Obi-Wan stared at his Padawan. He never would have considered keeping this kind of information from Qui-Gon. As a Jedi team, it was essential that they share every piece of knowledge they gathered. They had to trust each other. Completely.
With a jolt, Obi-Wan realized that Anakin might not totally trust him. Why else would he keep something like this from him?
As Obi-Wan stared down at his Padawan learner, an awful thought crept into his mind: He wasn’t sure he completely trusted Anakin, either.
“You should have told me immediately,” Obi-Wan said sternly. “Be sure that you do so next time.”
Anakin looked down at his feet. “Yes, Master,” he said.
Without another word, Obi-Wan turned away and continued down the street.
The Jedi were silent as they walked back to the ship. Inside, Dr. Lundi was asleep in his cage, his loud snores filling the hold. He woke abruptly when the Jedi entered.
“Can’t a prisoner get some sleep around here?” he grumbled, wiping a line of drool off his chin with one hand and rubbing his eye with another.
“Not when he has agreed to provide important information,” Obi-Wan replied flatly. “I need you to answer some questions about your last journey to the bottom of the Kodaian sea. It’s time for you to tell us what you know.”
The professor glared at Obi-Wan for several long seconds. It was true that he had agreed to answer questions in exchange for the chance to look upon the Holocron once more. “Go on,” he finally said.
“Ten years ago you came to Kodai to go after the Holocron,” Obi-Wan said. “And one of your star pupils came after you.”
“Norval,” Lundi said, nodding. “He was my star pupil. Had such a hunger for knowledge.”
“Dark knowledge,” Obi-Wan noted, looking pointedly at Dr. Lundi.
Lundi shrugged. “It is not my responsibility how the boy used what he learned. I was only the teacher. I simply passed the information along.”
Lundi’s casual response made Obi-Wan angry. He obviously took his powerful position as a teacher very lightly. Didn’t he understand the effect he had on people? Didn’t he know he was responsible for the destruction of at least one young life?
“But Norval was strong - stronger than even I knew,” Lundi went on. “He got to the Holocron first. He brought it up still inside its vault. We fought over it, and it fell into the geyser crater.”
Obi-Wan closed his eyes as disappointment surged inside him. Though he’d known that the Holocron could have fallen deeper into the pocketed seafloor, he’d hoped it wasn’t true. It meant that the Holocron was very far down.
And located inside a gushing geyser that was incredibly treacherous, even at the lowest tide. The Holocron could easily be so far down that no one would be able to retrieve it. But what if it wasn’t?
Obi-Wan was not feeling confident about anything on this mission. Yet he had no choice but to move forward - before someone else did.
CHAPTER 20
Anakin squinted into the darkness as the loaded gravsled zoomed over the exposed seafloor. The tide was already partially out, and soon they would be traveling over the water.
“That way,” Obi-Wan said, pointing off to the left. They were the first words he’d spoken to him since their argument. Anakin felt badly about not telling his Master about the hologram message sooner, but wasn’t sure why it was such a big deal. He did tell him, didn’t he?
Anakin turned the vehicle. Beside him, Dr. Lundi was staring through the bars of his portable cage. His eyes were wide, and he couldn’t sit still. He seemed like an excited child.
He can’t wait to see the Holocron, Anakin thought. The ancient artifact had quite a reputation to live up to. As he increased the gravsled’s speed, the young Jedi secretly hoped that it would.
The gravsled zoomed over the water, heading straight toward the crater. Anakin thought he saw something sticking up above the shallow sea. It looked like a diving platform.
“Just ahead,” Obi-Wan said. Anakin could hear the disappointment in his Master’s voice. He pulled the gravsled up beside a platform piled with equipment and cut the engine.
Obi-Wan stared down at the water suit and air tank. “Someone has already been here,” he said. “I only hope they haven’t found the Holocron.”
Anakin scanned the surface of the sea. He could feel a powerful, dark energy surrounding them. But he wasn’t sure if it was because the Holocron was still below, or because it had been there for years.
“The Holocron is gone,” Lundi cackled. He waved his arms, smacking several against the top and sides of his travel cage. “He came back. Norval’s got it.”