Chapter Two

            Obi-Wan woke the next day and frantically discovered that he had overslept. He and his master sparred every day first thing bright and early. It was practically noon. He hurriedly shoved his robes on and dashed into the living area...and skidded to a halt. Snoring sounded from his master's room. Scrunching up his face in puzzlement, he tip-toed over to the room and edged the door open. Qui-Gon was sleeping soundly. "Master?"

            Qui-Gon slept on, ignoring Obi-Wan. He mumbled something in his sleep and then turned over.

            Obi-Wan poked his master. "Master, wake up. We missed our sparring this morning." He shook his head. It was so unlike his master to sleep late.

            "Go away. I'm still sleepy." Qui-Gon buried his head in his pillow.

            Obi-Wan pushed his master's shoulder. "Master, what am I to do about sparring?"

            "Go spar with Master Josel," he mumbled. "Tell him I'll make it up to him later." He pulled his covers over his head.

            Obi-Wan sighed and headed for Kyran Josel's room. He knocked lightly, hoping that his master's friend was in.

            "Come in."

Master Kyran Josel poured over information at his living room table and looked up in surprise as Obi-Wan came over alone. "Obi-Wan," he greeted. "Where's Qui-Gon?"

            "Sleeping," he growled, plopping down on Kyran's sofa.

            "Sleeping?" Kyran blinked in surprise then checked his chrono. "At this hour? Is he feeling alright?"

            Obi-Wan shrugged. "I wouldn't know. He was mad at me yesterday and two hours later he acted as if he didn't even know it happened. Then he stayed up real late and now he's sleeping. He missed our sparring this morning and told me to spar with you. Something's just not right." He sighed.

            "He told you to spar with me and he's still asleep?" Kyran couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was most unlike his friend. "Well, alright." He turned off his datapad and stretched. "I'll spar with you. L'eryn isn't back from classes yet."

            Obi-Wan stood up reluctantly. "Only if you want to, Master Kyran. I could go...meditate or something. I heard Jayla is back from a mission. Maybe I can get her to spar with me since she hasn't chosen a padawan yet."

            "No, no. It's fine. But I'll make him pay for getting out of his duties," Kyran grumbled slightly at the way his friend was behaving. "Let's go spar."

~~~  ~~~~~   ~~~

            Syfo chuckled. His clone was sleeping. Time to see if the real Qui-Gon was awake yet. He sauntered into the room he kept Qui-Gon in adjacent to his lab. "Morning!" He greeted, flipping the lights on.

            Qui-Gon blinked as the harsh bright lights flooded the room. "If it is a good morning. I was trying to sleep."

            "You've slept long enough, my friend. It's afternoon. You sure do sleep later than I remember you doing," Syfo chuckled.

            Qui-Gon rolled his eyes. "I had a little trouble getting to sleep," he said bluntly, reminding the other that always before he'd been sleeping in a bed instead of with his arms chained above his head.

            Syfo nodded. "Touché, my friend. Well, have you thought any more about my offer? I know things were quite a shock yesterday. Perhaps sleep has improved it to you."

            "Yes, I've thought about it and, no, I won't change my mind. What you suggest is dangerous." His gaze narrowed.

            Syfo shrugged. "Just thought I'd ask. Well, perhaps you haven't thought about the fact that there cannot be two Qui-Gon's alive at the same time. So one of you has to go." He eyed Qui-Gon meaningfully.

            Qui-Gon twisted in the chains and he smiled tightly. "Release me and I will be happy to get rid of our problem for you."

           Syfo laughed. "Not what I had in mind." He gestured and two young women entered. They were identical in all ways, all the way down to the electric whip they carried in their left fists.

            "Well I had to offer my suggestions." Qui-Gon eyed the two women. "Clones?" He asked pointedly.

            Syfo bowed. "Thank you for noticing. Now, these ladies--whom I call Lora and Dora--are cloned from a personal friend of mine who excels in torture. You see, I still want your cooperation. Torture might be a good way to induce your acceptance."

            "Somehow I don't think so." He paused and his stomach growled loudly in the silence and he blushed slightly. "My apologies. You were saying?"

            Syfo smiled thinly. "An empty stomach will soon be the farthest thing from your mind. Lora! Dora! Get to work. Remember...no deaths. You have a bad habit of killing my friends...let's try not to do that this time." He raised an eyebrow and then left.

            Qui-Gon twisted again, trying in vain to free himself from the chains as the women moved towards him with their whips raised. He smiled tightly. He might not be able to manipulate the chains in the room but that didn't mean he couldn't manipulate other objects. Reaching out to the Force, he pushed hard.

            Dora immediately got knocked over by a chair but Lora jumped over it and raised her whip. A cruel smile crossed her face as she brought the whip around to hit his face.

            Qui-Gon inhaled sharply as the electric whip touched his cheek. It sizzled and burned through his skin, causing it to crack and bleed.

            Lora backed away and Dora jumped up, wrapping her legs around his chest. She batted her eyes at him, and then pressed the whip down on his chest right below his neck. She winced at the pain through her hands but held it there, smiling as the smell of burning flesh wafted into the air.

            Qui-Gon yelped in pain as she held the whip at his chest until blood flowed freely from the wound. He reached out to the Force and tried to push her away.

            Dora felt the pull of the Force at her and jumped off his chest before he could throw her off. Lora wrapped her whip around his throat and turned it on.

            Qui-Gon yelled in pain and then choked as the cord was wrapped around his throat. He gagged, trying to get enough air, and reached out to the Force. //Obi-Wan!!!//

