"The captain said they'd be mapping this asteroid field, but I can't see head nor tails of them." "Maybe it's another asteroid field." "No, this is the one." "Two primaries, 17 planetesimals." "Well, they weren't expecting us back for three days." "Maybe they finished and went to do something else." "Well, with our sensor array down, we won't know when they get back until we see them." "Any luck with the com?" "Dead as a doornail." "I don't understand it." "Well, no doubt you'll have your boys take this pod apart piece by piece once it's back in the launch bay." "I'd feel a lot more comfortable having everything in working order by the time Enterprise gets back." "Well, tinker all you like." "I've got a copy of Ulysses here." "I doubt I'll even be halfway through it by the time the ship gets back." "I'd rather realign every microcircuit on this shuttle than try to wade through that baby." "British schools have a core curriculum." "It serves to provide a well-rounded education." "Sometimes I think you North Americans read nothing but comic books and those ridiculous science-fiction novels." "I'll have you know that Superman was laced with metaphor." "Subtext layered on subtext." "Oh, if only Dr Cochrane had been a European." "The Vulcans would've been far less reticent to help us." "But no, he had to be from Montana." "He probably spent his nights reading about cowboys and Indians." "I don't recall any Europeans figuring out how to build a warp engine." " Commander." " No Brits," " no Italians, no Serbo-Croatians..." " Commander." "I think you'd better come and take a look at this." "Bring us in closer." "Is it a ship?" "If the damn sensors were only working, we could..." "Bring us around again." "There." "Slow down." ""It's been a long road Gettin' from there to here"" ""It's been a long time"" ""But my time is finally near"" ""And I will see my dream Come alive at last"" ""I will touch the sky"" ""And they're not gonna Hold me down no more"" ""No, they're not gonna change my mind"" ""'Cause I've got faith of the heart"" ""I'm going where my heart will take me"" ""I've got faith to believe"" ""I can do anything"" ""I've got strength of the soul"" ""And no one's gonna bend or break me"" ""I can reach any star"" ""I've got faith"" ""I've got faith"" ""Faith of the heart"" "Come in." "How are the Tesnians doing?" "Dr Phlox can only keep 12 of them in the decon chamber at a time." "What about the other, what is it, 22?" "He's rotating them." "They seem to be doing fine on our atmosphere, but they need at least six hours of boron gas a day." "He says we've got enough to get them home." " Have you learned their language?" " Yes, sir." "What do they have to say?" "They're pretty rattled." "Most of them had been on that ship for years." "It's a lot to digest." "They lost everything." "They're alive." "Does the captain have any idea what happened?" "No, and he feels terrible about the damage to Enterprise." "He has no idea what went wrong." "When they approached our docking port, they lost control of their sensor array." "And then a few seconds later, their navigation system went out." "Thank God their escape pods were working." "I saw the wreckage on the asteroid." "There wasn't much left." "Archer to Mayweather." "What's our ETA?" "We should reach Tesnia in about 20 hours, sir." "Good work." "That should get us back to our rendezvous coordinates well before Trip and Malcolm get there." "Let's drop out of warp for a few minutes." "I wanna inspect the damage to the launch doors." "Aye, sir." "Who's in charge of engineering while Trip's away?" "Lieutenant Hess." "Tell her to get a team working on a new starboard door for Launch Bay Two." "Everything else check out all right?" "Astrometrics detected what could be micro-singularities in the vicinity of the asteroid field." "Micro-singularities are a Vulcan myth." "There's no scientific evidence that they exist." "Our deflectors registered some unusual charged particles at the same time the Tesnian ship began to malfunction." "Any similar damage on Enterprise?" "No." "But our hull plating was polarized." "Micro-singularities." "If the Vulcans had their way, they'd blame them for the common cold." "How about the lifeboats?" "They could've launched the lifeboats" " before the crash." " They'd be here." "They only go 300 kph." "They'd be right here, waiting for us to return." "Are we sure there are no survivors?" "Commander, we have to figure out what we're going to do." "We can't just leave." "That's Enterprise." "At least we should find the black boxes." "With what?" "We have no