[T'Pol's quarters]

T'POL: (lighting a candle) Come in.
TUCKER: Thanks for seeing me so late. You sure I'm not bothering you?
T'POL: Not at all.
(He hands over a lidded bowl.)
TUCKER: Georgia peaches. I picked up a crate when we were back on Earth. Chef's been keeping then in stasis for me. They're as fresh as the day they were picked.
T'POL: Thank you.
TUCKER: Aren't you going to try one?
T'POL: I don't usually eat this late.
TUCKER: Come on. One bite?
(He takes the lid off.)
T'POL: (takes a bite) This doesn't make up for the two sessions you cancelled.
TUCKER: Maybe you haven't noticed, but I've been a little busy lately. It's not like I didn't want to come back. After our last session I slept like a baby. First time in months. So, should I just
T'POL: Please.
(He takes his shirt off and sits down.)
T'POL: Your shoes as well.
TUCKER: Shoes?
T'POL: There are many neural nodes in the soles of the feet.
TUCKER: Hold on. You never said anything about feet.
T'POL: Is that a problem?
TUCKER: Well, for one thing, I haven't had a shower since this morning, and I know how sensitive that Vulcan nose of your can be. And I'm a little ticklish. Maybe more than a little.
T'POL: I'll stop at the first sign of discomfort.
(Tucker lies down on his stomach.)
TUCKER: Oh! Your hands are ice cold.
(She rubs them together to warm them before starting again.)
T'POL: Long deep breaths.
TUCKER: You sure this is safe? I mean, has anyone ever tried it on a human before?
T'POL: Not to my knowledge. The risk of paralysis is minimal. Breathe.
TUCKER: That's the spot. (comm. beeps)
T'POL: T'Pol.
ARCHER [OC]: It's the Captain. I'd like you to join me in the Command centre right away.

[Command centre]

ARCHER: Sorry if I woke you.
T'POL: I wasn't asleep.
ARCHER: Look at this.
(A picture of an Arboreal comes on the screen.)
T'POL: Another species of Xindi?
ARCHER: According to Phlox, they probably evolved from some form of arboreal primate. I managed to piece together some of their starcharts. It took me half the night to figure out how they map co-ordinates, but I've been able to reconstruct the ship's course over the past few months. This is the last planet they visited before they were attacked by the marauders.
T'POL: Does it say what they were doing there?
ARCHER: No, but it's only a day away.
T'POL: We don't know if these Xindi were involved with the ones who attacked Earth.
ARCHER: We don't know they weren't. Tell Travis to set a course.

[Bridge]

T'POL: The ecosystem is prolific. There are several million chromophyllic plant species alone.
ARCHER: What about Xindi?
T'POL: I'm not detecting any humanoid life, but it'll take several hours to search all the land masses.
REED: Captain, I'm picking up a metallic signature at the northern end of those equatorial islands. It looks like a landing craft.
ARCHER: Any bioscans?
T'POL: None within a thirty kilometre radius.

[Shuttlepod]

REED: Now at thirteen kilometres.
T'POL: There's a break in the canopy. It should be wide enough.
ARCHER: (piloting) I see it.

[Forest - night]

REED: Sir.
(He arrives at the alien craft. The hatch is open and it's empty.)
T'POL: Judging by the oxidation, this happened about two weeks ago.
HOSHI: Right about the time the Xindi were here.
ARCHER: It's definitely one of theirs. I recognise it from the database. (to Reed) Search the area. See what else you can find. (to T'Pol) Some of their databanks may still be intact.
HOSHI: Captain. A body.
(A very burnt body.)
T'POL: It isn't Xindi. At least, not one of the three species we're familiar with.
HOSHI: Maybe it was one of the other two.
REED: What about him?
T'POL: The readings are the same.
ARCHER: This whole area's been scorched.
HOSHI: Are you all right?
REED: (sweating) I never much care for the tropics.
ARCHER: Keep looking.
(T'Pol finds mottling on her forearms and feels ridges developing around her eyes.)
T'POL: Lieutenant?
(Reed now looks very alien, and sounds it too. At the craft, Archer is changing too, internally as well as externally, and it hurts.)
T'POL: Captain! T'Pol to Enterprise.

