Chapter Twenty-Two

Rest & Recovery

Opening the door as quietly as possible, Amanda crept back into the Zero Room. The Alterran prince was still floating about two metres in the air and appeared to be asleep. Not wanting to wake him, she moved the wheelchair closer to the door and sat down, placing her medical kit on the floor beside her.

"I thought you were supposed to be resting," came Jason's calm voice through the still air around her.

Amanda let out an involuntary cry. She had been watching the floating figure closely, and he had not moved. His eyes were closed and he still looked asleep, yet he obviously was aware of her presence in the room. "I don't care what the Doctor says," she said as she got to her feet. "I'm not leaving you alone. You're not strong enough. I did a little research on acceptable energy levels while I was on leave."

The hovering Alterran slowly sank to the floor, a small sigh escaping him as he landed. He opened his eyes and looked up at the woman now standing over him. "I'm not strong enough because nobody will let me near a decent convertible energy source."

"What do you mean decent?"

"He means radioactive," the Doctor said from the door, startling Amanda a second time. Crossing to the supine form, he said, "That is what you mean, isn't it?"

Jason met the Time Lord's accusing gaze steadily. "Nothing I've been near lately is strong enough—"

"And neither are you! I wasn't going to tell you this until later, Jason, but you've already been injected with some highly radioactive material—"

"I can't have," the prince objected. "My reserves are completely depleted. I'd have a residual effect of some kind—"

"Jason, in your condition the dosage would've been lethal. If it hadn't been for Tolan, you'd've burned yourself out trying to convert it. He gave himself what he called a…a… conversion rush clearing your system of the stuff."

It had seemed the two were taking turns interrupting each other and Amanda was almost amazed when the Doctor was able to complete what he was saying. The shocked Jason threw a questioning look in her direction and asked, "When did this happen?"

"When you ran amok in the mansion," she replied.

The Alterran considered this a moment. "That was almost two weeks ago. I've—"

"Undergone surgery and been drugged again since it happened," the Doctor pointed out, interrupting his friend yet again. "I know what you want, Jason, and the answer is no. I'm not putting you in an energy bed. You're bioelectric field is too unstable and you're brain is still out of whack from the implants. You'd never be able to direct the energy properly. And, let's face it, you're much too weak physically."

"I am not!"

The Doctor heaved an exasperated sigh. "Oh, no? Just look at yourself. You can't even get up from the floor."

"That's because I'm comfortable," the prince snorted.

"If I might intercede…" Turlough interrupted from the door.

Startled, the Doctor spun around glaring at the boy in anger and annoyance. "Does no one do as they're told anymore?" he moaned.

His companion chose not to reply directly and pulled a small gray cylinder from his pocket, holding it out. "Perhaps this might help."

"What is it?"

"A gram of pure plutonium."

The Doctor was horrified. "What! Turlough, are you out of your mind?"

"It's completely shielded," his companion said quickly. "I'm not stupid enough to carry it around in the open." He got down beside the prince, placing the tube in his hand.

Amazed, Jason turned the cylinder over in his hands. "Turlough, where did you get this?" he gasped.

"Why?" Turlough asked, suddenly filled with misgivings. "It's still sealed, isn't it?"

The Alterran assured him that it was, going on to say that it would have been impossible for him to open it even if he tried. The seemingly innocuous tube was actually an incredibly powerful energy source engineered to release small amounts of radiation without actually exposing the isotope. The casing was designed to respond to the signals unique to his silicon-based biology.

"I saw the prototype…oh, it must be months ago now," the prince informed thoughtfully. "I never dreamed they'd be ready for production already." Squeezing the tube, he felt the warm rush of energy pouring into his depleted reserves.

The Doctor did not like the way the Alterran's body seemed to glow momentarily. "Jason…" he said warningly.

"It's alright, Doctor, it's supposed to do that. It's specifically designed for conditions like mine. Severe energy depletion. It directs the energy automatically. I don't have to do anything." Closing his eyes, Jason added with a sigh, "except sleep. I'll be alright now. I'll finally be alright." With that, he slowly rose back into the air.

The annoyed Time Lord pulled his companion aside. "We'll talk about this later," he said in an angry hiss.

"I got it from the Emperor!" Turlough blurted out in a low voice—the admission surprising even him, as he had no conscious memory of actually receiving the cylinder.

"The Emperor. Of course. That's why he called you aside."

Dr. Spencer drew closer, whispering, "Will he really be alright now?"

Throwing a worried look across the room the Doctor replied, "Physically, yes. I'm not sure about the rest of him."

After a few hours passed with no signs of change, Turlough managed to persuade the exhausted Dr. Spencer to get some sleep. She returned to the Zero Room nearly ten hours later finding the Alterran's position unchanged. Only then did she finally understand why the Doctor had been unconcerned about leaving him on his own.

With nothing else to do, Amanda retrieved the schematic of the implant probes and spread them out on the floor of the Zero Room, hoping she could find a way of removing them without causing irreparable brain damage. She was unaware of the fact that Jason could transmute, and had no way of knowing he could remove them himself once he was fully recovered.

The Doctor suddenly popped his head in the door to check on Jason's progress, or lack thereof. "I'll be in the lab, if you need me," he said in a low voice. "Turlough's still about some-where. And if you need Tolan, he's doing security checks at the mansion."

"Still? Doesn't he ever quit?"

The Time Lord shook his head. "He's gotten it into his head that Jason really did see this Xandora Legrand in his room. Apparently she was part of the original Lazarus Project and none too pleased when he pulled the funding."

Amanda's heart was already in her mouth and she heard herself saying, "Really?"

"Yes. And Tolan's found out she's some kind of robotics expert, which might explain where that android came from."

"Android? What android?"

The Doctor scowled down at her a moment before realizing she had been away when the incident occurred. He told her what had happened and left, having no sooner shut the door than Amanda cursed under her breath, crumpling a wad of paper and throwing it into a corner.

"It was one of your designs, Andy," Jason informed softly. "At least, internally."

Looking up, Amanda stopped herself from issuing a biting reply when she realized he was not pointing a finger but simply stating a fact. "I purposely stayed away from that field so Curtis couldn't find me—and now this. What am I supposed to do now?"

After a long pause, Jason said calmly, "You have to leave."