~~~   ~~~~~~  ~~~~

            Obi-Wan panted and held up a hand to Kyran to let him catch his breath. Earlier he had let down the block he had had on his master's bond with him so that he could more easily feel Kyran's directions as well. He was just about ready to begin again when he heard his master's mental cry. He staggered with the force of it and the pain behind it and fell to the ground, barely turning off his lightsaber in time to avoid cutting himself in half. He saw Kyran rush up in the corner of his eye. //Master?// The last he knew, Qui-Gon had been asleep.

            //Obi-Wan....I can't breathe...//

            Obi-Wan felt the connection fade. //Master? Master?// Suddenly, a sleepy response came back, confusing Obi-Wan as Kyran helped him up.

            //Don't shout so loudly, Obi-Wan. You've given me a headache.//

            Obi-Wan frowned. //But...weren't you just calling for me?//

            //No. Are you sparring with Master Josel like I asked?//

            Obi-Wan glanced up at a concerned Kyran. //Yes, Master. My apologies for disturbing you.// He let the connection go.

            Kyran frowned. "Obi-Wan? What's the matter?"

            Obi-Wan leaned on his master's friend for a moment. "Master Kyran, I'm so confused. I just got a strong sense of pain from Master Qui-Gon and then when I asked him about it he said he was asleep." Obi-Wan shook his head, feeling light-headed and dizzy. "What's going on?"

~~   ~~~~~  ~~~

            Qui-Gon cursed as Obi-Wan let go of their link. He couldn't afford to expand any more energy into reach out to the boy. At the moment it was taking all of his energy just to stay conscious with the cord around his throat.

            Lora let the cord go right when darkness edged on his vision. She took seriously the command to not kill them. It was Dora who sometimes got carried away. Dora smiled grimly and then keyed for Syfo. In an emotionless voice, she said, "He might be ready to talk again."

            Qui-Gon choked as she let go of his throat. It was raw and cracked, bleeding from the length of time that the whip had been held around it. That was the least of his worries at the moment. He tried to get enough air into his lungs, gasping for breath as he gulped in large amounts of air.

            Syfo walked back in and clasped his hands behind his back. "I've had a problem of being lenient in the past and perhaps that's why you decided to test me, Qui-Gon. Now that you see that I mean business, do you have anything you would like to say?" He waited, clearly expecting Qui-Gon to accept his offer.

            Qui-Gon continued to gasp for air, wincing at the soreness in his throat, and when he spoke his voice was hoarse. "I have nothing to say. Please, don't do this to Obi-Wan," he pleaded.

            Syfo frowned, clearly caught off-guard. "Have you always been this stubborn? I don't quite remember you this stubborn, Qui-Gon."

            "You said you remembered how stubborn I was. Now you don't. You said you think this experiment won't hurt Obi-Wan. I don't think I trust your memory anymore," he responded hoarsely.

            Syfo scowled. "My memory is fine, Qui-Gon. I just think I made a mistake on who I thought would appreciate my efforts here; I'm wrong."

            Qui-Gon's brow furrowed. "You thought I would appreciate you possibly hurting my apprentice?" He shook his head incredulously. "Your memory is even worse than I thought."

            Syfo took a menacing step towards Qui-Gon's battered, bleeding, and burned form. "My clones are safe! These two obey me and so will the clone of you, Qui-Gon. You are just too short-sighted to see that!"

            "Short-sighted am I? If you think the Council won't discover this, you're sadly mistaken. They keep close tabs on cloning technology. And if your clone obeys orders then it will be even more obvious that it isn't me."

            Syfo's face turned beet red. He sputtered for a moment and then gestured to Dora. "Sew up his lips. I don't want to hear another word out of his sarcastic mouth for a long time." He turned and stomped out of the room.

            Qui-Gon inhaled sharply at hearing his orders and he frantically twisted in the chains holding him, trying to free himself and knowing that he couldn't afford to have his mouth permanently shut for him. He cursed at the two women, using a variety of highly colorful phrases he'd picked up in his youth.

