Chapter Ten

A Grave Prognosis

The Doctor placed the unconscious Jason on a bed in the ship's sickbay, assisting Amanda in replacing the sheet with a gown. He looked mournfully down at his friend, his body still twitching despite being disconnected from the computer. Whether this was caused by drugs, the implants, or muscles spasms he could not tell.

"Amanda," he said at last, "would you be so good as to run a complete chemical analysis for me?"

"What the devil do you want that for?"

The Time Lord sighed heavily. "So we can see exactly what they've been giving him," he said impatiently. "Even I can see he's been drugged. With what, and with how much is what we need to find out." So saying, he strode from the room.

The Medical Officer opened her mouth to object only to be stopped by Turlough. "Just do it. You won't get anywhere arguing when he's like that."

Amanda threw a disgusted look in the direction the Doctor had taken before doing as he asked. Muttering to herself, she wondered who he was to warrant instant command status. He had appeared out of nowhere less than twelve hours ago, and now here he was issuing orders. More amazing still was the fact that Tolan was allowing it to happen.

Dr. Spencer's reverie was broken when she went to draw the blood sample. She had not had the opportunity to thoroughly examine Jason's injuries until that very moment, and what she found stunned her. His arms, legs, and torso had been cut and heavily bruised by the restraints, dozens of needle marks dotted his arms and his entire body was covered with what looked like burns caused by the sensor patches, some of which were still fused to his skin where the Doctor had left them. Amanda looked at these marks of torture in anger, hating the fact that she had to add another bruise to the already ample collection. "You bastard, Curtis," she whispered.

The Doctor had scarcely arrived on the flight deck when Tolan called to ask if he could be persuaded to return to the computer room. It seemed Inness had become, if it were possible, overly cooperative and no one understood the wealth of information he was supplying. Tolan knew that while Constance was familiar with the Lazarus Process itself, she did not possess the scientific knowledge the Time Lord had in abundance.

The Doctor agreed to return the moment he had a status report on Jason's condition. He went back to the sickbay to find Amanda had finished her analysis. She looked up when he entered, handing him the printout without a word. He looked down the list of foreign chemicals in the Alterran's system in anger and amazement. "It's a good thing he's not human," the appalled Time Lord said quietly, "or he'd be dead by now."

"There's no guaranteeing he'll survive now," Amanda informed devastatingly. "It'll take days, maybe even weeks, before that mess is cleared out of his system. And that's the least of his problems. His physical condition is…well, to say it's marginal would be generous." She threw up her hands. "I just don't have the equipment I need to treat him properly."

"Yes, you do," came Constance authoritative voice from the door. She had arrived just in time to overhear the pessimistic prognosis. "The entire Alexandria Foundation is at your disposal. Whatever you need is there. And if it isn't, I'll get it."

"Before you go ordering equipment," Amanda said soberly, "I think you should take a look at this." She pointed to the diagnostic screen beside her that displayed a three-dimensional image of the scan she had made of Jason's scull. It looked like someone had driven long spikes into it.

"What are those?" Turlough asked in distaste.

"Implant probes," Amanda announced, glancing back in Miss Sorenson's direction. "And they're different from the ones in the documents you showed me."

Constance made no reply other than to curse under her breath.

"I don't understand any of this," Turlough said helplessly. "What's the point of those things?"

"In theory, they're supposed to aid in the extraction of mental information," Constance explained.

"Unfortunately," Dr. Spencer chimed in, "they don't work the way they're supposed to. They continue to stimulate brain activity even after they've been disconnected from the computer. Look." She nodded over to the encephalograph monitor. "He's practically comatose but portions of his brain are just as active as if he were wide awake." Shaking her head, she added, "It's no wonder he's in the state he's in."

"Can they be deactivated?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't know. Not without knowing more about their composition, and certainly not here."

"Then you'd better take him to the Foundation immediately," Constance stated flatly. "I'll get hold of Tolan and let him know you're going."

"I'll tell him," the Doctor said from his place by the door. "I'm on my way to the computer room now. Mr. Inness, it seems, is so cooperative they can't make head nor tail of what he's trying to tell them."

Miss Sorenson shook her head. "Give me a minute to contact the Foundation and I'll join you. Maybe I can help translate."

"I'd better get HH ready to move, then," Amanda injected, going into the next room.

The Doctor and Turlough suddenly found themselves alone and the Time Lord took advantage of the opportunity to speak with his companion privately. "Turlough, I want you to go back to the Foundation with Amanda."

"Don't you think I'll just get in the way?" the young man asked logically.

The Doctor ignored the question. "As far as I can tell, other than Constance, Tolan and myself, you're the only other person here Jason knows and trusts. In his present state of mind, he'll probably rely on his scanning to distinguish reality from hallucinations." Throwing a quick glance toward the exit, he added darkly, "And I'm not entirely convinced he's safe. Even with the Argonauts."

"That ship we saw leaving," his companion whispered, echoing the Time Lord's thoughts.

"Exactly. So stay as close as you can. Sleep on the floor if you have to—"

"Alright, I get the point," Turlough interrupted. "You don't have to over dramatize."

The Doctor's solemn expression did not change. "I'm perfectly serious. Until we know more, I don't want to take any chances. I'll join you as soon as I've finished up here."

Despite the fact that his companion was less than pleased at being assigned as Jason's personal bodyguard, the Doctor knew he would not fail him. Turlough was staunchly loyal to those few individuals who had earned his trust, among whom Jason was one of the chosen few. Was this the reason the Emperor had called the boy aside? Or was it for a reason yet to be revealed?

While the Doctor was at the shuttle Tolan ordered the building secured and a thorough search was conducted. When the final reports came back, nearly twenty bodies had been found scattered throughout the facility. Excluding Inness, Legrand had left none of his staff alive.

The Aegin authorities took charge of the unresisting Inness, his status as kidnapper or victim to be determined at a later date. Through a bit of string pulling, Tolan was able to take charge of the Research Center, securing unlimited access to the building for himself and those with him.

While the Alterran officer was wrangling with the authorities, the Doctor poured over the extraction equipment, being both revolted and fascinated by it. He realized, with a bit of a shock, that with a few refinements the process might actually have worked. It could have been used to help those with severe emotional problems instead of being used to create them.

Before he was taken away, Inness informed Tolan, to his amazement, that Dr. Legrand had been working for someone else, his revenge on Prince Jason being a by-product of the kidnapping not the motive. Unfortunately, the technician never knew who the financial backers were and, therefore, could not supply a name. Nor did he know the identity of Legrand's most recent set of backers.

"Terrific," Constance said in exasperation. "Now what do we do? How do we find out who hired him? Go through all the disks until we find a common link?" She exchanged a tired look with the Doctor and Tolan, who were no more thrilled at the thought of this monumental task than was she.

"Mr. Inness was good enough to show me how to use the image translator," the Doctor said in a voice that was a great deal more cheerful than he felt. "I'm going to need that translation program you used to read them, though, Constance."

"Done," she replied without hesitation. "Anything else?"

With a wry smile, the Time Lord replied, "Yes. If the three of us are going to be stranded here for the duration, I'd also like my TARDIS."