CHAPTER 3

"WE'LL CALL HER CRYSTAL."

"No, Time Lord! Do not interfere," the Alterran snarled.

The Doctor was struck by two things at the same time. The first was the voice. In his true form Jason's voice normally had a gentle, soothing quality, but now it was completely different; deep and resonant with an unnatural threatening edge. The second thing the Doctor noticed was Jason had not called him by name, having used the designation of Time Lord, something he did on the rarest of occasions—and usually in anger.

Holding up his hands, the Doctor stepped away from the console, having to backpedal when Jason suddenly descended on him. Unable to avoid the long tendrils, he was entwined and then roughly flung against the wall. The Doctor was able to elude the second attack by interposing the central control console between himself and the deranged Alterran.

Puzzled by this maneuver, Jason hesitated, causing the Doctor to hope it meant the powerful being was incapable of vaulting the large console in order to get at him.

"I'm not returning to the Empire," Jason announced suddenly, his now deep voice taking on a sinister, almost metallic quality.

"Why?" the Doctor asked innocently. "I thought you were proud of your heritage."

A chilling laugh rumbled forth in reply. "I was a fool! Have you any conception of the powers I possess? I'm an Alterran of the First Circle with powers greater than you could possibly imagine. But am I allowed to use them? No. They're so rigidly controlled that I'm no better than a weak human."

The Doctor was unfamiliar with the illusion to the First Circle, but he didn't like the sound of it at all. He was, however, familiar with a few of his companion's powers, and had an inkling as to their full extent. He also knew that his formidable powers were suppressed while he was in human form. In his true form, however, Jason was virtually invincible, and if he were out of his mind enough to act without a conscience, he would be extremely dangerous, if not unstoppable by anyone other than a member of his own race.

The Doctor looked on helplessly as his companion continued to succumb to his illness induced megalomania. He wondered if there were any part of the once gentle, self-controlled young man that was still reachable. The being before him was a complete stranger; cold, malevolent, terrifying.

In the midst of the tirade, the Alterran suddenly went silent, his crystalline eyes going dark. Seeing this, the Doctor relaxed visibly. Jason had passed out again. This finally gave the Time Lord the opportunity to check the status of the console, where he discovered, to his dismay, that the coordinates had been changed and the controls locked. Even though it would not take long to unlock them, he wasn't sure how much more of this cat and mouse game he could take. So in the interest of health (his own) he decided to drug his increasingly unstable companion until they reached more qualified hands.

Since Jason always appeared in his human form, the Doctor was only vaguely familiar with his true biological makeup. He did know enough to realize that he'd need the strongest sedative he could find and immediately went to the sickbay.

When the Doctor returned to the console room, he slowly opened the door, seeing the Alterran right where he'd left him. Heaving a sigh of relief, he crossed the room, discovering too late that the cat and mouse game had escalated. Several powerful tendrils abruptly entwined him, the syringe containing the drug forced from his hand.

"No, Time Lord!" Jason snarled evilly. "The power of old is within my grasp! I will allow nothing to keep it from me."

The Doctor had no idea what his companion was raving about and tried to reason with any part of Jason's mind that was still lucid. His words were abruptly and literally choked off as the tendril around his throat constricted. He fought back as best he could, but his hands were stiff and swollen from the gashes inflicted on them earlier. They were also giving him a great deal of pain, making it difficult to pull the coil from his neck before it throttled the life out of him.

The coil continued to tighten mercilessly until the Doctor eventually lost consciousness. It was only when the Time Lord went limp that the reality of what he was doing finally set off an alarm in Jason's deranged and fevered brain. He released his unconscious friend immediately, watching as he crumpled to the floor.

The alarm continued to sound and the Alterran backed away from the motionless form, his erratic personality changing again. His voice returned to normal, the malicious edge vanishing as abruptly as it appeared. Both angry and terrified, Jason cried out, "Dead…killed…murder! No! Not me! Not me!" He moved back and forth as though pacing, the confusion in his mind building as he repeated the words over and over, "No. Not true. Not me."

The TARDIS materialized during this traumatic upheaval and Jason pulled the door lever, vanishing through the double doors.

The Doctor regained his senses only a few minutes later. He sat up slowly, rubbing his throat and wincing from the pain in his hands. Seeing the medical text he'd brought to the console room lying in a tattered heap beneath the control console, he shook his head. "That young man's going to have a lot to answer for when he gets better," he grumbled.

The Time Lord managed to get to a sitting position, his body aching all over from the battering he had received over the last hour. Seeing the exterior doors standing open, he slowly got to his feet and went cautiously over to them, half expecting to be set upon again. Instead he discovered, to his horror, that the TARDIS had not materialized on solid ground but was hovering several hundred feet above water. "Oh, Jason…" he moaned, leaning against the doorframe in despair.

The Doctor stood staring down at the water in uncertainty. His hands were throbbing terribly, however, making clear thinking impossible. He knew he would have to see to them before doing anything else. Turning, he crossed to the inner door, stopping when a sudden thought struck him. Going back to the console, he started the computer recording the atmospheric conditions. By using this data, and with a little luck, he might be able to trace Jason's path by following the ocean currents below.

