The storm has passed. VENDORS and STREET PEOPLE clean up the mess and rebuild their food stalls. JAR JAR sits on a box in front of Watto's parts shop, watching all the activity with growing nervousness. ARTOO is standing next to him. PADME stops QUI-GON as he is about to enter the shop.

PADME : Are you sure about this? Trusting our fate to a boy we hardly know. The Queen will not approve.
QUI-GON : The Queen does not need to know.
PADME : Well, I don't approve.

QUI-GON turns and starts into the shop.

INT. WATTO'S JUNK SHOP - DAY

WATTO and ANAKIN are in the middle of an animated discussion in Huttese.

WATTO : Patta go bolla!
ANKAIN : No batta!
WATTO : Pedunky. Maa kee cheelya.
ANAKIN : Bayno, Bayno!

QUI-GON walks in, and WATTO and ANAKIN join him.

WATTO : The boy tells me you wanta sponser hi insa race. You can't afford parts. How can you do this? Not on Republic credits, I think. (he laughs)
QUI-GON : My ship will be the entry fee.

QUI-GON pulls a small object that looks like a watch out of his pocket, and a hologram of the Naboo spacecraft appears about a foot long in front of WATTO. He studies it.

WATTO : Not bad...not bad...a Nubian.
QUI-GON : It's in good order, except for the parts we need.
WATTO : ...but what would the boy ride? He smashed up my Pod in the last race. It will take some time to fix it.

ANAKIN is embarrassed and steps forward.

ANAKIN : Ahhhh....it wasn't my fault really...Sebulba flashed me with his vent ports. I actually saved the Pod...mostly.
WATTO : (laughing) That you did. The boy is good, no doubts there.
QUI-GON : I have...acquired a Pod in a game of chance. "The fastest ever built."
WATTO : I hope you didn't kill anyone I know for it. (laughs) So, you supply the Pod and the entry fee; I supply the boy. We split the winnings fifty-fifty, I think.
QUI-GON : Fifty-fifty!?! If it's going to be fifty-fifty, I suggest you front the cash for the entry. If we win, you keep all the winnings, minus the cost of the parts I need...If we lose, you keep my ship.

WATTO thinks about this. ANAKIN tries not to be nervous.

QUI-GON : (Cont'd) Either way, you win.
WATTO : (subtitled) Deal! Yo bana pee ho-tah, meedee ya. (Your friend is a follish one, methinks.)

EXT. NABOO SPACECRAFT - TATOOINE DESERT - DAY

OBI-WAN stands outside the Naboo spacecraft, speaking into his comlink. QUI-GON is on the back porch of the hovel.

OBI-WAN : What if this plan fails, Master? We could be stuck here for a long time.
QUI-GON : (V.O) A ship without a power supply will not get us anywhere, and there is something about this boy...

EXT MOS ESPA - SLAVE QUARTERS - PORCH - DAY

QUI-GON puts the comlink away as SHMI comes onto the porch

PADME, ANAKIN, JAR JAR, and ARTOO work on the engines of the Podracer in the courtyard below.

QUI-GON : You should be proud of your son. He gives without any thought of reward.
SHMI : He knows nothing of greed. He has...
QUI-GON : He has special powers.
SHMI : Yes...
QUI-GON : He can see things before they happen. That's why he appears to have such quick reflexes. It is a Jedi trait.
SHMI : He deserves better than a slave's life.
QUI-GON : The Force is unusally strong with him, that much is clear. Who was his father?
SHMI : There was no father, that I know of...I carried him, I gave him birth...I can't explain what happened. Can you help him?
QUI-GON : I'm afraid not. Had he been born in the Republic, we would have identified him early, and he would have become Jedi, no doubt...he has the way. But it's too late for him now, he's too old.

EXT. MOS ESPA - SLAVE QUARTERS - BACK YARD - DAY

KITSTER (a young boy about Anakin's age), SEEK (a boy of ten), AMEE (a girl of six), and WALD (a Greedo Type, six years old) join ANAKIN, JAR JAR, ARTOO, and PADME securing some wiring.

