"You know more than you are saying, don't you?"

His question seems to unduly alarm T'Pol, and so Trip, in no mood for an argument, clarifies quickly. "About the Romulans. That's why you are so dead keen on Hoshi's theory about that tanker."

T'Pol pauses for a long moment, with that look on her face, that adorable one - that infuriating one - which means she is trying to think how to phrase something for the benefit of his puny human brain.

He hates that look.

He loves that look.

"I have friends," she says at last. "Former colleagues, perhaps, on Vulcan, with access to certain information. Which they may have shared with me."

Trip shakes his head.

A smile ghosts at her lips.

"There'll be consequences if you are right, you know," he says after a long pause. A long pause filled with soft light and almost-smiles. "War, probably."

"Yes, that's true."

Trip sighs. "Hell of a time to have a baby."

She lowers her eyes, and Trip ponders the length of her eyelashes. The shadows they cast on her cheeks.

"Are you sorry?" she asked. "The baby? Would you change things, I mean?"

Trip's guard is down, lowered by half-smiles and eyelashes. So he tells her the truth. "No. I mean, there are many things I'd change about the past few years, if I could. Probably a few things I'd change about what's coming, too. But you, being here now? Being pregnant? No. No, I wouldn't change that."

Her eyelashes moisten, clump together. The shadows change.

He wipes her eye with gently with his thumb, spreading them again.

She looks at him then, something clearly on her lips, but it stays unspoken.

For a few minutes the universe is just this room. Just them. Complete.

"Will we ever get them back, do you think?" he asks, after a time. "Malcolm, and the others?"

"I suspect we will. Eventually," T'Pol answers. "At least I hope so. If we cannot cure this plague, or at least render those infected non-contagious, then we will have greater problems than three stranded humans."

Trip sighs. "Between our away-team and the embassy staff, there are twenty four murdered humans down on that planet. I just want our people back."

"I know."

"Just not...you know, here, breathing the same air as you."

T'Pol smiled. "I know."

"It's not safe."

Messop, Alice's inane underling, blocked her way. Liz fantasised about breaking the little shit's arm.

"I wouldn't go in there, Lez."

Liz scowled. "I need to find Phlox. He's my... I need to find him. He's having the worst day of his life and I'm not there! Is he in there?"

Messop frowned. "I don't know."

"Can't you look it up? It's Phlox. I can spell it for you. In Denobulan, if need be."

"I could look it up," Messop demurred. "But the records haven't been particularly reliable for days. People are not paying enough attention to their paperwork. It's really bad. Vax and I are considering writing a strongly worded..."

"Then I'm going in there," Liz growled, ducking around Messop and heading towards the crowded emergency ward.

Messop actually grabbed her shoulders to stop her. "You mustn't."

"Why not?"

"It's dangerous," Messop replied, looking uncomfortable for once. "Because you are human."

Liz frowned, trying not to roll her eyes when Messop wiped his hands on his lab coat after releasing her shoulders.

"WHY is it dangerous?"

"The 'wave," Messop replied awkwardly. "The news wave? Do you have those on Earth? It's a broadcast of, well...news. Well, the 'wave is reporting that a human woman blew up a residential building outside the city. It killed children, families, elders. Horrible thing. But, anyway. You need to stay out of sight, or I don't know what will happen."

Liz's heart plunged in her chest. "But I didn't... why are they saying a human did it, Messop? Do you know?"

Messop shrugged. "Multiple witnesses reported seeing a human woman run from the building just before...you know...Anyway, the authorities say they are still investigating but pretty much all the opinion-makers are saying that this woman must have been the bomber. It...it wasn't you, was it?"

Liz swallowed. "I've never killed anyone."

At this Messop brightened considerably. "Oh good! Say, can I ask you something?"

"Okay," Liz replied, distantly, her head spinning. She had run from the building mere seconds before it exploded. She had pulled Phlox into the street. Phlox...

"I'm thinking of asking Vax to be my first wife," Messop chirped. "What do you think?"

"I think you deserve each other," Liz answered dully, sinking to the floor.

Alice kept reminding herself not to panic. Instead she tried to occupy herself with predicting what Denobulan jail might be like. She certainly hadn't previously given the question a moment's thought.

Loud, she decided, after a while, but beyond that, she had little idea.

That particular avenue of distraction exhausted, she turned her attention to the LEO supervising her in the back of the transport. He appeared to have classified her as 'not a threat', after maybe thirty seconds, and was now paying her very little attention. He looked distracted. Sad.

"Are you all right?" Alice asked -she hoped, anyway!- in her very meagre Denobulan,

The LEO glanced at her, before turning away again. "My second wife is pregnant," he replied simply.