[Bridge]

TRAVIS: Go ahead.
T'POL [OC]: Send a security team to the surface. We're being altered by some kind of
ARCHER [OC]: (alien)
TRAVIS: Sub-commander?

[Forest - night]

ARCHER: (alien)
(T'Pol draws her phase pistol.)
T'POL: Stay back.
(He comes towards her so she shoots him, but then she has to fight a mutated Hoshi. When Reed turns up too, she runs away but trips up and passes out. The changed crew carry her to a clearing where she wakes again.)
T'POL: Captain, untie me. Let me go.
(He does, over Hoshi's protests.)
T'POL: Thank you.
(Archer sniffs around her neck and makes clicking sounds.)
T'POL: We have to get back to Enterprise. Enterprise?
ARCHER: (alien)
(T'Pol reaches for the universal translator.)
T'POL: May I have that? The device, may I have it?
REED: (alien)
ARCHER: (alien)
(Hoshi hands it over gingerly, as if she doesn't know what it is.)
T'POL: This may help us understand each other. You're going to have to talk. Talk. You need to talk.

[Situation room]

PHLOX: That's a Vulcan biosign, I'm certain of it.
TUCKER: But these aren't human.
PHLOX: Definitely not.
TUCKER: Then where's the rest of our team? The only reason I don't have a search party down there right now is because you needed more time to analyse the data. Now unless you can give me a damn good reason to wait around
PHLOX: When T'Pol called to the ship, she said something was happening to them.
TRAVIS: She said they were being altered.
PHLOX: It's possible she was speaking literally. Something on the planet may have transformed them, physiologically.
TUCKER: You're saying these alien biosigns could be our people.
PHLOX: From what we've seen of the Expanse, it's a possibility we have to consider. The laws of biochemistry on this world may be just as unpredictable as the laws of physics.
TRAVIS: Whoever they are, they're not staying put. They're heading due east of the landing site.
TUCKER: Prep shuttlepod two.
TRAVIS: Aye, sir.
PHLOX: I'd like a little more time to study these readings.
TUCKER: We'll use EV suits and biohazard protocols. Have the Decon chamber ready when we get back.

[Forest]

ARCHER: Enterprise.
T'POL: Yes. It's your ship. You're the Captain.
REED: We don't have time for this. We have to find Urquat. It's all that matters now.
T'POL: Urquat?
REED: We have to keep looking. It's somewhere close.
HOSHI: Why are you talking to her? She's trying to delay us. Our people are there.
REED: They can help us, tell us what happened, why we can't remember.
T'POL: Captain, that device. I can use it to call Enterprise. You have a doctor on board. He can prove to you what I'm saying is true.
HOSHI: Don't trust her. She's not one of us.
ARCHER: We don't know what she is.
T'POL: Urquat. You said we need to find Urquat. We should keep searching.
(Archer grabs T'Pols arm and pulls her along.)
ARCHER: It can't be far.
(Reed scents food, and leaps easily up a tree. He comes back with two eggs to eat, Archer snatches one and Hoshi gets the other. She opens it to reveal some larvae which she devours hungrily. Reed is annoyed and he fights Archer, but he loses and crawls away. Archer breaks open the other egg and offers some to T'Pol.)
T'POL: No, thank you. I'm not hungry.
(Archer lets a contrite and begging Reed have a share)

[Shuttlepod]

TUCKER: They're about three kilometres east of us. We don't have too many options for a landing site. Hope you boys are up for a little walk.

