Chapter Seven

Lee was assisting Harry's efforts in the laboratory when Vickers returned.

"Good to see you up and about, Captain Crane," Vickers greeted as Lee issued an acknowledging nod with no hint of pleasantness for the man who had a part in his mutating hell.

Harry expelled a sour breath and then shook it off; he had too much to do to address Vickers' lack of scientific morals and good old fashioned humanity to stop and deal with it now.

"Captain Crane and I were discussing the flow of serum for all three cases," Harry said instead, getting back to work and thinking of the two men whose lives depended on finding an answer soon. He had no idea how long the mutations would be active in Connor's body and understood that the answer must come soon to save him, as well as spare Lee from further mutations.

"Yes?" Vickers responded with a what-about-it shrug of his shoulders. "They are exactly the same; I assure you my notes are quite accurate."

"I don't doubt that," Harry replied, waving off the scientist's unwarranted self-defense. "But it goes to prove that whatever went wrong is found in all three subjects and therefore means that the process is in question."

"I'm sorry, but I just don't see how you can come to that conclusion," Vickers replied full of pride. "We know there is a mystery chemical involved..."

"Yes, but I've been studying the properties of the chemical and I just don't see how it would produce the cellular mutations we've seen."

Vickers huffed a breath out. "Well now, that's been the problem from the beginning, Nelson, but our lack of understanding of the chemical doesn't negate the possibility, the very real possibility, that it is responsible for the mutations."

"While I agree that the mystery chemical is the most suspect and definitely where we should be focusing our work, I can't shake the feeling that we're missing something," Harry replied just as adamantly.

"Admiral."

Harry turned his head to Lee's uncharacteristically soft voice, focusing on his friend's hands quivering in uncontrolled tremors.

"Are you all right, Lee?"

"I'm uh... not feeling very good. I think I'll head back to... my quarters," he said pausing to take a breath.

"I'll help you," Harry offered.

"If you don't mind, Sir, I think you better keep working," Lee answered, working to keep the foreboding feeling of hopelessness from rising to the surface.

Harry agreed as Lee took his leave, walking slowly while trying to hide the inward pain of a body morphing into an unnatural half-frog, half-man creature.

# # # # #

Lee barely made it to his quarters, finding his way to the bed and collapsing in overwhelming pain. Everything burned from the inside out, as he struggled to deal with a body giving into changes he didn't want. A loud cry of pain escaped as he felt his bones physically growing, tendons stretching, cells regenerating into something new... something not human. Another cry of pain was only barely muffled as he buried his face into the bed and held his stomach tightly. His lungs were burning as he gasped for breaths between spasms of sharp pain. He opened his eyes, realizing that he had no tears, not because he had suppressed them by his will, but because his body had no more use for the ducts. His hands were on fire as he bravely brought them to his line of sight to see that they were completely scaled and now the typical brownish-green color of the wood frog.

"Oh no!" he whispered, frantically ripping his sleeves up to see that his arms were similarly changed. Slowly he moved his hands to his face and felt patches of scales on his cheeks and forehead.

"No," he repeated, desperately trying to rise to find Harry, but fell back to the bed as more waves of pain overtook him.

I thought I had more time. He had read the notes of both Ryan's and Connor's mutations while in the lab, and neither one progressed this quickly. I thought I had more time. Those were his last thoughts as a particularly hard wave of pain overtook him, sending him mercifully into an unconscious state, where the mutations would continue the course they had started.

# # # # #

A low airy voice interrupted the work in the lab as Harry rose sharply from the microphobe.

"Crane."

"What about Crane?" Harry asked, as Connor paused to form his words.

"Help," he worked out as Harry stood immediately.

"Crane needs help?" he repeated to Connor's affirming nod as Harry barely waited for the reply and hurried down the hall.

Vickers raised his head and made eye contact with Connor, then methodically placed the lid from his pen back over the tip, sat it carefully down on his notepad and stepped away, already knowing what Nelson was going to find when he got there. He moved to the door where Connor issued a mutated smile of approval and followed Vickers out of the lab and to the guest quarters.

# # # # #

Harry tore through the door without knocking as Lee convulsed in pain, exhibiting grunts of discomfort as Harry approached the bed slowly.

"Lee?" he called, but got no response.

