Chapter Nine
Jupiter Station
In orbit around the planet Jupiter
Sol System, United Federation of Planets
Early June, 2185
A few hours later traveling at what Jim called "impulse speed" around one quarter the speed of light, Phlox and the time travelers arrived at the huge saucer shaped space station orbiting around the planet Jupiter. The station was composed of two sets of three saucer hulls one on top of the other with a series of antennae and sensors extending toward the top and bottom and solar panel arrays extending toward the sun. After disembarking the shuttle and passing through a security checkpoint composed of blue skinned Andorians, the six were finally allowed to go to the medical laboratory/apartment complex Phlox had rented for their use.
As they entered through the door they noticed that the main area was a combination of the dining room, kitchen, and living rooms all rolled into one. As you turn to the right down a hallway there were two bedrooms to the left and a linen closet and bathroom on the right. At the end of the hallway was the entrance into the medical laboratory where Phlox would work. A second hallway, if you were to turn to the left, was an identical pair of bedrooms, linen closet, and bathroom, but a dead end wall instead of an adjacent room. There was two windows in the main room and each bedroom had one window. Phlox's medical laboratory had no windows.
"I guess Phlox and I will take these two rooms." said Jim as he motioned down the hallway toward the medical lab. "Y'all guys can take the rooms down that hallway." he added to the others toward the opposite end of the apartment.
"Oh I won't require any sleep for quite some time." said Phlox. "I had plenty of rest on the journey from Denobula."
"Denobulans don't sleep as much a humans do." Jim explained to the others when he noticed their confused expressions. "But they do hibernate for about a week from time to time. You're not gonna be out of service on us anytime while we're here are you doc?"
"No, no." replied Phlox. "My last hibernation cycle was just a few weeks before I left Denobula."
"Well that's good to know." said Alex. "I don't think I could wait a week while you play sleeping beauty."
"Alex!" exclaimed Justin. "Don't be rude and insulting to the only man in the universe who can help Juliet and Mason."
"Oh it's alright Justin." said Phlox. "I've heard far more worse insults from xenophobic humans in the past fifty years I've been around them."
"It's not alright with me." said Justin. "Alex needs to learn when to keep her mouth shut and not be so negative whenever things don't go the way she expects them to."
Alex gave her brother a look of mixed hatred and disgust.
"What does xeno...... whatsit you just said mean doctor?" asked Max.
"Xenophobic." began Phlox. "Xenophobic, or xenophobia as is the correct term, is the fear of strangers, foreigners, or in the case of the last one hundred and twenty two years since the arrival of the first Vulcans on Earth,............ non humans."
(A/N: the "Enterprise" episode "Carbon Creek" establishes the first Vulcans on earth in the year 1957 around the time of the Sputnik launch. But it was kept off record so Jim and Phlox has no knowledge of that.)
"If Alex has another 'slip of the tongue', doctor Phlox, then you have my permission to skip Mason altogether and just work on Juliet." Justin said with a gloating smile toward Alex.
She now had a look of anger and irritation on her face toward her brother.
"Now now let's not be that way." said Phlox with a short chuckle. "You two remind me of my second son from my first wife and my third daughter from my third wife. Those two couldn't get along with each other if their lives depended on it." He added with another chuckle. "But as I said to Jim, I owe this favor to him and I won't exclude either Mason or Juliet from my work."
"I guess now's the time to tell y'all that while we're here we're gonna have to get along with each other." said Jim. "Only doctor Phlox and I are allowed to visit other parts of the station besides this apartment and the attached medical lab."
"Why is that?" asked Harper.
"Well Jupiter Station wasn't equipped with any entertainment facilities." Jim replied. "Each saucer section has different departments of operations and since y'all guys aren't or have never been affiliated with Starfleet, y'all are restricted to this apartment. There is a bar located in the center of each section but it's for adults twenty one and older only. Y'all are definitely not allowed there."
"Well that's just great!" exclaimed Alex with sarcasm. "I don't know if I can survive being around you guys all the time for the next.............however long we're here for."
"Just think of it as a second Christmas break from school." said Harper.
"Yeah. An extended second Christmas break from school." added Max with enthusiasm in his voice.
"I, for one, am okay with staying in the apartment." said Justin. "I plan on checking up on the progress with Juliet from time to time."
"Say doc," began Jim, "would it be alright if Justin and Alex assisted you while you worked on restoring Juliet's youth and Mason's humanity?"
"Whoa now!" exclaimed Alex. "Don't go volunteering me for anything I have absolutely no idea whatsoever."
"Alex." said Jim. "Doctor Phlox came all the way from Denobula to help Mason. The least you could do is help him if he should need it."
"Oh that's alright, Jim." said Phlox. "I'm perfectly capable of working on my own. In fact I'd prefer it. I'm sure Alex and the others would like to rest and enjoy their break from school and wouldn't understand half of the procedures or equipment I'd be working with."
