Джуд Уотсон - Jedi Apprentice 9 - The Fight for Truth

Adi nodded. "How can we avoid 0-Rina and V-Haad?"

"This way," Qui-Gon said, turning and heading back down the hallway. He turned to the left, then the right.

"How do you know where to go?" Adi asked.

Qui-Gon smiled. "While I was at the Temple, I took sensory lessons from Jedi Master Tahl. When she was blinded, she learned to improve her other senses. I'm following my sense of smell."

Adi concentrated. "Food. Something is cooking."

"And where there is food, there is waste. Where there is waste, there is usually an exit," Qui-Gon explained.

"And I always look for a window," Adi said, hurrying beside him.

The kitchen was empty except for a cook who was grinding a vegetable into a paste, his back to the door. Qui-Gon and Adi Gallia moved swiftly and silently past him and slipped out the door into a small area with waste bins. They skirted them and headed back in the direction they had come.

The distance wasn't far, and soon they stood at V-Nen and O-Melie's door. Qui-Gon knocked softly.

V-Nen opened it. The hopeful expression on his face faded when he saw the Jedi.

"I thought there was word of Lana," he said.

"You must trust us," Adi told him. "We can help you protect your daughter."

O-Melie joined her husband at the door.

"We have nothing more to say," V-Nen said. "I must head for work at the Communications Circle now."

"We are late and must be going," 0-Melie said. "Please do not follow us."

O-Melie's words were cool, but her eyes pleaded with them. What was she asking?

Before they could react, she shut the door in their faces.

Adi looked at Qui-Gon. The glance they exchanged was full of meaning.

They did not speak for a moment as a skyhopper buzzed overhead.

"I suppose we should head back," Adi said.

"Yes," Qui-Gon agreed. "We can do no good here."

They turned and left the Dwelling Circle. But hope rose in Qui-Gon's heart. At last he was beginning to understand.

Siri heaved another tub of dirty dishes into the sink. Sudsy water slopped on the floor.

"What slab-brain decided that turbo dish-cleaners were bad for the General Good?" she asked, picking up a cleaning rag.

"Menial labor attentively completed adds to the General Good," Obi-Wan said.

She shot him a sidelong look. "You sound like one of them."

"It's starting to sink in." Obi-Wan dried the last dish from the enormous rack and placed it on a pile.

Siri gazed out at the narrow band of windows that ran along the top of the wall. All the windows at the Learning Circle were set high in the walls.

They allowed light in, but restricted a view of outside. They had been told that afternoon that contemplation of the outdoors was a waste of time they should be devoting to The Learning.

"It's getting dark," Siri said. "I say we break out tonight. We still have our lightsabers."

"I think we should wait," Obi-Wan said.

"For what?" Siri asked, rinsing off a plate. "The breakfast dishes?"

Obi-Wan spoke calmly. "For several things. One, we don't know what kind of security the Learning Circle has. We should discover that before we try.

Remember that Qui-Gon and Adi told us not to cause disruption."

"But that was before we were captured," Siri argued.

"I know," Obi-Wan said. "No doubt they are worried by now. But that's still not a reason to try a risky escape. If we plan it, we might be able to avoid a fight."

Siri gazed at him in disbelief. "Is that all you care about? Avoiding a fight?"

Obi-Wan struggled to hold on to his temper. "I've learned on missions with Qui-Gon that it is always best to avoid a fight if you can. You should have learned that at the Temple."

Siri flushed pink. She knew that Obi-Wan was right. A Jedi always sought to avoid a conflict. Infinitely more ways there are to reach a goal, Yoda had said many times. Try them all you should.

"You seem to forget that we're Jedi," she said. "If we just reveal that we are, they'd let us go. They'd know that we aren't Keganites then."

"But we don't know that they'd let us go," Obi-Wan countered. "It's an option, but I still think we should wait. Qui-Gon told us not to reveal that we are Jedi. And Yoda told us to avoid disruption at all costs. Until we absolutely have to, I say we stay undercover. What if we're really being held because we are Jedi? Or what if we get Qui-Gon and Adi Gallia in trouble by proving that we're Jedi? We don't know what our Masters are up to right now." Obi-Wan shook his head. "There are too many questions. Unless we can find a way to leave quietly, we should remain for the time being. Think of it this way — we can learn about Kegan society here. This is like an indoctrination camp."

"Are you always so cautious?" Siri asked him.

"I wasn't always," Obi-Wan answered. "But now I am."

He met her gaze steadily. She knew what he was referring to. He had acted impulsively once, and almost lost his way. Now he knew: It was always tempting to act. It was often wiser to wait.

Frustrated, Siri threw the cleaning rag into the sink. It slapped against the water and sent another shower of suds onto the floor. Obi-Wan sighed. After the dish cleaning, there would be plenty of mopping to do, too.

"So we have to stay and listen to lies while we clean up after the whole school?" Siri asked, disgusted.

"We wouldn't have been forced to clean up if you didn't keep correcting O-Bin," Obi-Wan observed mildly.

"And let that teacher fill the students' minds with lies?" Siri asked in disbelief. "How can we do that, Obi-Wan? You know that everything they teach here is wrong."

"What you said didn't make a difference," Obi-Wan argued. "No one believed us, and we got stuck with cleaning detail."

"So this is all my fault," Siri said.

"It's not up to me to assign blame," Obi-Wan said testily. "But if you insist, yes!"

"You're the one who didn't want to break out when we could!" Siri exploded. "We should have made a run for it."

Obi-Wan opened his mouth to refute her, but a hesitant voice came from behind him.

"That wouldn't have been a good idea."

They turned. V-Davi, the slight boy from class, stood in the doorway.

His hands were stuffed in the pockets of his tunic.

"The Security Guides have great power here," he said. "It's not wise to oppose them. And be sides, it's against the General Good."

"Thanks for the tip," Obi-Wan said.

Sir! picked up a mop and began to clean up the water and suds she'd spilled. "Why are you here, V-Davi?" she asked in a kindly way. "You don't have punishment marks too, do you?"

"No. I have food preparation duty tomorrow. I thought I would get a head start tonight." V-Davi headed for a bin of vegetables. He started up a grinding machine and began to toss them in.

"You mean they actually prepare the stuff they serve?" Siri grumbled.

"I thought they just scooped it out of the trash bin."

Obi-Wan grinned. It was true; the food at the Learning Circle was terrible. All vegetables and meats were ground into a paste and then formed into round disks and cooked. The disks were so tasteless and tough that they could be used for shockball. He glanced at V-Davi to see if he had taken offense.

V-Davi's face was frozen in surprise, as if he'd never heard a joke before. Then he laughed. "The food is bad, yes. But it's not my fault. They tell me how to cook it."

"I wasn't blaming you, V-Davi," Siri told him. "You'd have to be a genius to come up with food this bad."

"At least I can help you finish cleaning up," V-Davi offered. "I don't mind."

"Don't worry about it," Siri told him as she finished mopping. "I got us into this. But you can tell us more about yourself while we work."

"How old were you when you came to the Learning Circle?" Obi-Wan asked.