by Jude Watson
was not in the lab. Nil pushed him forward roughly. This time, Qui-Gon did
not fall. He had gained back some of the strength he had lost. The Force
was helping him now, slowly, by degrees. He was learning now to use his
captivity to reach out to the Force and let it trickle rather than flow.
Knowing that at least one other being was held here had helped him.
It had given him a purpose larger than himself.
"Where is she?" he asked Nil, trying to sound casual.
"None of your business," Nil growled. "Maybe she doesn't want to talk
to you anymore."
Qui-Gon gave him a considering glance. "Maybe it's you who doesn't
want me to talk to her."
"You mock her," Nil burst out. "You are not her friend. You don't
realize her greatness."
"Well, you work with her, Nil. No doubt you see things that I do not.
You are the one who is valuable to her," Qui-Gon said.
"That's right!" Nil thumped his chest. "I am the one who protects
Jenna! Don't forget that. If you try anything, I will shoot you down. I
will not be the one to miss like Ona Nobis!"
Ona Nobis. That must be the bounty hunter.
"Yet if she only has you to talk to, she might get bored," Qui-Gon
added.
"She was not bored before you came!" Nil snarled. "I was enough for
her."
So Nil was the only guard.
Qui-Gon drew the Force around him. A sensor light began to glow on
the console as his vital signs slowed, but Nil did not notice.
"She doesn't need Ona. She doesn't need you. She has me," Nil
muttered. "All this talk distracts her."
Qui-Gon intensified his effort. He knew that when the Force was
strong, the sensor would make a shrill sound. He needed a split second of
distraction, no more.
The piercing sound of the sensor split the silence. Nil turned,
startled.
In that moment, Qui-Gon moved, quicker than the eye could see. He had
gathered his strength for just this moment. He twisted Nil's arm behind his
back and disarmed him of one blaster before Nil could blink. He tried to
remove the other blaster from Nil's belt as Nil twisted. Nil put his hand
over Qui-Gon's, squeezing, and the blaster went off. The pulse of blaster
fire pinged past Nil's ear. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he
fainted.
Qui-Gon dragged Nil to the door. He remembered the tones of the
security code and plugged it in. Then he pressed Nil's thumb against the
register. The door opened. He dragged Nil back, but as he did a red light
suddenly shone on the console and the door began to close. There must have
been an extra security precaution he didn't know about.
Qui-Gon threw Nil down and lurched forward. He got his arm inside the
door before it closed.
Pain ripped through him, but he did not extract his arm. He
maneuvered his body so that his other arm was free. He reached over to the
lab table. A long, steel instrument lay on the table, just out of his
reach. Concentrating the Force, Qui-Gon caused it to fly into his hand.
Using all his strength, he pushed the door farther open. It opened,
centimeter by agonizing centimeter. When the opening was big enough for him
to squeeze through, he wedged the steel instrument against the door to hold
it. Then he eased through.
He raced down the hallway, every sense alert. He did not want to run
into Zan Arbor. Three doors led off the hallway. One to the left, one to
the right. One straight ahead. Qui-Gon paused.
He listened with the Force. He sent out as much of his energy as he
could. The effort was exhausting.
He felt an answering burst.
Qui-Gon turned right. He accessed the door and found himself in
another hallway. Qui-Gon took the first door to his right. To his
disappointment, he saw he had merely accessed a storage area. Shelves ran
from floor to ceiling and were filled with durasteel containers and medical
bins. He glanced at the labels. There were enough antitoxins and medicines
here to cure whole worlds...
There was a disturbance in the Force. Qui-Gon began to turn, but he
felt a pain in his back. His legs went numb. He fell.
"That's enough!" Jenna Zan Arbor barked.
Qui-Gon saw her approach along with Nil. Nil was carrying a harness.
He strapped it onto Qui-Gon, who was now paralyzed.
"Drag him back to the lab," Zan Arbor said. "Thank you, Qui-Gon, for
that magnificent demonstration of the Force. I will have some readings to
analyze now. Thank my stars I can always count on Nil to be outsmarted."
Nil leaned down. Fury twisted his face.
"We should kill him," he said to Jenna Zan Arbor.
"All in good time," she said coolly.
