CHAPTER 34

FILL IN THE GAP

The Doctor could see the prosecutor was dying to speak and looked expectantly over at him. "Questions, remarks, insights?" he asked brightly. Apparently sensing a trap, Fitzhugh chose not to rise to the bait, much to the Doctor's disappointment.

"As we've seen," the Doctor went on, "I later learned the Benefactor was working for both sides. Not only did he keep the fact that Prince Jason intentionally sent me to him but within a day of my arrival, he was making plans with the Triad for my return to the city."

The Doctor smiled inwardly as the prosecutor got to his feet. The bait had finally been taken. It was all too obvious the prosecutor was trying to score points with the assembled High Council members and was using every opportunity to do so. This time, however, he played right into the Doctor's hands.

"Plots upon plots," Fitzhugh remarked theatrically. "Intrigue upon intrigue. Tell us, your highness, what were you doing during all this subterfuge? What did you do after your rendezvous with this Becky? There's a gap of two days from the Doctor's arrival at the Sanctuary to his return to Tri Global headquarters."

"I thought he'd never ask," the Doctor said under his breath. He exchanged a conspiratorial look with Jason, who fought to keep from smiling as he got to his feet.

"Once the Doctor was completely out of stasis, I sent him to the Sanctuary," the Prince said calmly, "I was also able to locate the TARDIS by tracing its artron signature and transport it to my ship's hold."

"To prevent the Doctor from leaving?"

"To prevent its being made off with." Seeing the blank expression on the Time Lord's face, Jason said, "I didn't want it to get stolen. There was looting in all sections of the city by this time. And then there was the fact that I'd broadcast that it contained weapons. Every spy in the city would've been trying to get their hands on them. It was at that point that my ship's computer alerted me to the transmission traffic between the Sanctuary and Tri Global. I can only assume now that it was the Benefactor contacting the Triad to alert them to the Doctor's arrival. After that, I returned to the city for my rendezvous with Becky and her aid group."

"And after that?" Fitzhugh practically demanded. "What did you do for the next two days?"

Jason turned to the Doctor, who said, "Among other things, he did what he was trained to do. Heal the sick." So saying, he turned everyone's attention to the screen.

oOo

Mission Day 49

The image was of a tunnel full of refugees not unlike the one Philip had taken the Doctor to after his arrival. There were several fires burning along the street in a vain attempt to ward off the cold of the approaching winter. A robed figure moved from person to person, dispensing food and medicine from a large sack as he went. Suddenly a boy was pulling at his arm, begging him for help. "Please, Brother, please! My mommy's dying!"

"We're all dying, boy," an old man cackled.

The robed man ignored this remark and turned to the child. "Where's your mother?" he asked gently, following the boy to a large cardboard box. He could hear a woman moaning, but when he looked inside, he knew it was not because she was dying. The woman on the mattress inside the box was in labor.

The Brother dropped his sack and was inside on his knees in an instant. He put a hand on the woman's rounded abdomen and turned back to a small crowd that was gathering outside. "I need more light! Somebody get some torches over here. Quickly!" he commanded. He looked back, seeing the woman's terrified face. "Don't worry. I've delivered dozens of babies. You're going to be fine." He pushed the hood back to get it out of his way, revealing his face.

Between her moans, the woman said, "Thank you, Brother..."

"Krystovan," Jason replied before calling for light yet again.

o

The image suddenly changed to another part of the city. Jason was walking through the streets, the hood pulled back from his face. He stopped and talked to as many as he could about the insanity raging around them. Snow was falling gently from the sky and he stopped to look up at it, his thoughts going to the beautiful, healthy infant he had just delivered.

He entered a building that looked as though it might at one time have been a school. He had been told it was a field hospital. There were dozens of injured people within and precious little medial staff to aid them. The only advantage here was that the building still had heat.

"If you've come to pray for our sins, Brother," a gruff voice said from behind him, "don't bother. Nobody's prayers get answered here."

Jason turned to see a short, balding man looking challengingly up at him. He was wearing a tattered blue lab coat and had a stethoscope slung over his neck. He was dressed so stereotypically as a physician that the Alterran almost laughed. He gave the man his most disarming smile. "That depends on what you've been praying for," he replied mildly. "I'm a surgeon."

o

The image changed again, this time finding the Alterran in a morgue. It could have been one of dozens all over the city. He was still dressed in his monk's robes, his face again concealed beneath the hood. There was no heat in this place, and the icy cold from outside had crept into every crack. Jason's breath rose like smoke as he moved around the room. He took in the desolation caused by prejudice and blind hatred and was both sickened and enraged by it.

