crowd. The credits and vertex rained down, and people scrambled to pick them up. Around them the screens flashed images of the devastated Sacred Pools.
'They've lied to us!' he shouted. 'Look at the screens! This is what your money has bought! Look around you? look at each other. Are you in debt? Do you only think about money? Good? because that's what they want! And while we scheme and dream, our world is being destroyed. Look at the logo on those crates of explosives, on that ship. UniFy is Offworld! Our planet has been sold to the biggest mining corporation in the galaxy while we bet on a game. And who runs Offworld? The mighty Xanatos!'
For a moment, the collective silence of the crowd seemed to suck all the air out of the dome. Then the silence broke into a great roar, as mighty as the sea.
The security police holding Obi-Wan were just as transfixed as the crowd. The crowd rose as one body, leaping to its feet and screaming for Xanatos. The screen still flashed image after image of the ravaged park.
'Arrest him!' they shouted. 'Arrest Xanatos!'
Xanatos stepped forward once again. He waited out the shouts and jeers. Slowly, people in the crowd began to hush one another. Everyone expected Xanatos to calm them again. To tell them that what Den was saying was a lie.
Xanatos surveyed the crowd for a long moment, waiting out every murmur until the dome was silent once more.
Then, he smiled and shook his head like a teacher admonishing a class of students. 'You pathetic fools.'
Moving astonishingly fast, his cloak streaming behind him, he leaped onto the winner's swoop. He rose into the air, pushing the swoop to maximum speed. Weaving to avoid the floating boxes, he expertly maneuvered the craft out of the dome toward the exit.
'Not this time, Xanatos,' Qui-Gon said grimly.
It was easy to break the holds of the distracted guards. Obi-Wan struck out with his elbow and knee, freeing himself. Afraid to fire their blasters in the midst of the weaving, angered
Qui-Gon had hidden their swoops behind a stack of benches. They leaped on them and took off in the direction Xanatos had gone.
Chapter 16
By the time they roared out of the dome, the boulevard seemed completely empty. Qui-Gon closed his eyes for a moment and focused. When he opened them again, he caught the flicker of movement down the street to his right. Perhaps it was just a shadow. But the Force told him it was Xanatos.
Qui-Gon pushed his engines as high as they would go. He could hear Obi-Wan directly behind him. The boy would keep up. He knew that.
Determination tightened every muscle. He would not lose Xanatos now. No doubt he was heading somewhere he would be safe, or perhaps toward transport off-planet. Xanatos always had an escape route.
But they had taken him by surprise. Perhaps there were details left to arrange. Xanatos could not have prepared for this.
To Qui-Gon's surprise, Xanatos headed out of the city and took off over open country.
'I think he's heading to the Sacred Pools,' Obi-Wan shouted. 'This is the way we went.'
'We'll have to stay behind him,' Qui-Gon answered. 'He knows we're following him. If we can't catch him, we can keep him in sight.'
The swoop engines could only be pushed so far. Xanatos had a faster craft, since the ones used for the games had modified engines. The Jedi could barely manage to keep him in sight, and there were stretches where they lost him completely.
Over the course of the ride, Obi-Wan never lost his focus. He settled in over the handlebars, his eyes trained on the speck in the distance that was Xanatos. Qui-Gon's face was set in determined lines.
At last they reached the road to the park. They roared down it, heading for the entrance. The gate was formed from electrowire. Sensors were aimed above to blast any vehicles flying over it.
A swoop lay abandoned on the road. Xanatos was nowhere in sight.
Qui-Gon pulled his swoop over. He examined the swoop on the ground. It was out of fuel.
'He must be in the park,' he said. He eyed the gate.
'I have another way in,' Obi-Wan assured him.
Obi-Wan led the way back down the road through the trees. He left his swoop and splashed through the creek toward the fissure in the cavern wall. He pressed himself inside.
Qui-Gon followed with difficulty. He was a big man, and it was a small crack. Somehow he was able to push himself through.
They quickly made their way to the entrance of the cavern and burst out into the open air. Xanatos was crossing the yard, heading for Tech Dome D.
'There's a landing pad inside,' Obi-Wan told Qui-Gon. 'No doubt he has transport off-planet waiting there.'
Qui-Gon began to run. Xanatos must never reach the Tech Dome.
He moved silently, his feet not making even a whisper of sound on the soft ground. But before he could reach Xanatos, his opponent suddenly leaped on a gravsled and took off.
Qui-Gon grabbed an abandoned gravsled and followed, knowing Obi-Wan would be only moments behind
