners yelled. "You there!"
Si Treemba began to choke and dropped the fruit. He tripped over it as he tried to run. Obi-Wan hauled him up and they dashed through the orchard, finally reaching a field. Obi-Wan yanked Si Treemba under cover of the tail grain.
"We'll have to cut through the field to get back to the main path," Obi-Wan panted.
They ran down the rows, trying to find a way out. The field was much larger than they'd thought. All they could see was green, and the artificial blue sky above.
Finally, they burst out of the last row, Obi-Wan felt his feet suddenly slide into something damp and marshy. They flew out from under him and went flying. Si Treemba followed. Clots of dirt splattered their faces and tunics. They finally landed and slid into a huge pile of dirt.
"What's that smell?" Si Treemba said, wiping a clot of dirt out of his eye. "It smells worse than a bantha on a hot day."
"I think we found the fertilizer," Obi-Wan groaned, pulling himself out of the muck. They surveyed their surroundings. Behind them was the field. Ahead was a blank wall.
Something about the wall bothered Obi-Wan. It was tall and seamless, and curved out of sight around the fertilizer pile.
He walked closer and placed his hands against the wall. The surface was cool, like metal. When he took his hands away, to surprise he saw, just for an instant, that his touch had caused transparency. It happened in the flicker of an eyelid, to quickly for him to see inside.
"What are you doing?" Si Treemba asked impatiently. He let out the Arconan hissing sound of anxiety. "Let's go. This smell will kill us."
Si Treemba hadn't seen the wall flicker. Perhaps the Force was at work. "One moment," Obi-Wan said. "I think this might be another way out."
He felt carefully along the wall, watching as his fingers left a shimmering transparency behind. He'd never seen a metal with this quality before. Finally, he found what he was looking for — a seam. He traced it with a finger. It was a door.
Keeping his hand flat on the door, Obi-Wan felt the energy from the living things around him, the grain and fruit, the people, the rich, organic island that was the dome.
Si Treemba gasped as the entire wall suddenly turned transparent. They saw that it was actually an annex that extended back to the dome wall. Inside, Obi-Wan could see bags of fertilizer and cargo boxes of various sizes.
"It's just a storage area,' Si Treemba said, disappointed.
It seemed innocent. So why had it been so well concealed? Obi-Wan pushed skillfully on the door. He heard a soft electronic beep, and it swung open.
Si Treemba hissed nervously again. His pale, luminous eyes flickered. "Are you sure we should go inside?"
"You stay here," Obi-Wan instructed. "Keep a lookout. I'll be right back."
He stepped inside the space. Immediately, the walls turned opaque again. It was like being inside a white cube. He bent over to examine the labels on the cargo boxes. The labels were black triangular shapes that showed a red planet with an orbiting holographic spaceship.
Obi-Wan recognized it instantly — Offworld. He leaned over to read markings on the side of the crate. He moved from box to box, reading the descriptive labels. Explosives. Turbo-drills. Detonators. Tunnel borers. Biotic grenades.
These were mining supplies. But they were on protected Agri-Corps land. Agri-Corps was strictly forbidden to concern itself with any profit-making enterprise. Was someone here secretly in league with Offworld?
"Obi-Wan, hurry up!" Si Treemba called. "We stink! We want to take a shower!"
Obi-Wan saw a small box in the corner that he had missed. This one had no label, only a metallic icon that served as a clasp. It was a broken circle.
He had seen enough for now. Obi-Wan slipped past the boxes to the door.
"What is it?" Si Treemba asked.
"Some kind of secret annex for Offworld," Obi-Wan said. "They're up to something."
Si Treemba's greenish skill paled to a dull gray. "Here? But they're forbidden."
"Since when does that stop them?" Obi-Wan said grimly. "Let's get back. I have to contact Qui-Gon."
"You mean you're not going to do anything?" Obi-Wan demanded. Qui-Gon wavered in front of him in miniature hologram form.
"There is nothing to do," Qui-Gon said. "Did you say the wall turned transparent with the Force?"
"I've never seen anything like it," Obi-Wan answered. "Have you?"
Qui-Gon ignored the question. "The information is interesting, nothing more. There's no real proof that Offworld is interfering with Agri-Corps research."
Obi-Wan wanted to howl in frustration. "They shouldn't be here at all! I should return to Bandor. Offworld is planning something… something big. We need to investigate this!"
"There is no need," Qui-Gon said crisply. "Your mission is to report back on the progress of Agri-Corps."
"What about the broken circle on the box?" Obi-Wan asked urgently.
"Obi-Wan, follow your orders," Qui-Gon sternly replied. "If you find proof of wrongdoing, contact me immediately. Do not take any action on your own."
"Qui-Gon — "
"Did you hear me, Obi-Wan?"
