In the murky swamp of Florida, a monster appeared. Wesley Crusher, Flash Thompson and Liz Allen were having fun in a program that Wes had discovered during his very first day on the Enterprise; he had sorely wanted to share it with someone, and now was his chance. But he didn’t remember any monsters!
“Computer, erase lizard monster!” he cried, to no avail.
Flash smiled and squared up to it. “Outta the way, pencil-neck. I can take him!”
“Begone! This swamp is mine!!” The Lizard creature rasped at him. He threw a punch at its massive jaw, but only ended up hurting his fist. He tried not to show it. “You dare defy the Lizard? You’ll pay for that folly!” The Lizard grabbed a gigantic tree to his left and hefted it. The three Cadets ran for cover.
“He snapped that huge tree as if it were cardboard!” Wesley exclaimed. “Run! We’ve got to get out of here! Computer--arch!!”
“Flee, puny humans! This swamp is mine! Here, The Lizard reigns supreme!”
“He doesn’t have to tell me twice!” Flash remarked as the exit appeared and the three of them piled out into the corridor. Flash didn’t much like the idea of running like a coward, but the encounter with Doctor Doom was still fresh in his mind, and he didn’t need another one like it for as long as he could manage.
Wesley shut down the program from the panel in the corridor, and then he opened the door again, and he was the only one brave enough to peer inside. The swamp was gone, and there was The Lizard, alone in the middle of a black-and-yellow grid. He looked around him, seething, and then set his sights on the boy who had robbed him of his home. With a hiss, he charged straight at the door. Wesley yelped and locked the doors in front of him.
Like wildfire, the reports of the human lizard spread throughout the ship.
“They say it walks and talks like a man!” one Cadet was heard to exclaim.
“Bullets cannot harm it,” a Vulcan ensign observed. “What is it? Who is it?”
“It has the strength of a dozen shuttlecraft,” Worf mulled over the quite probably exaggerated rumor.
Even in the science lab where Peter Parker worked, the name of The Lizard was one everyone’s lips.
I’d like to know what this is all about too, Peter mused, but I’ll get to the bottom of it quietly!
He quietly investigated the reports via his computer screen, while maintaining the illusion that he was hard at work like his fellow officers. Lieutenant Connors hadn’t shown up, so there was no one to watch over his shoulder anyway…
Just then, however, he got an incoming message from Admiral Jameson.
“Parker! I want you to get some photos of that Lizard man! Chances are, wherever he is, Spider-Man won’t be far behind!”
“Oh, certainly, Mr. Jameson, but don’t you think Security will have it neutralized before Spider-Man can do anything effective against it?” Peter did want to take it on before anyone in the crew could endanger themselves, but he couldn’t tell Mr. Jameson that.
“Nonsense, my boy! That’s no way to think! If that happens, we won’t sell papers. Now mush!”
Peter sighed and cut the connection. The first thing he did was a bit of a refresher course on lizards. He figured if he was going up against one he should know all he could about them, just in case. He began with the dinosaurs. If their intelligence had matched their size, they might have been the ones plying the spaceways--probably like the Gorn, but bigger. Their hides were so thick that no gun smaller than a cannon could injure them. They lived in or out of water, they could give a present-day shuttlecraft a run for its money in the damage department…Peter wondered what he was getting himself into.
He excused himself from the lab and went to change. If he was going to get pictures, he’d want to stay out of harm’s way, and the only way to use his powers in public was to keep his identity a secret.
Meanwhile, Liz broke off from Flash and Wesley to turn down a different corridor, headed for her quarters. She froze in her tracks when she spotted two men who were clearly not Starfleet. They were emerging from a Jeffries Tube, and one of them slipped something into a pouch. They saw Liz watching them, and rushed toward her. She tapped her badge to call Security and turned to run, but they caught up with her. One of them grabbed her by the arm, and the other one pointed a phaser down one end of the corridor, then the other, checking for company. Liz called out “Help! Don’t let these two get away!”
Wes and Flash charged around the corner, but all they could do was stand there and wonder what to do. The two thieves backed away with Liz…
…and then the one with the phaser tripped and fell flat on his face.
Behind them, the entry to the Jeffries Tubes was open once again, and Spider-Man had poked his head out. A thin line of webbing had snagged the man’s leg and brought him down effortlessly.
“Hold it right there, boys!” he said as he got out and stood up. “You’re missing one of the most interesting things about this ship--namely, me!”
“It’s--Spider-Man!” exclaimed the man with his hand on Liz’s arm, while his friend got to hit feet. “What do we do now?”
“I’ll answer that question,” Spidey told him as he strode closer. “You hit my eager little fist with your big strong chins…like this!” With that, he struck both of them in one punch.
“Ugh!”
“Oof!”
Liz had been knocked over in the melee, and Spider-Man effortlessly lifted her off the floor.
“Spider-Man! You saved me from those gunmen!”
“The pleasure was all mine, blue-eyes!”
He put her down and made his way back to the Jeffries Tube, while Flash and Wes looked on, astonished.
I’m just enough of a show-off to enjoy these little incidents! But I’d better cut out before that Lizard does too much more damage! It’s a lucky thing that my spider-sense drew me to those two before they could get away with Liz!
Minutes later…
“Liz, come on! Snap out of it! This is Flash! Don’t you remember me?”
But Liz was grinning from ear-to-ear, awestruck. “Flash? Flash who? All I can remember is Spider-Man’s strong arms around me!” She sighed. “He saved me! He called me Blue Eyes! I’ll never forget him!”
“Nuts! Competition like Peter Parker, I can handle! But what do I do about Spider-Man!”
“Just one thing, Flash…” Wesley said ominously. “…worry!”
Picard and Riker sat down in the ready room; Picard ordered some Earl Gray tea and settled into his chair. He gestured for Riker to do the same.
“What am I going to do, Commander?”
“Sir?”
“I’ve got two thieves on board at the same time as a lizard creature which is, as far as we can tell, not of any known species.”
“It does resemble the Gorn, from all accounts.”
