He should have been asleep. There was nothing else to do. The sickbay was dark and quiet and there were only the four walls of the decon chamber staring back at him. The thing was, it just reminded Trip Tucker of all those times he'd been sent to his room for punishment when he was a kid. And it wasn't fair. T'Pol had all the fun, still over at the space station trying to find out why the Suliban had locked them there, brought Zimmer along from the past.
Then he saw the Vulcan's slim figure in the sickbay's dim night light.
Have fun over there?'
Vulcans do not have fun.'
Well did you find out all their secrets.'
We are going to have to destroy the space station in less than two hours.'
Why?'
In forteen million years this system's sun will turn supernova, destroying all of the planets in the system. The temporal field in the space station is directed to that time.'
Why did they let it go so long? We've been here for hours. Why would you catch a rabbit in a trap and then just leave it?'
Because in time the rabbit will still be dead. I agree that it's an inefficient way of doing things. The Suliban's temporal technology has either been traded or stolen. They do not have a complete understanding of it. They were only able to approximate the time of the sun's demise.'
But you were more precise?'
One hour and fifty two minutes, fourteen seconds.'
You can't shut it off?'
It appears to be wired into a failsafe device. Any attempt to alter the setting will cause destruction of the space station and Enterprise. It would leave the planet intact though.'
They were trying to blow up the planet, too?'
A very elaborate method of ensuring death of Ms Zimmer.'
A serious case of overkill, huh?'
T'Pol did not smile.
You better get Mr Reed to load up a few of them torpedoes of his.'
As she turned to leave, T'Pol almost ran into Dr Winsome. I'm sorry Sub-Commander, I was going to leave this till morning, but it seemed really important.'
T'Pol spent a moment reading the computer analysis Winsome had given her. Are you completely sure about this?'
The mitochondrial DNA is a 100% match and the historical data are accurate. I'm as sure as I can be, sir.'
T'Pol nodded. You are dismissed, doctor.'