CHAPTER 22

SUSPICIONS AND ACCUSATIONS

Shortly after the Doctor left, Jason went to the connecting door and stood watching as Mel spread out her belongings and refolded them. "Good thing we had all your luggage along. It would've looked awfully suspicious, the three of us checking in without it," he remarked, adding with a sigh, "Yet another stain on my reputation."

Mel looked up, uncertain how she should take this alien's sense of humor. He seemed to move very quickly through emotional extremes. "While I was checking us in I let slip that you and I were brother and sister traveling with mutual a friend." To her amazement, the Alterran swung to another extreme, bursting forth with the first fit of genuine laughter she had heard since meeting him. "That's great!" Jason squeaked. "Brother and sister travelers in time! I love it." He took a few steps into the room as he spoke, catching sight of himself in a mirror at the same time. "Oh, I need to change this! I refuse to be your considerably older brother."

"Even if you are."

"Not if you go by actual birth dates. I won't be born for a few hundred years yet." Turning back to the mirror, he asked, "What do you think? Thirty-something without the gray?"

Mel gave him a quizzical look. "You really can do that? Whenever you want?"

The Alterran nodded. "Just a word of warning. There's always a shimmering effect when I transmute." So saying he immediately changed from a fifty-something man with shortish graying hair to a thirty-something man with long wavy black hair pulled back in a ponytail.

A small squeak of amazement escaped Mel as the extraordinary transformation took place, her mouth dropping open and her eyes wide. Jason observed this reaction with a glowing smile of pride. "Pretty cool, huh? Better than the hatch's emergency release."

"Rather," came the approving reply. "Too bad you can't lose the suit."

"Who says?" Turning back to the mirror, the Alterran put his hands on his hips and cocked his head to one side as he appraised his appearance. "Something…suitably tourist, I think."

"But not tacky," Mel injected pointedly.

Jason nodded absently and then turned to look at her with a devilish grin on his face, his eyes sparkling. "You mean I'm supposed to be your brother and not the Doctor's, right?" As he spoke, his dark blue business suit was suddenly a riot of color that would have rivaled the Doctor's coat. He received a laugh and applause from his appreciative audience. "Okay, something tastefully tourist." So saying his body shimmered again. Replacing the suit and sensible shoes were khaki shorts, a blue short-sleeved shirt, sandals, a white beach hat, and sunglasses. He also seemed to have developed an impressive tan. "Tasteful enough, Sis?"

"I'll Sis you," Mel responded playfully, tossing a pillow at him. "Now go wait for the Doctor while I get changed myself."

Jason drew his hands up to his chest, pointing with both index fingers in the direction of his room. "No prob. I am outta here." He bebopped from the room, moving in time to a tune that only he could hear. Mel shook her head, thinking her newest traveling companion was almost as unfathomable as the Doctor. As he was closing the door, she called, "And lose the ponytail!"

"Awww. I never get to have any fun," he whined playfully.

"The Ambassador is not what I expected at all," K'ell'k remarked.

l'X'el nodded. "He seems almost juvenile at times. Not the type of person you'd expect to be in charge of an important summit meeting."

"All the ones I've ever met have been stuffed shirts," K'ell'k observed. "It must be because he's the Doctor's friend. They all seem, well…unconventional."

l'X'el did not reply. He knew from his research that the Doctor's friends, and especially his traveling companions, were never as they appeared at first glance, which was apparently why the Time Lord chose to travel with them. It was not until Jason appeared as leader of the summit on Earth that l'X'el had even been aware of his connection with the Doctor. There was only sporadic information about him, all of which came from the time after his original departure from the TARDIS and much of which was when he reconnected with the Doctor in the years that followed. While this made Jason the perfect choice as his bait for the Doctor, l'X'el was concerned about his lack of background information. He could find nothing on the Alterran Empire in any of his planet's extensive libraries, the race seeming as hidden from view as his own people, which was puzzling and worrying. Jason's history with the Doctor indicated that he was considerably more complex than this recent glimpse showed. What l'X'el did not know was that Jason had grown far more complex than even he himself realized, making him extremely, sometimes dangerously unpredictable.

The Doctor returned after two hours carrying two large paper bags. "Nothing out of the ordinary that I could see," he announced. Placing the bags on a table near the door, he said, "I thought we might have Chinese. I seem to recall you rather liked it. There's a quaint little restaurant just down the road. The owner is a very interesting chap."

"Whom you no doubt had a lengthy conversation with in Chinese," Jason replied knowingly. "What dialect?"

"Cantonese, if you must know."

The Alterran chuckled. "You never change."

The Doctor suddenly seemed to notice his friend's newest "look" and raised his eyebrows. "No, but I see you have again. Do you have a surfboard to go with your ensemble?" Not waiting for a reply, he began removing the containers from the bags and setting them out on the table.

Jason smiled broadly, knocking on the connecting door. "Hey, Sis! Dinner's here."

