CHAPTER 51

DO YOU TRUST ME?

Grant returned to the console room to find Jason had dozed off in his absence. He knelt at the injured Alterran's side and reached out to wake him, only to stop and wonder if it might not be better to let him sleep. It was only because the Alterran stated that he was getting dehydrated that he chose to wake him. The last thing he needed was for something else to go wrong. Especially something that was so easily cured, as it were.

The boy touched Jason's shoulder and shook him gently. "Jason, wake up. I have your water."

Grant was totally unprepared for what happened next. Jason let out a cry of absolute terror, his eyes snapping open. He reached up and across his chest, catching hold of the hand on his shoulder and holding it in an iron grip. At almost the same moment he lashed out with his other arm, striking the startled young man in the side and knocking him onto his back, the bottle of water that was in his hand sailing into the air.

"Jason, it's me, Grant!" Grant cried out, covering his face with his free hand, certain he was about to be struck again.

Jason seemed to freeze a moment, his unseeing eyes wide. He was breathing heavily, his arm poised to deliver a second blow. Suddenly he relaxed, releasing his grip on Grant's wrist. He closed his eyes and fell back onto the pillow. "Grant…" he whispered in relief.

"Yeah, Grant," Grant said darkly, rubbing his now bruised side. "I brought you your water," He went to retrieve the bottle that had landed halfway across the room.

"Sorry about that," the Alterran said guiltily. "Did I hurt you?"

"I think I'll survive. Do you always come up swinging when someone wakes you up?"

"Only when someone's just tried to kill me."

Grant gave Jason a quizzical look upon hearing this. He knelt down and opened the bottle of water. He was going to simply hand it to him when he realized Jason was too weak to manage even drinking from a bottle by himself. In his confused attempt to defend himself he had used up nearly all his energy. Grant lifted the Alterran's head, steadying the bottle as he gratefully drank half of its contents.

"It's my fault you're so weak. I shouldn't've woken you up," Grant said apologetically as he recapped the bottle.

"It's not your fault—"

"Yes it is! You were completely calm and I had to go and—What's so funny?"

"Calm? You think I'm calm?" Jason could not help but laugh at the irony of this statement. "I'm scared to death. It's all I can do to keep from losing it totally." Closing his eyes, he swallowed hard. "If I start to panic, run. It's not a pretty sight."

Grant sat back, his eyes wide. He had been watching Jason in a combination of fear and amazement ever since he emerged from the reactor room in his true form. Despite the fact that the Doctor obviously trusted him implicitly, and the fact that he had gone out of his way to make Grant feel at ease, the boy was still wary of him. And his current fractured appearance only magnified how completely alien he truly was. He had powers beyond imagining and seemed as oblivious to danger as the Doctor; and while he had attempted to find some common ground in their heart-to-heart talk over dinner, it did not seem to help.

Jason had remarked that he had weaknesses like everybody else, but Grant hadn't entirely believed it. Now he was injured, helpless, and terrified—and Grant, who had called himself the weaker of the two, was responsible for watching over him.

"Jason, I'm sorry."

"What for now?"

Grant paused, uncertain how to put his thoughts into words. "When you were telling me about…what happened to you. It didn't…well, it didn't seem...real."

"Didn't seem real?" Jason repeated with a scowl. His voice rose in pitch and took an accusing edge when he asked, "Do you think I made it up?"

"No! It's just that… How can I put this?" Grant struggled to find the right words. "You said you weren't all powerful, but that's how you seemed to me. Those men fired lasers at you, and you still kept coming!"

Closing his eyes, Jason wondered if he wanted to laugh or cry at hearing this. "And now?"

"Now I've upset you. God, I'm so useless!"

This time Jason did laugh. "Useless?"

"Yes, useless!"

"You have no idea why Doctor had you lock us in here and not one of the others, do you?"

"It's because they understand their technology and I don't."

"No. It's because he trusts you to do exactly what he tells you to do. Do you honestly think those kids would refuse to let the Doctor back into his own TARDIS? They practically worship the ground he walks on."

Pausing a moment, Grant replied, "I suppose you have a point there. Why is it so important to keep the doors locked anyway?"

"It's the only way the TARDIS can fully shield me."

"What has that to do with keeping the doors locked? The Doctor told me weapons don't work in the console room."

"You still don't understand."

"That's an understatement and a half," Grant replied darkly.

Jason sighed. "Okay, put simply, the console room is outside the normal dimension of space/time; in a state of temporal grace. Weapons don't function. But sound does. The old girl doesn't recognize it as harmful. She wasn't exactly designed for silicon-based lifeforms."

"I'm still lost."

Jason sighed again, searching for the right analogy. "Have you ever seen a wine glass shattered by a musical note?"