radio." "Nothing to pick up the beacons." "What's the range on our distress beacon?" " It's off-line." " I'm talking about the portable one." "The one in the away kit." "Ten million kilometres, maybe 20." "But I highly doubt there'd be a ship anywhere close to that." "We've only got ten days worth of breathable air." " How far to Echo Three?" " At impulse?" "A lot more than ten days." "If we could get close enough for it to pick up our distress beacon, it'd relay the signal back to Starfleet." "I'm afraid the math doesn't work out, commander." "It's going to take weeks, maybe months for our signal to reach Echo Three." "By the time Starfleet got a ship out here, we'd be..." " We'd be long dead." " But at least they'd find us." "They'd get their shuttlepod back, a couple of..." " Well-preserved corpses." " Sir." " Which way?" " Which way to what?" "Echo Three." "Which way to Echo Three?" " I told you, it's too far." " Do you know which direction it is," " or don't you?" " Navigation is down." " That's not what I asked you!" " You want me to guess?" "You come from a long line of navy men, and you got a good memory." "Look hard at those stars, find something that looks familiar," " and tell me which way to go." " Sir." "That's an order!" "I don't suppose you have a sextant handy." "I left it with my slide rule." "Well?" "That blue giant, we may have gone by it." "I'm not sure." "That's good enough for me." "Take one more low pass over the wreckage." "And then set a course." "See you around, captain." "Personal log, Lieutenant Malcolm Reed." "November 9th, 2151." "By the time anyone hears this, by anyone, I suppose I mean anyone human," "Commander Tucker and I will be long dead." "It's my intention to recount the events that led to the destruction of the starship Enterprise, and to express my deepest feelings regarding my short, but memorable service with Starfleet." "Tell them I'd love to add my two cents, but I'm trying to get a little work done." " Short, but memorable service with Starfleet." "In order to test the targeting scanners on Shuttlepod One," "Commander Tucker and I had to get at least 20,000 kilometres from Enterprise." "During our third trial, we experienced a brief, but sizable jolt." "And shortly thereafter, realized that our sensor array had gone off-line." "This sensor array is more than off-line." "It's totally fried." " That our sensor array had gone of-line." "We had no choice but to head back to the asteroid field, where Enterprise was involved in a mapping project." "We found the ship destroyed." "It's debris strewn across a square kilometre of one of the larger asteroids." "Had our sensors been working, we certainly would've done everything possible to determine the cause of the disaster." "But as it was, with only a short-range distress beacon and limited air, we had no alternative but to set a course for Echo Three, where someday this vessel eventually this log, will be found." "May God have mercy on our souls." "Why don't you cut the crap and get back here and help me?" " What would you like me to do?" " I don't know." "You could hold this flashlight, or turn down the heat, whatever you want." "I'm just getting a little tired of listening to all your pessimism." "If there's something you need me to do," "I will be more than happy to comply." "But I'm afraid pessimism is simply not an accurate description of my log entry." "I'm just being realistic, commander." "We've got nine days." "We're bound to find someone out here." "At warp, perhaps." " But at impulse?" " Vulcans, Klingons," "Suliban, Xyrillians, Andorians." "God knows who's gonna be lurking around the next planet we run into." "But that's just it, sir." "At impulse, we're not likely to be running into any planets." "Not for at least six or seven years." "Then somebody could run into us." "You ever think of that?" "Or see us on their sensors." "The possibilities are endless." "I'll heat up some rations." "Unless you'd rather wait until we run into a vessel serving proper meals?" "Rations will be fine." "What are you in the mood for?" "Depends." "What are you serving?" "Veal Marsala Chilean sea bass Moo Goo Gai Pan." "Any meatloaf?" " With gravy and mashed potatoes." " Perfect." "Kentucky bourbon." "Yeah, the captain was planning to give that to somebody." "Can't remember who." "Guess it's ours now." " What's that?" " The sea bass." "Any good?" "It's lovely." "Thank you." "Captain Archer claims you told him you weren't even aware that I was serving on Enterprise." "I find that difficult to believe, considering I wrote you twice in the weeks prior