Chapter Nine

Rescue

Less than six hours after learning the prince's location, the Argonauts arrived at Legrand's Research Park. As their shuttle was landing, another craft could be seen lifting off in the glow of the setting sun. A momentary wave of panic flashed through the ranks. Had they come this far only to have the prince spirited away before their very eyes?A scan of the departing ship showed only one lifeform aboard, quelling their fears and renewing their hopes.

The rescue party gained entry to the grounds without incident and moved cautiously into the building, finding no one about.

"Perhaps they've all gone home for the night," Turlough said dryly as Tolan brought the band to a halt. The Commander turned to Amanda, who was using her hand held medical scanner to try and pick up Jason's life signs. "Got him!" she announced happily. "He's all the way on the other side of the building." Looking up, she added warningly, "And he's not alone."

"How many?" Tolan wanted to know.

Scowling at the little instrument, Dr. Spencer was forced to concede that she did not know. The readings from the rescue party were interfering with the sensors. As she tried to clear the interference, she discovered something else. "Tolan, he's in pain!" she gasped, looking up sharply.

The Alterran officer nodded but could not be persuaded to hurry. He sent two of his men on ahead and waited, his radio coming to life a few minutes later. The scouts reported finding two bodies in an office. The Commander ordered them to wait and very slowly led the group towards the computer room, his eyes darting to every shadow. The Doctor observed this display in admiration, reflecting on how little the officer had changed. He was still a credit to his training.

As a part of his revenge, Legrand had left Jason connected into the active computer, causing a dangerous imbalance in his body's bioelectric field. As his customized program stretched into days, he had watched his prisoner's torment with sadistic delight and taunted him during the interlude between sessions. At one point he threatened to reinitiate the sensitivity program if Jason did not beg for his life, and finally got his wish, listening in smug satisfaction as the Alterran did just that.

When the Argonauts arrived, Jason was in the midst of another session. Once they reached the far side of the enormous building, they did not need Amanda's scanner to find the extraction room. His screams of agony resounded throughout the entire section of the building. Bursting into the room that had become nothing more than a high-tech torture chamber the group came to an abrupt halt, starring in an appalled and horrified silence.

Across the room, the enslaved Inness saw the drawn weapons and immediately cowered behind the desk, his eyes wide as saucers. As far as he knew, Legrand had sent these people to kill him…or worse.

Constance was the first to recover. "Shut it down," she ordered, striding across the room.

The terrified Inness waved his hands, gesturing helplessly at the console. The whole time he kept his eyes fixed on the weapon in Tolan's hand.

"Shut this contraption down," the Commander ordered, causing the technician to flinch back. "Do you hear me?"

Amanda took a step forward, scanner in hand. She caught her breath and looked up sharply, saying in a subdued voice, "He probably can, Tolan, he just can't answer you. His vocal cords have been severed."

Constance stopped dead and turned, giving her a stunned look before continuing to the computer, only to be stunned again when she arrived. "Tolan, he's been chained to the computer!" Looking at the pitiful figure before her, she said softly, "You're as much a victim as HH, aren't you?" She reached for the controls only to have her hands grabbed by the frantic Inness. He quickly typed out a message, explaining that if she attempted to stop the program, Jason would die instantly.

"Was that Legrand's way of making sure you didn't stop it?" she asked, receiving a nod in reply. She looked over to the others before assuring the terrified man that he would not be harmed.

A sheet lay in a crumpled heap on the floor and the Doctor used it to cover the naked Alterran's writhing form as Dr. Spencer set to work examining the extraction couch's control system.

Inness tugged at Constance's sleeve before tapping out another message. "The sensor patches are pain stimulators on a system separate from the helmet. It doesn't matter if the program runs through. Curtis has already driven him insane."

Constance read the message aloud, turning a horrified look in Tolan's direction.

As if to verify Inness' last statement, Jason let out an animal-like wail followed by a series of unintelligible grunts. His eyes were wide open and darted wildly inside his head, seeing only what was being projected via the implants. The image translator was suddenly a blaze of flames, several distorted figures writhing within. Jason responded with a scream of anguish, the restraints cutting further into his flesh as he fought to escape the terrifying image.

A vision of hell, the Doctor thought darkly. He turned his gaze to the Alterran's tortured form and found himself repulsed by the sight, the creature before him bore little resemblance to the friend he had come to save. There were dark circles under Jason's eyes, his face drawn and haggard, a witness to his lack of rest and failing health. Curls of white hair stuck out from beneath the extraction helmet, which only added to his ghoulish appearance.

"Oh, Jason," the Time Lord breathed in horror. "I'm so sorry…"

The equally revolted Turlough went to the main computer and tore the bundles connecting the stimulator patches from their panels, ending the torment they were inflicting on his friend in a rather permanent manner.

The Alterran was oblivious to the presence of his rescuers, being completely caught up in the computer-generated illusion. It was not until the Doctor began removing the patches that reality started to break through, the Time Lord's powerful time aura assaulting his senses with every touch; each assault causing Jason to jump and moving him one step closer to the real world.

The Doctor had no idea he was doing anything more than stop the pain being inflicted on his helpless friend. In some places, the patches had burned themselves into the Alterran's flesh and could not be removed without taking skin with them. The Doctor thought Jason's reactions were to this rather than himself and he broke off the leads rather than inflict further damage on his friend.

Eventually the constant aural assault broke through the haze and for the first time since the new sessions began Jason was able to break the connection himself, the frightening image on the translator dissolving into static. A moment later his eyes seemed to clear, and in a voice that was hoarse from his continual screams of pain he said one thing before passing out. "Doctor, help me."

The Time Lord was so startled he actually jumped. He looked over at his equally astonished companion, who had been assisting in removing the stimulators. Turlough turned to Amanda, who was still studying the control panel near the head of the unit. She knew that one false move would mean Jason's life.

"We've got to get him out of this thing," the Doctor hissed angrily, reaching up to the extraction helmet only to snatch his hand away when Constance and Amanda cried "No!" in unison.

"He may've broken the connection, but this thing says the program is still running," Constance informed. "If you pull that off now, you could overload the circuits, or cause a lethal surge of feedback." From beside her, she felt another tug and looked down to see Inness tapping out yet another message. Apparently Legrand had safeguarded himself against the technician stopping the programs or disconnecting Jason in-between sessions by transferring all command functions to the extraction unit. Inness, in his captivity, could not reach it and had been forced to monitor the procedure he had objected to so vocally. He could, however, instruct the Argonauts as to how the system could be shut down, starting with the extraction helmet.

Mentally crossing her fingers Amanda carefully followed the instructions relayed by Constance. Once the program was terminated, she started on the extraction helmet. Each completed entry caused an implant prong to retract with a snap.

While this was going on the Doctor was removing the restraints from the unconscious Alterran. The instant all the prongs were disconnected, he pulled the helmet away in anger, inwardly wishing he could throw it across the room. He then wrapped the bruised, emaciated figure in the sheet he had used to cover him before gently lifting him into his arms. He exchanged a look of mutual outrage with Commander Tolan as he left the room, taking his precious cargo to the waiting transport ship, Amanda and Turlough at his heels.