Chapter Fifteen

Probing The Mind

The Doctor was already doing his part to thwart Farrell's plans, having obligingly given him several theories on inter-dimensional spatial theory. All of which proved unequivocally that it was a theoretical impossibility.

While this did not amuse the Chief Inquisitor, it delighted the real Prince Juris. "They'll never get anything out of him that way," he observed.

"My Master does not understand why the Doctor was required. He believes him to be a fool," Asta informed.

"A fool?" Juris snorted. "Don't be ridiculous. He's a Time Lord."

"How do you know this?"

"Well, if your Master had bothered to ask my father before he murdered him," came the embittered reply, "he would've seen they used to travel together. That's how my father learned the theory in the first place."

The reaction to this revelation went unnoticed by the captive Juris who was too intent on watching the events unfolding in the mind probe room.

After a brief telepathic conversation with its Master, the cloud grew darker than ever before. "You will tell me of him."

Still unaware anything was amiss, Juris said airily, "I can't, really. I've never—"

"You will give me everything in your mind concerning this Time Lord," the entity commanded, its voice suddenly deep and metallic.

This quite naturally startled the unsuspecting youth and he turned sharply, stiffening visibly when he saw his captor moving ominously close. "But…I…I've never met him. I only know what my—" Juris broke off as the creature loomed over him and he realized too late that some thing was horribly wrong. "Asta, you're scaring me! What's wrong? What do you want?"

"All that you know of this Time Lord," the deep voice stated flatly.

Juris cried out in shock and terror as the entity suddenly infiltrated his mind. "You're hurting me! Stop, please! Give me a chance to clear my mind." To his added horror, the energy sphere started to glow and for the first time in months his prison was a torture chamber again. This seemingly unprovoked attack created only confusion in his mind drowning out all other thoughts, which only made matters worse. "Asta, stop, please! You promised! No! Please, noooo!"

The Prince's pleas turned into screams of agony as the entity tore relentlessly into his mind. As before, his struggles proved in vain against the creature's overwhelming power. Within seconds he was paralyzed and helpless as the memories were mercilessly stripped from his mind. When the torturous ordeal finally ended, the Alterran collapsed to the floor of his prison, exhausted and barely conscious.

The entity ignored his moans and moved away, growing darker still as the information torn from its prisoner was relayed to Ormril.

As Juris recovered his senses, his tears of pain became tears of anger and bitter betrayal. Seeing his captor engaged in another telepathic conference, he waited until the cloud returned to its normal color before shakily asking, "Why? Why did you do that to me? You promised…you wouldn't again. You…you promised!"

The entity's response was to reactivate the view screen. The voice of the mind probe operator suddenly filled the room, startling the dazed Alterran Prince.

"Shall I increase the power, sir?" the operator asked.

To everyone's amazement, it was the puppet Prince Juris who answered. "No. He'll only close his mind. Send for the girl. Then we'll proceed."

The conversation in Peri's cell abruptly ended at the sound of approaching booted feet. A guard threw open the door and stood glaring at her a moment before entering. "Come with me, girl," he snarled, roughly grabbing her by the arm.

"Where are you taking me?" she demanded.

"You'll find out soon enough," the guard sneered. The door suddenly closed behind him and he spun around, his smug expression dissolving into terror as he found himself face to face with a dead man. He let out an alarmed squeak and drew his weapon, only to have his wrist grabbed by the angry Alterran monarch.

"Answer the lady's question," Jason hissed, the force of his grip causing the petrified man to whimper and drop his gun.

"You're breaking my arm!" the guard cried pathetically as he sank to his knees.

"I'll break more than your arm, if you don't answer me," the King threatened. "Now, where were you taking her?"

"To the mind probe room!" the guard wailed.

The Alterran gave a satisfied grunt, thrusting the man to the floor where he lay cradling his aching arm. Jason picked up the gun and then looked dispassionately at the quivering wretch on the floor. "Pleasant dreams," he said softly and fired the weapon pointblank before the horrified Peri could stop him.

"You didn't have to kill him!" she protested angrily.

"My dear Miss Brown," the astonished Jason protested back, "I've never killed anyone in my entire life. I only stunned him." He showed her the power switch on the weapon, indicating that it would have to be pulled all the way back in order for it to be set to kill. "Now help me tie him up."

