More talk about where Trip and That Other Pilot are being held, and then an alien-speake communiqué comes through. Hoshi can't decipher it with the Universal Translator, so Malcolm suggests, "Maybe you should just forget about the UT -- just try and talk to them." Maestro Mathra expounds, "You know what gave this scene away for me? I mean, other than the fact that it was so completely obvious that it was not real? The music was all wrong for a real suspense situation. It was too middling and meandering -- it should have been more 'duh, duh, duh!' with brass and not these namby-pamby strings." Hoshi tries talking back to the aliens, but it doesn't work, so Quantum pulls some redshirt from another part of the bridge and tells him to have a go at it. He orders Hoshi back to her quarters to get some rest. Sleep Anvil Number Three is having its wings de-iced. Hoshi protests, but everyone ignores her. She leaves.

"Gift exchange? I don't think anyone's ever described Wrath of Khan as a 'gift exchange' before," Mathra mutters irritably.

Hoshi turns her shower on from the outside. Must be the same set. She gets all kinds of naked and looks at herself in the mirror. The mist from the shower plays tricks and makes her look like she's disappearing. Hoshi jumps back. She waits a bit and then looks in the mirror again, which, by now, has become completely fogged over. She cleans it off and stares intently at herself. You know, if I kept looking that long and that hard at myself, I might start to see things too. Hoshi gets into the shower, flashing a long bit of upper thigh, and gets wet. She pumps some soap into her hands and rubs them together -- but wait! As she looks at them, she starts to see the tile of the shower through them! She gasps and looks again, and now her hands appear normal! So very, very BORED NOW.

Mess Hall. Hoshi grabs a tray and asks someone if she can join them at the table. There is no answer from T'Pol. Hoshi stands there: "Sub-Commander?" Still no response from the Vulcan nose buried in a book. Hoshi clears her throat. T'Pol looks up: "Ensign. Would you like to join me?" Hoshi thanks her and sits down, but a second later wishes she hadn't when T'Pol tells her that the redshirt Quantum put in her place deciphered the alienish within an hour of Hoshi sleepwalking off the bridge. "A simple bimodal syntax," T'Pol explains, and also rubs the saltpeter in the wound by saying that Trip and his random friend are now back on the ship, no longer hostages. Hoshi thinks she should get back to the bridge now that most of her job has been done for her, in case Quantum wants to speak to the aliens again. "Captain Archer has asked that you remain off duty for the time being. Crewmen Baird [a.k.a. the redshirt who took over Hoshi's post and outshined her by deciphering a simple bimodal syntax that any baby could've handled...as long as the baby wasn't dreaming] has been placed in charge of communications," T'Pol informs her, and leaves. "You know if they had to do this storyline AGAIN, couldn't it have been Reed who started disappearing? At least we could have had people getting blown up, or self-flogging, or at the very least makeover parties!" Mathra crabs, pulling Hunca Munca's jaws off Poppadum's overfed rear.