CHAPTER 29
AFTERMATH
"Doctor, Jason's trapped in the computer forever," Frankie objected. "You said so yourself."
"That's what we wanted Jaka to think," the Doctor replied, taking the limp youth into his arms and carrying him the TARDIS. "That way he'd transfer himself back into the computer and leave Jason to die in his place."
"How can you possibly know that?" Alex demanded as he followed the Time Lord into the console room.
"I don't for certain. I just hope it," the Doctor replied, placing the Alterran on the bed and sitting down beside him.
"And what if you're wrong?" Frankie asked sheepishly.
"If I'm wrong—"
"Then Jaka will kill us all," Alex completed angrily.
"No, I don't think so," came the calm reply.
Alex was incredulous. "Doctor, you didn't see what happened in there."
The Doctor looked up sharply. "You saw what happened?"
Alex was taken aback. "Well…yes."
"Well, don't just stand there, man! Tell me what you saw."
Alex exchanged a puzzled look with Frankie before describing the events he had witnessed.
"Just as I thought. He had a misfire."
"A what?" the Teggellans said in unison.
"A misfire. In simple terms it means that whoever this is, Jason or Jaka, they're completely helpless now."
"Yes, but how long will that last?" Alex asked skeptically.
"Until he's treated. A misfire pulls an Alterran's molecular structure completely apart. That's the distortion you saw. Over the next twelve to eighteen hours, the natural cohesion will breakdown completely." In a solemn tone, the Doctor added, "It's not a very pleasant way to die."
"Die!" Frankie gasped, exchanging a horrified look with Alex before giving the Alterran's pallid face and glazed, half-open eyes a closer look. "How…?" she began haltingly. "Doctor, how will you know? I mean, really know who this is?"
"Jason should be able to let me know easily enough," the Time Lord replied confidently, adding under his breath, "If his mind is working, that is."
"How?" Alex asked acidly. "By code?"
The Doctor gave him an astonished look. "Yes. How ever did you guess?" Receiving a stunned look in reply, he turned back to his companion. "I suspected as much when he said he'd need medical attention when he got out."
"He never said anything like that," Alex protested.
"You probably thought our little goodbye was rather poignant."
"That's putting it mildly, Doctor," Frankie admitted.
"It probably would've been—had Jason a brother. He happens to be an only child." The Doctor went on to explain the message: Jason's brother Alterran, meaning Jaka would take his place in the computer. But afterward he Jason would be completely helpless. The reference to his father, whom the Doctor knew to be a physician, coupled with the remark of keeping him healthy meant Jason would need medical assistance.
"He mentioned time being close to his father, which by extension means me," the Doctor went on. "And I think he meant he needed to be treated in the console room, but the reason for that eludes me. Whatever he meant, he didn't want Jaka to know about it."
"Now how do you know that?" Frankie asked, fascinated at the amount of information the friends had passed undetected.
"Jason stressed twice that I already knew something, which meant he didn't want anyone else to know—especially Jaka."
"This is getting beyond me," Alex muttered helplessly. "How did you know he'd even survive? How could he know?"
"Ground zero," the Time Lord said simply.
"Like when an atom bomb goes off?" Frankie guessed.
"In a way," the Doctor replied slowly. The intricacies of the physics involved were far beyond the current technology of his Teggellan companions and he was content to let this simpler analogy suffice.
Alex was still puzzled. "But he was directly behind the blast and in a confined space. The energy wouldn't've been able to pass around him." Alex caught his breath. "Unless that barrier reflected everything away until the last minute."
The Doctor gave him an admiring look. "Precisely right."
The youth on the bed moaned at that moment, his body shuddering and then glowing brightly. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes, focusing with difficulty on the faces around him. His gaze came to rest on the Doctor and their eyes locked, the Alterran's blue eyes saying a great deal without saying anything. Unable to speak and too weak to move, he was only strong enough to stretch out his fingers in his friend's direction.
The Time Lord took the boy's hand and squeezed. "You'll have to tell me," he said gently. "I must be sure."
The blue eyes flickered and then closed. Jason was having difficulty just staying conscious and now he was being asked to think! Opening his eyes, he squeezed the Doctor's hand and then summoned all of his strength to point a finger at the Time Lord's chest.
