The New Doctor
By Lieuten Keen
Disclaimer: The regular ENT cast belongs to Paramount. Andie's all mine, not that anyone else would want her!
The creature standing over her finally moved back through the snow, and Andie was finally able to sit upright. Her body ached from lying still so long. Godfreid stepped up to her feet and barked at her once. He pawed at her boots and she struggled to stand, finding it difficult to retain her balance all of a sudden. She was too hot, and struggled with the scarf around her neck. The world swirled around her, but she remained upright. Gentle teeth grabbed her wrist again, and she stumbled through the snow at his side. They were surrounded by the herd, both large bear-like creatures and the wolves that served them, and the carnivorous party made their way back to the research station.
Archer and Reed kept busy downstairs, checking locks and securing windows. They lifted one of the sofas against the window that had been broken, and checked the charges on their phase pistols. Having nothing else to do but wait, they returned to the observation tower, hoping that the animals outside would be unable to reach the upper level. The communicator remained closed in Archer's pocket.
"Captain," Reed pulled his gaze from the view finder of the telescope. "I think you need to see this, sir."
Archer took his turn, focusing his green gaze on the approaching pack. What he saw confounded him. Dr. Andrea Brainerd walked at the head of the group without fear. Behind her stretched out two dozen wolves and at least that many large polar creatures. Their fangs dripped with saliva over the upcoming battle, yet she didn't seem troubled. The coloring of her face seemed wrong, but from this distance it was hard to tell.
"What the hell is she doing?" he wondered out loud. Confusion reflected in Reed's face. Richards giggled from his seat near the rear window.
"They got her," he cackled. "I picked it up on a scanner last night when she disappeared. Darryl scratched her! She's one of them now. Her metabolic rate is off the charts! She'll turn at any moment!" He raced for a pen and stylus. "I must document this!"
Archer and Reed looked at one another with concern.
"You don't think she'd really turn so fast do you?" Reed asked his captain.
Archer had nothing to say to him. He had a need to defend every member of his crew, but he wasn't sure he knew enough about Andie to make that determination. She had a passion for animals, but surely she'd choose to fight for her human companions first. Wouldn't she?
They could only wait for her to arrive.
Stopping outside the main complex, Andie ran her fingers through the fur on Godfreid's back. She no longer felt the cold, but she was hungry, ravenous, as though she hadn't eaten for days. She stooped down on her knee next to her old friend.
"It's happening to me to, isn't it?" she asked the creature, who licked her face. Her face was already wet with perspiration, and she could feel thoughts slipping through her mind like sand through her fingers.
Shaking off her exhaustion and the pain that had begun to plague all her joints, she stood in the snow and raised her voice for all the animals to hear. "There is one left. Let's go to our own."
Holding her head up, she moved to the rear of the complex and stared at the mighty picture window. A thought crossed her mind and a wolf appeared at her side as though she'd summoned it. It dropped a large branch on the ground at her feet. It was just what she'd wanted. Picking it up, she sent the debris flying through the massive window at the rear, and with the shattered remains all the wolves jumped through the splintered window, snarling and howling.
One mighty roar from the larger creatures behind her, and she stepped through the opening without hesitation. There was no uncertainty as she slipped quickly down the narrow door that led down to the scientific research. It was no trouble to find the door, hidden behind the cabinet, marked accidentally by animal fur. Shoving it open, she found what she wanted.
Upstairs Archer and Reed exchanged glances. Archer pulled out his communicator and began to summon the ship. There was only the crackle of static on his end. In the corner, Richards giggled insanely, and scribbled furiously on a data pad.
"Take scans of the formulas," Archer barked to Reed. "When we get her back to the ship, Phlox'll need the data to create a vaccine!"
"You're assuming this can be reversed?" Reed inquired. His own instincts told him to blast those creatures away from the captain, and get to a shuttle, but he deferred to his superior's decision. He took scans, listening with one ear to the destruction happening down below.
Through the glass dome that constituted the walls of this station, he could see that the larger creatures had formed a watchful march around the outside of the station. They roared every now and again, and created their own destruction. The remains of the snow-cats lay in a smoking heap next to the loading dock at the back of the station; there was no possibility of getting in a vehicle and running away from them. On the other side, three larger creatures used teeth and claws to tear up the remaining surface of the landing pad.
