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like it. In fact, I've never imagined anything like it. The structure of a sentence seems to mean more than the words. At least from what I can gather so far."
    Her fingers flew over her board, keying in the computer diagnostic.
    "Keep working on it," Archer said. He turned to T'Pol and then Reed. "Well?"
    "It appears we've run into a humanoid culture," Reed said, examining the computer screen in front of his station. His fingers pressed buttons as he spoke. "From what I can gather, they're about one hundred years or so behind us technologically."
    "Because of a war?" Archer asked, remembering that when the Vulcans discovered Earth a hundred years before, humans were recovering from a very nasty war.
    "No," Reed said.
    On the main screen the planet below them was in darkness, lights of the cities clear even from this height. Archer couldn't believe their luck. Their mission was to go out and meet new races, and here, almost on their back porch, was a planet just making its first steps into space.
    "There is another race on this planet as well," T'Pol said. "They inhabit the southern continent completely."
    "What?" Archer said, keying in the scans of the southern continent for the main screen.
    It took only a moment before he realized T'Pol was right. Unlike the roads and cities that covered the rest of the planet, this continent seemed almost untouched. Very alien-looking villages dotted the edge of the shoreline all the way around the continent. Thousands and thousands of them, their village structures very different from anything on the rest of the planet. And nowhere near as advanced.
    "Are you sure these aren't members of the same race who are just less advanced?" Archer asked. For a long time, humans developed at different rates because of their different cultures. Only recently, historically speaking, had human culture united technologically.
    "Yes, I am certain," T'Pol said. Archer thought he caught a bit of a chill in her voice. He'd offended her by questioning her skill. He hadn't been doing that, exactly. He'd just wanted clarification. But he wasn't going to tell her that.
    "Captain," Hoshi said, "I'm still not getting all of this language. But I'm pretty certain about a few things."
    "Go ahead," Archer said.
    "The race that inhabits most of this planet call themselves Fazi." Hoshi paused for a moment, listened, and then shook her head. "They have an extremely structured and rigid society, from what I can tell, and are led by a council of sorts."
    "It would be that council we would contact?" Archer asked.
    "I think so," Hoshi said.
    It was clear to Archer she wasn't one hundred percent sure yet.
    "I would recommend patience and study," T'Pol said. "There is much to learn here."
    "For the moment I agree," Archer said, dropping into his captain's chair. The leather sank comfortably beneath him, almost as if the chair had been designed to his own physical specs. He leaned forward and studied the planet below as the ship's orbit brought them over the area of sunrise. As he watched, the lights of the alien city below were slowly overwhelmed by the daylight.
    Down there people were just waking up and starting their day. Maybe for them it would be a day that would be remembered for a very long time. The day when the Fazi learned there was a much bigger and vaster universe out beyond their solar system. And that they were not alone, just as humanity had learned when the Vulcans landed.
    When he took this mission, Archer had promised himself that if-and when-they made first contact, he would do it better than the Vulcans had done.
    He intended to keep that promise now.

THREE
    Elizabeth Cutler wiped off her table in the mess. She was pleasantly full-having opted for the first night of the homemade stew instead of the Vulcan broth she'd been experimenting with. Everyone said the stew was better the second night, but she still hadn't recovered from her microbiology classes as an undergraduate. Any food that was more than a few