- Ensign Hoshi Sato: Seriously, engineering, building things - have you always been good at that?
- Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: Mmm... When I was a kid - not so good at building. But I was a terror when it came to taking things apart. My folks used to put all our kitchen appliances on the highest shelves. One Thanksgiving - I've no idea what I was thinking, but, um - I removed every screw from this... big dining room table we had. It was so old, the wood sort of stuck together, so it stayed standing. Until my dad put the turkey down.
- [last lines]
- Alien inhabiting Lt. Reed: These Humans have not been a good influence on you. I would not encourage further encounters.
- Alien inhabiting Ens. Mayweather: I don't think we can avoid them. I'm going to recommend that we start preparations for an official first contact mission.
- Alien inhabiting Lt. Reed: Indeed. At the rate they're progressing, that will barely give us 5,000 years to prepare.
- Alien inhabiting Ens. Mayweather: Then we'd better get started.
- [in the decon chamber]
- Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: This reminds me of my dorm room at Starfleet Training. Got into a lot of trouble at old STC.
- Ensign Hoshi Sato: I got kicked out.
- Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: ...Well, you can't stop there!
- Ensign Hoshi Sato: In my second month, I... I had a difference of opinion with the Company Commander.
- [pause]
- Ensign Hoshi Sato: I broke his arm!
- Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: Can I ask why?
- Ensign Hoshi Sato: Poker.
- Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: You broke his arm playing cards?
- Ensign Hoshi Sato: He tried to shut down a game I was running for some of the recruits and a couple of the training staff.
- Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: Hold on. You ran a floating poker game at STC?
- Ensign Hoshi Sato: The way the regulations are worded, gambling was an honor violation only if it took place during duty hours. So I ran the game on weekends. One night my CC showed up, tried to sweep all the chips off the table, and I... well, I've a black belt in aikido. I think he was just upset that I hadn't invited him to play.
- Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: What happened?
- Ensign Hoshi Sato: I got a bad conduct discharge.
- Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: How the hell did you end up on Enterprise?
- Ensign Hoshi Sato: Starfleet needed language specialists, more than they needed to make an example out of me. They let me back in on probation and... here I am.
- [Archer, "Reed" and "Mayweather" are reviewing scans in the command center]
- Captain Jonathan Archer: I've heard from Starfleet. They're working through diplomatic channels to contact the Klingons; but it might not be necessary. This spectrograph identifies a Klingon alloy.
- Alien inhabiting Lt. Reed: That's the signature of standard hull plating.
- Captain Jonathan Archer: [indicates one of the planet's rings] I found it... here.
- Alien inhabiting Ens. Mayweather: You've detected a debris cloud in orbit.
- Captain Jonathan Archer: It's what's left of a Klingon shuttlecraft. Their response to an infected landing party: the commander killed his own shuttle crew.
- Alien inhabiting Lt. Reed: They didn't even plead for mercy.
- [Archer gives him a quizzical look]
- Alien inhabiting Lt. Reed: I mean, they wouldn't, would they? Being Klingon.
- Alien inhabiting Ens. Mayweather: Captain, does knowing what the Klingons did help us at all?
- Captain Jonathan Archer: At least we know we don't have to bother asking them if they have a cure.
- Alien inhabiting Ens. Mayweather: But if they had developed one, you'd ask them for it, right?
- Captain Jonathan Archer: On bended knee.
- Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: Next time I ask to go on a landing party, talk me out of it, OK?
- Captain Jonathan Archer: You're usually too stubborn to be talked out of anything. But I'll do my best.
- [first lines]
- ["Reed" and "Mayweather" are playing chess]
- Alien inhabiting Ens. Mayweather: You win in eight moves.
- Alien inhabiting Lt. Reed: You're really starting to get a feel for the game.
- Alien inhabiting Ens. Mayweather: 32 pieces, 64 squares - it's not as if it's difficult. Total number of possible outcomes is limited.
- Alien inhabiting Lt. Reed: Ten to the 123rd power.
