Chapter Seventeen

The Gateway

With the hour of his death approaching rapidly, Juris was surprised to find himself so calm. He wondered if it was due to the fact that he had resigned himself to his fate so long ago. He had done what he could to stop Ormril, having set his plan into motion months ago. It did not need him to succeed now. All he had to do was watch and wait as it came together.

"Now that Farrell's dead, how will you get through the gateway?" he asked calmly.

"We must wait for the others to follow," Asta replied. "They will pursue your physical self to the power station in the vain hope of stopping him, is that not true?"

Juris nodded, a knowing look coming to his face. "Oh, they'll follow alright, but don't expect them to react the way your Master expects."

The cloud moved closer, studying the captive Prince. "You are gloating. I feel this very strongly. Explain."

"Don't you know?" he spat back bitterly. "I thought you knew everything I did. You took it from my mind, didn't you?"

"I can again, if you don't—" Asta broke off as the young man's thoughts came through clearly. "You have planned this! From the beginning! You knew they would stand together against my Master. How is it you were able to keep this hidden from me?"

"I'm Alterran," Juris replied proudly. "Deception's a way of life for us. My father and the Doctor will follow your Master's puppet to the power station, and they will defeat him. You wait and see."

"My Master will simply set them against one another," Asta countered blandly, "just as he's done with the countless others who claimed friendship."

Juris considered this possibility very carefully, only to shake his head. "I think he's met his match this time. There's a very strong connection between them. Not friendship, it's more than that. Surely you've felt it? It comes through in waves whenever they're together."

"I am unaware of any…connection."

"You must—" Cutting himself off, Juris smiled. "Maybe it's too positive for you," he observed thoughtfully. "It's almost as if they know what the other is thinking. How else could the Doctor have found my father in that enormous building? He wasn't just disoriented he was blind! The odds against it must be astronomical. He followed the connection. It's the only explanation."

"I believe you are mistaken," came the blunt reply.

"Some might call it wishful thinking," the young man responded quietly. Turning his gaze back to the view, he smiled to himself. "When you wish upon a star…"

Inside the power station, the controlled Prince had ordered the workers from the main generator area and then locked the doors. As fate would have it, the equipment was already fully activated, a test run having been completed only moments before he arrived. Climbing the stairs to the control room overlooking the enormous generator area below, the Prince proceeded to bring all systems on line. He entered Jason's access codes and within a few minutes he had the Doctor's program running. Moving to the observation window, he stood silently watching the results.

The center of the floor slowly opened like a giant iris, revealing the massive generators deep within the heart of the facility. The workers in this area tried desperately to shut down the system, discovering to their horror that it was impossible. As the machinery increased in speed a bluish haze obscured the area, causing the men to flee in panic. High above in the control room, the controlled Prince watched as the haze grew denser and denser as the energy levels continued to rise.

In the whine of the massive generators, another sound was making itself known as the veil of time and space was torn apart to make room for the arrival of the TARDIS. The motionless watcher was oblivious to this wheezing and groaning as the time machine materialized with a final thud on the accessway below the control room.

As the extraordinary scene was displayed on the scanner, Jason shook his head. "It's started. Now there's only one way to stop this." He looked down at the weapon he had been carrying when he had taken the guards place.

The Doctor disagreed but could not get his friend to listen. The Alterran charged from the console room, weapon in hand.

"Jason, wait!"

The King was already halfway to the stairs by the time the Doctor emerged from the TARDIS. He spun around to face him, continuing to back up as he spoke. "Doctor, don't make this any more difficult! The bridge has to be closed and we both know what that means."

Peri could not quite believe what she was hearing. "You're not going to kill him?" she gasped. "Your own son?"

"My son is dead," Jason stated categorically. "He died months ago, consumed by that…that …creature up there." He looked up at the control room where the Prince stood motionless in the observation window. Taking a deep breath, the King continued towards the stairs.

"Jason, this isn't the way!" the Doctor called desperately.

To the astonishment of all present, a deep, malevolent voice spoke from within the thicken ing blue haze. "Oh, but it is the way, Time Lord. The way of Ormril is the way of death."

Jason stopped dead in his tracks, turning to look in the direction of the voice. A beam of energy suddenly shot from the mist, knocking the unsuspecting monarch to the ground. He let out an alarmed cry as the energy formed a glowing ball around him.

"Shall I destroy the boy for you, O King?" the voice asked evilly. "All you need do is think him dead, and it shall be done for you."

