It took only a few minutes for her to come round, bringing a hand up to her head. With Trip's help she was standing back on her feet, leaning against the bio-bed for support, the cold gel pack lay forgotten on the floor. She looked around and her eyes fell on Malcolm again. "Oh god… this isn't a dream, is it?" The colour had already started returning to her skin, though she was still feeling very dazed, and confused, along with a bit of embarrassment, having feinted in front of the senior officers.

Archer shook his head. "No, it's not." Sighing slightly he turned and with a nod of his head, dismissed the two security guards and they left. This woman didn't seem to pose any danger to them, not the way she was reacting. He turned his attention back to Mallory. "You were about to say something before you passed out. Something about Malcolm?"

She placed a hand up to her forehead, looking away from Lieutenant Reed, avoiding any eye contact with him. "What's going on here?"

Archer wetted his lips, doing his absolute best to be as patient as he could with her, though he didn't like his questions being ignored. "Like I said, we're still trying to figure that out ourselves. In the meantime we need answers from you."

"The last thing I remember I was walking along a corridor on C deck towards the turbolift to head to the bridge for my shift. I felt something… strong pulling me and then hitting my head on something. The next thing I know, I'm waking up here!" She couldn't help but let her eyes wander to the figure that had caused her to feint. Tears began welling up in her eyes and she had to look away, quickly. "I don't have any answers for you, Captain. But I wish I did."

"All right. Get some rest… we'll talk later." He looked either side of him. "Malcolm, Trip." And the three men walked out, stopping outside sickbay so they could talk. "Suggestions people?" Malcolm and Trip were silent. They seemed just as perplexed as their Captain was on this situation. Thankfully T'Pol joined them, ready to break the silence. "T'Pol?"

"I have a theory as to how our guest got here." She passed him a pad and watched as he read it, looked at her and began reading it again, taking a couple of steps away from them.

He looked at T'Pol again. "Alternate reality? And you people don't believe in time travel?"

The Vulcan knew that he would find it hard to accept her theory, but no one else had come up with anything. "I've learned to keep an open mind. Captain, every decision we make affects our future, such as what we choose to eat for each meal. Each of those decisions creates a different reality where the choice we didn't make is taken."

"That doesn't…"

"Phase coils." T'Pol interjected, knowing that her answer hadn't been fully explained. "The power surge. That energy had to go somewhere… the bubble above the device instead of cloaking the ship as we intended to, it opened a portal to another reality, pulled her through when the extra energy displaced her." Everyone seemed to be accepting her explanation. Small nods of understanding and agreement ran through the senior officers present.

Malcolm crossed his arms over her chest. "Why her though?"

"It's most likely that she was in the same location in space in her reality at the time of the overload." She continued to explain. "The bubble would only pull through matter in the exact location in another reality." There were several moments silence. "Do we know who she is?" T'Pol queried, watching her Captain carefully.

Archer turned away to look through the windows of the door into Sickbay. He could see that the woman was lying back down on a bio-bed with Phlox standing next to her, talking. The gel pack had been picked up and Mallory was holding it to her head. He turned back to T'Pol. "Her name is Lieutenant Mallory Reed. She's Malcolm's sister."

"Someone that has never existed in this reality." The tactical officer added, glancing down to the floor.

T'Pol waited a moment or two, briefly looking at each man. Each one was standing as quietly as the next, unsure of what say about the situation. "I should also point out that is it more than likely we won't be able to return her to where she belongs. I will look into it. But don't expect too much." There was silence for a few short moments as everyone digested the information. The Vulcan officer had contemplated not giving the information so soon, but had come to the decision that it was the logical and right thing to do.

"A one way trip? So she's stuck here? Well and truly stuck here?" Trip questioned and T'Pol nodded her head in response. "What are we going to do with her?" He asked as he placed his hands on his waist. A huge feeling of guilt was beginning to overwhelm him. If he hadn't made the suggestion to try and get a cloak working then she wouldn't be here.

Archer sighed heavily. He had a huge decision to make that would ultimately have a large impact on the crew. Should he send her back to Earth, or keep her on board and have a little argument with the Admiral later? "We'll try and make her as comfortable as we can." He finally decided.

Lieutenant Reed crossed his arms over his chest as he took a deep breath and slowly released it as he spoke. "Sir, she can't continue with her job… that's my job. And what's to say she really has been in Starfleet? She could be some sort of imposter!"

"Phlox said DNA doesn't lie. How would an alien get their hands on your parents DNA anyway?" Trip glared at his friend. Malcolm always had to be the pessimistic one. If this woman really was Malcolm's sister from an alternate reality, he only hoped that she wouldn't be the same.

"Perhaps the same way that Terra Prime got ours. But it's highly doubtful." T'Pol suggested. "The sensor logs report no other ships in the area, and no traces of a transport beam. My findings indicated a small residue of lepton radiation was present in the armoury for a few minutes after the bubble appeared before dissipating. There's no danger to any of us from the radiation." She added, knowing they might be concerned about having been near radiation.

The captain nodded his head as he began to think. "We'll come to some arrangement, Malcolm, but there may have to be compromises on everyone's part. It's our fault she's here." He looked between each of his senior officers as they nodded their heads in agreement. He turned and looked back through the window. By now Phlox had moved away and a sheet was now covering their guest as she slept, the lights above her bed had also been dimmed. He could hear footsteps moving away, three sets and knew that he was now alone along the corridor. He stayed for a few more moments before he turned and headed for his quarters, needing to talk to his Beagle. It was his way of being able to unload his thoughts without being able to hurt or insult anyone.