"Yes…"

"Well, my physical makeup is silicon-based—crystalline. And that ship's transmitting sound waves that are causing it to vibrate on a cellular level."

"Is that why you have cracks all over your skin?"

"Yes." Jason shuddered, his voice deadly serious, "Grant, right now I'm the wine glass. And if that noise starts up again I'll shatter completely."

Before Grant had the chance to take in this disquieting piece of news there was a thudding on the main doors followed by the Doctor's voice. "Grant! Can you hear me?"

"Yes!" the boy called back. He started to rise, only to stop when Jason held out a hand to him.

"You can talk to him from the console. Use the mike. He'll be able to hear you, and you won't let in the noise if it starts up again," Jason informed.

"I don't know where the mike is," Grant confessed.

"That's okay. I'll walk you through it. Just go to the console."

In less than a minute Grant had located the controls, switched on the microphone and adjusted the sound filter to allow only the Doctor's replies through. "I hear you, Doctor," he said again.

"Ah, good, you've found the external mike," the Doctor said approvingly. "Is the jamming signal still operating?" His companion glanced at the indicators before replying that it was. "Good. Then please be so kind as to open the door."

A ghost of a smile passed over Grant's face as he pulled the door lever. A moment later the Doctor was striding into the console room and closing the doors again. "And how have things been going in here?" he asked conversationally as he began resetting the controls.

"I wanted to go for a walk, but Grant talked me out of it," Jason said mildly.

"Very sensible of him. Can't have you swanning about the TARDIS when there's work to be done," the Doctor remarked without looking up. "SorRell's Lieutenant stopped by to see what we're up to. Seems you were right, Jason. No one in the military was harmed by the ultrasonics."

"Great. I should've taken that uniform when SorRell offered," Jason muttered darkly. "I must match the console room décor quite nicely by now. White on white with a crazed finish."

"Makes a nice change from the manipulator room. Black on slightly less black. Very depressing."

Grant looked from one to the other in amazement, wondering how Jason could suddenly be making light of the current situation after having just admitted to being on the verge of hysteria.

The Doctor gave a satisfied grunt. "That's done it!" he announced proudly.

"You wouldn't mind sharing your genius, would you?" Jason said astringently.

The Doctor gave him an odd look before responding with an indignant snort. "I'm going to try to communicate with the Alterran fleet using an artificial time fissure," he informed. "I'm using the manipulator to set up the fissure and the TARDIS to maintain its stability in real time."

Grant did not think it possible, but would have sworn that Jason went even paler upon hearing this. "What?" he said in a fearful whisper. "But that means—"

"You'll be perfectly safe in here," the Doctor assured.

"What does it mean?" Grant wanted to know, looking from one to the other.

Jason closed his eyes and tried to keep himself from completely going to pieces. The Doctor gave him an anguished look, knowing what he was about to say would do nothing to ease his mind. "In order for this to work I have to turn off the jamming signal," he said calmly. "Our friends in orbit aren't transmitting just yet, but they may start up again as soon as they realize the signal's been shut down."

"And if they do, Jason will die," Grant concluded quietly.

"Not as long as you keep these other controls set and the doors locked," the Doctor stated firmly. "Now, as soon as I've gone, I want you to shut down the signal."

"No. Please, no," Jason moaned. Suddenly realizing that he had actually spoken, he closed his eyes and put a trembling hand to his mouth to keep from saying more.

The Doctor crossed to him and knelt down. "Jason, you do trust me, don't you?"

Jason absolutely hated it when the Doctor asked him this. It always meant trouble. It also meant that the Time Lord was going to do something very dangerous, very stupid, or both.

"Jason…?"

"You know I do," came the quiet frightened reply. "I just…" After a pause, Jason admitted, "I'm terrified something will go wrong."

"Jason…"

"And don't patronize me and tell me nothing can go wrong! Something always goes wrong!"

Instead of being stung by this remark, the Doctor actually laughed. "Yes, an amazing coincidence, isn't it? My dear Jason, if, as you say, something will inevitably go wrong, I will deal with it. I always do that too. Now, are you going to be alright with this?"

"No, but I don't really have much choice, do I?" Jason replied fearfully. Waving a hand in the air, he said, "Oh, just get on with it. There's a planet out there that needs saving and we all know that only you can save it."

The Doctor frowned. This was not the first time Jason's tone was overtly hostile. In fact, the sarcastic nature of his remarks had grown increasingly spiteful over the past week or so. It was obvious that something was deeply troubling his Alterran friend. Unfortunately, he had no idea what it was nor did he have the time to find out.

Filing the incident in the back of his mind, the Doctor got to his feet and strode toward the doors. "Oh yes, one more thing. I've no doubt this will set off a cacophony of alarms on the console." He stepped through the doors, calling over his shoulder, "So don't be alarmed."