"Yes," Obi-Wan murmured reluctantly.
"Now, I must go. Keep me informed."
The hologram wavered, then disappeared. Obi-Wan stared at the empty air where Qui-Gon's image had hovered. Once again. Qui-Gon had shut him out.
Chapter 7
There was a time when the circle was not broken. There was a time when everything was as it seemed. When there were no secrets.
The broken circle. Had Obi-Wan mistaken it? Or was Xanatos involved in Agri-Corps?
He couldn't ell the boy. Obi-Wan would demand answers that Qui-Gon wasn't willing to give. It was better to keep the past in the past.
Besides, the boy must learn patience.
Qui-Gon headed for the Home Planet Mine. It was amazing how much work had been done since the explosion. The mine was scheduled to go back into operation in only a week. Offworld had followed through on its promise, and had given money and droids. They had already cleared away debris from the tunnels, and were working on shoring them up again.
Clat'Ha waved at him from across the yard. She was heading into the mine with her workers. She'd barely stopped to sleep or eat since the explosion.
Qui-Gon opened the door to the temporary office, a hastily erected metal shed. VeerTa sat at a monitor that recorded the details of the operation. When she spun around in her chair, he saw that her face was alight with excitement.
"There is good news," VeerTa said in a low tone that throbbed with excitement. "The explosion has done us a great service, Qui-Gon It blasted deeper into the ground than we've ever gone before. We've discovered a vein of ionite."
Qui-Gon was impressed. Ionite was one of the most valuable minerals in the galaxy.
"Do you know what this means? No one has ever found i
onite on Bandomeer. Traces, yes. But our main resources is azurite." VeerTa leaned forward, her gaze intense. "The Home Planet Mine will be the only source. The profits are potentially enormous. This can save the entire planet!"
"It is good news," Qui-Gon agreed cautiously. It was one thing to find a valuable mineral. It was another to control who mined it.
"You already see the problems ahead," VeerTa said shrewdly. Then we must keep this a secret. I haven't even told the members of the board. Only Clat'Ha knows. If Offworld discovers this, then they will easily drive us out of business and grab the vein for themselves. The explosion blew up all the azurite we've already mined. Technically, we're bankrupt."
"What's you plan?" Qui-Gon asked.
"Thanks to Offworld, we have money," VeerTa said. "True, they gave it to us in order to buy our trust by helping us rebuild. But we can use it to mine the ionite. We just need a few weeks to get everything operational. Then Offworld can't stop us."
VeerTa's face blazed with determination. Qui-Gon allowed himself to feel her enthusiasm. But at the same time, he wondered why VeerTa was letting him in on the secret. He waited, knowing there was more.
"Let me show you what we found," VeerTa said, rising.
He followed her into the mine. She gave him protective headgear and led him into the south lift tube. "The K region is safe," she assured him. "We've managed to shore up Core 6. We know through sensing devices that the new vein is below it. It's a level we haven't even dug to yet."
K-7. Core 6. Startled, Qui-Gon looked at the instrument panel on the elevator. As they descended, the indicator lights clicked on. Core 10. Core 9. Core 8. Core 7. .
The nightmare rose in Qui-Gon's mind with all its dark power. "Is there a Core 5?" he asked VeerTa.
She shook her head. "We don't have the technology to go that deep. It's too close to the planet core. Offworld has developed deeper core technology, but if we try to buy or leas it, we could tip them off. We hope to get enough ionite out of Core 6." The Core 6 light glowed, and the elevator stopped.
Qui-Gon exited the tube and started to turn left.
"No," VeerTa said. "The tunnel is completely blocked that way."
She hit a switch near the door, and lights set into the rock walls glowed. Qui-Gon could see now that the tunnel was narrow and low-ceilinged, with a hydraulic track that ran down the center. The tunnel curved to his left as was swallowed up by inky blackness. There was a pale, bluish cast to the light glistening off the blue-black rock, reflection the presence of azurite.
"Clat'Ha and I came to see the damage," VeerTa went on. "the lift tube in the north tunnel was damaged, but should be operational in a few days. We have to fix that first.
She turned right and led thee way down the tunnel. A pile of rocks lay in their path, and a hole had been blasted in the tunnel floor. "The blast must have reacted with some gases below this level," she explained. "Here, the blast moved upward." She bent down and picked up a rock. She scratched it with a fingernail. Qui-Gon caught the glint of a dull silver glow. "Clat'Ha noticed this. We took it back to study. She had a hunch, and she was right. Ionite. We dropped sensors and saw how much we had."
"You're going to have to be careful," Qui-Gon said. "If Xanatos finds out — "
VeerTa nodded. "That's why we need you. We'd like you to join the board of directors of Home Planet. With you on the board, Offworld wouldn't dare try to undermine us. They'd have to go up against a Jedi."
