"I don't know," she said. "The pool must be contaminated. Let's look at the others."
They gathered a few long sticks and walked to the rest of the pools. When they submerged a stick in the black water, it was stripped of bark immediately. If they held it under longer, the stick itself dissolved.
"The underground spring that fed the pools must be contaminated with chemicals," Andra said. Her voice was thick. "My father used to take me here as a girl. We hiked every inch of the park and bathed in the steam pools. After he died, this was the only place where I could find comfort."
When she looked up, Andra's honey-colored eyes glittered with unshed tears. Obi-Wan didn't know how to comfort her. What would Qui-Gon do?
He remembered an incident back at the Temple. Jedi Knight Tahl had only recently lost her sight. She was feeling helpless and angry. He remembered how Qui-Gon had quietly acknowledged her pain, then given her something to focus on.
"I'm sorry, Andra," he told her. "If we expose them, we will stop them. It's not too late."
She nodded, biting on her lip to stop the tears from falling. "Let's do it."
Her mouth set in determination, Andra turned the holographic recorder toward the pools. Obi-Wan used his recording rod to sweep the area and record the equipment. He tried to find a logo or name on various items to indicate they were owned by Offworld, but he found nothing.
Obi-Wan frowned worriedly. "We can bring this back and show it to the citizens of Thani, but we need to connect it to Xanatos. The government can claim they knew nothing about it. They can blame UniFy, and UniFy will just close its doors. Those who are truly responsible will escape."
"We can't let that happen," Andra said.
Just then they heard a noise. Someone was heading toward them. Obi-Wan gestured to Andra, and they quickly pressed themselves behind a gravsled.
Two surveillance droids rolled into view. Blasters were built into their hands. Their heads rotated constantly, infrared sensors glowing.
"All clear," one of them reported into a comlink. "Commence. Repeat, commence."
A loud noise suddenly pierced the air. The ground shook.
"What is it?" Andra asked, her hands against her ears.
"Let's take a look," Obi-Wan said. The droids had disappeared around the side of the malab slag hill.
Staying in the shadow of the hill, Obi-Wan and Andra followed. The droids were no longer in surveillance mode, so their heads no longer swiveled. As they followed, the noise grew louder.
When they rounded the pile of malab, another devastated landscape met their eyes. A mound of sand rose in front of them. A huge pit had been dug in the ground. The source of the noise was the golden sand being sucked into giant machines. Workers dressed in unisuits tended the operation. The droids headed toward a ring of tech domes in the distance.
"There are trace minerals in the sand," Andra yelled over the noise of the machine. "They must be mining it."
The workers were intent on operating the machinery and did not turn. Andra turned on her holograph recorder and Obi-Wan his recording rod.
Another team of surveillance droids exited the first tech dome and began to make their way across the yard.
"Hurry," Obi-Wan urged. "They might switch to surveillance mode again." He lowered the recording rod and slipped it back into his tunic.
"I want to make sure the image is clear," Andra muttered.
Obi-Wan saw the infrared sensors click on. "Stop recording!" he whispered. "They might pick it up on a sensor."
"Just one more second…" Andra switched off the holographic recorder just as the droids' sensors began to blink.
"Don't move," Obi-Wan muttered between his teeth.
The droids' heads slowly revolved as the sensors took in every quadrant.
"This doesn't look good," Obi-Wan murmured. "Something has alerted them. We'd better get out of here."
"But we don't have enough yet!" Andra protested.
"What we have will have to do," Obi-Wan said urgently. "It will be worse if we get caught. I promised Qui-Gon we wouldn't take chances." He yanked a protesting Andra back. The droids slowly turned and headed across the yard toward them. Obi-Wan and Andra picked up their pace.
"Hurry," he urged.
Within a moment, they had ducked around the hill and were out of sight of the droids. They began to run for the cavern.
"Intruders! Intruders!"
Blaster fire suddenly ripped into the ground next to them. Obi-Wan drew his lightsaber and whirled to deflect the next blast. They were almost at the cavern entrance.
Pingpingping! The blaster fire hit the cavern wall. Chips of stone flew out, cutting Andra on the cheek.
"Get inside!" Obi-Wan shouted.
Andra ducked inside the cavern. Deflecting one last round of fire, Obi-Wan hurried after her.
They could not move as fast inside the cavern. The floor was too slippery. When they reached the velvety darkness deep inside, Obi-Wan paused.
"I don't hear anything," he said.
"Maybe they've gone for reinforcements," Andra suggested. "Come on, the exit is close by."
Obi-Wan could hear the faint murmur of the creek as he carefully followed Andra. She made her way through the maze of turns, then stopped before the sheer wall. Obi-Wan saw her flatten herself against the wall, then slip between the fissure.
They stepped out into the creek and hopped from stone to stone. They had to hurry. No doubt a full-scale alert would send other surveillance teams after them.
Obi-Wan hurried behind Andra as she snaked through the tall trees of the glade. She hugged the rock wall, then emerged where they had left their swoops.
They tossed aside the branches they had used for camouflage. The swoops were gone.
They looked at each other, stunned. There was a crack of a twig behind them, and Obi-Wan spun around.
Surveillance droids surrounded them in a semicircle, blasters drawn.
Chapter 13
Obi-Wan knew he was in danger even as he was turning. His turn was deliberately off center, his hand already reaching for his lightsaber in a motion so fast it was undetectable. With the other hand, he reached out and pushed Andra aside.
The blaster fire ripped between them and left a pockmarked wall.