Jedi Apprentice_ The Ties That Bind Part 3

"I'm afraid I can't tell you apart," Qui-Gon said.

"It's hard, but in time people can," Eritha replied.

"Some people," Alani amended. "Why are you here on New Apsolon? Is it a Jedi mission?"

"Not exactly. Let me present to you my Padawan, Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi."

"Any friend of yours is one of ours," Alani said. "We will never forget your kindness to us six years ago."

"How is Tahl?" Eritha asked eagerly. "We were hoping she was with you."

"Tahl is on New Apsolon, but I'm afraid I'm not in contact with her yet," Qui-Gon said. "Did you send for her?"

The twins exchanged surprised glances. "No," Alani said. "Why would we do that?"

"You do not feel in danger?" Qui-Gon asked. "Since your father's murder, you might feel that New Apsolon is not safe for you."

"We are safe here with Roan," Eritha said. "He was our father's best friend. He will protect us. We have everything we need here and don't need to go out if we don't wish to. We have private gardens in the back of the residence."

"I see that you are troubled, Qui-Gon," Alani said. "Of course Eritha and I are aware that there are those on New Apsolon who believe Roan had our father a.s.sa.s.sinated. We do not believe such a thing."

"Roan has been like a father to us," Eritha said. "After our father's death, we saw his grief.

It was real. He would not allow us to leave this residence. He said he would be our father now." "We are a family," Alani said firmly.

Qui-Gon nodded. He would not challenge the girls' beliefs. But he would not take them as truth, either. He had known the girls at the age of ten, bewildered by their world's conflicts and longing for their father as he spent long years imprisoned. They had been protected by Ewane's followers, who had proven their devotion to their leader by sheltering his daughters. Perhaps they still were unable to cope with the complexities of a world where sabotage and treachery were practiced. The cozy room and private compound told him that they were still sheltered.

"So you haven't heard that Tahl is on New Apsolon?" Qui-Gon asked.

The girls shook their heads.

"If she is, I wish she would come and see us," Alani added.

Qui-Gon nodded. A feeling of dread loomed inside him. If the girls had not called Tahl, who had? And where was she?

CHAPTER 6.

With no leads, Qui-Gon decided that until they thought of a plan of action, observation was their best strategy. They walked past the government buildings, noting the high security. Everyone seemed to be on alert.

Obi-Wan read the inscription on a windowless building nearby.

Unlike its graceful neighbors, this one was squat and long. "It's the former headquarters of the Absolutes," he said to Qui-Gon. "It's now a museum."

"Let's go in," Qui-Gon suggested. "It could be that the Absolutes still have power here. Groups such as that find it hard to disband. The more we learn about them the better off we are."

They paid a small fee to enter. They found themselves in a surprisingly tiny hall with a low ceiling. Carved into the stone archway above an entranceway to the rest of the building they read ABSOLUTE JUSTICE CALLS FOR ABSOLUTE LOYALTY.

A pet.i.te, wiry woman approached them, dressed in a navy tunic and trousers. Her jet-black hair was cropped short, and Obi-Wan noted that her right hand was twisted, the knuckles of the fingers large and knotted.

"Welcome. I am Irini, your tour guide. All the guides to the museum are former prisoners of the Absolutes. Let's begin the tour."

They followed her underneath the archway and down a long corridor, where she accessed a thick durasteel door. Immediately they found themselves in a cell block. They walked past the deserted security desk through the row of cells.

"Here is where prisoners were detained before undergoing 'recla.s.sification,' which was the Absolute term for torture," Irini explained. Her voice was calm and dispa.s.sionate. "Often prisoners were kept waiting without food or water for long periods, to break down their resistance. They were not allowed counsel or contact with their families.

If you are visitors to our world, you may have noticed the many memorials, especially in the Worker Sector. The white columns stand for those who gave their lives on the spot. The blue columns memorialize those who were taken by the Absolutes and arrested. There is a column on Teligi Road for me."

Irini stopped before the last cell. "I was held here for three days, then moved to the recla.s.sification area. I was a prisoner for a total of six months."

"Why were you arrested?" Obi-Wan asked. Since Irini was a tour guide, he a.s.sumed it would be all right to ask such a question.

"In addition to my job in the tech sector, I ran a Worker newspaper," Irini said. "We wrote about change through peaceful protest.

Our venture was not illegal, but the Absolutes accused us of advocating violence. The charges were false. They were afraid of our influence with the other Workers. Technically the Workers were allowed freedom of expression, but in actuality the Absolutes tried to control what we could say or do."

"Could you vote?" Obi-Wan asked curiously.