“Yes, but it’s not a Gorn, is it? And these two incidents, are far as anyone can tell, are entirely unconnected. It’s not very likely is it?” He sipped and looked at Riker, a slight sparkle in his eyes. This wasn’t half as trying as dealing with something like Q, so he wanted it to be simple.
“If I were a gambler, I’d say those are some long odds,” Riker observed, leaning back. “Still, we’ll have it all wrapped up at the end of the day. That lizard’s not something a phaser can’t take down.”
“I hope you’re right,” Picard agreed.
Tasha took point, overriding the lockout on the holodeck doors and stepping in with her phaser at the ready. The Lizard had brought the swamp program back into existence as soon as the Cadets had left. He was inside somewhere, hidden among the trees. A rolling fog obscured much of the area, so that their line of sight extended but a few feet.
“Computer, end program,” Tasha commanded. Nothing happened. She tapped her combadge. “Yar to the bridge. Can someone override this program? We can’t see anything in here!”
She didn’t want to be afraid, but recent events had terrified her when it came to the unknown. She waved a couple of her officers ahead of her, to the left and the right. They advanced only a few feet and then crouched behind cover.
The mud would throw off their balance if they weren’t careful. Tasha could tell that the creature wanted it this way. He was in his element, and they could all be ambushed.
Worf stood next to Tasha. “Recommend I take point, sir,” he rumbled. “If it comes to hand-to-hand, I have a chance against it.”
Without looking at him, Yar replied, “If this is about warrior pride…”
He stiffened. “It is my duty.”
“Alright, Worf. But be careful!”
Worf crept ahead, quieter than he looked like he could manage.
“This is the bridge,” came Data’s voice. “I am on my way to attempt an override. I will be there shortly.”
Yar knew what that meant. He was going to get up, take the turbolift to their deck and then work at the console right outside the holodeck. Well, it was the most direct option, wasn’t it?
The Lizard sprang out of nowhere, tackling Worf. They went down in a tangle of limbs, but agile Worf managed to fling The Lizard off of him and over his head, where he landed on his back. The two of them rose to their feet and circled each other, and the two officers Yar had motioned forward earlier opened fire with their phasers. The Lizard withstood their volley, but buckled to his knees.
“I don’t believe it. He won’t fall!” Yar exclaimed. “Well? Fire again!”
Worf was going to move in for another strike, but when he heard Yar give the order to fire he held back, and The Lizard sprang out of the way of the shots, taking Worf down once again.
I shouldn’t have let him go ahead, Yar thought. Now we risk shooting him!
Data worked diligently at the panel until Spider-Man came rushing up to him, at which point he continued to work diligently, but now he multitasked.
“Data, is this where The Lizard is?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve gotta let me in there so I can fight him!”
Data’s brow wrinkled. “I do not understand. Our security detail has not reported any particular difficulty aside from the program. It is still running, and I must shut it down.”
“You mean you won’t help m--”
Spider-Man was interrupted by crying. A woman came rushing down the corridor, dressed in plain clothes. A civilian?
“Lady,” Spider-Man said, “you’d better stay away. The Lizard is nearby!”
The middle-aged blonde wiped her eyes on her sleeve and looked with despair between Spider-Man and Data. “Stay away? Oh, no--you don’t understand! My husband, Lieutenant Curtis Connors…is The Lizard!”
“What?”
“Let me explain…my husband was a surgeon--he lost his right arm at Setlik Three, and had it replaced with a robotic prosthetic. Ever since then, he has studied reptile life! He even switched over to the sciences for a better opportunity to experiment. He’s one of Starfleet’s leading authorities on reptiles…Curtis Connors was a good husband, a good father! His son, Billy, adored him…and so did I!”
Months Ago
Lieutenant Connors and his wife and son were alone in the science lab. Everyone else was off-duty.
“If a lower order of life, such as certain types of lizards, lose a leg, or any base extremity, they often simply grow a new one! If only I could learn how it is done, and apply the secret to humans…think what it would mean! A man might grow a new pair of legs, or arms! Perhaps even new eyes, or a new heart! I’ve got to find the secret!”
“Oh, Curtis…” his wife began, smiling from ear-to-ear. “If only you could!”
“Daddy, what are you working on now?” Connors’ little blond son asked, peeping over the top of the counter, where beakers and burners spanned the expanse.
Connors smiled benevolently upon his beloved son. “Something to make you proud of me, Billy!” he explained warmly. “Something to help all mankind!”
After months of experimentation…
Connors, standing in front of a rabbit terrarium with a beaker full of red liquid in his hands, said, “The serum which I extracted from my experimental lizards worked! The rabbit grew a new leg within an hour! Now, all that remains is for me to try it on a human! And what better subject can there be than--myself!”
Right in front of his wife, Connors put the beaker to his mouth and started to gulp down the mysterious brew.
“Curtis…are you sure it’s safe? Curtis?!” She advanced, concerned for her husband’s health. How could he be so crazy? He didn’t know what it was going to do to him, and who was going to be able to help him?
He started to transform before her eyes.
“My right shoulder…such a strange sensation!” In the darkened lab, he clutched his right shoulder with his left hand, and stood in a tensed half-crouch. “I-I feel life returning!”
And then…
“I’ve done it! I’ve grown a new arm!” He held it out for inspection after the prosthetic plopped to the floor and bounced once, now dead. “This is the greatest medical feat of all time!”
But the change didn’t end there. No--the hand, the arm, all of Curtis Connors began to change, until…
“What has happened to me? What have I done?” He turned away from his wife now and leaned against the wall, his head against his bent arm.
“Curtis? What is it?!”
No! No! Stay away! Don’t look at me! Don’t!”
She thought she could make out green, scaly hands with claws on the end of them, but she wasn’t sure. The lab was kept at half-light to avert suspicion. If Starfleet ever found out what he was doing in there, they might take away his commission.
Trembling, sobbing, like a man possessed, the creature who had been Curtis Connors raced out into the corridor.
“Curtis!” she called after him, but he didn’t stop.