Puzzled, the Doctor looked down at himself. "I don't understand."
The eyes closed in frustration, opening again to look up at the Doctor and then pointedly past him. The finger pointed in the same direction. The Doctor turned, seeing his abandoned coat on the control room floor.
"My coat?"
The hand squeezed in reply. (Yes.)
"Something in the coat?" (Yes!)
The Doctor turned back and scowled.
Suddenly Jason's muscles constricted painfully and he closed his eyes, crying out in anguish. Jaka had expended a great deal more energy than Jason anticipated and his body was deteriorating many times faster than he'd calculated. At the rate he was going, he would be past the first phase of the misfire within a quarter of an hour. Once he entered the third phase, he would be able to speak, but this meant he'd have to endure the second phase, which meant several hours of hallucinations and unconsciousness before lucidity returned.
The Doctor was fully aware of all this and said in a desperate tone, "Jason, if it is you, please, tell me."
"So much for code," Alex snorted.
"Alex, you're not helping any," Frankie snapped.
"Well, if it were me," the Security Chief responded coldly, "I wouldn't be satisfied unless he spelled it out."
The Alterran's eyes suddenly snapped open and the hand in the Doctor's squeezed tightly. Then, slowly and deliberately, it started to move, bringing a broad smile to the Time Lord's face. Using the finger spelling of the deaf, Jason was able to say four words. "I-T-S M-E. T-I-M-E S-H-O-R-T."
As if to underscore the urgency of his situation, Jason suddenly went rigid, his body glowing brightly for several seconds, a cry of pain being torn from him. His eyes glazed over and he went limp. It would be only a matter of minutes before he would lose consciousness altogether.
Without thinking, the Doctor reached into the pocket his companion had pointed at. He caught his breath when he found it empty and looked over at the coat on the floor, seeing it in a whole new light. "Of course! My dear Jason, forgive me. I'm an idiot."
The Alterran's hand squeezed and then signed, "I K-N-O-W," a faint smile passing across his face.
"Now I know it's you," the Doctor muttered disdainfully as he got to his feet. He pulled a small black box from the pocket in his abandoned coat and then returned to the bedside. Frankie was surprised to see the box contained a small vial of liquid and a hypodermic pack.
Watched closely by the fast weakening youth, the Doctor filled the syringe. Another painful convulsion shook Jason's body before he finally lost his battle to remain conscious.
"Oh no, you don't," the Doctor admonished under his breath and injected the medication.
Jason's reaction was immediate and violent. He took a sharp breath and went rigid, his body arching as if being electrocuted. He convulsed violently, letting out a loud wail before finally going limp. After a few seconds, his breathing became slow and steady and his heart stopped racing itself.
"My God, you've killed him," Alex gasped, finding his voice at last.
The Doctor looked up in mild amusement. "My dear Alex, I've done nothing of the kind. He's just reacting to the medication." He went on to explain that the drug worked in a two-fold manner; initially shocking Jason's damaged system to stop the progression of the breakdown and then inducing a therapeutic coma that would allow his body to stabilize and repair itself.
"How long will he be in a coma?" Frankie wanted to know.
"I've no idea. Each instance is unique," the Doctor replied as he covered his companion with a blanket. "Long enough for me to seal the door to the computer room, I expect." With that, he turned on his heel and strode across the room.
"You can't just leave him!"
"My dear woman, there's nothing more I can do. He'll be safe enough in the TARDIS until I get back." Picking his coat up off of the floor, the Time Lord hung it on the hat stand and then went through the pockets, pulling out his sonic screwdriver. He pulled out a crumpled bag and gave a small grunt. "I wondered where I'd left you," he muttered, popping a jelly baby into his mouth as he walked out the door.
Alex gave the unconscious Alterran a dubious look. "I hope the Doctor's right about him. That Jaka character seemed to know an awful lot about what went on in Jason's head."
"Alex, you don't think…?" Frankie gasped. "You don't think he knew about the code, do you?"
"I hope not. But if he starts to wake up before we come back, you call me."
"Alright," Frankie agreed. "And you be careful yourself."