CHAPTER 27

VOICE OF THE COMPUTER

Frankie's heart missed a beat. "Jason," she breathed in a voice scarcely above a whisper.

The Doctor was far less surprised, and far more vocal. "My TARDIS is not obsolete," he stated categorically.

"Well, Jaka thinks it is," his companion countered. "And you'd better be glad I was able to keep a few things back or we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"You didn't send him to the archives, did you?"

"Where else? That'll keep him busy for a few minutes, at any rate."

Frankie could not believe how calmly the Doctor was taking all this. As if speaking to a literally disembodied voice were an everyday occurrence. "Jason, you're alive!" she said at last.

"If that's what you call it," the voice responded sadly. Anticipating the barrage of questions to follow, Jason quickly asked, "Doctor, are you alright?"

"For the moment. We all are, as a matter of fact."

"Good," his companion sighed. A shaft of light suddenly flashed from the control circuit, touching on each of the helpless occupants of the computer room. Frankie caught her breath when it fell on her, relaxing when Jason assured her that he was just scanning them to make sure they were indeed unharmed.

"Old habits die hard," the Doctor remarked as the light came to rest on him.

Jason ignored the remark. "I've been trying to get control of the power source, but I can't seem to take it over. This is a very complex setup. Looks like years in the making. I've only just figured out how to use the sensors, but I can't really see, if you know what I mean."

"Vaguely. Have you discovered anything relevant concerning our loving host while you've been poking around in there?"

"Aside from the fact that he's a raving lunatic, no."

"Too bad."

"I've found a really strange program that I haven't been able to access," Jason informed. "It seems relatively new, if that's possible. I'm working on it, but it's got a very elaborate access code."

"That may be something. Keep trying. Anything else?"

"Quite a bit, if you feel up to it."

"If it'll get us out of here, I'll try anything."

"I've been thinking. If we work it right, we should be able to maneuver him into a ground zero affect with the power source."

The Doctor considered. "Risky," he said at last.

"Very. I can quote you the odds, if you like?"

"Don't bother."

"Alright. First we have to get him off balance. I think I can manage—" The disembodied voice abruptly stopped when Jaka emerged from the TARDIS and crossed to the console. He checked the systems and then turned his unnerving crystalline eyes in the Doctor's direction. "You've no doubt already deduced what I've been up to."

"Yes," the Doctor said stiffly. "You've accessed the information about the TARDIS amongst the 'trivia' in Jason's mind."

"This boy's mind is full of more than just trivia," the false god snorted. "Did you know he practically worshipped the ground you walk on? It boggles the mind. One of the elite aristocracy —a member of the First Circle, actually looking up to an…outsider." This last word was spoken as if it were poison. With a mocking laugh, Jaka added, "And he did what ever you asked, didn't he? The stupid child! He really was your servant, wasn't he?"

The Doctor continued to control himself with visible effort, glaring angrily at the distorted aberration of hate.

"How delightfully simple it was to use that revolting hero worship against him," the false god went on. "It made everything else child's play."

The room suddenly started to shake violently and Frankie caught her breath, looking around in terror. "It's an earthquake!" she cried in a panic-stricken voice.

"No," the Doctor observed blandly. "More like the precursor to an erupting volcano."

"Don't be a fool. There are no volcanoes in this part of the world, Time Lord," Jaka snorted indignantly.

The Doctor's eyes flickered, his captor having just confirmed the fact that Jason had been able to hold some things back. On more than one occasion his companion had referred to himself as Mt. Jason, likening his volatile temper to an erupting volcano. That Jaka did not know this was significant.

"Alright, Jaka, now what?" the Doctor asked, addressing the Alterran by name for the first time. "You never did tell me. You've got your power and your Projector. What's next? Surely you've had time to work all that out over the centuries? Or do you still need to practice?"

Jaka's eyes grew wide, blazing in anger. The Doctor cried out as the light flared around him, burning into his brain. "You are insolent! Any further discourtesy—" He turned his gaze to Frankie. "—and I shall kill the woman."

Frankie screamed as the blue light suddenly enveloped her. "It's burning me!" She struggled against her bonds, but was just as powerless to escape as the Doctor had been earlier.

"Shall I sacrifice this female upon my Alter of Pain, Time Lord?" the Alterran asked tauntingly. A crackle of energy sounded above the table, the implications blindingly obvious.

"No!" the Doctor shouted. "Do what you want with me, just leave her alone."

