Dear Doctor

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Star Trek: Enterprise episode
"Dear Doctor"
Phlox presents an ethical dilemma to Captain Archer while searching for a cure for the Valakians, Dear Doctor
Episode no.	12
Prod. code	113
Airdate	January 23, 2002
Writer(s)	Maria Jacquemetton Andre Jacquemetton
Director	James A. Contner
Guest star(s)	Kellie Waymire David A. Kimball Chris Rydell Karl Wiedergott Alex Nevil
Year	2151
Stardate	unknown
Episode chronology
Previous	"Silent Enemy"
Next	"Sleeping Dogs"

Dear Doctor is the 12^th episode (production #113) of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise.

[edit] Synopsis

Dr. Phlox faces a serious dilemma as a dying race begs for help from Enterprise.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Teaser
It is the start of a new day on the Enterprise. Phlox enters Sickbay and turns on the lights. Birds chirrup around the room. Phlox crosses to the storage cabinets and prepares food for his animals, spending a little time with each one whilst feeding it.

Act One
Hoshi arrives in Sickbay, bringing letters from Denobula for Phlox. He tells her that they are from Dr Jeremy Lucas, his partner on the Interspecies Medical Exchange. Dr Lucas is the first human doctor on Denobula. He helped Phlox to settle in to San Francisco when Phlox first arrived and Phlox is returning the favour. As she leaves, Hoshi asks Phlox if he is ready for her lesson in Denobulan later on. Phlox tells her that they will tackle gerunds today.

Dr Lucas tells Phlox of his difficult week in mating season on Denobula. Phlox writes back that a dose of niaxillin can be effective in separating "the two combatants". Dr Lucas lives in a part of the city that has some lively Kaybin bars along the river. Dr Lucas shouldn't go in there unescorted as they can be disturbing to uninitated people. Phlox tells of difficulties in forming friendships with the crew and we see him sitting alone in a crowded Mess Hall. Phlox helps Archer cure Porthos' gastrointestinal distress and notes how humans form intimate anthropomorphic bonds with lesser species.

Phlox sits in a crowded cinema with Ensign Cutler. He is more interested in the emotional undercurrent in the room rather than watching For Whom the Bell Tolls, and looks around to see if the ending to the film with trigger a group response. Phlox tells her that Denobula left films behind several hundred years ago when the people discovered that their real lives were more interesting. Phlox leans forward to see Trip weeping; Trip says that he has something in his eye. Later, Phlox walks Cutler back to her quarters. They discuss the human cardiovascular system but Cutler says that Phlox still has a lot to learn about the human heart. Phlox appears not to sense that Cutler wants to kiss goodnight, so she touches his arm to stop him walking away. Phlox looks uncomfortable but says that he is trying to get rid of some of his cultural inhibitions. Cutler smiles and pecks him on the cheek before retiring. Phlox tells Dr Lucas that he can't be certain about Cutler's romantic interest in him as human phereomones aren't as potent as Denobulans'.

The Enterprise comes across a Valakian shuttlecraft without power, drifting in space. It doesn't answer hails. T'Pol reports a Minshara-class planet less than a light year away from their position. Reed says that the ship is pre-warp in design. T'Pol reports two faint bio-signs. Archer orders it brought in to Launch Bay 2 and summons Phlox to treat the Valakians.

In Sickbay, Phlox revives the Valakian astronaut. The astronaut says that three ships left Valakis one year ago to search for a cure for the illness that infects him. 12 million people died from it in the year before they left. The astronaut insists that warp-capable species must have superior medical technology too; if they do, then they can find the cure that has eluded the Valakian doctors. T'Pol and Archer discuss the matter. As the M'klexa and the Ferengi have already visited the planet, intervention from the Enterprise won't be too much contamination of the pre-warp society. Archer authorises Phlox to carry on with the research.

Act Two
Phlox writes to Dr Lucas that he feels apprehensive about taking responsibility for the wellbeing of 50 million Valakians. Later in the Mess Hall, Phlox and Hoshi discuss the two astronauts using Denobulan, in order for Hoshi to practice. Hoshi mentions that Phlox and Ensign Cutler spend a lot of time together. Phlox isn't sure if Cutler is interested in him, so Hoshi gives some tips on how to spot Cutler's interest; spending time around Phlox and finding excuses to touch him.

The Enterprise enters orbit over Valakis and an Away Team of Archer, T'Pol, Phlox and Hoshi beam down. They are met by Esaak, the Valakian director of a clinic, who informs the Away Team of the progress they have been making towards a cure. One in three of the Valakians are infected. Treatment with a synthetic antibody is ineffective as the disease mutates and can't be controlled once it moves in to the respiratory system; pulmonary failure follows shortly thereafter. Phlox offers to show the Valakians how to synthesise Priaxate in order to ease the symptoms and Archer agrees. As the Away Team moves away, Hoshi remains behind and speaks to Larr, a Menk orderly.

