Epilog

"What's the verdict?" Archer said as he strolled into sickbay.

Dr. Phlox looked up from his console. "Why Captain, I was just about to call you..." He tapped a few more keys and then turned towards him. "I've already released her. I think she will be just fine here... as far as diet, she can only handle a small number of vegetables we have so far, but I'm confident she will be able to expand the variety with the help of those nanites... of course we are going to have to ease her back on to solids slowly... for approximately eight months she has been surviving off a tea made of the herbs she gathered before the plants died off. It's amazingly nutritive, but we don't have enough to maintain her indefinitely on. I was just finishing up a diet plan for her."

"Sounds great. Starfleet just sent confirmation that they will be sending a survey team out on a vulcan ship right away."

"The vulcans agreed to let them 'hitch a ride'?" Phlox asked, eyes twinkling at being able to use one of the colorful human phrases he'd picked up.

"Well, the Vulcans will be coming anyway to assess whether this race can be saved. They apparently have an endangered species program." Archer said with a smirk, "If they can save them, and hopefully repair some of the genetic damage, they will take them to an uninhabited planet where they can thrive."

"That's wonderful. I do hope they can save them... if these nanites are any indication, their species used to be far more advanced than any other I've yet encountered..."

"Captain!" Hoshi said, hurrying in, "They said you were heading here... I've just finished compiling what was stored in Lieutenant Reed's translator... they have a fascinating language... They have the ability to vocalize in frequencies we can't even hear! I had Madison fill in a couple gaps that the damaged unit didn't pick up, but it seems pretty complete now." She said, tapping away at her own translator. "Now that we have this information in a properly working translator we should have no problem understanding Madison... and considering how quickly she was picking up english, I doubt we'll need to use it long."

"Good work. Let's get her a translator that is set up with her language."

Hoshi nodded, "Oh, and captain, if she needs a place to stay... I mean I have a cabin all to myself, and I know there isn't much space available..."

A broad grin spread over his face, "That's very generous of you Hoshi. Why don't we find her and get her settled then... we need to get her some clothes too." He looked over at Doctor Phlox, "Do you know where she went?"

He blinked, "She left with Lieutenant Reed. They didn't say where they were going."

Archer strode over to a comm panel and hit the button, "Archer to Lieutenant Reed."

There was a paused, then he responded, "Malcolm here."

"Is Madison with you?"

There was another little pause, "Yes..."

"Well I just wanted to tell her that Hoshi has offered to let her room with her."

There was a little shuffling sound, then Madison's voice came through the panel. "Thank you, Hoshi." She said, pronouncing the name carefully. Then she lapsed into her native language for a moment.

Hoshi broke into an amused smile, her cheeks coloring slightly. She made a short response in the same language, then reached over and tapped off the communicator.

"What was that about?" Archer asked curiously.

Try though she might, Hoshi couldn't straighten the smile off her face. "She thanked me, but said she is quite happy right where she is..."

Archer let out a laugh. "Perhaps I should give Malcolm a little time off..."

Hoshi just grinned at him.