"Again, technically yes. But the Civilized Authority - which is what our United Legislature used to be called - placed the oldest voting systems in the Worker Sector. Often the systems broke down, or Workers could not register. Votes were not counted. Demands for recounts were refused. Soon we saw that to effect change, we had to take more dramatic means."

"Sabotage," Qui-Gon said.

She nodded. "Yes, that was the princ.i.p.al strategy. When I was released from this place, I joined this movement. We were high-tech workers sending goods out to the galaxy. If the goods were defective, profits would fall. The Civilized were worried about profits above all.

Eventually they saw that they had no choice but to negotiate with us. It was a long, hard struggle. Let me show you how hard. Come this way to the torture rooms."

Irini led them through room after room, each one designed for a different kind of detainment or torture. Some rooms were bleakly empty of equipment, yet the thick walls and doors spoke more eloquently than any device of what had been done there. One room held a single object, a coffin like device made of durasteel and plastoid materials. There was a narrow slit at the top.

"This is a sensory deprivation containment device," Irini said quietly. "All of them were destroyed except for this one, which we keep as a reminder of what went on here. Some were kept in the device so long that they went mad. Others were given paralyzing drugs and died inside it."

She led them into another chamber with screens along one wall.

Behind them a projector lens protruded from the back wall. "But this is what we feared the most. Here we were forced to watch the torture of others. Sometimes it was people we knew, friends, family. The Absolutes used probe droids largely to monitor the Workers. They kept the vital statistics of all of us on file for easy tracking. They could find anyone if they needed to." Irini stared at the blank screens. "They found out I was engaged to be married and found my fianc."

Obi-Wan drew in his breath. He could not imagine the kind of mind that would devise such a torture. This time, he did not feel he could ask Irini what had happened.

Irini glanced at him. "What they did not realize, the Absolutes, was that for the one being tortured it somehow helped to know others were watching. The Absolutes thought only of the pain they could inflict - the double pain of the victim and the watcher, you see. But the victims took courage from the idea that they would be brave for those who knew and loved them. They would withstand anything for love. Probe droids are illegal on New Apsolon now. No one wants to bring back those days again."

She looked back at the screens again. "There were many days in this place that I said goodbye to life. Yet I did manage to survive."

"It must be difficult for you to return," Qui-Gon said. "And yet here you are, giving tours to others."

"Remembering is most important," Irini said. In the dim light, she held up her twisted hand. "I considered myself lucky to leave with only one hand damaged. They broke my hand in order to prevent me from working in the tech sector again. But what they stupidly did not know was that I am left- handed. I was just as fast a worker when I got out. Maybe faster. I had no trouble getting another job." Her smile was unexpectedly brilliant, lighting up her tense, drawn face. "I had a cause to work for."

"Have all the Absolutes been arrested?" Qui-Gon asked.

Irini shook her head as she led them down a catwalk to a lower level, past another row of cells, these with low ceilings so that an adult could not stand upright. They had to duck their heads as she led them inside. Her tunic gaped slightly as she bent, and Obi-Wan saw a small slender chain with a silver emblem around her neck. The delicacy of the jewelry seemed at odds with her brusque manner and severe clothing.

"Not by any means. Many of the former Absolutes went underground.

Some were protected by powerful allies among the Civilized. Recently secret records of the Absolutes were found. The government sealed them.

That is one thing the Workers are still fighting. We want the records opened so that we can know who our enemies were."

"Why were they sealed?" Obi-Wan asked. Irini led them out of the tiny chamber and back to the catwalk. Obi-Wan took a relieved breath that he tried to hide. After only a few seconds in the dark, tiny s.p.a.ce, he had felt as though an oppressive weight was on him.

"Those in power say that to release the records would compromise the efforts underway to find the criminals. Also, there were mere bureaucrats in the Absolutes - secretaries, a.s.sistants, tech people who were not involved in torture or containment. What kind of punishment do they deserve, if any? The government is afraid that if they release the names of these people, there will be mob rule and a chance for violence out of revenge. They say each person on this list must be investigated before the name is released. There are some among the Workers who do not believe this. They believe it is merely another attempt to shield the criminals. Roan had promised to release the records after he was elected, but has not done so."

"Yet," Qui-Gon said.

"Yet," Irini said. "Or maybe never. He is a Civilized, after all."

She opened the door back into the main area of the building. A draft blew from the empty s.p.a.ce, blowing back Qui-Gon's robe. Irini stood, holding the door open, facing him. Her eyes flicked down to his utility belt.

Her dark eyes flared with surprise. "You are a Jedi."

"What makes you think so?" Qui-Gon asked.

