- T'Pol must save the ship after the crew becomes obsessed with trivialities during the approach to a black hole.
- Enterprise is on its way to investigate a black hole in a trinary star system. Since the system is only reachable by impulse engine, the crew suddenly has time for less important matters. Captain Archer starts working on a preface of a book about his father and orders Trip to fix his chair. Hoshi takes over the mess hall as chef is sick. Malcolm starts working on a new security protocol. But T'Pol notices that the crew's behavior is becoming erratic. They seem to be fixed only on the thing they're doing right now and nothing may interfere. Hoshi wants to get a recipe right, Phlox tries to extract a piece of Mayweather's brain after he complained on a mild headache and Archer even yells at his dog while trying to write the preface. Then all the crew pass out and T'Pol must save the ship.—Arnoud Tiele (imdb@tiele.nl)
- It is August 14, 2152, and Enterprise decides to explore a unique black hole (class 4) nestled within a Trinary star system. Cruising at impulse (so as to avoid getting too close to the gravitational shear between the 3 stars), it will take a few days to get there, freeing the crew up for other activities. Captain Archer uses the chance to work on the preface for a book about his father (he has been putting it off for weeks as he cant see how he can summarize his father's life in one page), and also asks Commander Tucker to look at the Captain's chair on the bridge (its too uncomfortable and Archer has to perch on the edge of the seat to sit in it). Meanwhile, Ensign Sato volunteers to help in the galley (as the regular chef has a simple virus and is out of action for a few days) (Sato decides to cook her grand-mother's recipe from scratch), Lieutenant Reed begins works on some new ship wide security protocols (Who wants weapons to be activated with a ship wide security alert), and Doctor Phlox examines Ensign Mayweather's headache.
Over the next few days the crew starts obsessing about their selected tasks. Their behavior is also affecting their interactions - Reed and Tucker nearly come to blows (when they refer to each other's project as trivial), and Phlox sedates a frustrated and non-consenting Mayweather (He is worried that Archer will demote him if he is away from his station for too long) to perform an invasive medical test. Reed criticizes Sato's food and calls it too salty.
Archer struggles to get the page written and yells at Porthos when he insists on being fed. Tucker also blows his top off at T'Pol when she asks him for help to chart the new Trinary system.. he says he is busy fixing the captains chair and doesn't need to attend to her every whim and fancy. The situation becomes so acute that Sub-Commander T'Pol, who remains unaffected, easily notices that everyone else is behaving oddly (Reed insists on making security protocol changes without discussing with Archer, even bypassing him to go directly to star-fleet command) (Reed is angry with Archer when he disparages the 19 page preface he wrote for his father's book) (Sato angers everyone when she gets paranoid about perfection of her family recipe and refuses to serve food) (Reed initiates an unauthorized security drill and when Tucker is slow to respond, they nearly come to blows) (Phlox is about commence brain surgery on Mayweather, when T'Pol knocks him out with a Vulcan nerve pinch). Her investigation into the cause reveals that a peculiar form of radiation emitted from the black-hole is the underlying cause. It will take two days to reverse course and leave the radiation field, and while she was determining this, everyone else on board has fallen unconscious.
There is an alternate path, but it will require piloting Enterprise closer (within 2 MM KMS) to the dangerous black hole and she cannot navigate the treacherous field and pilot at the same time. T'Pol rouses the groggy captain with a cold shower and hot coffee, enough that he is able to man the helm. His ability to fly is sluggish, and as they near the exit, a large crumbling asteroid blocks Enterprise's path. Reed's obsession created an automatic "Tactical Alert" that automatically kicks in and brings all defensive systems fully online, thus allowing T'Pol to blast the asteroids with the fully charged phase cannon. Once clear, things on-board soon return to normal, with the exception of the captain's improved chair (Lowered it by 1 cm) and Reed's newly proven security protocol.
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