Ordo glanced at Skirata as if asking permission to mention something, and got a barely perceptible nod.
“There’s a Senator Skeenah who’s made a nuisance of himself by demanding answers on what happens to badly injured men, and about long-term provision for troops in general.” Ordo’s impression in the Force was still tinted with fear, but it was more like anxiety for the welfare of others. Etain knew him well enough to work out who was at the top of that list. “But somehow I don’t think his well-meaning campaign to set up charity homes for us when we’re basket cases is actually addressing the problem.”
“Of course,” said Skirata, “we don’t know if he’s aware that the Republic sends out hit men to execute clones who want to try their luck in Civvy Street, either.”
Vau was watching the conversation with an air of boredom, which usually meant quite the opposite. He kept looking across to the one closed cabin, which had to be Ko Sai’s holding cell, and exuding impatience. “If you broadcast that on the hour, all day on HNE, nobody would care, Kal. I guarantee it.”
“They’ll care if the Seps start attacking Coruscant and interrupt their holovid viewing, all right.”
“But there’s not going to be this massive wave of protest on behalf of Our Brave Boys. You’ll be knocked flat by the wave of apathy. Goodness, our slave army, bred to fight, disposed of when it’s too much trouble? What a sensible system! Good for the Chancellor! That’s what we pay our taxes for!” Vau dropped the bored act and came very close to exposing emotion for once. “It saves all those civilians from having to look after their own democracy. The most you’ll get is a few creds dropped in a charity box on the anniversary of Geonosis. No Senator is going to change a thing.”
Skirata jerked his thumb in the direction of the cabin door. “Time we had another chat with Ko Sai now that we’ve got our Force-powered lie detector on board.”
Etain bristled. “It’s good to feel valued, Kal.”
“You can do something none of us can, ad’ika. Yes, it’s valued.”
Mereel stood up to open the cabin, and Mird padded across the deck to intercept. Etain noticed the electroprod hanging from the Null’s belt. I’m not even appalled. I know I ought to be, but if he handed me that thing and said a little encouragement would make Ko Sai hand over information that would give Dar and all the others a normal life span - I know I’d use it. That was where attachment led, then. She couldn’t muster up much guilt.
But she’d also done unthinkable things to total strangers, like the Nikto terrorist, and the slippery path to that had begun when she was trained as a Jedi to use tricks like mind influence and memory-rubbing.
As he slid the magnetic bolt, Mereel was forming a little black vortex in the Force, not unlike the impression Etain first had of Kal. Ordo appeared to forget Fi for a moment as (he door opened and the tall, thin, gray-skinned figure in a monochrome uniform with black cuffs stepped into the center of the crew compartment.
“The longer you hold me here,” Ko Sai said, “the greater the risk you take that someone else will find me.”
This was the first Kaminoan that Etain had seen in the flesh. It was hard to believe that this graceful, soft-spoken species could be so monstrous. But she only had to look at Mereel and Ordo, radiating hatred, and the matched contempt of Skirata and Vau to see the scars Ko Sai had left in others’ lives.
“Sit down, Ko Sai,” said Skirata. “Let’s pick up where we left off. Can you, or can you not, switch off the genes that cause accelerated aging?”
Ko Sai folded her long, two-fingered hands in her lap as if she was meditating. “It’s possible.”
“But can you do it?”
“Sergeant, you know perfectly well that I identified the relevant genes for each characteristic we wanted to introduce into the basic Fett genome, so you know I can switch genes on where there are genes that need activation. You also know that I have unique expertise that no other Kaminoan has-or you wouldn’t be one of a number pursuing me.”
It wasn’t an answer. She was going to make Skirata-or Mereel, more likely-plow through petabytes, of data to find the relevant gene clusters. Etain focused on Ko Sai and let the Force impression wash over her. The Kaminoan’s sense of being right was immense, but it didn’t overwhelm a detachment so total that if Etain hadn’t seen people around Ko Sai, she might have thought the scientist was talking to herself. Skirata, Vau, and definitely Ordo and Mereel-they didn’t register as living beings with the Kaminoan. They were objects, no different from Mird or the table. There were always connections in the Force between beings, the element that Etain’s brain interpreted as threads and cables, and it was the complete absence of them around Ko Sai that made Etain take notice. It was like seeing jagged holes cut in a fine painting. What was not there was more striking than what was.