CHAPTER 15

BACK IN LIMBO

"Chris, stop!" Frankie repeated, trying to pull the enraged youth away. Realizing she wasn't strong enough, she threw her full weight at him, finally succeeding in knocking him off of the struggling Time Lord.

The Doctor lay gasping for a few seconds before sitting up, rubbing his bruised neck. "Thank-you," he gasped out gratefully, receiving a fierce look in return.

"You don't deserve it!" Dr. Albert snapped angrily, pushing him away in disgust. "You weren't worried about him at all, were you? All you were worried about was losing your valuable property."

The Doctor blinked, his mouth dropping open in disbelief. Then he laughed, much to the woman's annoyance. "My dear Dr. Albert, I don't own Jason. I was trying to get him angry." He looked over at his companion and frowned, wondering if he hadn't simply made matters worse. The young man was completely motionless, sitting silently and staring blankly into space.

The Doctor had no way of knowing that his gamble had paid off, thanks to two things; Jason's scanning ability, and the fact that a Time Lord's aura was stronger than that of other humanoids. Every time Jason had skin-to-skin contact, he registered the Doctor's time aura. The day he disappeared was no different, but because of his illness the information was just as jumbled and irrational as his state of mind. When his hands bore down on the Doctor's throat, the familiar aura assailed his senses once again. It also opened a floodgate of memories, the scene in the console room replaying itself in his mind. He saw the Doctor fighting against the tendrils entwining him, struggling in vain to loosen the coil at his throat. The same coil that mercilessly tightened in order to squeeze the life out of him.

Suddenly Jason remembered the overwhelming feelings of hatred, resentment, and jealousy, all of which were dominated by an urgent sense of purpose. The Doctor had to be destroyed or he'd stand in the way. In the way of what? Too terrified to think further, Jason's mind boggled at the horrifying memory of his own elation when the Time Lord went limp in his grasp. How could he do such a thing! He'd murdered his best friend, and was actually happy about it! As before, panic swept over him and he wanted to run but was knocked clear by Frankie at that very moment. He then withdrew into himself, his true personality fighting with that of Chris, and the evil one who had killed the Doctor.

The Doctor heard a small sob escape the young man's lips and put a hand on his shoulder, gently turning him around. He looked into the blank, staring eyes a moment. "Jason…?" he said hesitantly. "Jason, it's the Doctor. Can you hear me?"

The Alterran suddenly seemed to come to himself and shuddered, closing his eyes. He put a hand to his head and sagged, not quite certain what was going on. Hearing his name, he looked up. "Doctor…? Wh…what happened?"

"How do you feel?"

"I don't know. Confused, I guess. But that's not uncommon after—" Jason broke off when he realized he was sitting on the floor in the console room and looked around in blank astonishment. "How on earth did I get here?" he asked, turning to see, to his added confusion, a pretty and very bruised redheaded woman on the floor near him. "Doctor, you're soaking wet!" he gasped. "What the devil's going on?"

"A great deal," the Time Lord replied tersely. "But explanations will have to wait—"

"Wait!"

"Yes, wait," the Doctor said as he got to his feet. "Just now we need a surgeon." Turning to look across the room, he said firmly, "Alex has been shot and needs your help rather urgently."

The youth followed his gaze and frowned, feeling strangely out of his depth. "You know I hate working in the dark," he grumbled as he got to his feet. He strode across the room, examining the injured man's wounds.

The Doctor startled Dr. Albert when he gently helped her to her feet. She was starting to feel as confused as Jason. "He doesn't remember any of what just happened," she remarked in awe.

"No, he doesn't appear to. Not either incident," the Doctor agreed, keeping his voice low. "I hadn't bargained on that." Looking in his companion's direction, he added, "He's in for a rough ride, I'm afraid."

Before Dr. Albert could comment on this, the Doctor was moving to the Alterran's side. He arrived just in time to catch him as he started to sway on his feet. "Are you alright?"

The Healer nodded. "Yes, I think so. I don't know what came over me."

"You've been ill, my boy. Just take it slowly," the Doctor soothed. "Now, about our friend Alex?"

Jason turned back to his patient. "His in shock, has a lung about to collapse, and needs blood rather desperately. Help me get him to the sickbay. I can work on him there."

Even after seeing the console room, Frankie was unprepared for the sheer size of the TARDIS interior. Upon arriving in the sickbay, she was made to wait in the room adjacent to where Alex was taken, being able to watch all that went on through an observation window. She watched in a combination of amazement and trepidation as the Alterran Healer worked on the injured man's wounds, his hands moving so quickly that the Doctor had difficulty keeping up. It wasn't until Jason was certain his patient was out of immediate danger that he slowed his pace. Frankie saw him look in her direction, frown, and then waver on his feet, finally having to sit down, a hand to his head. Even though she couldn't hear what was said, it was obvious he was in no mood to be fussed over, waving off the Doctor's assistance. A minute later, the Time Lord came in to her. "I've been…eh, instructed to get you into some dry clothes," he informed soberly.

Dr. Albert shot a worried look over to the window. "Will he be alright on his own?"

The Doctor's expression did not change. "For the time being. He's rather in a state of limbo just now. Fortunately he believes it's due to his illness." He led the way to the TARDIS' extensive wardrobe where the reluctant oceanographer could get cleaned up and change into whatever struck her fancy.

Along the way, Frankie asked about the illness the Doctor kept referring to, and he briefly told her of the Draconian Flu and its unpredictability. "Confusion and slight memory loss are a normal side effect. But what Jason hasn't realized yet is he's already past that stage."

Dr. Albert nodded, telling him of the detached feelings and listlessness Jason had mentioned experiencing when he came to his senses in the main tank.

