Jude Watson: Jedi Quest 9: The False Peace

"We've come to investigate several of your factories," Siri said carefully.

"That will help us, no matter what your purpose," Mazara said. "You can take word of what is happening back to the Galactic Senate."

Anakin exchanged a quick glance with Obi-Wan. He knew that like him, his Master had his doubts that the Senate would be able to stop what was going on here. The Senate was roiled with its own problems as the new movement of Separatists was fraying old loyalties and creating new alliances. Very little legislation was being enacted, and petitions for help from many worlds were delayed by procedure.

"Have you heard of someone called Granta Omega?" Obi-Wan asked casually.

Mazara shook her head.

"How about Roy Teda?"

"Yes, of course, the deposed dictator of Romin. He's here." Mazara grimaced. "Falleen seems to attract the worst of the galaxy, these days."

"Do you know where he is?" Siri asked.

"Of course. He's staying in the kind of reclusive hotel reserved for the ultra-rich. I learned about it back in my investigative days."

"Is he staying with anyone else?"

Mazara shook her head. "Not that I know of."

Obi-Wan glanced at Siri. Roy Teda and Zan Arbor had split up, most likely.

"You said that there were deaths at the Blackwater facility," Ferus pointed out.

Mazara nodded. "And rumors of sicknesses that cannot be diagnosed.

Rumors that Falleen are forced to work in water tunnels. We are able to stay underwater for long periods of time."

"Water tunnels?" Obi-Wan asked.

Anakin felt a surge of excitement. So they were on the right track after all. They knew that Zan Arbor was trying to perfect the transmission of her Zone of Self-Containment through water.

"That wing of the factory is restricted. It's set up for transmission experiments," Mazara said. "Workers are forced to sign a statement of confidentiality, and so far, no one has dared to contest it. The penalties are unknown, but they must be severe."

"We would like to examine that wing," Obi-Wan said. "Can you get us inside the factory?"

"That is easy," Mazara said. "There are Falleen in the employment office who will help us. I can get you inside as workers. After that, the rest is up to you."

Mazara was as good as her word. She arranged an interview for Obi-Wan and Anakin that she promised would be a mere formality. Meanwhile, Siri and Ferus decided to stake out the exclusive hotel where Teda was staying and see what they could learn.

The four Jedi split up in the early morning. Their breath clouded from the cold air as they paused in the main square of the city to say good-bye.

"So how come I get to freeze on a factory floor while you hang around a luxury hotel?" Anakin grumbled good-naturedly to Ferus.

Ferus grinned. "Just lucky, I guess."

Obi-Wan was glad to see the ease between them. Ferus had unburdened himself on Romin and spoken to Obi-Wan of his fears about Anakin. Obi-Wan had been both irritated and alarmed by Ferus's insights. But it was as though passing along his worries had freed Ferus to unbend around Anakin.

As a result, the tension between the two Padawans had lessened considerably.

"May the Force be with you," Siri told them.

Obi-Wan and Anakin headed off to join the river of workers crowding aboard cloud buses for the journey out to the Yellow District. They rode to the end of the line, then hiked the remaining distance. The other workers were silent, their faces gray and composed. The long, hard day lay in front of them.

Obi-Wan and Anakin went directly to the employment office. There, no questions were asked and they were given passes to the main factory floor by the employment officer, a Falleen named Wanuri.

"We are interested in working in the transmission wing," Obi-Wan told Wanuri as the Falleen pushed two security swipe cards across the desk to them.

Wanuri shook his head. "Can't do it, even for Mazara. Word has come down that no more workers are needed there. The night shift has been canceled, so everyone will be leaving exactly at six. The last hire always sweeps the factory floor. Be sure and lock the hydromop and repulsorbroom back in the utility closet. Here's the card. Be sure not to stay. Two security officers and droids make a sweep of the factory every fifteen minutes."

He pushed the card across the table. Obi-Wan pocketed it.

"Great," Anakin murmured as they headed to the factory floor. "Not only do we have to work all day, we have to clean up afterward."

"He gave us the job as a way to stay behind," Obi-Wan told Anakin. "We can hide somewhere until everyone leaves. He also told us how security is handled."

Obi-Wan and Anakin clipped the swipe cards to the front of their red unisuits, the uniform of the workers. They were given a manager to report to. He split them up into two different areas of the factory.

Obi-Wan took his place in a line of workers who were checking levels on machines that monitored the injection of liquid into small canisters. He could only assume that the Zone was packaged somehow within the canisters, but he didn't know if it was liquid or gas or some kind of suspended particles.

He was surprised at how disorganized the factory floor was. It was hard to tell what, exactly, was being manufactured. Each part of the factory was sealed off from the next, and Obi-Wan had no idea where the final product was being assembled.

Deep troughs were cut in the factory floor for the waste, which was simply flushed down through the floors to outflow valves. If a worker stepped or fell into the trough by accident, he or she was coated in waste material. There was no way to know if the material was toxic. Unlike other factories, there were no decontamination rooms.

The work wasn't hard, just grindingly dull. The workers were used as a double-check to the machines, which rarely made errors.

The interesting thing to Obi-Wan was that supervision was light. A tier ran around the upper level of the vast space, where managers were supposed to monitor the workers below. But he noted that the managers rarely looked down. They were more concerned with eating, drinking tea, and joking with one another. There seemed to be no central authority making sure everything was getting done.

This worried Obi-Wan. It wasn't like either Omega or Zan Arbor to run a slipshod organization. Was he in the wrong place?

He confided his doubts to Anakin at the break. Anakin nodded.

"I've noticed the same thing, Master. My work partner said the managers all changed two weeks ago. The workers haven't had to work as hard. They're all relieved."

But Obi-Wan wasn't. He was uneasy.

"We're wasting time if this factory isn't preparing the Zone for use,"

Obi-Wan said.

"We'll find out tonight," Anakin said.

But would it be too late? Obi-Wan couldn't shake his uneasiness.

The rest of the day passed in repetition and drudgery. The workers were bored and worked at half speed, and none of the managers cared.

Before the end of the workday, Obi-Wan reported to the manager in order to clean the factory floor. Together with Anakin, they swept and mopped. There was no one to oversee them or make certain they did a good job. When the buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the workday, Obi-Wan and Anakin headed to a utility closet. They placed the repulsorbroom and hyrdomop inside. With a quick glance to make sure no one was watching, they ducked inside the closet, too.

The noises of the departing workers faded. They heard a lone security guard make his rounds. Then everything shut down at once. They heard the locks slam home on the doors outside. The tiny light in the closet shut off.

They waited a few minutes, listening intently for any movement outside the door. Then Obi-Wan opened the door carefully. They quickly moved down the hallway and peeked out on to the factory floor. The machines looked like sleeping creatures in the dim light.