to our departure." "Now, it is possible that you never received those letters." "You were, I believe, in the process of moving back to Malaysia at the time." "But you must have spoken to Aunt Sherry during that period." "And I know she received my letters." "I would hate to go to my death thinking that either of you felt I was trying to..." "Malcolm!" "You've been at it for hours now." "Don't you think it's time to give it a rest?" "As I'm sure you must have heard, that was my esteemed colleague, Commander Charles Tucker." "Mr Tucker doesn't share my belief that it is essential to say what must be said." "To leave a record, tie up loose ends." "Mr Tucker is labouring under the false hope that we are going to be miraculously rescued before we both suffocate." "Mr and Mrs Reed..." "I realize you've just begun a period of mourning, and that I'll never get an answer to this question, but I gotta ask it anyway." "Was Malcolm always this cynical?" "In a few days, when the reality of this situation actually begins to sink in, you might very well decide you want to record some logs of your own." "You have my word, I will not interrupt you." "I just need to get some sleep, Malcolm." "Is that so hard to understand?" "We have less than nine days of oxygen left." "It seems a waste to use it up sleeping." "If I don't waste some oxygen sleeping, I'm gonna start getting real cranky." "And you don't wanna spend your last nine days cooped up with me when I'm cranky." "So turn that thing off and get some rest." "We're back." "Lie still, lieutenant." "What happened?" " How did we...?" " You're a very brave man, Malcolm." "Commander Tucker is gonna be fine, thanks to you." " I'm afraid I don't understand." " Get some rest." "There will be plenty of time to explain what happened in the morning." "Sub-commander?" "How are you feeling?" "I'd feel a lot better if I knew what was going on." "Captain Archer would be quite annoyed with me if I told you of your heroics." "I believe he's looking forward to doing that himself in the morning." " Heroics?" " I had no idea you could be so selfless." "In the face of such danger, most males of your species would've given in to their fear." "Well since you're obviously not going to tell me what happened I suppose a simple good night will have to do." "Vulcans can never ignore courage." "And this Vulcan will never ignore Lieutenant Malcolm Reed again." "I can't say I've ever ignored you, T'Pol." "Is it all right if I call you T'Pol?" "Yes." "May I call you Malcolm?" "I suppose so." "But if the truth be known, I've never much cared for the name Malcolm." "Always seemed a bit too stuffy." "I think it's a lovely name." "Mol-Kom is the Vulcan word for serenity." "Well then perhaps I won't change it." "Pity though I was rather growing fond of the name:" ""Stinky."" "I can't believe you just did that." " Did what?" " You smiled." "I saw you smile." "Vulcans don't smile." "This one does." "I saw you." "You're mistaken." "It was when I said Stinky, wasn't it?" "You smiled when I said Stinky." "Good morning, Stinky." "It's a lovely day, isn't it, Stinky?" " What's that?" " I got the receiver working, but the transmitter's a lost cause." "Who's Stinky?" "I beg your pardon?" "You were talking in your sleep." "Kept calling for some guy named Stinky." "You repaired the receiver." "What is that?" "Is it a ship?" "The range is very limited." "It's probably just white noise." "The sound of the galaxy laughing at us." " What the hell was that?" " I don't know, but it felt a little like whatever knocked out the sensor array." "We're losing atmosphere." "Pressure's down 8 percent." " Help me, we gotta find the hole." " Without sensors, it's not gonna be easy to locate the breach." "Then use your ears." " Pressure's down 22 percent." " The damn hole's too small." "Where is it?" " What are you doing?" " It's nitrogen for the coolant tanks." "Just give me a few seconds." "Now let's find that leak." "I got it." "It's over here." "There's another one down here." "Put your finger on it until we can figure out what to do." "We've got some valve sealant in storage bin three." "Have we got anything a little closer?" " Do you mind passing your meatloaf?" " What?" "I assume you're finished with it." "And you came close to criticizing my choice of cuisine." "Obviously, whatever hit us went clear through the pod." "I'm afraid it did more than just puncture the cabin, commander." "On its way out, it was kind enough to rupture one of the O2 cylinders." "Great." "How much closer to oblivion are we?" "We've got less than two days of air left." "The