The Doctor gave him a puzzled look. "Sis?" he repeated, an edge of distaste in his voice.

Mel opened the door at that moment, hearing the Time Lord's disapproving tone. "Just ignore him, Doctor," she said coolly. "I made the mistake of telling him how I checked us in. Now I'm never going to hear the end of it." She looked over the contents of the table with a disapproving scowl. Not exactly part of her dietary regimen, but then, they were still on vacation. Before she could say anything along these lines, the Doctor placed a bottle of water in front of her. "What have you got here?" she asked, opening a container. "Everything on the menu?"

"Oooo, is that sweet and sour chicken? Yum," Jason enthused, taking the container as she was putting it down.

"I should probably warn you that Jason is a carnivore with indiscriminate eating habits," the Doctor explained firmly. "Don't even try to change him."

The Alterran grinned. "I believe you used to describe me as an unapologetic carnivore. And I don't eat the way I did during the second phase. That was completely due to genetics."

Mel gave him a puzzled look. "Genetics?"

"Age induced hormonal changes triggering a high energy metabolism requiring specific proteins, amino acids, carbohydrates—"

"In other words, non-stop food intake," the Doctor completed.

Jason sucked the sauce from his fingers, adding playfully, "Anyway, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it." Taking in the number of containers on the table, he observed, "There's enough here for everybody in UNIT."

"Well, if you believe popular myth," the Time Lord said as he sat down, "you'll be hungry again in an hour. So there'll be plenty of leftovers." He placed a couple of containers in front of Mel. "The Buddhist special for you, Miss Bush."

"Buddhist special?" Jason repeated.

"He means vegetarian," Mel translated as she pulled a pair of chopsticks from one of the bags and handed them to him. She had done this as a joke and was stunned when he expertly manipulated them to remove some noodles from a container. She could not help but remark on this, since they were native to her planet and not his. Jason grinned but decided not to inform her that using chopsticks was child's play in comparison to controlling the multiple appendages of his true form.

Halfway through the meal the Doctor suddenly asked, "Jason, was there anything about your mission that was…shall we say, out of the ordinary?"

Only half-listening, his friend did not even look up. "Out of the ordinary?"

"Yes. Something only you were to know about."

"Like what?"

"A hidden agenda, for instance."

Jason gulped, coughing on his food a moment. The direction of the conversation had taken him completely off guard, which was the intention. "Is this a joke?" The Time Lord gave him an innocent look that immediately put him on his guard. "Why?" he asked pointedly.

"Oh, no reason," came the casual reply. "I just wondered if perhaps you were working undercover for Krystovan and Company again."

"Krystovan and what?"

The Doctor waved a hand in the air. "Forget I said that. Talking out of turn again."

Jason gave him a baffled look. "Doctor, I was on a straightforward diplomatic mission, not some cloak and dagger…" His voice trailed off as realization dawned. He stuck his chopsticks into the carton he was holding and put it down, leaning back in his chair, his arms folded. "What do you know that you're not telling me?"

"My dear Jason, I merely asked—"

"Don't give me that innocent routine, Doctor, I've known you too long," Jason interrupted sharply. "You throw a loaded question at me like a grenade and now you're trying to gauge my reactions after it's blown up in my face."

The Time Lord's eyebrows went up, obviously surprised at how his friend had surmised what he was up to. Mel had to stifle a laugh, a hand going to her mouth. She received a disapproving sideways glance from both men.

Jason's expression was set. "I've seen you do this a thousand times. Why don't you just ask? Do you honestly think I'm hiding something?"

The Doctor leaned forward in his chair his eyes fixed on his former companion. "You're right, of course. Deceptions are a barrier. Time to lower your guard and speak openly."

A puzzled look came to Mel's face and she wondered why the Doctor was stressing his words in such an odd manner.

"What's the matter? Can't read my thoughts anymore?" Jason replied in the same strangely precise manner. He saw his friend's eyes flicker before he nodded almost imperceptibly, both an indication that he had interpreted the message correctly.

The Doctor pulled a small box from his trouser pocket, keeping it below the table so that only Jason could see it. In the center, a red light blinked in a regular pattern. Jason recognized it immediately and gave the Time Lord a steady look. "Just ask me, Doctor. I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

The Doctor closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, looking as though he were composing his thoughts. To Mel's added bewilderment, she saw Jason silently mouth a count of three and then close his eyes. When the two opened their eyes again, they exchanged a conspiratorial grin.

The Doctor looked down at the box in his hand. The red light had stopped blinking, a steady green light having taken its place. "Barrier up," he announced in a satisfied tone.

Jason nodded, throwing a quick glance in Mel's direction.

"We were being monitored," the Doctor informed. "Telepathic eavesdropper." His companion's expression went from astonished to angry. "Not to worry. Jason and I are blocking it for a bit." He held up the box, explaining that as long as the green light was on they would be hidden from view.