Anakin goes to Palpatine's office.
Palpatine: I will talk with her. Senator Amidala will not refuse an executive order. I know her well enough to assure you of that.
Anakin: Thank you, Your Excellency.
Palpatine: And so, they've finally given you an assignment. Your patience has paid off.
Anakin: Your guidance more than my patience.
Palpatine: You don't need guidance, Anakin. In time, you will learn to trust your feelings. Then you will be invincible. I have said it many times. You are the most gifted Jedi I have ever met.
Anakin: Thank you, Your Excellency.
Palpatine: I see you becoming the greatest of all the Jedi, Anakin . . even more powerful than Master Yoda.
Windu, Obi-Wan, and Yoda stroll through the corridors of the Jedi Temple.
Obi-Wan: I am concerned for my Padawan. He is not ready to be given this assignment on his own yet.
Yoda: The council is confident in its decision, Obi-Wan.
Mace: The boy has exceptional skills.
Obi-Wan: But he still has much to learn, Master. His abilities have made him, well, arrogant.
Yoda: Yes, yes. A flaw more and more common among Jedi. Hmm. Too sure of themselves they are. Even the older more experienced ones.
Mace: Remember, Obi-Wan, if the prophecy is true, your apprentice is the only one who can bring the Force back into balance.
Senate Building, Amidala's Apartment - Anakin and Jar Jar stand near the door of the anteroom to Padmé's bedroom.
Padmé: I'm taking an extended leave of absence. It will be your responsibility to take my place in the senate. Representative Binks. I know I can count on you.
Jar Jar: Mesa honored to be taking on dissa heavy burden. Mesa accept this with muy, muy humility and . . .
Padmé: Jar Jar, I don't wish to hold you up. I'm sure you have a great deal to do.
Jar Jar: Of course, M'lady.
Jar Jar bows and goes out. As she passes Anakin, she shows she is in a very bad mood.
Padmé: I do not like this idea of hiding.
Anakin: Don't worry. Now that the Council has ordered an investigation, it won't take Master Obi-Wan long to find that bounty hunter.
Padmé moves about packing luggage.
Padmé (frustrated): I haven't worked for a year to defeat the Military Creation Act not to be here when its fate is decided.
Anakin: Sometimes we must let go of our pride and do what is requested of us.
Padmé: Anakin, you've grown up.
Anakin: Master Obi-Wan manages not to see it. . . Don't get me wrong. Obi-Wan is a great mentor. As wise as Master Yoda and as powerful as Master Windu. I am truly thankful to be his apprentice. In some ways... a lot of ways... I'm really ahead of him. I'm ready for the trials, but he feels that I'm too unpredictable. He won't let me move on.
Padmé: That must be frustrating.
Anakin: It's worse... he's overly critical. He never listens. He doesn't understand. It's not fair!
Padmé: All mentors have a way of seeing more of our faults than we would like. It's the only way we grow.
Anakin: I know.
There is a brief silence. Padmé comes over to Anakin. They look into each other's eyes for the first time.
Padmé: Anakin. Don't try to grow up too fast.
Anakin: But I am grown up. You said it yourself.
Anakin looks deep into Padmé's eyes.
Padmé: Please don't look at me like that.
Anakin: Why not?
Padmé: It makes me feel uncomfortable.
Anakin: Sorry, M'lady.
Anakin backs away as Padmé turns and goes back to her packing.
Coruscant, Spaceport Freighter docks, Transport bus - A small bus speeds toward the massive freighter docks of Coruscant's Industrial area. The spaceport is bustling with activity. Transports of various sizes moves supplies and passengers as giant floating cranes lift cargo out of starships.
The bus stops before a huge intergalactic freighter starship. It parks in the shadows of an overhang. Anakin and Padmé, dressed in Outland peasant outfits, get up and head for the door where Captain Typho, Dorme and Obi-Wan are waiting to hand them their luggage. Dorme is dressed to look like Senator Amidala.
Typho: Be safe, m'lady.
Padmé: Thank you, Captain. Take good care of Dorme.. The threat's on you two now.
Dorme: He'll be safe with me.
Dorme start to weep.
Padmé: You'll be fine.
Dorme: It's not me, M'Lady. I worry about you. What if they realize you've left the capital?
Padmé (looks to Anakin): Then my Jedi protector will have to prove how good he is.
Obi-Wan: Anakin, don't do anything without first consulting either myself or the Council.
Anakin: Yes, Master.
Obi-Wan (to Padmé): I will get to the bottom of this plot quickly, M'Lady. You'll be back here in no time.
Padmé: I will be most grateful for your speed, Master Jedi.
Anakin: It's time to go.
Padmé: I know.
Padmé gives Dorme a last hug. Anakin picks up the luggage, and the two peasants exit the speeder bus, Artoo follows them.
Obi-Wan: Anakin, may the Force be with you.
Anakin: May the Force be with you, Master.
They head off toward the giant Starfreighter.
Padmé: Suddenly, I'm afraid.
Anakin: This is my first assignment on my own. I am too. Don't worry. We have Artoo with us.
The two laugh. Obi-Wan and Captain Typho watch Anakin and Padmé disappear into the vastness of the spaceport with Artoo trundling along behind them.