skin of this pod is designed to deflect a meteor five times the size of this hole." "Well, in that case, I'd guess it wasn't a meteor." "I wonder if something like it destroyed Enterprise." "We'll never know." "Always the optimist." "We have 40 hours of air left." "What do you expect me to do, sit here and plan my wedding?" "I'm confident there'll be a Charles Tucker IV one day." "Then maybe it's your wedding we should be planning." "That's assuming we can find you a bride in the next day and a half." "Any suggestions?" "There was a little bar in Mill Valley where all the Starfleet trainees used to go." " The 602 Club." " You know it?" "I was there more times than I can remember." "I met the girl of my dreams my first Friday night there." "She was the one, there's no doubt about it." "We had it all figured out." "Where we'd live, how many kids we'd have." "Ah, Ruby." " Whatever happened to you?" " Ruby?" " You don't mean the waitress Ruby?" " You knew Ruby?" "I knew her more times than I can remember." "Ouch." "Seems we have more in common than we thought." "Yeah." "Would another half-day be worth freezing your butt off?" " What are you talking about?" " If we lower the thermostat in here to about minus five centigrade we should be able to use that power to enhance the efficiency of the atmosphere recyclers." "Our last two and a half days freezing, versus our last two days toasty warm." "What a delightful choice." "I'd pick freezing." "Another half-day is another half-day." "Freezing it is, then." " And just what are you doing?" " An officer at his best is always well-groomed." "Nice to see you're developing a more positive attitude." "Actually I was thinking about what our corpses would look like when they're eventually found." "With no air in the pod, we should remain in fairly good condition." "Charming." " But you're forgetting one thing." " What's that?" "If I remember my honours biology course correctly, your hair and nails keep growing for quite a while after you're dead." "I'm pretty sure that includes your beard." "Thanks." "Come in." "I've analyzed the scans we took of the Tesnian ship right before it crashed." "I believe they were hit by a micro-singularity." " You still chasing gremlins?" " This is no myth, captain." "Three of the singularities also hit Enterprise." "They collided with our hull plating here, here and here." "You're telling me these are tiny black holes?" "They were." "The dispersal patterns suggest they dissipated on impact." "This could be a significant discovery, captain." "If we could get quantum sensor readings of the three impact points, we could authenticate our findings." "I'd be a little less concerned with winning the Nobel Prize right now, and a little more concerned with Trip and Malcolm." "Their shuttlepod doesn't have the hull plating we do." "They could be in for a rough ride when they get back to the asteroid field." "Better hail them." "Agree to a new rendezvous point." "I never intended to suggest that our crewmembers were less important than a scientific discovery." "Even one of this historic magnitude." "Time's a-wasting." "My dearest Deborah:" "By this time, I'm certain you've learned of the tragedy that befell the starship Enterprise." "You've also learned that my colleague, Commander Charles Tucker and I did manage to survive for a few days after the accident." "It's during that brief time that I've chosen to correspond with you." "Although our relationship was short-lived, and at times tumultuous I can't help but picture your beautiful smile." "It gives me great comfort." "Think of me from time to time." "Cordially, Malcolm." "A ship?" "It's a little more modulated than the last one." "But it could be just a random gamma-ray burst." "My dearest Rochelle:" "By this time, I'm certain you've learned of..." "Wouldn't it be easier to record one message and then add the "Dear Whoever" afterward?" "This is your fifth or sixth identical letter." "That's not true." "There have been subtle differences." "I would never refer to Rochelle as having a beautiful smile." "With her, it was the eyes." "Travis and Hoshi couldn't have been more than 24, 25 years old." "If the captain were here with us now I wonder if he'd feel guilty about bringing them on this mission." "Not for a minute." "They died doing what they love." "I don't remember Hoshi loving much about being in deep space." "Oh, she was coming along." "She saved our asses on more than one occasion." "I plan on letting her family know just how essential she was." "Sounds to me like you do have some letters to record." "I'll