CHAPTER 12
In a galaxy full of notorious planets, Simpla-12 was one of the most
notorious of all. Once, it had been rich in minerals, but held little life
and no native beings. The planet had been mined and abandoned. Then
gradually it became a landing spot for trawlers and a haven for space
pirates. A small colony sprang up, and an economy of sorts developed, based
on gambling and the sale of black market goods. Violence was common.
There was only one colony on Simpla-12, called, in a burst of
optimism, Sim-First. No other colonies had followed. Instead Sim-First had
spread like mold over the planet's surface. The outpost was a sprawling,
snaking growth of buildings with a maze of narrow walkways made of metal
ties sunk into the dirt. Mud oozed from the cracks between the ties. Many
of the buildings had fallen into disrepair and had been patched with scrap
metal and odd bits of plastoid materials.
Simpla-12's sun was weak. The planet was known for its heavy cloud
cover, which made for a constant drizzling rain that dripped from a sky of
lead.
"You take me to the nicest places," Astri murmured as they slogged
through the mud.
"It's perfect for someone who wants to hide," Obi-Wan said. Was that
why his instinct told him to come here? Was Jenna Zan Arbor's secret lab on
Simpla-12? When he had contacted Tahl to tell her his destination, he could
tell by her tone that she thought he was on the wrong trail. She did not
try to stop him, however. She had sounded distracted, as though she was
concerned with more important leads. No doubt she was relieved that Obi-Wan
and Astri were pursuing what she felt would be a fruitless mission. It
would keep them safe and out of trouble.
Obi-Wan had to agree that he was following the slenderest of threads.
He tried to call Qui-Gon, reaching out to the Force. He felt nothing. He
touched the stone inside his tunic and felt its reassuring warmth. He could
not shake the feeling that every step he took brought him closer to his
Master.
It did not take them long to discover the names of Ren's associates
on Simpla-12. On a world such as this, information could be bought for a
few credits. Ren's associates-Cholly, Weez, and Tup-could be found at the
12 Tavern.
They were directed down an even narrower, dirtier lane. The metal
ties that formed the walkway were completely co
vered in mud and garbage.
Ahead a sign with the number 12 roughly painted in red swung in the
drizzling rain.
They were almost to the building when suddenly a body came flying out
of the tavern's front door. With a thump, the body landed face first in the
street, sending mud flying. A second body followed, landing with a squeal
and a curse.
The first body stirred. "Weez! That's my foot!" Astri started
forward. Obi-Wan put a hand on her arm. "I think we'd better wait."
A third body flew through the air, landing a short distance from the
other two.
"Don't be so touchy!" the third being yelled back at the tavern.
A huge Devaronian stepped out onto the front porch of the tavern.
Quickly, the three beings scampered backward on their hands and knees. Obi-
Wan could not tell their species, but they were all humanoid.
"And don't come back again!" the Devaronian boomed. He turned and
thumped back into the tavern. The door slammed shut behind him.
"That was your fault, Tup," the first being said. He was the tallest
of the three, with hair that straggled down his back.
"Was not," Tup said, wiping mud off his round face. "Gibbertz and
ham, who knew he had no sense of humor?"
The one called Weez wiped mud out of his eyes. "Most beings don't
like having their mothers called Kowakian monkey lizards."
"I thought his mother was a Kowakian monkey lizard," Tup said.
The first being, who Obi-Wan assumed was Cholly, stood and tried to
wipe the mud off his face with the end of his tunic. He only succeeded in
grinding more mud on. "What are we going to do now? We've been thrown out
of every tavern in Sim-First."
Obi-Wan walked forward. "Maybe a few credits would get you back
inside one of them."
Tup puffed out childish plump cheeks and blew out a short, explosive
breath. "Woosh. Great idea, stranger. Thanks for the tip. Only, guess what?
We don't have any credits."
"Maybe there's a way you can earn some," Astri said.
"You have work?" Weez asked. He stood next to Cholly. He was a few
inches shorter. "Sorry. We have a back injury."
"I can see why, if you keep getting thrown out of places," Astri
said.
"The galaxy," Cholly said sadly, "conspires against us."
Tup struggled to his feet. "We are merely victims of its violent
tendencies."
"Innocents must suffer," Weez sighed. "Such is fate."
