"I am going," Qui-Gon insisted.
"Qui-Gon," Mace Windu warned, "you are not listening to our counsel.
It is clear that you made a decision and will not be swayed. It is not like you to close your mind, nor is it like a Jedi."
Qui-Gon said nothing. He would not argue with Mace Windu. But he would not abandon his plan.
"You must open your mind to other opinions. We sit here on the Council because our vision is a wider one than that of any individual Jedi.
" Qui-Gon stirred impatiently. "I am wasting time," he said.
Obi-Wan looked at him, startled. Qui-Gon knew he had been rude, but he was on fire to leave the Temple. No matter what the Council said, he was going.
Mace Windu looked thunderous. "Counsel with us is wasting your time?"
He pointed his finger at Qui-Gon. "Know this, Qui-Gon Jinn. If you leave to find Tahl, you do it against our wishes and direction."
It was the strongest condemnation Mace Windu could give, short of forbidding it. Qui-Gon nodded curtly. He turned and left the chamber, feeling Obi-Wan at his heels.
He did not stop but stepped immediately on the turbolift. Obi-Wan had to jump to accompany him.
"I have never seen you act so impolite," Obi-Wan said, running both hands through his hair. "You defied Mace Windu!"
The turbolift opened. Qui-Gon strode out.
"Qui-Gon, wait. Can't you talk to me?"
He stopped and turned. His Padawan's face was full of worry. He could see how torn he was. Obi-Wan did not understand how a vision could touch you so deeply that it was as though the real world dropped away and you were living in another reality. Qui-Gon had to get to Tahl. He had to see her, grasp her hands, look into her face. He had to know she was alive.
"You are going to New Apsolon today?" Obi-Wan asked.
"As soon as I can arrange transport."
"Then I will get my survival pack and meet you at the landing platform."
Qui-Gon took a breath to compose himself. "No, Padawan," he said as gently as he could. "You must remain behind. I cannot ask you to defy the Council on my behalf."
"You are not asking me," Obi-Wan said. "There are reasons to stay. I will not be gone long."
"That is what Tahl said."
Qui-Gon sighed. "Unlike Tahl, I will remain in touch with you. I will call for you if I need you." He held Obi-Wan's gaze. "You know that I will.
" Obi-Wan's gaze did not falter. Qui-Gon could see that his Padawan did not understand. Yet he would not back down.
"My place is by your side," Obi-Wan said. Qui-Gon took a deep breath.
"Then let us depart."
Chapter 4
Before landing on New Apsolon, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan changed from their Jedi tunics into the common street wear of travelers, hooded short robes of dark cloth with leather trousers tucked into boots. Qui-Gon would be careful to wear his hood while on the planet. He did not think many would remember him, but he would take no chances.
They set down their craft at a landing pad on the outskirts of the capital city, also called New Apsolon. The city was a large one, spread out over many kilometers. The rest of the small planet was devoted to its second-largest industry, harvesting the gray stone that was used in most of the buildings. There were a few small cities and villages, but the majority of the population lived in the teeming capital city.
They paid the owner to hold the transport, then took a turbolift to the surface of the planet.
They arrived in the Worker Sector of the city. The buildings were no taller than six stories, many built cheaply of durasteel. Others were built of native gray stone with small windows and rounded roofs. Qui-Gon recognized the style as one for those which sometimes lacked heat in winter. Ahead they could see the tall elegant buildings of the Civilized Sector. Although the Worker Sector was cleaner and better maintained than Qui-Gon remembered, its poverty was in marked contrast to the gleaming city they could glimpse ahead.
New Apsolon did not show many of the effects of the civil disturbances that had rocked the government six years before. Qui-Gon had visited worlds that had destroyed their cities through years of conflict.
He had seen evidence of ruin — buildings that had been transformed into rubble, formerly blooming squares now mere patches of dirt. New Apsolon showed none of this destruction. The Civilized Sector still gleamed. The city had always been a tech center, and the buildings were tall, impressive structures. Any evidence of street fighting had long since been removed.
One thing Qui-Gon did not remember from his last visit was the presence of slender glass columns about his own height, lit from within.
The columns appeared on street corners or in public squares. Sometimes they were arranged in groups; occasionally they stood alone. Some were glowing white, some ice-blue.
"What do you think they are?" Obi-Wan asked. "They don't seem to have any function,"
Qui-Gon recognized a street crossing. "This is where the energy wall to the Civilized Sector used to be." The largest cluster they'd seen yet of the glowing columns stood ahead in a small plaza. "Let's take a closer look at those columns."
The columns were arranged only a few centimeters apart. Together, they formed a tight glowing cube. Near the front of the cube Qui-Gon saw a polished black slab with words chiseled in its smooth surface.
HERE WE COMMEMORATE OUR FELLOW CITIZENS, WORKERS ALL, FORTY IN NUMBER, WHO WERE SLAIN BY THE ABSOLUTE FORCES WHILE ATTEMPTING TO BREACH THE ENERGY WALL.
Obi-Wan counted the columns. "There are forty columns. One for each Worker. These are memorials."
"Every spot where a Worker died is commemorated," Qui-Gon guessed.
The two Jedi gazed at the glowing columns. Now they seemed to take on the presence of living beings. Qui-Gon could imagine the forty Workers, striding toward the energy wall. Perhaps their arms had been linked together.
"I remember on our mission to Melida/Daan how shocked I was at the devastation in the city," Obi-Wan said. "Every ruin held so much sadness.
You could see the lives lost and disrupted. This feels just as terrible, somehow. The city has not been touched, yet so many beings are gone. And life continues to go on around them." Obi-Wan touched the glass. "It is good to see what has been lost."