wait to tell them in person." "You know, your treacly optimism is beginning to get just a little bit tiresome." "Unlike your heartfelt letters of farewell to half the girls in San Francisco?" "At least I'm capable of accepting our fate." "We're going to be dead in about 33 hours." "Whether our beards continue to grow or not is of no concern to me." "We will be dead." "And unless some ship happens to cross our path, our bearded bodies will be discovered in about three or four years." "Is that optimistic enough for you?" "What's your problem with having a little hope?" "What's your problem with facing the truth?" "You're a regular Grim Reaper, Malcolm." "Anyone ever tell you that?" "Well, if this little trip is a death sentence, then it would seem to me we're entitled to a last meal." "What'll it be?" "I'm afraid our selection is somewhat limited." "I'm not hungry." "Well then, how about a drink?" "I don't drink on duty." "Are you serious?" "We're dead men, remember?" "What's the matter, lieutenant?" "Are you afraid the autopsy will show your blood alcohol level was too high to pilot a shuttle?" "Live a little." "That's an order." "Do you really think that's gonna provide any heat?" "The bourbon'll provide the heat." "The candle's just for mood." "To the brave men and women of the starship Enterprise." "You know that's gonna consume oxygen, don't you?" "We'll probably be dead five or six minutes earlier than we would've been." "I can live with that." "Anyway, seems to me as far as you're concerned, the sooner the better." "Is that really how you see me?" "The eternal pessimist?" "The Grim Reaper?" "I don't want to die." "What makes you think I want to die?" "Because ever since we saw Enterprise spread across that asteroid, you've done nothing but write your own obituary." "I lost nearly everyone I cared about on that ship." "Those girls I talked about." "Rochelle, Deborah, Catelin." "None of them worked out because I could never get very close to them." "Never got very close to my family either, for that matter." "Not that it's any business of yours." "But with the crew of the Enterprise, it was different." "I was really starting to feel..." "Now the only one that's left thinks I'm the bloody Angel of Death." "All of a sudden, five or six more minutes sounds kind of nice." "Does that sound modulated enough for you?" "Modulated?" "The radio." "Or is it just the galaxy giggling at us again?" "It can giggle all it wants, but the galaxy's not getting any of our bourbon." "Hey what do you think of T'Pol?" " Do you think she's pretty?" " T'Pol?" "Are you serious?" "Well, she is a woman, you know." "I think she's pretty." "You've had too much to drink." "Don't tell me you've never looked at her, you know, in that way." "No, she's a Vulcan." "Well, I think she's pretty." "Oh, God." " You ever noticed her bum?" " What?" "Her bum." "She's got an awfully nice bum." "To Sub-commander T'Pol." "Awfully nice." " It's probably nothing, right?" " It's definitely not nothing." "Well, then that means it's something." "What is it?" "Well, is it something or someone, because if it's someone..." "Sorry." "Definitely someone." "We have no way to respond, do we?" "This is like the plane flying over the desert island in a lost-at-sea movie." " Malcolm!" " Sorry." "Happy endings." "I must think happy endings." "Shuttlepod One, this is Enterprise." " Please respond." " That's Hoshi." " Transmitting new coordinates." " That's impossible." "Don't be so pessimistic." "It's not impossible." "It's Hoshi." "They're okay." "Enterprise is okay." "It's Hoshi." "Adjust your heading to the new coordinates." "We will rendezvous in two days." "Commander and lieutenant, please respond." ""Rendezvous."" "What a beautiful word." "What's wrong?" "They're still two days away." "And we only have a little more than one day's air left." "And no way to tell them to get here sooner." "Are you sure you got the coordinates right?" "Yes." " Not that it matters." " Lieutenant." "They're probably travelling at what, warp 2, warp 3?" "Compared to them, we're like a garden snail." "Where we go and how fast we get there is irrelevant." "If I purge the CO2 filters, it'll give us a little more air." "How much, an hour's worth?" " Probably less." " Great." "So when they reach us in two days, we'll have been out of air for... 11 hours." "You ever try holding your breath for 11 hours?" "A train leaves New York at 3 a.m. Heading west, while another leaves Chicago at 4:30 heading east." "I never could figure those out." "Enterprise is going to wonder why we haven't responded, right?" "Maybe