Chapter Nineteen

Round Three

As soon as Asta was certain the Doctor's life force had been safely restored, she abandoned her power struggle with her former Master and returned to the opening of the dimensional fissure, intent on breaking Ormril's hold over her Alterran benefactors. To her delight, she found that not only had this already been done, but Ace's Doctor was also still very much alive.

"I knew he was lying," she hissed angrily.

Asta watched the occupants of the TARDIS as she prepared to return. It was then that she had the same thought as the Doctor. If she left now, Ormril would simply try to kill the Time Lord at another point in time and they would be right back where they were now.

Scanning the area to see if Ormril had found her yet, Asta discovered something even more startling about the alternate dimension, something that would solve everything. If only she could warn the Doctor, but he had temporarily closed the window to the TARDIS during her contemplations. She suspected he had done this to allow his other self time to stabilize before subjecting him to the influence of the open dimensional fissure again. The big question was, would she be able to make contact with him when the window re opened?

After Kamelion was reconnected, the Doctor and Jason positioned themselves on the farthest side of the room containing Asta's inert form. Juris was at her side while Ace and Turlough were relegated to the safely in the next room.

Jason had expected Asta to return as soon as the window was reopened. When this did not happen, he threw a questioning in the Doctor's direction, seeing him leaning against the wall, apparently unconcerned by the delay. In fact, he looked like he was asleep.

Nearly half an hour passed after the window was reopened before Asta finally drew a sharp breath and stirred, slowly opening her eyes. She looked up at Prince Juris and he smiled broadly. "Thank goodness," he sighed delightedly, "I was afraid you'd been trapped forever."

The young woman sat up slowly, an evil smile coming to her face. "You don't know the mean ing of the word fear, boy." This cold and threatening reply was spoken, not in Asta's light voice but in the deep, malevolent tones belonging to Ormril. Taking the face of the Crown Prince in his hands, he said coldly, "Die, boy. Be the first of millions to fall at the hands of Ormril."

To the astonishment of the evil being, the Prince did not die, nor did he react with fear. Instead, his face lost all expression and seemed to turn to stone. He took the small, delicate hands in an iron grip, forcefully pulling them away.

"You've lose, Ormril," the Doctor said calmly from his place across the room.

"No!" Ormril gasped. "This is impossible! I saw you die!"

"By my hand?" King Jason asked angrily. "You couldn't get me to kill my son. How did you expect me to kill the Doctor?"

"And speaking of Prince Juris," the Doctor injected mildly, "we took the precaution of replacing him with Kamelion. He's the android you've been using as your entry window. He's not organic so he has no life force for you to steal."

"No!" Ormril roared, struggling in vain against Kamelion's powerful hands.

"You've lost," the Doctor announced triumphantly. "I have defeated you—again. Jason has defeated you—again. Now you're in our dimension, and we control you!"

Ormril watched in horror as, with a dramatic flourish, the Time Lord pulled the cable connect ing Kamelion into the computer from its socket, closing the window and cutting off his only means of escape. At the same time, the Kamelion/Prince changed, returning to its true appear ance as a silver robot.

"How does it feel knowing all your plans were thwarted by a shape shifting hunk of metal and plastic?" the Doctor taunted.

"You forget, Time Lord," the impostor snarled back, an evil smile on his face. "In this body, I too can change." So saying, he started to transmute.

The same instant, Jason yelled, "Now!" and Kamelion sent a jolt of power through the delicate hands he still held, triggering a misfire. The normal shimmering caused by molecular transmutation immediately changed into a static-like fizzle. Ormril screamed in agony as the molecular change went completely out of control.

Kamelion released his grip, backing away from the wildly thrashing form the same instant Jason dove at the bed, stabbing a needle into one of the flailing extremities and injecting a massive dose of a powerful bonding agent.

Another scream exploded from the distorted form. A split-second later, it went completely rigid and then crystallized into a glittering, and harmless, block of crystals.

It wasn't until Ormril was safely crystallized that Jason realized he was holding his breath and he exhaled. Then he felt completely exhausted and sagged against the bed, sinking slowly to the floor. "You're trapped for good now, Ormril," he stated categorically before burying his head in his arms.

After a momentary silence, Kamelion calmly asked, "Did I serve you well, Doctor?"

A chill ran down the Time Lord's spine as he looked over at the android, recalling how he had been forced to destroy it. "Yes, Kamelion, you did very well. Thank-you. Now if you'll please look after Ace and Turlough in the next room…"

The robot inclined its head and left, bowing slightly to the real Prince Juris as he came in from the next room. The Doctor's companions followed him in a moment later.

"Is she—I mean, he—dead?" Ace asked hesitantly.

King Jason looked up, his face suddenly old and haggard, seeming to have aged twenty years in twenty seconds. He shook his head, saying softly, "No, he's just suspended. Until the crystals are restored—or destroyed—he's alive, but trapped. Again."

"And what of Asta, Father?" Juris demanded accusingly. "What of her? Destroy those, and she's trapped, too."

"I don't know, Juris. I just don't know. I wish I did," Jason said wearily, burying his head in his arms again.

His son was incredulous. "You mean you don't care! Why don't you just admit it?"

"Alright, that's enough!" the Doctor snapped impatiently. "You're not under anyone's control any longer, so you can stop acting like a child."

The unexpected reproof left the Alterran Prince speechless. He stared open mouthed at the Time Lord before turning to his father.

"He's right," Jason agreed, sitting back on the floor. "It's high time we both stopped acting like children."

"But, Father…" Juris whimpered. "What about Asta?"

It was the Doctor who replied. "You'll have to give me a few minutes," he said, a knowing smile on his face, "but I think I can answer that for you." So saying, he vanished into the next room, ushering his companions out before him.

Jason watched the door close and then threw a knowing look over to his mystified son, who had not as yet realized they had been purposely left on their own. "Juris, we need to talk," the King said at last.

At the entrance to the alternate dimension, Asta watched in satisfaction as Ormril was master fully maneuvered into captivity. When the Doctor closed the way to the TARDIS a second time, she had to fight to keep herself from panicking. She knew exact what he was doing.

When the entry was initially reopened, she had been surprised at how quickly she had been able to make contact with him, only to learn that he was also attempting to make contact with her to tell her what he was planning. She was inwardly amused at his reassurances that he had no intention of abandoning her. She, in turn, told him of her own startling discovery. The alternate dimension was disintegrating rapidly and was very close to the point of collapse.