Qui-Gon excused himself and stepped into the hall. His brief conversation with the retiree had awakened new questions in his mind. There were many things he wanted to ask the woman, but they would have to wait.

At the moment he needed to talk to his Padawan.

"The shuttles are set to blow tonight when everyone is sleeping.

Grath assured me that no one will be in the shuttle bay." Obi-Wan tried to sound confident as he reported the Freelie prank to his Master. He wanted to mask the unease that he felt. Already he thought that infiltrating the Freelies was taking too long. He wished he'd been able to keep the kids from planting the explosives, but he hadn't seen a way to do it. It was too soon to reveal himself.

Qui-Gon was silent.

"They don't want to hurt anyone," Obi-Wan added.

"Someone will be hurt just the same," Qui-Gon said when he finally spoke. "People were almost hurt today."

Obi-Wan knew that his Master was right. The Freelies were going too far and there was more at stake than they realized. All they wanted was to show their parents that they were alive, that they needed more from them than work training. But they were going about it the wrong way.

Now Obi-Wan wondered if his plan to stop them was all wrong, too.

Looking at Qui-Gon's face, he could not help but get the feeling that his Master doubted him.

"I fear the pranks have risen to a new level. The children are in over their heads. Today Chairman Port contacted the leader of Vorzyd 5. She was outraged at his accusations and is prepared to take action if they continue. There was also an attack on the central control computer. If I hadn't been there to help, it could have resulted in a power outage for the entire city. And many lost lives."

Qui-Gon spoke evenly, but Obi-Wan felt reprimanded all the same. Even though he shared his Master's doubts, he found himself railing against them.

"I have two more days," Obi-Wan said with new resolve. "I can do this." Why couldn't Qui-Gon trust him to follow through? Obi-Wan suddenly felt desperate to be allowed to continue his plan. It seemed more important than anything else.

"It's not that I don't trust you," Qui-Gon said, locking eyes with his Padawan.

It never failed to startle Obi-Wan the way Qui-Gon sensed what he was thinking.

"The situation is complicated, and impossible for any single person to control. We must proceed carefully," Qui-Gon finished.

Obi-Wan nodded. He was prepared to defend his plan further, but Qui- Gon had not cut him off as he'd suspected he would. He was being given the freedom to carry on.

Why? Obi-Wan wondered later, lying on his sleep couch. Why was Qui- Gon letting him continue when he obviously had no faith in Obi-Wan's plan?

For a moment Obi-Wan thought his Master was giving him room to fail, to teach him a lesson. But that could not be. A Jedi would never risk the lives of other beings simply to prove a point. Qui-Gon hadn't given Obi-Wan the chance to fail, he had given him the chance to succeed.

Lying in the dark, Obi-Wan felt torn. He wasn't at all sure that what he was doing was right. Yet he had no choice but to move forward.

My plan will work, Obi-Wan told himself. It had to.

The lock on the door clicked and whirred. Obi-Wan was on his feet before he realized he was awake. The door opened to reveal a very rattled Chairman Port.

"The shuttles," the chairman gasped. "Vorzyd 5 is blowing up the shuttles. The morning laborers…" Port's antennae twitched rapidly and the Vorzydiak leaned against the portal for support. He appeared to be in shock. "Wounded," he said in a hollow voice. "Some may not live."

"The shuttles are exploding with passengers on them?" Obi-Wan asked, disbelieving. "When? Where?"

"Everywhere," the chairman whispered. "Now."

"Contact the shuttle bay. Tell them to evacuate. Tell them to stop all shuttles," Qui-Gon commanded.

Chairman Port pulled himself together enough to hurry toward the communication station near the entrance of the building.

Without a word to Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan ran toward the exit. He could hear his Master's footsteps behind him. They needed to keep as many Vorzydiaks as possible from boarding the shuttles.

Outside, a half-full shuttle was just pulling in to pick up the nearly twenty laborers ready to go to work.

"Stop!" Obi-Wan shouted, waving his arms to try to keep the crowd from boarding. But the appearance of the strangely dressed Jedi had the opposite effect, and the group attempted to squeeze onto the shuttle in a panic.

Thinking quickly, Qui-Gon stepped in front of the shuttle to keep it from moving. Obi-Wan understood and dove underneath. With the simple removal of two wires, the explosive was rendered harmless. But this was just one shuttle.

Suddenly Chairman Port's voice echoed over the shuttle system's speakers.

"Evacuate the shuttles at once. Please exit and move away from the shuttles. All shuttle systems will be shut down until further notice."

Confused Vorzydiaks did as they were told. But some of them started in with their droning, and a few others rocked from side to side.

Eventually most of them began to walk the long distance to work.

"We cannot allow this to be blamed on Vorzyd 5," Qui-Gon said quietly behind Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan nodded. Just as Qui-Gon had predicted, the Freelie plan had gone horribly wrong — and so had Obi-Wan's.

"I will find out how extensive the damage is and ask the chairman to have every shuttle in the city inspected," Qui-Gon continued. "You should contact the Freelies. You must convince them to come forward before I am forced to do it for them. We haven't much time."

Obi-Wan nodded again. He had not expected Qui-Gon to let him continue with his infiltration — not after this. He knew his Master had every right to go directly to the chairman and tell him everything. But, he realized, there was reason not to as well. It would be better for all Vorzydiaks if the Freelies came forward in peace. Forcing the kids and adults into a hostile meeting could actually make the situation worse. Qui-Gon had obviously considered this.

Obi-Wan sighed. Whatever the reason, Qui-Gon was giving Obi-Wan one last chance to do it his way. And he was grateful.

But as he watched his Master walk away, Obi-Wan was suddenly overcome by a strange feeling. He had the sense that someone was watching his every move.