"Once he remembers that our troubles will really begin," the Doctor said mysteriously, opening the door to the wardrobe.

"I don't understand."

"You will," he replied vaguely. "Jason's temper can be, well…violent. You saw a demonstration of it in the console room. He's been trying very hard to master it and I'm afraid I had to use it against him to restore his memory."

"If you hadn't, Alex would've died," Frankie pointed out.

"Yes. But at what price Jason?"

Before the confused Dr. Albert could inquire further, the Doctor was heading for his own room, calling over his shoulder that he would return for her as soon as he had changed himself.

Jason sat calmly watching as the synthetic blood in Alex's transfusion dropped lower and lower. His mind was a jumbled mass of disjointed images that he couldn't seem to sort out. Were these memories? he wondered. Or were they dreams? Or even nightmares?

Returning to his senses with a jolt, the Alterran looked around, half-expecting to be somewhere else. He was relieved when he saw he was where he was supposed to be, but couldn't shake his ill ease. "Come on, Krystovan. This is no time for daydreaming," he said under his breath, getting to his feet.

Now that he was alone, he transmuted to his true form, which allowed him to work even faster than before. After making certain the big man was stabilized, Jason removed the bullet from his shoulder going on to bond his cracked and broken ribs. He then doubled checked his lungs, making certain there were no additional punctures before going on the clean and dress all his other injuries. Once this was complete, the Healer wrapped his patient warmly and sat down, studying the unconscious stranger. He was in critical condition, of course, but seemed to have a powerful will to live and would no doubt make a complete recovery. But that would take time.

When the Doctor returned for Dr. Albert, she would not go a single step with him until he answered some of her questions, the first being; how did he know that baiting Jason into a fight would bring his memory back? Reluctantly, he told her of his companion's violent delirium and subsequent, nearly fatal attack on him in the console room.

Frankie was appalled by this revelation. "And we left him alone with Alex!" she gasped.

"He's not going to hurt Alex—"

"How do you know? You just said yourself he tried to kill you."

"And according to Alex," the Doctor countered, "he nearly drowned you when he was brought to the Freeland Center."

"That was different. He was—" Frankie cut herself off as she realized what he meant.

"He was sick," the Time Lord completed. "Does he remember attacking you?"

"No."

"I didn't think so. I had hoped the confrontation would help him get his memory back."

Frankie was puzzled by his tone. "But…it did."

"Did it? He doesn't remember either incident. So now, instead of blocking only one attack, he's blocking two. And all the time in-between."

"So, what do we do? Do we tell him?"

"No. That could be disastrous. Best to leave him be and allow his memory to return naturally, as it would've done it I hadn't pushed him."

"Doctor, I don't understand. How could—"

"There's a great deal you don't understand, my good woman," the Doctor snapped impatiently. "Just believe this. If we push him too hard, we run the risk of losing him altogether." So saying, he strode from the room.

Frankie had to run to catch up to the brooding Time Lord and followed silently behind him as he led the way back to the sickbay. They found Jason sitting in the far corner of the treatment room staring into space, apparently lost in thought. For some reason, he had drawn the curtains to cover the observation window and the Doctor noted this in bewilderment. Upon hearing his name, Jason looked up, giving a tired half-smile.

"How is he?" Frankie asked hesitantly, her eyes falling on the form on the bed that was now swaddled in bandages.

"Lucky," Jason replied bluntly as he got to his feet. Seeing the anguished expression this induced, his voice softened. "He's not going to die, if that's what you mean. So don't look so worried—" The light-headedness returned as he suddenly realized he did not know the woman's name. He threw a helpless look in the Doctor's direction before saying, "This is terribly awkward, and I apologize, but…I don't know your name."

It was the Doctor who replied. "This is Dr. Albert, Jason. She's been looking after you for the last few days."

The Alterran gave his friend a stunned look before turning to the oceanographer, receiving a self-conscious smile in return. "I'm sorry," he said wholeheartedly. "I don't remember you at all." Now his head was really spinning, forcing him to sit down again.

"I'm sorry, too," Frankie said sadly. She had been feeling an odd sense of loss ever since the Alterran came to himself in the console room. The fearful, uncertain person she had come to know as Chris was gone, apparently forever, having been replaced by this confident, self-assured person whom the Doctor called Jason. She noticed he even spoke and carried himself differently and found herself feeling as though someone very dear to her had just died.

Going over to the unconscious Alex, Frankie gently stroked his battered and swollen face. He was wearing an oxygen mask and she was relieved to hear him breathing without difficulty. "Don't you dare die on me, you male chauvinist," she scolded softly. "Who will I have to fight with?"

Without looking up, or thinking, Frankie suddenly asked, "Chris, how long will it be before he wakes up?"

Equally without thinking, Jason replied, "Not for a couple of hours. I gave him a—" He stopped talking, scowling over at her. "What did you just call me?"

The Doctor groaned inwardly, rolling his eyes. Dr. Albert threw a helpless and apologetic look in his direction and Jason's eyes narrowed. His mind was clear enough for him to realize there was more going on than he was being led to believe. "Alright, Doctor, out with it. What's really going on?" Receiving no reply, he turned to Dr. Albert. "If you've been taking care of me all this time, why couldn't you take care of him as well?"

"I'm a marine biologist, not a surgeon," Frankie snapped defensively, causing the Doctor to groan audibly. This was not going very well at all. It got even worse when his companion turned accusingly to him and said, "You told me we were on course for—"

"There was an unexpected change of plan," the Doctor said quickly. "The coordinates were changed by a delirious Alterran."

Jason blinked and then sighed heavily, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. "Where are we, then?"

"A lovely little planet called Teggell."