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CHAPTER NINETEEN

DORIAN’S STORY

The Doctor sat quietly in Eroica’s room, his face unreadable. He was in the chair Jason had occupied earlier, listening intently as the Earl gave his account of the alien’s attack. Jason was seated on the edge of the bed, giving moral support whenever his friend faltered.

After Eroica completed his story, there was a long silence. The Doctor sat mulling everything over, his face still unreadable. Jason sat watching him, patiently waiting for the Time Lord to speak.

Eroica was not as patient. “Isn’t anyone going to say something?” he said at last, looking from one to the other.

“Yes, actually. I have a question,” Jason said quietly.

Eroica gave him a suspicious look. “What…?”

“I’m going to assume that you were wandering in that part of the building because you were looking for something worth stealing,” Jason began calmly, his voice lacking its usual disapproving edge.

“No, I was on my way back from the third floor,” Eroica replied defensively.

“Then what made you go into that room?”

Eroica gave Jason a bewildered look. Then he realized the Alterran must have meant which of the numerous art pieces in the room had caught his attention. “The painting.”

Jason scowled, throwing a bewildered look in the Doctor’s direction. “What painting?”

Eroica sat up a little more. “What painting? That huge thing on the wall.”

“Dorian, there’s no painting in the room I found you in,” Jason informed. “It’s just an office.”

“A very opulent office,” the thief countered in as forceful a tone as he could manage.

The frown on Jason’s face deepened and he threw a quick glance in the Doctor’s direction, seeing a thoughtful expression on his face.

The Time Lord held up a hand. “Dorian, what did it look like to you?” he asked. “As much detail as you can remember.”

Eroica described the room and the numerous works of art that he had pointed out to the false Jason.

The Doctor saw a stunned look come to the real Jason’s face and asked what the room had looked like to him. His description was completely different to that of the Earl.

“I know what I saw!” Eroica said defensively.

“Dorian, no one is arguing with you,” the Doctor said calmly. “I think you saw exactly what you were meant to see. Something that would entice you to enter the room.”

“Like bait.” Jason sat back, his eyes widening. “Doctor, what do you know you’re not telling us?”

The Doctor gave his former traveling companion a small knowing smile. “I have a few theories…” he said evasively.

Jason turned to the bewildered Eroica. “Translation. The Doctor’s not going to tell us anything helpful until he narrows down the dozens of possibilities he has in his head. We could be here a while.”

The Doctor ignored the jib, addressing Eroica. “The alien. You said he looked like Jason at first.”

“Looked like, walked like, talked like…” Eroica confirmed.

“But not acted like?” Jason injected.

“Only at first.”

“And the Major?” the Doctor asked.

“The same. Only…” Eroica paused. “Well, he acted more like the Major than not.”

“In what way?”

“Well, the Major has taken a swing at me on more than one occasion. He even held a gun to my head once.” *
* Veni, Vidi, Vici

“Has he ever threatened to kill you?”

“Several times.”

The Doctor’s eyebrows went up. “Interesting.”

“If you say so. I find it very disconcerting.”

“It hasn’t stopped you from harassing him at every opportunity, though, has it?” the Time Lord pointed out more harshly than he intended.

Before Eroica could reply, Jason broke in. “I think we’re straying from the point just a bit, Doctor.”

The Doctor’s eyes flickered but he did not reply directly. “Dorian, you said this thing changed into the Major’s likeness before it physically attacked you.”

Eroica nodded. “I thought it was Jason until I saw his eyes.”

“Wait a minute,” Jason broke in. “Did he sound like me or the Major?”

“The Major, why?”

Jason sat up a little straighter and turned to the Doctor, a startled look on his face. “Doctor, he didn’t sound that way to me. He looked like the Major, but the voice was…odd. I can’t really describe it.”

The Doctor gave him a thoughtful look. “Could you duplicate it?”

“I only heard a few words…”

“Do the best you can. This may be important.”

The Alterran nodded and closed his eyes, recalling the incident. Then he repeated the words the alien had spoken in a voice that was several times deeper than his own and had an odd, growling quality.

The Doctor gave a small nod before turning back to the Earl. “What did the room look like after Jason arrived?”

Eroica scowled. “I don’t understand. I just told you what it looked like.”

“You told me what it looked like before, what about after?”

The Earl put a hand to his head. “I don’t really remember. I was a bit of a mess by then.”

“Unfocused?”

“Very…” Eroica caught his breath. “Yes! I couldn’t focus properly.” He turned to Jason, his eyes wide. “That’s why I didn’t believe who you were at first. I recognized your voice, but I couldn’t make out your face.”

Jason nodded, turning to the Doctor. “I noticed that, too. I thought he’d been drugged. His pupils were the size of dinner plates, and his hypothalamus was working overtime.”

“Sensory override,” the Doctor said calmly, looking at the bewildered Eroica. “The alien, or whatever it is, must’ve overridden your visual and auditory senses.”

“You mean…it actually took them over?” Jason asked in amazement. He sat back, his eyes focused in the distance. “That would explain a lot.”

“How?” This was Eroica, who was hanging on to the conversation by a thread.

“The hypothalamus regulates, among other things, fear and sexual arousal.”

“You saw, heard, and reacted just as it wanted you to,” the Doctor said, a hint of anger creeping into his calm voice. “And when it was gone, your senses were able to return to normal.”

“No wonder I couldn’t…” Eroica shuddered, closing his eyes. “How would it know how to…to…”

“Use the proper techniques?” the Doctor said helpfully, receiving a nod in reply. “Forgive an indelicate question, but was it your preferred method of…?”