"What?" The horrified King looked up in blank astonishment.

The Doctor's eyes grew wide with the realization that he had been right all along. "Why?" he asked suddenly. "Can't you do it yourself?"

"I am Ormril the all powerful, Time Lord," came the grandiose reply.

"No, I don't think so. You need us. This facility is capable of generating massive amounts of energy, put it isn't enough, is it? It's only enough to keep the gateway open, but it isn't enough to physically pull you through. You need the energy produced by a living mind to do that."

"You understand nothing!" the disembodied voice snarled.

"Don't I?" the Doctor went on. "You feed on evil. Twist it back on the one producing it. Well, I won't give you anything to feed on." As he spoke, the Time Lord felt the alien trying to infiltrate his thoughts and was somewhat surprised himself when he was able to completely close his mind to him.

An angry growl emanated from the haze as Ormril recalled his previous defeat at the hands of the Doctor's ancestors. Another energy beam flashed out, only instead of striking the Doctor, it struck Peri, who was knocked off of her feet and sent flying. She hit the far wall and fell heavily to the floor, stunned.

"There was no need for that!" the Doctor snapped angrily. The words were barely out of his mouth when another beam struck him and he, too, was trapped inside a glowing sphere of energy. Oh, that was brilliant.

While all this was going on, the puppet Prince had descended the stairs and retrieved the gun dropped by the King. He pointed it at the head of the trapped monarch and then froze like a statue. Jason said nothing, his eyes locked on the vacant face, and empty, staring eyes of the young man standing over him. Now that Ormril no longer needed to inhabit the Prince's body, Jason could see he had been right. His son was dead and he was looking into the eyes of nothing more than a walking corpse. Oh, my poor Juris What did he do to you?

"Think him dead," Ormril commanded, breaking into the King's disheartened thoughts with a jolt. "Destroy him, or I will have him destroy you."

"Destroy me, then," Jason said, looking away in despair. "I've never taken a life. And I can't start with my own son."

Ormril's rage shook the building to its foundations. "Then I'll have him kill you, you spine less jellyfish! Then he will be ruler of your miserable little planet. King Juris the unjust."

"How?" Jason asked pointedly. "Once you're out of there, you'll have that creature of yours suck the very life out of him—if you haven't already."

An evil laugh rumbled forth. "You know much of me, don't you, O King? But not as much as you believe. I have other plans for the boy. I shall send him back to his people, the traitorous assassin of his own father!"

"No!" Jason snarled between his teeth. He could feel his anger rising, and apparently so could the Doctor, who cleared his throat very softly. Recognizing the warning, the Alterran looked over at him and could tell just by the way he was standing that the Doctor knew something he didn't. What? he wondered. What do you know? Gritting his teeth and with visible effort, Jason controlled his anger and turned away, saying nothing.

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. "It won't work, Ormril," he taunted. "You're going to have to kill us all by yourself. You can't twist Jason into something he's not. You obviously know of his volatile temper, but you know nothing of his heart. You can't make either of us hate Juris enough to want to kill him. Especially when we know it's you who's controlling him."

"Are you so sure, Time Lord?" Ormril taunted back. "What do you think your friend will say when I tell him I've already seen in your mind that you hate the boy? He struck your companion, did he not?"

Before the shocked Jason could respond, the Doctor snorted, "Rubbish! He knows me better than—" He cut himself off as he realized what Ormril was trying to do. Shaking his head, he gave his voice a mocking tone as he replied, "Oh, no, you're going to have to do a lot better than that. We've known each other far too long for you to drive a wedge between us that easily."

Now it was Ormril's turn to snort before trying his hand with Jason. "And what do you say, O King? Will you continue to follow this Time Lord in this vain folly? Even at the risk of the life of your first born?"

Jason's heart missed a beat and he looked beseechingly over at the Doctor, desperately wish ing he knew what he was up to. The steady gaze he received in response spoke volumes. In his mind, he could almost hear the Doctor saying, "Trust me on this. You must trust me. Please." When they traveled together, how many times had he followed the Time Lord unquestioningly into danger knowing little more than he did now? Now he understood the full implications of his meeting with the Time Lord's future self. Yes, I trust you, Doctor. Even at the risk of the life of my first born. A ghost of a smile passed across his face and he squared his shoulders, turning back to the energy haze. In a firm voice he said the one word Ormril least expected.

"Yes."