CHAPTER 8

TRAPPED AGAIN

"Well, this solves your little problem rather conveniently, doesn't it?" the Doctor snapped sarcastically.

Constance received the affront coldly. "I had nothing to do with this, Doctor. He's too weak to convert the radiation."

"Have you tried modulating the frequency?"

"Of course. But it's not the frequency, it's him. His conductivity is too low—"

"Conductivity!" The Doctor seized the word like a drowning man who'd been thrown a lifeline. "Of course! The conversion must require a catalyst inside the cells themselves."

"A catalyst?"

"Do you have any saline solution that can be introduced intravenously?"

Constance was now completely baffled. "What on earth do you want that for?"

The Time Lord was becoming more animated by the second. "Don't you see? Silicon is a poor conductor, but saline isn't. It's good old-fashioned salt water. One of the best conductors there is. If we can introduce it into his system, it may help him to convert the radiation."

"We?"

This one little word was like a bucket of cold water. The Doctor stopped dead and stared at the woman at the computer in horrified disbelief. She returned the stare with a frozen look, remaining calm and unmoving, her hands in her lap.

"You're forgetting something, aren't you?" the Doctor said mildly, indicating the gun in his hand that he himself had forgotten until that very moment.

The Alterran's coal black eyes were the only thing that moved going from the Doctor's face to the gun and back. The alarm sounded a second time and this time she made no attempt to silence it. Her eyes remained locked with the Doctor's, her face an emotionless mask.

"Constance, if he dies…"

"Then I die," she said blandly. "I believe that's how it goes. But you see, if you kill me now, he'll die anyway. And, as you say, with him dead, my real secret is safe."

The logic was inescapable, as was the sound of the alarm squealing for attention.

"What do you want?" the Doctor demanded desperately. "Do you want me to beg for his life? Well, alright then, I'll beg. I'll plead. I'll—"

"Do anything I ask?" Miss Sorenson ventured innocently.

The implications of this question were blindingly obvious and the Time Lord ground his teeth before replying. "Yes, yes, whatever you ask."

A ghost of a smile passed across Constance's face and she held out her hand for the weapon. "I won't work at gunpoint," she stated flatly.

A loud buzzer suddenly sounded, causing them both to jump. Constance shot a quick glance at the monitor. Jason's condition had deteriorated to the point where all his vital signs were registering as extremely critical. "You've got less than five minutes to decide," she informed coolly. "After that—"

"Alright, you win!" the Doctor blurted out, thrusting the weapon at her. "Now, please, hurry!"

With a satisfied expression on her face, the Alterran female pocketed the laser pistol and then went over to a cupboard, returning with the I.V. She put a hand on the handle of the dome and paused. "He'll look strange to you, Doctor, so don't be alarmed," she warned before pulling the cabinet open.

The Time Lord was grateful for the warning. The being within the cabinet was unrecognizable as his friend. Jason had completely lost all his coloring and was snow white from head to toe. His features had blurred to the point of being nonexistent. It was almost as if he were melting, the Doctor thought and found himself fascinated by what he saw. The form was moving weakly within the energy bed, as though struggling to stay alive.

The Doctor suddenly realized he was analyzing the Alterran's condition in generic terms. No, he thought, chastising himself for letting his curiosity and scientific detachment get the better of him, however momentarily. This wasn't a thing. It was his companion. His friend. The man who had just saved his life and was now fighting for his own.

Constance had strapped Jason down to prevent the I.V. from being pulled loose. Once satisfied both were secure, she returned to the keyboard. She threw a quick glance in the Doctor's direction and gave a small satisfied smile. A moment later, the way to the storeroom became a solid wall again. Then the exit to the Director's office silently closed, sealing them within the room.

The Doctor failed to notice either of these occurrences, being too intent on Jason's progress, his eyes glued to the monitors. Within a minute, the boy's vital signs stopped their steady decline and then slowly, very slowly, started to inch their way up again. "That's it. That's it," he encouraged. "Come on, Jason… fight!" There was a low moan from the struggling form as if in reply and the Time Lord looked up sharply. "He can hear me!"

"I doubt it. He's in a very deep coma, probably will be for quite some time," Constance replied as she closed the dome. Seeing the skeptical expression on his face, she said firmly, "Involuntary movement is not unusual, Doctor, he is unconscious." She adjusted some of the instruments on the energy bed and then returned to her seat at the computer, rubbing the tension from the back of her neck.

