Chapter 51
How Do We Shut It Off?
Jason and Turlough suddenly heard the Doctor's voice coming, not from around them as before, but through the passageway to the computer center. It was followed by the sound of the panel being torn off.
Jason shook his head. "He does get around, doesn't he?"
"And it sounds like he's using the direct approach to shut down the computer," Turlough observed, holding out a hand in an after-you gesture. "Now why didn't we think of that?"
The Doctor looked up when Jason and Turlough appeared at the tunnel entrance. "This is incredibly old," he said in a surprised tone. "Been here for centuries by the look of it." This was totally unexpected. He had assumed the Master had installed the mismatched equipment. Now it appeared that only the enclosure had been added, the computer itself being a major portion of the Matrix, if not the Matrix itself.
Jason looked into the exposed section. It was almost identical to the one he had just crawled out of. He reached inside, scanning the interior. "You're right, Doctor, it's incredibly old. But not centuries. Millennia!" he said, turning to his friend in awe. "It's Alterran in design, too, but …the technology!"
"Perhaps your ancestors had a great deal more wisdom than you give them credit for," the Doctor observed aridly, rising to his feet.
"Perhaps…" the Alterran replied noncommittally, following the Time Lord as he moved along the massive unit. The Doctor's eyes absorbed each detail of every mismatched section until he reached the main terminal where a puzzled expression came to his face. He scowled at the terminal, looked back along the computer and then at the terminal again. "This isn't right. It's completely alien compared to everything else."
Jason nodded. "It's almost as if it were added as an afterthought."
The sight of the Doctor studying the equipment with such intensity caused Shadra to shudder. Trying to keep her voice from sounding accusing, she said, "That's the panel the Master used to regulate the power flowing through this contraption I'm in."
The Doctor nodded absently, announcing that the instruments indicated the power to be stable, which alleviated the fear of a runaway power build up. "You know, Jason," he said mildly, "I'm surprised you don't recognize this. You've been under the console in the TARDIS enough times."
"Oh, Doctor, please," Jason moaned, "this is not the time to start talking in riddles. What does the TARDIS have to do with any of this?"
"Because the TARDIS is from Gallifrey," the Doctor stated to the unimpressed Alterran. "And so is this." He patted the section they had been scrutinizing, adding, "And it's not what you'd call standard equipment, either. It's been designed for some highly specialized tasks."
"Gallifrey! How on earth did it get here?" Jason asked unastutely.
"I should think that was rather obvious," the Doctor replied caustically. "Apparently the Master wasn't too busy to pick up a few things for himself while he was stealing information for Professor Turner. The question is, how did he get it out of the Capitol without being detected?"
"I thought the question was, how do you shut it off?" Shadra injected astringently. She was beginning to feel completely forgotten in the midst of all these scientific observations, none of which were getting them any closer to freeing her.
The Doctor and Jason exchanged a guilty look before turning to face her. In his mind's eye, Jason could picture exactly how Shadra would be standing were she in her human form; head tilted slightly to one side, arms folded, fingers drumming on one are, and an impatient expression on her face
"Well, Time Lord?" Lady Tostine said pointedly. "You're from Gallifrey, too. Can you shut it off?"
"Ah…yes, well…" the Doctor stammered out, looking to Jason for help and finding none. With a resigned sigh, he said, "In a word, no."
King Aaron was incredulous when Captain Devron returned empty handed, becoming even more annoyed when informed of Jason's intervention when the guards tried to take the Time Lord by force. By the time the officer finished his report, Aaron was seething. What was Jason playing at? He hated the idea of being Crown Prince. Did he think he could use his position whenever the spirit moved him? Or was the Captain right and Jason did not realize what he was doing because the Master was manipulating him,
The King decided it was time he to take matters into his own hands. "Captain, reassemble your men," he ordered. "We're going back to the Crystal Cavern. I think it's time I found out just what's going on around here."
Inside the Crystal Cavern, what was going on was not at all to the Doctor's liking. The circuits inside the stolen control panel were completely fused, making it impossible to turn off the power flowing through the enclosure. Tegan asked, rather practically, why they simply didn't replace the altered crystal, and Jason replied that this was impossible, as there was no replacement. Unlike the natural crystals embedded in the walls of the Cavern, the filtering crystal, and those in the console, were artificially produced, free of the flaws that would make them structurally unsound. When asked how he knew this, the Prince confessed to having scanned the crystals upon learning of the KaRoon-Tar.
"The molecular structure of that filtering crystal is unlike anything I've ever encountered," Jason remarked.
"Do you remember what it was like originally?" Shadra asked innocently.
Jason gave her a dark look, annoyed that she would even ask such a question. "Yes, I do," he replied coolly. To his shock, she suggested that because of her current, unique situation, she might be able to draw on that knowledge to reconfigure the crystal to its original state. She certainly had the power to do it.
"That would mean having to put Jason in direct physical contact with the crystal!" The Doctor was appalled. "Have you any idea what would happen if you lost control of the energy flow?"
Jason put a restraining hand on his friend's arm. "She may not, Doctor, but I do," he informed softly. Before the Time Lord could protest further, he said forcefully, "I've got to risk it, Doctor. She'll die in there!"
The Doctor tried in vain to dissuade him, pointing out that the Master would not have gone to all this trouble without taking his prisoner's health into consideration. Shadra's molecular structure had been modified to make her a part of the computer, sustained by the Matrix indefinitely. While this was not the most pleasant state of affairs, it did mean she was in no danger of starving to death while they tried to work out a safe way of extracting her.
Jason would not hear of it. He had been willing to risk his life to save the Doctor and saw no reason why he should not do the same for Shadra. He stormed from the computer room, the Time Lord at his heels. "You can't stop me from doing this, Doctor."
"Oh, can't I?" the Doctor replied harshly. He pulled the Alterran out of his way, positioning himself in front of the panel. Folding his arms, he glared at the Prince, staunchly refusing to move. If Jason wanted to proceed, he would have to remove the Time Lord by force, something the Doctor knew he was not prepared to do.
"I'll go along with this lunatic plan," the Doctor said firmly, "but only if the pair of you give me your word that you'll break off if anything unforeseen should happen. And I mean anything. No matter how insignificant."
"Okay! Okay! I promise!" Jason exclaimed unconvincingly.
His friend did not move. "I don't want your promise, Jason, I want your word." The Doctor received a dark look in reply. The Alterran's word was his bond and he knew it.
After a momentary stand off, the Time Lord succeeded in extracting the promise from the Alterrans that they would do as he asked. With a smile that was almost smug, he stepped aside, allowing the Prince access to the panel.
Jason pulled out the shelf, drawing a deep breath to steady himself. He closed his eyes and took hold of the crystal, concentrating on its original configuration. This was to be the only thought in his mind.
The Doctor went to the tunnel entrance, calling to Shadra that they were ready. For a moment nothing happened. Then the crystal started to glow very dimly, changing color several times. So far, so good, the Time Lord thought. Everything was going well. Later, he realized he should have known better. Jason suddenly caught his breath and went rigid, a golden glow completely engulfing him.
Appalled, the Doctor frantically called for Shadra to break off, but the glow continued to grow in intensity until it was a blazing ball of light so bright that the horrified observers were forced to shield their eyes. When the glare finally faded, the Doctor blinked to clear his vision, seeing the crystal pulsing dimly upon its pedestal. Jason, however, had vanished.