PART 24:
Captain Archer stood at the edge of the drill site. He watched Trip, after what he witnessed last night in their quest quarter, he wondered what was going on with his Chief Engineer.
"How much longer are ya goin' stand there and watch?" Trip asked.
"Just wondering why I was stood up for lunch by my Chief Engineer," Archer answered as he walked over to him.
"Got busy and lost track of time," Trip said adjusting something on the drill he was working on.
"I thought Malcolm was suppose to come and relieve you?"
"Told him I could handle things here," Trip replied.
"That's funny," Archer said. "He came to me and told me you left and came back."
Trip looked at Archer. "Look if ya already know what happened, why all the questions?"
"Just wanted to see what you had to say."
Trip went back to work.
"So how much dilithium do we have?" Archer asked.
"Enough to start making repairs on the ship."
"Good," Archer said with a smile. "I'll contact the ship and let them know they can transport what we have up."
"No need to do that, sir," Trip said dryly. "I'm planning on returning to Enterprise."
"Already?" Archer asked concerned. "I thought you wanted to stay until we were done."
"I would really like to start working on the repairs."
"What about Liana? Don't you want to spend time with her?"
"Plans change," he said with bitterness in his voice.
"You want to talk about it."
"Not really."
"Might help."
"With all do respect, Captain," Trip said as he stood. "I'd just rather not talk about it."
"Okay," Archer said knowing when his friend was ready he would talk. "When do you plan on leaving?"
"These drills should be done with this cycle tomorrow morning," Trip answered. "I'll leave then."
"All right."
"Thanks, Captain," Trip said and walked away.
End of Part 24