INT. ORRON III – DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/KITCHEN – EVENING
Nashira is in the kitchen, busy loading used dishes into the dishwasher, when a mechanical WARBLE begins to ululate from the vidphone cubicle.
NASHIRA: (sets down a greasy plate) Anyone got that?
Getting no reply from either of her parents, Nashira sighs and leaves the kitchen to answer the incoming call.
INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/VIDPHONE CUBICLE – EVENING
Entering the cubicle, Nashira turns the flatscreen on. The display immediately lights up, displaying the logo of the Corporate Sector’s HoloNet provider.
COMPUTER: You have one incoming transmission from Obi-Wan Kenobi. Do you accept or decline?
NASHIRA: Accept.
Obi’s headshot automatically appears on the display. His face is haggard, his expression perturbed.
NASHIRA: Obi, hi. (frowns at his unkempt appearance) What’s up?
OBI-WAN: Nashira … I … (runs a hand through his hair) Nashira, it’s about Anakin.
NASHIRA: (concerned) What about Anakin?
The Jedi Knight swallows, uncertain as to how to proceed with the bad news he has to deliver.
INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/LIVING AREA – EVENING
Nemec and Corin are seated in the room – he reading a datapad, she watching free-style zero-G swimming on the holovid display – when Nashira walks in stiffly, mouth agape. Noticing their daughter’s strange, zombie-like behaviour, they immediately turn from their activities to focus on her.
NEMEC: (frowns) Is something wrong, ‘Shira?
NASHIRA: It’s Nik. (raises her hand to her mouth) He’s been in an accident.
Her strange, stoic shock breaks and an expression of absolute dread passes over her features. That is when she collapses to the floor, fainted dead away.
CORIN: (horrified) ’Shira!
EXT. DELANTINE – ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE – DAY
Under the pale beige sky of the Outer Rim world of Delantine stands the Abieds-Brannrid Medical Centre. Cylindrical in shape, the main section of the centre is connected to an inward-curving back wall and a silo-shaped forward section.
INT. ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/CORRIDOR – DAY
Obi-Wan steps away from a vidphone booth as a female nurse approaches him.
NURSE: Mr. Kenobi? Dr. Reyem’s about to begin the examination.
Obi-Wan nods once to her.
INT. ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/BIOSCAN ROOM – DAY
Anakin, clad in a pale green hospital gown, eyes still fixed open, lies motionless atop a medical examination table. Overhead, a bioscanner attached to a motorized arm comes to life; emitting gold light, the medical device scans the Jedi apprentice’s head.
INT. ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/BIOSCAN CONTROL ROOM – DAY
On the other side of a transparisteel window which looks out into the bioscan chamber is Obi-Wan and DR. NADI REYEM, a pretty Human doctor with curly brown hair worn back in a loose bun.
As the scan of Anakin’s brain is completed, Dr. Reyem looks the data over.
DR. REYEM: (frowns) This can’t right.
OBI-WAN: What is it?
DR. REYEM: I have to do another scan.
Reinitializing the bioscanner, Reyem takes another encephalogram of Anakin’s brain. The resulting diagnosis is exactly the same.
DR. REYEM: (shakes her head) No, this is definitely not right. The machine must need recalibration.
OBI-WAN: Why? What does the data show?
DR. REYEM: (turns to Obi-Wan) Mr. Kenobi, the encephalogram doesn’t show any of the tell-tale signs of low brain activity associated with catatonic stupor.
OBI-WAN: What does it show?
DR. REYEM: It shows that your friend is fully conscious, alert to external stimuli. (beat) That’s simply not possible.
INT. ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/ANAKIN’S ROOM – DAY
Taking Anakin from a hoverchair, two orderlies lay the apprentice down in a narrow hospital bed. After they have tucked him in, they depart, leaving the catatonic Jedi alone with Dr. Reyem and his master.
OBI-WAN: What now, Doctor?
DR. REYEM: Mr. Kenobi, I’ve specialized in neurosurgery for thirty-three years, and this just flies in the face of everything I know about the Human brain. By rights, Anakin should be up and about, walking and talking, this very minute. (beat) You want my honest appraisal?
OBI-WAN: Please.
DR. REYEM: This isn’t a neurological condition. I don’t believe this is a type of medical condition whatsoever. (beat) This – this is supernatural. (laughs humourlessly) I’ve always considered myself a rationalist, but here and now, I believe a witch doctor would have greater success rousing your friend from his torpor than an actual doctor.