Downstairs the noise was not as prevalent as it had been. Reed handed his scanner back to the captain. "I'd like to take a look down there," he told him.
"Malcolm, I'd rather you stayed here," Archer told him, the unease of the situation making him nervous. He hated to be nervous in front of his crew.
"We need to know what they're up to, and," Malcolm nodded at the scientist muttering to himself in the corner, "...we can't rely on his data."
Hating the choice, Archer nodded firmly. "Be careful," he admonished.
Reed slipped down the narrow stairs and peered carefully around the narrow door that looked like a supply closet. The room was empty. He slipped further out of the door, hearing crashes and thuds from somewhere close by.
"There you are," a voice purred from across the room. Her pale face blended in with the gray world outside, and Malcolm hadn't noticed Dr. Brainerd watching him. She sniffed deeply, as though gathering his scent for a hunt. One look at her yellowing eyes told him that might be exactly the case. She shuddered, suddenly, as though biting flies were landing all over her skin.
"Dick and Derelict were keeping one in the basement," she panted, perspiration making her gleam in the dull light. "I think it's the queen. The wolves serve their masters. They won't be wolves any longer, they'll be hum--." She stopped and tried again to speak around her slowly slurring words. "No, that's wrong. They won't be human, they'll be wolves."
She looked at Reed painfully, as though even the dim light was bothering her eyes. "You were safe upstairs. Go back."
"We've got to get you out of here," he spoke quietly. He pondered the dangers in bringing her back to the ship.
"Shuttle's on its way," she choked out. "Please. Leave." Her hands clutched her stomach and she fought back a moan.
"How do you know?" he wondered.
"I can...smell it," she told him. Her head darted to the right, and she whispered more urgently. "I can't hold him back. They want blood for...blood. Go, now!" Her knees buckled and she dropped to the floor.
Without thinking, Reed left the relative safety of the secret door and moved across the room to help his crewmate. Only halfway there, he realized his folly when he heard a growl. Dark gray-blue eyes looked up to find a wolf, more creature than man, crouching in the narrow door that led down to the basement lab, according to Archer. A medallion dangled from its neck, and Reed understood that this is what happened to the other humans here.
On the floor, Andie whimpered, tearing at the clothes she wore, as though they choked her. Malcolm stepped forward carefully. The wolf in the doorway growled and bared its teeth, its hackles raised. Reed reached for his pistol.
The wolf leaped.
Andie pounced when he did. She and Godfreid collided in mid-air, leaving Reed free to retreat closer to the secret door.
The two former humans grappled with one another, clutching each other tightly and emitting hisses and whines. Teeth snapped. Talons grew. Over and over they rolled together. The thing that was Andie wound up on the bottom of the heap as the howls of the creatures grew louder outside. She looked up into the face of her former friend, with her hand pushing against his throat to keep him at bay. The pendant dangled in front of her nose. Godfreid's yellow eyes met her own bloodshot orbs. Using her free hand, she yanked the charm from his neck while bringing her legs up under him. Both legs kicked together to send him flying across the room. He hit the wall hard and slid to the ground with a yelp.
Together both creatures leaped to their feet and squared off again, panting. They didn't move, only eyed each other from across the distance that separated them. A dull gleam from her hand indicated that she held it now, the final gift. The wolf sat down, breathing heavily, recognition dim in its canine eyes.
Outside the howls grew louder and the thumps of many paws could be heard racing up the stairs from the lab. With one last short bark, Godfreid turned and rushed downstairs to meet his pack. Stumbling across the room, Andie swung the door shut.
"Malcolm! Get up here! Travis brought the shuttle pod!" Archer's voice carried down from the observation tower.
Reed stepped forward and looked carefully at Andie who slumped on the ground in front of the door. "We're getting out of here," he told her quietly. "Come on." He held out his hand.
She shook her head. "Go," she growled morosely. "There's nothing left of me."
"Phlox is a fine physician," he declared. "He'll find something."
She shook her head without looking at him. "I can't hold it back anymore."
"Malcolm!" The voice upstairs grew more urgent.