“Doctor!” This was Jason, who had a horrified look on his face.

“I did agree to tell him everything,” Eroica reminded.

“I know, but there are limits.”

Eroica gave a small smile. He found Jason’s sudden protective behavior against the Doctor, of all people, to be very amusing. “What I’d really like to know,” he said, hoping so completely sidestep the question, “is how it knew so much about Jason and the Major.”

“As if it—” The Doctor blinked. “As if it read your mind.”

“Do you think that’s why it didn’t work on me?” Jason asked.

The Doctor shrugged. “Insufficient data, as K-9 would say. Possibly. Or it could be because you weren’t the target.”

“But Jason saw the Major, just as I did,” Eroica objected.

“Yes, odd that. If it’s capable of shape-shifting—and forgive me, Jason, but that’s the best term to use here—it should also be capable of replicating voices.”

“Unless it wasn’t shape-shifting. A holo-projector would produce the same visual effect,” Jason replied.

Eroica sat back and put a hand to his head. “You two are getting beyond me again.”

Jason smiled and gave him a sympathetic look. “You know what a hologram is, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

“Well, this projects the image around the object. Or in this case, the person.”

“The ultimate disguise,” Eroica said, his eyes brightening.

“Jason, you’re giving him ideas,” the Doctor chided playfully.

Jason snorted. “Look who’s talking. You’re the one who gave him the pocket dimension.”

Eroica could not help but laugh at this. Then he realized it was the first time he had felt even remotely like himself since the incident the day before. “How could it have me seeing and hearing things?” he asked.

“A focusing device of some sort, presumably,” the Doctor replied.

“Why me?”

“I don’t know.”

“It seems to thrive on fear, doesn’t it?” Jason remarked offhandedly.

The Doctor caught his breath, his eyes focused in the distance. “Fear. It thrives on fear. Terror…” He jumped to his feet, striking his forehead with the palm of his hand. “Of course! Why didn’t I see it?”

Eroica gave Jason a searching look, only to receive a shrug and shake of the head in reply. Obviously, they were both lost this time.

“Jason, you’re a genius!” the Doctor cried and turned sharply back to look at Eroica. “Dorian, who’s the most violent person you know?”

“The Major, obviously,” Eroica replied blandly.

“And the gentlest?”

Eroica turned his gaze to Jason.

The Doctor nodded. “You wouldn’t think it unusual for the Major to strike you, but you would if it were Jason, correct?”

“Doctor, what are you getting at?” Jason wanted to know.

The Doctor was becoming more animated by the second, the words tumbling out of him. “It used your likeness, Jason, to get past Dorian’s defenses. Then it turned everything on its head.” He turned sharply to Eroica, who was struggling to keep up. “Until you saw his eyes were different, you thought the person attacking you was Jason, yes?”

“Yes.”

“And it terrified you.”

“To put it mildly.” Eroica closed his eyes, giving way to an involuntary shudder.

The Doctor gave him steady look. “You said you asked it why. What was the reply? The exact words.”

“I don’t really remember, exactly.”

“Then tell me inexactly.”

Eroica drew a deep breath. “He said something like, ‘I’m who I want to be and I’m doing what you’d expect me to do.’ Something like that.”

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed. “What you’d expect me to do…” he repeated. “That is a very odd choice of words.”

“I take it that means something?” Jason injected.

The Doctor seemed to snap back to reality. “If it got all the information out of Dorian’s head, then it does, in an odd sort of way.” He looked up. “It gave you a fantasy mixed with reality. What you’ve always wanted with what you know as reality. Result?”

“Absolute terror,” Jason replied, his eyes growing wide. He turned to Dorian, seeing a horrified look on his face. “The more frightened you were, the stronger it got.”

“And the more violent,” Eroica agreed.

“Precisely. Which just began the cycle all over again,” the Doctor stated flatly.

“So how do we go about finding it?” Jason wanted to know.

“Until I learn more, I’ve no idea.”

“Swell,” the Alterran moaned. He threw a quick glance in Eroica’s direction seeing him close his eyes. He seemed to be holding on by a thread, and was clearly exhausted. In a blink, Jason was in Healer mode. “Are we done here?” he asked. “Dorian still needs to rest.”

The Doctor observed the Alterran’s change of mood with a knowing smile. “Yes. We’re done, for the moment.”

“Good.”

The Doctor started toward the door. “Perhaps the computer can make something of those samples you pulled.”

Jason got to his feet, giving Dorian a steady look. “You get some rest. I’ll be back to check on you later,” he said gently. He received a half smile in return. He turned, following the Time Lord from the room.

The Doctor waited until the door was closed before asking, “Did you recognize the genetic information that thing left behind?”

The Alterran shook his head. “No. I’ve never encountered it before. It has some very strange properties, though. There’s artron energy present, and a faint trace of chronons. I’m not sure if they’re naturally occurring or from contact with Dorian.”

The Doctor nodded. “The TARDIS should be able to sort that out.”

“I hope so.”

The Doctor gave his Alterran friend a steady look. “You really are worried about him, aren’t you?”

Jason nodded. “For all his show of indifference, Dorian is very vulnerable emotionally.”

“But not with you, it seems,” the Doctor observed astutely.

“What do you mean?”

“He trusts you not to hurt him.”

“What?”

“My dear Jason, you really can be obtuse sometimes, do you know that?”

Jason gave the Doctor a dark look. “It’s a good thing you trust me not to hurt you right now.”

* * *

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