[Forest - night]

T'POL: It's a shuttlepod from Enterprise. They won't hurt you. Let me talk to them.
(Tucker and two EV suited MACO's scan for their missing colleagues.)
TUCKER: Keep your weapons on stun. Circle around.
(Archer and Co. hide, then Reed jumps one of the MACOs. Hoshi gets shot.)
TUCKER: Chang!
(Tucker stuns Reed, but Archer attacks him with a club and cracks his faceplate.)
T'POL: Captain! Wait! Don't you recognise him?
(Archer runs off as the other MACO arrives.)
T'POL: Take Lieutenant Reed back to Sickbay.
TUCKER: What about you?
T'POL: I'm staying with them.
TUCKER: Sub-Commander!

[Sickbay]

(Phlox is watching Reed rage in the Decon chamber, on a monitor.)
TUCKER: He didn't even recognise me.
PHLOX: Don't be offended. In his current condition, I doubt he'd recognise any of us.
TUCKER: Any idea what caused this?
PHLOX: A mutagenic virus. His blood was swarming with them. It was apparently designed to re-write the DNA of its host, to transform any humanoid it infected into another species.
TUCKER: Why did it have so little effect on T'Pol?
PHLOX: Vulcan K-cells. They seem to neutralise the pathogen. I've been synthesising an anti-virus using T'Pol's genetic profile, but I'm going to need an active sample of her DNA to complete it. We need to get her back to the ship as soon as possible.
TUCKER: I'm doing my best.
TRAVIS [OC]: Bridge to Commander Tucker.
TUCKER: Go ahead.
TRAVIS [OC]: Two ships just dropped out of warp, sir. They're on an intercept course.

[Bridge]

TRAVIS: They're hailing us.
TUCKER: Open a channel.
TRET [on viewscreen]: Your ship is in restricted space.
TUCKER: Sorry, it wasn't very well marked.
TRET [on viewscreen]: Our scans indicate that one of the people on your ship has been infected with a dangerous virus.
TUCKER: We're aware of that. Is there anything you can tell us about
TRET [on viewscreen]: Your vessel's under quarantine. Prepare to be boarded.
TUCKER: No one's coming aboard unless I say so.
TRET [on viewscreen]: The infected organism must be eradicated before the virus can spread.
TUCKER: That infected organism is a member of my crew.
TRET [on viewscreen]: Does he still look like one of your crew? Does he recognise you or even speak your language anymore? We've been studying the mutagen for sixty years. The only course of action is to neutralise the outbreak.
TUCKER: There isn't any outbreak. Lieutenant Reed is in medical isolation.
TRET [on viewscreen]: We won't allow your vessel to leave orbit with the contagion aboard.
TUCKER: Look, we've only been dealing with this virus for one day, so forgive me if I don't take your word for it that the only option is to neutralise our Tactical Officer. You want to come over to discuss the situation, fine, but if you try to force your way onto this ship you're going to have one hell of a fight on your hands.

[Forest - night]

(Archer wakes from a vivid dream of a big city.)
ARCHER: How long was I asleep?
T'POL: Only for a few minutes.
ARCHER: I saw it. In my dream, I was there.
HOSHI: Urquat?
ARCHER: Our city.
T'POL: There are no cities on this planet.
ARCHER: You're wrong. It's below the surface.
HOSHI: Tell me. What was it like?
ARCHER: It was filled with thousands of Loque'eque, waiting for us.
T'POL: Your home is a planet called Earth. The people there are waiting for you. You're on a mission to save them.
ARCHER: Urquat's my home. When we get there you'll understand. Wait and see. We've rested long enough.

[Sickbay]