He returned the next night, after not showing up for his shift. He tried to work on a new serum, one which would make him human again…but it was hopeless! His brain had been too dulled--too changed! He pounded the counter, sending vials crashing to the floor. “Cannot do it!” he hissed. “Must give up!”
The Present
“…and that was the end! He left a note…saying goodbye…he was afraid to remain…afraid…because of what he had become!”
Then, at that moment…
“Mommy!”
“It’s Billy! I thought he was taking a nap!” she stooped to hug her son.
Then Captain Picard and Commander Riker came from the other end of the corridor. “What’s going on he--Spider-Man?!” Picard stiffened up.
“I am attempting to override the holodeck controls. Nearly finished,” Data reported.
Picard fixed Spider-Man with a glare. “If you had anything to do with this…”
“Listen, pal, if I had anything to do with it, I wouldn’t be standing here!” It rang hollow, but it was the best thing Spider-Man could come up with.
Worf struggled to get free of The Lizard’s powerful hold, but it kept him pinned to the swamp floor like a vice. Then it head-butted him and knocked him out. The Lizard slung Worf over its shoulder and climbed the nearest tall tree.
“Release him!” Yar commanded. It was no good. “You won’t leave this ship as anything except a prisoner unless you let him go and surrender! This holodeck is Starfleet propert--” her shoulders slumped. “Oh, what’s the point?” She turned to her team. “Keep him in sight, but do not fire.”
They pressed on into the swamp, as The Lizard made his way through the treetops. Then Captain Picard’s voice came through Yar’s combadge.
“Lieutenant, The Lizard is Lieutenant Connors, from the science division. Do not harm him if possible.”
“He’s got Worf, sir. Unconscious. He’s escaping through the…” she sighed, because she hated referring to a holographic environment as though it made a difference. “…the trees.”
Picard’s face fell and he looked at Riker, who merely looked back at him, steel in his blue eyes.
“Keep him in sight, but don’t take action unless he attempts to harm Worf.”
“Aye, sir.”
Spider-Man suddenly exclaimed, “That’s it!” and took off down the corridor.
“Come back here!” Picard projected firmly. Spider-Man ignored him. Picard looked to Riker, who shrugged, and then sighed and touched his combadge. “Security alert, Spider-Man sighted near holodeck two.”
“You might try it again, with more feeling,” Picard noted wryly. “How close are we, Mister Data?”
“Almost there, sir. It should only take another couple seconds.”
Peter took his costume off and got to work in the science lab as though nothing was amiss. If they all thought he was simply carrying out some assignment, no one would suspect that he was, in fact, working on a cure for Lieutenant Connors.
He and I haven’t exactly gotten along, have we? Peter thought, reflecting on the time that John Jameson’s shuttle encountered trouble in a planet’s atmosphere, and all the other times they’d been at odds. Still, I hardly know the guy, and his family obviously loves him…
Minutes later…
We’ll soon find out if I’m a scientist or not! I’ll drop a pellet of the compound I created into this test tube…when it hits the solution within, if it turns green, then I’ve succeeded in finding an antidote! Here goes…it changed color! I’ve done it! Once The Lizard drinks this formula, he’ll revert to his normal self again! But there is still one problem remaining…how am I going to get him to drink it?
The Lizard called for the Arch.
“Great,” Tasha muttered.
They all tried to get a bead on him, maybe intercept him, but it was too late. He leapt at the doors and they opened in front of him, and soon he was in the corridor in front of Picard, Riker, Data, Mrs. Connors and Billy. Without stopping, he ran away from them all.
Picard gave a start and then raced after him, Riker in tow. The others weren’t far behind, until Riker told Mrs. Connors that she’d better stay put.
“Lieutenant Connors!” Picard called after him. He tapped his combadge. “Doctor Crusher! We need your assistance…”
Peter finished prepping the dose for Connors, and then left the lab again and donned his costume. He’d have to get to Connors fast, before he killed someone!
He emerged in front of The Lizard, who reeled to a stop and paused, sizing up this new prey. Then he lowered Worf to the floor and clutched his head, to indicate that he’d snap the Klingon’s neck if Spider-Man tried anything.
Picard, Riker and Data came to a stop behind The Lizard. “Spider-Man, do not interfere!” Picard tried to order. Three security officers came running up behind Spider-Man, and Tasha and her team joined Picard, getting in front of him to protect him.
“There’s nowhere to run, Lizard!” Spider-Man said.
“If you kill him, you’ll have to deal with all of us!” Riker added.
The detail behind Spider-Man looked confused. Apparently they were only expecting him, not also The Lizard. They held their ground, phasers out, and waited for someone to make a move.
The Lizard slashed his tail forward at Spider-Man, who leapt as high as he had room to and clung to the ceiling. A phaser struck The Lizard in the back, and he whirled, tail extended, to knock down Tasha Yar.
“It’s gonna take one hell of a high setting to stop him,” Riker commented. He went for Tasha’s phaser, but one look from The Lizard froze him in place.
Spider-Man took that opportunity to pull Worf free with a webline, and The Lizard, in a fit of fury, crossed the space between them. Spider-Man jumped free, right into the midst of the security team, which parted for him. They all fired at The Lizard and missed, and the chase was on.
“Now let’s see…where can I lead you where you won’t cause trouble? Hey, I know!” Spidey spun around and doused The Lizard in webbing.
“You must not realize, your web isn’t strong enough to hold me!” The Lizard said. He maneuvered close as he ripped it to shreds and he made a grab for Spider-Man, who somersaulted away from him, farther down the corridor.
“You may be stronger than me, Liz…but I still say you’re too slow to keep up with me!”
Spider-Man dove through a doorway into an empty set of guest quarters, and The Lizard pursued him inside.
“Now I have you!” The Lizard snarled and lashed out at him. “Nowhere to run!” He didn’t leave the space in front of the door. Spider-Man hefted a couch and hurled it at him.
“You think you’ve got this situation all wrapped up, don’t you?”