Relieved to have gotten passed this crisis, the Doctor sat down and leaned back against the wall. He watched the monitors a few minutes more and then drew a deep breath. "I suppose all we have to do now is—" He did a double take when he glanced over to the storeroom and saw a solid wall instead. Then he saw the way to the Director's office had also been closed off and jumped to his feet in alarm.

Constance observed this reaction in silence, giving a small smile when the Time Lord turned to her with a questioning look on his face. She pointed to the keyboard in way of explanation and the Doctor cursed himself for not having realized sooner that the computer could also control the exits.

"Well, now what? Is it back to the operating table for me?" he asked contemptuously. He hopped up onto the table and held out his arms in mock surrender.

"Believe me, Doctor, you wouldn't be so willing if you knew what Black had in mind," Miss Sorenson told him darkly. He gave her a puzzled look and she went on to explain, "Your legends were all quite true, you know. It was one of the Time Lords who engineered the escape from Alterrous. And…it was he who ultimately provided the cure."

"How?" the Doctor wanted to know. "Just exactly what is the cure?"

Constance hesitated and then looked him in the eye. "It's lindos, Doctor. And…the only way of extracting it is to initiate successive regenerations until the cycle is exhausted. It isn't very pleasant. In fact," she added darkly, "it's quite horrible."

The Time Lord blanched visibly, not having expected so graphic an explanation. He was also wondering why she was even bothering to tell him anything at all, since she was not longer being forced. The fact that he and Jason were a threat to her, and were now virtually her prisoners did nothing to relieve his uneasiness.

"You look like you could use a drink," the Alterran female suddenly said in a congenial tone. "I know I could." She went over to a cupboard that turned out to be a well stocked liquor cabinet. Pouring two glasses of brandy, she returned to the table and held one out to the Doctor.

The Time Lord gave her a skeptical look, smiled broadly and then took the unoffered glass. He then took a tentative sip, looking up in surprise. "This is excellent! A hundred years old if it's a day."

"I'm glad you like it," Constance replied, giving him a wry smile as she sipped from her own glass. She pulled the laser gun from her pocket, and the Doctor stiffened visibly, only to relax when she immediately started to dismantle it. "Do you know much about energy weapons, Doctor?" she asked casually. "Aside from the obvious, that is."

His curiosity piqued, the Doctor got down from the table. "Yes, I know quite a lot about them, actually."

"So do I. And there are things about this one that aren't right."

"In what way?"

"Well, this is a human weapon," Constance explained as she struggled with the gun's casing. "And one this small shouldn't have the power it takes to produce a wound like it did. The only human weapon capable of causing that kind of damage is a laser cannon."

"What!" The Doctor was stunned. "But that's impossible. No one could survive…" His voice trailed off as he realized what he was saying. He shot a concerned look over to the energy bed and finished the last of his brandy.

"What is that?" Constance breathed. She had finally managed to get the casing open and pointed at what appeared to be a microchip that had been spliced into the control unit of the power pack.

"That's your power booster. Rather amateurish in my opinion, but apparently effective enough," the Doctor observed, taking the weapon from her hands and giving it a closer look. "Y'know, it's a miracle it didn't disintegrate when it was fired. See how the inner casing's warped from the energy leakage?"

The Alterran merely grunted, taking away the empty glasses as the Doctor continued to scrutinize the power pack. It seemed to blur a moment and the Time Lord rubbed his eyes, thinking it to be fatigue. Then the room started to move around him and he staggered against the table. To his horror, he suddenly realized he had been out maneuvered by this clever woman who had managed to drug him despite his precautions.

Constance was calmly collecting the pieces of the dismantled weapon, apparently oblivious to the Time Lord's distress. His legs suddenly could not support his weight any longer and he dropped to the floor, still fighting the drug.

"Doctor, you're exhausted," she said gently in his ear. "You should lie down and rest."

Shaking his head, the Doctor tried to push her away but lacked the strength to resist and only succeeded in overbalancing himself, falling back heavily into Constance's waiting arms. In an astonishing display of her superior Alterran strength, she effortlessly lifted his large frame off of the floor and back onto the operating table.

"Why?" the Doctor asked weakly as she laid his limp arms at his sides. "Why the elaborate deception?" He received no reply and watched helplessly as his newest Alterran captor went over to the counter where all the instruments were still ready and waiting. He saw her turn back to face him with something in her hands, and then the drug finally won the battle and he blacked out.