"Well doctor I offer you my services anytime you need a second pair of eyes, hands, or opinion." said Justin.
"That's very kind of you Justin." said Phlox. "I'll keep that in mind if I should ever need your assistance."
He led the way down the hallway to the right and entered into the medical laboratory at the end. To the right of the doorway was a gurney upon which a patient could rest on. Beyond it was a cabinet of medical supplies. At the end was a door that led back into the hallway to other apartments. To the left was a second gurney and cabinet of medical supplies. Along the wall of the exterior of the station was a washbasin sink and other miscellaneous medical equipment and supplies. On the opposite wall from the doorway was all the equipment required in order for Phlox to reconstruct Juliet and Mason's DNA.
"This is quite a step up from the Enterprise's sick bay, wouldn't you say so doc?" Jim asked in amazement.
"Yes." replied Phlox as he walked around the laboratory. "All the latest innovations in medical equipment are here I see. And the equipment I asked for is here as well." he added as he walked along the opposite wall inspecting each component.
"Are you sure everything you need is here doctor Phlox?" asked Justin. "Nothing you think you will need is left out?"
"Oh yes Justin." replied Phlox. "Everything that I asked for is indeed here."
"So you can begin.........oh let's say, right now, on working on Mason and Juliet?" asked Alex.
"Impatient much?" Justin said mockingly to his sister.
She retaliated with another look of irritation to her brother.
"I could begin right now." said Phlox. "After all, it's why I'm here. Do you have the memory node Jim?"
"Right here, doc." replied Jim as he handed the node to Phlox.
Phlox carried it over to a nearby computer terminal that set by the washbasin sink and inserted it into a slot specifically designed for it. He turned the monitor on and tapped a few times on the touchscreen before turning to face the time travelers.
"Who should I materialize first?" he asked. "The wolf or the old woman?"
Alex and Justin both spoke of their respective loved ones at the same time.
"I would suggest Juliet first, doc." said Jim. "She's gonna need medical attention the very second you bring her out of suspended animation."
"Very well." said Phlox before he tapped again on the touchscreen monitor.
Juliet materialized on the gurney closest to where they were all standing around the terminal. Phlox immediately approached her and with his medical scanner he swept it all across her body from head to foot before reading the screen. After a few seconds he began to list all the problems that Jim's scanner had found back in Transylvania in 2010. Then he began to hook up various life support systems to Juliet before finally removing her from suspended animation. Justin breathed a sigh of relieve when he saw his girlfriend breathing again but with the help of the futuristic respirator.
"In all my years as a medical physician," began Phlox, "I've never encountered a human being as old as this one."
"She's the only vampire I've every heard of to ever lose her powers and then show her true age." said Jim.
"She going to need a complete internal organ transplant after I reconstruct her DNA." said Phlox. "Heart, liver, kidneys, stomach. You name is, she'll need it."
"What about her brain, doctor?" asked Justin.
"Oh no, no, no. Not her brain. Of course not her brain." replied Phlox. "I'm sorry please excuse me there. All humanoid brains are the one organ in the body that has the potential to last forever, so to speak. If properly cared for and no natural causes of disease, aneurism, or hemorrhaging occur, then the brain will last a lifetime. Only the organs in the torso age and deteriorate along with the appearance on the outside of the body."
"That's somewhat comforting to know." said Justin.
"Do you have plans on replacing her organs after I'm done with her DNA reconstruction?" asked Phlox.
"Absolutely!" exclaimed Jim. "My doctor recommended it actually. After we return to Earth we plan to make a short detour to the late twenty fourth century and use Juliet's DNA to replicate some fresh organs for her so my doctor can transplant them when we return home."
"Ah, very well then." said Phlox.
"Now what about Mason?" asked Alex. "Let's get him out of storage and onto this other bed type thing over here."
"Alright, okay." said Jim. "Doctor you might want to have a sedative ready in case Mason is more feral wolf instead of human on the inside."
"What are you taking about a sedative?" asked Alex with slight disgust. "Mason wouldn't hurt anyone."
"Alex are you forgetting?" asked Justin with slight irritation. "He fought against me and Juliet back at the mummy's courtyard in Transylvania."
"That was because you provoked him when you tried to take me back to New York." Alex retaliated. "A sedative is not necessary." she added toward Jim and Phlox.
"Alex." began Jim. "Remember when I said that the longer Mason remains a wolf the more of his humanity fades away from him?"
"Yeah. So?" Alex softly replied with slight sadness and disappointment in her voice.
"We need to take a precaution in case if he wakes up and finds himself not where he fell asleep at. His first instinct will be to protect himself."
"And that could mean injuring at least one of us." Phlox added.
Alex thought about it for a few moments until she realized that Jim and Phlox were right. But she would never admit it out loud to them.
"Use a sedative." she simply said instead.
"Thank you for understanding Alex." said Jim with a soft smile to her.
Phlox prepared the drug into a tranquilizer dart and handed it to Jim along with the gun in which to fire it with. Jim looked to Alex before handing her the loaded weapon.
"Here Alex." he said. "I trust you to do the right thing if needed. But keep in mind, …..........................you won't be killing him."
Alex reluctantly accepted the gun and held it in her right hand and pointed it away from herself and everyone else. Phlox returned to the computer terminal and tapped once more on the touchscreen monitor. Wolf Mason materialized on the other gurney to the right of the doorway entrance from the hall and immediately he began to awaken from his slumber.
"Suspended animation terminated due to error."
"WHAT!" exclaimed Phlox to the computer in an a mix of surprise and disbelief.
"Doctor?" asked Jim.
Before he could get another word out, Mason stood up on the gurney and began to growl at everyone in the laboratory. All except Alex began to step slowly back away from the agitated wolf into the opposite corner. Alex stood her ground and looked Mason right in the eyes.
"Mason." she began. "It's me, Alex. Remember me? Remember you used to be a werewolf and you like to draw portraits of dogs and the American Revolutionary war? Remember?"
Mason continued to growl as he jumped down from the gurney onto the floor and slowly began to approach Alex.
"Alex, shoot him." said Justin from the corner.
But she was tuned out from what her brother had just said. She was focused on Mason and continued to speak to him.
"Remember the sandwich we ate together like the two dogs behind the Italian restaurant from that movie?" she continued. "And the necklace you gave me and it started to glow? Remember Mason?"
Mason continued his ever approaching closeness to Alex.
"Remember I found out that you were a werewolf and you found out that I was a wizard?" she continued. "Going to Transylvania, rescuing Juliet and all the misunderstanding on who you loved, and then back to Transylvania?"
Mason's growls became louder and a rabid-like foam began to drip from the corners of his mouth.
"Please remember Mason." Alex began to plead on the verge of tears. "Please!"
"Shoot him, Alex!" exclaimed Jim.
Again unheard by Alex. Mason was just three meters from her when he began to rear back on his hind legs in the all too familiar position of attack before finally leaping forward toward his girlfriend.
"I'm sorry, Mason." she whispered as she raised the gun and pulled the trigger.
The wolf let out a howl of slight discomforting pain as he fell to the floor just half a meter from Alex's feet. He was breathing heavily as his eyes closed shut and he fell into a deep sleep. Alex dropped the gun that was still in her hand and ran from the laboratory, crying, back into the apartment and all the way to the other hallway where she disappeared into one the far bedrooms. Harper immediately followed her. Jim, Phlox, Justin, and Max came out from the corner and approached the now unconscious wolf.
"Well you don't see that everyday." said Phlox with a small chuckle.
"No, you don't." Jim agreed.
"That was just like in a movie." said Max. "Or on TV."
Justin knelt down close to Mason's head.
"This is all your fault." he said with a slight angry tone. "The reason we're here in the future. For what you did to Juliet. For what you're doing to Alex. And I swear to you that if you hurt them anymore than what you've already done, I'll kill you."
Mason growled softly a little in his unconscious state catching Justin by surprise and causing him to fall over backwards and into the gurney behind him which moved a little on its wheels toward the door that exited out into the main hallway.
"Relax Justin." said Jim as he helped the wizard to stand on his feet again, "There's not much Mason can do while he's unconscious."
"That was just a future warning for when he's human again." said Justin before he turned and left the laboratory for the apartment.
Max remained behind to help Jim and Phlox pick up the wolf and place him back onto the repositioned gurney. Phlox then hooked up an intravenous line into Mason's veins to keep him in a medically induced coma the same as Juliet. After a few hours of powering up all the equipment and going over a few checkpoints to insure that they worked properly, Jim and Max left the laboratory each heading to their respective bedrooms for a good nights sleep. However, before Jim went to his bedroom, he decided to check in on Alex to make sure she was okay. Harper told him Alex had cried herself to sleep once again for the umpteenth time over Mason, so he decided to just go to bed and get some much need sleep. He knew that they were gonna be on Jupiter Station for quite some time.
Author's Notes:
Well, well. Two chapters in one day. I'm on a roll. This one came a lot easy for me than previous chapters. No writer's block. Most of what I wrote in this chapter came from my imagination and some of it came to me improv-style as I wrote it. So I hope I can keep it up with the chapters to come.
Thanks NiraliSkye for the reviews on the previous chapters. Don't worry about the nature of your questions. Keep them coming if you have them no matter how stupid you think they are. I'll answer them all.
BlazerGuitar831
