Keeping Up With The Joneses

by JoeNobody

They say gentleman don't read each other's mail, but I never claimed to be a gentleman. I snooped into the mail between two TOS guests. Bonus points for the first person to identify every "Easter Egg" I've carefully planted here. (Quite frankly, I've lost count.) Inspired by noted author Peter David, who would probably denounce this story if he saw it and felt the need to comment.

2. Author's Note

This story's genesis was when I realized that the Original Series featured both a Cyrano Jones and a Miranda Jones. My first thought was that Gene Roddenberry had some kind of fetish for classical first names and common last names. Then I realized that there was no reason they couldn't be related, so I said "what the hell" and started writing.

From there, other connections just kept popping to mind. Miranda Jones had an obsessed would-be lover who had helped design the Enterprise, and later we were introduced to the Miranda-class starship, which was apparently derived from the Constitution-class. It could just be another coincidence, but I decided that there would be no coincidences - it all had to tie together.

And I kept digging, and kept thinking.

Diana Muldaur played two other roles in Star Trek - Dr. Ann Mulhall in "Return To Tomorrow," and Dr. Katherine Pulaski on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I once read a story that stated that Number One and Christine Chapel were sisters, based on both being played by Majel Barrett, and I figured I could plagiarize that idea. So Dr. Ann Mulhall became Dr. Anne Jones Mulhall, a widow who was being romanced by a Stanley Pulaski. (The "Stanley" was chosen because "Stanley" is a common Polish name, and Cyrano Jones was played by the late Stanley Adams.)

Cyrano Jones was a dealer in rare items, so it was no great leap to have him acquire Miranda Jones' sensory cloak. Since it was unknown technology, why not have it from a then-unknown alien race? Like, say, a Ferengi? That brought up the idea that synthehol was supposed to originally developed by the Ferengi, who used it to get their bargaining partners drunk while staying sober themselves. Which gave me an in for Cyrano getting the sensory cloak - and the tribbles.

At that point I started thinking of other famous Joneses from sci-fi and fantasy, and I recalled that in Alien, Ripley's cat was named "Jonesy." So what the hell. And I think I had been drinking a little, because Davy Jones also came to mind. So I threw in a fourth sibling - David, the oceanographer.

Later, I realized I'd put two Davids in the story (Mulhall and Jones), meaning that I'd had Ann Jones marry someone with the same name as her brother, but I let that slide.

As for Cyrano's spaceship being named "Ariel?" Just a classical-sounding name that I thought went well with Cyrano and Miranda. On retrospect, "Dulcinea" might have been better, but like the two Davids, I'll let it stand.

Thanks for letting me share my little whimsy. It's sure as hell not canon - but it could be.