CHAPTER 20

THE POWER OF THE SEAL

Dru was suddenly on his feet. He snatched the weapon from Leela's hand and threw her aside like a rag doll. She landed on a table several feet away, knocking it over and ending up on the floor underneath, stunned.

Dru leveled the laser pistol at the equally stunned Tolan, ordering him to drop his weapon.

Tolan stared back in stupefied amazement. "Chancellor, have you gone mad? This is murder!"

"No, Commander, this is an execution."

"A mass execution?" Jason asked pointedly. "Surely you're not going to let us all live?"

"Don't tempt me, boy, or you're first."

"So…" the Doctor injected mildly. "We're all to sit idly by to bear witness to your so-called execution. Are we then to report back to his Majesty—?"

"Quinton's a fool!" Dru snarled. "He won't do anything that takes a little backbone. Heaven forbid he should soil his lily-white hands! He's letting that murdering Changeling go free because he hasn't the stomach for blood. None of you has."

From across the room, Leela cried defiantly, "I have, old man!" and let her dagger fly. The blade impaled itself in Dru's forearm and he let out a cry of agony, yet somehow managed to maintain his grip on the gun.

This was all the diversion Tolan needed. A credit to his training, he was instantly up on one knee, his weapon in his hands. "Drop it, Chancellor!" he ordered, only to receive an angry, defiant glare in return. Struggling against the excruciating pain, Dru pulled the dagger from his arm and then took aim at the unconscious Constance.

"Chancellor," Tolan said threateningly, "don't force me to kill you."

Dru laughed scornfully at him. "You haven't the stomach for it either, Commander. If you'd had any guts, you'd've found a reason to kill her on Aegis and saved us all the trouble. I thought I'd chosen the right man for the job. Now I see I was mistaken."

"You…you sent me…as an assassin?" the horrified Tolan gasped. "I'm an Imperial Commander!"

"You're a disgrace to your uniform," Dru spat back. "Now I have to take matters into my own hands." So saying, his finger tightened on the trigger.

Tolan fired without hesitation and an energy beam engulfing the astonished Dru, tearing a shriek of agony from him. He twisted and jerked horribly within the energy bubble as the lattice of his crystalline molecular structure was completely shattered. Within a few seconds all the color drained from his body and he fell dead to the floor.

The Commander's eyes glazed over and he let the weapon fall from his hands. He sat heavily back onto the floor, looking at the Doctor, a confused expression on his face. "Why? Why did he make me kill him?" Looking over to Constance, he shivered. "He wanted me to kill her. He knew I would've if…if…" Tolan put his head in his hands, rocking himself as shock set in, his mind suddenly a jumbled mass of contradictions. Constance was a Changeling, and Changelings must die. Yet he had just saved her life. He had to, perhaps even wanted to. He did not know that Dru had been relieved of his office, so for him Dru was one of the most powerful men in court, and as an Imperial Guard, he was sworn to protect him, yet he had just taken his life. He had to, didn't he? Didn't he? No! It was all wrong. Everything was so terribly, horribly wrong!

"His mind is broken," Leela observed when the Doctor looked over at her. He nodded sadly, turning his attention to Jason, finding, to his shock, that instead of being back to his old self again the boy was only just conscious.

Suddenly Emperor Quinton appeared in the open doorway, the Great Seal throbbing with power from its place around his neck. The room was immediately filled with the same tangible power that had pervaded the throne room as he took in the situation. He held up a hand and Leela immediately froze where she stood. He looked over at the Doctor, their eyes locking as he entered the room.

The Time Lord felt himself seized in an invisible grip and instantly paralyzed. The overwhelming power flooding through him made it impossible to resist even if he chose to. He was aware of the monarch entering his mind and tried to relax, knowing that to resist would be futile—not to mention painful. A feeling of benevolence swept over him the instant the Emperor sensed his uneasiness

Suddenly the Doctor heard the Emperor's voice in his mind. "Relax, Doctor. Tell what's been happening." Then the room started whirling around him. He could feel all the information Quinton wanted being pulled from his mind with astounding speed. When the monarch finally turned away the Doctor was released from the paralyzing grip of power and sagged where he sat, feeling completely drained and visibly shaken. He put a hand to his spinning head, inwardly grateful he was already seated on the floor

The Emperor walked over to the distraught Commander Tolan and placed a hand on his head. "Commander, I give you clarity from chaos." Instantly, all the self-doubts and confusions were gone and Tolan saw everything in astonishingly precise detail. He looked at the Emperor in amazement. Then he too was frozen into place.

