Thanks for all your reviews. Somehow, I don't think things are going to go quite as smoothly as Trip had hoped.

x-x

Trip sat cross-legged on the stone floor directly in front of the basin. A flurry of papers and padds lay spread out before him, but his focus was on the information in the padd in his hand.

"Here's another one," Hoshi shot out from across the room, adjusting her padd so that it uploaded the pertinent information to his. Hoshi and Nar were working on translations in the light coming in from the doorway, and she'd been passing on everything that seemed even somewhat related to this room and the technologies that had been used in this location. Trip had been working across the room from them, trying to stay as far away as he could so he could minimize the distractions that came from their conversations. He needed to focus if he was going to puzzle this one out in the limited time they had.

Surprisingly, it hadn't taken long to convince Jon to turn the ship around and return to this planet, despite the fact that it would probably make them late for their Vulcan meeting. Obviously, the issue with Malcolm had been bothering the captain as much as it had bothered Trip himself.

Talking to Jon, Trip had felt so certain that what he was doing was right, but now... Sure, Nar had never came out and said that the place was a lab, so maybe Trip had stretched things a bit when he'd talked to the captain. But he'd been so damn sure of himself. He'd had a hunch, and it had always paid to follow his hunches, but now, down on the planet and hours into their mission, the almost overwhelming process of trying to find back up to his suspicions, plus the near-lie he'd told Jon to get them down here, was beginning to weigh on him. In reality, Nar had simply given him enough information to ask the right questions. Now they had to find the answers, because if they could, they might be able to connect this place with whatever was happening to Malcolm, and if they could do that - Trip stopped himself. He didn't want to think that far ahead. He had to focus. They didn't have much time. Jon had been able to give him only eight hours here, no more. Then, they would have to leave, or they'd miss their meeting entirely, and Trip didn't want to think about the consequences of that one.

Still, eight hours better than nothing. At least it gave him a shot. At least it gave him some hope, where before he'd felt very little. The answer, if there was one, had to be here, in this room.

Paging through the documentation on his padd, Trip kept half an ear on what Hoshi and Nar were discussing. They'd been taking Nar's initial translations and refining them, as well as doing rough work on the texts that he'd not yet translated. Trip, meanwhile, was bouncing between looking around the room, reading through the information that Hoshi was sending him, and poking through the tech specs for the shield that protected these buildings.

Trip stood and, after taking a moment to stretch his back, joined Nar and Hoshi by the door. "How long has this shield been in existence?" he asked Nar, squatting down beside the man.

"I'm not sure," Nar replied, looking up from where he sat on the floor. "It was put in well before my time. At least a hundred years."

"And it works by...?"

"Well, I'm no engineer," Nar said with a smile. "But I know it prevents certain things from entering and touching the objects it protects - bodily fluids, things like that. And yet it allows a certain amount of circulation of air and so on." Nar shrugged an apology.

Trip smiled. Nar had simply confirmed what he already knew, and what was reflected in Nar's own documentation. The shield allowed particles of certain types to pass through, and prevented others from doing so. Whether it discriminated based on particle size or type or what have you, wasn't yet clear.

Trip nodded his thanks, then stood and continued his investigation of the room. The information that Nar had sent to him on Enterprise had led him to believe that this room had once been some sort of lab, although what type, he had no idea. That's what had sparked his imagination. If it was a lab, maybe there was still something here, and maybe that something had, somehow, passed through their shield and hurt Malcolm, or made him sick. But if so, how was it was able to pass through their shield when so many other things could not, and why hadn't it affected anyone other than Malcolm? And why hadn't Phlox's tests picked up on anything? Even if his hunches were right, how could he prove any of this?

As he crept around the periphery of the room, he kept his eyes on the surfaces before him, but continued listening to what Hoshi and Nar were saying. He'd just reached the basin again, and was about to sit amongst his things when he heard Hoshi murmur something about "paradlia," a term he remembered from earlier. She thought it meant "objects."

"Mo dziejuje paradlie," Nar said in response. "Ultrafine things?

"No, no," Hoshi answered. "The 'mo' usually indicates something mechanical, right?"

"Ultrafine machines?" Nar replied.

