He studied the Whiphid again. He was lying on his cot. Beneath his head Obi-Wan could see a barely concealed weapon. Among such creatures, sleeping with a blaster was the norm.
Obi-Wan watched the Whiphid breathe. He took shallow breaths, a bit too unevenly for Obi-Wan to be comfortable. If he was asleep at all, he was sleeping lightly.
Too often in the past, Obi-Wan’s impatience had gotten him into trouble. This time he decoded to trust his instincts.
Carefully, quietly, Obi-Wan scooted past this room. He glanced behind him in the cramped duct. Si Treemba was at his heels. The poor Arconan could hardly move his huge triangular head through the shaft.
Then Si Treemba banged his head on the metal duct. It made a small thump. Obi-Wan cringed.
Because Si Treemba’s people had evolved in the tunnels of Arcona, his marvelous faceted eyes gave off a faint bioluminescent light. Obviously, Arconans were not animal hunters. Obi-Wan only hoped that as they passed the cabin below, the Whiphid would not glance and see the Arconan.
Obi-Wan held his breath and moved forward, inching along toward the air vent for the next cabin.
The odor coming from the room ahead was horrible — a mixture of sour fat and greasy hair. Obi-Wan could hear voices, the booming laughter of Hutts, the animal growls of Whiphids.
He brushed aside some dust and peered through the next vent. The cabin was full of Hutts and Whiphids, all crouched around the floor, playing dice.
Si Treemba would never be able to sneak past them. They’d have to back up, as they had done so many times today. Obi-Wan feared they were completely lost.
Glancing back down the air shaft, Obi-wan could see Si Treemba cautiously inching toward the previous air shaft. Obi-Wan waved a hand, trying to get the Arconan’s attention, when suddenly a blinding flash of light erupted through the shaft, and a deafening boom roared.
Someone had shot a blaster through the vent!
Smoke began to fill the air. They were trapped!
Frantically, Obi-Wan signaled at Si Treemba to hurry toward him. But even as he did, a huge furry paw pushed through the metal grate and grabbed Si Treemba by the throat.
Si Treemba’s glittering eyes widened in terror. He let out a choked sound that might have been a call for help. The he was yanked through the grate. Obi-Wan heard the thump of his body hitting the ground.
Through the vent behind him, Obi-Wan heard a Hutt laugh cruelly. “And you said there were womp rats in the air shaft! I told you I smelled an Arconan!”
Obi-Wan’s heart pounded. In seconds he knew that someone would stick his head up through the grill, blaster in hand, looking for more like Si Treemba.
Moving quickly as he dared, he scooted silently toward a corner twenty meters ahead. He pulled himself around it, sweat streaming down his face. Behind him, he heard the faint sound of Si Treemba screaming. A Whiphid roared in anger. Obi-Wan bit his lip. He wanted to block out the sounds of Si Treemba’s screams, but he deserved to hear them. He had gotten the Arconan into this mess.
Through the air shaft, he heard someone growl, “I don’t see anyone else up here.”
He didn’t dare return for Si Treemba. Instead, Obi-Wan crawled forward blindly, turning several corners and moving quickly through the ducts. He had to get help!
At last he stopped, panting. There was no help on this side of the ship.
Qui-Gon had warned him to stay out of Offworld territory. Now Obi-Wan realized he had to go back. The Hutts and Whiphids would think Si Treemba was a spy. They might try to torture a confession from him. They might even kill him. And they wouldn’t wait long.
He had been so foolish! He should have realized how difficult it would be to penetrate this side of the ship. He had led Si Treemba straight into danger. He had taken advantage of Si Treemba’s loyalty to him.
Maybe Qui-Gon’s hesitation about him had been right all along. Maybe he didn’t deserve to be a Jedi.
Obi-Wan wiped the sweat from his eyes with the hem of his tunic. He made sure his lightsaber was holstered securely.
Then he turned back to help his friend.
Chapter 11
Qui-Gon swung his legs over his sleep-couch. He felt his heart pound in his chest, every muscle on alert. But why?
He had been resting when he sensed it. It felt as though danger was near, but Qui-Gon was not in danger…
Suddenly, he recognized the feeling. He had experienced it before. Jedi sometimes sense when another Jedi, close to them, is in trouble. At times, they can even see a vague picture of what that trouble might be. Qui-Gon searched his mind, but did not see anything clear. Only haze.
“Obi-Wan,” he murmured. It had to be the boy. Qui-Gon fought against the feeling. It was ridiculous, absurd. The boy was not his Padawan. Why would there be such a strong connection between them?
Yet there it was. Yoda would be pleased.
Qui-Gon groaned. He was not.
Wherever he turned, the boy appeared. He was happy to treat Obi-Wan’s injuries, but he refused to be responsible for his welfare. If the boy had gotten himself into some sort of mess, he would just have to find his own way out of it.
Qui-Gon stretched out on the sleep-couch again. But this time, although he could quiet his body, he could not quiet his mind.
Time seemed to crawl as Obi-Wan desperately searched for Si Treemba. He had to drag himself through the air shaft, sneaking past miner cabins and peering through grates, holding his breath. Grime covered his hands and grit flew into his eyes as he stirred up years of dust.
At last he found Si Treemba, four floors down near the belly of the ship. A small cabin had been made into a make shift prison cell. Apparently, the Monument had need of a temporary jail during its transport runs. Considering the crowd on this one, Obi-Wan wasn’t surprised.
Obi-Wan peered down through the vent. Si Treemba was chained to the wall by one ankle. He lay sprawled on the floor, his arms outstretched. Just out of his reach lay some yellow crystals of dactyl. Only a half-dozen paces away a Hutt and two Whiphid guards played cards at a massive carved metal table.
The Arconan boy looked beaten and bruised, but more seemed to be wrong with him than a mere beating. His color had gone from a healthy gray-green to muddy tan. Obi-Wan could see that the life force in the Arconan was week, and fading. But why? Si Treemba had ingested his dactyl supply before they’d begun the search. Why had he weakened so fast?