"Lee?" he called again, sitting on the edge of the bed and turning him gently by the shoulders to lay on his back. His eyes tightened at the discoloration that covered Lee's hands and exposed arms, his khaki shirt was opened several buttons down as the scaly skin was evident there as well, but the black mask of skin around his eyes clearly distinguished his mutations as those resembling the wood frog's characteristics.

A pitiful moan passed through Lee's lips, though he was still unconscious, as Harry gently shook Lee awake. He called again as Lee responded this time with fluttering eyelids, fighting hard to wake until he finally successfully looked back with glassy eyes.

"Ad-miral," he breathed out. "Thought we had more time," he continued, fully aware that his transformation didn't match Vickers' lab notes, which the scientist had emphatically defended as meticulously correct earlier.

"Lee..." Harry swallowed and continued on, "has this been going on for the last two hours?"

He nodded his response before answering. "It's easing off now... not as painful," Lee said, though it was apparent he was speaking in comparative terms by the pain lines in his face.

"This shouldn't be happening this soon," Harry answered frustrated and trying to think through the new development while keeping a supporting hand on Lee's shoulder. He felt the draft of the door opening wider and turned to see both Vickers and Connor standing in the doorway.

"What's going here, Vickers?" Harry demanded as their faces revealed anything but innocence in the matter.

"Crane's dose was made from the serum of two wood frogs," Vickers explained calmly as Harry rose from the bed, his face red with anger.

"What have you done?" he exclaimed, demanding an explanation.

"With a double dose, I estimated that Crane's mutations would catch up with Connor's putting both men at equal risk if we're unsuccessful in finding a cure," Vickers explained without remorse or an ounce of humanity.

Harry crossed the room quickly reaching for Vickers' throat, but was instantly thrown back against the opposite wall by the fast reflexes of Connor's strange transformation. Instantly, he was upon Harry, placing his webbed hand against the Admiral's throat and squeezing with his elongated fingers, choking Harry in his grasp.

Lee tried to rise from the bed, but his movements were slow and sluggish as Vickers hurried to the mutated man's side, pulling on Connor's shoulder and accidentally pulling his hood off.

"No Connor. No! We need him!" he reasoned selfishly as Connor loosened his hold and backed off.

Lee made his way over shakily to stand beside Harry, hardly able to step in and defend his friend at this point, but not willing to lie in bed and do nothing as Vickers spoke.

"So now you know Nelson. At the rate of Crane's outward transformation, I expect he'll reach Connor's current state of mutation in another two days," he added without emotion. "The stakes are now even, both of our son's lives depend upon just how brilliant you are," he finished before backing off and stepping toward the door.

"I will of course, do everything I can to aid your progress, Nelson... please rejoin me in the lab as soon as you can," he suggested harshly, even though he had used a faux polite invitation.

"Just get out," Lee warned, finding his glare as Harry held his throat, recovering from Connor's attack.

Connor smiled, the first one Lee had seen since it was revealed that he was here, as the scientist and his mutated assistant withdrew from the quarters.

"Are you all right, Admiral?" Lee asked once they were alone, his concern completely on Harry and putting aside his own obvious issues.

"I'm fine, Lee," Harry said before chuckling in resignation. "You were right, lightning speed and very strong."

Lee stepped back and walked across the room, running a tired, disgusted, and scaly hand through his hair as he sat on the bed.

"Do you think you'll find the answer before I lose my hair?" he asked in gallows humor, as Connor only sported spikes of hair that ran in long greasy strands sparsely across his head.

"I'm going to do my best," Harry replied, watching as Lee studied his hands, the webbing now beginning to make an early appearance.

"You know what this reminds me of?" he asked, pulling his sleeve up to reveal his changed arm.

"What?" Harry asked, leaning against the table and picking up on Lee's attempt to lighten the mood as his way of coping with the impending changes his body was forcing upon him.

"Chief Sharkey's lucky shirt," Lee said, laughing nervously as he spoke.

"His lucky shirt?"

"Yeah, the shirt he plays cards in; the ugliest green and brown paisley shirt I've ever seen," Lee quipped as the comparison came about full circle and the joke lost its humor.

Harry stepped forward, placing a hand on Lee's shoulder.

"I'm going to find the answer, Lee," he said, his eyes burning with the intensity of his determined promise.

Lee looked up, his eyes offering his undeterred confidence that if anyone could do it, Harry could.