The Lizard batted the couch away with his tail, and snapped the thing nearly in half as it rebounded off the far wall. “I am your superior!”
“Yeah, yeah…what do you expect to do, take over the ship?”
The Lizard hissed in rage. “I will kill everyone who gets in my way! And if that means everyone on the ship, then so be it!”
“Pal, you understand I’ve knocked around with Doctor Doom before, right? You may be tough, but you’d be undersellin’ the world’s top tin-plated despot to think you can get past me to do it!”
The Lizard loped forward, intent on an attack, but he wanted to get it just right this time. Spider-Man, in the meantime, removed the antidote from where he’d hidden it. He also remembered to activate his camera, so he could get some decent snaps for Jonah.
I’ve gotta get him into the prime position for me to pour this stuff down his throat!
Spider-Man crawled along the ceiling and tried to get above The Lizard’s head, but The Lizard swung at him again and again with his tail, and Spider-Man was forced onto the floor, and then he sprang forward and threw a punch. It was like hitting concrete. The Lizard repelled him with a backhanded throw that landed him against the wall opposite the couch. He took a moment to gather his senses, saw The Lizard looming over him…
…and then Doctor Crusher entered the room, accompanied by an armed contingent. She managed to get up behind The Lizard and stick a hypo in his neck, with a face that practically screamed with apprehension. Slowly but surely, her solution worked.
Don’t I ever get to finish the job myself?
Spider-Man slumped there for a minute while Crusher’s potion did its trick, and then he figured he’d better think about making his escape.
“I-I’m human again!” Connors cried with joy. “The nightmare has ended! At last…it’s over!” With stooped shoulders and his face buried in his hand, he turned around to face Crusher and her contingent. The place was filling up fast with everybody who had been a part of the sortie in the corridor.
“You have only one arm again!” Crusher observed, scanning him with a medical tricorder. “Every last vestige of your Lizard identity has vanished! Now…let me take you to sickbay, Lieutenant.”
He nodded wearily and followed her. Spider-Man, in the meantime, slipped out through the Tubes before Security could stop him, much to Captain Picard’s consternation.
A short time later, in Sickbay…
“My darling!” Mrs. Connors hugged her husband. “If not for Spider-Man, I might never have held you in my arms again! Oh, Curtis…I-I can’t believe you’re really back!”
“I tampered with forces of nature which must not be tampered with! When I think what might have happened…”
“Hush, my darling! It’s all over now! You must try to forget it!”
“I’ll destroy my notes! No one else must ever repeat my experiments! But now, what price must I pay for what I’ve done…for the terrible havoc I almost wrought?”
Picard came over to them, after consulting with Doctor Crusher. “Lieutenant, I’m afraid I’m going to have to reduce you to ensign. Do you have any idea of the magnitude of what you’ve done?!” He was clearly furious.
“I’m sorry, Captain, I…”
“Save it, Mister Connors. From now on, if you want to experiment, don’t do it aboard a Starfleet vessel, do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That was reckless, irresponsible, and a misuse of Starfleet materials. I will not have my officers meddling with things they’re not supposed to. We have enough problems to deal with out here without my Lieutenants transforming into whatever they’re in the mood for on a given day. After you’ve rested, report to cargo bay three for inventory duty.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Finally, a weary Peter Parker reached his quarters. He slumped into the chair in front of his computer monitor and relaxed for a bit. It had been a long day indeed, and he’d faced down yet another superhuman menace…and another animal-based one, no less! What were the odds?
He thought about getting some rest, then decided he would see if Betty Brant was available for a date…and then he remembered that she would be working late for Jonah. After a moment’s thought, he decided to contact Liz Allen.
She popped up on his monitor at once. “Hi, Liz! It’s Peter! How about tomorrow night?”
“Peter Parker! I’ll tell you what I told Flash Thompson! I’ll thank you not to call and tie up my screen! I’m waiting for a call from Spider-Man! After him rescuing me the other day and calling me ‘blue eyes’, I’m sure he’ll call! And I don’t want the line to be busy when my dream man calls!”
If it were possible to slam the button to disengage the connection, that’s what it looked like she would have done. Peter leaned back, dumbfounded.
“Oh, no! She thinks Spider-Man has a crush on her! So she won’t waste time dating plain, ordinary Peter from Dullville! Only a guy with my nutty luck could end up being his own competition!”
Miss Brant did indeed work late. When the second shift on the bridge was getting ready to call it a night, she had an open channel to Admiral Jameson. He bristled at a message on another monitor, which he read aloud.
“Roses are red, violets are blue…I’m still at large, so to hell with you!” He paused, gathering his senses. “It was sent by Spider-Man?! How did he manage to get that message to me?!”
“I guess Spider-Man can send subspace messages just like anyone else!”
Jameson pounded his desk in fury. “Ohh, I’ll get that masked menace if it’s the last thing I do!”
Captain Picard passed the night in continued conference with Admiral Jameson, who simply could not believe that Picard had accomplished so little in his pursuit of the wall-crawler.
“So what’s next?” Jameson asked him.
“Next, Admiral…?”
“What will you do to find him?”
“Sir, for all intents and purposes, he does not appear to be on board the Enterprise.”
“What the hell do you mean, Picard? He appeared to be there just a few hours ago! I got the pictures from Parker to prove it!”
“That’s all we have, Admiral, are pictures. We haven’t seen anyone walking around in a Spider-Man costume, or any mask at all more sophisticated than Geordi’s…VISOR…” He trailed off when he remembered that Geordi’s VISOR was actually quite sophisticated. “We don’t pick up any unusual life-signs anywhere, or life-signs where there shouldn’t be any. Furthermore, he’s too fast to follow…”
“So? Get that--that--that android after him, what’s its name…”
“Mister Data? I’m certain that he might be able to track him, but even so--”
“Then no excuses. Next time he shows his…mask…get the android on him! And there’s something else I’ve got in the works, but as of right now, it’s top-secret. Hush-hush. But I think you’re going to like it.”
