Captain's starlog, supplemental.
I'm beginning to wonder if inviting the Kreetassans aboard
was such a good idea.
It's been a challenging morning, to say the least.
Did you get that?
"Insult." Some kind of an insult.
He's insulting us, or we insulted them?
I'm not sure.
Ask what we did wrong.
- Well? - "You eat like you mate"?
You sure that thing's working?
I think they wanna leave.
That much is obvious.
Whatever we've done to offend you...
...I apologize.
Well, this is one for the books.
Briefest first contact.
Does anybody hear that?
What, the static?
Frequency distortions mixed in with the static.
You've got better ears than we do.
It's coming from the com system.
Have you run a diagnostic?
Twice.
I guess today is just not my day.
How's the translation coming along?
Slowly.
Their word for "eat"?
What about it?
With emphasis on the first syllable... it means "to mate."
I can see how that might cause some confusion over dinner.
Context is critical in every language,
but Kreetassan has the most subtle variations I've ever seen.
The same word can have a dozen different meanings.
We rely on you to recognize the difference, ensign.
You think it was my fault?
- I didn't say that. - You implied it.
I simply noted that linguistic matters fall within your responsibility.
For all we know, it was Mr Tucker's table manners that offended them.
But you think if I'd picked up the language faster,
they might have not stormed off the ship.
There's no need to react emotionally.
Try to learn from failure.
It could help your next first contact be more successful.
Thanks.
Commander.
I'm picking up some kind of interference on the com system.
A high-frequency distortion.
- Is it a problem? - Mostly just irritating.
I'll track it down first thing in the morning.
Thanks.
- Is he in there? - Yes.
How's his mood?
Now might not be the best time.
I'll take my chances.
It better be important.
Prime rib tonight with real horseradish.
Thanks, I'll have the steward send some up.
Thought we'd set a course for this brown dwarf system.
- Looks interesting. - I can't wait.
In the meantime, why don't we shoot a little Nine Ball? You can break.
Maybe later.
I was gonna save this for a rainy day, but...
Stanford versus Texas.
The finals?
Fresh out of the subspace mailbag.
You've been threatening to teach me the finer points of the game.
Unless you're too busy with your brown dwarfs.
What if they just don't like being touched?
Remember how uncomfortable they looked
when the captain tried to shake their hands?
They looked that way the entire time.
Besides, they didn't really lose their temper
until they arrived here in the mess hall.
Are you staying for the movie tonight?
What's playing?
Wages of Fear.
Classic French film.
No, you'll like it.
Things blow up.
Sounds fun.
Hoshi?
No, thanks, I'm turning in early.
We might need a translator.
Those subtitles go by pretty fast.
I've had enough language problems for one day.
We're gonna have to sit in the back.
One minute.
I hate missing the beginning.
It's on the computer. You can watch it whenever you want.
It's not the same.
You don't wanna go back and see the first part after you know how it ends.
The power just went out on D deck.
Cargo Bay Two.
The lighting grid's down.
It's probably just a blown relay.
Leave it for the night shift.
If it's just a blown relay, it'll take you ten minutes to fix.
Here.
The com's out too.
Two and a half hours?
Two hours and 24 minutes.
That seems awfully long for a movie about four men in a truck.
- You'll be on the edge of your seat. - You promised me explosions.
Don't worry.
This is all wrong.
- Reed to bridge. - Go ahead, lieutenant.
We're trying to watch a movie down here,
but instead we're being treated to a view of you.
So unless you're planning on giving us a little song and dance,
maybe you could see what's gone wrong.
Come on.
Come on.
Yes!
How deep's the pool?
Deep enough so that no one can touch the bottom.
I didn't know it was such a rough game.
Think of it as one part basketball, one part swimming...
...and one part wrestling.
And I thought it was just a bunch of guys screwing around in a pool.
Engineering.
Michael, is that you?
Hello?
Nice goal!
You see the way number 12 set him up?
Wait, he's called the point man, right?
Very good.
I told you, best sport in the world.