Less than twelve hours after his dynamic departure from the TARDIS control room, the unconscious Jason washed up on a quiet beach several hundred miles from where he had entered the water. He was still in his true form and gave the divers who found him quite a start. They immediately contacted the Freeland Oceanographic Center, only a few miles away.

Dr. Albert was ecstatic when the call came in, thinking the Alterran to be an injured sea creature. Jason was taken to the Center and placed in the main tank, this being the only one in the building with access to the open sea. Access to the top of the tank was on the first floor and surrounded by metal walkways and railings. There was a large observation window below water level with an airlock beside it that was accessible from an observation room. It was in this room that Alex Grove found Dr. Albert, having come down to see what all the fuss was about.

"So, this is your latest addition, eh?" he said conversationally. "I'd've thought it'd be a little more impressive the way everyone's been carrying on."

Dr. Albert scowled at him. "For your information, Mr. Grove, this is an unknown and, as yet, unnamed marine animal."

Alex snorted. "Oh, come off it, Frankie—" He cut himself off when he received a withering look. "Alright, alright, Dr. Albert, then. Even I can see it's just a big green jellyfish."

At that moment Jason regained consciousness and started to thrash violently inside the tank, his delirium having returned in full force. He threw himself against the sides of the tank, letting out some very impressive shrieks as he babbled in his own language, which no one present could understand. The water churned and exploded into the air causing a great deal of excitement on the walkways and the observation deck above the tank.

"I don't think she likes being called a jellyfish," an amused Frankie observed finally.

"She?"

"Well, why not? There's no reason why it can't be female."

"Forgive me my chauvinistic heart," Alex said in a feigned apology. "I thought you'd say it would have to be a male because of the way it's throwing its weight around."

Frankie gave him a wry smile and turned away to hide her amusement. Watching the thrashing occupant of the tank, she breathed, "Isn't she magnificent?"

Alex smiled broadly. So many people had opposed her appointment to the Directorship. This creature was just the thing she needed to prove herself, as well as show them all what she was really capable of. He never would have admitted feeling his way and turned to leave, saying only, "When you've seen one jellyfish, you've seen them all." Alex punctuated his remark by slamming the door behind him.

Dr. Albert came out of her daze when the door slammed, not having noticed when the Security Chief left. Pulling herself together, she went to assemble her people in order to examine the newest occupant of the main tank.

Confused and delirious, Jason was still under the control of his illness. Dr. Albert was afraid he might injure himself, or was already injured, thinking his extremely violent thrashing was due to pain and/or fear. She, therefore, had him tranquilized. Once it was determined he was not injured (as far as they could tell) the team seized the opportunity to completely examine the anesthetized creature. The Alterran was carefully weighed, measured and photographed. Some blood was drawn and a few tissue samples were taken.

Dr. Albert's examination of the creature left her more puzzled than enlightened. She had no idea how he survived either in or out of water. She had found no evidence of gills as with fish, or a blow hole as with sea mammals. Uncertain as to how long her newest arrival could remain out of water, she had him returned to the main tank.

Jason came to his senses just as he was being returned to the tank, the tranquilizer having worn off far sooner than anyone expected. His blue crystalline eyes suddenly blazed and a tendril lashed out, pulling the nearest person, which turned out to be Dr. Albert, into the tank and underwater. She struggled frantically to get free, but wasn't strong enough to untangle even one of the coils. Another team member was pulled under and then someone fired a tranquilizer dart into the flailing creature. He let out a shriek of pain, releasing his struggling captives who broke the surface gasping for breath.

Enraged by the stinging dart, Jason went on the attack, forgetting all about those in the tank with him. The people on the gantries were now his targets and he managed to catch hold of one unfortunate individual who had misjudged how far out of the water he could rise. The man was wrenched over a railing and into the tank, his shoulder being dislocated in the process. He was saved any further injuries as the tranquilizer took effect and Jason passed out.

Once the excitement was over and everyone was back in dry clothes, Dr. Albert set to work assimilating and analyzing all the data the team had managed to collect. From the outer office, someone called, "Dr. Albert, what do I put on the file? We don't even have a clinical designation yet."

With a smile, she replied, "Crystal. We'll call her Crystal."

It had taken considerably longer for the Doctor to unlock the console controls than he expected, and this was due to several reasons, none the least of which was the fact his injured hands were giving him considerable difficulty. He could not keep his mind on what he was doing because of the pain and the fact that he was extremely worried about his companion. On top of that he discovered that Jason had shuffled around several of the circuit boards that were crucial to the operation of the TARDIS. Each board had to be returned to its proper slot before any coordinate changes could be made. Otherwise the TARDIS would dematerialize prematurely, which was the last thing the Doctor wanted. Since he had no idea where he was to begin with, he would end up stranding his missing companion.

Once the console was in working order, the Doctor was able to begin the laborious task of tracking the currents of the ocean below. He reflected on Jason's love of the sea and prayed the boy had had the decency to follow the currents. That is, of course, if he survived the fall from the TARDIS. The Doctor shook these dark thoughts from his mind. There were already too many variables facing him in the monumental job of finding his missing friend. The last thing he wanted to consider was the possibility that he was merely searching for Jason's lifeless body.