With those final words, Jameson cut the connection. Picard hated Spider-Man even more because of these frequent calls from Admiral Jameson. He wanted Spider-Man finished off as much as the Admiral did…but how would they ever facilitate it?
“Computer, erase lizard monster!” he cried, to no avail.
Flash smiled and squared up to it. “Outta the way, pencil-neck. I can take him!”
“Begone! This swamp is mine!!” The Lizard creature rasped at him. He threw a punch at its massive jaw, but only ended up hurting his fist. He tried not to show it. “You dare defy the Lizard? You’ll pay for that folly!” The Lizard grabbed a gigantic tree to his left and hefted it. The three Cadets ran for cover.
“He snapped that huge tree as if it were cardboard!” Wesley exclaimed. “Run! We’ve got to get out of here! Computer--arch!!”
“Flee, puny humans! This swamp is mine! Here, The Lizard reigns supreme!”
“He doesn’t have to tell me twice!” Flash remarked as the exit appeared and the three of them piled out into the corridor. Flash didn’t much like the idea of running like a coward, but the encounter with Doctor Doom was still fresh in his mind, and he didn’t need another one like it for as long as he could manage.
Wesley shut down the program from the panel in the corridor, and then he opened the door again, and he was the only one brave enough to peer inside. The swamp was gone, and there was The Lizard, alone in the middle of a black-and-yellow grid. He looked around him, seething, and then set his sights on the boy who had robbed him of his home. With a hiss, he charged straight at the door. Wesley yelped and locked the doors in front of him.
Like wildfire, the reports of the human lizard spread throughout the ship.
“They say it walks and talks like a man!” one Cadet was heard to exclaim.
“Bullets cannot harm it,” a Vulcan ensign observed. “What is it? Who is it?”
“It has the strength of a dozen shuttlecraft,” Worf mulled over the quite probably exaggerated rumor.
Even in the science lab where Peter Parker worked, the name of The Lizard was one everyone’s lips.
I’d like to know what this is all about too, Peter mused, but I’ll get to the bottom of it quietly!
He quietly investigated the reports via his computer screen, while maintaining the illusion that he was hard at work like his fellow officers. Lieutenant Connors hadn’t shown up, so there was no one to watch over his shoulder anyway…
Just then, however, he got an incoming message from Admiral Jameson.
“Parker! I want you to get some photos of that Lizard man! Chances are, wherever he is, Spider-Man won’t be far behind!”
“Oh, certainly, Mr. Jameson, but don’t you think Security will have it neutralized before Spider-Man can do anything effective against it?” Peter did want to take it on before anyone in the crew could endanger themselves, but he couldn’t tell Mr. Jameson that.
“Nonsense, my boy! That’s no way to think! If that happens, we won’t sell papers. Now mush!”
Peter sighed and cut the connection. The first thing he did was a bit of a refresher course on lizards. He figured if he was going up against one he should know all he could about them, just in case. He began with the dinosaurs. If their intelligence had matched their size, they might have been the ones plying the spaceways--probably like the Gorn, but bigger. Their hides were so thick that no gun smaller than a cannon could injure them. They lived in or out of water, they could give a present-day shuttlecraft a run for its money in the damage department…Peter wondered what he was getting himself into.
He excused himself from the lab and went to change. If he was going to get pictures, he’d want to stay out of harm’s way, and the only way to use his powers in public was to keep his identity a secret.
Meanwhile, Liz broke off from Flash and Wesley to turn down a different corridor, headed for her quarters. She froze in her tracks when she spotted two men who were clearly not Starfleet. They were emerging from a Jeffries Tube, and one of them slipped something into a pouch. They saw Liz watching them, and rushed toward her. She tapped her badge to call Security and turned to run, but they caught up with her. One of them grabbed her by the arm, and the other one pointed a phaser down one end of the corridor, then the other, checking for company. Liz called out “Help! Don’t let these two get away!”
Wes and Flash charged around the corner, but all they could do was stand there and wonder what to do. The two thieves backed away with Liz…
…and then the one with the phaser tripped and fell flat on his face.
Behind them, the entry to the Jeffries Tubes was open once again, and Spider-Man had poked his head out. A thin line of webbing had snagged the man’s leg and brought him down effortlessly.
“Hold it right there, boys!” he said as he got out and stood up. “You’re missing one of the most interesting things about this ship--namely, me!”
“It’s--Spider-Man!” exclaimed the man with his hand on Liz’s arm, while his friend got to hit feet. “What do we do now?”
“I’ll answer that question,” Spidey told him as he strode closer. “You hit my eager little fist with your big strong chins…like this!” With that, he struck both of them in one punch.
“Ugh!”
“Oof!”
Liz had been knocked over in the melee, and Spider-Man effortlessly lifted her off the floor.
“Spider-Man! You saved me from those gunmen!”
“The pleasure was all mine, blue-eyes!”
He put her down and made his way back to the Jeffries Tube, while Flash and Wes looked on, astonished.
I’m just enough of a show-off to enjoy these little incidents! But I’d better cut out before that Lizard does too much more damage! It’s a lucky thing that my spider-sense drew me to those two before they could get away with Liz!
Minutes later…
“Liz, come on! Snap out of it! This is Flash! Don’t you remember me?”
But Liz was grinning from ear-to-ear, awestruck. “Flash? Flash who? All I can remember is Spider-Man’s strong arms around me!” She sighed. “He saved me! He called me Blue Eyes! I’ll never forget him!”
“Nuts! Competition like Peter Parker, I can handle! But what do I do about Spider-Man!”
“Just one thing, Flash…” Wesley said ominously. “…worry!”
Picard and Riker sat down in the ready room; Picard ordered some Earl Gray tea and settled into his chair. He gestured for Riker to do the same.
“What am I going to do, Commander?”
“Sir?”
“I’ve got two thieves on board at the same time as a lizard creature which is, as far as we can tell, not of any known species.”
“It does resemble the Gorn, from all accounts.”