"What?" Trip asked, his head shooting up. He didn't even wait for their answer. Ultrafine machines - that sounded a hell of a lot like nanotechnology to him. Maybe. Devices so small they could pass through skin. So small, they probably could pass through this shield.

Nar addressed him. "They appeared to have worked on them here, in this room."

"Where?" Trip answered, his excitement building.

"Nar's head turned down, and he continued reading through his translations. "Station one, section four. Erm..." He looked up. "About where you're sitting, Commander."

Trip glanced at the area around him. It looked just like the rest of the building - a series of stones, covered, floor to ceiling, in swirling text. The only thing special was the basin. Trip froze. Didn't Malcolm keep mentioning a basin? "Damn it," he swore under his breath. The only thing Malcolm appeared to have touched, which none of the rest of them had, was this stupid basin.

He turned to face Nar. "Any of your people ever touch this?" he asked, pointing at the basin.

"Sure, hundreds, probably," Nar replied, voice echoing in the large space. "I've touched it, myself."

"And no one experienced any problems?"

"Nothing," Nar replied, frowning.

Trip knelt beside the basin, being very careful not to touch it. He could feel the eyes of the others on him. "What did they use it for?"

"It doesn't say," Hoshi said.

Trip traced the curve of the thing with his eyes. Maybe it was used as part of the manufacture of some sort of manufacturing tech. But why would that hurt Malcolm, but not the locals? More likely, it was some sort of weapon. That would make sense. After all, if it only affected strangers, and if, as Hoshi suspected, these people had been to Earth, then the fact that it affected humans made even more sense. Maybe.

He needed to know more.

Sensors wouldn't read through the field; he'd already tried that. Maybe if he swabbed it? Trip opened his communicator. Speaking to the comm. officer on duty, he asked to be put through to Phlox.

After a quick conversation with the doctor, from which Trip got the distinctive feeling that Phlox thought he was on a wild goose chase, Trip took a quick swab and transported it up. Other than the usual suspects that one might find in dirt, the results showed nothing.

Maybe if he could shut off the shield for a few minutes, he could take a quick scan and swab it again? He glanced at his watch, realising that they were fast running out of time. "Nar?" he shot out, staring up at the basin before him. "Can we turn off the shield for a few moments?"

"I'm sorry, Commander," Nar replied. He sounded genuinely regretful. "It's not possible to switch it off without turning it off permanently, and if we do that..."

Trip shook his head, already knowing the answer. The objects here were far too delicate. If they turned off the shield, at least some of the stonework would likely crumble, and it just wasn't worth it based on some wild hunch that'd probably amount to nothing, anyway.

Trip looked at his watch again. Their time was up. Without looking over at her, he spoke softly into the silence. "Time to pack it up, Hoshi."

She didn't reply, but he knew she understood. They'd failed. All this work, and he'd still come up with nothing. All he was left with was what he started with - hunches and suppositions. Nothing concrete, no real evidence. A few phrases which he could interpret to mean nanotech, but which someone else could just as easily take to mean something entirely different.

"Shit," Trip murmured under his breath. He sat on the floor, leaning back on his arms as he stared up at the basin. He still felt like the answer was here, but he had no way to prove it. He needed proof. Malcolm was depending on him. Trip exhaled loudly. There was only one thing he could think of to do.

Trip glanced to where Hoshi and Nar were packing up their things. He stood slowly, trying not to attract their attention. Sure that no one was watching, Trip reached out a hand and brushed it against the side of the basin, then down into the bowl itself.

Nothing. In a way, he was both disappointed and relieved.

x-x

Please let me know what you think of this story so far. Your reviews have been great to read, and I really do appreciate them.

A note re: Archer and crew's acceptance of Malcolm being schizophrenic, especially when you consider the many usual and strange things Enterprise has been through. This story is taking place in season one, sometime after the episode Shuttlepod One. The crew haven't yet experienced many of the odd and unusual things that happen later on. For many of them, their way of seeing, their framework, in many ways is still based on their lives on Earth, or with Humans. Still, as you saw, above, Jon may have had some niggling doubts, as Trip did.

Let's see how all that develops. :wiggles eyebrows: