CHAPTER 4

"WILL YOU LET ME HELP YOU?"

Unable to take it in, Jason sat staring, his mouth agape. He looked the Time Lord up and down as if to make certain he were real. "You're my defense council?" he said at last.

"Yes," the Doctor replied mildly.

"You're my defense council," the Alterran repeated, as though trying to convince himself of the fact.

"Yes."

Jason slowly got to his feet. This time his tone was one of outrage, and he spoke each word slowly and deliberately, "You…are…my…defense…council?"

"Jason, we've already established—" The Doctor broke off when the captive Alterran slammed his fist against the bars. Then he picked up a chair and started slamming it against the inside of his cell, roaring with anger. The Doctor watched this display in silence. His only reaction was to sigh heavily. He pulled up a chair and sat down, waiting until the ranting aristocrat had exhausted himself.

The commotion quite naturally attracted the attention of the guard outside. He burst in, weapon drawn, only to stop short when he saw the Doctor calmly sitting in a chair, leaning back with his arms folded. He threw a puzzled look in the direction of his raging prisoner. This was the most animated he had ever seen him. "Is everything alright, sir?" the guard asked.

The Doctor looked up and gave the guard a broad smile. "We're just getting reacquainted," he replied happily, making as though absolutely nothing were out of the ordinary. "You know how reunions are. Noisy affairs."

The security guard had no idea what he was talking about, but with no emergency to deal with, he left the room.

Just as the Doctor suspected, after several minutes Jason finally ran out of steam. He let the chair, now a mangled piece of metal, drop from his hands and slid to the floor, leaning back against the bars, panting from the effort. He refused to look in the Doctor's direction, keeping his eyes fixed on the ceiling.

"Well, now that you've got all that out of your system," the Time Lord said disapprovingly, "perhaps we can talk."

"Talk?" the Prince spat back, still breathless from his tantrum. "Now you want to talk?"

"Yes. Now I want to talk."

Jason pulled himself to his feet. "You didn't want to hear anything I had to say, remember?" he spat contemptuously. "You weren't going to get sucked in to any more of my deceptions!"

"Well, you are exceptionally adroit in that department."

"Gee, thanks. Was that a compliment or an accusation? I can't tell anymore," Jason retorted angrily, giving what was left of the chair a savage kick. He started pacing the interior of his cell, unable to stand still for a few seconds. "All I can tell is your fellow Time Lords have my head on the block, and you've very kindly handed them the axe to chop it off with."

The Doctor was clearly impressed. "That's a very good analogy."

"Thanks," the Alterran replied sulkily.

"And it doesn't alter the basic fact that I'm here now."

"To do what? Ease your conscience? You've been sitting there watching me for four days. Four days! Now, suddenly, on the very day that the prosecution rests its case, you feel the urge to come and talk to me?"

"Do you think I've come to gloat?" the Doctor said in a slightly injured tone.

"Doctor, I haven't a clue why you're here," Jason growled. "It's obvious from your testimony you think I'm just as guilty as the rest of them."

"Jason…"

"Just say it! You think I'm guilty."

The Doctor drew a deep breath and shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortably. "I think all the evidence points in that direction, yes," he said evasively.

The Prince threw his head back and gave a bitter laugh. "And you accuse me of not giving straight answers!" he said sarcastically.

"Perhaps it's because I'm supposed to be defending you," the Doctor replied pointedly. He received an angry and skeptical look in reply. "Jason, I know you're angry with me—"

"Angry? Angry! Angry doesn't even begin to cover how I feel! How about outraged, infuriated, horrified, resentful, betrayed," Jason thundered back. "Don't just sit there, Doctor, jump right in. You're the walking thesaurus. You had plenty to say before!"

"Yes, I did," the Time Lord admitted calmly, choosing not to rise to the bait. He was not going to get into another shouting match with Jason. Not this time. He did, however, make particular note of the fact that the ranting Alterran had stopped short of declaring outright hatred, which, ironically, was what he expected to hear upon entering the room.

