CHAPTER 36
TRUST ME
The Prince stood glaring at Fitzhugh a moment before returning to his seat. The Doctor threw a concerned look in his direction before going on. As way of reminder, he gave a quick outline of the events that followed the attempt on Jason's life; the return to the ARGO, Jason's apparent death, the appearance of the Glyateven Fleet, its subsequent destruction, Jason's resurrection, the Doctor's own discovery of the Benefactor's duplicity and his subsequent return to the Sanctuary.
On the screen, the image of the Doctor's capture flashed past, followed by Jason's apparent second attack when he secured the Time Lord to the wall, and then his confrontation with Justin. When Jason crossed to the computer and began searching in the folds of his original disguise, the Doctor froze the image and then zoomed in closer.
"Because he had his back to me at the time," the Doctor stated, "I couldn't see what Prince Jason was doing. All I could tell was that he swallowed something." The extract shuttled forward frame by frame, freezing when the Prince pulled a small tablet from a heavy looking, lead-lined pillbox. "Your highness, would you explain what you're doing here?" he requested.
Jason nodded and stated blandly, "The pill is called a converter. It's a tiny grain of a radioactive isotope suspended in a gelatin capsule. Upon ingestion, it initiates a conversion rush."
"Conversion rush?" Eustis asked. It was obvious from his tone and the blank expression on his face that he was at a complete loss.
Seeing this, Jason gave the Doctor a long-suffering look, closed his eyes and told himself not to lose his patience. Despite the fact that the Time Lords and Alterrans had been allies for millennia, it was becoming glaringly obvious that the inhabitants of Gallifrey were woefully ignorant when it came to their shape changing allies.
"A conversion rush is a highly dangerous state caused when an enormous influx of radiation is immediately converted into energy," the Alterran informed, sounding more like he were lecturing a class than testifying. "It can be equated with an adrenaline high compounded with an enormous dose of amphetamines. It's also just as dangerous. If the energy isn't utilized at once, one runs the risk of burning out completely. In rare cases, death has occurred."
"Your highness," the startled Fitzhugh injected, looking from the screen to the Alterran and back, "are you telling this court that you took this substance prior to…physically assaulting the Doctor?"
"I took the substance, yes," Jason replied, being careful not to admit to assaulting the Doctor, despite the fact that this is exactly what he had done, however unintentionally.
The Doctor shuttled the extract forward, reversing the angle from previously. This time, Jason's face would be clearly visible. Then the outside corridor appeared in a split screen image. "I didn't know it at the time, but another man came to the door after Justin was ordered away. If you watch Prince Jason closely, you'll see something I didn't. He reacts when this man arrives."
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Mission Day 53
"If you're not he Benefactor, what're you doing here?" the Doctor demanded.
The Alterran was idly twisting a piece of cloth through his fingers as he turned back to face him. "I should think that was obvious," he replied in a slightly annoyed tone.
"You followed me."
"Yes."
"How? And don't say in the transmat. How did you know exactly where I was?"
Jason gave a small smile. "That would be telling."
The Doctor pulled against his bindings in frustration, a growl rising in his throat. "More deception? Just how much of this is real? Where does deception end and reality begin?"
"Are you saying deception isn't reality?" the Alterran said as he slowly crossed the room. "Maybe some things are more real than others."
"That's not what I meant and you know it!"
"Do you really want me to spell it out?" Jason said in a slightly surprised tone. "Okay, my hatred isn't real. My anger, feelings of betrayal, mistrust, and rage that I feel every time I look at you…they aren't real either. None of this is real. It's all an illusion and I don't really want to kill you." He paused, asking sharply, "Does that clarify everything?"
The Doctor did not reply, having suddenly realized his outrage had blinded him to the fact that he was completely helpless and locked in a room with an incredibly powerful being who had already tried to kill him once and seemed inclined to do so again.
As Jason crossed the room, he seemed to start. Out in the hall, the man tried the doorknob and the Prince threw a quick look at the door before stepping in front of the Doctor. He placed his left hand flat on his chest to pinpoint the pacemaker's exact location. Before he could tell his friend what he was doing, the Time Lord asked, "Are you going to kill me, Jason?"
Jason looked up sharply, completely shocked by this question. Then his scan registered more than the location of the pacemaker, which only added to his shock. The Doctor wasn't angry—he was afraid! His breathing was elevated, his hearts were racing each other, and his adrenaline level was through the roof.
By this time, the Alterran's eyes were glowing so fiercely that the Doctor stiffened involuntarily at the sight of them. Jason felt his body tense beneath his hand and wondered how his friend could have possibly misunderstood what he had told him. The flood of energy was surging through his own system at this point, his eyes changing from human to the crystalline sensors of his true form. He leaned forward slightly and asked softly, "Tell me, Doctor. Do you trust me?"
"What?" the Doctor asked in a horrified whisper.
The Alterran shifted his intense gaze to the Time Lord's rib cage. He could see bruises starting to form from the beating his friend had just received, the largest where Justin had kicked him in the ribs. That one would complicate things a bit. He drew a deep breath to steady himself and looked up, holding up the cloth he had been playing with. It was now in a neatly folded rectangle. "Bite," he ordered.
"Why?"
"Because this isn't going to be pleasant."
"Why am I not surprised?" the Doctor replied darkly. He felt an energy discharge from the hand Jason held to his chest and caught his breath, which allowed the Alterran to force the cloth between his teeth. Then pain caused him to clamp down on it. He saw Jason's eyes blaze even brighter before going dull, and knew he was scanning him.
As indeed he was. Jason tried to keep his mind completely focused on the scan. His right arm started to shimmer and changed, becoming a tendril of his true self. The Time Lord's body was also shimmering, starting at the Alterran's left hand and spreading out across his torso as the tendril slowly penetrated his body. Despite the Doctor's obvious distress, Jason knew the process would be far more excruciating if he moved too quickly, and deadly if he lost control of the molecular field.
In the hall, the man jumped away from the door at the sound of the Doctor's torment. After a few seconds of this, he finally lost his nerve and ran as fast as he could down the corridor.
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