- Alien inhabiting Ens. Mayweather: That's what I mean. Chess is so predictable. I'm surprised anyone bothers to play it.
- [Tucker and Sato have contracted a deadly virus]
- Alien inhabiting Ens. Mayweather: I studied your report on how the Klingons reacted to the infection.
- Alien inhabiting Lt. Reed: Their response was typical for a species at their level of development.
- Alien inhabiting Ens. Mayweather: The Klingon commander didn't let his landing party back on his ship.
- Alien inhabiting Lt. Reed: Your point?
- Alien inhabiting Ens. Mayweather: Captain Archer did.
- Alien inhabiting Lt. Reed: Captain Archer's done nothing different from the Klingons. The launch bay and decon chamber are completely isolated from the rest of the ship.
- Alien inhabiting Ens. Mayweather: So it doesn't matter if an infected landing party comes aboard.
- Alien inhabiting Lt. Reed: Precisely. Humans don't want to interact with dying crewmates any more than Klingons did. If it was left to me, I'd stop our observations immediately. We have nothing more to learn from Humans.
- Alien inhabiting Ens. Mayweather: Oh, I don't know. They're showing concern for each other. The Cardassians did that when they were here, didn't they?
- Alien inhabiting Lt. Reed: Ah, but in the end they killed their infected crew, just as the Klingons did. The only difference is the time it took to reach that decision.
- Alien inhabiting Ens. Mayweather: Maybe the Humans will surprise us.
- Captain Jonathan Archer: Don't you give up on me.
- Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: There's still a bunch of planets out there we haven't seen.
- Alien inhabiting Cmdr. Tucker: The sensations in this host are different from the others. I'm experiencing... physical pain.
- Alien inhabiting Ensign Sato: So am I.
- Alien inhabiting Cmdr. Tucker: Why should any species have to endure this weakness?
- Alien inhabiting Ensign Sato: Because the desire to overcome it will spur them to move beyond the limitations of the physical world.
- Alien inhabiting Cmdr. Tucker: Maybe that isn't true for all species.
- Alien inhabiting Ensign Sato: It was true for us.
- [the two aliens have been detected by Phlox]
- Alien inhabiting Commander T'Pol: We come here only to study how physical species react to the unknown. You can help by telling us how you detected our presence. That happens in less than two percent of our missions.
- Dr. Phlox: Commander Tucker and Ensign Sato were sedated. They shouldn't have been able to stand and talk.
- Alien inhabiting Captain Archer: It's been so long since we had physical form. We weren't able to distinguish sleep from sedation.
- Alien inhabiting Commander T'Pol: We'll remember next time.
- [Hoshi is trying to break out of the decon chamber]
- Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: You can't break the lock-out code.
- Ensign Hoshi Sato: Math is just another language.
- Alien inhabiting Ens. Mayweather: How many have to die before you'll admit Humans are different? We need to stop this!
- Alien inhabiting Lt. Reed: I will not depart from protocol. The incident isn't over. When the first death occurs on a ship, there's a 68% chance the rest of the crew will become infected.
- Alien inhabiting Ens. Mayweather: What more will that teach us about them?
- Alien inhabiting Lt. Reed: All this would've happened whether we were here or not. We are not responsible.
- Alien inhabiting Ens. Mayweather: Maybe we should be.
- [Tucker has just died]
- Alien inhabiting Cmdr. Tucker: I have such respect for you, Captain Archer.
- Captain Jonathan Archer: ...Trip?
- Alien inhabiting Cmdr. Tucker: Not exactly.
- Captain Jonathan Archer: You want to know what it means to be... Human? You need to do more than observe.
- Alien inhabiting Ensign Sato: Talking is a limited form of communication for us. We're much more advanced than Humans.
- Captain Jonathan Archer: Not from where I'm standing. Maybe... you've evolved into beings with abilities I can't comprehend, but you've paid a hell of a price. You've lost compassion, and empathy - things that give life meaning. If that's what it takes to be advanced... I don't want any part of it.