by Watson, Jude
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.”
Chapter Three
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.
“We have about eleven minutes before the droid sweep,” Obi-Wan murmured. “Let’s head for the wing.”
They ran down the aisle, keeping an eye out for the security guard. They hurried to the door that led to the restricted wing.
Now they were faced with a double-coded lock.
“Our swipe card will work if we can override the code,” Obi-Wan said. “We don’t want to tip anyone off that we were here.”
He worked at the keypad for several minutes.
“Master, the droid sweep.”
Frustrated, Obi-Wan tried another combination. He had studied codes at the Temple with the great Jedi Master Nan Latourain, but this code was proving too difficult for him.
“Master!”
Obi-Wan jumped away as he heard the whirr of the droids. He and Anakin hid behind a gravsled as the droids swept by, their surveillance unit revolving steadily. As soon as they were gone, the Jedi re-emerged.
Obi-Wan attacked the keypad again.
“Let me try,” Anakin suggested.
Obi-Wan stepped aside. He watched Anakin work. He felt Anakin call upon the Force. The Force grew around them, pulsing and shimmering, but the Force could not unlock keypads.
“We’re stuck,” Anakin said. “There
has to be another way.”
Obi-Wan felt the same uneasiness, the same sense of urgency, he had felt earlier today.
Suddenly in his mind, he saw Qui-Gon Jinn’s easy smile.
You know the answer. Why don’t you trust it?
Obi-Wan withdrew his lightsaber and slashed through the lock in one motion. The door swung open.
“Well, that’s one way,” Anakin commented.
They found themselves in a short hallway with another security door. Obi-Wan didn’t hesitate this time, but buried his lightsaber in the durasteel. It peeled away in a glowing arc of light and smoke.
They hurried through. They were now in a large room that served as a laboratory. Anakin quickly headed to the console, where he thought the files might be kept. Obi-Wan made a survey of the room.
“There are valves here that go to tunnels,” he told Anakin. “Big enough to walk in. I suspect that despite the laws, they experimented on the workers themselves.”
“They did,” Anakin said, reading from the files. “Different levels of the Zone. The four worker deaths were from overexposure. They were trying to calibrate exact amounts for large crowds. Thousands at once. This factory is definitely Omega’s. Zan Arbor can’t be far off.”
Obi-Wan strode over to read over Anakin’s shoulder.
“Zan Arbor had already perfected one-on-one transmission,” Obi-Wan said. “But this indicates she’s searching for a way to infect a whole city.”
“So we were right,” Anakin said. “The proof is in these files.”
Obi-Wan pointed to the bottom of the file.
TRACK A EXPERIMENT VOIDED.
TRACK B EXPERIMENT BEGUN.
“Track A and Track B? I wonder what that means,” he said.
“This science is over my head,” Anakin said, flipping through the holofile. “We’ll have to get inspectors in.”
“We have enough evidence to go straight to the Supreme Chancellor,” Obi-Wan said. “That’s the only way things get done, these days.”
Anakin looked at his chrono. “We have another six minutes before the next droid sweep.”
“Let’s check out the tunnel.”
Quickly they opened the valve and stepped inside the tunnel. They walked down, using their glow rods for illumination. Vents were spaced evenly on the tunnel walls, and the plastoid sides were smooth.
Obi-Wan stepped over to the side and peered into a vent. “I see some ducts and hoses. This must be how the Zone is administered,” he said. He stepped away to study a schematic drawing that was light-lasered onto the wall. Tunnels branched out from the main tunnel, and it appeared to be an extensive system.
“The tunnels go on for whole kilometers,” Obi-Wan said, surprised. “Enough to approximate an entire small city, right here in the factory. This tunnel dips underground and joins the main system. It connects to other smaller tunnels.…”
Anakin cocked his head. “Master…”
“It’s so detailed. I wonder if it’s based on an actual city system.…”
“Master.” Anakin’s voice was urgent now.
Obi-Wan turned. “The droids? I doubt they sweep the tunnels.”
“Not droids,” Anakin said. “Water.”
Obi-Wan whipped around just as a wall of water rushed down the tunnel. His feet were swept out from under him and he was propelled forward, smashing against the side of the tunnel and then somersaulting out of control against the power of the water. He fought his way to the surface, kicking and stroking. Once his head cleared, he saw Anakin nearby. They were careening down the tunnel with the force of the current.
“Aqua breathers!” Obi-Wan shouted.
He drew his out of his utility belt. Anakin did the same. At least they would not drown. But it would be impossible to fight their way back up the tunnel against the water. On the drawing, the tunnel seemed simply to end in bedrock. They would be smashed against it at this rate.
Then Obi-Wan heard a worse noise, one he hadn’t expected. Fighting the pull of the water, he thrashed around until he was facing behind him, the way they had come. At first he could only see the wall of churning water, waves of it coming toward him. Then he realized what was happening.
The tunnel was imploding behind them. In another few seconds, they would be crushed in the collapse.