Shaking her head in bewilderment, Reyem turns and leaves the room. Now alone with Anakin, the knight looks down upon his seemingly oblivious apprentice.
OBI-WAN: Well, my friend, the medical community has thrown in the towel. Perhaps the doctor’s correct; perhaps it is time to resort to non-rational means ….
Reaching out, Obi rests his fingers lightly upon Anakin’s brow. Closing his eyes, he concentrates on making contact with Anakin’s mind, on penetrating the haze entrapping it and drawing it back to the surface.
Suddenly Anakin’s eyes come into focus, pupils dilating into pinpoints in their orbs.
ANAKIN: YYYEEEAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!
Bolting up in bed, his face twisted into a terrifying grimace, an enraged Anakin seizes Obi-Wan’s throat in a chokehold. Startled, the Jedi staggers back, but Nik remains latched on. Falling backward to the floor, the apprentice collapsing atop him, Obi-Wan desperately tries to pry the clenched fingers from his soft throat, but the apprentice, still raving, only tightens his grip.
As Obi-Wan’s face starts to turn purple and his struggles against Anakin’s fierce attack begin to falter, the door bursts open. Dr. Reyem and the two orderlies dash inside, with the orderlies rushing Anakin, pulling the maniacal Jedi off his master and pinning him to the floor. Pulling out a hypo-syringe, Reyem moves forward, avoiding Nik’s thrashing legs, and plunges the needle deep into his gut, administering a large dose of sedative.
It takes over a minute, but the sedative’s effects finally kick in; losing his strength, Anakin slips back into unconsciousness.
DR. REYEM: (to Obi-Wan) What did you do?!
Obi-Wan, still sprawled out on the floor, hand at his reddened throat, can only answer with a fearful look from his eyes.
INT. ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/ANAKIN’S ROOM – SUNSET
Hours have passed, and Anakin lies back in his bed, restraints tightly secured around his wrists and ankles. Awake, he looks out his window at Delantine’s three setting suns.
The room’s door opens, allowing Obi-Wan and an orderly to slip inside. The apprentice pays neither of them any heed.
OBI-WAN: (approaches Anakin’s bed) Nik?
Anakin doesn’t respond.
OBI-WAN: (uneasy) You gave me quite the throttling earlier. Not to worry, though – I’ll live.
Anakin doesn’t respond.
OBI-WAN: (gestures at the orderly) I’d ask him to leave, but –
ANAKIN: (distant) Why didn’t you tell me?
OBI-WAN: (frowns) What about?
ANAKIN: About the Purge.
Obi-Wan doesn’t respond.
ANAKIN: (turns to Obi-Wan) The sorceress took me inside her mind; she showed me visions of the past, her past. (beat) I saw Jedi Knights hunting down Sith – not lords, but the people. They took their lightsabers and butchered them. Not just the men, but the women and children, too. They were like animals; they slaughtered them like animals. (beat) It wasn’t a horrible illusion, was it? It happened, didn’t it? Don’t lie to me.
OBI-WAN: (sighs) The Jedi Shadows, a faction dedicated to ridding the Galaxy of all things Sith, helped the old Republic hunt down and destroy the Sith race. (beat) They betrayed the Jedi Creed; they were no longer true Jedi.
ANAKIN: Were they punished?
OBI-WAN: Many Jedi protested the Sith Purge ….
ANAKIN: Were they punished?
OBI-WAN: (resigned) No.
ANAKIN: (turns away from Obi-Wan) Everything you taught me about the Jedi was a lie.
OBI-WAN: Anakin, no --!
ANAKIN: (angry) The Jedi respect life, in all its forms! Were the Sith not alive?! (turns back to Obi-Wan, tears running down his cheeks) Give me no platitudes about creeds or true or false Jedi. Our order turned a blind eye as billions were put to the sword; that is beyond excuse. (agonized) And it’s all going to happen again, only the bloodshed will be on a grander scale, a thousand times worse.
OBI-WAN: Bloodshed? Anakin, what are you talking about?
ANAKIN: The sorceress showed me the past, but she didn’t stop there; she also showed me the future. A darksider will become emperor, and the Jedi will follow him as he rapes the Galaxy.
OBI-WAN: No, Anakin! Don’t believe it! Whatever the witch showed you – whatever future you witnessed – it was a deception! The Jedi will never follow the dark side!
ANAKIN: (sneers) By your own admission, they already have.