# # # # #

Harry returned to the lab while Lee wisely decided to stay in his quarters as his transformations were unpredictable and came upon him with little warning, usually with devastating results. He took his seat in front of the microphobe he was working on and stared straight ahead, his anger burning within him. He heaved his shoulders and leaned over the nuclear microscope, his sample was no longer frozen, having melted in his haste to get to Lee. He was about to retrieve another frozen sample when something dawned on him.

"Vickers," he said calling the scientist's attention his way. "Did you examine each sample under the microphobe before proceeding with the process of deriving the serum?" he asked still studying the sample in front of him.

"Of course, to determine its viability for use as a serum," Vickers answered in his usual defensive tone.

Harry picked up the thawed sample and took it to a conventional microscope, leaning over and intensely examining the sample, then sat back and stared at the black board with the process flow of all three subjects' serum.

"I'll need another sample," Harry ordered as Vickers caught the strange look in the Admiral's eye. He wasn't a friend and was unfamiliar with the expression, but somehow it dawned on him that this was the look of a brilliant idea dawning upon the auburn haired genius.

"Very well," he said moving to obtain a frog from one of the winter boxes."

"Not a sample from the frozen winter box," Harry indicated turning toward Vickers. "I'll need a sample from a subject frog that has been naturally thawed."

"You want me to induce thawing and obtain a sample? Why?"

"Just do it," Harry replied, his lips pursed shut as he reached for his notebook scribbling out something with fervor then leaning back over the thawed sample under his nuclear microscope. Vickers raised an eyebrow and headed for the Winter Room hoping that the gleam he just saw in Nelson's eyes would be the beginning of Connor's answer.

He hurried to the correct winter box and adjusted the climate controls as the frog's body mysteriously thawed the heart and liver first, delivering oxygen through its blood and processing the excess glucose through its liver, among other vital things. In only two hours the wood frog would come back to life enough to hop about, find a pond and begin its mating season.

# # # # #

Vickers returned with the sample as Harry took it to the conventional microscope, since the nuclear microscope was used for frozen samples only.

"What can I do to help?" Vickers asked humbly, purposely treading lightly to give Harry room for the breakthrough.

"Examine the sample," Harry invited, stepping away from the table. "What do you see that differs from the chemicals we identified in the frozen samples on the microphobe?"

Vickers leaned over and adjusted the eye piece, very familiar with the chemicals he expected to see.

"You mean other than the fact that the mystery chemical is missing?" Vickers asked sitting up. "That's not new information Nelson. The mystery chemical appears to dissipate once the thawing process is complete; that's one fact that we've already established," he said, returning to his indignant tone of earlier, which Harry ignored as he enlightened the prideful scientist.

"Yes, the chemical is missing from the thawed sample on the microphobe as well now that it's thawed, and I agree, until its properties are identified at the elemental level you'll never progress to successfully thaw a cryogenically frozen subject since it is most likely that chemical that is giving the body the instructions for a successful thaw."

"I assume you're going somewhere with this line of thought, since you haven't explained anything I wasn't painfully aware of before."

"Take another look at the sample that was previously frozen and examined under the microphobe," Harry said, adding a drop from a nearby flask to enhance a certain feature of the serum.

Vickers leaned over and studied the slide casually at first, not expecting to find anything that he hadn't already known about in his four years of studying the freezing abilities of the wood frog. Suddenly his eyebrows tightened as he moved both slides side by side and studied them again. He sat straight up and heaved a sigh.

"There's evidence of radiation contamination," he announced, letting his own observation sink in, even as he spoke the words.

"Yes, occurring from the irradiation process when utilizing the microphobe, no doubt," Harry explained, putting aside his contempt for Vickers in order to solve the problem at hand.

Vickers returned to studying the irradiated sample in front of him, then shook his head.

"Yes, but it is highly doubtful that any of these chemicals would produce the mutations, even irradiated," he concluded with a shrug of his shoulder.

"But since the mystery chemical is now missing, we can't say what affect the mystery chemical would have once irradiated," Harry countered.

"Or if the mutations are a result of the newly irradiated mystery chemical in conjunction with all the other irradiated chemicals," Vickers surmised finally coming on board with Harry's reasoning.

Vickers heaved an audible sigh. "What now?"

"Since the serum was developed from the fluids of the thawed irradiated sample, let's develop a serum from the naturally thawed sample and compare the elements," Harry advised.

"I agree," Vickers said, jumping on board, much more interested in the breakthrough than protecting his life's work at the moment.

