Obi-Wan glanced down at the navigational screen. He and Anakin had been traveling for weeks now. It was their second assignment as Master and Padawan and they'd been sent to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Actually, Obi-Wan wasn't even sure if it was still part of their galaxy. That was how far they had been sent.

It was a small planet that was completely isolated from the Galactic Republic. It didn't even have a representative in the senate. Perhaps that was because it wasn't really its own society. The planet had been formed a few thousand years before as a social experiment. It was a carbon-based planet inhabited solely by humans. The idea was to create a utopian society without the toils and troubles that had plagued the galaxy at the time. Since its creation, the Jedi only checked up on it every so many years. It had to be the Jedi; sending any other party meant risking the fragile beliefs of the society.

It was thought that if one could send a species back to the time before it interacted with other races, that it could become more evolved and reasoned. As individuals, we say it is better to know ourselves before engaging in relationships with others. So why not try the theory on an entire race? So only human Jedi were allowed to observe the tiny planet that was so far removed from the rest of civilization. Previous reports had recorded that the planet was doing well. Sure there had been wars here and there, over petty matters, but the humans were sustaining themselves. They were fairing far better than most of the planets in the Galactic Republic.

Obi-Wan got up and walked to the back of the ship. Anakin was probably asleep. For a ten year old boy who had just achieved his dream of becoming a Jedi, he slept an awful lot.

"Maybe he's got the right idea," thought Obi-Wan. He knew the mission would be boring. Nothing but observation was what it entailed. Before heading down, they would have to do several hours of observation and study to ensure that they would blend in with the society. Then they would spend even longer simply watching the mundane and meaningless broadcasts of the planet. They were so self-centered.

Only one Jedi at the temple could recall the reports of the last visit. He'd been a technician on the ship while the human Jedi had conducted their study. The people of the planet had only recently developed the technology that enabled them to broadcast sound through electrical waves. The Jedi had calculated that it wouldn't be too long before they learned how to send pictures along with the sound. Obviously, the planet had begun using the technology for warfare and other official business. But with the long lulls of peace that settled over the planet, they quickly utilized the invention for entertainment purposes. When the Jedi left last, that had become the main purpose of the radio. Day in and day out the planet hovered around their crude little boxes to listen to made-up stories, pointless music, and irreverent gossip. Those at the temple often spoke of the planet as one of children. Perhaps that's what they were.

Obi-Wan turned and headed back to the front of the ship. Their ship was very small, to prevent detection. He tousled his now ear length hair and looked out the front window. He could barely see the planet. It was a tiny blue dot in the distance. Recently, they had passed one of the giant gas planets and he knew that it would only be a day or so before they reached their destination. The worst part was that they weren't even close to being in range of the planet's signal. They couldn't even start preparing until they were practically on top of the thing! Such primitive weak signals.

"Obi-Wan," Anakin yawned as he walked to the front.

"Yes, Padawan," Obi-Wan replied, attempting to establish rank.

"Are we there yet?"

"Almost; about a day or so," Obi-Wan said calmly. He couldn't count how many times the child had asked him that question in the year that they'd been together. Well, he could, but fifteen times in one year was far too many as far as he was concerned.

"What's this planet like? Do you think it's changed much since the last time Jedi were there?" Anakin asked as he plopped down in front of the navigational screen.

"It's not like home, that's for sure," Obi-Wan answered as he sat next to his apprentice, "I've heard it's still very primitive. They don't even have speeders. They drive vehicles that are powered by land-based fuels. And they can't travel beyond their own moon. They're very delicate. Luckily, they're also very vain and more concerned with their personal well being than anything outside of their own world. I suppose you could call the experiment a success."

"But doesn't vanity result in self-destruction?" Anakin asked.

Obi-Wan thought about this for a while; it was true of the individual, but no one had ever studied the effects of vanity on an entire society before.

"Only time will tell if that is true for these people, young apprentice."