AUTHOR'S NOTE: When I originally wrote this story, I got to this point and thought, "I really need to start wrapping this thing up." Suddenly there's this character appearing, literally, out of thin air, and I realized the story had somehow taken on a life of its own. I had to put it aside for a while before finally finishing it.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Mythryn

It was morning before the Doctor realized and he awoke with a start. To his astonishment, he saw a young woman suddenly materialize at Jason's bedside. She was tall and slim, with fine features and long dark hair that flowed past her waist. She looked down at the prince and smiled ever so slightly, shaking her head in disbelief. "Still alive, my prince?" she whispered, her voice having an almost musical quality. "You really are hard to kill, aren't you?"

Even thought Jason was beyond hearing her, the Doctor was not. He pulled off his glasses, putting them and the computer aside before rising to his feet. "Who are you?" he demanded.

A gasp escaped the intruder and she spun around, staring intently at him before relaxing. "Oh, you're a Time Lord," she sighed. "That explains it."

"I think you're the one who should be doing the explaining. Who are you?"

"My name is Muriel."

The Doctor looked the woman up and down. She had a wreath of spring flowers upon her head and wore unusual flowing garments that seemed to float and twist around her in a non-existent breeze giving her an almost spectral appearance.

Suddenly the Doctor knew what she was and his eyes grew wide. "You're a Mythryn!"

Muriel's eyes sparkled and she inclined her head. "Yes."

The Time Lord threw an apprehensive look in the unconscious Jason's direction. "Are you the one responsible for all this?"

Clearly appalled, the Mythryn said, "No!" adding hesitantly, "Not…exactly."

"Then how exactly? Just what is going on?"

Muriel lowered her eyes before telling him the responsible party was one of her own people, Mythryn Andrea, who had assisted in manipulating Jason's plight to the point of bringing in Legrand's second set of financial backers when the original ones withdrew funding. "That gave Legrand the freedom to take out his revenge any way he pleased," she concluded sadly.

The Doctor controlled his outrage with visible effort. "Who bought the transponder codes? Do you know?"

"Daleks," came the unexpected reply.

"What! She brought the Daleks into this!" the horrified Time Lord gasped. Tolan had assured him the Imperial forces could repel any invasion, but he seriously doubted they could hold off the unrelenting attack of the Daleks. And even if they could, they might well lose the entire human population of the outer planets before the Imperial forces got there.

"Yes. They're so boring, aren't they?" Muriel said blandly, breaking the Doctor's train of thought. "Exterminate, exterminate, exterminate. That's all they know. They have absolutely no imagination whatsoever."

"Imagination!" the Time Lord exploded. "Is that all you can think about? It's bad enough you're lot is involved without bringing the Daleks into it."

Muriel bristled. "My lot, as you put it, isn't involved, Doctor. Andrea went rouge. What your lot would call a renegade. I'm just trying to put things right."

"I wish I could believe that."

The Mythryn was prevented from issuing a biting remark when the Doctor asked, "So where is she, your sister Mythryn?"

"I don't know. She disappeared after she shot PJ—I mean, Prince Jason. I had to—"

"After she what! She's the one who shot him?"

Muriel nodded and the Doctor rolled his eyes. Now he'd heard everything. "No wonder there was no trace of anyone," he groaned. "Since when did your people start getting physically involved in your epic adventures?"

"We don't, Doctor. That's forbidden."

At that moment Turlough entered and he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the Doctor arguing with thin air. Was everyone going mad? "Doctor, who are you talking to?" he asked slowly.

"A Mythryn," came the unhelpful reply. "And before you say anything, I know you can't see her."

His companion gave him a skeptical look. "If you say so."

"Just take my word for it," the Doctor snapped impatiently.

"As you took his word about Amanda and PJ?" Muriel reminded sharply, having read the young man's thoughts.

The Time Lord stiffened, stung by the verbal slap in the face. She was right and he knew it. "Let him see you."

