CHAPTER 11

THE UNBELIEVABLE

Jason took a deep breath, knowing what he had to say would very likely confuse his hosts. "This is going to be very hard for you to understand, but I'm not one of you. I'm not... Well, I'm very different from you." Pausing, he looked almost helplessly at the bewildered faces and struggled to find the right words. "I don't...really look like this. Like one of you."

Marjora exchanged glances with the others and wondered if this strange young man was, as Willa suspected, unbalanced.

Realizing his explanation wasn't going well at all, Jason concluded that actions definitely spoke louder than words and decided to forego the explanations and simply transmute. "I'm going to do something that will probably scare you, but, please, don't be afraid." With that, his body shimmered and he returned to his human form.

There was a collective gasp from those present and they fell back in terror. All save Dillon, who stood staring in amazement. "I…I know you!" he said at last. "Yo…you're the one I saw with the whitecoat. The one called Jason."

The youth nodded, a small smile coming to his face. "That's right. And I promised you that I'd help. I intend to keep that promise." He noticed Dillon staring at his right arm and held it out, realizing as he did so that it had been the one the I.D. number had been burned into. He pushed up his sleeve, revealing nothing on his forearm other than healthy pink skin.

Dillon looked up sharply. "What are you?" he gasped in terror.

Raising his hands, the Alterran said insistently, "Dillon, please, don't be afraid. I'm not magic, or a spirit or anything silly like that." With a wry smile, he added, "I'm not even human."

Yet Dillon and the others remained as they were—terrified. Jason turned to Marjora, who shrank away from him. As did Laurel. And then Dillon started to back away.

"No! Please, don't do this! You're breaking my heart. I won't hurt you, honestly," the young man cried in anguish. "I couldn't possibly hurt any of you. You saved my life!"

"Why…? Why…have you…come to us?" Marjora ventured at last.

"I've already told you, I came to help. My race has the ability to change form and I took on yours to…well, to try and understand exactly what was happening to you." Jason shuddered and hugged himself before adding darkly, "I'm afraid I found out the hard way."

Dillon took another step back when the Alterran turned back to him, and saw the same anguished expression he'd seen in the lab return to Jason's face. Suddenly he realized their fear truly was upsetting to him. "The Doctor…" Dillon said slowly. "He said that…you could be ex traordinary. Is this what he meant?"

"Possibl—" Suddenly remembering the urgency of the situation, Jason caught his breath. "The Doctor! I've got to stop him before he gets to the settlement!"

"It may already be too late," Marjora said in a shaky voice. "Jasmine knows the forest well. They would've gotten to the human settlement quickly."

"I'll do what I can, then."

"Then…I will help you," Dillon stated in as firm a voice as he could manage.

Although impressed with his courage, Jason was still a Healer at heart. "Are you sure you're up to going back there so soon?" he inquired concernedly.

"I am if you are," came the confident reply.

The Alterran smiled broadly. How can I possibly refuse an offer like that?

"Olyeon should be told," Marjora said, and sent Dahlia to the Chief Elder to tell of the unexpected turn of events. The child had no sooner gone when Jason observed bluntly, "He's not going to believe her. You realize that, don't you?"

"I don't believe it!" Lilith exclaimed, closing the door to her office so as not to be overheard.

"I saw him myself, large as life," Ellis said firmly, "talking to Taylor and Remington outside the Administration Building."

"You're sure he said the boy would go looking for him?"

"Have you ever known me to be wrong about something like this?"

Lilith had to admit that she had not. This was bad. Very, very bad. Jason had been a little too curious about her work involving the Terrellians; perhaps he even suspected something. Was he really an undercover agent? It would explain Taylor's sudden request for an investigation. She'd been able to put the leader off with a substantial bribe—a mere pittance in comparison to what her little enterprise was bringing in. But Jason was another matter entirely. He was young, am bitious, intelligent, and very probably honest. She would have to deal with him in a completely dif ferent manner. And fast.

"That boy could endanger our entire operation," Dr. Jordan said gravely.

"Don't worry," Ellis purred, "I'll deal with him the way I dealt with Henderson. And all the others."

"That's what I like about you, Ellis," Lilith cooed. "You're so…reliable." So saying she grabbed him by the collar and kissed him passionately on the mouth. The kiss was returned in kind. Suddenly hands were pulling at garments and the business portion of the conversation evaporated into wanton lust as the Hunt Leader pushed the scientist down onto the couch.

Several minutes later, Jacoby arrived on the opposite side of the door. Hearing the unmistakable sounds of an intimate encounter in progress, he smiled knowingly before knocking discreetly on the door. "Dr. Jordan, you have an urgent communiqué from your…eh, business associates," he called through the wooden barrier.