“Yes, but it’s not a Gorn, is it? And these two incidents, are far as anyone can tell, are entirely unconnected. It’s not very likely is it?” He sipped and looked at Riker, a slight sparkle in his eyes. This wasn’t half as trying as dealing with something like Q, so he wanted it to be simple.
“If I were a gambler, I’d say those are some long odds,” Riker observed, leaning back. “Still, we’ll have it all wrapped up at the end of the day. That lizard’s not something a phaser can’t take down.”
“I hope you’re right,” Picard agreed.
Tasha took point, overriding the lockout on the holodeck doors and stepping in with her phaser at the ready. The Lizard had brought the swamp program back into existence as soon as the Cadets had left. He was inside somewhere, hidden among the trees. A rolling fog obscured much of the area, so that their line of sight extended but a few feet.
“Computer, end program,” Tasha commanded. Nothing happened. She tapped her combadge. “Yar to the bridge. Can someone override this program? We can’t see anything in here!”
She didn’t want to be afraid, but recent events had terrified her when it came to the unknown. She waved a couple of her officers ahead of her, to the left and the right. They advanced only a few feet and then crouched behind cover.
The mud would throw off their balance if they weren’t careful. Tasha could tell that the creature wanted it this way. He was in his element, and they could all be ambushed.
Worf stood next to Tasha. “Recommend I take point, sir,” he rumbled. “If it comes to hand-to-hand, I have a chance against it.”
Without looking at him, Yar replied, “If this is about warrior pride…”
He stiffened. “It is my duty.”
“Alright, Worf. But be careful!”
Worf crept ahead, quieter than he looked like he could manage.
“This is the bridge,” came Data’s voice. “I am on my way to attempt an override. I will be there shortly.”
Yar knew what that meant. He was going to get up, take the turbolift to their deck and then work at the console right outside the holodeck. Well, it was the most direct option, wasn’t it?
The Lizard sprang out of nowhere, tackling Worf. They went down in a tangle of limbs, but agile Worf managed to fling The Lizard off of him and over his head, where he landed on his back. The two of them rose to their feet and circled each other, and the two officers Yar had motioned forward earlier opened fire with their phasers. The Lizard withstood their volley, but buckled to his knees.
“I don’t believe it. He won’t fall!” Yar exclaimed. “Well? Fire again!”
Worf was going to move in for another strike, but when he heard Yar give the order to fire he held back, and The Lizard sprang out of the way of the shots, taking Worf down once again.
I shouldn’t have let him go ahead, Yar thought. Now we risk shooting him!
Data worked diligently at the panel until Spider-Man came rushing up to him, at which point he continued to work diligently, but now he multitasked.
“Data, is this where The Lizard is?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve gotta let me in there so I can fight him!”
Data’s brow wrinkled. “I do not understand. Our security detail has not reported any particular difficulty aside from the program. It is still running, and I must shut it down.”
“You mean you won’t help m--”
Spider-Man was interrupted by crying. A woman came rushing down the corridor, dressed in plain clothes. A civilian?
“Lady,” Spider-Man said, “you’d better stay away. The Lizard is nearby!”
The middle-aged blonde wiped her eyes on her sleeve and looked with despair between Spider-Man and Data. “Stay away? Oh, no--you don’t understand! My husband, Lieutenant Curtis Connors…is The Lizard!”
“What?”
“Let me explain…my husband was a surgeon--he lost his right arm at Setlik Three, and had it replaced with a robotic prosthetic. Ever since then, he has studied reptile life! He even switched over to the sciences for a better opportunity to experiment. He’s one of Starfleet’s leading authorities on reptiles…Curtis Connors was a good husband, a good father! His son, Billy, adored him…and so did I!”
Months Ago
Lieutenant Connors and his wife and son were alone in the science lab. Everyone else was off-duty.
“If a lower order of life, such as certain types of lizards, lose a leg, or any base extremity, they often simply grow a new one! If only I could learn how it is done, and apply the secret to humans…think what it would mean! A man might grow a new pair of legs, or arms! Perhaps even new eyes, or a new heart! I’ve got to find the secret!”
“Oh, Curtis…” his wife began, smiling from ear-to-ear. “If only you could!”
“Daddy, what are you working on now?” Connors’ little blond son asked, peeping over the top of the counter, where beakers and burners spanned the expanse.
Connors smiled benevolently upon his beloved son. “Something to make you proud of me, Billy!” he explained warmly. “Something to help all mankind!”
After months of experimentation…
Connors, standing in front of a rabbit terrarium with a beaker full of red liquid in his hands, said, “The serum which I extracted from my experimental lizards worked! The rabbit grew a new leg within an hour! Now, all that remains is for me to try it on a human! And what better subject can there be than--myself!”
Right in front of his wife, Connors put the beaker to his mouth and started to gulp down the mysterious brew.
“Curtis…are you sure it’s safe? Curtis?!” She advanced, concerned for her husband’s health. How could he be so crazy? He didn’t know what it was going to do to him, and who was going to be able to help him?
He started to transform before her eyes.
“My right shoulder…such a strange sensation!” In the darkened lab, he clutched his right shoulder with his left hand, and stood in a tensed half-crouch. “I-I feel life returning!”
And then…
“I’ve done it! I’ve grown a new arm!” He held it out for inspection after the prosthetic plopped to the floor and bounced once, now dead. “This is the greatest medical feat of all time!”
But the change didn’t end there. No--the hand, the arm, all of Curtis Connors began to change, until…
“What has happened to me? What have I done?” He turned away from his wife now and leaned against the wall, his head against his bent arm.
“Curtis? What is it?!”
No! No! Stay away! Don’t look at me! Don’t!”
She thought she could make out green, scaly hands with claws on the end of them, but she wasn’t sure. The lab was kept at half-light to avert suspicion. If Starfleet ever found out what he was doing in there, they might take away his commission.
Trembling, sobbing, like a man possessed, the creature who had been Curtis Connors raced out into the corridor.
“Curtis!” she called after him, but he didn’t stop.
