Chapter Thirty-Nine

Residual Blocks

Dr. Spencer came out from behind the door to be greeted by Jason's wide, surprised eyes. He wanted desperately to warn her, but try as he might he could not utter a sound, his vocal cords being as paralyzed as the rest of him.

"Andy?" Shadra said suddenly, startling the Medical Officer. "You're Andy?"

"Yes. How did you know? Jason's the first one in years to—" Catching her breath, Amanda turned sharply to the prince. "My Lord, you really can hear him, can't you?"

"Not as well as I'd like," Shadra admitted. "Mostly I get bits and pieces. He said, 'Andy, he knows.' I don't know what it means."

"I do…" Andy replied, staring in amazement at the silent prince who was looking pleadingly back at her. With a smile, she squeezed his hand. "We know, Jason, it's alright. Tolan's taken care of everything."

Swallowing hard, Jason closed his eyes and braced himself. Whenever he tried this hard to communicate, his body would reward him by convulsing violently for several seconds. This time was no exception. The seizure came and went, leaving him drained and afraid. What's happening to me? he wondered fearfully. He opened his eyes to see Dr. Spencer running the scanner over him, a serious look on her face. She held the unit to one side of his head, marveling as the powerful instrument picked up all of his brain patterns. After about a minute, her eyes narrowed and she straightened, scrutinizing the readings.

Jason watched her intently, the Healer within him bursting with curiosity. What do you see? Is it good or bad? What's wrong with me?

Jason did not realize he was struggling to break through with these thoughts, but Shadra did. As did Amanda, his efforts being recorded on the scanner. "No, Jason, don't—!"

It was already too late. The Alterran was convulsing again.

"Jason, please, don't try anymore," Shadra begged worriedly.

Dazed and drained, her husband gave her a tired look and sighed heavily, closing his eyes in resignation.

"Yes, you'd better listen to her, you…you…" Amanda suddenly laughed. "I've actually run out of insults. Just stop before you hurt yourself. I'll tell you what's going on, don't worry."

Startled, Jason stared up at her in amazement. She knew him better than he realized. He watched impatiently as she took Shadra and the Doctor aside.

"Shadra, just what, exactly, are you getting from him?" the Medical Officer asked.

"It's so hard," the princess moaned. "He has so much to say. And I'm just not good enough at this yet. If only I'd paid more attention!"

Throwing a quick glance across the room, the Doctor warned, "Steady on, Shadra. You're being watched. Remember that."

Shadra nodded, pulling herself together. "Sometimes I can see him in my mind, but I can't hear him. It's as if there's an invisible wall between us. I'll get stray words or thoughts from time to time. It's like…having a window open up for a second and then slam shut again."

"And then he convulses," Amanda concluded, receiving a nod in reply.

The Time Lord scowled. "A mental barrier? Is it possible?"

"Very definitely," Amanda confirmed. "Jason told me what he was going to do to try and find Curtis." Pausing, she confessed, "I'm the one who wrote the program he used to get into the computer. I had to boost the power to compensate for the absence of the microcircuits in the implants. He never told me he was going to pull the wretched things out when he was done. I could've told him it would cause a residual block."

The Doctor gave her a baffled look. "A what?"

"A residual block. It's caused when—Oh, you don't care about that," the physician said firmly. "You only care that I don't hurt him."

"Amanda!" the Doctor admonished.

"It's true! You all suspected me just because I didn't take off when we found out Curtis was behind this." Looking over in the prince's direction, Amanda gave a knowing smile. "Even Jason was suspicious of me for a while."

Shadra followed her gaze. "But you must've known…"

"That I'd be found out? Of course I did. But nobody knows the Lazarus Project better than I do. Not even Constance. I designed the prototype for the implants." Shaking her head, Amanda said darkly, "When I saw Curtis had used his own…I couldn't leave. Not knowing what I do about them."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "You wanted to be around in case anything went wrong."

"Yes. And it did, didn't it? Several times."

Shadra caught her breath, a hand going to her mouth.

"It's alright, he's in no danger now that the implants are gone," Amanda assured. "But he has to stop fighting the blocks before he really hurts himself." Suddenly she was ushering them to the door. "Now if you'll please wait outside while I talk to my patient…"

The guard outside snapped to attention as the door was opened. He then presented Amanda with her scanner that Tolan had delivered a few minutes earlier. A note attached to it stated that the homing device had been deactivated. It also stated, to the physician's amusement, that the Commander had done as his M.O. ordered and removed himself from duty for the remainder of the day.

