Didi shook his head. "Not Fligh. He's my friend."

"Well, your friend told someone we were on our way to the stadium,"

Anakin said. "That empty air taxi didn't show up by accident."

Warning lights suddenly flashed behind them and a voice boomed.

"Pull over. Ruling Power security. Repeat. Pull over."

"You'd better do it," Obi-Wan told Anakin. "We're going to have to explain this."

"Security!" Didi exclaimed. "You don't need me, do you, Obi-Wan? I can go to the stadium and report to you what goes on - "

"If I hear you placed a bet, you will regret it," Obi-Wan warned him.

"No bets!" Didi stood by the door, waiting for Anakin to slow enough for him to jump off. "Promise!"

Anakin slowed the craft, and Didi leaped off and disappeared into the crowd as the security officers exited their Flash Speeder and approached the Jedi.

The security officer was dressed completely in black. He flipped up the visor of his shiny helmet.

"We received reports of a runaway air taxi endangering traffic."

"We are Jedi," Obi-Wan said. "The pilot exited and disappeared, and we got the taxi under control."

The officer studied them for a moment, then entered the information into his palm-sized datapad. "Description?"

Obi-Wan gave his estimates of height and weight. "He was dressed in the regulation air-taxi pilot uniform," he said. "He had a reflective visor on his helmet, so his features were obscured, but he appeared to be a humanoid. Left earlobe slightly larger than the right. A tear on the third knuckle of his right glove. He was right-handed."

"One boot had a two-centimeter slash in the leather near the instep," Anakin supplied. "Dark matter on the right glove."

"Possibly blood, but there was no evidence of injury, so we could a.s.sume it was from another being," Obi-Wan interjected. "Sour smell indicates he had recently exerted himself. Perhaps from the battle to commandeer the air taxi. You'll probably find an injured air-taxi pilot."

"We already have. He gave a description. He said the guy was tall."

The officer tucked the datapad into his belt. "Never believed that stuff about Jedi. Now I do. Larger left earlobe, huh?" He shook his head. "It's good information, but the city is packed. We might not find him. You can proceed."

Stadium Five was now only steps away. Obi-Wan and Anakin hurried through the tall arches and into the open-air arena. Their ears rang with the noise of a roaring crowd. The race had already begun.

Didi had entered the same way and was waiting for them by the refreshment stand while watching the race on a monitor. Obi-Wan saw that the large circular track was made up of many levels, from the floor of the arena to the top. Each level had a series of holographic obstacles for the swoops to avoid or evade, such as trees, creatures, and traffic officers. He hurried over. "Did they ask about Bog's speeder?"

"No, they were only interested in the air taxi," Obi-Wan said. "Has anything odd happened?"

"Nothing that I can see. All the swoops are performing well. The Alderaan pilot is in the lead." Didi wrung his hands. "And to think I could have bet on him!"

Obi-Wan strode toward a viewing platform. The noise of the crowd reverberated off the walls of the stadium and caused the air to ring against his ears. He was high above the race below. The agile swoops, wearing different planetary colors, zoomed around holographic obstacles that suddenly appeared in their paths. The crowd roared approval or fury at the spectacle.

Obi-Wan watched carefully. The swoops seemed to be functioning perfectly. The pilots were battling with every ounce of concentration they possessed.

"It has to be the timers," he murmured to Anakin. "Someone must have tampered with them. Only a hundredth of a second off, and the race will be won."

"Are the timers controlled by one person?" Anakin asked.

"I don't know," Obi-Wan said. "But we can find out."

The race ended with the Alderaan pilot zooming past the finish line to cheers and boos. Beside Obi-Wan, Didi groaned.

"There goes my fortune," he said.

A viewing platform glided into the center of the stadium. A tall, handsome Euceron male held a flashing hologram embedded in crystal over his head. It was the first-place award. The crowd went wild.

"It's Maxo Vista," Didi breathed in tones of awe. Anakin peered across the distance. "He's older than I thought."

"He is magnificent," Didi said.

"Didi, I want you to do something for me," Obi-Wan said, turning his back on the award ceremony. "First of all, stay out of trouble.

Second, stick close to Fligh. I might need to talk to him again."