He returned the next night, after not showing up for his shift. He tried to work on a new serum, one which would make him human again…but it was hopeless! His brain had been too dulled--too changed! He pounded the counter, sending vials crashing to the floor. “Cannot do it!” he hissed. “Must give up!”
The Present
“…and that was the end! He left a note…saying goodbye…he was afraid to remain…afraid…because of what he had become!”
Then, at that moment…
“Mommy!”
“It’s Billy! I thought he was taking a nap!” she stooped to hug her son.
Then Captain Picard and Commander Riker came from the other end of the corridor. “What’s going on he--Spider-Man?!” Picard stiffened up.
“I am attempting to override the holodeck controls. Nearly finished,” Data reported.
Picard fixed Spider-Man with a glare. “If you had anything to do with this…”
“Listen, pal, if I had anything to do with it, I wouldn’t be standing here!” It rang hollow, but it was the best thing Spider-Man could come up with.
Worf struggled to get free of The Lizard’s powerful hold, but it kept him pinned to the swamp floor like a vice. Then it head-butted him and knocked him out. The Lizard slung Worf over its shoulder and climbed the nearest tall tree.
“Release him!” Yar commanded. It was no good. “You won’t leave this ship as anything except a prisoner unless you let him go and surrender! This holodeck is Starfleet propert--” her shoulders slumped. “Oh, what’s the point?” She turned to her team. “Keep him in sight, but do not fire.”
They pressed on into the swamp, as The Lizard made his way through the treetops. Then Captain Picard’s voice came through Yar’s combadge.
“Lieutenant, The Lizard is Lieutenant Connors, from the science division. Do not harm him if possible.”
“He’s got Worf, sir. Unconscious. He’s escaping through the…” she sighed, because she hated referring to a holographic environment as though it made a difference. “…the trees.”
Picard’s face fell and he looked at Riker, who merely looked back at him, steel in his blue eyes.
“Keep him in sight, but don’t take action unless he attempts to harm Worf.”
“Aye, sir.”
Spider-Man suddenly exclaimed, “That’s it!” and took off down the corridor.
“Come back here!” Picard projected firmly. Spider-Man ignored him. Picard looked to Riker, who shrugged, and then sighed and touched his combadge. “Security alert, Spider-Man sighted near holodeck two.”
“You might try it again, with more feeling,” Picard noted wryly. “How close are we, Mister Data?”
“Almost there, sir. It should only take another couple seconds.”
Peter took his costume off and got to work in the science lab as though nothing was amiss. If they all thought he was simply carrying out some assignment, no one would suspect that he was, in fact, working on a cure for Lieutenant Connors.
He and I haven’t exactly gotten along, have we? Peter thought, reflecting on the time that John Jameson’s shuttle encountered trouble in a planet’s atmosphere, and all the other times they’d been at odds. Still, I hardly know the guy, and his family obviously loves him…
Minutes later…
We’ll soon find out if I’m a scientist or not! I’ll drop a pellet of the compound I created into this test tube…when it hits the solution within, if it turns green, then I’ve succeeded in finding an antidote! Here goes…it changed color! I’ve done it! Once The Lizard drinks this formula, he’ll revert to his normal self again! But there is still one problem remaining…how am I going to get him to drink it?
The Lizard called for the Arch.
“Great,” Tasha muttered.
They all tried to get a bead on him, maybe intercept him, but it was too late. He leapt at the doors and they opened in front of him, and soon he was in the corridor in front of Picard, Riker, Data, Mrs. Connors and Billy. Without stopping, he ran away from them all.
Picard gave a start and then raced after him, Riker in tow. The others weren’t far behind, until Riker told Mrs. Connors that she’d better stay put.
“Lieutenant Connors!” Picard called after him. He tapped his combadge. “Doctor Crusher! We need your assistance…”
Peter finished prepping the dose for Connors, and then left the lab again and donned his costume. He’d have to get to Connors fast, before he killed someone!
He emerged in front of The Lizard, who reeled to a stop and paused, sizing up this new prey. Then he lowered Worf to the floor and clutched his head, to indicate that he’d snap the Klingon’s neck if Spider-Man tried anything.
Picard, Riker and Data came to a stop behind The Lizard. “Spider-Man, do not interfere!” Picard tried to order. Three security officers came running up behind Spider-Man, and Tasha and her team joined Picard, getting in front of him to protect him.
“There’s nowhere to run, Lizard!” Spider-Man said.
“If you kill him, you’ll have to deal with all of us!” Riker added.
The detail behind Spider-Man looked confused. Apparently they were only expecting him, not also The Lizard. They held their ground, phasers out, and waited for someone to make a move.
The Lizard slashed his tail forward at Spider-Man, who leapt as high as he had room to and clung to the ceiling. A phaser struck The Lizard in the back, and he whirled, tail extended, to knock down Tasha Yar.
“It’s gonna take one hell of a high setting to stop him,” Riker commented. He went for Tasha’s phaser, but one look from The Lizard froze him in place.
Spider-Man took that opportunity to pull Worf free with a webline, and The Lizard, in a fit of fury, crossed the space between them. Spider-Man jumped free, right into the midst of the security team, which parted for him. They all fired at The Lizard and missed, and the chase was on.
“Now let’s see…where can I lead you where you won’t cause trouble? Hey, I know!” Spidey spun around and doused The Lizard in webbing.
“You must not realize, your web isn’t strong enough to hold me!” The Lizard said. He maneuvered close as he ripped it to shreds and he made a grab for Spider-Man, who somersaulted away from him, farther down the corridor.
“You may be stronger than me, Liz…but I still say you’re too slow to keep up with me!”
Spider-Man dove through a doorway into an empty set of guest quarters, and The Lizard pursued him inside.
“Now I have you!” The Lizard snarled and lashed out at him. “Nowhere to run!” He didn’t leave the space in front of the door. Spider-Man hefted a couch and hurled it at him.
“You think you’ve got this situation all wrapped up, don’t you?”
The Lizard batted the couch away with his tail, and snapped the thing nearly in half as it rebounded off the far wall. “I am your superior!”
“Yeah, yeah…what do you expect to do, take over the ship?”