"Godfreid is...was an exobiogeneticist. If he couldn't cure this, there is no hope." She raised her face then, and despite his best intentions, his skin crawled. Fur began to cover her cheeks and her eyes were yellow. Fangs glistened with saliva. "You're beginning to smell good, man." Her gaze snapped into focus, even as she pushed herself up into a crouch.
Reed backed away. She crept forward. He saw the change in her gaze and turned to run for the door, pulling it shut behind him as a significant weight collided with the outside. Barely two meters away, on the other side of the door a long howl split the early dawn hours. Outside the station, two dozen voices rose in answer. Several roars could be heard over the din.
Racing upwards, Malcolm shook his head at the captain, who took his arm and hurried him across the room. A pane had been broken out of the dome, and the square corners of the research station had served as an acceptable landing pad for the shuttle, even if one of the runners hung over the edge. If Mayweather hadn't been the best damn pilot in the fleet, he never would have made it. "Stay there, Travis!" Archer waved the man to remain in the driver's seat.
Beneath them the ground shook. "They're tearing the building apart!" Archer shouted above the destruction and the engine. "Where's Andie?" His footing on the narrow ledge outside the Observation Tower slipped, but he gathered himself before he tumbled off the building.
"She's not coming, sir!" Malcolm told him with a heavy heart. The storm had quieted to a thin flurry of snow and dawn crept over the landscape in a welcome bath of light. It could have been a beautiful morning.
Behind them a particularly loud crash was followed by a short blast from a rifle.
"You're not going to leave!" Dr. Richards declared. "If you tell them, they'll shut me down, and I can't leave now! Not when we're so close!" He waved an EM-33 at them. Reed stepped in front of the captain, placing himself in harm's way.
"Let's talk about this!" Archer stepped forward with his hands raised in surrender.
"There's nothing to talk about!" Richards squealed. "A lifetime of study of the human genome cannot be erased by one little setback!" He twisted his mouth at Archer. "Good-bye, Captain!" He raised his weapon with hands that no longer shook.
"Hello, Dick."
That voice was familiar even though it was not quite human anymore.
Richards turned around slowly, his whole body trembling. "Doc...Doctor...Brainerd," he stuttered.
"We...talked about...this. Be careful...of your...test subjects." She panted and paced, like a caged animal, clothes hanging in tatters on a frame that was rapidly disappearing under a veil of gray fur. "The Queen...would like a word...about that." One paw hit the gun away, and the other tore a row of furrows on his cheek. She growled. On the ground a lone wolf barked.
She stood on the other side of the scientist; Reed couldn't fire at her without hitting the madman.
Claws reached out to grab his collar and pull him close to her face. Her smile exposed the long sharp points of her teeth. "Don't...keep...Godfreid...waiting," she panted. With a grunt, she tossed Richards over the side of the building.
Archer raced to peer over the edge, while Reed kept his gun trained on his former associate. Richards landed quite easily in a deep drift of snow. The wind flew out of his lungs, but his eyes were open and cognizant of his surroundings. At present, he was surrounded by wolves.
The building shuddered again, as bear-like creatures flung themselves at the outside, trying to batter down the walls. Around the corner crept a creature. She was larger than the others, and a dark gray. Naked patches of skin appeared all over her body where white dots could be seen. Archer realized with a start that those were the pads that adhered to the human body when hooked up to machines in a medical lab.
They'd caught the queen and started experimenting on her. Her slaves had come to rescue her. Now it appeared that she would be beginning some experiments of her own. She picked up Richards in her mouth as though he was a kitten and with a snuffling noise, all the wolves began to leave. They followed her out into the snow like a royal guard.
A noise turned Archer's head. Andie clutched her own head and whined with pain.
"Make it stop!" she growled. She lunged at Reed, who didn't hesitate to fire.
She woke up gasping for air. She couldn't breathe, the walls were too close; she was dying. Struggling in her restraints, she heard a noise that was vaguely familiar, a click and a whine.
Her head broke free and she realized that she was wrapped in a navy blue Starfleet issue wool blanket so tightly that she resembled a burrito. One arm extended from her confinement and she used it to push herself up from the bunk she rested on.
Reed stood poised to shoot at her from across the room, the phase pistol charged and ready. He was wearing an environmental suit; she was not.