PHLOX: The Decon chamber's sealed. I assure you there's no danger.
TRET: You wouldn't be so confident if you knew how easily this virus can spread. It infected tens of millions of people on my world. They all had to be destroyed.
TUCKER: Destroyed?
TRET: The virus would have transformed our entire population within weeks.
TUCKER: Where did it come from?
TRET: It was engineered by the inhabitants of this planet, a race called the Loque'eque. Something decimated their species centuries ago and they lost the ability to reproduce, so they created this virus to transform other species into their own. It was the only way to save themselves from extinction.
PHLOX: Ingenious, but why didn't they programme the virus to stop replicating once their population was replenished?
TRET: We've been trying to answer that question for a long time.
TUCKER: Why's he so eager to get back to a place called Urquat?
TRET: The mutagen encodes the victims with an overpowering instinct to return to their home city, Urquat. That's why we can't allow even a single infected organism to leave this planet. They can spread the contagion to other systems and anyone who became infected would be drawn back here. We can't risk another epidemic. (his communicator sounds) Yes.
ALIEN [OC]: We've detected three more infected organisms on the surface.
TRET: Prepare a containment team. More of your crewmen?
PHLOX: One of them has an immunity to the virus. If I could have access to some of your research, perhaps we could work together.
TRET: We will find these people and examine them. If there's anything to report, we'll let you know.
TUCKER: I'd prefer to have Doctor Phlox examine them.
TRET: What you prefer doesn't matter. I'm under orders to contain this outbreak. If you attempt to interfere, I'm authorised to use any force necessary. (to guard) Take me back to the airlock. (leaves)
PHLOX: If I don't complete the antivirus within the next two hours, it'll be too late. There won't be enough of their original genome left to resequence.
TUCKER: We can't launch a shuttlepod, they'd detect it. Do you think T'Pol's contagious?
PHLOX: Most likely.
TUCKER: That rules out the transporter. She'd infect the entire crew.
PHLOX: Whatever you do, Commander, do it quickly. I need that DNA sample.
TUCKER: Be right back. 

[T'Pol's quarters]

(Tucker does a quick search for the pot and finds the peach she sampled earlier.)
TRAVIS [OC]: Bridge to Commander Tucker.
TUCKER: Go ahead.
TRAVIS [OC]: One of those ships just launched a shuttle, sir. It's heading towards the surface.
TUCKER: Keep an eye on them.

[Forest - day]

(At a cliff face.)
ARCHER: It isn't far now. The passage was here, in my dream. Help me.
(They break through rubble into a tunnel, then look out over a vast ruined city with a few corpses scattered around.)

[Urquat]

HOSHI: You said they'd be waiting for us.
ARCHER: I saw it so clearly. There was a fountain there, and gardens up there, floating. And there were people, thousands of people.
T'POL: Come back to Enterprise. We'll help you find out what happened to your city.
ARCHER: No, no. We're not leaving. This is our home. Home, home.
T'POL: Look around. These ruins are ancient. No one has lived here for a very long time.
ARCHER: What about this? (a corpse) This body isn't ancient. Someone killed them. Why? Who would do this? Your people?
T'POL: No.
ARCHER: Then who?
T'POL: I don't know, but if we go to Enterprise we can try to find out.
ARCHER: I don't belong on Enterprise. I belong here.
HOSHI: Someone's coming.
ARCHER: More of your humans?
T'POL: I don't think so. We're not safe here. Come, we must go. Come, we must go.
(They head down stairs towards the city. An alien in an EV suit sees them running.)
ALIEN: We've found them.
TRET [OC]: Take the Vulcan woman, then destroy the others.
ALIEN: Understood.
(The trio are heading through rough tunnels.)
ARCHER: Who are they?
T'POL: I don't know.
(Archer jumps one, grabs his weapon and begins smashing at his helmet with it.)
ARCHER: You destroyed my city, killed my people.
(T'Pol is grabbed by the other alien but she and Hoshi fight back, getting his weapon. Archer raises a rock to kill the alien.)
T'POL: Captain! We have to get to the surface.
(He puts the rock down and they leave the alien to discover a tear in his spacesuit.)
ARCHER: This way.
(Other aliens turn up and incinerate the one with the hole in his suit - whose eyes have already turned bright blue.)