Having felt lost without her own scanner, Dr. Spencer was grateful to have it back. She closed the door and turned back to the silent, bright-eyed Prince Jason, flashing a devilish grin at him. "I'm glad you're not waking up for the first time now," she said as she crossed the room. "You'd've had a coronary yourself, wouldn't you?"

Jason rolled his eyes. That's an understatement and a half. To his surprise, Amanda sat down on the bed beside him.

"Don't get any funny ideas," she said warningly. "This is serious." She held out Roxell's scanner, moving it into position so he could read the screen. "You see that? That's the signature pulse of a residual block. I'd stake my reputation on it." Receiving a quick sideways glance in reply, Amanda immediately corrected herself, "Okay, I'll stake your reputation on it." Her voice was serious again. "You've got more than one of them too, see? That's probably what's causing your paralysis. And the convulsions, too, I would imagine. So stop pushing! You're only making them worse. If they get too big you'll end up losing involuntary muscle control and be back on life support again."

Jason stared at the readings, realizing, just as Amanda had, that he had triggered the blockages when he yanked the implants out following his trip into the computer. Closing his eyes, he drew a deep breath and wondered if he had inflicted permanent damage on himself. If he had blocked off the portion of his brain that produced the Epsilon waves necessary for molecular transmutation, he would be trapped within his human form for the rest of his very long life.

"Oh, stop getting melodramatic again," Amanda said sarcastically, returning Jason to reality with a jolt. She definitely knew him better than he thought. "They're not permanent, just a pain. Like you. I had a theory about them when I first designed the implants, do you remember?" Amanda paused, allowing her patient time to think. His eyes widened and then looked over to her. "I knew you would," she said in satisfaction. "If they're anything like the blocks encountered during extraction, you'll just have to wait for you're bio-electric field to normalize."

Jason's blue eyes grew in size and Dr. Spencer could just hear him exclaim, "Wait!"

"Yes, wait," she said firmly. "And I don't know how long, either. The more you push, the bigger the blocks get. You're only making it worse trying to communicate with Shadra."

The prince gave her a dark look, closing his eyes to signify his understanding. He looked up just in time to see an odd look cross the physician's face. Now what? he wondered, thinking he was going to be very glad when he finally got his voice back.

Dr. Spencer shook her head as though trying to talk herself out of something. Noticing the inquiring eyes fixed on her, she smiled self-consciously. "You remember the rest of my theory too, don't you?" she asked, glancing back at the scanner in her hand. "Curtis obviously didn't or he'd've tried it on you when he—" Breaking off, she turned to face the puzzled Alterran. "Jason, do you trust me?" she asked unexpectedly. "I mean really trust me?"

Not sure what to make of this, the prince's eyes narrowed. He would have said yes up until that moment, but the serious edge to her voice made him uncertain. Just what did she have in mind? Looking over at scanner in her hand, he saw the specialized program being displayed and suddenly remembered the theory she mentioned.

Seeing her patient's heart rate jump, Amanda thought he was on the verge of panic. "Okay, okay," she said quickly, "we don't have to try it. I was only asking."

Jason closed his eyes in frustration, wanting to scream, "No, don't stop now!" at the top of his voice. At this point, he was willing to try anything to be able to move again. Opening his eyes again, he looked pleadingly over to her.

"You really want to try?"

Her patient glared at her, sighing heavily. What he would not have given just to say, "Yes."

To his relief, Amanda nodded, punching several commands into the scanner before changing positions to be directly in front of him. "Just try to relax," she instructed. She set Roxell's scanner on continuous scan mode and placed it on the bed beside him. "I don't know how this'll feel. I have to focus the power on the affected area. If you experience any pain, blink several times and I'll stop." Adjusting the settings, she added, "And if you feel any improvement, wait until I've finished, just in case the block decides to grow again. Deal?"

Not really expecting an answer, Amanda began the program that would, with any luck, remove or reduce the residual blocks within the Alterran's brain. "Let's see if we can't get your voice back, shall we?" she said under her breath, zeroing in on what she hoped was his communication center. She held her scanner firmly against his temple with one hand, the other bracing the side of his head. Her eyes remained riveted to the second scanner, watching for any signs that the program was doing its job.

Although slight, the procedure was still uncomfortable and caused Jason to wince. Not wanting the experiment to stop, he closed his eyes and tried to relax, concentrating on his breathing. Considering the excruciating pain he had endured already, he found this to be a minor annoyance in comparison and was determined to endure it to the end.