CHAPTER 51

WHERE ARE WE?

The Doctor studied the exhausted Alterran a moment. They had spent the equivalent of two days inside the Matrix room and Jason hadn't rested at all, believing they would be granted the continuance. The Prince had gone directly to court that morning and now looked on the point of collapse. It was all too obvious that he'd been operating on sheer willpower to this point.

"Jason, you know that all you had to do was ask," the Time Lord said gently. "It would've been much simpler than resorting to kidnapping and piracy."

The Prince drew a deep breath, admitting, "I know. But if this went wrong, the logs would show you weren't a willing participant."

The Doctor blinked, suddenly realizing that Jason had not just been using him, he had also been protecting him. Then he realized that he had always been protecting him. However unorthodox his methods, it seemed the Prince's primary focus was to safeguard the Time Lord's life. "What about your encrypted security logs?" he asked, disengaging himself from Mel at the same time.

"I've deactivated those for the time being, just incase somebody gets the bright idea to trace the ARGO's transmission source."

"Where are—?" The Doctor broke off when he looked at the main screen, giving a startled cry. Instead of a view of space, the image was of a large white room, the walls covered in roundels. "Did you…?" he asked in surprise.

Jason gave a small smile. "Yes." He had dematerialized the TARDIS from inside the ARGO, and then rematerialized around it, so that the ARGO was now inside the TARDIS.

"You realize they can still find you using the Matrix," the Doctor pointed out.

The Prince gave him a knowing look and smiled. "Actually, they'll be able to find the TARDIS," he corrected. "We're currently inside the TARDIS. As you're so fond of saying, Doctor, the majority of Time Lords are singularly logical and have absolutely no imagination. They'll never think to look for me here. They'll think I used the TARDIS to escape the hangar, and then ditched it. Of course," he went on, "first they have to actually find the TARDIS, and we're currently hovering very close to a dwarf star."

The Doctor's eyes lit up. This was such a simple stratagem it was mind-boggling. "How on earth did you come up with a dwarf star? That's—inspired!" As long as they stayed near the dwarf star, the TARDIS's time signature would be untraceable.

Jason gave him a tired smile. "If I said I didn't remember, would you believe me?"

"No," Mel said, finding her voice at last. She was beginning to feel as though they had com pletely forgotten about her. "Will one of you please tell me what's going on?"

The Doctor opened his mouth, but it was Jason who replied. "It's quite simple, Mel," he said in a quiet voice. "I screwed up royally and now the Time Lords want to have me executed." He received a startled squeak in reply. "So now I'm a fugitive, and you two are my hostages." He looked up at the Doctor. "Well, one of you anyway. Did they even know she was with you?"

"No, actually. One go in a Time Lord court is enough for anyone."

"Yes…" Jason replied vaguely. He had no idea what his friend meant but was too tired to ask. In fact, he looked like he could barely keep his eyes open and the Doctor took him by the shoulders. "We need to get you to bed."

"As tempting as that is…" the Alterran said, closing his eyes.

"No arguments," the Time Lord stated flatly, pulling the Prince from his seat. "You're completely exhausted and Mel has probably been good enough to give you a concussion."

"I probably deserved it," Jason muttered guiltily, allowing himself to be steered toward the door leading to the interior of the ship.

"You want me to help you, don't you?" the Doctor asked firmly.

"Yes." Jason turned back to face him. "And before you even ask, yes. I do trust you," he stated unequivocally.

The Doctor flashed a bright smile. "Good. Now that we have all that out of the way, you get some sleep while I fill Mel in on the details."

"Okay," Jason said dully. He left the flight deck and went straight to his cabin. It had been so long since he had slept soundly that he wondered if he remembered how. He entered the cabin and looked around, feeling safe for the first time in months. For several minutes, he stood gazing at the portrait of his wife and wondered if he'd ever see his Shadra again. This was not how he envisioned spending his twentieth wedding anniversary. Shaking off these dark thoughts, he went to his bath and stood beside the sunken whirlpool tub, a feeling of calm washing over him. He was never more relaxed than when he was immersed in its swirling water. "Computer, whirlpool," he said quietly.

"Acknowledged. Activating heating unit."

Jason stared into the water, watching as it erupted into a bubbling torrent of foam. In a blink, he was back in his true form descending into the swirling water. His sensors picked up every degree as the water grew warmer. By the time it reached the preset target temperature, he was asleep.