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The Enterprise crew is thrilled to
encounter the biggest comet humans have ever seen, one that's
82.6 kilometers in diameter with a spectacular tail. Learning
the comet contains large quantities of eisilium, an extremely
rare mineral, Captain Archer dispatches Lt. Reed and Ensign
Mayweather to take a little "comet-walk" with a drilling rig to
collect samples. As they prepare for their mission, a Vulcan
starship, the Ti'Mur, approaches unannounced. Archer hails the
ship, and its captain, Vanik, informs him they are not there to
investigate the comet, but rather to investigate Enterprise's
interest in the comet. Although irked, Archer gracefully invites
Vanik to stay and watch, but then he pulls T'Pol aside to find
out what they're "really" doing here. T'Pol has no answers.
Reed and Mayweather land a
shuttlepod on the comet, eager to experience the wintery world.
Meanwhile Commander Tucker is disturbed to discover that T'Pol
has secretly received an encrypted transmission from the Vulcan
ship. He reports this to Archer, and upon his orders enlists
Ensign Sato to decrypt the message.
The bridge crew takes a little time out to record a message for
Tucker's nephew's fourth-grade class in Ireland, answering the
students' questions about such things as what they eat in space
and how they talk to aliens. Each crew member in turn responds
to the topics they specialize in, but Tucker is a little upset
when Archer picks him to answer the question, "When you flush a
toilet, where does it go?"
On the comet, Reed and Mayweather are setting charges in the ice
as the first step of their drilling operation, but they can't
resist taking some time to build a snowman — with Vulcan ears.
Meanwhile, Tucker reads the message to T'Pol that Sato
decrypted, and realizes it's nothing incriminating, but rather
an intensely personal letter. Highly embarrassed, Tucker decides
to confess to T'Pol and apologize. She is uncomfortable with
Tucker knowing about her situation, although he agrees to keep
it between themselves. T'Pol will not even confide in Dr. Phlox
when she receives treatment for a tension headache and
sleeplessness, but the doctor advises that she talk to someone
about what's bothering her.
In a gesture to gain the Vulcans' trust, Archer decides to
invite Captain Vanik over for dinner with him, T'Pol and Tucker.
The dinner does not go well, however, as Vanik just sits at the
table without eating and barely responds to attempts at
conversation. Archer gets fed up and abruptly asks why the
Vulcans are spying on them. Vanik condescendingly denies the
accusation, and Archer send him back to his ship.
After Reed and Mayweather blast a crater in the comet's surface,
they begin setting up the drilling rig. But the blast shifted
the comet's rotation, so Archer orders them to pick up the pace
because in two hours they will be exposed to the dangerous heat
of the nearby star. On the ship, T'Pol decides to take Plox's
advice to relieve her stress by talking about her concerns with
someone. In the encrypted letter, T'Pol was given an ultimatum
to return to Vulcan immediately or her arranged wedding will be
cancelled. So she asks Tucker, the one person who already knows
the situation, whether she should honor her people's traditions
or her obligation to Enterprise. He tries to convince her to
think for herself and do what is right for her, but she insists
her family and heritage must take precedence over "personal
choice." She acts like her mind is made up, but Tucker is not
convinced.
Having collected a core sample, Reed and Mayweather are removing
their equipment when Mayweather slips back into the blast crater
and injures his knee. Their pace is slowed as Reed helps the
limping Mayweather back to the shuttlepod, and sunlight begins
to break across the horizon. The ice begins fracturing beneath
them as they take their final few steps toward the shuttle. They
make it inside, but when they fire up the engines, the ice
collapses beneath the shuttle and it plummets into a gaping
chasm. They are now trapped, so Archer takes the helm of
Enterprise to navigate the ship close enough to use magnetic
grapplers to retrieve the shuttle. Captain Vanik hails him to
offer assistance, but Archer refuses. Tucker manages to hit the
shuttle with one grappler, but the eisilium deposits disrupt the
maglock and the shuttle drops back down. Since the Vulcans'
tractor beam would not be affected by the eisilium, T'Pol
convinces Archer that to accept Vanik's help would be to prove
him wrong about humans being arrogant and prideful. He concurs,
and Reed and Mayweather are rescued by the Ti'Mur.
Archer tries to thank Vanik by offering to share the data they
collected, but Vanik gives him the usual cold reply, and the
Ti'Mur prepares to depart. Tucker asks T'Pol if she's ready to
leave with the other Vulcans, but instead of packing, she sends
a message to the Ti'Mur to convey to her family, declaring her
intention to stay aboard Enterprise.
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