FIVE
After regaining his senses, the Doctor staggered out of the power station and called the Command Center on the intercom.
"Doctor, are you alright?" Aurora asked in an anxious voice.
"Just a bang on the head, nothing serious," the Time Lord replied dismissively. "What happened?"
"Either an explosion from one of the derelict ships, or a meteor strike. Take your pick. My engineers can't seem to agree."
"How about an explosion caused by a meteor strike?" came the helpful reply. "Whatever it was, it probably caused quite a bit of external damage near the power station," the Doctor said seriously. "Do you have any sensors still functioning?"
"A few."
"Good. See if you can detect any radiation leakage. Just internal, mind you."
"Only internal?"
"Yes. Anything outside should be shielded by the hull. It's inside, where I am, that concerns me. I'd rather not start glowing in the dark, if you don't mind. I'm sure it would make it terribly difficult to sleep."
Shawna giggled and Aurora turned to look at her, suddenly realizing that it had been a very long time since she'd heard anyone on the station laugh.
The Acting Commander had been mystified by the Doctor from the beginning and was becoming increasingly more baffled. How could he keep his sense of humor in the midst of such chaos? Had she known him as well as Jason, she would very likely have been on the verge of panic. The Time Lord always seemed to become more cheerful the more hopeless things got.
By following the Doctor's voice, Jason finally managed to locate him. At the end of the corridor was a piece of equipment he recognized and he realized, to his annoyance, that he had actually circumnavigated the entire station. The Doctor had been in or near the power station the whole time and this was just a few steps away from where the Alterran had started.
"Doctor, we've picked up an isolated radiation leak and—" Aurora broke off, scowling down at the console beside her. "That can't be right. Shawna, check it for me." Looking up, she said, "Doctor, the sensors show the radiation leaking from the control room, but instead of spreading out it just…stops."
"What?"
"I know. It can't be right, but that's what the readings say. We're checking them again to find the problem."
Only Jason knew what this information meant and was ecstatic about it. "No, it's me! Doctor, it's me! I'm not dead. Can't you see? I'm not dead!"
Unable to see or hear his excited companion, the Doctor stood thoughtfully for a moment, mulling over the puzzling information. "Keep checking and let me know what you find. I'll wait outside the power room until you're sure it's clear."
The screen went blank and the Doctor's face seemed to darken at the same time. Turning, he went slowly down the passage, stopping outside the room where Jason's crystallized form had been taken. Drawing a deep breath, he entered the room, taking a seat across from the bed.
The sight of his inert, lump of a body caused Jason to shudder. If he didn't get the Doctor to hear him, he'd be like that forever, his consciousness trapped between dimensions. "Come on, Doctor," he said insistently. "You're a Time Lord. You must be able to hear me. Or at least sense my presence."
The Doctor sighed heavily. "I can't do it, Jason," he said sadly, causing the Alterran to jump. "I can't repair that power plant. It was beyond all hope before I even arrived, and now…" Throwing a sorrowful look at the door, he asked, "How can I tell them that? They need hope, not more despair. They've had enough despair."
Jason blinked, never having seen this side of his friend before. The Doctor always seemed to be in such complete control that it was a bit of a shock to see him struggling with any sort of moral dilemma.
"They're all going to die, and I can't stop it." The Doctor looked at the form on the bed. "I can change the outcome, you know that. In fact, if you were here, you'd probably be telling me that very thing right now." Getting to his feet, he asked, "But do I have that right? If I transport them to the planet, I could be interfering with history. Perhaps even altering the very fabric of time. But if I don't help them…" Pausing, he said in a quiet voice, "If I don't, I may be just as guilty of killing them as I am of killing you, my friend."
"But I'm not dead!" Jason cried out in frustration.
The Doctor's moral agony was interrupted when Aurora called on the intercom. "Doctor, we've pinpointed where the radiation leak stops."
"Excellent! Where?"
"It's the room where we put you friend's…er, body."
The Doctor's eyes grew wide and he spun around, staring at the crystallized mass across the room.
"Doctor, did you hear me?"
"Yes, I heard you, Aurora. That's very interesting."
"Doctor, Alterrans absorb radiation!" Jason exclaimed. "You must remember! Alterrans ab sorb radiation!" He repeated this one message, over and over. Somehow, he just had to get through, for the sake of all their lives.
Whether it were Jason or just himself no one could say, but the Doctor suddenly realized what was happening. "Of course!" he gasped. "He's absorbing the radiation."
"How's that again, Doctor?" the Commander asked.
"Alterrans absorb radiation. Jason's not dead," he said startlingly.
"What? Doctor—"
"No time to explain. I've got to get back to the power station." So saying, he switched off the intercom and then, very carefully, picked up his apparently living companion and carried him from the room.
Aurora was already thinking the Doctor wasn't as stable as he first appeared and went down to the power station, finding him sitting calmly in the corridor just outside the open doorway to the reactor control room. He had placed Jason's crystallized form against the far wall and was watching it intently.
"Doctor, what are you doing?" Aurora asked quietly.
"A small experiment in energy transduction," he replied without looking up.
Aurora sighed heavily and sat down beside him. Now she was certain the Doctor's sense of humor was a cover for the fact that he was stark raving mad. "Doctor, before I was saddled with this command, I was a medical officer," she began patiently. "And I can tell you that that block of crystals in there is completely inert. No energy emissions. No movement. No vital signs. Nothing. In short, Doctor, it's dead."
