Джуд Уотсон - Jedi Apprentice 9 - The Fight for Truth

"It was seven years ago. I was two years old," V-Davi said as he ran more vegetables through the grinder. "My parents died during the great Toli-X outbreak. I was sent here. Most children on Kegan don't start The Learning until they are four years old."

Siri exchanged a glance with Obi-Wan. Toli-X had been a deadly mutated virus that traveled through asteroid molds from world to world ten years before. A vaccine had been developed shortly after it had appeared. In other words, if Kegan had been in touch with other worlds in the galaxy, no one need have died.

Between them, a silent message was passed: Don't tell him. Not if we don't have to.

"Do you like living here?" Siri asked, turning to dry the dishes on the rack.

"Of course," V-Davi responded. "Thanks to The Learning, I am preparing how to best serve the General Good."

It sounded like one of the rote responses they had listened to in class. Obi-Wan helped Siri dry the tall stack of dishes. "Do you ever get to leave the Learning Circle?"

"When your course of study is complete," V-Davi said. "Usually around sixteen. But you know this."

"We aren't from here, V-Davi," Siri said. "O-Bin doesn't believe us, but it's true. Where do you go when you leave the Learning Circle?"

"Where the General Good is best served," V-Davi responded promptly. He scraped the vegetable mush into a big container and placed it in the cooler that ran along one wall. Then he began to carry the dried plates to the racks. "When you are twelve, you appear before a committee in which your aptitude is assessed. Then you receive more specialized training in your area."

"But what if you're assigned to something you don't want to do?" Siri asked.

"You are happy, because you know you are contributing to the General Good." V-Davi mopped up a bit more soapy water that Siri had spilled. He leaned against the sink and put his hand in his pocket nervously. "I'll probably go into food service. There is a shortage."

Siri gave him a shrewd glance. "What do you want to do, V-Davi?"

"I want to work in the Animal Circle," V-Davi admitted. "But there is a surplus. So it wouldn't help the…"

"General Good," Siri completed. "I get it."

Suddenly, Obi-Wan heard a peep peep. Was it a warning security device?

He looked around quickly, but could see no lights or indicators.

V-Davi looked nervous. "We'd better go."

Again, Obi-Wan heard the peep peep. He realized that it was coming from V-Davi's pocket.

"What's that?" Siri asked bluntly.

V-Davi moved toward the door. "Nothing. I must go. Lockdown is soon."

He hurried away, and something floated through the air back toward Obi-Wan.

He caught it. It was a feather.

"V-Davi," he called. "Stop."

V-Davi stopped.

"What are you holding?"

Siri walked forward. She peered into V-Davi's cupped hands. "It's a humming peeper."

Obi-Wan stepped forward. V-Davi must have been hiding the tiny bird in his pocket. It perched in his cupped hands, a lovely creature with bright yellow and blue feathers.

V-Davi's eyes darted fearfully from Obi-Wan to Siri. "It has a hurt wing. I found it in the yard. I was going to turn it in. I swear I was!"

Siri reached out a finger and stroked the bird. "He's cute."

"l-l just rescued this one creature," V-Davi stammered. "I would never break the rules of The Learning."

Suddenly, Obi-Wan saw a tiny quivering nose stick out of V-Davi's other pocket.

"And what's that?"

V-Davi's eyes were wide. "That's a baby fer-bil," he whispered. "Please don't turn me in, V-Obi."

"Of course we won't turn you in," Obi-Wan assured him. He stroked the furry creature's head.

"Is having pets against the rules?" Siri asked.

"Of course. There are no domestic pets allowed on Kegan," V-Davi said.

"It is contrary to the General Good to lavish attention on a subspecies.

They are used for food products and cultivation only." His gray eyes studied them, suddenly fearful. "You are outsiders, aren't you?"

"Yes," Siri said. "But we're also your friends."

A relieved smile spread over V-Davi's face. "Students of The Learning are not encouraged to form personal attachments. If you make a close friend, you find he or she is moved to another Learning quad. So we must be careful.

But you must call me Davi now. When one forms a bond on Kegan, the title letter of your name is dropped."

"Then you can call us Obi-Wan and Siri," Obi-Wan said.

Davi reached out and put one hand on Obi-Wan's forearm and one on Siri's. "You are my first friends. Maybe it does not add to the General Good. But I am happy. Now, since you are my friends, on Kegan we believe in trying to help our bonded friends achieve their hearts desire." He took a deep breath. "Therefore, Obi and Siri, I will help you escape. Tonight."

The constant buzzing noise should have alerted him. Instead, it had become background, and Qui-Gon had ceased to notice it. That was what they counted on, he supposed. A constant presence can be easier to ignore than a random one.

There was complete surveillance on Kegan. The skyhoppers overhead had to be equipped with listening and watching devices. It was the only explanation.

V-Nen and 0-Melie had asked for their help in the only way available to them: with glances and hints.

Qui-Gon and Adi did not dare speak, even in the open air. Without another word, they started toward the Communications Circle.

Qui-Gon's keen gaze swept across the round buildings in the Circle. He saw one open window in the building to his left. He indicated it to Adi with a tilt of his head. She nodded.

They walked into the building and quickly made their way through a maze of corridors toward the room with the open window. They were sure V-Nen and O-Melie would be waiting.

The door was slightly ajar. Qui-Gon hesitated outside.

"Come in quickly please," V-Nen whispered.

"And please close the door," 0-Melie added.

"This is a safe room," V-Nen said as soon as the Jedi entered and shut the door behind them. "Melie and I have installed anti-surveillance devices.

The skyhoppers you may have noticed overhead are actually unpiloted auto-hoppers that contain audio and visual surveillance devices. Everything we say and do is recorded. There are transmitters in our homes that beam up to them."

Qui-Gon and Adi exchanged glances. "We thought that might be the case,"

Qui-Gon said. "How did the citizens of Kegan allow this?"

"It began as an anti-crime measure," 0-Melie explained. "Society was stable, but petty theft and pilfering was common after we changed to a bartering system. V-Tan and O-Vieve proposed we use autohoppers as security devices, and we all voted on it. Originally they were supposed to patrol the market only. Then it was extended to the Dwelling Circle and beyond. No one expected that it would be used to monitor conversations and activities. It happened slowly, and now we are watched all the time."

"But if every citizen on Kegan gets a vote, couldn't you vote them out?" Adi asked.

V-Nen shook his head. "Every citizen gets a vote, but V-Tan and O-Vieve decide what we should vote on."

0-Melie gave a sad smile. "We have the illusion of democracy. Not the reality."

"Tell us how we can help you," Adi said gently. "What do you think happened to O-Lana?"

0-Melie and V-Nen exchanged a frightened glance. "We are worried about her safety," V-Nen said quietly. "There are whispers and rumors about children who vanish."

Qui-Gon recalled something that had bothered him at the time. "Is that what O-Yani meant when she said O-Lana would not disappear!"

0-Melie nodded. "Some children enroll at the Learning Circle and are never heard from again."

"The Learning Circle?" Qui-Gon asked quickly. "Where is that?"