Obi-Wan laughed quietly to himself.
'Two punishments marks, V-Obi,' one of the Guides said, entering it into a touch pad. 'Concentration on nutrition is what we do during meal service. Interaction with others is saved for free time.'
Obi-Wan chewed on the tasteless meal. Siri was right. They had to get out of here.
'Today we will play Response Time,' 0-Bin announced. 'You all know how this is done. A topic will flash on your screen. Whoever hits their response button first will tell the class what the significant facts about the topic are. Good luck.'
Obi-Wan glanced at his data screen. corus-cant flashed across it. He did not hit his response button. The best thing he could do today was try not to attract any attention from the Teaching Guides.
Jedi responses are lightning fast. The light on top of Siri's data screen lit up first. Obi-Wan threw her a warning glance, but she ignored it.
0-Bin was clearly not pleased at having to call on Siri. 'O-Siri?' she asked through pursed lips.
'Coruscant is a world made up of one city. It is the home of the Galactic Senate. Billions of beings live on Coruscant. It is known for government and culture and its excellent transit and security systems — '
'I must interrupt you, O-Siri,' O-Bin said with a smile. 'That is all wrong. Can anyone correct O-Siri?'
Data screen lights glowed throughout the classroom. O-Bin consulted her screen to see who had been first. 'V-Mina?'
'Coruscant is a world of corruption,' V-Mina said. 'Slavery is legal there.'
'Precisely,' O-Bin said.
Siri's face was burning. Obi-Wan fixed her with a steady gaze. They both had to keep quiet. They should not attract any more attention.
jedi order.
This time, O-Bin deliberately ignored Siri's glowing light. 'V-Taun?'
'The Jedi Order is surrounded by darkness. They — '
Siri sprang to her feet. 'The Jedi path is one of service to the galaxy!'
'Sit down, O-Siri! Five punishment marks! And you know what that means.. '
Obi-Wan groaned loudly.
'Food service cleanup after the evening meal,' 0-Bin hissed through her teeth. 'And V-Obi, from your groan I'm sure you'll be happy to join O-Siri.
So much better for the General Good.'
'I am capable of keeping my mouth shut,' Siri told Obi-Wan later. 'I just don't want to. What difference does it make if we're washing dishes? At least we're not sitting in a class listening to 0-Bin tell us that the Core Worlds are corrupted.'
Obi-Wan regarded the stack of dishes crusted with the remains of the evening meal. It was the second time they had been given cleanup duty that day. 'I think I'd rather be sitting in class.'
'I have a suggestion.' Siri threw the dishrag into the sink. 'Let's forget the dishes and escape. Tonight. If we can't outsmart that greedy V-Tarz, we don't deserve to be Jedi.'
'All right,' he agreed.
'Obi-Wan, you've got to listen to me sometime. You're not the only one who can — ' Siri did a double take. 'Did you just agree with me?'
Obi-Wan nodded. 'You're right. We saw how the security system operates.
Let's do it. Qui-Gon and Adi must be really worried now.'
'There will be two guards,' Siri said. 'And V-Tarz might not be able to go for his snack. What do you have in mind?'
'The other Security Guide thinks the system malfunctioned last night, but they don't know where the problem is, right?'
Siri nodded.
'So let's create a real problem,' Obi-Wan said. 'They'll have to shut down the system to check and repair it. Meanwhile we'll sneak out the cleansing room window.'
'How can we sabotage the system?' Siri asked. 'We can't sneak into the admin center now. It's full of Guides.'
'We have to sabotage it here,' Obi-Wan said, glancing around the kitchen. 'Any ideas?'
They examined the security devices set into the ceiling corners.
'Didn't V-Tarz say something about the infrared sensor?' Siri asked.
'He claimed that it could be malfunctioning,' Obi-Wan said.
'Can we rig something to set it off again?' Siri asked. She ran her hand along the big warming unit. 'What if we turned the stoves on low? They'd heat the room and eventually the infrareds would go off.
They'd have to turn off the system to figure it out.'
'Simple, but genius,' Obi-Wan said. 'Let's do it. But we'd better wash the dishes first. If a Guide comes in to check our work, he or she might notice the stoves are on.'