Chapter Four
Anakin saw the danger at the same time as his Master. He did not waste time worrying. His gaze raked the tunnel sides, looking for a way to escape, even as the torrent of water turned him end over end in a tumbling motion that left him dizzy.
Most of the vents were too small, but Anakin remembered something. He had glanced only briefly at the schematic plan, but he remembered a larger vent that came a quarter-kilometer from the end of the tunnel. It had connected to another tunnel that had seemed to come to a dead end. But it would have to do. That would be their only chance to escape the water. That is, if the side tunnels had not been flooded as well.
But how far had they traveled? Which vent was the right one?
Obi-Wan must have had the same thought, but Anakin’s Master had studied the blueprint longer. “Anakin!” Obi-Wan shouted over the sound of the rushing water. “Vent coming up on the left, five hundred meters! Grab on!”
“All right!” Anakin yelled, and got a mouthful of water. Choking, he stroked to keep himself above water. He would need every bit of his strength. Dust and debris from the collapsing tunnel now filled the air, making it difficult to breathe. The roar was deafening. Underneath the flow of the water, Anakin felt something else—a deep shuddering, as though the ground itself was moving.
He saw his Master stroke against the water. Anakin fought through the torrent, kicking his legs, and pushing against the water with his arms. He could not make headway.
The Force bounced over the water. It came from his Master. Anakin used it as Obi-Wan intended. He was part of the water now. He could feel the spaces within the drops and was able to let the water break over him and find a way to move against it. He pushed with all his might, but his effort didn’t cost him his strength. It doubled it.
He made headway against the water, reaching the side of the tunnel, immediately behind Obi-Wan. Now the trick would be to get inside the vent. His Master held his cable launcher aloft, over the foaming water, and Anakin saw his objective. He unhooked his launcher as well, keeping himself afloat with one hand as he was knocked against the tunnel wall.
Now the vent was coming toward them—fast, faster than he’d planned for. He saw Obi-Wan’s launcher snake out and catch on the vent. Obi-Wan grabbed the cable, fighting his way back against the water. Anakin aimed at the metal grid of the vent and missed.
He called on the Force to help him even as he was swept down past the vent. He pushed against the water, feeling it break against his skin. He felt the spaces between the particles and slipped through them.
Fingers dug into his coveralls and pulled. Obi-Wan reached under his arm and yanked him forward. Anakin was able to grab on to Obi-Wan’s cable and hauled himself the rest of the way.
He joined Obi-Wan, hooking his fingers into the grating. The pressure of the water held the vent in place. They pulled with all their strength as the water cascaded over their heads, sometimes submerging them completely. The tunnel behind them was collapsing, chunks of plastoid and durasteel falling into the churning water and sometimes slamming against them on its way.
The Force gathered and grew. The grating popped off, then bounced away on the rushing water.
Obi-Wan pushed Anakin inside the small space of the vent. Anakin slid forward as fast as he could pull himself, making room. His Master pulled himself up and in.
They panted for a moment, acknowledging the difficulty of the struggle. Then Obi-Wan quickly began to crawl forward.
“I see something ahead,” he called. “A bit of gray light.”
“Let’s hope it’s a way out.”
Anakin followed his Master on his hands and knees. The small pipe they were crawling
through was shaking now as the ground trembled around them.
Ahead he could now see that the blackness was faintly tinged with gray.
“There’s a ladder.”
He could hear the relief in his Master’s voice. Anakin looked up. A metal ladder rose vertically and disappeared into the blackness above. Obi-Wan began to climb.
Anakin followed. A sudden blast of debris roared through the pipe below and rose toward them. He tasted dirt and metal in his mouth and choked.
He couldn’t speak. He coughed out the debris in his mouth and kept climbing. He knew the pipe was collapsing below. At any moment they could be buried underground.
Obi-Wan suddenly stopped. He knocked on something over his head. “It’s layers of durasteel,” he said, struggling to reach for his lightsaber in the tiny space. “I’ll have to cut through.”
Anakin knew they had barely any time left. He watched as Obi-Wan buried his lightsaber in the metal plating above. The ladder was hot under his hands. It began to peel away from the side of the pipe. The system was collapsing.
Suddenly another stream of light joined Obi-Wan’s from above. Anakin saw the durasteel peel away. Then Siri’s face appeared. “You’d better hurry,” she said.
“That’s the general idea,” Obi-Wan answered, scrambling up the ladder.
Anakin followed as the ladder began to melt beneath him. He grabbed on to Siri’s strong grip and threw himself toward the opening. He was half pulled, half hauled up to the surface. He lay flat on the ground, breathing heavily.
“Come on,” Siri urged in his ear. “We have to get out of here. The entire factory is imploding.”
Anakin could feel the ground moving beneath him. He rose and began to run with the others. Ferus was in the lead, dashing over the ground even as it pitched and heaved. It was like running across a turbulent air current.
They reached the safety of the open plain and turned back to look. It was an amazing sight. The ground simply cracked apart in chunks and opened up. It swallowed the huge factory and caved in with a shower of fire and dust. Within only minutes, there was a smoking crater where the factory had been.