Might want to stop arresting surgeons, then, Alice thought to herself, but around she offered a Denobulan phrase that meant something between 'good luck' and 'my best wishes'.

"Thank you," the LEO replied, before going back to ignoring her.

Finally, the transport arrived at its destination and she was passed off to yet more minimally interested officials.

Being processed was interesting enough, Alice found, and someone had even gone to the trouble of translating some of the paper work for her.

Desertion she read. And Willfully disobeying superior commissioned officer.

So that's what I officially did, she thought. Good to know.

After the paper work - and a strip search made vaguely hilarious by the fact the guard in charge of it had never seen a human before - Alice was deposited in a large holding cell, with about fifty Denobulans.

It was indeed regrettably loud, but it was at least spacious, and to Alice's fascination, it was equipped with something like a television screen, displaying what appeared to be a news broadcast. The audio, if there was supposed to be any, was lost in the ruckus, and would have been Denobulan anyway. There were subtitles, with which Alice did her best, but mostly she was lost, and soon her attention drifted to her various cell mates, most of whom had simply returned to their various conversations after giving her a curious look.

I wonder what happens now, Alice thought. It was a slightly worrying thought, but was a much preferable to wondering if Messop and Vax were taking good care of Malcolm and Liz.

A sudden drop in the ambient chatter caught Alice's attention and she quickly realised the news broadcast had changed. It now showed pictures of a ruined building, of people crying in the street. Alice was unfamiliar with most of the words, but she did catch 'home', 'families'. 'Children'. And 'dead'.

The visual then returned to the news readers somber face. He was clearly saying something upsetting.

Then, Alice saw the Denobulan word for human flash onto the screen and ever pair of eyes in the cell turned towards her.

The first blow fell without warning, and knocked Alice from her feet. Between the second and the third, Alice's noticed flecks of blood on the floor in front of her.

That's not Denobulan blood, she had just enough time to think. That's mine.

Then a strong kick connected with her ribs.

"Stop," Alice gasped. Or maybe she only thought it.

Either way, they didn't.

Liz had staggered off in search of Phlox, and also, Malcolm rather hoped, to tip-off Enterprise about Alice's arrest.

Meanwhile, to pass the time, he was mentally plotting an escape route from the hospital, using a floor plan Vax had cheerfully provided. Malcolm's favourite part of his plan so far was the part where he bashed Vax over the head with it.

After replaying that part a few times in his imagination, he was interrupted by Vax herself barging back into the room, shouting into a communication device.

"I told you, she's not here," Vax was saying. "Here, talk to this one." She thrust the communication device into Malcolm's working hand.

"Hello?" he said uncertainly.

"Malcolm?"

"Hoshi!" Malcolm replied in astonished delight. "Hello?!"

"Malcolm! Are you okay?"

It was her. Her voice was strained and crackling from poor reception, but it could not have sounded more wonderful to Malcolm. "Well, more or less okay," he replied, aware from the sound of his own voice that he was smiling, broadly. "Can't complain, anyway. You?"

Hoshi's laugh crackled. "Yes, you idiot! WE are fine!"

"I'm glad," Malcolm replied. "Bit rough, though, calling me an idiot. I'm in the hospital, you know."

"Yes, Malcolm. I know. It's so good to talk to you. You can't even...Listen though, I'm trying to reach Alice. Liz too, actually, at Phlox's place, and I can't get either of them. Have you seen Alice?"

"Phlox's building was destroyed," Malcolm replied, his mood sinking rapidly. "I've seen Liz, and she's okay, and she says she saw Phlox after, but I think Phlox lost people in the blast... "

"Oh, that's horrible! We had no idea!

"...oh, and Alice got arrested or something."

"Damn! We thought that might happen", Hoshi cursed. "Don't worry about that, we'll sort it out at our end. Can you get me Liz though? Or Phlox?"

Malcolm looked hopefully at Vax, who narrowed her eyes, but did in the end wander off grumbling. Hopefully in search of Liz. "On it Hoshi," Malcolm reported. "Say, what did Alice do anyway?"

Hoshi paused for so long before answering that Malcolm was briefly worried they had lost their connection. "She wanted to help with emergency," Hoshi said eventually. "It sounded like they needed more doctors. Captain Archer said no, but she went anyway."

Malcolm rolled his eyes. "Typical. Oh, here's Liz!"

Liz walked over to the bed as if in a trance. She was pale enough to alarm Malcolm, and he was about to ask what was wrong, when she took the communicator from his hand and listlessly greeted Hoshi.

"Liz! Great to hear your voice. It sounds like you've had a bit of a day, and I'm sorry, but the Captain has a mission for you."

Liz exhaled heavily. "Okay, I guess. But have you been monitoring the news waves? Because we've got a problem."