Chapter Seventeen

Android

Turlough and the Commander had barely begun work when the officer was called away, leaving the young man in charge of the extract. He was so engrossed in what he was doing that he jumped when someone suddenly came up beside him. "Doctor!" he gasped, a hand going to his chest. "I didn't hear you come in."

"I came to see how HH was doing," came the calm reply.

His companion gave him a quizzical look, wondering why he had suddenly chosen to use Constance's pet reference. "He woke up a bit ago," Turlough informed, throwing a glance in the direction of the peacefully sleeping Prince Jason. "He says he's getting stronger, but…I don't know. I think it's just wishful thinking."

The Doctor nodded absently, seeming more interested in the computer than Jason. "And what are you working on here?"

"Something of Tolan's. He's trying to get an index out of that disk Constance showed us."

"Are you sure the computer can do that?"

"Hopefully. We've got to separate people from everything else first. Then we're going to try and—" Turlough broke off when the Time Lord leaned on the desk to get a closer look at the screen. There was no bandage on his right hand. "Doctor, your hand. What hap—?" The next thing he knew, the hand had seized him by the throat and thrust him back against the wall. "Doctor!" he gasped out. "What're you—?" The rest of the inquiry was squeezed off as the iron grip tightened further.

"I'll ask the questions," the false Doctor snarled. "What is the translation key to the extraction disk?"

"What? I don't know," Turlough struggled to say, his fingers clawing at the hand at his throat. The grip continued to tighten until it cut off his air completely.

"Liar! You know what it is. Tell me, or I'll kill you."

Suddenly Jason's voice thundered out, "Why don't you ask me?"

To Turlough's relief, his attacker was pulled off and he collapsed onto the desk, gasping for breath. He looked up and was stunned to see the enraged Prince Jason actually holding the impostor off of the floor, his anger seeming to have given him supernatural strength.

"You people don't give up, do you?" the Alterran snarled. There was no time aura registering from the figure struggling in his grasp, and he wondered almost abstractly if he were hallucinating again. A quick scan proved he was not. It also proved something else. "Bloody hell! He's real!" he gasped.

"No kidding," Turlough gasped out painfully, a hand at his bruised neck. To his horror, he watched as the prince slammed the impostor against the near wall and then smashed him onto the floor. The creature twitched in a final spasm before going completely still.

"Yo…you killed him," Turlough said in disbelief.

Jason merely grunted. "You can't kill an android." As proof, he tore open the automation's shirt, exposing the chest panel from which he yanked a glowing ball. "You can, however, take out its heart." The circuit seemed to blur in his hand and he sat back heavily. With the heat of the moment past, his adrenaline level had already started to normalize, which only served to leave him weaker than ever.

A bandaged hand suddenly reached into the open chest panel, withdrawing a smaller ball of circuits. "If you're going to take out my heart," the Doctor said mildly, "you'd best take out them both."

The prince looked up and blanched visibly, his face going almost as white as his hair. It seemed as though he were on the verge of fainting dead away. "Good Lord, Jason," the Doctor gasped, catching hold of his friend's shirt to keep him upright, "I didn't mean to frighten the life out of you. I only wanted to make sure it was completely deactivated."

"Deactivated…?" the Alterran repeated dully, looking into the open chest panel. "Yes, of course. I should've thought of that." He sagged a little more, his strength seeming to drain visibly from him.

"You should be in bed."

Jason shook his head. "No. No more sleep. I don't like what I dream."

"You're recovering from a traumatic experience, you Royal Idiot," the Time Lord admonished mildly. "You need peace and quiet, not overly dramatic entrances like mine." He took hold of his friend's hand, intending to help him from the floor. Instead he caused him to yelp in pain, his powerful time aura assaulting Jason's senses the instant their exposed skin touched.

Jason pulled sharply away, falling back to the floor where he lay breathless a moment. "I'm alright, I'm alright," he said quickly, closing his eyes and swallowing hard. A ghost of a smile crossed his face as he explained, "My nerve endings…are wide open. And that aura of yours hurts."

