CHAPTER 2

NIGHTMARE RIDE

"Finished! And not a moment too soon," l'X'el said as the last of his entries was made. He sat back and stretched, rubbing the back of his neck. "That'll bring him."

"Bring? You're trying to bring someone here?" K'ell'k was incredulous. "Lix, the barrier blinds the outside universe to—" He broke off when his brother gave him a cold look, the glow from the globe only serving to make him look more intimidating. Correcting himself quickly, he said, "The barrier used to blind the outside universe to us."

"A Time Lord could find us, Kay, even with the barrier running properly."

K'ell'k was less than impressed. "So what? The Time Lords don't interfere anymore than the Grand Council does."

"You're forgetting about the Doctor," l'X'el reminded.

"The Doctor? Why would he want to come here?"

"Because I'm going to make it impossible for him not to."

K'ell'k gave his brother a dubious look. "The Doctor is smarter than you, Lix. He'll know what you're doing before you even do it."

"You think so?" l'X'el said mildly. "Look at the manipulator." The globe between them changed from opaque to clear, the image of the fleeing SILVER TRIUMPH appearing in it.

"It's a ship. Under attack, by the look of it," came the bland observation.

"That's the one I'm going have the manipulator—"

"It won't work," K'ell'k broke in firmly. "You'll never be able to—"

"No, Kay, it's perfect," l'X'el rejoined sharply. "Its interior has been modified to withstand considerably greater force than the original design."

"Lix, you'll never be able to protect the whole ship."

"I only intend to protect one person, not the whole ship."

"Why just one person?"

"He's the Ambassador."

"The Amb—?" K'ell'k scowled and then his eyes grew wide. "You don't mean Ambassador Krystovan! Lix, what are you getting us mixed up in?"

"Yes, I do mean Ambassador Krystovan," his brother countered. "I found out he's not human. He can withstand much greater forces than humans. If he survives, the Doctor will come." l'X'el had also discovered several other things about Jason, one of which was that he was telepathic. This only increased his suitability as it made it easier for the machinery to zero in on his exact location.

"This is crazy!" K'ell'k exclaimed. "Ambassador or not, why would the Doctor be interested in the survivor of a crashed spaceship?"

"I can think of two reasons right off. First is the time factor. I'm gong to move the ship out of this time zone. The second is he's…um, acquainted with the Ambassador."

K'ell'k frowned. "Isn't that an awfully big coincidence?"

"The Doctor's very existence hinges on coincidences like this," l'X'el stated knowingly. "Random encounters, chance visits…"

K'ell'k sighed, unable to think of any further objections. l'X'el had enlisted his brother's assistance to play Devil's advocate to make certain he did not overlook anything. Knowing of nothing else to do, K'ell'k moved to the opposite podium to sit down.

"Whatever you do, don't touch the control board," l'X'el admonished sharply. "It's taken me weeks to get everything to this point. It's now or never."

K'ell'k gave him a dark look, having had no intention of interfering with his brother's work. He turned his attention to the globe as his brother manipulated the controls. The display moved in on the section of the asteroid field toward which the SILVER TRIUMPH was heading. Unseen by the occupants of the ship, the section of space was starting to distort.

Jason had moved from behind the Captain's command chair to the door leading to the outer passageway. He had been told to return to the passenger cabin but had become enthralled by the activity on the bridge and stood watching in admiration.

After escaping into the asteroid field, Captain Rayburn had ordered the ship brought to a halt. The navigator concentrated on keeping the ship steady, avoiding the chaos of floating boulders around them. The tactical officer reported long-range sensors inoperative, possibly due to a high concentration of radiation within asteroid field. The Captain gave a satisfied grunt upon hearing this. "If we can't see them, then they can't see us," he replied, his stratagem being to make the attacking ships believe they had been pulverized.

Of course, they could not remain hidden forever. After more than twelve hours the Captain had the navigator turn the ship around and plot a course out of the asteroid field. After what seemed like forever, the SILVER TRIUMPHexited the field very close to the point where it had entered. Just as it was pulling clear, the entire bridge suddenly seemed to distort.

Jason turned sharply as the bulkhead he was leaning against actually moved beneath his fingers. He stared open mouthed at the metal, watching as it continued to distort, snapping back to normal a split second later. "Did anybody else feel that?" he gasped. He received no reply, his words lost in the sound of the engines powering up.

The attacking ships suddenly appeared all around them, their game of hide and seek having fooled no one. Rayburn gave the order to make the jump to light speed the same instant the enemy fired.

What happened next was a nightmare ride for the occupants of the fleeing ship.

As the fabric of space/time opened for the jump to light speed, the energies of the weapons flooded into the already warping section of space, sucking the SILVER TRIUMPH in.

"Wormhole!" the navigator screamed as the world suddenly turned upside down and inside out at the same time.

"Sir, you must go to the passenger cabin and strap in," the Captain called to Prince Jason over the noise.

"But I can help here," the Prince countered. "I have more flight time than—"

"Mister Ambassador," Captain Rayburn cut in sharply, "your mission is more important than any one of us here. Now please, do as I ask. My mission is to keep you alive."

Jason gave him a long, steady look before nodding. The Captain was right and he knew it. His mission was far too important to jeopardize with any heroics and to this he admitted. "It has been an honor to know you, Captain Rayburn," he said solemnly to the startled officer before he stepped back and sealed the door to the bridge. He had to struggle to get to the passenger compartment where he wrestled his way to his seat. As soon as he had strapped himself in he switched on the monitor beside him. Even if he could not be on the bridge he could at least see what was happening.

The screen had no sooner come to life than the ship started spinning, which would not have made much difference had the internal stabilizers not completely failed at the same time. Cabinets and wall lockers flew open, spewing their contents into the air. As the ship went more and more out of control the debris turned into projectiles, bounced off of the walls, floor, and Alterran Prince. Then the internal gravity failed, much to Jason's relief, and the projectiles were transformed into harmless floating debris.

On the bridge the fight to regain control of the ship continued for what seemed an eternity. Then, as suddenly as it appeared, the wormhole started to dissipate. Now the crew had another problem on their hands. They found themselves entering the gravity field of a large planet with unresponsive instruments. To their further horror, another craft abruptly appeared beneath them on a decent trajectory to the planet below. The sensors yielded enough information for the tactical officer to speculate it to be a drone on an unpowered decent. Despite their best efforts, the ships bumped. The smaller more delicate craft was sent spinning into the planet's atmosphere where it broke apart. The SILVER TRIUMPH bounced back into the wormhole, popping out a few seconds later. Another piece of space debris in low orbit suddenly appeared on the main screen.

Jason watched helplessly as they barely missed striking the satellite, or whatever it was, and continued to bounce along the planet's outer atmosphere. He suddenly realized that he was twisting the wedding ring on his left hand and pulled it off, reading the inscription engraved inside. He gave the ring a kiss. "I'm sorry, my love," he whispered, clasping the gold band in his fist. "This mission wasn't supposed to be dangerous." Drawing a deep breath, he leaned back in his seat, turning his attention to the monitor and the view of the planet's surface, which was approaching much too fast for his liking.

What the Prince could not see was the effect the temporal distortion had had on his human crew, who had aged considerably in the short time they were inside the wormhole, their bodies becoming weaker and frailer by the second. Within the confines of the passenger cabin, and protected by l'X'el's time bubble, Prince Jason was spared from this effect, not that he would have aged quite so dramatically. He was actually young for an Alterran, his lifespan counted in centuries rather than individual years as with his human counterparts.

As the outer hull grew hotter and hotter, all the occupants of the SILVER TRIUMPH could do was pray they would be able to land rather than crash on the planet's surface.