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Hoshi, Ensign Mayweather, report to the bridge."
    "We'll start this game later," Anderson said as the two headed for the mess hall door.
    "You can count on it," Mayweather said. "After this much setup, I've got to see if we at least can get across the canal."
    "Piece of cake," Anderson said, laughing.
    Cutler said nothing as she picked up the painted bolts and cup. She knew what she had planned for the three of them crossing the canal. And there wasn't going to be anything easy about it.

TWO
    Captain Jonathan Archer was standing beside his captain's chair, his arm resting on its back, when the sound of the lift caught his attention. It always caught his attention. He was still as excited as a boy about commanding his own starship. Even the word "starship" gave him a slight thrill.
    Ensigns Travis Mayweather and Hoshi Sato stepped off the lift. Hoshi's cheeks were dusted a faint pink and she looked down as she moved toward her station. Mayweather had a telltale twinkle in his eye. He'd been teasing her about something, and Hoshi, still uncertain about many things on the ship, provided an easy target.
    Archer suppressed a smile as he turned back toward the screen. In experience, in attitude, they were the most different members of his crew. Yet they shared something the rest of the crew did: they were the absolute best at what they did.
    The image on the screen caught him and made him forget his two ensigns. The image of the red and blue and green planet floating there was a beautiful sight. Sometimes he found himself staring at all the new planets, the new space anomalies, with his mouth half open in wonder.
    Then he'd catch T'Pol staring at him, and realize he looked like the biggest rube. No wonder she had trouble taking him seriously. The thrill he enjoyed every time he stumbled on a new sight probably seemed like incompetence to her.
    He forced himself to take a deep breath and contain the excitement he was feeling. He glanced at the readings in the arm. Everything looked good. They had taken a high orbit over this planet and from what he could tell, there was a decently advanced civilization here.
    "I have confirmed a recent warp trail signature," T'Pol said, glancing up at him from her science station. Her dark Vulcan eyes were as intense as always, her expression blank.
    A warp trail signature? Really? Finding other aliens was as thrilling to Archer as orbiting a new planet. Maybe more.
    "Can you track it?" Archer struggled to sound as dispassionate as T'Pol did. He'd never achieve that, but at least he'd keep the puppylike enthusiasm out of his voice.
    "I can," T'Pol said. "It originated from high orbit near the second planet, moved a short distance away, and then terminated."
    "A test flight," Archer said, more to himself than anyone.
    "That would be a logical deduction," T'Pol said.
    "There are a number of satellites and what you might call 'space junk' in low orbit," Lieutenant Malcolm Reed said. "I see nothing threatening."
    Archer turned and leaned on the railing separating him from Hoshi. The metal was cold. "Is anyone hailing us?"
    "No, sir. There are different radio bands, maybe civilian, maybe not." She raised her head. Her gaze met his. As always, Archer was struck by the brilliance that radiated out of her dark eyes. "Their language is going to be a problem."
    "Why's that?" Archer asked.
    T'Pol also looked up, from her science station, to wait for Hoshi's answer. The Vulcan's movements were always compact, efficient, in a way that the rest of the crew's weren't. The fact that she raised her head indicated interest.
    Archer couldn't imagine Earth's best linguist thinking any language was going to be a problem. Hoshi could almost instantly get a grip on the basics of any tongue. It was the main reason he had desperately wanted her on board for this first trip.
    "Structure," Hoshi said. Her head was tilted slightly. She was clearly listening to the aliens' broadcasts as she talked. "I've never heard anything