"I know a lightsaber when I see one." Irini's gaze ticked over them. "I should have known you weren't just tourists. Why are you here?

Did Roan send for you? Are things so dangerous for him on New Apsolon that he feels he needs to call on the Jedi for protection?"

"I get the impression that you do not trust Roan," Qui-Gon said.

Irini's eyes went flat, and she stared at him coolly. "The Absolutes taught me one thing, stupid as they were," she said. "Trust no one."

CHAPTER 7.

As they exited the museum, Obi-Wan's mind was full of reflections on what he had seen. He could not imagine lrini's choice to continue to walk into that building and give tours, to return to a place where she had been tortured and abused. Then he remembered Bant. She had almost died in the waterfall pool at the Temple, yet it was still her favorite place to swim. She said it was better to remember than to forget.

But how much remembering was good to do? How did you know when to put memories aside?

He looked over at Qui-Gon, ready to ask the question, but Qui-Gon did not seem in the mood to philosophize. His face was set in grim lines as he walked purposefully down the avenue, even though they had no purpose in mind.

"Something is wrong," Qui-Gon said under his breath. "I can feel her. She is here. She is close. But something is wrong."

Qui-Gon's expression did not change, nor did his pace, but Obi-Wan felt a shift in his concentration.

"Do not turn around, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said. "When we come to the end of this avenue, go right. There appears to be an alleyway there. As soon as we turn, look for cover."

"Trouble?" Obi-Wan asked in the same calm tone.

"A probe droid."

"I thought they were illegal."

"Apparently they are still in use despite this. It could be merely surveillance. It might not be tracking us, but I think it is. Let's find out what it will do."

They reached the alley, and Obi-Wan quickly darted in, Qui-Gon at his heels. Immediately he saw that it was a service area for the buildings on that street. Gravsleds were outside some doors, and a skiff suitable for transporting goods sat in front of a utility entrance.

Without exchanging a word, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan darted behind the skiff. The probe droid zoomed into the alley and revolved, sensors blinking, searching for them.

Qui-Gon did not move. Obi-Wan knew his Master was waiting to see what would happen.

Was the probe droid programmed to keep searching? How determined was the surveillance?

The probe droid zoomed up the alley and back down, searching for movement. The Jedi were trained to keep perfectly still. They did not even blink. They could slow down their breathing and their life processes so that even the sensitive probe droid couldn't pick them up.

The probe droid didn't leave the alley. Slowly it revolved, moving up and down the street.

"It's not going away. Fine," Qui-Gon muttered. "Let's provoke it."

He stood suddenly and strode toward the middle of the alley. The probe droid had picked up the movement immediately and had already revolved and positioned itself to get Qui-Gon back in its sensor range.

With a gesture that seemed almost casual, Qui-Gon leaped into the air, activating his lightsaber, and cut through the droid in one smooth motion.

"Now let's see what - " he began, but was cut off by blaster fire from above.

The blaster fire was so close to his Master that Obi-Wan's heart gave a lurch. That did not prevent him, however, from activating his own lightsaber and slashing forward to protect him in the same moment. If Qui- Gon's reflexes had been a split second slower, he would have been cut down. As it was, the sleeve of his robe was seared by the blaster heat.

"Stay under cover!" Qui-Gon roared at Obi-Wan. Perhaps Obi-Wan had risked too much to race to his Master's side, but he didn't care. The fire came at them relentlessly from above as they zigzagged down the alley together, keeping their lightsabers arcing above. Trapped in the narrow s.p.a.ce, they were easy targets.

"We have to get on the roof above," Qui-Gon said. "Activate your cable launcher when you can."

Obi-Wan had to time his movement to the blasts from above. He needed all his perceptions to keep up his defensive moves. He managed to activate the cable launcher as he moved sideways toward the wall of the building. It propelled him upward as blaster fire pinged around his head.

Obi-Wan leaped up on the roof. He realized that the blaster fire had stopped only seconds before. His gaze whipped around the roof as Qui-Gon jumped up behind him.

"There," Qui-Gon said.

They ran to one edge of the roof, where they could see a small pile of objects. First they searched the area, looking down to see if their attacker had returned to the alley. Then they scanned the roofs nearby to see if he or she had jumped. There seemed to be no avenue of escape that would allow for the attacker to disappear so quickly.

They returned to the pile. Qui-Gon crouched down and picked up a small transmitter.

"For the probe droid. And here's an ammunition pack." He tossed it to Obi-Wan. "Looks like it was only one person. But he or she had two blasters, at least. That was a constant stream of fire."

Obi-Wan turned the pack over in his hands. It was made of leather.