ANAKIN : Padme and Jar Jar, this is my friend Kitster, and seek, Amee, and Wald.

All whistle, hoot, and speak a greeting.

KITSTER : Wow, a real Astro Droid...how'd you get so lucky?
ANAKIN : This isn't the half of it. I'm entered in the Boonta Race tomorrow!
KITSTER : What? With this??
WALD : (subtitled) Annie, Jesko na joka. (You are such a joke, Annie.)
AMEE : You've been working on that thing for years. It's never going to run.
SEEK : Come on, let's go play ball. Keep it up, Annie, and you're gonna be bug squash.

SEEK, WALD, and AMEE take off, laughing. JAR JAR is fiddling with one of the energy binder plates.

ANAKIN : Hey! Jar Jar! Stay away from those energy binders...
JAR JAR : Who, mesa?
ANAKIN : If your hand gets caught in that beam, it will go numb for hours.

JAR JAR peeks at the energy plate; it makes a little electronic pop, zaps him in the mouth and jumps back. JAR JAR tries to say something, but his mouth is numb and his words are garbled.

JAR JAR : Ouch-dats muy bigo Oucho. (Gibberish)
KITSTER : But you don't even know if this thing will run.
ANAKIN : It will.

QUI-GON approaches the GROUP and gives ANAKIN a small battery. JAR JAR gets his hand caught in the afterburner and tries to tell Anakin, but can't get words out that make sense.

QUI-GON : I think it's time we found out. Use this power charge.
ANAKIN : Yes, sir!!

ANAKIN jumps into the little capsule behind the two giant engines. He puts the power pack back into the dashboard. EVERYONE backs away, except for JAR JAR who calls for help. Finally PADME frees him and the engines ignite with a ROAR. EVERYONE cheers.

EXT. MOS ESPA - SLAVE QUARTERS - PORCH - DAY

SHMI, watching from the porch, smiles sadly.

EXT. SLAVE QUARTERS - BALCONY - NIGHT

ANAKIN sits on the balcony rail of his hovel as QUI-GON tends to a cut. The BOY leans back to look at the vast blanket of stars in the sky.

QUI-GON : Sit still, Annie. Let me clean this cut.
ANAKIN : There are so many! Do they all have a system of planets?
QUI-GON : Most of them.
ANAKIN : Has anyone been to them all?
QU-IG0N : (laughs) Not likely.
ANAKIN : I want to be the first one to see them all... Ouch!

QUI-GON wipes a patch of blood off ANAKIN'S arm.

QUI-GON : There, good as new...

SHMI yells from inside the hovel.

SHMI : (O.S.) Annie, bedtime!

QUI-GON scrapes ANAKIN's blood onto a comlink chip.

ANAKIN : What are you doing?
QUI-GON : Checking your blood for infections.
ANAKIN : I've never seen...
SHMI : (O.S.) Annie! I'm not goiung to tell you again!
QUI-GON : Go on, you have a big day tomorrow. (beat) Goodnight.

ANAKIN rolls his eyes and runs into the hovel. QUI-GON takes the blood stained chip and inserts it into the comlink, then calls OBI-WAN.

QUI-GON : (Cont'd) Obi-Wan...
OBI-WAN : Yes, Master.
QUI-GON : Make an analysis of this blood sample I'm sending you.
OBI-WAN : Wait a minute...
QUI-GON : I need a midi-chlorian count.
OBI-WAN : All right. I've got it.
QUI-GON : What are your readings?
OBI-WAN : Something must be wrong with the transmission.
QUI-GON : Here's a signal check.
OBI-WAN : Strange. The transmission seems to be in good order, but the reading's off the chart...over twenty thousand.
QUI-GON : (almost to himself) That's it then.
OBI-WAN : Even Master Yoda doesn't have a midi-chlorian count that high!
QUI-GON : No Jedi has.
OBI-WAN : What does it mean?
QUI-GON : I'm not sure.

The JEDI KNIGHT looks up and sees SHMI in the doorway watching him. Embarrassed, she goes back into the kitchen while QUI-GON ponders the situation.