"That's what you think," Jason snorted indignantly.
"You don't know Alterrans as well as I do," the Time Lord replied softly. "And I'm afraid I don't know them as well as Jason does, or this never would've happened."
"Doctor, we've been over this—"
"Alterrans are silicon-based lifeforms, you see; their basic molecular structure crystalline."
"Yes, I know. You've already—"
"Supposing…" the Doctor said, cutting her off again. "Just supposing I miscalculated when I gave him the bonding agent. If Jason's molecular structure had been pulled apart at that moment, it's just possible it bonded itself back together in its most basic, crystalline form."
Aurora considered a moment, only to shake her head. "I still don't see how that can make you believe he'd still be alive."
"Perhaps alive isn't precisely the right word. Dormant might be a better one. Anyway, I think he's become trapped and hasn't the energy to free himself. Your reactor leak may be just what he needs to do just that."
"Yes!" By now Jason was bounding around the room, unable to contain himself. He was also amazed at how close the Doctor had come to the truth. "Yes, yes, yes!"
"You're sure it's not just wishful thinking on your part?" the Commander asked, feeling a little sorry for this strange man whom she felt was grasping at straws.
"What if it is?" the Doctor replied. He turned his gaze back into the room, adding, "Then again, what if it isn't?"
Inside the life support unit, the saboteur was at work once again, this time disconnecting the cables from the mismatched equipment strewn about the room. The sound of someone struggling with the door's entry mechanism caused him to jump. He was grateful nothing worked properly anymore as it took several tries for the person outside to open the door, giving him time to turn off the lights and hide.
When the door finally opened, Eric entered, having gone to life support to check for damage. He found the cables hanging loose and assumed they had been jarred loose by the explosion. He immediately began repairing them, unaware of the fact that anyone was in the room with him. By the time he realized this it was too late. A savage blow from behind knocked him to the deck before he had the chance to turn around. A second blow knocked him unconscious.
Picking up the roll of duct tape the young man had been using on his repairs, the saboteur bound Eric's hands behind him and then tightly against his body, going on to bind his legs at the knees and ankles.
When Eric finally regained his senses, he found he couldn't move and started to struggle, stopping when he heard a chuckle from across the room. Craning his neck he saw, to his horror, that Ramsay was disconnecting the last of the cables.
"Ramsay, what're you doing?" the aghast Eric gasped. "You'll kill us if you shut that off!"
"I know," Ramsay replied coldly. "I'd planned to let this station just shake itself to pieces, but that interfering Doctor forced me to change all that."
"What? Ramsay, you're talking crazy. What're you talking about?"
The Engineer laughed at the irony of it. "The destruction of this outpost that you all think I've been trying so hard to save. By the time anybody remembers it, it'll all be over."
"You're a spy!" Eric gasped. "You stinking traitor! You're working for them!" He struggled in vain against his bonds, determined to get loose so he could kill the Chief Technician.
"Think what you like. I work for me now. No more orders. No more schedules to follow. I'm just an ordinary citizen sitting on a literal gold mine," Ramsay said happily.
"What are you talking about?"
"Minerals, my boy, and lots of 'em. That planet's loaded. Gold, silver, platinum, titanium. You name it. I ran the tests when the survey unit was here, remember?" The big man crossed to stand over the helpless Eric. "Now…they're all mine."
"Don't be a fool," Eric sneered. "Everybody from the station is down there. You'll never—"
"They'll never last the first winter," Ramsay announced. "I took the precaution of withholding a few rather vital pieces of equipment from the solar generators. They were expecting us to bring it, and then…"
"You sabotaged the shuttle?" Eric gasped in horror. "You're mad. You'll never get away with it."
"Who's going to stop me? You?" Ramsay asked, sealing the young man's mouth with tape. "Now, you will keep quiet like a good boy, won't you, Eric?" he cooed as he made certain the boy couldn't escape. "I've a few more things to do, yet, and I wouldn't want you to spoil the surprise." With an evil grin, he switched off the lights and shut the door, leaving the horrified Eric alone in the dark.
Aurora had run out of things to say and sat with the Doctor outside the power station, watching the inert mass of crystals. After a long silence, she finally asked, "So…what's supposed to happen?"
"I don't know," came the unhelpful reply. "If nothing else, at least he's keeping the radiation from leaking into the station." A thought struck him and the Doctor asked, "Tell me, was Ramsay ever able to repair your transmat?"
Aurora gave him a tired smile. "No, I don't think so. I'm not sure he had time, what with the explosion and having to cut all the tether lines—"
"What!" The Doctor was aghast and jumped to his feet. "He cut all the…? Are you telling me he set all the derelict ships adrift?"
"Yes, why?"
"Why? Aurora, my TARDIS was in one of those derelicts!"
The Acting Commander blanched visibly. "Oh, my God…" she breathed. "Now I really have gone and done it, haven't I? First I kill your friend. And now I've gone and killed us all."
Before the Time Lord could respond, a high-pitched whine blasted through the station's loudspeaker, forcing them to cover their ears. The sound continued to grow in intensity until it rendered everyone in the station unconscious. Everyone, that is, except Jason, who suspected the person he had seen planting the explosive was at work once again.
