Chapter Nine


It was just after six in morning according to the ship's clock when Captain Archer walked into sickbay. Phlox was so engrossed in what he was reading that he didn't even hear Archer enter. It was the data from the science station that had garnered his complete attention. The information, a jumble of tricorder readings and symptomology, had been transmitted only an hour earlier, possibly in great haste and with an intangible sense of reluctance and necessity. Phlox could tell that they were Astrid's own findings, despite their chaotic nature.

"Doctor?" questioned the captain. "You had asked to see me?"

"You wanted to be kept posted on the situation." he reminded Archer.

"Go ahead." nodded the captain, seeing discomfort and worry in the doctor's eyes.

"I just wanted to let you know that it doesn't look good at the moment. I have been reviewing the data that Doctor Zeller has chosen to share. This disease is like nothing I have ever seen, not that I have any expertise in this area of medicine. The symptoms are extremely variable, and the severity thereof seems to vary from person to person as well. Worst of all, she seems to be able to treat the symptoms only and not the disease." he explained.

"Are you telling me that this plague has no cure?" asked Archer incredulously.

"No, captain, certainly not. I am only saying that it may not be easy to find. But I have every confidence in Doctor Zeller and the medical team." said Phlox.

"And in the mean time, they are at risk too, right?" he questioned.

"Naturally, yes, they are, but I am sure that they are taking every precaution against contacting the disease." the doctor reassured him.

"Is there any way we can make this go more smoothly? Anything we can do to help them out?" questioned Archer.

Phlox smiled softly and told him, "I have found that when a lot of people look at the same information, they often arrive at different conclusions. Right now, we just need to concentrate on examining the findings of the medical team. The answers most likely lie in them."

The captain's eyes drifted to the computer console and he smiled as well when he realized what the doctor was telling him, which was to get out of sickbay and allow him to work, although it was put quite tactfully.

"If you need anything ..." he said.

"I will not hesitate to ask, captain."

"We're going to beat this thing before it gets out of hand over there." said Archer with a confident nod.

"Of course." agreed Phlox as he thought to himself, "The captain is wonderfully optimistic, but just how does one determine when this sort of thing becomes out of hand?"


It was many long hours later when Crewman Cutler, her arms filled with data pads containing information of various types, found herself at a computer terminal in a very quiet area of the science station. She had her orders: organize and transmit the data to the Enterprise sickbay. Cutler did not like what she was seeing as she downloaded the information into the station's computer. The condition of the patients was continuing to go downhill, despite the medical care that they were receiving. It was all Zeller could do to fight the fever. The statistics were grim. Two of the most critical patients had lapsed into a coma as their bodily systems faltered beneath the incredible strain. The lieutenant in charge, who seemed to have at least partial immunity or resistance to the illness, had started to succumb to simple fatigue. Cutler could hardly blame the man. He had held the station together for almost three weeks with precious little assistance.

She removed her communicator from the pocket where she kept in out of sight and out of mind from Doctor Zeller and set it on the desk next to her, deciding to contact Phlox.

"Phlox here." he answered, sounding less cheerful than he had been in several months.

"It's Cutler. I thought you might like to have a heads up." she told him as she continued to enter the data.

"I don't think I like the sound of that, crewman."

"I'm putting the data into the computer right now. If the link with the Enterprise is still good, you should have it soon."

"It is coming in already." Phlox informed her.

"Maybe I should go ahead and tell you that it isn't good news."

"Now, Crewman Cutler, I find it highly improbable that I would anticipating good news to transmitted in this fashion, especially given the situation." he admonished jokingly. Cutler's voice led him to believe that she was both very fatigued and disheartened. He wanted very much to cheer her up, but he didn't quite have it him at that moment.

"Yeah, but I thought you might appreciate the extra warning." she said in somber rebuttal.

"You aren't too worried, are you, crewman?" he questioned, couching a serious inquiry in more humorous tones.

"I don't know, Phlox. The outlook isn't so good from where I'm sitting. Doctor Zeller is supposed to be an expert, but this has her stumped. How is that supposed to make me feel?" she asked.

"Less than cozy, I am sure, but don't give up. With the additional information you've given me, I'm feel confident that one of us will stumble across the answer."

Cutler chuckled quietly. Phlox could almost hear her begin to relax, to return to her usual light-hearted disposition.

"That's reassuring!" she laughed, shaking her head and rolling her eyes as she transmitted the last of the data. "Thanks." Cutler added softly.

"Don't mention it, crewman. Just be careful over there."

"I will be very careful." she promised him.


Doctor Zeller had been prepared for a fight when she first ventured through the airlock and onto the science station, but she had not expected to fight a losing battle against a disease that was both alien and yet oddly familiar. At first she had believed that perhaps it was some strange variant of a disease from Rigel that could only be treated with ryetalyn, but the symptoms weren't quite right for Rigelian Fever. The absence of lesions or abscesses ruled that ailment out, which was probably for the best since she could not have treated it. Astrid went through dozens of hypotheses in the first twenty-four hours to no effect. It was still a mystery to her.

That ditsy young crewman that had performed the task of collecting, entering, and transmitting the first complete batch of patient readings had returned, having adequately completed her assigned chore. Astrid didn't know what to tell the poor girl other than instructing her to sit quietly in a corner.

Zeller glanced at some samples she had taken and wondered how she would get them to the Enterprise with the least amount of risk to its crew. There was no question about it. She needed them analyzed, and the equipment aboard the ship was the best available for such an undertaking. Astrid would never have said it aloud, but she also credited Phlox with being a more than capable laboratory technician.