"Now, if you think you can get hold of yourself," he went on in the same quiet voice, "I want you to forget everything I said and everything that's happened and answer me one simple question. Will you let me help you?"

The Prince finally stood still. He knew the Doctor well enough to realize the offer of help was genuine, and in the face of everything he had said when they last parted, the fact that he was offering at all was a shock. They had been friends a long time, but that had all fallen apart on Eldeberon.

Jason studied the man across from him a long time, but the Time Lord was giving nothing away. He simply studied the Alterran back, his face passive. Suddenly Jason realized that he couldn't read his old friend anymore. He was being deliberately closed out. The Doctor was a formidable opponent and deadly enemy. The Prince had seen this on more than one occasion. Now it seemed they were on opposing sides, the very thought of which terrified Jason beyond words.

Closing his eyes, the Prince drew a long shuddering breath, crossing his arms as though hugging himself. "I don't know if anyone can help me at this point," he said in a subdued voice. "I'm…trapped."

"Yes, I can see that."

"Please, don't make jokes, Doctor. It's not funny. Nothing about this is funny. They're accusing me of genocide. Genocide!" Jason started pacing again, his outrage growing at the same time. "Me! Who's never killed anyone in his life!" He looked straight at the Doctor, anger flashing in his sparkling blue eyes. "You know as well as I do what's going to happen tomorrow. They're going to flip the charges, stipulate to everything, go through the motions of a defense, and then have me executed!"

"That's the impression I'm getting as well."

Jason suddenly realized the implications of what he had just said and sank back onto the bed, his eyes focused into the distance. "My father must be going mad," he said in a suddenly subdued voice. He ran his fingers through his mass of black curls. "And poor Shadra—" He broke off, giving way to an involuntary shudder. How did everything get so out of control? he thought helplessly. Looking up, he said forcefully, "Doctor, I'm innocent! And nobody—not even you—believes me anymore. And I don't know why!"

"Jason…"

The Alterran was back on his feet, his anger exploding once again. "Suddenly I'm this psychotic megalomaniacal—" He growled in frustration, slamming his fist on the bars. "I know you don't believe me, Doctor, but I didn't suddenly lose all my morals and decide to take over the universe. I was set up by an expert. I had to be!"

The Doctor's eyes narrowed. "What makes you say that?" he asked cautiously.

"Because—" Jason broke off and fought to get control of himself. He wouldn't exactly convince the Doctor that he was in his right mind if he kept raving like a lunatic. In a calmer voice, he said, "Because only an expert could manipulate things to the point where even you turn against me."

The frown on the Time Lord's face deepened and he sat back in his chair.

"It started out as such a simple assignment and somehow it ended up…" The Prince left the sentence unfinished, knowing his friend was keenly aware of the outcome. "How could everything go so wrong?"

The pensive expression on the Doctor's face did not change. Despite his own personal feelings in the matter, his instincts told him there was a great deal more to the incident than he originally believed. This was becoming even more apparent as Jason finally started to open up. "I want you to tell me about it, from beginning to end," he said finally. "I want to know everything, Jason, and I mean everything. I don't have much time to get your defense put together and I've a feeling I'm going to need every second I can squeeze in."

Jason gave him a dubious look. "Will you even believe anything I tell you?"

This was a fair question under the circumstances and the Doctor studied the Prince's almost pleading expression. He had to remind himself that he was dealing with an Alterran who was a master of manipulation and deception. At the same time, he was also dealing with an Alterran who had been one of his closest friends for nearly two centuries. "I'll make a deal with you," he said evenly. "You promise to give me completely straight answers; no games, no ambiguities, no illusions, no deceptions."

"And…?"

"And I'll promise to believe what you tell me."

Jason considered a moment, only to realize that he didn't have a choice one way or the other. He drew a deep breath and sat down. "Alright. Where do I start?"

"Start with this simple assignment of yours."

oOo END PART ONE oOo