"All right, Obi-Wan. I will do what you say. My fate is intertwined with your desires," Didi said, his sad eyes still on the ceremony.

"Let us go, Padawan," Obi-Wan said. "I'd like to have a word with the timekeeper for this event."

On the way to the exclusive VIP skybox on Level Twenty where the Games Council members and other officials sat, Obi-Wan contacted the keeper of the Archives, Jocasta Nu, at the Temple.

"Can you do a quick search for me on a being named Quentor? Your basic operator who hangs around the Senate. He trades in information and stolen goods."

"What do you need to know?" Jocasta Nu asked. "I'm not sure. His whereabouts, for one thing. Any ties he might have to the Ruling Power of Euceron or the Galactic Games."

As he spoke, Obi-Wan stepped inside the Council skybox. In the first row of the box, Maxo Vista was talking to a tall Euceron dressed in a long white robe. Obi-Wan a.s.sumed the Euceron was a Ruler, but he didn't know which one. He hung back for a moment.

"Can we meet him? Can we meet Maxo Vista?" Anakin whispered, close by his side. He had heard stories of how Vista performed in the last Games.

"Maxo Vista?" Jocasta Nu asked, overhearing Anakin. Her voice lost its businesslike quality. Obi-Wan had never heard her sound so warm.

"Have you met him?"

"No," Obi-Wan said.

"You don't know who he is, do you?" Jocasta Nu demanded.

"Can you retrieve that information for me?" Obi-Wan asked irritably.

"Yes, Obi-Wan. I'll do what I can." Jocasta Nu's voice brimmed with humor, an unusual occurrence.

Maxo Vista caught sight of them and came forward with the tall Euceron. "I have hoped to meet the Jedi," he said. "This is Ruler Three, one of the esteemed Ruling Power."

Obi-Wan introduced himself and Anakin. Maxo Vista flashed a charismatic smile, his vivid green eyes shining. "We are grateful that the Jedi have graciously agreed to attend the Games. With so many worlds coming together for these Games, it holds out a promise for peace throughout the galaxy."

Ruler Three bowed. "Our government thanks you. Now I must attend the next event."

As soon as Ruler Three had left, Obi-Wan turned back to Maxo Vista.

"We would like to speak with the official timekeeper for this event."

"Of course." Maxo leaned forward to touch a glowing screen. "That would be Aarno Dering." He peered over at a gla.s.s skybox with an excellent view of the action. "He's already left, I'm afraid. But I can give you his room number at the official Games quarters."

"We'd appreciate it."

Maxo Vista hesitated. "Is anything wrong?"

"Just a routine check," Obi-Wan a.s.sured him.

He nodded and consulted the screen again, then gave them Aarno Dering's location. Obi-Wan and Anakin hurried out of Stadium Five. The air taxis were full of the departing crowd. Obi-Wan and Anakin threaded through the crowd, moving quickly and easily through the crush.

"I can't believe I actually met Maxo Vista," Anakin said. "I'll never forget his performance in the swoop races in the last Games. And did you see him in the holographic obstacle course? He set a new galactic record." Obi-Wan's face was blank, and Anakin sighed. "I can't believe you don't know who he is. Everybody - "

" - knows Maxo Vista," Obi-Wan finished. "But right now I'm more interested in Aarno Dering."

At the quarters, they pa.s.sed the security checkpoint and quickly accessed a map for directions to Block Seven, Room 4116.

"This way," Obi-Wan said.

They hurried down the outdoor walkways that connected the various temporary buildings built of hard duraplastoid materials in bright colors. When they reached Block Seven, they took a moving walkway up to the fourth story.

"Room 4116 should be at the end of the walkway," Anakin said.

A tall humanoid male came out of a door at the end of the walkway.

He paused while he carefully placed various personal items in different-sized pockets. His neutral gaze slid over the surrounding area and lit on the Jedi.

He jumped and a look of surprised panic lit his eyes. He turned abruptly and headed the other way.

"Aarno Dering?" Obi-Wan called, quickening his pace. "We'd like to talk to you."

Dering began to run. Obi-Wan and Anakin leaped forward in a surge of speed.