The lights were making her eyes blurry. "The hell?" she croaked. She felt awful. Everything hurt.
She heard a familiar echo around her, and realized she was in the Decontamination Chamber aboard Enterprise. Cognizance came slowly.
"How do you feel, Doctor?" Reed inquired. He didn't lower his weapon.
"Like I was trampled by a herd of wild animals and shot," she groused. She wriggled around in the confines of her blanket, before sitting upright. The world swam unpleasantly around her. Lowering her head, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again to study her surroundings, and her furry arms.
"Between Godfreid's journal and the scientists' studies, Phlox is working on a cure for you." Reed's voice was neutral and brisk.
Her eyes rose hopefully to his. He shook his head. "The others were too far gone. We found records of their DNA in your pack and they had passed a no-return point."
"You want to get that gun out of my face?" she snarled. Reluctantly, he lowered the pistol.
"You're awake," a kind voice transmitted through the speakers. Andie looked up to see Phlox peering through the decon window at the other end of the chamber. "You're doing better," Phlox reassured her. "Godfreid's notes may have saved your life."
"The others?" she asked again. Her throat was dry and she was hungry.
Phlox sighed. He hated to deliver bad news on top of bad news, but she seemed insistent. "It seems that Doctors Richards was involved in testing a new genetic resequencing agent, meant to stimulate the strength and agility of human allowances. He had been injecting it into laboratory mice. They got away from him and chewed holes in the cabinetry. That's why they called for rodent control." He nodded at her.
As though on cue, an orange tomcat leaped into the window and rested precariously on the narrow ledge to peer inside. His golden eyes focused on his mistress with concern. He hissed softly.
"When the rats were gone, it appears he tested the material on the local creatures. His experiments were dangerous, as you can well attest. The research site has been closed down pending further investigation by Starfleet." Phlox nodded. "You're getting better, Doctor."
He disappeared from view, talking about another injection. Andie's head ached. Painfully she focused on Lieutenant Reed. "You stayed with me? I could have killed you."
"It's my job to protect the crew," he told her. "Even spoiled socialites like you." His joke fell flat, and only served to make Andie scowl. On the ledge in the Decon window, Leon hissed again.
"Somebody shut that damn cat up!" Snarling with rage, she leaped toward the dividing walls. Reed had spent almost two days with her already, and didn't hesitate. He fired the pistol and stunned her back into unconsciousness.
Obviously she wasn't cured yet.
Coming back into her own mind was a little tricky for a while. The next time she was fully aware of her surroundings, she found herself in Sickbay. Her hands were curled around Ian Black's throat and she was threatening to tear out his jugular. Fear hung around him like an acrid scent and she didn't remember how she got into this place. A sound behind her turned her head. That damned Lieutenant with his damned gun! Ensign Black choked with a lack of oxygen, and for one moment, she realized this was a bad thing. Her grip loosened. He sucked air into his lungs.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. Stepping back, she blinked and rubbed her eyes. "I don't..."
Malcolm Reed shot her again.
She went gladly into the darkness.
Gripping the edge of the blanket and pulling it back, Archer was expecting a scratch. Yet eight deep scratches sliced through the skin across the shoulder blades of his new young doctor and extended almost up to her hairline. Blood seeped slowly to mix with the antiseptic gel. One of Phlox's slimy creatures was fixed to her right shoulder and pulsed with every breath she took. Trip was more than a little queasy at the sight.
"They didn't bleed much in the cold, but they started flowing when she got warmer," Phlox spoke in a hushed tone. The patient was less agitated, but still tied to the bio-bed. They were trying not to wake her while the latest medicine worked its magic.
"Lieutenant Reed did some amateur work in Decon and I've had to redo some of it. It looks worse than it is," Phlox went on.
"We found blood outside the pantry door," Archer told him. "Apparently Dr. Darryl attacked her there and administered the cuts at that time, before disappearing into the wild."
Phlox checked the readouts again. "Her body was beginning the transformation. The muscles have stretched, and she'll feel discomfort for several days in her joints: knees, elbows, neck, back." He pursed his lips and frowned. "We had one hell of a time reorganizing her DNA into its regular state. It's a good thing her body was already in a state of flux."
