Chapter Six

Change of Plan

For a single frozen moment no one in the room dared move. "What?" the astonished Inness gasped finally. "Curtis, you can't be serious?"

As in all the other failed attempts, the translator screen dissolved into static, which only served to fuel the Director's rage. He flew to the drug tray, measuring out an injection and returning to his helpless and now conscious prisoner.

Jason looked fuzzily up at the seething Legrand. "What's the point of all this?" he asked weakly. "Just what is it you want from me, Curtis?"

"I want your life," came the chilling reply.

"What?" This was not the answer the captive Alterran expected. He squinted to focus and saw the hypodermic, a chill running down his spine. "What…is that?" he asked shakily.

Before the Director could reply, Inness suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "Curtis, what the hell are you doing?"

"Don't interfere, Inness. I'm warning you…"

"Curtis, for God's sake!"

Before the confrontation, got any further the intercom buzzed. The Director was told that the messenger from his backers had returned and was waiting in his office. Hoping this meant the translation key had been found, Legrand put down the drug and stormed from the room leaving the visibly relieved Inness behind.

"He's gone completely over the edge, Inness," Jason observed softly.

Startled, the technician spun around, looking the captive Alterran in the eye. He reached for the helmet release, only to stop.

"No, don't stop. Please, let me out of this thing."

"No. You're better off there than in your cell," Inness said startlingly. "As long as you're hooked into the computer, the implants will stay dormant."

The prince struggled to comprehend, asking at last, "Why are telling me this?"

Inness threw a quick glance to the door but did not reply.

The following day the Chief Technician was called to the Director's office. He was not surprised when informed there had been yet another change in plan. He was, however, surprised when told a new financier had been acquired. "That was fast," he remarked. "I didn't realize you'd lost the first one. Is that what the messenger came to tell you?"

Legrand ignored the question, instructing him to run through all the extracts and pull out all the data that had not been encoded. "There are some people interested in those formulae we kept running across. Make a separate recording of them all and log them. I might have a buyer for each one."

Inness nodded and returned to the computer room. He did not think the job would take long, since a majority of the extracts were encrypted. It was not until he actually began work that he realized the enormity of the task before him. It would take days to pull out all the unencrypted information and log it.

On the third day of work, Inness was startled when Jason was brought in and returned to the extraction couch. "What's going on?" he asked the orderlies in bewilderment.

"You mean you don't know, either?" the prince asked in a surprised tone.

Legrand entered a moment later and dismissed the orderlies, smiling evilly at the immobilized Alterran. "Are you comfortable, your Royal Highness?" he asked urbanely.

Jason eyed him coldly. "Just get on with it. Don't even bother with your nonsense about helping me get well."

The Director smiled smugly, wheeling a cart over to the extraction couch. "Perhaps you're right," he sighed. "I am wasting my time with all this nonsense. I should just let you go insane and have done with it."

Jason frowned, not quite certain where this was leading. He had been left on his own over the past few days and his strength had, to a small degree, returned to him. He had not been drugged in that time either and, despite the implants, had he found he could think with semi-clarity. He threw a puzzled look in the Chief Technician's direction before asking, "What are you playing at now?"

"I'm not playing, boy!" Legrand snarled. He seized the Alterran by the throat, causing him to gasp, which was exactly what he wanted him to do. He jammed a wad of cloth into his open mouth and pulled a strap across, attaching it to the sides of the headpiece and securing the gag into place.

Terrified, completely helpless, and now mute, Jason watched as Legrand reached for something from the cart. To his relief and bewilderment, it turned out to be a pair of scissors with which his captor proceeded to cut off what remained of his clothing.

"Curtis, what on earth are you doing?" Inness wanted to know, echoing the prince's very thoughts.

The Director did not reply. He finished the job of stripping his captive naked and then began attaching sensor patches to him.

Baffled, Jason could do little more than endure the indignity of the operation that took more than an hour to complete. Legrand would plug a bundle of sensors into the computer system and then refer to a diagram to position them correctly. When he finally finished, he had attached more than a hundred leads to his prisoner's body.

As a rule, Jason was not overly body conscious, his human form being only an illusion to conceal his true appearance. His present situation had changed this, however, and he was relieved when his captor threw a sheet over his lower body once his task was complete.

"My research indicates your body is silicon based," Legrand said coolly. "That would mean you're made out of stone, wouldn't it?" Looking from the baffled Alterran to the equally baffled Inness, he ordered, "Inness, initiate the program marked SENSOR TEST ONE."

The Technician did as instructed and was horrified by the result. The program activated the newly attached sensors one at a time, causing the Alterran's body to jerk with each activation. Jason let out a muffled cry, biting down on the gag and straining against the straps as intense pain stabbed at his body.

An evil smile came to Legrand's face. "My, my. And here I'd been told you were thick skinned," he observed cruelly once the lengthy program had run its course. The arrow found its mark. His captive glared angrily at him, biting even harder on the gag in his mouth, a low growl rising in his throat.

"Activate SENSOR TEST TWO," Legrand ordered

"No," came the defiant reply

Legrand turned back to the technician, his face a study in anger. "What?" he said icily.

"I said no. This isn't research. It's torture, plain and simple," Inness replied firmly.

The Director's eyes narrowed and he moved to the console, reaching over and initiating the program himself. The pattern of activation changed, and Jason writhed in his bonds as the patches came to life in groups moving from his extremities to his torso and back again. The moment the program ended, he went limp, dazed and breathing heavily.

"What do you think?" Legrand asked mildly. "Do we have enough data on his Highness's tolerance levels yet?" He turned to the horrified Inness, who stared back in mute disbelief. "No? Test number three, then."

By this time, Jason could see a pattern developing and suspected what was to come. His eyes grew wide as Legrand's hand reached across the computer a second time. His fears were verified the moment the program began. The sensors were triggered in waves, moving up, down, and across his body. Completely helpless, the Alterran thrashed wildly, his screams of pain scarcely muffled by the gag. There was a brief pause as the program changed, the sensors coming on simultaneously, starting at a low intensity and steadily increasing until they burned like fire, causing Jason to go completely rigid, a scream of agony frozen in his throat as all the muscles in his body locked. His torment suddenly ceased and he went completely limp, exhausted, breathing heavily, and just barely conscious.

Legrand spun around, seeing the reason the program had ended so abruptly. Inness had terminated it.

"What do you think you're doing?" the Director demanded. "That was running perfectly."

Inness was outraged. "Perfectly! Are you insane! You'd've killed him if you'd let that run through. He stopped breathing at the end. Or hadn't you noticed?"

Legrand waved a hand dismissively, turning an evil glare in the slowly recovering prince's direction. "He's mine to do with as I please. I'm running my own programs now."

"Curtis, this is inhuman!" The incensed technician rose to his feet.

"I believe you're the one who pointed out that he's not human," Legrand countered smugly.

Inness glared at him. "No, but I am. And you can find somebody else to do your dirty work for you. I'm Chief Technician, not Chief Torturer." So saying, he stormed from the room.

Legrand's face clouded over with rage. He looked down at his slowly recovering prisoner, who feared his demented captor might take matters into his own hands and kill him right then and there. To his amazement, a broad smile suddenly parted Legrand's lips. "Well, well. It look's like you're going to have to wait, your Royal Highness." he said in an oddly polite manner. "I seem to have a domestic problem to sort out." Switching off the lights as he left, the Director followed after his Chief Technician, leaving the baffled Prince Jason alone in the dark.