I am too valuable to have to waste my time.'
'That is true,' Qui-Gon said. 'I did not realize your difficulty.'
Jenna Zan Arbor was consumed with her own brilliance, he saw. Such beings liked to talk about themselves. If he was careful not to annoy her, he would be able to stay out of the chamber and learn more about her. His only hope for escape lay in understanding his captor.
'No one does,' Zan Arbor said, pacing back and forth. 'When famine struck Rend 5 and I bioengineered a new food to feed the entire planet, did I get a reward? When the Tendor Virus struck the entire Caldoni system and my vaccine cured millions, what did I receive in return? Not enough. I learned my lesson.'
'What did you learn?' Qui-Gon noticed that Nil was looking at Zan Arbor worshipfully. His attention had drifted from guarding Qui-Gon.
'That I must not depend on the galaxy to recognize my greatness,' Zan Arbor said. 'I must depend on myself to raise the funds I need. A famine here, a disease there — what does it matter? They will get sick, they will go hungry for a time. Then they will pay for a cure.' 'I don't understand,'
Qui-Gon said.
Zan Arbor did not answer him directly. 'There is morality in the galaxy, but I have not seen it,' she mused. 'I have seen greed and violence and laziness. If you look at it that way, I do them a favor. I thin out populations and the strong survive.'
Qui-Gon saw behind the veil of her words to a truth that shocked him.
He struggled to conceal his disgust. His voice was calm and even when he asked the next question. 'So you introduce a virus into a population so that you can then cure it?'
But Zan Arbor must have picked up something in his tone. 'I forgot for a moment about the Jedi morality. You think this is wrong.'
'I am trying to understand your reasoning,' Qui-Gon said. 'You are a brilliant scientist. It's hard to follow the turns of your thoughts.'
The answer seemed to please her. 'Of course I approached the problem scientifically. I used models. I calculated how many deaths it would take before a population panicked. Then I introduced the virus in a certain amount and waited for it to replicate. When a certain amount of people were killed, the leader would contact me. Then I would pretend to work on the antidote I already had prepared. When they were desperate and ready to open their treasuries to me, I dispensed it. So you see there were no unnecessary deaths.'
Zan Arbor's eyes were shining with the pride of accomplishment. Qui- Gon saw that everything she said made absolute sense to her. He realized that she was crazy.
Did that make his situation easier, or more complicated?
'You are greatness!' Nil burst out.
Zan Arbor did not seem to register his praise. 'I had to do this, you see,' she said to Qui-Gon. 'The mystery at the heart of the Force is my greatest research problem. I had to fund that research. If I get to the heart of the Force, I get to the heart of power. I get to the heart of existence itself.'
'And when you do that, what next?' Qui-Gon asked.
'I will have all the power I need at last,' she said. 'Then friends I have left behind will understand that if sacrifices were made… I… made them for a good reason.'
Qui-Gon noticed the slight hesitancy. 'Do you mean Uta S'orn?'
'She is my friend. She has stood by me. Supported my work in the Senate. I was grateful, of course.' Jenna Zan Arbor looked uncertain for the first time. 'But one cannot let gratitude interfere with science.'
'So when you discovered that her son was Force-sensitive, you saw a way to further your research,' Qui- Gon guessed.
'He said yes right away!' Jenna Zan Arbor cried. 'He would do anything for money. He did not realize the commitment he had to make. He was a scientific subject. Surely he should have known there were risks involved…'
'But he did not expect to die,' Qui-Gon said.
'I did not expect it either,' she said quickly. 'But what kind of life did he lose? A life of despair. Uta grieved for her son every minute of her life while he was alive. It is no different now.'
'So you believe she will understand,' Qui-Gon said.
Behind Zan Arbor's coolness, he sensed unrest. 'She must. It is logical.'
'It will be an interesting conversation, I'm sure,' Qui-Gon said neutrally.
'It is time for you to use the Force,' she said suddenly, as if she regretted her words. 'And this time, I want to see something more than your moving an object a few inches.'
Qui-Gon summoned the Force. He closed his eyes and felt it around him, felt it connect him to the living beings here and the world outside — wherever he was. He gathered it inside his body to help it heal…
And he felt an answering call.
Someone else was here. Obi-Wan? Qui-Gon concentrated, drawing the Force around him.
No, not Obi-Wan. Someone else. She was holding someone else here, someone who was Force-sensitive. And whoever it was, he or she was very weak.
He heard beeping and opened his eyes. Zan Arbor sat at the console, leaning forward to study a monitor.
'Excellent,' she breathed.