Larr replies in an alien language, which Hoshi tries to use the Universal Translator to interpret. The Away Team return with Esaak shortly, who dismisses Larr. He tells Hoshi that Larr is Menk, a lesser-evolved species than the Valakians, which is why he speaks a different language. Esaak says that the Menk haven't caught the disease, something that Phlox believes is significant.

Phlox writes to Dr Lucas, telling him how much he enjoys being absorbed in the problem of the Valakian epidemic. Plhox mentions that he has enlisted Crewman Cutler's help in Sickbay. Phlox talks to T'Pol about Cutler. T'Pol says that she finds that humans lack a degree of maturity that is required for interspecies relationships and that Cutler may merely be satisfying her curiosity at Phlox's expense. T'Pol warns Phlox to be careful as she leaves Sickbay.

In the Captain's Ready Room, Phlox tells Archer that he has developed a medication to ease the symptoms of the disease. Phlox reveals that the illness is genetic and has been ongoing for thousands of years, accelerating only in recent generations. Phlox projects that the Valakians will be extinct in less than two centuries. Phlox believes that the answer to a cure may lie in the Menk and Archer tells him to take as much time as he needs in order to find it.

Act Three
Phlox, Hoshi and Cutler arrive at a Menk community at night in order to obtain blood samples for genetic tests. The Away Team are fed by Larr, the Menk Orderly, who surprises them by learning some English words. Larr says that the Valakians don't let the Menk live near fertile land in response to Phlox's question regarding the origins of the food. He continues by saying that the Valakians support the Menk entirely, providing for all of their needs. As they pack up, Phlox notices that Larr has catalogued the genetic material with a colour code, cross-referenced by family and marriage. Phlox is surprised and notes in his letter to Dr Lucas that everyone has underestimated the abilities of the Menk.

Phlox and Cutler walk about the Menk compound. Cutler thinks that the Valakians treat the Menk like pets and Phlox believes that it is just the culture on Valakis. He tells Cutler that he is married to three Denobulan women, who each have two husbands, not counting him. Cutler says that she doesn't want to be wife number four, she just wants to be friends and to see where the relationship goes.

Archer visits the Valakian astronaut, who says that he feels better but that his prognosis hasn't changed. The astronaut pleads for warp drive capability in order for the Valakians to seek help. Archer replies, saying that not all of the species that they encounter will want to help them like humans do.

Back onboard the Enterprise, T'Pol reports that the ship has been hailed twenty-nine times in the last two hours from other clinics requesting assistance. Two Valakian ships have also approached the Enterprise in the mistaken belief that the humans already have a cure for the illness. In the Ready Room, Archer tells T'Pol that he doesn't believe that the Valakians are ready for warp technology. Archer says that he is beginning to understand how the Vulcans must have felt when they made First Contact, ninety years previously.

In Sickbay, Phlox studies a sample of Menk DNA and pulls away from the microscope, his face drawn.

Act Four
Phlox enters the Mess Hall and finds Archer sitting alone at a table, staring out over Valakis. He says that Denobulans require little rest, except for their six-day annual hibernation period. Archer asks if Phlox has a cure, and Phlox replies that even if a cure could be found, he wouldn't find it ethical to administer it. Phlox would be interfering in an evolutionary process; the Valakians are dying out and the Menk are undergoing an awakening process. The "disease" the Valakians are suffering from isn't caused by any pathogen, but is because their gene pool has reached a "dead end". Phlox tells Archer that he believes that Archer's compassion for the Valakians is clouding his judgement in finding a cure. Phlox reveals that he already has found a cure.

Act Five
The following morning, Archer visits Phlox in the Sickbay. He says that he has spend all night reconsidering the Valakian's request for assistance. Archer continues by saying that Starfleet hasn't issued a directive for ethical behaviour and until the day it does, Archer will have to remind himself that he isn't on a mission to play God.

In the clinic, Esaak thanks Archer for the medicine but presses for assistance in building a warp-capable starship to improve the Valakian's chances of finding a cure. Archer hesitates for a moment before refusing, a difficult task for him. Phlox writes to Dr Lucas that he is glad that he gave Archer all of the facts in order for him to come to the correct conclusion, and feels that if he hadn't then he would have been no better than the Vulcan diplomats who held humans back for so long. Phlox continues by saying that he now has a new respect for Captain Archer.

Hoshi enters to take Phlox's letter for transmission. She tells Phlox to get out of Sickbay in order to change his heavy mood. Phlox agrees and hails Cutler to join him in the Mess Hall. As he leaves, Phlox wishes his creatures "Sweet dreams" before turning the lights out.