Chapter Thirty-Four

Back To Tel-Shye

As promised, Corporal Lenn's report was ready and waiting when Commander Tolan arrived on Aegis. Jolene Hyde had confessed to being the insider who had warned Legrand, drugged Prince Jason and attacked Turlough. The radioactive material had been supplied by an acquaintance who thought it to be part of a Foundation research project. (They were later cleared of any wrongdoing.) Ms. Hyde also supplied the names and locations of her contacts who had put out all the false leads the Argonauts had been chasing. She could not, however, supply the location of Dr. Legrand or the intermediary he had used since fleeing the Center.

Tolan was not surprised to learn the first attack on the prince had been intended to kill him. He was surprised, however, to learn it had not been intended to incriminate Amanda. This, apparently, came later when the android was introduced. It was also revealed that Jolene did not know Amanda was Legrand's daughter and was unaware of the implications of her actions other than to throw suspicion elsewhere.

The third and final attack was even more puzzling as Ms. Hyde had been given a list of questions to ask Prince Jason once she had administered the truth drug. Despite the fact that she had been unable to fulfill this last directive, Amanda's near discovery of her in the isolation unit only served to tighten the noose around the Medical Officer's neck.

As an aside comment, Jolene stated that she was proud her efforts had been good enough to actually fool the Commander into arresting Dr. Spencer.

In his cabin onboard the command shuttle, Commander Tolan sat rereading Lenn's report. A low growl rumbled from his throat and he shut the report, tossing it aside and turning to look out the observation port.

Across the room, Constance looked up and frowned. Tolan had been brooding since before they left Aegis, and seemed to be getting worse. "It's not going to change no matter how many times you read it," she said calmly.

Tolan threw her a dark look and then returned his attention to the stars.

Constance watched him for several minutes before saying, "Something's really wrong, isn't it?"

"I don't know. I don't like it. There's something not right about all this." As he spoke, Tolan began absently massaging the palms of his hands, a nervous habit Constance had come to know as meaning he was extremely worried.

"How did she know I arrested Amanda?" the disquieted officer went on. "Did she guess? And that intermediary. Was she the messenger who shot HH?" Shaking his head, he said again, "I don't like it, Connie. I just don't like it."

"Maybe you should call—"

"I called Fane while you were sleeping," Tolan admitted guiltily. "Everything's quiet."

"How's HH doing?"

"Apparently he's made a miraculous recovery. He was comatose and on full life support when I left. Now he's awake but—" Pausing, the Commander informed, "Apparently he's completely paralyzed. Roxell's afraid that…well, with all the stress and his having pulled out the probes, he may've suffered a stroke."

Constance put her head in her hands. "As if he hasn't gone through enough," she moaned.

Tolan nodded. "He has one consolation, though. Princess Shadra is there. It seems Amanda called her to tell her where he was before she came to tell us the results of the surgery."

"You mean before you arrested her," Miss Sorenson corrected sharply.

Tolan chose not to respond directly. There was a great deal more going on than Constance realized, but he was unable to tell her just yet. He rose to his feet, saying, "Before I signed off, I told Fane to put the house on Alert Status Two."

"Two! You really are worried, aren't you?"

"Not according to Fane. He thinks I'm—Now how did he put it? Oh, yeah. I'm being overly cautious to the point of paranoia."

Constance raised an eyebrow. "Rank insubordination," she said in mock surprise. "You'd better have a word with that young man when you get back."

This remark should have brought a smile to the Commander's face. Instead, he continued to prowl the room like a caged lion. Sighing heavily, Constance gave up trying to cheer him up and was relieved when the flight crew called to say they were approaching Tel-Shye.

Even though she had been confined to a ground floor isolation room, Amanda was glad she had not actually been isolated. She attributed her being allowed a steady stream of visitors solely to Turlough's intervention, and the Doctor chose not to correct this misconception in order to give credence to her assumed status as prisoner.

Among Amanda's visitors were a few surprises, the first being Shadra, who had actually torn herself from Jason's side to personally meet the physician she had once considered a friend. Uncertain what to expect now that she knew her to be Xandora Legrand, the princess had been wary at first. After a few minutes, her misgivings evaporated, and, much to Amanda's relief, they were friends again.

The second surprise came in the person of King Aaron, whom Amanda had actually met four years earlier while working on the original Lazarus Project. In fact, it had been this very meeting that had touched off the bitter, and seemingly endless, feud between herself and Jason. A feud Aaron was glad did not stand in the way of her saving the life of his only child.

Like Turlough, Healer Roxell had been a regular visitor. She brought regular updates on Jason's condition, her feeling being that Dr. Spencer's arrest was totally and utterly ridiculous. An opinion she did not fail to voice whenever the long-suffering Lieutenant Fane was in the vicinity.

On this particular morning, she was voicing her displeasure on a completely different subject, this being the conditions of the Alert. "Fane, you can't keep us here against our will," the Healer objected as the Lieutenant scrutinized the newly placed seals on the rear exits. "It's illegal."

"I'm not keeping anyone here other than Amanda," Fane said as he continued with his work. Before the Healer could comment further, he said quickly, "I'm trying to reduce the risk of unauthorized entry. That's why they call it security."

Roxell simply snorted.

"Until further notice, access is limited to the main door only," the officer informed. "All other exterior doors are to remain sealed and the transmats are being taken off-line even as we speak."

"What! You know how far out we are. How's my staff supposed to get here? And my supplies?"

"They'll just have to—"

"And Healer Turraan? How's he suppose to get back to the city? The king sent him to check on Prince Jason, not to stay indefinitely." Receiving no response, Roxell exploded, "Fane, you can't take all three of my transmats off-line."

Fane stopped dead in his tracks and spun around. "Three! I thought there were two. Where's the third?"

"In the old receiving bay in the north wing of the house. You don't think I send contaminated materials out through the main ones, do you?"

The Lieutenant ground his teeth in annoyance, rolling his eyes to the ceiling. He had been working all night to secure the house only to find this gaping hole in his security net. "I'm glad you told me before the Commander got back or there would've been hell to pay." Pulling the radio from his belt, he called for a security check as the irate Healer went back to her office.

All units reported all clear and the next senior officer in the house, Lieutenant Bowen of Tel-Shye's Royal Guard, reported that the main transmat and the cargo pad were now off-line.

"I just found out there's another one in the old receiving bay," Fane informed as he made his way through the house. "I'm on my way to take care of it now. As soon as that's done, the house is completely secure."

"Do you want me to key the main one to a security frequency?" Bowen asked.

"No, better wait until Commander Tolan arrives. He's in one of his ultra-cautious moods. If I know him he won't want any of them operating until he's physically present in the house."

Had he arrived in the receiving bay five minutes earlier the Lieutenant would have been able to prevent the entry of three masked intruders who materialized on the receiving pad while he was speaking to Bowen. They heard him coming and waited, striking him from behind the moment he entered the room.

Although dazed, Fane managed to stay on his feet, throwing off his attackers one at a time. The first to fall came up with a broom and slammed it across the Alterran's shoulders as he was in the process of transmuting. The blow shattered the broom handle and sent Fane to his hands and knees. It also triggered a misfire. The writhing fit this induced momentarily stunned the three humans who stood staring until the Alterran went limp. Then they descended on the helpless officer; two of them dragging him from the floor while the third worked him over with the remains of the broom handle.

After several minutes, the battered Fane was dropped to the floor where the intruders took their turns savagely kicking at him before finally leaving him for dead, a pile of cartons being pulled down to hide his presence.