Vickers picked up the naturally thawed fluids and started for the chemistry room when a loud bang in the galley was heard. The noise was easily identified as pots, pans, dishes and implements being hurled against the wall. Vickers secured the sample and ran for the galley with Harry close behind. When they arrived they found Connor in a melt-down rage, roaring his frustration as he threw everything he could get his webbed-hands on as hard as he could against the wall.

"Connor!" Vickers yelled several times before the enraged half-man, frog creature turned toward him gurgling something inexplicable as his tongue had completely transformed, leaving him mute.

"Connor, listen to me!" Vickers yelled holding his oddly shaped face between both hands and demanding eye connection. "Listen!" he reiterated until Connor groaned pitifully, no longer able to form words that had become so difficult to articulate before.

"Nelson is onto something. No, look at me," he said when Connor started to step away in disbelief that anything could help him now. "We're onto something and it could lead to our answer, but not if you lose control! Do you understand? You have to keep it together!"

Connor stopped and practically fell into Vickers' arms heaving tearless sobs.

"We're going to do it Connor, you have to believe me," Vickers said becoming much softer in his approach as he patted Connor's back in comfort.

Harry withdrew from the galley and returned to the lab to continue the work; it was apparent that time was running out for Connor and Lee wasn't far behind.

# # # # #

Lee heard the ruckus and made his way to the galley watching from the shadows as Vickers tried to comfort Connor with news of the breakthrough. He looked down at the mutations that had presented themselves even in the short time Harry had been gone. The webbing between his fingers was much more pronounced, though his fingers were still human-like and hadn't elongated yet like Connors. He knew he was catching up to Connor's mutations quickly and that from what he had seen, Connor was becoming much more violent. He had already been introduced to his speed and strength, but this little demonstration was worrisome; Connor just had too much strength to be out of control. He knew he needed to be prepared, so he slipped away without even letting Harry know he had been there.

He headed for the arctic entry holding his mid-section as he walked. Everything cramped and burned inside, but he was more concerned with losing his ability to think. He needed to take care of this while he could still articulate and reason, and while he still had the dexterity in his hands to make a difference. He knew Harry was focused on the cure and couldn't be worried with this detail, and he shouldn't be, not when Lee could still function. But he was aware that his mutations were moving along at three times the pace Connors had and had no idea how long he had left.

He found the junction box and perused the contents, easily spotting the switch that needed to be thrown to provide electricity to the hangar. It was as simple as that, had Harry not been blindsided by the news of his impending mutation he would have surely found the switch and thrown it himself. Now, at least the hangar would begin to heat up, though it would take some time to reach a temperature warm enough to begin to thaw out the frozen controls. He marveled at the harshness of the region; at thirty below it had to warm up sixty-two degrees to even reach the freezing point. The thought made him shudder, as he instinctively realized that his body was changing and that he wouldn't be able to brave the elements, even fully geared, for fear his body would try to hibernate and freeze solid, just like the wood-frog whose characteristics he was taking on.

Quietly he withdrew, not wanting Vickers or Connor to realize that he had restored electricity to the hangar. Now at least, if Connor turned violent Harry would have an option out, even if Lee couldn't leave the safety of the lab to travel the short distance to the hangar in his present condition. If nothing else the radio would be in working order.

Satisfied to have at least provided an escape for Harry, he headed back down the hall, bypassing the labs and heading straight to his quarters. The ebb and flow of the mutations were becoming easier to recognize, and he feared he would soon be in for another round of hellish transformations.

# # # # #

The process of removing the waste and plasma in order to produce the serum was pain-stakingly slow, but proceeding through its final phases as Harry placed the test tube in chamber for the final preparations.

"What now?" Dr. Vickers asked, completely working under Harry's direction at this point.

"We'll need blood samples from both Crane and Connor to narrow down which active cells are producing the cellular mutations, then we'll compare that to both of the serum samples," Harry explained.

"The sample from the naturally thawed subject and the serum from the irradiated sample," Vickers filled in to clarify.

"Yes, we're going to attack this as a virus, look for the NK Cells and trigger apoptosis," Harry continued.

"I get it, we're going to initiate the "natural killer cells" to destroy the cells that are missing the correct markers of healthy human cells," Vickers added excitedly.

"That's the plan, to create an adaptive immune system to reverse what their bodies are accepting and producing the mutations we see."

