Chapter Fourteen

"Help Me…"

"No!" Jason threw up his hands and shrank away. "No, not again!"

The Time Lord motioned the Commander back before saying in a disapproving tone, "Jason, what on earth are you doing out of bed?" He stepped forward to catch hold of the wavering Alterran, which only served to upset him further.

"No! Stop, please, stop! I can't take anymore," the prince pleaded desperately, backing up until his back was pressed against the wall. He closed his eyes and tried in vain to concentrate. "You are not real," he said slowly and determinedly. "This…is…an illusion. It's not…real."

The Doctor held out his hands, waving back the others who had come in answer to Amanda's alarm. "No, I'm the real thing," he soothed gently. "Flesh and blood, see? No illusion."

"How do I know that?" Jason demanded, clutching at the table beside him to keep from falling. "These things…in my head…make me see you as real. Feel you as real."

"Jason, don't you even trust your own senses?"

"Yes…No! I mean… I don't know!" came the pitiful reply. The Alterran wavered a moment, struggling to retain his concentration against the buzzing inside his head. "Think!" he hissed between gritted teeth. "I must… I must…think!"

The Time Lord took another step forward only to jump back when Jason pulled an ornamental dagger from the display on the wall behind him. "Keep back, whoever—whatever—you are. I know how to use this."

The Doctor's mind was racing. In every extract he had reviewed, the confrontations had proceeded according to Jason's expectations, especially those involving the Time Lord himself. At all costs the Doctor would try to keep his Alterran friend with him. With this in mind the real Doctor did exactly the opposite. Holding up his hands in apparent surrender, he took a small step back, clearing the way for escape. "There's no need for violence, Jason," he said softly. "No one's going to stop you. You can leave if that's what you want."

This took the confused prince completely off guard and he stared at the inviting gap and staircase beyond. All he had to do was walk through it and he was free. Hesitantly, he took a faltering step forward, only to stop when the Doctor casually asked, "Where will you go?"

"Go…?"

The question was so unexpected it caused Jason to lose the only thread of concentration he had. He looked around, suddenly having no idea where he was or what he was doing. He turned away, only to add to his own distress by coming face to face with his own reflection in a decorative wall mirror. A small cry of despair escaped him as he looked into the pallid, haggard face, its dark sunken eyes staring vacantly back at him. The prince touched his snow-white hair, a wave of rage suddenly swelling up inside of him. The dagger flashed up, stabbing again and again into the offending reflection, shattering it into hundreds of fragments.

Feeling equally shattered, Jason slowly sank to the floor. Reality or illusion, he was trapped and he knew it. He leaned against the table, his head in his arms. "Help me…" he sobbed pitifully. "Somebody, please, help me."

The Doctor had to fight the urge to rush to his side and approached with the utmost caution, being saddened and angered when his friend cowered back. "We're trying, Jason," he soothed gently. "You must believe that. We're all your friends here. No one wants to hurt you."

"Legrand—"

"I'm the Doctor," the Time Lord said firmly. One other thing he had learned from the extracts was Legrand had failed to learn of Jason's scanning ability. With this in mind, he held out a hand in an obvious invitation for the Alterran to touch and thereby scan him. "Legrand couldn't recreate my time aura. I'm here, and I'm real. But only you have the power to prove it by touch."

Jason looked up, a searching look on his face. "How do you know that?"

A ghost of a smile past across the Doctor's face. "I know because you told me yourself a very, very long time ago."

The prince nodded. It was indeed a very, very long time ago. He looked at the outstretched hand hovering so tantalizingly close. After an agonizing pause, he reached for it. Unfortunately, the dagger was still in his hand and he ended up stabbing it straight through the Doctor's palm.

The Time Lord cried out in pain, grabbing his wrist and taking an automatic step back. Momentarily dazed, he did not resist when someone rushed over to aid him. Then, before he knew what was happening, the situation went out of control.

The cacophony of sounds only served to further confuse the prince. Seemingly forgotten, he struggled to his feet and headed for the stairs.

"Jason, no!" the horrified Doctor called, knowing his friend had neither the strength nor coordination to manage the stairway. The words were barely out of his mouth when a blaze of light surrounded the prince and he collapsed. The Doctor blinked and turned in time to see Commander Tolan holstering his weapon. Then he felt incredibly stupid, having completely forgotten the officer had been behind him the entire time.