The three stood next to one another. Covered in mud, they were like
three descending steps. This ridiculous trio was his best lead to Qui-Gon?
Patience, young Padawan. Suspend your judgment, and every being has
something to teach you.
Obi-Wan sighed. "We're not offering you a job. We want information
and we're willing to pay for it."
Cholly attempted to look shrewd. "What kind of information? We don't
squeal on friends."
"Unless they get on our nerves," Weez said quickly.
"This friend is dead," Obi-Wan said.
"In that case, let's see the credits," Cholly said, as Weez and Tup
looked more cheerful. Astri held out a few credits.
"That's all?" Tup asked in dismay.
"We haven't heard anything worth paying for yet," Obi-Wan pointed
out.
"What do you want to know?" Cholly asked. He reached out for the
credits, but Astri closed her fist before Cholly could grab the currency.
"It's about Ren S'orn," Obi-Wan said. "Can you tell us about his last
days?"
At the name, the three friends traded sad glances.
"Ren." Tup took a deep breath, then let out a long, drawn-out sigh.
"Poor Ren. He told us about this offer he got. He was going to get paid a
lot of credits. We're always talking about the big score. Something to get
us out of here. Ren said he found it."
"Did he say what it was?" Astri asked.
"He was going to be part of this big experiment," Weez said. "Some
scientist thought his brain was really special or something. Wanted to
study him. Ren said he'd do it for awhile, but she was going to end up
paying bigger than she thought."
"Obviously, Ren ended up paying bigger than he'd thought," Cholly
said. The three friends bowed their heads.
"Did he tell you where the lab was?" Obi-Wan asked.
The three of them shook their heads. "When he got back, he wouldn't
say."
"What was he like when he came back?" Astri asked.
"Different," Tup said.
"Weak," Weez said. "He shook all the time." "He was scared," Cholly
said flatly.
"And then he was killed," Tup said. "Woosh. It was sad."
Again, the three bowed their heads.
"Why was he scared?" Astri demanded. "Don't know. He wouldn't say."
"Maybe Tino would know," Weez said.
"Who's Tino?" Obi-Wan asked. Asking this trio questions was like
pulling the fur off a Wookiee one hair at a time.
"Ren's roommate. He took him in when he got back from that
experiment," Cholly said.
"Ren said he needed to hide out for awhile," Weez added. "Tino used
to hang around with us, but he got a job. Works over in that big warehouse
near the landing platform."
"Can we have the credits now?" Cholly asked. He held out a hand.
Astri counted out a few credits.
"Hey, that's not very much," Weez complained.
"You didn't give us very much," Obi-Wan said. He had a feeling the
three knew more. He was anxious to talk to Tino.
Obi-Wan and Astri left the three squabbling about how to divide up
the credits and hurried back the way they'd come. Obi-Wan had noticed the
big warehouse by the landing platform.
"Maybe Tino will have more answers than that bunch," he told Astri.
"Let's hope so," she agreed.
By the time they reached the warehouse they were almost as muddy as
Cholly, Weez, and Tup. Huge loading doors stood open and inside they could
see a multilayered structure of catwalks, ladders, ramps, and chutes.
Small, compact tech droids rolled through the aisles, pushing graysleds
filled with durasteel crates and boxes. Obi-Wan scanned the area until he
glimpsed the person in charge, a woman of middle years in a gray unisuit
with a headset, who was barking orders at the droids.
Obi-Wan approached her.
"We're looking for Tino," Obi-Wan said.
She didn't take her eyes off the droids. "He's unloading in Sector
Two. Through that door there. Tell him to get a move on and get back here,"
she said. "I need those droids!"
Obi-Wan and Astri followed the woman's directions and hurried through
the door into the Sector One portion of the huge warehouse.
There was no one on the ground floor, but one level up they saw a
sandy-haired young man in a unisuit. Droids on the next level were pushing
crates onto a chute. The crates slid down and the young man hefted them and
loaded them one at a time onto a gravsled.
Obi-Wan glanced around for the ladder that would take them up one
level. He paused as he felt a sudden disturbance in the Force.
Quickly, he scanned the warehouse. The droids moved in orderly rows,
the crates rolled down. Th
ere was no movement on the catwalks above...
Then he saw her one level above Tino. At first she was just a shadow.