“And we are here to give it,” Qui-Gon said.
V-Nen put his hand on Qui-Gon’s forearm. O-Melie put hers on Adi Gallia’s.
V-Nen said, “Now we are Nen and Melie to you. Our fate is twined with yours.”
“We will find your daughter,” Qui-Gon assured them.
“You must be careful,” Nen told them. “We are part of a faction on Kegan that opposes O-Vieve and V-Tan. We believe that the isolation policy is wrong. Trade and exploration could be good for Kegan. The surveillance is what has made our anti-isolationist movement so difficult. It’s not that we are arrested or forbidden to discuss things - on the contrary, V-Tan and O-Vieve insist that Kegan is an open society. Yet somehow those of us who ask why we cannot travel beyond Kegan are punished - moved to job sectors we do not like, forced to share housing unexpectedly, given low priority for requests … things that make life difficult on Kegan. You may imagine that the movement has thus lost many members. The rest have learned to be careful.”
“But now they have gone too far. They have taken our daughter,” Melie said. “I do not want to be careful any longer.”
“V-Tan and O-Vieve have said that if one Keganite leaves the planet it will cause our destruction,” Men continued. “They will prevent Lana leaving in whatever way they can.”
“We must find her before it’s too late,” Melie said, her voice trembling.
“Yet every move is watched. Every word we say is heard,” Nen added in despair.
“I have an idea,” Qui-Gon said. “Autohoppers are controlled by CIPs - Central Instruction Processors.”
“Yes,” Nen agreed. “The CIP is in a guarded building right here in the Comm Circle.”
“If Adi and I can disable the CIP, they will need to recall the autohoppers until it is repaired. In the meantime, the people will be able to share information more freely. You will be able to mobilize your group, and we will have time to search for Lana.”
“Qui-Gon, I must speak to you,” Adi said sternly.
She drew Qui-Gon into the corner.
“I must object to this plan,” she said in a low tone that vibrated with worry. “It is totally opposed to the Council’s wishes. We will directly interfere with the Kegan government if we disable a CIP.”
“But how else can we complete our mission?” Qui-Gon argued. “We didn’t know before we arrived that the people here
were
under
constant surveillance. We didn’t know that two
powerful rulers were controlling them. And our Padawans and an innocent child weren’t missing!”
Adi pressed her lips together. She cast her eyes on the floor, thinking.
“Adi, we must find them,” Qui-Gon said softly. “This is the only way.”
Adi raised her head. Her deep brown eyes still were clouded by doubt. She did not speak.
“I understand if you don’t wish to help me,” Qui-Gon said firmly. “But I will disable that CIP. The question is, will you come with me?”
Davi, Obi-Wan, and Siri sat in a dark corner of the food hall.
“What are we waiting for?” Siri whispered to Davi.
“Lockdown,” Davi said. “The lights will go on and off three times. The Security Guides will change shifts. V-Tarz is on tonight. He’ll sit at the surveillance post in the admin center. If anyone steps foot out of the dorm quads, an alarm will sound.”
“So how will we escape?” Siri asked.
“V-Tarz waits five minutes after lockdown, then turns off security in Quad 7 and raids the kitchen,” Davi said with a grin. “I found this out the night I met Scurry.” He placed the ferbil on his palm and fed it a few seeds. “Scurry was in the food prep area. He must have gotten in somehow and couldn’t find his way out. I knew if they found him he’d be … gotten rid of. I was
trying to figure out how to keep him when the lockdown warning came. I decided to spend the night where I was. It’s six punishment marks if you’re caught out after lockdown. V-Tarz came in for a snack, so I hid.”
“How do you know he does it every night?” Obi-Wan asked.
“Because you can see the security light blink off in the dorm,” Davi explained. “I come out here almost every night. Sometimes I’m … I’m afraid to be alone in the dark.”
“But you sleep in a room with twenty other boys,” Obi-Wan said.
“I’m still alone,” Davi said. Embarrassed, he looked down quickly to pet the ferbil.
“Listen, I know what you mean,” Siri said bluntly. “This place could give anyone the wild shivers.”
Davi looked up with a shy smile. Once again, Siri’s forthright manner had reassured him, Obi-Wan noted. He would never have imagined that Siri was capable of comforting anyone.