Well, I'll still take a great off-tackle run out of the backfield,
but I can see how you can get hooked on this.
Thanks for thinking of it.
My pleasure.
Now, keep watching while Texas trounces your sorry California butts.
You haven't watched the end of this, have you?
Of course not.
Hello?
What the hell was that?
Oh, number eight on Texas just fouled one of my boys.
He's gonna be ejected for 20 seconds.
Is that fair? It gives your guys an advantage.
Well, that's the point.
I don't suppose it'd be practical to put a pool on the ship.
I wouldn't wanna be taking a swim if the gravity plating went off-line.
No. No.
- Kelly to the captain. - Go ahead.
Sir, I'm in Cargo Bay Two,
and there's some kind of life form in here.
- Life form? - It's got Rostov, sir.
He's still conscious, but he can't...
Crewman?
Weapons to stun.
Captain.
Sir?
Careful.
The light.
She's alive.
Captain.
Leave.
Crewman?
Leave!
Captain!
Get out of here!
Go!
This thing appears to be growing.
There's no telling if it'll get out of the cargo bay.
I recommend we evacuate the entire deck.
How did it get on board?
The last time we opened the airlock, we were docked with the Kreetassans.
You think they left us a little souvenir?
Our encounter didn't go well,
but I doubt we gave them reason to attack us.
We're not even certain that the organism's hostile.
You didn't see that thing go after the captain!
It seemed hostile enough to me.
The Kreetassans might know something about this thing.
I can start scanning for their ship, try to pick up their warp trail.
We'll need to communicate with them better than last time.
I'll do my best.
T'Pol to Dr Phlox. Report.
I'm preparing to examine the specimen.
Would you care to observe?
Yes. Stand by.
You'll note that even though it's been severed from its body,
it survives independently,
not unlike the common earthworm or the Neethian cradlefish.
Do you think that's wise, doctor?
Possibly not, but I'm going to need a tissue sample
if I hope to learn more about its physiology.
That'll be quite enough.
This is no earthworm.
- Doctor? - Look at the synaptic activity.
This organism possesses a very sophisticated nervous system.
It could be capable of higher mental functions.
If it's intelligent, maybe we can communicate with it.
The frequency distortions,
they look a lot like the phonetic patterns in certain Andorian dialects.
With all due respect, Hoshi,
we're not talking about nouns and verbs here.
It could take you days to learn a language like that, even if it is one.
What other choice do we have?
Give me a chance.
I'm sorry, ensign, there isn't enough time.
- Sub-commander... - We need to neutralize it quickly.
- You said phase-pistols had no effect? - None that I could tell.
Then I suggest you find a method that does.
If I may,
the organism is highly photosensitive.
A sustained burst of EM radiation might be enough to stun the creature.
Can you assemble some EM emitters?
Lt'll take a few minutes.
Why doesn't it just kill us?
Take it easy.
I'm sure T'Pol and Malcolm are doing everything they can
to get us out of here.
Can either of you see Crewman Kelly?
- Yes, sir. - How's she look?
She's still breathing.
Zabel's still unconscious.
- Captain? - Yeah.
I imagine in a situation like this they'd cancel the movie.
I imagine so.
I really wanted to see it.
Yves Montand driving explosives through the mountains.
I'll make sure they reschedule it for next week.
Thank you, sir.
It's working.
Bridge, something's wrong.
Shut off the emitters.
- Doctor? - Shut them off.
Off.
- What happened? - Their nervous systems
appear to be linked to the organism's.
They're sharing autonomic functions, neural impulses.
If we continue firing, we could end up killing our own people.
Mr Reed,
withdraw your team.
Understood.
The rate of symbiosis is increasing.
If we don't find a way to extract them soon,
their systems will be too integrated with the creature.
I won't be able to separate them.
You wanted a chance to communicate.
I suggest you begin.
How much time do they have?
A few hours at most.
Their metabolic rates are dropping. Temperature, respiration.
There must be some way to cut them out of there.
I'm not sure if you appreciate how alien this creature is.
It's not attacking our crewmen,
it's trying to integrate them into itself.