"I'll be there in a moment," Lilith snapped with a gasp, having to come up for air before she spoke. Looking up at the hunter, she said in a quiet purr, "Perhaps we can continue this conversation later, Mr. Ellis."

"Of course," he whispered back, nibbling on her ear as he added, "How about after I've returned from the hunt?"

"This is unbelievable!" Taylor gasped. "Those plant things? Intelligent beings?"

"Very intelligent beings," the Doctor corrected.

"I just don't believe it."

"Why should it be so difficult to believe? They only differ from you humans in that they're non-aggressive. Opposed to killing. And why, may I ask, is that so unbelievable?"

Taylor remained silent, not trusting himself to reply. After a long silence he said in an authoritative voice, "Let's just go have a talk with Dr. Jordan and see what she has to say about this." He practically jumped to his feet and strode purposefully from the room.

The Doctor was taken aback. He had only just been warming up. He had dealt with more than his share of bureaucrats and expected it to take considerably longer to convince the Colony Leader to even consider going to see Dr. Jordan, let alone act.

Later the Doctor realized that he should have trusted his instincts instead of Gordon Taylor.

Ellis and his men had no sooner left the Research Center than they spotted Jasmine hiding among the trees at the forest's edge. They pretended not to see her and continued on.

The Terrellian held her breath as they passed by her hiding place, heaving a sigh of relief when she thought she was safe. A red glow suddenly enveloped her from behind and she crumpled to the ground in a heap.

"Well, well, well. This is an unexpected bonus," the Hunt Leader grinned. "Take her back to the center, Baker. You can join us later."

Having successfully calmed the fears of his Terrellian hosts, Jason went back into the bedroom and started going through the Doctor's coat pockets. He pulled out the sonic screwdriver and grinned. "This will definitely come in handy."

Just as Jason predicted, the Chief Elder did not believe Dahlia's explanation. He entered the dwelling just as the Alterran emerged from the bedroom.

"Oh, no!" Jason moaned. "I can't go through all that again. There's no time!"

The stunned Olyeon looked over at Dahlia and then back to the vexed Alterran. "Dahlia said that Krystovan and Jason were one," he said at last. "I didn't believe her."

"I didn't think you would," Jason replied darkly as he went over to Dillon.

"It's true, Olyeon," Marjora said insistently. "We all saw Krystovan change into this human."

"Alterran," Jason corrected sharply. "Please, don't insult me by calling me human."

Olyeon was speechless. Things were starting to get more and more out of control. It was bad enough that the youth of the village were sounding more like, and becoming as aggressive as, the humans who were terrorizing them. But now not one, but two strange humans had come among them, and they acted nothing like humans! They even claimed not to be human, although how this was possible was beyond the increasingly overwhelmed Chief Elder. As Jason had observed, things were getting very, very complicated.

At that moment, there was another complication. A sentry came bursting into the hut and stopped short when he came face-to-face when Jason. He was about to bolt from the room when Dillon stopped him, taking him by the arm. "Wait! Thatcher, it's alright. This is Jason. The one I spoke of."

Thatcher stiffened visibly, his eyes moving quickly from Dillon to Jason and back. He took a step back and remained apprehensively by the door. "I…I've been…looking for you, Dillon," he stammered out.

"Me?"

"It's Jasmine," the sentry said sorrowfully. "She's…been captured."

"Nooooo," Dillon wailed. He sank to his knees, burying his face in his hands. "Not my Jasmine."

Confused and distressed by this reaction, Jason knelt beside the distraught Terrellian. He looked questioningly up at Marjora, who said, "Jasmine wasn't just the Doctor's guide. She's Dillon's wife."

"We are betrayed!" Dahlia cried. "The Doctor has betrayed us all!"

"Never!" Jason stated categorically.

Wanting to believe his faith in the Doctor had not been misplaced, Olyeon asked, "Did the Doctor take her captive?"

"No, Chief Elder, it was the hunters." Thatcher went on to relate all he had seen from his place in the treetops. The two stopping briefly before the Doctor went on, leaving Jasmine alone and unharmed in the forest. It seemed to the sentry that the Time Lord did not even realize Jasmine was following him. And, fortunately for the Doctor, Thatcher had not witnessed what would have been his damning conversation with Ellis.

"Well, that tears it," Jason said forcefully, rising to his feet. "They've probably got the Doctor, too, by this time."

Dillon looked up in surprise. "What can you do now, Jason? It's too late—"

"Oh, it's never too late, my dear Dillon," the young man responded sharply. "You see, I'm going to demolish Dr. Jordan's lab. And you know something? I'm going to enjoy every minute of it."