names. Obi-Wan accessed a city map, which pinpointed where each analyzer was located. One name, Mali Errat, had a lab close to Obi-Wan's location. He touched the screen, and a luminous green path showed him the route.
Obi-Wan hurried through the crowded streets. Jono would soon start to wonder why he was taking so long. The boy knew the streets of Galu well, and might search for him.
There was no answer to his knock at the address, and no sign outside. Obi-Wan pushed open the door cautiously and found himself in a tiny, cluttered room. One long durasteel table ran across the middle of it, touching the walls at both ends. The table was covered with equipment: tubes, vials, datapads, circuits, measuring devices, holofiles. Metal storage boxes crowded the floor, some stacked precariously, almost as high as the ceiling. Durasheets covered with data unfurled across the floor. Was this a lab, or a storage area for a lunatic?
'Hello?' Obi-Wan asked.
'Who's that?' A head popped up from behind a stack of storage boxes. It was a Galacian elder. Wisps of platinum hair covered his bald head, and his pale green eyes squinted at Obi-Wan. 'What is it? Come on, then,' he said impatiently, snapping his fingers. 'State your business.'
Obi-Wan walked closer and peered around the boxes. The man was sitting on the floor. Data printouts were littered around him and coiled in his lap. 'I'm looking for Mali Errat-'
'Speak up, boy, don't whisper!'
'Mali Errat,' Obi-Wan repeated, louder this time.
'Don't shout! I'm Mali. You look surprised to find me in my own lab, boy.
Well, what do you want?'
'I have something I need analyzed-' Obi-Wan started.
Mali interrupted him again. 'Another surprise. You're in a substance analysis lab. Therefore I would assume you have something to be analyzed. Obviously, I am brighter than I look.' The old man chortled.
Obi-Wan looked at the cluttered lab, the rolls of data printout that coiled on the floor like snakes. 'Maybe you're too busy-'
'Way too busy, it’s true,' Mali snapped. 'So don't waste my time. Show me your item.'
He didn't really have a choice. There was no time to find a more conventional scientist. Or a more polite one. Obi-Wan withdrew the pouch from his tunic. He handed it to Malt.
Mali took out the vial of tea and the little round sweet cakes. 'You want me to analyze your lunch?'
Obi-Wan held out his hand. 'I can go elsewhere.'
'Touchy young man,' Mali muttered. 'When do you need results?*'
'Right now,' Obi-Wan said.
'It will cost you,' Mali warned.
'I have credits,' Obi-Wan said, showing him.
Mali took several credits from his hand. 'That will do. Now.' He stood. He was a small man, but still agile, Obi-Wan noted as Mali leaped over a storage box and pulled a stool up to the durasteel table.
Whistling through his teeth, Mali first took some crumbs from the cakes and inserted them into a scan grid.
'Cake,” he pronounced after a moment, reading the data. 'Sweetener, rnuja, meal, coagulate…'
'Nothing else?' Obi-Wan asked.
Mali licked the residue off his fingers. 'It's delicious.' He popped the rest into his mouth.
Obi-Wan sighed. 'Try the liquid.'
Mali poured a drop from the vial into a scan grid. Seconds later, the grid flashed a graph with numbers and symbols.
'Ah,' Mali murmured, straightening. 'Fascinating.'
'What is it?' Obi-Wan asked, leaning forward.
'Tea,' Mali said.
'And?' Obi-Wan prompted.
'Water' Mali answered.
'And?' Obi-Wan asked.
Mali squinted at him. 'Young impatient man, you must tell me what I am looking for. There are herbal compounds here, some acids, some tannins. But nothing I can tell is out of the ordinary. Unless you tell me what out of the ordinary event you are suspecting.'
'Poison,' Obi-Wan said reluctantly.
'Well, there you are! Always better to say what you want at the outset.
Otherwise, we waste time. No poison in the cake. A good thing, eh? I ate it!'
Humming, Mali stared at the graph again. He pressed a few keys on the analyzer.
Another graph appeared, then a stream of numbers and symbols.
'Well?' Obi-Wan asked.