            Lora smiled at him, impressed at his cursing. It was a shame they had to stop that beautiful stream of obscenities. But she was ordered by her creator so she would obey. She grasped Qui-Gon's wrists and with incredibly strong hands stilled him as Dora approached with a needle and thread...and a twinkle in her.

Syfo popped his head back in the room and called out, "Oh, and I gave them super strength. Figured they would need it as females." Then he was gone again.

            Qui-Gon rolled his eyes. He reached out to the Force, trying to push them away from him, knowing that he was in trouble if they got near his mouth with that needle.

            Lora quickly kneed him in the groin when she felt the whisper of the Force start to pull at her. There. That should distract him long enough.

            Qui-Gon groaned at the pain and tried to double over but he couldn't. He felt vaguely like he was going to be sick. He reflected that it was a good thing his stomach was empty after all.

            Dora expertly took the needle and jabbed it into his lower lip. Slowly, she pulled the sharp metal through the bottom lip and then the top one. She took up speed as he recovered, and very quickly had his lips sewn shut, though slippery with blood. She raised an eyebrow. "Not so smart now, Jedi," she spat at him.

            Qui-Gon glared at her through the stream of tears running down his cheeks. Force how it hurt. He wanted so badly to pass out but the pain kept jerking him back every time he came close.

            Lora released his hands and she and Dora stepped back together to exit. "Sleep tight," Lora whispered, and then they were gone to leave him alone.

            Qui-Gon cursed inwardly, wishing that he could sleep but the pain prevented him. Tears flowing silently down his cheeks, he tried to reach out to Obi-Wan. //Obi-Wan...please...//

~~~   ~~~~~  ~~~~

            Obi-Wan was in the middle of a flip above Kyran's head when Qui-Gon's pain once again slammed into him. "Whoa!" He lost his concentration and fell...right on top of Kyran. He lay on the mat for a minute and reached out. //Master? What is it?//

            //Please...help...Help me into a healing trance...I can't manage it...//

            Obi-Wan, thoroughly confused, concentrated and eased his master into a healing trance. He heard a muffled voice underneath him and scrambled off of Kyran. "Sorry, Master Kyran."

            Kyran frowned slightly, wondering what was going on as he got up from the floor. "What happened?"

            Obi-Wan wrapped his arms around his knees. "I just had to help Master Qui-Gon into a healing trance. He was in incredible pain. I..." He broke off as a shadow towered above him. He glanced up to see Master Qui-Gon. "Master?" He said, squinting, feeling as if his head was about to explode.

            "Is something wrong, Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon frowned at him. "This is our usual practice time, isn't it?"

            Obi-Wan just stared at him, his jaw dropped. "But...you...I just...Why aren't you in a healing trance?"

            "Healing trance?" Qui-Gon frowned at him, a concerned look on his face. "Are you feeling alright, padawan? Perhaps the stress of your assignments has been too much for you." He put a hand on Obi-Wan's forehead to feel if he had a fever.

            Obi-Wan jerked back from his hand like it was a live wire. "Don't...don't touch me!" He yelled, causing the other sparring partners to stop what they were doing to stare at him. "You...you're not my master! Who are you? What's going on here? Where's Master Qui-Gon?" He panted heavily and stared at the man who looked like his master.

            "Obi-Wan," he said soothingly. "Of course I am. I've been your Master ever since you were twelve, almost thirteen. Now let's go to the Healer's and see if we can't figure out what's wrong with you."

            Obi-Wan glared at him. "I'm not going anywhere with you, imposter. I want to know where Master Qui-Gon is!"

            "Obi-Wan, I will not be spoken to in that tone of voice. You are coming with me." He grabbed Obi-Wan's arm and yanked him along.

            Obi-Wan reached out desperately for Kyran. "Kyran! Help me! You'll never see me again! You've got to believe me! Kyran!!" He yelled as he was being dragged out of the room.

            Kyran stared at the boy wondering what in the Force was going on. "Qui-Gon, let me talk to him for a few minutes alone if you don't mind." He arched a brow at his friend.           

            Obi-Wan felt his arm released and hurried over to Kyran. "Thank you, Master Kyran." He pointed at a bemused Qui-Gon. "That is not my master."

            "What are you talking about, Obi-Wan? Of course he is. Who else could he be?"

            Obi-Wan shook his head. "I have no idea. But he's not Qui-Gon. You've got a bond with my master...check what you feel. Tell me I'm wrong." He folded his arms to wait.

            Kyran frowned and reached out to the link he shared with Qui-Gon and his eyes widened. He inhaled in surprise. "You're right. The question is now...where is the real Qui-Gon?"