Qui-Gon nodded. "I know you do. It is my own unease that makes me repeat these things. I trust you, Obi-Wan."
The words trickled through Obi-Wan and filled him with warmth.
"I will not fail," he said.
"Just be safe," Qui-Gon responded.
Andra lifted her hood over her dark braids as she strode forward. "Ready, Obi-Wan?"
He swung his leg over the swoop. Qui-Gon had given him a quick lesson earlier. He wasn't used to such maneuverable transport. A slight touch could cause it to lean and dive. Obi-Wan was a fast learner, but it had taken him time before Qui-Gon was satisfied with his skill.
Andra gunned her motor and took off. Obi-Wan followed.
"Don't take any chances!" Den called after them.
"He sounds worried," Obi-Wan called over to Andra.
She gritted her teeth. "He's just trying to pretend to be a good person. It's a strain."
The black sky turned to gray as they traveled through the quiet outskirts of the city. Buildings grew farther apart. Land began to be cultivated. Then after the sun rose there were barely any dwellings at all, just occasional villages tucked into deep valleys.
Obi-Wan marveled at the beauty of the countryside. Fields of lavender and blue flowers swayed in a gentle breeze. Every few kilometers they came upon another deep blue lake glittering in the folds of the golden hills.
"This is beautiful country," he called over to Andra as they flew.
"I was born here," she said. "There's a proposal to turn much of this into another global park. But now I wonder why. Will they develop this, too?"
That reminded Obi-Wan why he was here. He hunched over the swoop handlebars, determined to foil whatever terrible scheme Xanatos had for Telos.
The land began to climb, the hills growing higher and steeper. Rock formations towered above them as they followed a road cut into the stone mountains. Snow began to appear on the crags. Although Obi-Wan had felt too warm earlier, now he was glad he had followed Andra's advice and worn his thermal gear.
"Almost there," Andra called back.
Obi-Wan followed Andra as she left the road, entering a forest glade so thick with tall trees that it blocked out the sky. Andra wove expertly through the trunks. Obi-Wan had to concentrate to keep up. At last she pulled over and waited for him to stop next to her.
"I think we should leave the swoops here," she said. "This glade adjoins the park. I know a way into the Mirror Caverns. Once we're through them, we'll be in the Park of Sacred Pools."
They covered the swoops with branches. Their footsteps made soft sounds on the carpet of leaves as they hurried through the glade. They came to a craggy wall of stone, and Andra followed it down a small hill to a fast-moving creek. She hopped from rock to rock in the creek, Obi-Wan following. The creek suddenly stopped at a sheer wall of gray stone.
"I think you can make it," Andra said, glancing back at him. "But you might have to wriggle a bit."
Obi-Wan saw that there was a slight fissure in the rock wall, almost invisible to the naked eye. It ran from the creek up the wall, as tall as he was. First, Andra pushed her survival pack through, then slipped inside. Andra was slender and was easily able to pass through, but Obi-Wan had a bit more trouble. He made himself as thin as possible and popped out, almost falling. He threw out a hand to steady himself and felt a smooth, polished surface.
Andra activated a glow rod. Obi-Wan saw that he was in a cavern with walls that arched over his head. The stone was deep black and so highly polished that he could see his reflection. Here the creek was just a trickle of silver snaking through the black floor. The beam of the glow rod bounced from wall to wall, multiplying its light. Obi-Wan felt dizzy, as though he were standing underneath a thousand stars.
"It's incredible," he said.
"Yes," Andra said quietly. "It's beautiful, isn't it? The stone is called malab. It's highly prized in the galaxy since it's so rare. Come on, the exit is this way. Watch your step, it's slippery."
She led him through twists and turns until they joined the main cave. At the entrance, the cavern widened and some light from outside illuminated the walls. Andra let out a small cry. She lifted the glow rod to examine the wall. Stone had been chipped away, leaving deep gouges in the smooth surface. The samples were piled on the floor next to scan grids. Splinters of the stone surrounded a jagged hole in the polished floor.
"They're going to mine it," she whispered to Obi-Wan, her eyes burning. "This is a sacred place for all Telosians. Look what they've done!"
With trembling hands, she removed the holographic recorder from her pack. She trained the lens on the piles of stone, panning back and forth to the scan grids and the jagged holes. Obi-Wan took a recording rod from his pack and shot the same images. Now they would have a backup, just in case. He could conceal the recording rod in his clothing.
"Come on," Obi-Wan urged.
Carefully, they edged out of the cavern. The morning sun was strong, warming the cool rocks and lighting up golden sand that surrounded deep pools of steaming black water. A black hill rose in front of them. It glittered in the rays of the sun.
"That hill is made of malab," Andra said in disbelief. "They must be harvesting it from the caverns."
Obi-Wan looked at the heavy equipment and gravsleds surrounding the pools. He had spent time on the mining planet of Bandomeer and was familiar with mining machinery.
"Those are mole miners," he said, pointing. "They can dig hundreds of kilometers deep. If there are mole miners, there has to be a base where they unload. Those vehicles are TNTs."
"TNTs?" Andra asked.
"Treaded neutron torches," Obi-Wan explained. "They have fireball-shooting cannons that blast through rock. That's how mine shafts are created. I'd say we've got a full-scale operation going here."
He felt Andra stiffen beside him. "The pools…" she said. "The water used to be crystal clear."
Obi-Wan walked closer to examine a pool. As he leaned over, the cord on his survival pack dropped into the water. Steam rose in a hiss, and he pulled up the pack quickly. The cord had dissolved.
He looked up at Andra. "What happened?"