Taking a seat beside the semi-conscious Jason, the monarch stared down into his face. The Doctor found he could just barely move and was able to turn and watch, reasoning another telepathic conversation was going on.

In a calm, firm voice, Quinton announced, "Healer Jason, I give you leave to do that which is necessary."

The Doctor watched as his companion sat up slowly. It was obvious the boy was in some kind of trance, his movements being very mechanical and his eyes glassy. Jason looked down at Constance with unseeing eyes and then over at the Doctor. The Emperor raised a hand and the Time Lord suddenly found himself ten feet from where he had just been.

Jason got down beside the unconscious Miss Sorenson. "K-9, terminate irradiation," he said in a toneless voice.

The moment K-9 obeyed, the lattice started to shatter again. Moving K-9 out of the way, the Healer positioned himself at the Emperor's feet, placing the fingers of one hand on Constance's shoulder. The Doctor assumed his companion was scanning the wound as he normally did. In stead, he watched in horror as Jason reached up with his other hand and took hold of the Great Seal, bridging the gap between the two with his own body. A stream of pure energy was re leased the instant he took hold of the jewel, causing his body to arch like a bow. Jason went rigid, a cry of pain escaping him. He remained frozen in this way for as long as he could, fighting to maintain the bridge as long as possible. Finally, he could hold on no longer and the weight of his body broke the connection. He fell to the floor and lay as still as death itself.

When the energy flowing from Jason's hand entered the wound, Constance also went rigid, her body glowing brighter and brighter as the power poured into her. The glow continued even after the Healer's hand fell away, growing in intensity until the Doctor was forced to hold up a hand to shield his eyes. Suddenly the energy exploded into a sheet of blazing white light. Then everything went completely black.

The Doctor's first thoughts were that he'd been blinded by the intensity of the light. Temporarily, he hoped. To his relief his vision immediately started to clear. He saw Constance lying on top of the quilt that had been covering her, all traces of her injuries having vanished. His companion's inert form lay glowing radiantly beside her.

Somehow the Time Lord knew everything he had just witnessed had taken place within a matter of seconds, the Lord Emperor having somehow slowed the passage of time within the room. As the power was slowly drawn back into the Great Seal, the Doctor found he could move freely again. He went cautiously over to Jason's motionless form and then looked over at the Alterran monarch, the expression on the Time Lord's face both inquiring and accusatory.

"I wouldn't advise you to touch him, Doctor," the Emperor said mildly. "His body's charged with enough residual energy to flatten you."

The Doctor could feel himself becoming very angry. "Was that really necessary? Jason's in bad enough shape as it is—"

"I need not explain myself to you, Time Lord!"

This rebuke physically knocked the Doctor backwards, surprising them both. The Emperor waved his hand, returning Leela and Commander Tolan to reality. He then ordered the officer to call for medical and security assistance.

Leela looked around in bewilderment, going slowly over to the Doctor and catching her breath when she saw the glowing figure face down on the floor in front of him. "Doctor, what happened?"

"A rather impressive demonstration of focused psychic energy," he replied unhelpfully.

Even K-9 had been affected by the display, all his sensors having been rendered inoperative and therefore unable to provide any information on the unconscious Jason's condition. Eventually, K-9 shut down altogether.

Before assistance arrived, the Emperor carried Jason's limp form into the bedroom, the Doctor following as far as the door. From there he watched concernedly as the sovereign gently placed his companion on the bed, carefully removing the jeweled collar from around his neck and placing it on the night stand.

Help arrived a few minutes later and there was a flurry of activity. Dru's body was removed, and the unconscious Miss Sorenson was taken to the Palace infirmary. The Doctor asked the Commander if it would be alright for Leela to go along in order to look after Constance, to which Tolan agreed.

The Commander quietly asked the Doctor the exact outcome of the Judgment. The Time Lord told him all that had occurred, including the confrontation with Dru. As unusual, the Tolan's reaction was unreadable. He thanked the Doctor and took his leave, returning to the Central Command.