Summary
Hoshi delivers a message to Dr. Phlox in Sickbay. She
shows up just in time to see him feed a tribble to one
of his many animals. The message is an urgent one from
the Denobulan Science Academy, requesting that the Enterprise
divert to the planet Xantoras to evacuate three Denobulan
scientists. The perennially unstable government on Xantoras
has been taken over by isolationists, and all non-Xantorans
have been ordered to leave the planet. The Denobulan scientists
are investigating a system of natural caverns, only the
first 50 kilometers of which have been mapped, and have
been out of communications range for three weeks.
Ensign Mayweather is chosen for the away team due to previous
caving experience. He's joined by Commander Tucker and
Lieutenant Reed. The three head for the planet's surface
and Archer informs them that they've been given three days
to locate and remove the Denobulans. Military patrols will
arrest any off-worlders remaining after the dead line.
At the same time the shuttlepod is descending, a transport
from the surface suffers a rupture in its reactor casings,
flooding several compartments with radiation. When the
Xantoras deny the transport's request to return to the
surface, Archer orders the Enterprise to assist the transport.
Several wounded personnel are brought to sickbay, including
one that obviously makes Phlox very uncomfortable.
At the cave entrance nearest the Denobulan's campsite,
Reed, Tucker and Mayweather begin their search. The cave
takes a sharp downward drop, with no bottom in sight, and
the three start rappelling into the void.
Back in sickbay, Phlox is reviewing the patients' conditions
with Archer. The only patient with serious injuries was
the one that made Phlox uncomfortable. That patient will
require inter-cellular regeneration to survive. When the
man regains consciousness and sees Phlox, he refuses treatment,
stating that he'd rather die.
In Archer's ready room, Phlox reveals that the patient
is an Antaran, a race the Denobulans have gone to war with
several time throughout history, though it had been more
than 300 years since the last war. Despite the amount of
time that had passed, much hatred and fear exists between
the two species, and Phlox isn't surprised by the Antaran's
refusal of his help. Denobulan medical ethics prevent treating
a patient against his wishes, and Phlox refuses Archer's
order to treat the Antaran anyway.
Part way down the vertical drop, the away team takes a
rest on a small ledge. There they find a sample box with
Denobulan characters written on the case, confirming that
they are at least on the right track.
Archer attempts to convince the Antaran, Hudak, to allow
Phlox to operate, but the man still refuses. He tells Archer
that Denoblan battle tactics caused 20 million deaths,
and that he is the first Antaran to even see a Denobulan
in six generations. Archer suggests that Hudak spend some
time with Phlox and get to know him. The Denobulans he's
met are not the people that Hudak describes. Soon after,
he has a similar exchange with Phlox. The doctor doubts
that he can earn the man's trust because Antarans are taught
as children to hate and fear Denobulans. Archer responds
that medical ethics don't keep him from talking, and tells
Phlox to find a way to help his patient.
At the bottom of the pit, Reed, Mayweather and Tucker
follow a mineral deposit down a side passage. When the
passage becomes too steep, they pause to attach their safety
lines, but the ground gives way under Reed. The sudden
stretching of the rope pulls Tucker down, too, then Mayweather.
Travis had the line anchored in the rock, but the force
of the three men sliding downward pulls the anchor from
the cave wall. First Reed then Tucker hurtle over the edge
of a cliff. Mayweather jams his foot in a hole in the cave
wall and barely manages to stop his slide inches from the
edge. He manages to hold onto the line with Reed and Tucker
dangling over the abyss. The two manage to climb their
way back up to the ledge. Mayweather ended up breaking
his leg in his life-saving maneuver, and Reed and Tucker
are forced to go on without him.
Phlox tries to have a conversation with Hudak, but the
man antagonizes Phlox. He asks if the doctor was brought
up listening to stories about the "evil" Antarans,
and whether he'd taught those stories to his children in
turn. Phlox tries to steer the conversation away from his
children, but when the man asks whether Phlox would even
allow his children in the same room as an Antaran, Phlox
has had enough. He tells Hudak he, meaning Hudak, is the
reason that the hatred has been kept alive. Phlox then
storms out of sickbay. In the mess hall, T'Pol joins Phlox
and he proceeds to tell her that he had, indeed been brought
up to hate Antarans, but that he had made an effort to
raise his children differently.
In the caves, Reed and Tucker are crawling through a cramped
passage still searching for the Denobulan scientists. They
come within a half-hour of turning back when they pick
up the scientists' bio-signs. The scientists are not pleased
to see the two men and at first refuse to leave. The speleothems
they've found are too valuable to leave, and they feel
that the situation with the Xantoran government will have
cleared up by the time they finish their expedition. Trip
tries again to explain that the new government will likely
execute any off-worlder staying behind, but the scientists
still refuse, only changing their minds when Trip threatens
to tie them up and drag them out if need be.
In sickbay, Phlox prepares to treat Hudak even without
his consent. He tells Hudak about his conversations with
his grandmother, who had lived though the last war, and
about the way he had raised his children. There are still
Denobulans that preach hate against the Antarans, but on
the whole, stances had softened. Of his five children,
only one, Mettus, had been convinced by others to hate
Antarans. It had caused a rift between he and Phlox and
the two hadn't spoken in almost ten years. Mettus would
gladly have let Hudak die, but that wasn't the example
Phlox wanted to give his children. He suggests to the Antaran
that he set an example for his own children by allowing
the life-saving operation. Eventually, Hudak agrees to
the procedure.
On their way out of the caves, loud explosions can be
heard and the ground begins to shake, causing rocks to
fall near the retreating party. As Tucker and Reed prepare
to scale the vertical walls, we learn that the Denobulans
do not need climbing equipment at all. Archer contacts
the regional governor and asks why there was weapons fire
in the area of the caves when their deadline had not yet
passed. The governor replies that they aren't shooting
at the landing party, but at soldiers from the previous
regime. Archer threatens to attack the patrol ship firing
near the caves, and the governor backs off, deciding he
doesn't need two wars on his hands.
Two hours past the deadline, Archer prepares to take another
shuttlepod to the surface. Before he can get off the bridge,
the landing party contacts the Enterprise with the news
that they've got the Denobulans onboard and are returning
to the ship. A Xantoran patrol ship takes a few shots at
the shuttlepod, but does not try to seriously damage it,
and the shuttlepod makes it safely back to the Enterprise.
Hudak makes it safely through the procedure and Archer
sees him to the transport following his recovery. The three
Denobulan scientists will be traveling on the transport.
Archer has informed them that there will be an Antaran
on board, and their response was that they were willing
to be on the same vessel if he was. Later, Phlox composes
a letter to Mettus, telling him about his eye-opening experience
with Hudak, and hopes it will open Mettus' eyes as well.
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