CHAPTER 17

THE BATTLE

The Master came forward and stood beside the fountain, his mercenary task force coming up en masse behind him, all armed to the teeth. Jason was horrified to see Kyska among the group. Colonel Payne had her by the throat, a gun to her head. She saw her cousin at almost the same moment he saw her and she tried to call out, only to be silenced with a snarl from her captor.

"What is the meaning of this outrage?" the Lord Emperor thundered in a voice that shook the walls.

The Master smiled, giving a slight bow. "Allow me to introduce myself, your Majesty. I am the Master." His voice hardened as he went on to say, "And I've come for the Great Seal of Alterrous."

The Emperor's face turned to stone, his eye's narrowing as he glared at the arrogant, insolent intruder. Putting his hands on his hips, he said challengingly, "You can try, Time Lord!"

"I intend to," the Master cooed, enraging the sovereign even further.

Kyska struggled and Payne tightened his grip on her throat, causing her to cry out in pain.

"Let her go," Jason demanded. "She can't possibly be of any use to you now."

The Colonel laughed evilly back at him and Kyska burst into tears. "Jason, they killed Anon and made me think it was you!"

What followed was a stunned silence.

"Release the girl, Payne," the Emperor said at last, "or are you now such a coward that you'd hide behind a child?"

"Oh, I'm not hiding, your Majesty," the mercenary spat back. "I'm planning on sending her back to her Uncle in pieces."

Jason's jaw dropped open in amazement. Revenge! He's still out for revenge! "She's not his niece," he blurted out. "She's only related through marriage."

"A nice try," the Master injected blandly. "But your cousin has already provided us with your rather impressive family tree. We know, for example, that you're related to her and the king through your father. But I wonder if you realize that you're the only one on Tel-Shye who's directly related to the Lord Emperor here?"

Jason was momentarily thrown and wondered what all this had to do with anything. The Master was quite right, of course. His mother had come to Tel-Shye from Alterrous, and was the Emperor's niece. But the significance eluded him. He shot a quick glance over to the sovereign and then turned back to the Master. "Okay, he's my Great Uncle," he admitted. "What does that have to do with anything?"

It was the Doctor who answered. "A great deal when you're doing extensive and rather delicate recalibrations." Turning to his rival, he added, "The closer the relation, the better, eh? Less chance of rejection?"

"This isn't a tissue transplant, Doctor!" the Healer snapped angrily.

"Isn't it?"

The Master was amused by this and chuckled before turning an icy stare back to the Lord Emperor. "Now, your Majesty, the Great Seal. I intend to possess it."

"And I intend to stop you," Emperor Quinton replied in a cold, matter of fact voice.

"You can try," the evil Time Lord purred.

During the course of this exchange, Jason was frantically looking around the room. The TSA device had to be close by. His eyes fell on the fountain and its stacked cubes where he suddenly noticed one of the water jets did not conform with the others. It was on an eyeball joint, which would allow it to swivel. That was no water jet! It was the barrel of the firing antenna!

"Doctor! The fountain!" he gasped.

The Doctor had also been looking for the device and had seen the antenna at almost the same instant as his companion. "It's the fountain!" he called, dashing forward. "Majesty, get away from the fountain!"

The Emperor turned just as the Master triggered the device from a remote control that was hidden in his hand. The beam struck the Great Seal and was deflected, striking the Doctor instead. Unfortunately he was not a silicon-based lifeform and the beam knocked him backwards, pinning him helplessly against the wall. He felt his whole body start to tingle, growing in intensity until it felt like his blood was boiling inside him. Finally, he blacked out and crumpled to the floor.

"No!" Jason cried. He turned in rage at the Master, becoming even angrier when he saw the look of delight on his face. The youth hurled himself at the Lord Emperor but was too late, the red glow had already engulfed him. Unable to stop, Jason knocked the immobilized Quinton to the polished stone floor and slid over to the corner where the Doctor lay unconscious.

The gesture the Doctor had assumed to be symbolic had actually been the Emperor summoning his Imperial security force. Just as Jason slid to a halt in the corner, they appeared in every doorway. The Master threatened to kill the helpless sovereign should they attack, and for what seemed an eternity, no one moved. Mercenaries and Imperial Guardsmen stood glaring at one another, guns poised. Yet, no one moved.

To his horror, Jason saw the firing barrel start to swivel in his direction. He looked around for better cover, knowing if the beam struck him, he would be back at the mercy of the Master and Colonel Payne. The last thing he wanted was to be back in the hands of the sadistic mercenary. Back in the—Hands!

Jason had a sudden flash of inspiration. All Alterran children played an unusual role-playing game called What Am I? the purpose of which was to coordinate their ability to transmute. A character, person, or whatever, would be called out and the child would have to become that object.

"Kyska!" the Healer called frantically. "What am I? I'm Vishnu! Kyska—Vishnu!"

Being Alterran, Payne knew exactly what Jason was doing. But because he could no longer transmute, he was powerless to stop what happened next. Kyska suddenly had four arms. One grabbed his wrist, pulling the gun away. Two others pulled the hand from her throat while the fourth slammed an elbow into his stomach, sending him to the floor in the same manner as Jason earlier that day. She then snatched the remote control from the dumbfounded Master, shoving him out of her way as she fled.

Then all hell broke loose.

A mercenary opened fire, missing the fleeing girl by inches and striking down the Imperial Guardsmen who had come forward to shield her. Jason yelled to the commanding officer to destroy the fountain just as the mercenary task force opened fire. All the years of rage spilled from Colonel Payne who threw himself into the battle, consumed with hatred. No one even noticed the Master withdraw from the carnage.

Jason pulled the Emperor further into the safety of the corner, propping him against the wall and scanning him. Nothing. He was in total suspended animation. "How do I wake you up?" the Healer asked helplessly. His eyes fell on the Great Seal glowing with power around the neck of the motionless form. He reached out to touch it only to snatch his hand away guiltily.

Summoning all his courage, Jason took a deep breath and took hold of the Great Seal. He immediately felt very strange, giddy, as if he were being sucked into a long tunnel and out of time itself. Visions of the past, present and future spun around him. Then everything seemed to slow down. The battle was still raging, but it was as if it were going on in slow motion. Then there was the power. It instantly revitalized his depleted energy, returned his strength, and sharpened his mind. It was pure, raw, unchanneled power that throbbed like a living thing in his hand. With it, he could control the Empire, perhaps even the universe. He could declare himself Emperor and no one would be able to oppose him. For a single, fleeting instant, Jason felt the thrill of absolute power—and it terrified him.

Putting his free hand on the Emperor's chest, the Healer commanded, "Awaken gently," and felt the heart beneath his hand start to beat. Quinton then took a breath, his glazed eyes closing slowly.

Looking up, Jason was appalled by the wanton violence going on around him. An energy bolt struck a fleeing mercenary not five feet away. He was dead before he hit the floor. There were shouts of terror in the air as well as the smell of blood. And death. It was a smell with which the Healer wished he had never become acquainted. "No. It must stop," he said firmly. "The killing. The bloodshed. It must stop." Returning his attention to the still unconscious monarch, the young Lord smiled affectionately. "You're a better man than I shall ever be, my Uncle. You can stop the killing. I give you back your power." So saying, he released his hold on the Great Seal, falling back with a bump, feeling as if he had just dropped back into time once again. Time! Whirling around, Jason scrambled over to the downed Time Lord, not having noticed the battle had ceased.