Dering had a good head start, but he was no athlete. He leaped onto the moving walkway and zigzagged past athletes and workers, pushing some aside roughly. Obi-Wan leaped off the second story and landed lightly on the ground. Anakin followed.

When Dering raced out an exit from the quarters and into the street, Obi-Wan was merely steps away. Suddenly, a fast-moving airspeeder headed straight for Dering. Obi-Wan reached out, ready to grab the waving hem of the man's tunic, but the speeder struck the slight man first, sending him flying through the air. Aarno Dering landed with a sickening thud.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

"Go to him," Obi-Wan ordered Anakin tersely.

Obi-Wan jumped after the speeder. Landing on the speeder's outrigger component, Obi-Wan drew his lightsaber and severed it with one stroke. The speeder veered and crashed into a bright yellow bench, and the pilot leaped out. Obi-Wan recognized him instantly as the pilot of the air taxi. Something about the way he held his body alerted him. His movements were quick and powerful, but loose and graceful as well.

The pilot leaped over the speeder and raced down the street.

Without breaking stride, he shot a cable launcher up to the roof of a high building. The cable launcher pulled him up and he disappeared onto the roof.

Obi-Wan activated his own launcher and followed, the wind rushing past his ears. He jumped onto the roof just as the pilot leaped to the next building. Obi-Wan followed.

The pilot never looked back. Obi-Wan noted his coolness. There were not many, being pursued, who did not pause to check on the location of their pursuer. Obi-Wan was gaining and the pilot seemed to know it, for his pace quickened as he leaped to the next roof. It was twenty meters below, but he landed easily and kept on running. Obi-Wan summoned the Force for his jump and landed.

The pilot raced to the edge of the roof that overlooked the street.

Obi-Wan could hear the noise of a crowd and as he drew closer he saw that a stadium below was emptying. Air taxis were lined up awaiting pa.s.sengers. The pilot paused and activated his anti-gray propulsion belt.

It allowed him to drop off the roof and land safely on the walkway below.

Obi-Wan leaped down and had to swerve at the last moment to avoid a child who suddenly darted out from between her mother and father. He landed hard. He was just in time to see the pilot get swallowed up by the surging crowd.

Irritation flamed and died away. He would have liked to have caught the pilot. It did not happen. On to the next.

He made his way back to the quarters. Anakin knelt by Aarno Dering, his hand on the man's shoulder. Obi-Wan knew immediately that he was dead.

He walked to Anakin and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. They stood for a moment, a linked chain of commemoration. A Jedi always paused to reflect on a life lost, even if they did not know the spirit who had left.

"There was nothing I could do." Anakin's face was pale. He had seen death before, but he was still affected by it. Obi-Wan was glad to see this. He hoped Anakin would never lose that particular vulnerability.

There had been a time when he had wondered if Anakin failed to connect, a time when he had seen a curious blankness on the boy's face after he had killed in battle. Since that time, Obi-Wan had watched Anakin carefully.

When he saw his Padawan feel the enormity of a life lost, he was rea.s.sured.

A security speeder pulled up, its signal lights flashing. Close behind was the sleek black airspeeder of Liviani Sarno. When she jumped out, it was clear she was livid.

"First an air-taxi driver is badly beaten, and now this," she snapped, standing over the body of Aarno Dering. "How will you explain this to the Council?"

Anakin flushed with anger, and Obi-Wan's hand tightened on his shoulder. Liviani Sarno's words had offended Obi-Wan as well. She treated the death of a fellow being as a nasty inconvenience.

"Obviously the Jedi cannot fulfill their promises," Liviani continued.

"The Jedi promised nothing except our presence," Obi-Wan said.

Her lips pressed together. "In that case, I am calling for extra security."

"That is a good idea," Obi-Wan answered. He was nettled at her tone, but extra security was not a bad idea. He didn't want to reveal his suspicions to Liviani yet. Officials had a tendency to get in the way.

Obi- Wan wanted to make sure of what he was dealing with first.

Liviani turned to confer with a security officer. "I suggest you find an event to attend," she said over her shoulder to the Jedi. "Just stand around and do nothing. If you can manage that much."