"Excuse me. My companion and I are strangers here. We need directions to — "

The young man wheeled about and walked away from them.

"Do you believe me now?" Obi-Wan asked. "Are you sure you were polite enough?"

"They're positively paranoid," Siri grumbled, running a hand through her hair. "How are we going to find the place?"

"The center should be fairly large, and on a main street," Obi-Wan said, his eyes scanning the street ahead. "And the pilot said he thought it was close to the city center. It should be right around here."

After only a few minutes of quick walking, Obi-Wan and Siri found the complex. Yinn La Hi was a teeming city, and the Med Center was spread out over a large area. Soon it would take up even more space. A new wing was under construction.

"Now we'll have to get someone to tell us where Astri is," Siri observed as they walked through the doors into a gleaming atrium that swarmed with Sorrusians.

"Why don't you try?" Obi-Wan asked. "You did so well earlier."

Siri gave him an irritated glance. Obi-Wan walked ahead to the reception desk.

"I received a message from No Muna that Astri Oddo was brought here for treatment."

The Sorrusian clerk behind the desk said nothing, just continued tapping on the keyboard.

Obi-Wan leaned over the desk in frustration. He spoke clearly and insistently. "My friend is hurt and I must see her!"

The clerk looked up at him warily. "What did you say your name was?"

"Obi-Wan Kenobi."

A spark of recognition lit the clerk's blank gaze. "Ah, I was told to expect you. Please see Medic Rai Unlu. He is waiting for you over there."

Obi-Wan saw a short, slender Sorrusian standing by a pillar. He wore a med smock and carried a small datapad. Obi-Wan and Siri hurried over, and Obi-Wan introduced himself.

"Oh, yes, Astri Oddo. Sad case. We do not know how she received her injuries," the Sorrusian doctor said gravely. "Let me check to see her status." He pressed several keys. "Ah. She has regained consciousness. That is a good sign." I must see her," Obi-Wan said.

"Of course. But first you must fill out registry information. All foreigners must do so on Sorrus. You will have to go to Wing A, Level 27, Room 2245X. Astri is in Wing M, at the opposite end of the complex. After you fill out the information, you can ask for directions to her room at the Registry Office."

"Good luck," Siri muttered.

"But that will take too much time!" Obi-Wan objected. "I need to see her now."

"Why don't I fill out the papers while Obi-Wan visits Astri?" Siri suggested. "Would that be all right?"

Rai Unlu looked uncertain. "It is not procedure — "

"I've come so far to see her," Obi-Wan said persuasively. "And she's been badly hurt."

"All right," Rai Unlu said, looking around furtively. "But don't tell anyone. I will take you to Astri. Your companion can follow signs to Wing A. There will be signs to the Registry Office from there."

Siri nodded. "Good luck, Obi-Wan. I will come to Astri's room as soon as I am finished."

Siri strode off, and Rai Unlu beckoned to Obi-Wan. "This way."

Obi-Wan followed him from the soaring atrium through a series of gleaming corridors. They stepped onto a moving ramp and were swept through wing after wing.

At last, Rai Unlu stepped off the ramp at Wing L. "We must walk from here."

They walked quickly through the wing, past the closed doors of the ward. Then they came to a sign that read NO ADMITTANCE.

"Restricted ward for foreigners," Rai Unlu explained, hurrying through.

To Obi-Wan's surprise, they stepped through a doorway into a partially completed hallway. Small graysleds with construction materials littered the corridor, and through the open grid-work of the ceiling Obi- Wan saw ducts and wires.

"The Med Center is very crowded. We had to put her in the new wing,"

Rai Unlu said.

"But it's not finished," Obi-Wan said, stepping over a pail full of rivets.

"She is still getting the best care," Rai Unlu assured him. "Sorrus has the best med facilities in the galaxy."

It was a claim Obi-Wan had heard on other worlds. Had Astri been shuttled to this far wing because she was a stranger? Sorrusians weren't noted for their hospitality, but he expected a more sterile environment.

"She is just through here, third door on your left," Rai Unlu said.

"I must return. I have an emergency."

"Wait," Obi-Wan said.

"Sorry, must go," Rai Unlu said. "I'm being signaled. Emergency!"

He turned and almost ran down the hall. Obi-Wan's growing wariness turned to concern. He felt a disturbance in the Force that alarmed him.

Prepared for anything now, his hand went to his lightsaber hilt.

Cautiously, he opened the third door on the left. Instead of a private room, he found himself in a partially built hospital ward. There were beams overhead and a durasteel frame. Only two walls had been constructed.

He just had time to see a shadow flicker, nothing more. Obi-Wan stepped back, lightsaber activated, as the bounty hunter Ona Nobis suddenly flew from a beam overhead straight toward him.

Chapter 8

Obi-Wan had captured her laser whip back on Simpla-12. He was not happy to see that she had replaced it. It danced toward him, an arc of supple, lethal light. He struck out at the whip before it reached him. The two lasers tangled and smoked.

He could not move as fast as Ona Nobis. That, he remembered. He could not defeat her with quickness. She was an astoundingly agile fighter with lightning-fast moves. Her mind was quick as well. She always had surprises up her sleeve.

Cleverness. Acrobatics. Cunning. Flexibility. She had everything he had been taught was important in battle. His adversary did not have the Force, but she might have the advantage.

In this partially enclosed space, he was too vulnerable. He must get out in the open. Obi-Wan drove Ona Nobis back with a furious flurry of moves, forcing her to concentrate on defending herself. When she was slightly off balance he vaulted to the top of the unfinished wall.

Balancing for a moment, he leaped down into the construction site.