"Still experiencing ultra-hypersensitivity?" the Time Lord asked, receiving a nod in reply. "I'll bear it in mind."

As with his fall from bed, Jason had pulled all the wires from himself, setting off every alarm in the Medical Center. Lieutenant Fane arrived with a member of Amanda's staff just as the Doctor was wrapping the trembling prince in a blanket.

Seeing what the Time Lord intended, Fane came over to him. "I'll do that, Doctor," he said and gently lifted Jason from the floor, returning him to bed.

"We've come full circle," the prince observed to the young officer. "Now you're the one looking after me."

"Uncle Jay, I'm just doing my job," Fane replied quietly.

With a small chuckle, Jason said, "You're starting to sound like Tolan."

As if on cue, Commander Tolan appeared in the doorway. He took in the scene in an appalled silence before turning an angry look in Fane's direction. The Doctor prevented him from issuing a scathing reprimand. "Don't blame the Lieutenant for this, Commander," the Time Lord said quickly, nodding toward the shattered android. "We have an even bigger problem on our hands. Now we don't even know which of us is real."

"I can tell you who sent it, in case you can't guess," Jason injected shakily.

"If you could tell me where he sent it from, my Lord, that would be more helpful," the Commander replied soberly.

The Doctor and Tolan took the android to the Foundation's Robotics Department where it was dismantled. The numerous parts were passed on to the staff who began an intense study in the hopes of tracing the various parts and circuitry to their manufacturer and, possibly, Dr. Legrand himself.

Nearly a week passed with no major or even minor incidents, allowing Jason to regain some of his strength. Dr. Spencer returned from her leave to find the Doctor and Tolan pouring over a mountain of circuitry that she assumed had come from the Research Center, possibly from the archaic radio transmitter the Commander had been so interested in. Thinking the matter a trivial one, she gave it no further thought.

Amanda went to Dr. Thorson to get an update on Jason's condition and was given a glowing report on his excellent progress. The staff in the Medical Center thought her lack of visible reaction meant she was trying to keep her temper. They had no way have knowing the news was a harbinger of the thing she dreaded most, facing a lucid Prince Jason alone. He, and only he alone, knew she truly was Xandora Legrand, the daughter of his abductor.

Seeing no way of avoiding the impending confrontation, Amanda collected her medical kit and strode purposefully toward the isolation room. She found it odd when she saw there was no sentry at the door, having been informed of Tolan's new security measures. She got as far as the door and stopped, taking several deep breaths to steady her nerves. She and Jason had not been on the best of terms after their last encounter, and he was in for a shock when he finally saw her clearly. Shock? Amanda thought, shaking her head. Knowing Jason, he'll probably start another fight.

Amanda knocked several times and called to Turlough without response. Thinking he might be asleep, she pulled out her keys to open the old-fashioned dead bolt lock on the door.

What happened next was a blur

The heavy door was suddenly pulled open, causing the Medical Officer to lose her balance. Someone then shoved her aside, sending her slamming into the wall. The back of her head banged against the plaster so hard she was sure she had made a dent. Momentarily stunned, Amanda barely managed to grab the doorframe to keep from falling.

Not quite sure what had just happened, Dr. Spencer looked around, seeing Turlough lying on his bed. The unmistakably sweet smell of chloroform in the air told her he was not sleeping. A horrifying thought struck her and she spun around, seeing Jason's monitors still beeping and flashing, the readings indicating he was alive and unharmed. Heaving a sigh of relief, she wondered if she had surprised the intruder before they had had the chance to harm him.

Finding her voice at last, Amanda dashed to the door, screaming for help at the top of her voice. The first person to respond was Lieutenant Fane, who had been on his way to check on the door guard. He was appalled when Amanda told him what had happened and immediately went to call Commander Tolan, coming across the missing sentry having an intimate conversation with a female member of the staff. The enraged Fane was upon him instantly, dragging him to the communication room with him.

With security alerted, Amanda went back into the room to find Turlough struggling back to his senses. She told him to relax, assuring him all was well before turning her attention to Prince Jason. "This explanation is going to be fun," she muttered darkly.