Star Wars - 108 - Medstar 2 - Jedi Healer by Michael Reaves;Steve Perry

Author:Michael Reaves;Steve Perry
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Physicians, Space Warfare, Star Wars Fiction, Space Opera, General, Science Fiction, Adventure, Life on Other Planets, Fiction, Media Tie-In
ISBN: 9780345463111
Publisher: LucasBooks
Published: 2004-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

"But you’re not the sort of person who would do that," Uli said. "I mean-I would think someone who knew it was wrong and went for it anyway-"

"Ah," Barriss said, "but that’s the insidious part. Those who embrace the dark side don’t see themselves as evil. They believe that they are doing the right thing for the right reasons. The dark side warps their thinking, and they come to believe that the end justifies the means, no matter how awful those means might be."

Uli examined a thumbnail. "You’re not, uh, by any chance, thinking of going over to this dark side, are you?"

A year ago, a month ago-even a week ago-she would have laughed at this suggestion. Now she just shook her head. "I hope not. But it isn’t a path with a sign that says this way lie monsters. It’s more like a steep, slippery slope, where a misstep might turn into an unstoppable fall."

There was another pause; then Uli said, "The Jedi have a moral code, right? You’re taught the difference between right and wrong?"

"Yes, of course."

"It’s been my experience-such as it is-that on some level, one usually knows the difference between right and wrong. Sometimes you pretend to yourself that you don’t, so you can choose to eat that cream-fat puff-pie you ought to skip, but deep down, you know you shouldn’t. I think you have to trust that part of yourself, when it comes to the big stuff."

"Yes, of course. But with the big stuff, you have to be sure," Barriss said. "Gorging on a rich dessert isn’t exactly high up there on the list of galactic-scale evildoing."

"Depends on the dessert," he said, smiling. There was a soft cheep, and he glanced at his chrono. "Oops, look at the time. My shift starts in a few minutes. See you later, Barriss."

"Yes," she said. Uli waved and headed back toward the base, After he was gone, she thought about their conversation. She hadn’t spoken of her personal trial, nor had she really intended to, but the dialogue with Uli had sharpened her thoughts a little. Barriss considered going back to her kiosk to explore these thoughts further, but decided that, however sluggish and stupid she felt, she needed to do her lightsaber forms. Sometimes she just had to push through, no matter how much she felt like quitting.

The larger question was still there. Was taking more of the bota a good idea, or a bad one? Would that path lead to a glorious swim in the rushing river that was the Force, or would it lead to the dank pool of quicksand that was the dark side? Uli couldn’t tell her that.

In truth, she didn’t think anybody could tell her; as far as she knew, no Jedi had ever been faced with this particular choice before. Any help, from her Master or any other, would be theoretical. Do-or not do, as Master Yoda would say. She had a feeling, small but nagging, that this choice was supposed to be up to her.

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