Obi-Wan: I do hope he doesn't try anything foolish.
Typho: I'd be more concerned about her doing something than him.
The freighter slowly takes off from the huge docks area of Coruscant. It soon moves into the crowded skies.
Downtown Coruscant, Back Street - It is a pretty tough part of town. Old buildings, warehouses, beat up speeders and transporter rigs occasional "shiny freighters" hissing through. Obi-Wan comes to a kind of alien diner. On the windows, it says "Dex's Diner" in alien lettering. He goes inside. A droid waitress, Hermione Bagwa, rolls into our view. There is a counter with stools and a line of booths along the wall by the window. A number of customers are eating - tough-looking workers, freighter drivers, etc.
Hermione: Someone to see ya, honey (lowering her voice) Jedi, by the looks of him.
We pan to the open serving hatch behind the counter. Steam billows out from the kitchen hatch behind the counter as a huge head pokes through and Dexter Jettster appears. He is big - bald and sweaty, old and alien. Not someone to tangle with.
Dexter: Obi-Wan!
Obi-Wan: Hello, Dex.
Dexter: Take a seat! I'll be right with ya.
Obi-Wan sits in a booth.
Hermione: You wanna cup o' jawa juice?
Obi-Wan: Oh, yes. Thank you.
Dexter arrives, beaming hugely and they hug.
Dexter: Hey, ol' buddy!
Dexter eases himself into the seat opposite Obi-Wan. He can just make it.
Dexter: So, my friend. What can I do for ya?
Obi-Wan: You can tell me what this is.
Obi-Wan places the dart on the table between them. Dex's eyes widen. Dexter picks up the dart delicately between his puffy fingers and peers at it. Dexter grins. He puts the dart down between them.
Dexter: Well, whattaya know! I ain't seen one of these since I was prospecting on Subterrel beyond the outer rim.
Hermione sets two mugs in front of them.
Obi-Wan: Can you tell me where it came from? (to Hermione) Thank you.
Dexter: This baby belongs to them cloners. What you got here is a Kamino saberdart.
Obi-Wan: I wonder why it didn't show up in any analysis archives.
Dexter: It's these funny little cuts on the side that give it away. Those analysis droids only focus on symbols. I should think you Jedi would have more respect for the difference between knowledge and wisdom.
Obi-Wan: Well, if droids could think, there'd be none of us here, would there? Kamino... I'm not familiar with it. Is it in the Republic?
Obi-Wan then picks up the dart, holding it midway between them.
Dexter: No, it's beyond the outer rim. I'd say about twelve parsecs outside the Rishi Maze. Should be easy to find, even for those droids in your archives. Those Kaminoans keep to themselves. They're cloners. Damned good ones, too.
Obi-Wan: Cloners? Are they friendly?
Dexter: Oh, depends.
Obi-Wan: Depends on what, Dex?
Dexter (grins): On how good your manners are... and how big your pocketbook is.
Jedi Temple, Archives Library - A bronze bust of Count Dooku, stands among a line of other busts of Jedi in the Archive Room. Obi-Wan stands in front it, studying the striking features of the chiselled face. On the walls, lighted computer panels seem to stretch into infinity. After Obi-Wan studies the bust for a few moments before Madame Jocasta Nu, the Jedi Archivist is standing next to him. She is an elderly, frail-looking human Jedi. Tough as old boots and smart as a whip.
Jocasta Nu: Did you call for assistance?
Obi-Wan (distracted in thought): Yes, I did...
Jocasta Nu: Are you having a problem, Master Kenobi?
Obi-Wan: Yes, I'm looking for a planetary system called Kamino. It doesn't show up on the archive charts.
Jocasta Nu: Kamino? It's not a system I'm familiar with.
Jocasta Nu leans over Obi-Wan's shoulder, looking at the screen.
Jocasta Nu: Are you sure you have the right co-ordinates?
Obi-Wan: According to my information, it should appear in this quadrant here, just south of the Rishi Maze.
Jocasta Nu taps the keyboard.
Jocasta Nu (shakes her head): I hate to say it, but it looks like the system you're searching for doesn't exist.
Obi-Wan: Impossible. Perhaps the archives are incomplete.
Jocasta Nu: If an item does not appear in our records, it does not exist.
Obi-Wan stares at the map as she walks off.
Space, Starship Freighter - The massive, slow-moving Freighter suddenly zooms away into lightspeed.
Storage Hold - The great, gloomy hold is crowded with emigrants and their belongings. To one side Artoo is at the head of a food line, holding a bowl. Artoo grabs a chunk of something that looks like brown bread.
Server: Hey, you! No droids!
Artoo heads away from the food line, comes to where Anakin and Padmé are having a meal, and gives them the food.
Padmé: Thank you, R2. (to Anakin) Must be difficult, having sworn your life to the Jedi . . . not being able to visit the places you like or do the things you like.
Anakin: Or be with the people I love.
Padmé: Are you allowed to love? I thought that was forbidden for a Jedi.
Anakin: Attachment is forbidden. Possession is forbidden. Compassion, which I would define as unconditional love, is central to a Jedi's life. So you might say that we are encouraged to love.
Padmé: You've changed so much
Anakin: You haven't changed a bit. You're exactly the way I remember you in my dreams.
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