Part 28 (2/2)

”Was that real?” Luke repeated. He let out a choked half laugh. ”Maybe you'd rather ask me something else, like what's the ultimate origin of the Force.” Luke repeated. He let out a choked half laugh. ”Maybe you'd rather ask me something else, like what's the ultimate origin of the Force.”

”We'll save the easy stuff for later,” Ben replied. ”Seriously, this whole experience is making me barvy. I need to figure it out now.”

His father closed his eyes and let out a long breath, then said, ”You're the detective, Ben. You can figure this out for yourself-in fact, I think you have to.”

Ben sighed. Sometimes he really hated having a Jedi Master for a father. Everything was a lesson.

”Okay,” he said. ”Let's start with the fact that we both saw the same people at the Lake of Apparitions.”

”We all all saw the same people,” Rhondi added. She jerked her stun cuffs against the beam to which Ben had secured them. ”How about a little consideration here?” saw the same people,” Rhondi added. She jerked her stun cuffs against the beam to which Ben had secured them. ”How about a little consideration here?”

Seeing that his father was strong enough to hold his own sip-pack, Ben grabbed another and started toward Rhondi. ”If we all saw the same thing, that means we really experienced something something. We just can't be sure what what, since we were ...”

”Outside our bodies,” Luke clarified. our bodies,” Luke clarified.

”Because our bodies don't exist beyond shadows,” Rhondi said. ”Only our true presences.”

”Yeah, you keep saying that,” Ben said. He squatted next to Rhondi. ”But your word isn't evidence. I still don't know whether I had the experience of really really talking to Mom, or if I just saw what someone in that ... talking to Mom, or if I just saw what someone in that ... place place wanted me to see.” wanted me to see.”

”Then you must agree that the place is real,” Rhondi observed, ”if you believe someone in it can make you see anything.” anything.”

Ben nodded, the blood in his veins suddenly running slow and cold. ”It's real. I felt something there that I recognized from before ...” He turned to his father. ”From when I was at Shelter. It's what drove me away from the Force.”

”You're sure?” Luke asked.

Again, Ben nodded. ”It's as real as we are,” he said. ”And I'm pretty sure it's behind the paranoid delusions that Jedi Knights my age keep having.”

”It's a good theory,” Luke said. ”But how is it spreading, for example?”

”The same way that's that's happening.” Ben waved through the viewport at all the bodies floating in the meditation vault beyond the control room. ”The same way I felt it at Shelter. Through the Force.” happening.” Ben waved through the viewport at all the bodies floating in the meditation vault beyond the control room. ”The same way I felt it at Shelter. Through the Force.”

”Your Jedi Knights aren't sick,” Rhondi said. ”They are only being called home.”

Ben glanced back to her and realized that he had not yet released her stun cuffs, but he decided it might be better to wait until they had finished the conversation. He prepared a sip-pack for her, then held the tube to her lips and returned his attention to his father.

”You might call that that evidence, too,” Ben said. ”Qwallo Mode didn't show up here by accident.” evidence, too,” Ben said. ”Qwallo Mode didn't show up here by accident.”

Luke sat up and reached for a second sip-pack. ”I'm not arguing against you there, Ben,” he said. ”I'm just trying to think things through. For instance, why aren't Kam and Tionne having trouble? Or any of the adult adult Jedi Knights who spent time guarding Shelter?” Jedi Knights who spent time guarding Shelter?”

Ben could only shake his head. ”I don't know,” he said. ”If I'm not affected-or infected-it has to be because I withdrew from the Force. Maybe trained adult Jedi have too many defenses. Or maybe there's something smart behind this. If the Masters Solusar had had felt that place reaching out-” felt that place reaching out-”

”Right,” Luke said. ”The young ones would have been moved. But why now? It's been nearly a decade and a half since there were any students at Shelter.”

That answer, Ben did not have to think about at all. It was all around him, in the strobing alarm light and the smoking circuits-in the answer, Ben did not have to think about at all. It was all around him, in the strobing alarm light and the smoking circuits-in the timing timing of when things started to go wrong in the control room. of when things started to go wrong in the control room.

”Centerpoint Station was destroyed-that's what changed.” He looked back to Rhondi. ”That's when these alarms started going off, and it's when Rhondi and her brother started to feel compelled to return-along with a lot of Daala's other spies.” what changed.” He looked back to Rhondi. ”That's when these alarms started going off, and it's when Rhondi and her brother started to feel compelled to return-along with a lot of Daala's other spies.”

”Daala's spies'?” spies'?” Luke turned to Rhondi. Luke turned to Rhondi.

”Long story,” she said. ”Ben's right. When you destroyed Centerpoint Station, everything changed.”

”It's like we opened a hatch or something,” Ben said. ”And suddenly, whatever we felt in Shelter started leaking out-maybe reaching reaching out-beyond the Maw.” out-beyond the Maw.”

Ben knew by the sudden paling of his father's face that he had made a convincing argument.

”Wonderful,” Luke said. ”Any idea what what, exactly, is getting out?”

Ben could only shake his head. ”And I'm still trying to figure out the Lake of Apparitions,” he said. ”I'm convinced that it's real. But ...”

He let the sentence trail off, unable to ask the question.

”But you don't know whether that was really your mother you saw,” Luke finished. ”It's a hard question to answer-maybe one that we can't can't answer.” answer.”

Ben turned to Rhondi and raised a questioning brow.

She jerked her stun cuffs against the beam and raised her own brow. He thumbed the release pad, and the cuffs came undone.

Rhondi's jaw fell. ”They weren't even locked?” locked?”

”In case I didn't make it back,” Ben said. ”I'm not that cruel. Now, what can you tell me about my mother?”

Rhondi rubbed her chafed wrists. ”We all return to the Force when we depart our bodies,” she said. ”Afterward, those who are strong in the Force sometimes show themselves in the Lake of Apparitions. Whether it's where they abide or is only a portal through which they can look, I don't know ... but I believe those we see are real.”

”What about Mind Walkers whose bodies die while they're beyond shadows?” Ben asked. ”Do they go to the Lake of Apparitions, too?”

”Not at first,” Rhondi said. ”At first, they stay beyond shadows with us. But after a time, they seem to lose their way, and then sometimes we see them in the Lake of Apparitions.”

”How long do they stay there?” Luke asked. ”Could you see your grandparents, for instance, or even your ancestors?”

Rhondi shook her head. ”Eventually, they no longer show themselves.” She took a long sip of her hydrade, then shook her head. ”I'm sorry, but I don't know why.”

Ben scowled at her claim, but before he could think of a way to test it, the m.u.f.fled karrummph karrummph of a detonating magmine reverberated through the control room floor. Rhondi's eyes went wide with horror, and she turned toward Ben. of a detonating magmine reverberated through the control room floor. Rhondi's eyes went wide with horror, and she turned toward Ben.

”You promised!” promised!”

”Promised what?” Luke asked.

”That I'd let her brother go if she helped us,” Ben explained. He turned to Rhondi. ”He's probably okay. That door charge was placed to direct the blast-”

”Probably?” Rhondi staggered to her feet and started up toward the exit at the back of the trilevel room. ”You murglak!” Rhondi staggered to her feet and started up toward the exit at the back of the trilevel room. ”You murglak!”

”Rhondi, hold on!” Ben stepped to where he could see the mine he had placed on the hatch. ”It's welded, remember? And don't forget the door charge!”

”Welded?” Luke echoed, intercepting Ben. Luke echoed, intercepting Ben. ”Door charge? ”Door charge? Ben, what the blazes have you been doing while I was gone?” Ben, what the blazes have you been doing while I was gone?”

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