For days, while he was stuck in the
vapor-filled chamber, all Qui-Gon had wanted to
do was to get out and stretch his muscles.
Thanks to Padawan, he had been
released from the chamber. But now,
when he finally had his freedom, he found
himself in an even tighter space—a
ventilation shaft.
Jenna Zan Arbor had sealed herself into
the room where she held the other prisoner.
It had been a wise move. She knew that
Qui-Gon would not dare to break in. She
knew he would not gamble with the other
being's life.
He could not use Obi-Wan's lightsaber
to get through the door. He could not take any
aggressive action. With a sensor in
his body and one in the other prisoner's, both of
them could be dead in an instant.
He would have to use stealth. He had
found the ventilation shaft that ran through the
ceiling. He had been crawling for what
felt like a long time. He could not make a
sound to alert her, and he had to be
mindful of his directions as well. The various
shafts were a maze. But if he was careful,
he could wind up in the ceiling over Zan
Arbors head.
What then? Qui-Gon wondered. He could
drop down on her from above. But what if
the trigger for the sensor was concealed
in her clothing? Even if it were somewhere
on a console, could he persuade her
to disable the sensors? Could he believe her if
she said she had?
He didn't know the answers to those
questions. But he could not wait outside the
door, wondering what was going on inside.
He spied a vent ahead and carefully
moved toward it. He lowered his face and
peered through.
He was over the lab at last. He saw
the top of Zan Arbors head. The same kind of
transparent chamber he had been kept
in was in the middle of the room. It was filled
with a cloudy gas, so he could not
see the occupant.
Zan Arbor paced back and forth with
short, quick steps. He recognized the angry
movement. Something else had gone wrong.
"Do not think you can fool me," Zan
Arbor said furiously. " I know you are willing
yourself to die. You refuse to access
the Force. I will not let that happen!" She strode
over to a bank of equipment. "You want
to die?" she asked shrilly. "Then know what it
feels like to die!"
She turned an indicator knob. Qui-Gon
did not know what she was doing. He could
only imagine. Zan Arbor's goal was
to break down the essential elements of the
force into something she could control.
Qui-Gon knew firsthand how ruthless she
could be if her subject did not cooperate.
Hold on, he urged the prisoner silently.
She switched off the dial. "Well? Are
you still so interested in dying? Now show me
the Force!" Qui-Gon saw her send a
sharp gaze to a chronometer to check the time.
She was under some kind of pressure.
Why?
"All right, then. If I cannot use you,
you are just a liability. But I'll take all your blood
before you die, just for being so uncooperative."
Her hand went for the dial again. It
was time to act. Qui-Gon eased out Obi-Wan's
lightsaber in one swift, practiced
movement and reared back to kick through the
vent.
But he checked himself just in time
as an indicator buzzed and Zan Arbor hesitated.
She pressed the communication button.
A voice blared, "Droid shipment."
"It's about time," she snarled
She whirled and stalked out of the room
without another word. Qui-Gon settled back
on his haunches, thinking. He could
not release the prisoner until he knew that Zan
Arbor was immobilized and unable to
kill him. But any delay could seal his doom
completely.
He was more trapped in his freedom than
he'd been as a prisoner. What should he
do?
