Star Wars - Episode I Journal - Anakin Skywalker by Todd Strasser Read Free Book Online Page B

saying. Then I remembered how, in the Jedi Temple, they told me to relax and open my mind, and how I’d been able to picture the images from Mace Windu’s viewing screen when I did.
    I tried to do the same now. The Jedi were probably skilled at masking their thoughts if they suspected someone was listening. But I doubted they would expect that from me. And so I “listened” and learned that Obi-Wan thought the Council would be right in denying me Jedi training. He said the whole Council sensed that I was dangerous.
    Dangerous? I had to stop myself from arguing. How could Obi-Wan say I was dangerous? He didn’t even know me! But that, I realized, was the whole point. Because Obi-Wan didn’t know me, he couldn’t be arguing about me personally. It was the idea of me—already nine years old, but with very high midi-chlorians—that he was talking about.
    I was very glad when Qui-Gon said that while my fate might be uncertain, I was not dangerous. He reminded Obi-Wan that the Council had not made their final decision.
    Then he told the younger Jedi to go on board the Naboo spacecraft. Obi-Wan went up the boarding ramp reluctantly.
    I was glad he left because I wanted the chance to tell Qui-Gon what I was thinking. That even though I was eager to go to Naboo, maybe I shouldn’t. Because of the more serious problems they were facing—the Trade Federation blockade and the threat of the Sith Lord—I didn’t want to be in the way.
    Qui-Gon assured me that I wouldn’t be a bother. He said he would not go against the Council by training me, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t watch him and learn. Above all, I was to stay close to him, because that way I would be safe.
    It seemed he was waiting for the Queen and in no rush to board the ship, so I asked him about something else that was bothering me. What were midi-chlorians?
    Qui-Gon explained that they were microscopic life-forms that lived in all body cells and communicated with the Force. In a way, the two life-forms depended on each other. The midi-chlorians needed us in order to live and we needed them in order to know the Force. He said it was the midi-chlorians that told us the will of the Force and that when I learned to quiet my mind, I would be able to hear them.
    From my experience just a few moments before on the landing platform, I was beginning to have a sense of what he meant. I wanted to ask him more, but we were interrupted by the arrival of an air transport carrying the Queen.
    Qui-Gon greeted Amidala, who seemed glad to see him. I overheard the Queen say that she was worried that the Trade Federation wanted to destroy her. The Jedi Knight promised her that wouldn’t happen.
    The Queen had a small group with her, but before I could look for Padmé, Jar Jar burst out of the transport and hugged me. All he could talk about was how glad he was to be going home. By the time I managed to get out of his grasp, the Queen and her handmaidens had gone on board.
    Later, on the ship, I went looking for Padmé and somehow found myself in the ship’s control center. This was by far the most advanced cockpit I’d ever seen. I wasn’t sure how the pilot, Ric Olié, would feel about me hanging around, but he didn’t mind at all. In fact, he went over all the controls with me.
    The strange thing was that while the Nubian ship had many more controls than any ship I’d seen in Watto’s junkyard, the basics were the same. I could identify the thrusters, stabilizers, and repulsors. I don’t think Ric Olié would have been so impressed with my knowledge if he’d known how many junked cockpits I’d sat in.
    I didn’t see Padmé until the very end of the flight. We’d entered the Naboo atmosphere and were starting to land. When I came out of the hydrolift, the Queen and her people were in the main hold waiting to disembark.
    I saw Padmé. From the way she carried herself, I could see that she was prepared to fight. I sensed that she was as well trained in warfare as in