Qui-Gon was already shaking his head. "Jedi are forbidden to take part in any profit-making enterprise," he said. "We can't profit from our protection. It's an unbreakable rule."
"But think of the riches you'd be entitled to!" VeerTa said urgently. "You wouldn't have to keep them for yourself. You could donate them."
"I'm sorry VeerTa," Qui-Gon said firmly. "I'll help in any way I can. But this I cannot do."
VeerTa looked disappointed. Obviously, she didn't understand the role of a Jedi. "I'll have to be satisfied with that, then" she said. Her eyes glittered as her gaze roamed the mine shaft. "It's all here. Our future. I only pray we will succeed."
"I will do everything in my power to ensure it," Qui-Gon promised. Something told him the task would not be easy.
Chapter 8
Obi-Wan told Si Treemba about his conversation with Qui-Gon. The Arconan nodded, as if he'd expected it.
"Clat'Ha would say the same," he said. "We need more proof."
"Just what I was thinking," Obi-Wan declared.
Si Treemba hummed with nerves. "The last time you had that look in your eye, we ended up in a Hutt prison."
"Relax," Obi-Wan said. "We're only going to stake out the annex tonight. We'll go for a little stroll in the dome, then wind up there. What can go wrong?"
"Any number of thing," Si Treemba moaned.
Obi-Wan and Si Treemba stretched out flat between two rows at the edge of the field. They pulled a green tarp over their heads for warmth and camouflage.
"You might as well go to sleep," Obi-Wan said. "I'll take the first shift."
"If you're sure," Si Treemba mumbled. He closed his eyes. A moment later, he began making the snuffling sound Arconans make when they sleep.
Obi-Wan felt charged with excitement about the stakeout. After only an hour, however, his eyelids began to droop as well. He couldn't fall asleep! Maybe he could take a quick exploratory tour. That would wake him up.
He slithered out of the field and stood. Brushing himself off, he headed for the boor to the annex. He wanted another look at that sealed box with the broken circle on it. Something told him that Qui-Gon had recognized the mark. Maybe there was a way to ease it open without anyone knowing he'd tampered with it.
Once again, he used the Force to open the door. Everything was exactly where he had left it. He crossed to the box.
Just as he reached it, he heard a noise behind him. He whirled around and saw a hooded figure approaching. At first he thought it was Si Treemba, wrapped in the tarp. The he realized it was a stranger in a shiny black cape.
"Who are you?" he asked. He felt the uneasy ripple of something dark in the Force.
"A friend," the hooded figure said. "Someone who was once just like you." He threw off the hood. His blue gaze was warm and friendly. "I used to be his apprentice, too."
"Qui-Gon's?" Obi-Wan asked suspiciously. "I'm not really his Padawan. And everyone says his Padawan died."
"Is that what they say?" the man asked. "Yet here I am. What else do they say?"
"That Qui-Gon's Padawan disgraced the Jedi," Obi-Wan said. "And betrayed Qui-Gon."
The man's eyes burned blue fire. "Is that Qui-Gon's story?" Then the hard lines of his face relaxed. "I was his Padawan. So I know what you go through every day, Obi-Wan Kenobi. I know what you wait for. His approval. His trust. But he keeps both from you. He keeps a skin of Ice around himself. The more you try to please him, the farther away he goes."
Obi-Wan said nothing. The words seemed to have come from his own heart. At his worst moments, it was exactly what he thought.
Xanatos looked compassionately at the boy. "Yoda praises him. The Galactic Senate depends on him. Everyone vies to be his apprentice. But he is the worst kind of Master. He denies you his trust. Yet he demands everything of you."
Obi-wan heard the words as if he were in a trance. How true it is, he thought. Deep anger stirred, anger that lay dormant inside him. He feared his anger more than any enemy.
"I am Xanatos," the man said. "Did he ever mention me to you?"
Obi-Wan shook his head.
Xanatos gave a sad, rueful smile. "No," he said softly. "He would not. It's up to me to tell you what he did to me. How he built me up, kept me by his side, always with the promise that I would advance. Yet, in the end, he broke every promise. It will happen to you, too, Obi-Wan."
Could it be true? Could Qui-Gon's coolness hide the seeds of betrayal? Obi-Wan had felt the chill of Qui-Gon's reserve, but he always assumed it was because Qui-Gon hadn't accepted him. Did Q
ui-Gon's secrecy hide evil, or good?"
"Why are you telling me this?" Obi-Wan asked warily.
"To warn you," Xanatos sad. "That's why I came. You — " He stopped suddenly. He held up a hand. "Someone is coming," he whispered.
Suddenly, five security officers burst in. Obi-Wan saw the red planet patch on their uniforms. Offworld! What was their security force doing in the dome?