"Why?"

Jason gave her a long-suffering look. "Because I'm going to take his place, of course," he sighed impatiently.

Once the guard was taken care of, Jason took a quick look around the room, his eyes coming to rest on the cup containing the fungus mixture. "We'd better take that with us. No telling whether the Doctor might need it or not."

"How are we going to carry—" Peri broke off when the King produced a small container out of thin air. "Show off," she chided as he filled it with the last of the solution.

"Check the door."

Peri chanced a quick peek into the corridor. "Okay. The coast is clear."

"Good." The disguised Jason pulled the door the rest of the way open and took her by the arm. "Now for the fun part. Seeing if we can pull this off."

"Oh, swell. And here I thought you knew what you were doing."

"What the devil's keeping that guard?" Farrell asked impatiently. "He should've been back by now."

"Don't hurry on my account," the Doctor said cheerfully.

No one took any notice.

"Why do we need the girl, anyway?" Farrell complained irritably. "All we have to do is in crease the p—"

"Do you really think this archaic piece of technology will be effective against a Time Lord?" the controlled Prince asked sharply. "He'd die before you could get so much as a single image out of him." Pointing to the image of the hologram extracted from Jason's mind, he added force fully, "And we need that program!"

Almost on cue, the disguised King Jason arrived, dragging the struggling Peri into the room with him. "Let me go, you creep!" she protested.

"Shut up and get in there," her apparent captor snarled, roughly pulling her further into the room. Turning to Farrell, he asked, "Where do you want her, sir?"

"Right there will do for the moment," Farrell purred, turning a meaningful look in the direction of the helpless Time Lord. "Now, Doctor, if you don't want anything nasty to happen to your young friend, you'd better start cooperating."

Jason felt it best to play along for the moment and gave the unsuspecting Peri a very hard pinch, causing her to yelp in pain.

Unable to turn his head to see what was happening to his companion, the Doctor struggled in vain against his bonds. "Leave her alone!" he called angrily.

"Give me the program, Doctor," the Inquisitor said coldly, "or I'll have the girl sliced into pieces." He made a show of pulling a large hunting knife from a sheath and waved it before the appalled Time Lord's eyes. Re-sheathing it, he then tossed it to the disguised Jason who felt it best to play along with the show. He caught the knife neatly and theatrically produced the gleaming blade. Then he tested its balance, wondering if he would be able to throw it across the room and into the controls without hitting the Doctor in the process. It had been a long time since he had thrown a knife that distance.

By this time Peri had forgotten the guard was on her side and gave an alarmed cry when the enormous blade was produced.

"Alright," the Doctor agreed angrily. "I'll give you what you want. Just let Peri go."

"No deals, Doctor," Farrell snorted. "Give me the program now, or I'll have the Corporal do some permanent damage to this lovely creature."

Peri stiffened when the knife came menacingly close to her face, relaxing when Jason's familiar voice whispered in her ear, "Peri, knock the knife away and tell the Doctor not to do it. Fight me. Make as much noise as you can."

Peri obediently struck the disguised Alterran so hard that he gave a yelp of pain. The knife went flying and his arm went numb. "Don't do it, Doctor! Don't tell them anything!" she called.

"Silence, female!" This command was issued by the controlled Prince Juris who had been silently observing the scene since Peri's arrival. He struck the astonished young woman across the face, sending her staggering into the arms of King Jason, who pushed her aside when the Prince raised his arm to deliver another blow. Completely forgetting himself, Jason grabbed the upraised arm and very firmly forced it down.

"How dare you interfere!" Juris snarled. "I could have you shot for this insolence."

Instead of flinching away in terror the Corporal glared back, his blue eyes exposing the wrath of the enraged monarch beneath. "Just try it!" came the defiant reply.

Bewildered by this open challenge, Ormril had to rethink the situation, causing his puppet to hesitate.

Jason misinterpreted this hesitation as remorse, only to see his son's eyes become cold and unfeeling as control was reestablished. Gritting his teeth, he reminded himself that his son was either a traitor or was being controlled. Either way, he had to be stopped, and with this in mind, the disguised monarch drew his gun with his free hand.