CHAPTER 46
ONE STEP AT A TIME
After reviewed the recording, Jason asked the Doctor to play all the security logs. They watched in silence as one after another played out. It wasn't until they reached his report on the Doctor's presence on Eldeberon that Jason noticed something else.
"Hang on, back that up," he said, sitting up a little straighter. "What did he just say?"
The Doctor scowled and rewound the recording.
o
"For the Doctor's sake as well as your own, do not attempt contact," the false Wythe advised.
"What!" Jason exclaimed.
"You wanted to rein in the Triad, didn't you? Well, this is your perfect opportunity. The Doctor will do all in his power to stop them, correct?"
o
"You wanted to rein in the Triad," Jason repeated thoughtfully. He turned to the Doctor, who had a questioning look on his face. "That's almost verbatim what I said to the Benefactor. He even asked me if I was successful in reining them in."
The Doctor sat back in his chair. "I'm beginning to see a pattern developing."
"Yes. It's looking more and more like one major player acting as three," Jason agreed.
"Let's see what else we can find." The Doctor turned back to the controls.
"Doctor, did you notice that after you broadcast that I was dead, there were no more messages from the fake Wythe?"
"No, now that you mention it. But as our friend Fitzhugh would point out, he'd already told you the extraction team was coming. Did he really need to call again?"
"Yes, to verify that they'd actually arrived. The mission wasn't completed. He should've called when I didn't send confirmation," Jason informed. "He told me—what was it? Three… four days before they finally turned up? But he never contacted me again. Ever. That's why I went straight to Gallifrey to confront him."
The Doctor gave him a startled look. More than three months had passed since the destruction of Eldeberon. "Hang on a minute, Jason. Are you telling me you've been locked up all this time?" he asked in an appalled tone.
"You didn't know?"
"No. I only arrived that first day of the inquiry."
Jason's eyes glazed over as he remembered how he felt that first day seeing the Doctor in the gallery and knowing he was there to— He closed his eyes, giving way to an involuntary shudder. "Yes. Back when you believed…" His voice trailed off and he shuddered again.
"We agreed not to dwell on that," the Doctor reminded guiltily.
"No, you're right," the Alterran said quickly, getting hold of himself. "Where were we? Oh, yes, I was never contacted by our imposter."
"Yes. I think that's because he believed you were already dead." The Doctor paused. "You know, I think we are dealing with just one person. That whole story about being partners—that was just the final entry in his version of things."
"His version of things?"
"Everything then and now points to you as being the one behind it all. If you'd actually died when I said you did, the blame would've been placed squarely on your shoulders. The only reason I believed what the Benefactor told me in the first place was because he thought you were dead. There didn't seem any reason for him to lie like that," the Doctor said reflectively. "I was supposed to be left alone in that interrogation room. I can't help wondering if the man who suddenly appeared out of nowhere was supposed to help me escape. Then I'd be free to confirm the illusion asthe truth because I stupidly believed him and wouldn't listen to the real truth that you were trying so desperately to tell me."
"We weren't going to dwell on that, Doctor," Jason reminded with a small smile, receiving a sideways glance in reply.
Jason sat back and thought a moment. "He thought I was dead, but he didn't seem all that surprised to see me, did he?" He looked up at the screen. "Would you bring up the extract from the engine room?" he requested. "Something happened that I didn't remember."
"You're the director," the Doctor replied, checking through his notations to find the correct setting. "At what point?"
"Just before the Benefactor leaves."
o
The screen flashed and suddenly the Benefactor was making his way across the walkway.
The Doctor leaned over the railing. "Benefactor!"
The Benefactor looked up and laughed. "Doctor!" Jason arrived. "And the late Ambassador Krystovan!"
"Benefactor, stop!" the Doctor called. "You don't know what you're doing."
"Really?" the Benefactor called back. "I thought everything was working out perfectly."
"This ship will never take the strain of a powered assent," Jason pointed out. "If you try, it'll crack like an egg. You'll blow yourself and half the countryside to atoms."
"You know, Ambassador, that was the plan from the beginning."