"Next time get out of the way," Tolan admonished mildly before going to the stunned Prince Jason and effortlessly lifting him from the floor.

Brushing off further attempts to treat his hand, the Doctor followed the Commander into the Royal Suite where he discovered the reason Amanda and Turlough had been absent from the altercation in the hall. Dr. Spencer was applying an ice pack to the back of his companion's head.

The Doctor watched sadly as Jason was returned to bed and strapped down, feeling more like a traitor than a friend. He had promised to help only to betray Jason's trust and return him to the restraints he had fought so desperately to be free of. If only they could return him to reality and keep him there. "It would appear your misgivings about moving him were well founded after all," he said to Amanda.

To his surprise, she replied, "No, Turlough was right, my misgivings were groundless. This isn't right. He shouldn't've gone off like that. Not after this long." She crossed to the Alterran's bedside, the Doctor coming up beside her. She gave him a quick sideways glance and then ran her medical scanner over his roughly bandaged hand before he had the chance to withdraw it. "You'd better get that hand seen to, Doctor," she informed coolly. "You may have some tendon damage."

"Later." the Doctor said tersely. He was prevented from saying more when the physician let out an involuntary cry of alarm. "What the hell…?" she muttered, scanning her patient again. "Turlough, who's been in here since I saw him last night?"

"The usual people, I guess. I don't know. I fell asleep," came the bewildered reply.

"Why? What's wrong?" This was Tolan, who did not like the edge in Amanda's voice.

Not quite believing it herself, Dr. Spencer reported that there were substances in Jason's system that had not been there when she examined him the night before. The first was a powerful hallucinogen, which explained the scene in the hall. The second, and more astonishing, was radioactivity.

"There's radioactive material actually inside his bloodstream," Amanda announced in horror.

Instead of being surprised, the Doctor merely nodded. "That would explain his sudden burst of energy."

"And mine," Tolan injected. "I thought it was an adrenaline response. I must've converted the energy when I carried him in here."

"I'm not following any of this," the Dr. Spencer said helplessly. "You converted it? How?"

"He's Alterran, the same as Jason," the Doctor replied. Receiving a puzzled look in response, he exchanged glances with Tolan before saying, "Eh, well…put simply, they have the ability to absorb radiation and convert it to energy the way humans absorb nutrients and energy from food."

"This much?" the overwhelmed physician asked, holding out the scanner to show him the incredibly high reading. Stunned, the Doctor immediately passed the device to Tolan.

A horrified look came to the face of the usually stoic Commander. "He'll burn himself out trying to convert that much in his condition," he gasped.

"Is there any way we can clear his system?" the Doctor asked concernedly.

"No. You can't," Tolan informed, "but I can." Placing his hands on Jason's chest, he closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. His body glowed brightly for several seconds before he pulled sharply away, a loud cry escaping him. "Wow!" he exclaimed, much to the amazement of those present. Backing away, he seemed uncertain what to do and started pacing like a caged lion.

"Don't you burn yourself out," the Doctor admonished.

To everyone's further amazement, Tolan squeaked, "Too late," and laughed uproariously.

"I think he may've absorbed more than the radioactivity," Turlough remarked aridly.

Amanda did a quick scan on the uncharacteristically animated Alterran officer, only to shake her head. "No. But he's got…" Scowling at the unit, she said, "I don't know. It looks like an adrenaline high the likes of which I've never seen."

"It's called a conversion rush," Tolan informed, the words tumbling out of him. "I've never had one before. It's quite exhilarating." It was also extremely dangerous and he continued to pace in an attempt to walk off his incredible burst of energy and compose himself. "I think if you scan HH now you'll find his system's clear of the radioactivity."

Considering the state the officer was in, Dr. Spencer had no doubt of this. She reexamined Jason and confirmed the absence of the radiation. She also found yet another surprise. "The implants have gone inactive. All of them."

"All of them?" the Doctor repeated, throwing the Commander an inquiring look. "The stun blast?"

"I had it on the lowest setting," the Alterran replied. "He shouldn't even be unconscious."

"He's not unconscious," Amanda announced startlingly. "He's asleep."