"We know this for sure, yet we don't know where he is. Correct?"

Qui-Gon did not speak, so Obi-Wan said, "Yes."

"Tell me what happened," Mace said, his eyes on Obi-Wan. He seemed to understand that Qui-Gon did not want to talk. Qui-Gon's eyes were on the door to the room where Tahl was, as though only the slimmest whisper of respect was keeping him in the hall.

"Once we knew that Balog had captured Tahl, we obtained two probe droids to track him," Obi-Wan explained.

Mace frowned. "Aren't probe droids now illegal on this planet?"

"Yes," Obi-Wan said, swallowing. He was well aware that Jedi were not supposed to break laws on other worlds. "But you can buy them on the black market. It was our only chance to find Tahl. We had good reason to believe she would be in a sensory deprivation device, so we knew that the longer it took to find her, the more danger she would be in. The probe droids told us that Balog had struck out across open country and entered the quarry region of the planet. Eritha, one of the daughters of the late ruler, Ewane, followed us. She had discovered that her twin sister, Alani, was in league with the Absolutes. This was a shock, because both Eritha and Alani are Workers. When the Civilized were in power, they used the Absolutes for surveillance and torture of Workers — including Alani and Eritha's father."

"I know the Absolutes were the secret police of New Apsolon," Bant said hesitantly. "I didn't get a chance to be thoroughly briefed. Weren't they outlawed after Ewane was elected?"

"Yes. But the Workers suspect that the secret police never disbanded, " Obi-Wan said. "We discovered that they are right. But we never suspected Balog was in league with them. He's a Worker and was a protcgc of Ewane.

Now we know from Eritha that Alani arranged the kidnapping of herself and her sister to throw us off the track and gain public sympathy. At the same time, we believe it was a trick to lure Roan into the hands of the Absolutes. Roan was elected after Ewane was killed."