The systems on Enterprise are malfunctioning — the artificial gravity wonks out while Archer's in the shower, T'Pol gets a glass of thick, black slime instead of carbonated water, and an explosion in engineering forces the ship to drop to impulse. It turns out that the malfunctions are happening because aliens are taking the plasma exhaust to repair their own ship. Archer offers to help the aliens and sends Trip over to do repairs.
When Trip comes over, the room fills with gas, which makes Trip nauseated and feverish, forcing him to take a nap (which annoys him, as he wanted to work right away). He wakes up feeling better and the engineer, a woman named Ah'len, gives him cubes to eat and shows him plants that grow on the ship. Trip later completes the repairs and Ah'len shows him a holodeck and a "game" where they dip their hands in a bowl of pebbles that enable them to read each other's minds.
When he comes back to the Enterprise and the aliens (who are called Xyrillians) leave, Trip notices a growth on his wrist. He goes to see Phlox, who finds that it's a nipple and that Trip is, for lack of a better word, pregnant. Archer and T'Pol enter, and Phlox determines that Trip is only a "host" to the embryo; his DNA isn't involved. He also reveals that he feels it might be dangerous to remove the embryo without further information, and after an awkward conversation, determines that the bowl of pebbles must have been what caused the conception.
While Enterprise searches for the Xyrillians, Trip becomes hormonal, which makes him snappish, overly safety-conscious, and more voracious than usual at the dinner table. They find the Xyrillians, but they're hitchhiking on a Klingon ship, and the captain, Vorok, fires on Enterprise and prepares to execute the Xyrillians. Archer requests him to stop, but he refuses until T'Pol persuades him that it'd be honorable to comply. Trip tells (and shows) the Klingons what's going on, and the Klingons offer the Xyrillians some topographical information in exchange for the holo-technology. Trip explains the situation to Ah'len, who apologises and explains that the conception was an accident, and the baby (who is revealed to be a girl) is transferred to another host.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Anachronism Stew:
Vorok's battle cruiser
is K't'inga-class, which shouldn't enter service for about a century. According to Word of God, Koji Kuramura of the SFX staff actually spent 36 hours creating a model for a D4-class that would've been period-appropriate, and for free. But it was rejected (on the grounds that it supposedly "didn't have enough windows") and the K't'inga modelnote inserted at the last minute. Naturally, this soured relations with the SFX team quite early on. - Artificial Gravity: This episode shows a rare AG failure for the franchise, as the power fluctuations cause Archer to float while taking a shower.
- Artistic License – Biology: It really doesn't make any sense at all that Trip would grow a nipple on his arm when A) the female Xyrillians already have breasts, B) they are where breasts normally should be, C) Tucker already has non-functioning nipples and if the pregnancy caused him to grow a new one, it could just as easily adapt the ones that already exist into producing milk, and D) an arm wouldn't be able to store all that much milk and thus it's actually a terrible feeding system by comparison. There is nothing wrong in principle with the idea of both sexes being able to feed their young, but in practice, an arm nipple that grows during pregnancy is just silly. Either both sexes would have breasts or just one (more likely the male).
- Attack Hello: When Enterprise hails the Klingons, they respond with two photon torpedoes. Although according to T'Pol, even that doesn't qualify as an attack by Klingon standards.Travis: Why are they attacking us?
T'Pol: They're not. If they wanted to destroy Enterprise, they would have done it.
Archer: So I guess this is their equivalent of a warning shot across our bow?
Malcolm: I wouldn't recommend being the recipient of another warning like that, sir. - Big Eater: Trip starts eating a lot more food than usual during his pregnancy.
- Boldly Coming: Discussed when T'Pol thinks that the reason Trip got pregnant was because he had sex with a Xyrillian and berates him for not being able to control himself.
- Call-Back: While reading Trip's mind, Ah'len mentions that Archer saved his life once. Would that be the "nitrogen narcosis" incident that was mentioned last episode?
- Food Porn: We get a nice shot of the breakfast buffet in the mess hall.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: An extremely rare gender-flip — Trip won't have the embryo removed unless it can be done without harming it. It's clear that if they hadn't found the Xyrillians, he would've carried the baby to term.
- Hilarious Outtakes:Archer: We can't help you unless we can see you, so why don't you disconnect what other...whatever stealth device you're using. (high-pitched voice) Easy for me to say.
- Hold Your Hippogriffs: Possibly to make it more palatable to T'Pol, a quote about Rome has an alien location substituted.Phlox: There's an old saying: "When in Fellebia, do as the Fellebians do."
- Hypocrite: T'Pol tells Trip to be diplomatic regarding Xyrillian food—after she was decidedly un-diplomatic regarding human food while getting breakfast with the crew.
- I Can See My House from Here: The Klingon captain says this word-for-word in the holo-recreation of Qo'noS.
- Implied Death Threat: Vorok's parting words to Archer."Listen to me very carefully: Our debt is repaid. We have no interest in meeting you again. If we do, I promise you'll regret it."
- Lizard Folk: The Xyrillians have a reptilian appearance, with scales and recessed ears.
- Mister Seahorse: Trip is the first human male to become pregnant. Apparently, this might get him into the history books, something that he's none too thrilled about.
- My Secret Pregnancy: Requested by Tucker while they look for the ship. On Day 8, Archer suggests that he stick to civilian clothes to keep it up.
- No OSHA Compliance: Trip points out to a crewmate that a lift in engineering brings the handrail within inches of a support beam, meaning that it can sever extended fingers. The crewmate asks "Why would someone put their hands there, sir?" and Trip dismisses the conversation since it's part of a scene about Trip being hormonal, but Trip raised a good point; why is a handrail, a design element whose very name indicates you can place your hand on it, placed in such a position that you could lose your hand by using it. That lift never does get modified in later seasons.
- Oh, Crap!: After looking for a week, the crew finally finds the Xyrillians again...trailing a very familiar-looking ship.Malcolm: If the starship profiles the Vulcans gave us are accurate—
T'Pol: They're correct, Lieutenant. That's a Klingon battlecruiser. - Plain Palate: This episode reveals that T'Pol, like most Vulcans, prefers plainer foods and beverages, to the point that drinking carbonated water is considered adventurous for her.
- Plot Allergy: Subverted — Trip thinks he is allergic to something and that's why he has a lump on his wrist, but it turns out to be a nipple.
- Pregnancy Makes You Crazy: When Trip is pregnant, he becomes very grouchy and safety-conscious.
- Surprise Pregnancy: Trip sure is, since he's male, the one who's pregnant, and never so much as held hands with anyone on the Xyrillian ship. It turns out that a 'game' the female engineer Ah'len invited him to play that involved placing hands in holodeck marbles that enabled telepathy also transmitted genetic material. Ah'len is plenty surprised too once he returns, commenting that she "had no idea this could happen with another species." Thankfully for Trip, they caught up early enough that the embryo could be transferred.
- See the Invisible: Archer has Malcolm ignite the plasma exhaust to expose the Xyrillians through their Invisibility Cloak. A little Rewind, Replay, Repeat helps.
- That's an Order!: When Trip is feeling woozy on the Xyrillian ship, Archer orders him to take a nap, since that should help him feel better. It does.
- With Due Respect: Malcolm says this while asking Archer if talking to the Klingons is a good idea.
