Why? Obi-Wan wondered later, lying on his sleep couch. Why was Qui- Gon letting him continue when he obviously had no faith in Obi-Wan's plan?
For a moment Obi-Wan thought his Master was giving him room to fail, to teach him a lesson. But that could not be. A Jedi would never risk the lives of other beings simply to prove a point. Qui-Gon hadn't given Obi-Wan the chance to fail, he had given him the chance to succeed.
Lying in the dark, Obi-Wan felt torn. He wasn't at all sure that what he was doing was right. Yet he had no choice but to move forward.
My plan will work, Obi-Wan told himself. It had to.
The lock on the door clicked and whirred. Obi-Wan was on his feet before he realized he was awake. The door opened to reveal a very rattled Chairman Port.
'The shuttles,' the chairman gasped. 'Vorzyd 5 is blowing up the shuttles. The morning laborers…' Port's antennae twitched rapidly and the Vorzydiak leaned against the portal for support. He appeared to be in shock. 'Wounded,' he said in a hollow voice. 'Some may not live.'
'The shuttles are exploding with passengers on them?' Obi-Wan asked, disbelieving. 'When? Where?'
'Everywhere,' the chairman whispered. 'Now.'
'Contact the shuttle bay. Tell them to evacuate. Tell them to stop all shuttles,' Qui-Gon commanded.
Chairman Port pulled himself together enough to hurry toward the communication station near the entrance of the building.
Without a word to Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan ran toward the exit. He could hear his Master's footsteps behind him. They needed to keep as many Vorzydiaks as possible from boarding the shuttles.
Outside, a half-full shuttle was just pulling in to pick up the nearly twenty laborers ready to go to work.
'Stop!' Obi-Wan shouted, waving his arms to try to keep the crowd from boarding. But the appearance of the strangely dressed Jedi had the opposite effect, and the group attempted to squeeze onto the shuttle in a panic.
Thinking quickly, Qui-Gon stepped in front of the shuttle to keep it from moving. Obi-Wan understood and dove underneath. With the simple removal of two wires, the explosive was rendered harmless. But this was just one shuttle.
Suddenly Chairman Port's voice echoed over the shuttle system's speakers.
'Evacuate the shuttles at once. Please exit and move away from the shuttles. All shuttle systems will be shut down until further notice.'
Confused Vorzydiaks did as they were told. But some of them started in with their droning, and a few others rocked from side to side.
Eventually most of them began to walk the long distance to work.
'We cannot allow this to be blamed on Vorzyd 5,' Qui-Gon said quietly behind Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan nodded. Just as Qui-Gon had predicted, the Freelie plan had gone horribly wrong — and so had Obi-Wan's.
'I will find out how extensive the damage is and ask the chairman to have every shuttle in the city inspected,' Qui-Gon continued. 'You should contact the Freelies. You must convince them to come forward before I am forced to do it for them. We haven't much time.'
Obi-Wan nodded again. He had not expected Qui-Gon to let him continue with his infiltration — not after this. He knew his Master had every right to go directly to the chairman and tell him everything. But, he realized, there was reason not to as well. It would be better for all Vorzydiaks if the Freelies came forward in peace. Forcing the kids and adults into a hostile meeting could actually make the situation worse. Qui-Gon had obviously considered this.
Obi-Wan sighed. Whatever the reason, Qui-Gon was giving Obi-Wan one last chance to do it his way. And he was grateful.
But as he watched his Master walk away, Obi-Wan was suddenly overcome by a strange feeling. He had the sense that someone was watching his every move.
Turning quickly, Obi-Wan looked up. High above him, in a window of the retiree complex, Obi-Wan thought he saw a face staring down at him.
Then it disappeared.
Chapter 13
Obi-Wan scanned the window for another moment to see if he could catch a glimpse of the person inside. He couldn't. Still thinking about the conversation he'd just had with his Master, he walked toward the Ports'
dwelling. It was time to wait for Grath.
It wasn't long before Grath appeared. When the boy had walked some distance ahead, Obi-Wan called out to him and ran to catch up. Even before he got a good look at Grath's face, Obi-Wan could tell that he was upset.
'I don't know how everything went wrong,' Grath said shakily. He looked exhausted and his eyes were ringed in red. There was no sign of the charismatic, playful boy Obi-Wan had met the day before.
'There must have been a failure in the remote triggering device. It went off during…' Grath's voice trailed away.
'I know,' Obi-Wan said, putting a hand on Grath's shoulder.
Grath swallowed. 'I've called an emergency meeting. I just hope nobody notices that so many of us are not
