CHAPTER 52

MAKING CONTACT

The Doctor pulled the door closed, giving the TARDIS a loving pat. "You'll keep Jason safe, won't you old girl?" he said softly. Turning, he crossed to the temporal manipulator where l'X'el was patiently awaiting instructions. K'ell'k and Pr'Ce'el had remained behind after bringing Lieutenant Torr earlier.

"How is the Amb—I mean, Jason?" K'ell'k asked concernedly.

The Doctor's face briefly clouded with worry. "As well as can be expected under the circumstances," he replied tersely as he crossed to the manipulator. "And none too pleased about what I'm about to do."

"I can't say I blame him," l'X'el remarked.

The Doctor gave him a withering look. "Right. This is how things are going to proceed," he said in a no nonsense tone, looking straight at K'ell'k and Pr'Ce'el. "l'X'el and I are going to contact the Alterran fleet. And you two are going to be as quiet as church mice and do exactly what you're told. If I get anything even remotely resembling an argument from either of you, out you go. Is that understood?"

The stunned youths exchanged a startled look before nodding in unison.

The Time Lord gave a satisfied grunt. "Alright, Lix, let's see if we can make this work." He switched on the device he had pieced together and looked up. "Has Grant switched off the jamming signal?"

l'X'el checked the readings and nodded. "Yes. All the communication lines are clear."

"Excellent. Switch on."

As l'X'el manipulated the controls in front of him, the Doctor turned to his brother. "Kay, do you know how to read the controls on this machine?"

"Yes, sir," K'ell'k replied meekly.

"Good. Get on the opposite podium and monitor the communications array. If that ship starts transmitting again, I want to know about it."

K'ell'k exchanged a nervous glance with his brother before taking a seat at the only other undamaged podium. He activated the computer and set it to monitor communications. He looked up and cleared his throat nervously. "Doctor, do you want me to monitor all communications?"

The Doctor thought a moment and then nodded. "Why not? It can't hurt to be thorough." He waved a hand at Pr'Ce'el. "Cee, you can monitor this little gadget. I won't be able to do that and talk to—What did Torr say that Commander's name was again?"

"Deedrel, I think," Pr'Ce'el replied.

The Doctor nodded in agreement. "Pity it isn't Tolan. That would've made things considerably easier." Giving l'X'el a knowing look, he added, "It would also have been an enormous coincidence."

"Haven't you had enough of those?" the youth asked in a slightly guilty tone. "Who is Tolan, anyway?"

"Among other things, he's the head of Imperial Security on Alterrous," the Doctor replied succinctly, adding, "He's also a very good friend." He turned to Pr'Ce'el and began going over what he was to do.

Unaware that the jamming signal had simply been switched off, Commander Tre-Aal of the Gres-Fa-Raayn Elite forces was currently commending his men for having succeeded in breaking down the resistance of their obviously inferior enemies. He was also unaware of the fact that in the interim Commander SorRell's engineers had been working on the planet's defense shield.

When the Doctor told Lieutenant Torr of his plan, he went on to voice his concerns about the Gres-Fa-Raayn Elite carrying out their threat to destroy the city one block at a time. Torr agreed that this was indeed a possibility. He was also happy to learn the jamming signal did not interfere with ground communications and contacted SorRell. The Doctor informed the Commander that that the defense shield could be augmented. This way it would not only hide the planet but also protect it, if only for a short time, against any weapons bombardment.

While agreeing with the Time Lord's reasoning, SorRell voiced her doubts as to whether the plan could be implemented in time. It was then that she learned firsthand that the stories of the Doctor's resourcefulness and scientific brilliance had, if anything, understated the truth. He pulled out several crumpled pieces of paper and quickly sketched out the changes that needed to be made to the shield, jotting down a sheet full of mathematical formulae. He handed the papers to the marveling Torr, instructing him to give them to his engineers, as they would be able to figure out what they meant.

The Alterran engineers not only knew what the figures meant, but were also astounded to learn they had been dashed off in a matter of minutes. They immediately set to work implementing the changes, going as quickly as possible to be finished when the Doctor switched off his jamming signal.

They finished with exactly five minutes to spare.

As Commander Tre-Aal was giving the order to begin the destruction of the city below, SorRell was giving the order to switch on the augmented defense shield. The engineers crossed their fingers and activated the machinery.

From orbit, the Gres-Fa-Raayn watched in stupefied amazement at the planet below seemed to flash out of existence. Of course, the Commander knew it was just the activation of the defense shield and ordered his weapons officer to fire, stating that the target was merely cloaked.

The officer obeyed, only to have the weapon's discharge completely absorbed by the defense shield.

The Commander gave a low growl. "Are communications still clear?" he asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Alright, let's give them the revised version of the ultrasonic wave," he ordered, settling back in his chair. "Maximum range. I doubt their buildings can withstand that kind of punishment for long." Pausing, he ordered, "And see if you can find out if Roogg had anyone with the skill to pull off something like this. I want to hire them back."

"Doctor, the fissure is opening," l'X'el announced, glancing over to the corner of the room that had been designated for its appearance.

At almost the same moment, K'ell'k announced, "The Gres-Fa-Raayn have started transmitting again." This was immediately apparent as the room seemed to start humming. None of them could hear the incoming sounds, but the vibrations were unmistakable and they exchanged a look of mutual concern before turning a worried look in the direction of the TARDIS.

The instant the Gres-Fa-Raayn started transmitting, an alarm sounded on the TARDIS's control console. Since he had been warned in advance, Grant did not hurry when he went to investigate. Then he saw why the alarm had sounded and threw a worried look in Jason's direction. As he hurried to silence it, he inadvertently opened the external mike, allowing the sound in for a few seconds before he was able to close it again. Looking up, he was inwardly grateful the Alterran could not see him fumbling with the console controls.

"They've started transmitting again," Jason stated in as calm a tone as he could manage.

Grant looked up sharply. "Are you feeling it?" he asked, wishing he didn't sound so worried.

"No, but I could hear it when you accidentally opened the mike. The pitch is different than before. They must be using a different frequency."

Grant considered a moment. "Is that good or bad?"

"Considering the source, I can't think it's good."

"Keep the transmission steady, Lix. You're wavering," the Doctor ordered, returning everyone's attention to the globe.

The fissure was visible as a thin glowing line snaking its way toward the Alterran fleet. Suddenly it flashed and seemed to attach itself to the lead ship.

"Got it!" l'X'el cried out triumphantly, his fingers flying over the computer screen as he stabilized the output. "Holding steady, Doctor."

The Doctor was already making his way across the room toward the slowly forming entrance. As he drew nearer, he could feel the temporal energies surrounding the entrance of the artificial gap in space/time. "Keep it that way. No deviation from real time," he ordered.

The opening suddenly seemed to solidify, resembling a simple corridor only a few metres in length leading from the manipulator room to the bridge of the Alterran ship situated light-years away. As the corridor came into crisp focus, the Doctor could see the crews reaction to the appearance of the fissure.

"Commander Deedrel?" he called out. "I'm trying to contact Commander Deedrel."

"Who is that? Identify yourself," replied a voice that clearly belonged to a man used to being in command. "What are you doing to my ship?"

"I don't know if you'll know me, Commander. I'm—" The Time Lord broke off when the commanding officer cautiously stepped into view. "Good Lord!" the Doctor gasped, taking a startled step back. "Tolan!"