Guerra pushed him into a storage room. He rubbed his eyes to survey the equipment, and the white patches around his eyes widened. Obi-Wan realized that Guerra’s skin was actually fair. He was covered with mining dust and grime.
Guerra caught him staring. “Showers once a month, but why bother? Soon, you’ll look like me, Human boy.”
“Guerra, I’m not a miner,” Obi-Wan repeated. “I’ve been kidnapped and sent here. I’m -“
Guerra burst out laughing. He slapped his knees with flapping hands.
“Kidnapped? How awful! Let me alert the security forces! Oh, I lie again!
How do you think I got here? Do you think I volunteered? We’re all slaves, don’t you see? At the end of five years, they give you enough to pay transport off-planet and start over. If you survive. Most don’t.”
“Five years?” Obi-Wan asked, swallowing hard.
“That’s the contract you sign,” Guerra said. “You’ll need a thermosuit. And a tech-helmet. Some tools …”
“But I didn’t sign a contract!”
Guerra laughed again as he held a thermosuit against Obi-Wan and rejected it as too small. “Stop distracting me with jokes, Human boy! Did I sign? They forge it so!”
“My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi. I am a Jedi pupil.”
“Jedi, Kedi, Ledi, Medi,” Guerra said in a nonsense singsong. “Doesn’t matter who you are. You could be the Prince of Coruscant No one will find you here.”
He tossed another thermosuit at Obi-Wan. “This one will have to do. So, now for a tech-helmet.”
Obi-wan clutched the suit against him. It was stained and damp. He couldn’t imagine putting it on. He was already chilled to the bone. His head pounded again, and he touched it carefully. He could feel the bruise on the back of his scalp. Blood matted his hair. His ribs were on fire.
The he remembered the collar. He touched it. “Is this some sort of healing device, Guerra?”
This time, Guerra fell back into the pile of thermosuits. He laughed so hard he began to choke. “So! You make me laugh again, Obawan. Healing device!” He hooted with laughter, then cleared his throat. “Not so! It is an electro-collar. If you try to leave the mining platform, ga-coosh!” Guerra’s rubbery arms waved. “You blow up!”
Obi-Wan touched the collar gingerly. “The guards can blow us up?”
“Not the guards,” Guerra explained cheerfully. “Electro-collars are activated on the mainland. Just in case of rebellion, you see. If we overpowered the guards, we might be able to dismantle the devices, got it? So the guards can’t blow us up, no.” Guerra smiled amiably at him. “They can only beat us and blast us and stun us and throw us overboard.”
“What a relief,” Obi-Wan muttered.
Guerra grinned, his teeth flashing yellow. “I like you, Obawan. So! I’ll watch out for you - ha! Not so, I lie again! I trust nobody and nobody trust me. Now hurry before the guards come and give us a stun.” Guerra poked him and made a sizzling sound, then laughed uproariously. “Don’t look so sad, Obawan.
Tomorrow, you’ll probably be dead!”
Obi-Wan climbed reluctantly into the thermosuit. He grabbed the tech-helmet and strapped on the servo-tool belt. He had no choice. Not yet. He had to figure out how to escape. Guerra said that no one had ever done it. But a Jedi had never been here before. He hoped.
Obi-Wan cleared his mind. He pushed away his fear and despair. He focused on the collar around his neck. Surely he could use the Force to override the device.
He concentrated hard, bringing the Force around him to bear on the collar. He used every ounce of his training and discipline.
But the collar still hummed with its electro-charge.
He was too weak perhaps. He would have to bide his time.
If he survived …
As he returned to the deck, he saw a guard viciously stun a miner who had stumbled. How could he survive this?
Play along for now, you will.
The word came to him clearly. Yoda’s words. Just hearing the tones of the Jedi Master pushed the despair away and gave him courage.
Obi-Wan lifted his head. He was a Jedi. He would play along. And he would survive.
Chapter 14
“We have one last mission,” was all Yoda would allow Qui-Gon to say to Xanatos.
“And then you will become a Jedi Knight …”
Si Treemba knew nothing. Clat’Ha told Qui-Gon that one minute Si Treemba had been asleep and the next, he woke up to find Offworld guards hustling Obi-Wan away. Obi-wan had been unconscious. Qui-Gon’s heart twisted at this news.
Si Treemba had not seen anyone resembling Xanatos. Still, Qui-Gon knew he had to be involved. He had been away from Bandor. Surely that was no coincidence.