"You're awfully pushy, aren't you?" Muriel said disdainfully. The Doctor's face darkened and she shrugged, throwing a quick glance in his companion's direction that would allow him to see and hear her.

Turlough caught his breath, turning sharply to the Doctor, who held up a hand. "I'll explain later," he said and then returned his attention to the Mythryn. "You said you were trying to put things right. How? Why, exactly, are you here?"

Looking down at the helpless Prince Jason, Muriel gave a bittersweet smile. "I came to help him."

The Doctor's response made her jump. "No!" he thundered. "You let him be. Your people have done enough damage."

"Doctor, you don't understand—"

"I understand one thing. He doesn't have the power to fight you. But I do." The look on the Doctor's face was identical to the one Turlough received in the TARDIS and it still made him cringe. It made the Mythryn cringe as well. She took an alarmed step back, throwing up her hands. "No, Doctor, I know better than to do battle with a Time Lord." Her admission availed her nothing, the Doctor's metal energy forcing her further from the Alterran's bedside. "Doctor, please!" she cried fearfully. "You don't understand!"

"Leave him be," came the cold reply. "In fact, just leave."

"He'll die!" Muriel exclaimed, still backing away from the heat of his anger. "If he doesn't get the energy he needs, he'll die. I can't let that happen. I can't!"

To the Doctor's astonishment, Muriel burst into tears. Such was his shock that he actually pulled back on his attack, becoming all the more intrigued when she remained rooted to the spot, unable to go forward yet staunchly refusing to go back. There was a great deal more to this uncharacteristic show of emotion than met the eye. "Why are you so interested in helping this one man? An Alterran, at that," he asked suspiciously. "I thought the Mythryn tastes ran toward the more violent, barbaric races."

"He's…different."

Different! That was one way of putting it, the Doctor thought. As a whole, the Alterrans were a passive race, violence being repugnant to them. Yet Jason was a paradox, possessing the Alterran abhorrence of violence and an exceptionally violent temper, something he had always likened to an erupting volcano.

"You mean he's volatile, don't you?" the Doctor said pointedly. "Emotional? Explosive?"

"I know what you're thinking, Doctor, but it's not like that," Muriel said defensively. "Prince Jason can tell you—"

"Prince Jason is in a coma!"

Muriel held up her hands. "I mean his memory experiences. You're a Time Lord. I can utilize your power over Time to take you to any event he was involved in. You can see for yourself what happened at the Center."

The Doctor had heard the Mythryn possessed such a power, but never dreamed it were actually true. There were other things about the meddlesome race he did know to be true, and after a long silence, he said slowly, "Alright. But on one condition. I maintain control."

This was not the reply Muriel expected and she shuddered. With the Doctor in control she would be his prisoner, trapped wherever he chose, including within in his own mind. Considering the amount of mental force he had already used against her, she knew she would be no match for him. Until he relinquished control, she would be at his mercy.

The Mythryn looked down at the unconscious Jason, and her decision was clear. "Agreed," she said shakily, wiping the tears from her face with a trembling hand.

The Doctor nodded approvingly, dropping the metal barrier he had placed around his helpless Alterran friend. "What must I do?"

"You'll need to touch him."

Recalling the reaction his last encounter brought about, the Doctor hesitated, puzzling the Mythryn. "Your time aura is what makes the memory link possible."

"It also causes quite a shock to his system," the Time Lord informed. "I'm not sure he's up to that." He was startled yet again when Muriel said, "Oh, yes, I'd forgotten about the scanning." She looked over at the bewildered Turlough and suggested using him as a bridge. He would have direct contact with Jason while the Doctor would have contact with him. "And I can still make the link work."

"And what happens to me?" Turlough wanted to know.

"You'll be a part of the link. Seeing what the Doctor sees."

The young man looked from one to the other before agreeing. He was just as curious as the Doctor about what had happened after he left Jason alone. He took a step towards the bed, stopping when he was told to lock the door.

"I don't want to be interrupted," the Doctor said sternly. "This could be very dangerous."

Turlough looked at the trembling Mythryn and asked, "For which one of us?"