"Crewman, I would like a recommendation." she said evenly to Cutler, giving a patient a hypo of Anaprovalin for the severe pain that he was experiencing.

"Yes, doctor?" she questioned nervously.

"You know your ship better than I do. If you wanted to move these sealed sample containers from here to there, how would you go about doing it? Using the air lock system for a drop off or by a using a courier and the decon chamber?" she questioned. Her demeanor was still very proud, but something in her voice faltered ever-so-slightly as she spoke.

"Neither. I would try to use the transporter, doctor." replied Cutler with surprising speed and confidence.

"The what?" laughed Zeller skeptically.

"It's this thing on the Enterprise that ... well, I'm not sure exactly how it works, but it can move things from one place to another." she tried to explain.

"Ah, I believe I know what you mean. That maybe just what's needed here." said the doctor. "As long as the samples are sealed and handled with care on their end, this should be the ideal solution. I trust that you can make the arrangements, crewman." The condescension in her voice had lessened a great deal.

"Of course." nodded Cutler, springing from her seat.

"I need this taken care of within the hour." Zeller called after her as she stepped through the door of the infirmary.


The science station had been built with two shuttlepod bays and both a main and auxiliary docking area to accommodate visitors and cargo ships, but it was not equipped with a transporter. This set of circumstances made locking on to the sealed and disinfected container that held the samples the most difficult part of the procedure. After all, it would have been unfortunate to beam up a piece of the deck plating with the container.

Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed both smiled in relief when the crate appeared on the transporter pad, apparently intact and without any surprises. Phlox, who had been watching anxiously, stepped forward with a tricorder to make certain that no microbes or other unpleasant things had clung to the surface of the container. Then it was his turn to breathe a sigh of relief.

"It seems to be secure." he told the two officers operating the transporter as he lifted it from the pad.

"And why shouldn't it be?" asked Reed with an amused expression.

Before Phlox could reply, Tucker interjected a question of his own: "Doesn't it gall you to no end having to help that woman like this?"

"You are inferring, commander, that I am doing this for Doctor Zeller and not for the thirty or so patients over there. I assure you that they are my only concern." he told Trip. "Of course, I would be happier to do this for almost anyone else." Phlox added with a chuckle.

The lieutenant narrowed his eyes a little and asked, "But really, doctor, is she as bad as I've heard? My father ... growing up, I mean ... always hated people who were different. I thought everyone in Star Fleet was, you know, more enlightened than that."

The Denobulan chuckled quietly at the idealism of the armory officer and replied, "You are quite mistaken, lieutenant. Not everyone is, as you so aptly put it, enlightened, but I have always thought of Astrid Zeller as one bad piece of fruit in a very large cart. It is no secret that she disapproves of humans interacting with non-humans, but I imagine that the rumors are beginning to grow out of proportion with reality. Such is their nature."

"I will keep that in mind." said Malcolm thoughtfully.

"Don't let the doc kid you. He's just too polite to do any name calling, no matter how much she might deserve it." said Trip with a wink.

Phlox could sense that a lengthy, albeit it heartening debate was about to begin and held up a hand before telling them, "Now, gentlemen, we all have duties to which we must attend. Perhaps we can save this discussion until the crisis has passed."

"Of course." nodded Reed in polite agreement as Phlox excused himself. Turning to Trip he asked the commander, "How could anyone harbor ill will toward him? He's a decent fellow through and through."

"I've got to agree with you there. I would have been perfectly content to stand here bad-mouthing her until the cows come home, and goodness knows she deserves it, but not Phlox. The only thing on his mind are those sick people over on the station."

"He is very different from us, but we have one important thing in common." agreed Malcolm.

"What's that?"

"Our humanity." said Reed with an ironic smile.


Hoshi had informed Archer of the large data transfers from the station and Reed had let him know about the successful transportation of the samples, but the captain wanted to see the progress for himself, which is why he found himself in sickbay that same evening. Phlox was bent over a medical instrument connected to a small isolation chamber when he entered. The doctor glanced up from his work when the doors closed with an audible hiss.

"Captain." he acknowledged.

"What's the word, doctor?" Archer inquired.

"Virus. That's the first one that came to mind anyway." said Phlox, reviewing the results of a test that he had just performed. "Of course, that was Doctor Zeller's opinion as well." he added.

"Meaning?" questioned the captain.

"More research, more tests." shrugged Phlox. The he smiled and said, "But I can rule out most alien viruses in the available databases. She is too thorough to have missed any of them as a possible cause."

"Which means that ...?" Archer asked, trying to elicit a more cohesive response from the busy and distracted physician.

"It is most likely Terran in origin."

"From earth?"

"That's the general idea."

"But, wait a minute, Phlox. Wouldn't she have, you know, checked human diseases first?"

"Not Doctor Zeller."

Archer chuckled and rubbed his eyes before saying, "I guess being xenophobic does have certain draw backs."

"Indeed, but save your gloating until I have identified the virus. I could be wrong, after all." cautioned Phlox.

"How long until you're certain then?"

"Unfortunately, it may take as long as forty-eight hours."

"And then?"

"The hunt for a cure, captain, which I can assure you will prove to be quite an ordeal, regardless of what disease this may be."

"Why is that?"

"Infectious disease among humans is rarer now than ever before. In turn that means that methods of treating such diseases have become ... antiquated, outdated. History meets medicine, so to speak."

"I guess you have your work cut out for you, doc."

"And so does Astrid. I don't believe all of her patients will live to see the day that we find a cure."


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