"What?" the baffled Jason asked. He looked over at the Doctor to see a look of thunder on his face. Before he could say anything, a muffled thud shook the room, throwing him off balance and back against the wall.
The Benefactor looked up and waved. "Good bye, Doctor! Give my regards to the High Council!"
o
"There! Freeze it!" Jason cried excitedly, pointing at the screen and practically jumping from his seat. He studied the frozen image on the screen. "I was trying to keep from being thrown out of the room. That's why I didn't see it. Doctor, look how the light just catches his eyes."
The eyes of the robed man seemed as if they were glowing a bright blue. The light illuminated something else and the Doctor zoomed in closer, revealing the face of the man looking up at him.
"Trevor," Jason said in a small voice. "That's why he called me Ambassador." He sat back and sagged, wishing it were anyone else. He got hold of himself and asked, "Can you follow him after he leaves the room?"
The Time Lord gave him a broad smile. "Two minds of a single thought," he said happily. He zoomed out and resumed playback.
o
The Benefactor looked up and waved. "Good bye, Doctor! Give my regards to the High Coun cil!" So saying, he charged to the archway beneath them and vanished, cackling the whole time. He continued down the corridor, winding his way through the ship, ignoring the thuds and bangs going on around him. He reached the transmat station, dialed in a code and hit the activation switch. He pulled back his hood and grinned evilly as he faded from the ship. "Good bye, your Majesty," he said bitterly.
o
Jason raised his eyebrows and sat back upon hearing this. "Majesty?" he repeated quietly.
The Doctor was busy manipulating the controls. "Hang on, I may be able to follow him," he said without looking up. "So long as the TARDIS is in that sector, we should be able to…Ah, got him!" He looked up expectantly.
o
Trevor materialized on a transmat platform in a small spacecraft and moved to the single command chair in the forward compartment. He sat down, pulled a covering from the control panel and started powering up the craft, which had been hidden on the surface of the Eldeberon's second moon. He looked out expectantly at the planet below.
"Not long," he said impatiently. "Not long at all."
Just as the computer alerted him that it was powered up and ready for launch, the surface of the planet flared, the mushroom cloud blossoming on the surface, followed by the fireball that destroyed all life on the planet. Trevor watched all this in awe, being so transfixed by the devastation he had wrought that he failed to notice the ARGO streaking away from the planet's surface.
"A fitting end," he said admiringly. "Who says you can't change the future?" Then he lifted off from the moon's surface, setting course out of the system.
o
The Doctor was struggling with the controls and finally sat back in defeat. "I've lost him," he said in a disappointed tone. "He went in the opposite direction of the ARGO. Once he was out of range of the TARDIS the Matrix lost track of him."
"Did you notice that covering he pulled off the console?" Jason observed thoughtfully. "That was the window dressing for the transmissions from our fake Wythe."
The Doctor turned sharply back to the screen, rewinding the extract to the point Jason mention. "Well, would you look at that," he said softly. "All the way down to the Seal of Rassilon on the back wall."
"Yes," the Prince replied. "He'd know how to set the stage. He was a Mission Coordinator a long time."
"I am curious about on thing, Jason," the Doctor said hesitantly. "Didn't you find it…well, curious that there was no time lag in you communications with Wythe?"
The Alterran actually laughed. "Doctor, I would've found it curious if there had been," he replied. "I thought I was talking to a genuine Time Lord. How difficult would it be for you to set up a real time interface?"
"Yes, point taken," his friend replied mildly, turning back to the screen.
Jason followed his gaze. "Why your Majesty? What did he mean?" he said in bewilderment. "And where he is now?"
"What?" The Doctor caught his breath, turning sharply to the Alterran who seemed lost in a fog. "Jason, do you realize what you've just said? I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner!" He struck himself on the forehead in annoyance.
"What…?" the Prince finally came out of his daze, the significance still lost on him.
The Time Lord gave him a piercing look. "Jason, what if he's here?"
Jason sat in a stunned silence, this thought having never crossed his mind. As if things weren't bad enough now he had to worry about Trevor manipulating his trial. Could things get any worse? This thought had scarcely crossed his mind when the door to the Matrix room suddenly opened.
Yes, things definitely could get worse.