The Lizard hissed in rage. “I will kill everyone who gets in my way! And if that means everyone on the ship, then so be it!”
“Pal, you understand I’ve knocked around with Doctor Doom before, right? You may be tough, but you’d be undersellin’ the world’s top tin-plated despot to think you can get past me to do it!”
The Lizard loped forward, intent on an attack, but he wanted to get it just right this time. Spider-Man, in the meantime, removed the antidote from where he’d hidden it. He also remembered to activate his camera, so he could get some decent snaps for Jonah.
I’ve gotta get him into the prime position for me to pour this stuff down his throat!
Spider-Man crawled along the ceiling and tried to get above The Lizard’s head, but The Lizard swung at him again and again with his tail, and Spider-Man was forced onto the floor, and then he sprang forward and threw a punch. It was like hitting concrete. The Lizard repelled him with a backhanded throw that landed him against the wall opposite the couch. He took a moment to gather his senses, saw The Lizard looming over him…
…and then Doctor Crusher entered the room, accompanied by an armed contingent. She managed to get up behind The Lizard and stick a hypo in his neck, with a face that practically screamed with apprehension. Slowly but surely, her solution worked.
Don’t I ever get to finish the job myself?
Spider-Man slumped there for a minute while Crusher’s potion did its trick, and then he figured he’d better think about making his escape.
“I-I’m human again!” Connors cried with joy. “The nightmare has ended! At last…it’s over!” With stooped shoulders and his face buried in his hand, he turned around to face Crusher and her contingent. The place was filling up fast with everybody who had been a part of the sortie in the corridor.
“You have only one arm again!” Crusher observed, scanning him with a medical tricorder. “Every last vestige of your Lizard identity has vanished! Now…let me take you to sickbay, Lieutenant.”
He nodded wearily and followed her. Spider-Man, in the meantime, slipped out through the Tubes before Security could stop him, much to Captain Picard’s consternation.
A short time later, in Sickbay…
“My darling!” Mrs. Connors hugged her husband. “If not for Spider-Man, I might never have held you in my arms again! Oh, Curtis…I-I can’t believe you’re really back!”
“I tampered with forces of nature which must not be tampered with! When I think what might have happened…”
“Hush, my darling! It’s all over now! You must try to forget it!”
“I’ll destroy my notes! No one else must ever repeat my experiments! But now, what price must I pay for what I’ve done…for the terrible havoc I almost wrought?”
Picard came over to them, after consulting with Doctor Crusher. “Lieutenant, I’m afraid I’m going to have to reduce you to ensign. Do you have any idea of the magnitude of what you’ve done?!” He was clearly furious.
“I’m sorry, Captain, I…”
“Save it, Mister Connors. From now on, if you want to experiment, don’t do it aboard a Starfleet vessel, do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That was reckless, irresponsible, and a misuse of Starfleet materials. I will not have my officers meddling with things they’re not supposed to. We have enough problems to deal with out here without my Lieutenants transforming into whatever they’re in the mood for on a given day. After you’ve rested, report to cargo bay three for inventory duty.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Finally, a weary Peter Parker reached his quarters. He slumped into the chair in front of his computer monitor and relaxed for a bit. It had been a long day indeed, and he’d faced down yet another superhuman menace…and another animal-based one, no less! What were the odds?
He thought about getting some rest, then decided he would see if Betty Brant was available for a date…and then he remembered that she would be working late for Jonah. After a moment’s thought, he decided to contact Liz Allen.
She popped up on his monitor at once. “Hi, Liz! It’s Peter! How about tomorrow night?”
“Peter Parker! I’ll tell you what I told Flash Thompson! I’ll thank you not to call and tie up my screen! I’m waiting for a call from Spider-Man! After him rescuing me the other day and calling me ‘blue eyes’, I’m sure he’ll call! And I don’t want the line to be busy when my dream man calls!”
If it were possible to slam the button to disengage the connection, that’s what it looked like she would have done. Peter leaned back, dumbfounded.
“Oh, no! She thinks Spider-Man has a crush on her! So she won’t waste time dating plain, ordinary Peter from Dullville! Only a guy with my nutty luck could end up being his own competition!”
Miss Brant did indeed work late. When the second shift on the bridge was getting ready to call it a night, she had an open channel to Admiral Jameson. He bristled at a message on another monitor, which he read aloud.
“Roses are red, violets are blue…I’m still at large, so to hell with you!” He paused, gathering his senses. “It was sent by Spider-Man?! How did he manage to get that message to me?!”
“I guess Spider-Man can send subspace messages just like anyone else!”
Jameson pounded his desk in fury. “Ohh, I’ll get that masked menace if it’s the last thing I do!”
Captain Picard passed the night in continued conference with Admiral Jameson, who simply could not believe that Picard had accomplished so little in his pursuit of the wall-crawler.
“So what’s next?” Jameson asked him.
“Next, Admiral…?”
“What will you do to find him?”
“Sir, for all intents and purposes, he does not appear to be on board the Enterprise.”
“What the hell do you mean, Picard? He appeared to be there just a few hours ago! I got the pictures from Parker to prove it!”
“That’s all we have, Admiral, are pictures. We haven’t seen anyone walking around in a Spider-Man costume, or any mask at all more sophisticated than Geordi’s…VISOR…” He trailed off when he remembered that Geordi’s VISOR was actually quite sophisticated. “We don’t pick up any unusual life-signs anywhere, or life-signs where there shouldn’t be any. Furthermore, he’s too fast to follow…”
“So? Get that--that--that android after him, what’s its name…”
“Mister Data? I’m certain that he might be able to track him, but even so--”
“Then no excuses. Next time he shows his…mask…get the android on him! And there’s something else I’ve got in the works, but as of right now, it’s top-secret. Hush-hush. But I think you’re going to like it.”
With those final words, Jameson cut the connection. Picard hated Spider-Man even more because of these frequent calls from Admiral Jameson. He wanted Spider-Man finished off as much as the Admiral did…but how would they ever facilitate it?