they'll be concerned and increase their speed." "Maybe, but if we really wanna get them to go to high warp, we're gonna have to attract their attention." "Something a little more dramatic than not answering their halls." "Can they see us on their sensors?" "Two days away at warp 3?" "Oh, they can see us, maybe not too clearly but we should be a nice little blip on T'Pol's viewer." "Then we've got to get that blip to tell them to pick up a little steam." "What if we fired our weapons?" "They're nearly a quarter of a light-year away." "Our plasma cannons have a range of less than ten kilometres." "It would all still look like a single blip." "It's gonna take a lot more than that." "What if we jettison the impulse drive?" "What good would that do?" "Well, you could rig a self-destruct." "I imagine that would make quite an explosion." "Maybe even big enough to make that blip do something odd." "No, I can't blow up our engine." " We'd be adrift, dead in space." " What's the difference between that and travelling at a snail's pace?" "I'm an engineer." "I won't blow up our only engine." "Then I'll ask you again." "Ever hold your breath for 11 hours?" "I think I have some micro-detonators in here somewhere." "How does it feel to be slower than a snail?" "I saw a great cartoon once." "There were these two snails sitting on the back of a big old turtle." "One snail turns to the other and says," ""Hold on, Fred." "Here we go."" "If I'm right, I get the rest of the bourbon." "Fine." "Less than 12 hours, you win." "More than 12 and it's mine." "Go check the pressure gauge." "You check it." "I don't think I can move my legs." "I can't believe we've been sitting here that long." "Come on, let's hear it." "How much air's left?" "Ten hours." "That's probably the last bet I'll ever make." "And I won." "I should feel like celebrating, shouldn't I?" "The whiskey's yours." "Now, why don't you give us a toast before you drink it?" "Ten hours for two men." "If there were only one of us, he'd have 20 hours, wouldn't he?" "Great idea." "Why don't you climb up into the airlock and seal yourself in?" "That's just what I was thinking." "Any last words you want me to pass along?" "Yeah." "Tell Captain Archer that it was one hell of an honour serving with him." "What are you doing?" "We don't know whether or not they saw our little display of pyrotechnics." "But either way, this'll double your chances." " You're crazy." "Get down from there!" " Sit down, lieutenant." "If anyone should go up in there, it should be me." " You're the chief engineer." " I'm also in charge of deciding who's going into this airlock." "Do I make myself clear?" "Commander." "What are you gonna do, kill me?" "It's set to stun." "I don't want to use it, but I will." " Put it down." " Go to hell!" "Stop trying to be a hero." "It doesn't suit you." "What would you know about being a hero?" "It takes nothing but a coward to crawl up inside a hole to die." "Then go ahead and shoot me." "But you better hope we don't make it, because if we survive, the first thing I'm gonna do is bust your ass back to Crewman Second Class." "Be my guest." "I could use a little less responsibility." " Now, get down here." " Who the hell do you think you are?" "Your armoury officer, and perhaps your friend." "Friends don't shoot each other." "You know, I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure you use up a lot more oxygen when you shout like that!" "So, what are you saying?" "That you'd rather have Enterprise find the two of us dead in here?" "That's exactly what I'm saying." "If there's one chance in a thousand that they saw our impulse drive explode, that they increased their speed I'll take that chance." "I've invested far too much time trying to figure you out, Mr Tucker." "I'm not about to accept that it was all for nothing." "We're back." " How...?" " Easy, Malcolm." "You fellas had a nice little bout with hypothermia." " The commander?" " He's gonna be fine." "It took nearly three hours to get your body temperatures back to normal." "You must have seen the explosion." "Hard to miss." "You know, you guys only had two or three hours of air left." "You don't say." "We saw debris from Enterprise on one of the asteroids." "We assumed..." "We thought you were all..." "I'll tell you all about it in the morning." "Right now, the doctor needs to warm you up a few degrees." "Sub-commander." "Yes?" "Isn't there something you're supposed to say to me?" "About what?" "Heroics." "Something about heroics." "Good night, lieutenant." "Trip?" "Mind if I call you Trip?" "Sleep well, my friend."