Jaka smiled cruelly, his anger burning further into the defenseless woman who pleaded with him to stop.

Suddenly an angry voice thundered, "Stop it!"

The building shook to its foundations when Jason spoke again, "Stop it, you sadist!" An energy bolt flashed from above Frankie, striking the unsuspecting false god full in the chest and knocking him to the floor.

"So, the boy speaks at last," Jaka said as he picked himself off of the floor. "I didn't think you had the skill."

"I've got skills you've never dreamed of, you barbarian," Jason spat back. "And I can do a lot more than speak!"

Jaka put his hand on the star-shaped control dial. "Can you do this?" Glancing to the exterior monitors, he twisted the dial and pushed a button. An energy bolt flashed from the peek of the Temple exploding into the monolith at the base of the cliff. Sand and water were thrown into the air as the beam punched a man-sized hole through the ancient wall.

"Bull's eye," came the unenthusiastic response.

Jaka grunted and turned the dial again.

"Is that all you can do? Parlor tricks?" Jason asked sarcastically, receiving a second indignant snort in reply. "My turn. Tell me, O Great One, have you seen this one?" The monitors abruptly changed, displaying lines and lines of coded information. "Now you see it." The screens then went blank. "Now you don't." The words File Deleted flashed up on the screen a second later.

"No! Stop that, you meddlesome urchin!" the aghast Jaka shouted.

"Tut-tut," Jason admonished brightly. "And from a usurper to the First Circle, too." The wall of instruments behind the Doctor suddenly came to life as the computer began searching through its files.

"I'm well beyond urchinhood, by the way," the voice in the computer went on calmly. "In fact, I've already passed my first century. Which makes me a far more serious threat than Frankie, don't you think?"

The Alterran usurper gave an angry growl, slamming a fist on the computer console. He flew at the controls in a vain attempt to stop the flow of data from being erased by unplugging Jason.

"No, not that one," Jason taunted as the false god pulled out a control panel to attack the circuits inside. "No. That's not it either. Not even close."

"I'll stop you yet!" Jaka snarled, yanking out another board.

The trapped Alterran started to laugh delightedly, further unsettling the confused Alex. "Doctor, what's he trying to do?" he whispered. "Get us all killed?"

The Doctor found, much to his delight, that he could move again and turned to the bewildered Teggellan. "Jason's trying to distract him," he said quietly. "He's forcing Jaka to concentrate on him and not us. He can't expend the mental energy necessary to control us while he's chasing Jason through the computer."

The equally bewildered Dr. Albert watched the goings on in a daze, having been weakened considerably by the blazing light. She almost jumped out of her skin when she suddenly heard Jason's gentle, soothing voice whispering very close to her ear. "Frankie, I'm going to try and release the clamps. Be ready to grab him, if the opportunity arises. You may not get a second chance."

Frankie had just enough time to nod before her bonds clicked open and withdrew into the table. She sat up slowly, putting a finger to her lips when she saw the Doctor and Alex looking in her direction. She got down from the table and stood shakily beside it, still feeling a bit wobbly.

"Did you know…?" Jason suddenly said conversationally. "With the right modifications this computer can duplicate Epsilon waves without an operator?"

Jaka stopped short and looked up sharply.

"Did you also know," the captive Alterran went on, "that I happen to have the skill to do just that?" There was a sudden flash and the astonished Jaka found himself across the room and standing in front of Frankie who glared angrily at him before finally giving in to her baser instincts. She promptly decked him.

"That's not exactly what I had in mind, Frankie," Jason moaned admonishingly.

"I'm going to erase you, boy!" the false god snarled.

"Not if I can help it." Frankie snarled, giving the downed Alterran a savage kick. The enraged being grabbed her leg and pulled her to the floor, slapping her across the face with the back of his hand.

The force field trapping the Doctor and Alex suddenly vanished and Alex was on top of Frankie's attacker in an instant, knocking him senseless with a single blow.

"Alex, get him on the table, quickly!" Jason commanded.

The Security Chief did as instructed, having no sooner finished than the dazed Alterran returned to his senses and sent the Teggellan flying with another blast of energy. A split second later, a glowing blue barrier of energy closed off the opening across the front of the table.

Frankie took an alarmed step back, letting out a cry of terror when a hand touched her shoulder.

"It's only me," the Doctor said gently.

"Wh…what happened?" the dazed oceanographer asked.

With the greatest of satisfaction, the Time Lord replied, "A trap just closed."