The end result's the same.
At some point in the very near future,
there won't be six life forms in that cargo bay.
There'll only be one.
If that thing continues to grow, we're gonna have to find a way to contain it.
Do you have a suggestion?
Starfleet's been working on creating a stable EM barrier
for the last five years.
- A forcefield. - Right.
They just haven't found a way to control the particle density.
All the specs are in the database.
I've been trying to jury-rig a prototype of my own.
And?
I've got it stable enough
to absorb a phase-pistol blast 60 percent of the time.
I think I can improve on that.
I suggest you work quickly.
I think I found them.
- Where? - Point-five-two light years from here.
- Lay in a course. - I already have.
I've been sending out hails, but we're still out of com range.
Let me know as soon as they respond.
Any progress?
Believe me, you'd be the first to know.
I'm sorry.
It's frustrating. I'm not having a lot of luck.
The situation requires expertise, not luck.
Then maybe I don't have the expertise.
If you don't, no one else aboard Enterprise does.
I'm doing my best.
It was your suggestion that we attempt to communicate with it.
If you don't think that's possible, we'll have to find another solution.
I've made a little progress...
...but our translation matrix isn't designed for this. Look at it.
It's more like a calculus equation than a language.
Mathematics is sometimes considered a form of language.
What I'm trying to say is...
...that I could use help from someone
with a background in higher mathematics.
Perhaps I can assist you.
The Texas goalie can't block to his right
because he keeps his hands too deep.
How do you know that?
Captain, I know it too...
...and I don't understand anything about water polo.
It's this life form.
It's linking us together somehow.
We gotta get out!
Calm down.
This thing's gotten inside our heads!
Trip.
Do you know what I'm thinking about?
Now's not the time to be thinking about the regionals.
Trip.
Senior year,
North American regionals against Princeton.
We...
I mean, you were down by two goals under a minute left.
And what was I thinking?
What was I thinking?
You thought...
...you could win...
...every game.
You always thought you could win...
...no matter how far behind you were.
And we did.
We went on to the finals that year.
As soon as you give up...
...the game's lost.
How's our little friend?
Fast asleep.
It appears to have entered a dormant state.
Probably a reaction to the shock
of being severed from the larger organism.
But it's alive?
- Very much so. - Good.
Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to run a few tests of my own.
What kind of tests?
I need to determine how much bioelectric stress it can tolerate.
May I ask why?
I'm trying to create a forcefield to isolate the cargo bay.
But if it's going to work,
I have to calculate how much of a jolt it will take
to repel the organism without killing it
or any of the people it's taken.
If you intend to pummel this appendage with EM radiation
until it cries for mercy, I'm afraid I can't permit that.
Why not?
This is more than just a severed limb.
It exhibits all the signs of an intelligent being.
Intelligent being or not, its big brother is in the cargo bay
strangling the captain and four other crewmen.
If we don't do something to contain it now,
it could pose a threat to everyone on board.
There are less invasive ways to gather the information you need.
- Such as? - Microcellular analysis.
- How long would that take? - Less than an hour.
In less than an hour, that thing could spread across half a deck.
I'm willing to help you, Mr Reed, but not if it means torturing this organism.
Correct me if I'm wrong,
but isn't our mission to try to better understand unique forms of life?
Not if they're trying to kill the captain.
We don't know anything about this creature's intentions.
I admire your interspecies ethics,
but until Hoshi tells me she's found a way to communicate with it,
I have to assume its intentions are hostile.
Now...
...if you don't mind.
If you want information to help you construct your forcefield,
you'll acquire it under my supervision.
I'm sure I don't have to remind you, doctor,
I am the ranking officer here.
Not in my Sickbay,
unless the captain says otherwise.
The captain is in no condition to offer an opinion.
Precisely.
Fine.
Your rules.
But we better get to it.
What if we used a bilateral algorithm?
I already tried.
Did you compensate for frequency drift?
I wouldn't be much of a com officer if I didn't.
Allowing your emotions to control you won't help solve this problem, ensign.
Neither will questioning everything I do.