He noticed that the room was strangely quiet. Every so often a new arrival would be brought in and placed among the others, and even this was done with a quiet reverence. At least in death these people could find peace.

The body of a man was brought in and Jason scowled when he noticed there wasn't a mark on him. He crossed silently to the litter bearers as they were putting him on a slab. "Excuse me," he said softly. Despite keeping his voice low, he still made the men jump. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," he said mildly. "I'm still among the living."

"Sorry, Brother. We thought Benji'd come back from the dead again," the first man said, pulling off his hat as he spoke. He quickly ran his fingers through his hair in a vain effort to make himself presentable. He was a stocky man who seemed no stranger to physical labor and looked considerably older than his twenty-something years of age. The raging war seemed to have aged everyone beyond their years, Jason reflected sadly.

"Again?" he repeated. "Mister…?"

The man gave him a toothy grin. "I'm no mister, Brother. Just call me Pete." He jerked a thumb in his partner's direction. "He's Tim." He leaned close, saying as though it were a secret, "He don't talk no more."

Jason nodded conspiratorially, throwing a quick glance over at the silent Tim. He seemed just a boy, sixteen at the most. Another person aged beyond his years. "What did you mean come back from the dead again, Pete?" he asked, turning back to face him.

"Oh! This here's Benji." Pete held a hand out as if he were making a formal introduction. "Benji got himself dispersed a few weeks back." He put his hat over his heart and held up his other hand as if he were swearing an oath. "That's the God's honest truth, Brother!"

"I believe you, Pete," Jason replied mildly. "Did you see him get…dispersed?"

"Yeah, we was all there, wasn't we, Tim? Me, Tim, Benji and some of the guys from the neighborhood. We was hidin' out in this house. The bad guys—I don't know whose side they was on, 'cause I ain't on no side, see?—Well, anyway, we seen the bad guys comin' up the street so we all hid. But Benji got scared and ran."

The image of the confrontation was so vivid Jason could see it happening as the man spoke. Benji was captured, pushed around by the bullies with guns, and then had a dispersal disk slapped on him. This incident apparently occurred just after the dispersal disks went into production, so the technology was totally new and totally terrifying. Benji had vanished into thin air and, as far a Pete was concerned, was dead. Jason, however, knew better. Benji should have gone straight to the Sanctuary. More importantly, he should've still been there, not lying dead on a slab back where he started.

Jason came back to reality when he realized Pete had stopped talking and was looking at him in bewilderment. "I'm sorry, Pete," the Alterran said mildly. "As you can imagine, I find this very distressing. You and Tim carry on with your job. I'll look after Benji for you."

"Bless you, Brother," Pete said gratefully. Then to Jason's embarrassment, the man dropped to one knee and kissed his ring. It was the signet ring of the Royal House of Krystovan, not that Pete would have known any different. Then he quickly replaced his hat and scuttled off, taking the silent Tim with him.

"I have got to find a better disguise," Jason muttered in exasperation. He looked at the ornate sapphire ring on his right hand and shook his head before turning his attention back to the late Benji. He pulled back his hood and sat down to get a better look at the body. With a single touch, he discovered three things. First, Benji had died of a heart attack. Second, it seemed to have been caused by a faulty pacemaker. Third, the power source shouldn't exist on Eldeberon.

Jason examined the man's chest, finding no surgical scars that would suggest the device's implantation. Nor had he detected any defect that would have required it in the first place. His curiosity fully piqued, he retrieved some instruments from the coroner's supply and opened the man's chest and removed the offending device.

A sudden thought struck him and he looked around the room. "Were you the only one to leave the Sanctuary, Benji?" Jason asked, reaching out to touch another body. No, this man died from a shrapnel wound. The next was similar injury, and the next, and the next. He was about to give up when he found another heart attack. Another alien pacemaker.

By the time he had gone through the entire room, Jason had discovered some thirty-four alien pacemakers. He had also been able to verify that they came from individuals who were supposed to have been dispersed. At first, he was angry at the thought that someone in the Sanctuary would be doing this. Then he wondered if the Glyateven had penetrated his safe haven and were sabotaging it from the inside. His ship had already picked up transmission traffic. Was it from a spy? It was only then that Jason had the most horrifying thought of all. He'd sent the Doctor to the Sanctuary to be safe but instead he may have inadvertently sent him to his death.

oOo