"You're assuming of course, that the irradiated cells produced a new cellular code and not that we're dealing with some sort of radiation sickness," Vickers noted as he would have attacked the mutations from the different angle if he were taking the lead. "It's quite a stretch," he added.

"That's exactly what I'm assuming, and frankly, it's the best chance we've got." Harry sighed, "We don't have years to put into research; if we're going to save these two men, we're just going to have to proceed on that basis."

"Alright," Vickers conceded. "I already have a sample from Connor, do you want another?"

"Yes, I'd like to see what, if any changes, are apparent before developing the anti-serum."

"Fine, I'll find Connor," Vickers said, heading for his supplies to draw blood and impressed that a nuclear physicist was so well adept to the complexities of developing an anti-serum.

Harry followed, obtaining his supplies as well to draw his own blood sample from Lee.

# # # # #

Harry knocked and entered upon hearing an invitation. Lee was standing with his back toward him, apparently having been pacing the floor.

"Lee," Harry called as Crane turned slowly. His face had begun to exhibit some of the typical bumps and bulges, and the discoloration was spreading, but the greatest outward change was in Lee's hands which were now elongated and completely webbed.

Lee held his hands before him, studying the deformity before raising his eyes to meet Harry's.

"They're... completely changed, Admiral," he said, his voice almost breaking.

Harry nodded, realizing how painful this particular mutation must have been as it involved changes in bone structure. He silently recalled once, overhearing several female employees discussing Captain Crane's hands around the water cooler. One said he had piano fingers, long and slender and perfectly proportioned; another said his hand were "beautiful," which nearly had him choking on his coffee he had just taken a swallow of. He hadn't a clue what beautiful hands looked like on a man, but the ladies seemed to know as they agreed enthusiastically. He moved along when the discussion turned to fantasies of the Captain running his fingers through their hair. He hadn't intended to listen in on their conversation in the first place and certainly didn't want to know where else the conversation was going, but from the giggles down the hall he assumed the discussion was still going strong even after he moved out of ear-shot.

"We have a plan, Lee," Harry said, leaving behind the memory and returning to problem at hand.

Lee sat down, sighing cautiously. "I could use some good news just about now," he said rolling up his sleeve as he recognized Harry's blood drawing kit.

"It would appear that the serum was irradiated after viewing it through the microphobe and is acting in almost a strange viral fashion, rewriting the cellular instructions and producing the mutations," Harry explained as Lee leaned forward in anticipation.

"While I don't think we're dealing with a live virus per se, I think we can attack the problem in much the same way by developing an anti-serum based on the same principle, to initiate your own immune system to reject the changes and kill the mutations at the cellular level."

Lee rubbed his forehead tiredly. "I'm afraid my brain isn't working too well, Admiral," he admitted. "I uh... I think I understand what you're getting at... just do what needs to be done, Sir," he finished offering his arm for Harry to draw the blood.

Harry prepared his arm and inserted the needle, pulling the blood sample he needed as he spoke quietly.

"Is it getting hard to think, Lee?" he asked calmly.

"Yeah," he answered in almost a whisper. "I'm also very... emotional," he answered with an embarrassed chuckle. "I can't shake the feeling of hopelessness, even though I trust what you're doing," he added.

Harry finished drawing two tubes of blood samples and placed a bandage on the needle site.

"I'm going to get this to the lab. Do you want to come along?"

"Aye Sir, I'm going a little stir-crazy in here," he replied standing and awkwardly rolling his open sleeves to his forearm instead of trying to re-button them.

They started for the door but Lee held back a moment.

"Admiral, I think I understand Connor's frame of mind," he said solemnly. "And there's a good chance he'll become violent again... if that happens, I want you leave me behind and go get help."

"The Flying Sub's froze out, Lee," Harry reminded him as Lee shook his head.

"I restored power to the hangar; it will take a little time, but you should be able to fly out soon."

"If I leave, you're coming with me..." Harry started.

"I can't go out there, Admiral," Lee interjected regretfully. "Even fully geared up, my body will put me in hibernation mode." The thought brought an inward shudder, realizing that though cryogenics was the ultimate goal of Vickers' work, the scientist had nowhere near the ability to successfully freeze and thaw a human subject.

"Then let's just cross that bridge when we get there, Lee," Harry said, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder, but Lee knew he had no intention of leaving him behind.

Lee gave up for the time being, but if things went south he intended on getting Harry on FS1... if it was the last thing he did.