[Forest - day]

(T'Pol, Hoshi and Archer burst out into the open, and are surrounded by space-suited aliens.)
ALIEN 2: Lower your weapon and move away. You won't be harmed.
(He grabs T'Pol.)
ALIEN 2: I said, move away.
(Enterprise people beam down in EV suits and stun them just before they can incinerate Archer and Hoshi.)
TUCKER: You all right?
T'POL: You said you'd never use the transporter again.
TUCKER: Believe me, I wish I'd had a choice. There are more of them in orbit. We'd better get back to the shuttlepod before they realise anything's wrong.
T'POL: Captain, you can't stay here. You'll be safe on Enterprise.

[Bridge]

(The shuttlepod returns.)
COMM. OFFICER: It's Commander Tucker.
TRAVIS: Put him through. Go ahead, sir.
TUCKER [OC]: We're docking, Travis. Tell Phlox to stand by in Decon. Go to warp four as soon as we're in.
TRAVIS: Understood.
(He relieves his temporary helm officer. Enterprise jumps to warp, with the other two ships in hot pursuit.)
TUCKER: Report.
TRAVIS: They're in pursuit. Two thousand kilometres and closing.
TUCKER: Try to stay ahead of them. Stand by weapons.
COMM. OFFICER: They're hailing us.
TUCKER: Don't respond. Hold your course.
TRAVIS: Nine hundred kilometres.
COMM. OFFICER: They're charging weapons.
TRAVIS: Seven hundred.
(Enterprise is hit by weapons fire.)
TUCKER: Full power to aft hull plating.
(The aliens keep firing, but they don't often hit.)
TRAVIS: Hull plating's down to forty percent.
COMM. OFFICER: We're being hailed again.
TRET [on viewscreen]: Drop out of warp.
TUCKER: Look, we both want the same thing. A cure for this virus, right? Our doctor thinks he's found one, but he needs a little more time
TRET [on viewscreen]: I won't warn you again, Commander. We're going to contain this outbreak whether you co-operate or not.
ARCHER: (not completely back to normal) Why are you firing at my ship?
TRET [on viewscreen]: There are three infected people on board. We won't allow you to leave this system.
PHLOX: This is Captain Archer and Ensign Sato. They're the people you nearly incinerated on that planet. As you can see, they're responding quite well to the antivirus I synthesised.
TRET [on viewscreen]: That's not possible.
PHLOX: Run scans. See for yourself.
TUCKER: Like I said, he just needed a little more time. I'm sure we'd be happy to share the antivirus with you, but that'll be impossible if you destroy our ship.

Captain's Starlog, supplemental. We've given Phlox's serum to the captain of the containment vessel. With any luck, he'll be able to use it to prevent future outbreaks. As for Malcolm, Hoshi and me, it may be a few days before we feel fully human again.

[Sickbay]

PHLOX: This should help with the headaches.
REED: Have you got anything for my stomach? The Chef's food isn't sitting too well.
PHLOX: Till your digestive tract is fully restored, you may want to avoid the Mess hall.
REED: What do you suggest I eat?
PHLOX: You're welcome to some of the moth larvae I feed to my Pyrithian bat.
ARCHER: How are you feeling, Lieutenant?
REED: Not bad, sir. How about yourself?
ARCHER: Getting there. Hoshi and T'Pol are going to take the day off. You might want to do the same.
REED: Thank you, Captain. I could use a little rest.
(Reed leaves.)
ARCHER: You wanted to see me?
PHLOX: This is the last of the mutagenic virus. I assume you want me to destroy it.
ARCHER: No.
PHLOX: Captain, you experienced first-hand what this pathogen can do.
ARCHER: Those containment patrols aren't going to stop until they've wiped out every trace of it. Now that they have your antivirus, they'll most likely figure out a way to succeed.
PHLOX: Considering the alternatives, that would be best.
ARCHER: (takes the vial) This was created as a final effort to preserve a civilisation, a people. That species we became, they cease to exist the moment this virus is gone.
PHLOX: Captain.
ARCHER: We came out here to stop the Xindi destroying humanity. I'll be damned if I'm going to have a hand in destroying another race in the process. Put it on ice, Doc, in stasis, whatever. Understood?
(Phlox nods, and puts it into a tiny metal box.)