You asked for my help.
I didn't ask for you to keep count of every time I make a mistake
or to second guess all of my decisions.
As first officer, it's my duty to supervise you.
This goes beyond duty, sub-commander.
You've been looking over my shoulder ever since you came on board.
Double-checking my log entries, my translations.
- It's my job. - Is that all we're talking about?
You don't think I belong on Enterprise, do you?
On the contrary.
It would be a great loss to Starfleet if you were not a part of this crew.
If you feel I've been unfair to you, I apologize.
But I hold you to a high standard, ensign,
because I know you're capable of achieving it.
Shall we continue?
Yes.
Why don't we take another look at the subharmonics.
I was thinking we could run them through the decryption matrix,
see if we can find a pattern.
All I see is numbers, codes.
Any code can be broken.
You hailed us?
You speak English.
We studied your database. It wasn't dificult.
Okay.
- We have a problem. - Yes?
There's an alien organism on our ship.
Yes?
It came aboard around the same time we saw you.
We were hoping you might know something about it.
Describe this organism.
Well, it's big.
But it didn't start out that way.
It's like a large mass of tendrils.
- Tendrils? - Like a giant web.
But it moves and grows.
We have seen this.
- Where? - On its home world.
Perhaps it attached itself to our ship.
It wasn't our fault.
Can you tell us where this planet is?
Apologize.
Excuse me?
We will send you the coordinates,
but first, you must apologize to us for your ofence.
That's the thing.
We don't know what we did to offend you.
On your ship...
...you put food in your mouths.
You mean eat?
Yes, eat.
I don't understand.
It is like mating. It is very ofensive to us.
We were just eating.
How do you eat?
We eat the same way, but not in the presence of others.
I see.
Okay.
Please believe me,
we had no idea that would be offensive to you.
It was simply a misunderstanding.
On behalf of the entire crew,
I sincerely apologize.
Your apology is accepted.
Thank you.
Now, could I have those coordinates?
Captain.
Yeah?
I feel you've drifted away over there.
You aren't feeling much better than I do.
Rostov?
He's out.
When Zefram Cochrane...
...talked about new life and new civilization...
...do you think this is what he meant?
Here. Here it is.
I found a third set of repetitions.
Try it.
Just a few more and the UT can start building a syntax.
Phlox to T'Pol.
Go ahead.
I know you're under a great deal of pressure,
but Crewman Kelly's metabolic rate has dropped to a critical level.
Whatever you're planning to do, you'd better do it soon.
Understood.
Ready, sir.
The particle density's still fluctuating.
I think the problem is in the lower left quadrant.
Got it, sir.
Try again.
Better.
- T'Pol to Lieutenant Reed. - Go ahead.
We've made some progress on the translation,
but we're going to need to get into the cargo bay to test it.
Is the forcefield ready?
I'm making the final calibrations now.
You'll have to do it quickly.
Dr Phlox says our people don't have much time.
Understood.
Captain?
Emitter B's off by three-point-two microns.
The forcefield's working, but I can't guarantee how long it'll hold.
- Have you done it? - We're about to find out.
It just sounds like a constant tone.
I'm gonna create distortions in the tone.
Hopefully, the organism will understand what I'm trying to do.
Come on, just a little more.
I think I've got enough to try something simple.
Ask what it wants.
- It's talking to us. - What's it saying?
- Ensign. - Hold on.
- It's giving us coordinates. - Its home world?
The Kreetassans already gave them to us.
These look like the latitude and longitude.
I think it's trying to give us an exact location on the planet.
Tell it we're taking it back.
Commander Tucker's heart rate is increasing.
- Is that good or bad? - Good.
Crewman Kelly's bio-signs are stabilizing as well.
Lower the forcefield.
Lieutenant.
Medical team, report to Cargo Bay Two.
Acknowledged.
Here.
Look at all of them.
Not "them," "it."
This is all one organism.
The part that got on board, why did it take our people?
Hard to say.
When it got separated from itself,
perhaps it needed a physical connection
with any life form it could find.

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