The senior staff looked to the physician for clarification.
"The human female body has extraordinary aptitude for change," Phlox obliged. "Following a lunar pattern, it undergoes certain chemical alterations in preparation for a physical change. It's the excess of hormone that caused her quick turn." Phlox seemed pleased with her abnormality.
"When will you wake her?" Archer asked.
"I think Doctor Brainerd should rest for a while. She'll be feeling better by tomorrow." Phlox quickly started to usher the others out, while an orange blur finally hopped up onto the next bed and watched her obsessively.
It was late at night and most of the staff had left Sickbay. Phlox was somewhere nearby, probably feeding something that grunted or studying the virus that rewrote human DNA. He was planning on writing a very long paper about it, and had asked T'Pol if she thought it might be appropriate to credit some of the work to Doctor Godfried, a man he'd never met. Raising one solemn eyebrow, she told him that giving credit to a dead man would be highly illogical. Phlox had continued with his studies.
Reed was alone for the moment, standing just inside the doors, carefully watching the slender figure asleep on the far bed.
He'd almost lost her.
Firing a phase pistol straight into her chest had hurt him almost as much as it hurt her, but he'd done it. Sitting in the rear of the pod while Travis executed the fastest evacuation of a planet's surface he'd ever attempted, Reed carried the unconscious creature in his lap. Her bone structure was changing underneath his hands and he didn't think he'd ever get that gelatinous oozing feeling of her skin rippling under his hands out of his memory. She trembled and shook with what Reed could only assume were terrible dreams.
Once aboard, Phlox had been waiting with a hypo of sedative, the strongest dose he could give her without risking permanent neurological damage. The armory officer and the captain had attempted to lift the sleeping creature out of the shuttle to be deposited in Decon, the most secure facility on board with easy access to Sickbay, but the sedative hadn't been nearly enough. Coming awake with a growl, Andie had twisted out of their arms with a roar, swiping sharp claws across Reed's neck, seeming to grow more fervent at the smell of fresh blood. It had taken another shot from the phase pistol to put her down.
Once inside Decon, Reed volunteered to stay. "I've been infected with whatever turned her," he told the captain through the speaker. "I could become just as dangerous. We're both better off in here until Phlox can find a cure." Jonathan Archer had reluctantly allowed it. Reed had nearly been taken in when she woke and seemed to speak with a rational voice, but her eyes had glazed over and Reed had been forced to discharge his weapon against her. Due to the confined space, the phase pistol had been modified to emit a short, focused charge and the impact seared the skin on her sternum even as she fell to the floor. He fancied he could still smell the scorched air.
When Phlox deemed her progress sufficient to remove her from Decon, Reed had double-checked the bindings on her wrists, used to tie her to the bio-bed. The cure that was taking so long to work on Andie had been much more successful on his transformation, and he'd never progressed to the genetic rewrite stage, so the Denobulan then shooed him out of Sickbay, telling him to rest. After a long hot shower, a clean uniform and a hearty dinner, Malcolm had returned to check on her progress, and found her on her feet choking her own med-tech. Shooting her again made his stomach clench.
In their first year in space they'd nearly lost a young man named Novakovich when the crew remained on a planet's surface after dark and a psychotropic compound had made him crazy. Reed had taken that personally. He should have protected his crew. That was his job. The captain had been taken hostage on more than one occasion, and every time it happened, Reed kicked himself for failing his duty. He took the lives and security of every single creature on board very seriously.
She had been attacked under his very nose, and hid the details of her illness from him. Her secretive nature had put her in jeopardy. Watching her toss in her sleep, Reed nourished the anger that grew inside him. She had willfully denied him crucial, need-to-know information, and he couldn't be expected to do his job well if she hid things from him.
In her sleep she whimpered. He watched her expressionlessly.
She'd lied to him. She'd misled him and outmaneuvered him and it nearly cost her life. He vowed to keep a very close eye one her. Andie would never put herself in harm's way ever again if he had anything to say about it.
Hearing a noise from the far corner of the lab, Reed detected Phlox's return. Slipping quietly out the door, the troubled man disappeared into the shadows of the nighttime lights and returned to his quarters. He found he had trouble sleeping that night.