“Civilization” is episode nine of season one of Star Trek: Enterprise.
Archer arrives on the bridge to find out what options his senior staff have for him. T’Pol mentions a supernova remnant and a trinary neutron star cluster. Neither really excites the captain. Trip mentions they have one other thing; an M-Class planet 4 lightyears away with 500 million lifesigns. It looks like a whole civilisation. Archer thinks T’Pol could have led with that one.
Reed can find no other ships or satellites. Hoshi doesn’t know who to hail, as there are dozens of cities on each continent. Besides, T’Pol is not detecting any EM transmissions, suggesting a pre-industrial civilisation. Looking closer at the coast off a city shows a sailing ship. Trip wants to go down. T’Pol advises against it; protocol is to wait until a society has developed warp drive before first contact. Trip says that’s Vulcan protocol. T’Pol thinks Starfleet would be wise to adopt it (eventually they do, of course). T’Pol would just observe from orbit with the sensors. Archer wants to zoom in on the city. The overall appearance of the locals is not dissimilar to humans. T’Pol isn’t keen on the idea but Archer wants to go down.
Hoshi is listening in and has heard dozens of different languages. T’Pol suggests they land at a farm; a sparsely populated area has less chance of cultural contamination if exposed. Archer suggests that’s why aliens always land in cornfields. But who do they send first? Hoshi, who Dr Phlox disguises with the anterior ridges the aliens have.
Before that is finished, T’Pol calls Archer to the bridge. They have discovered neutrino emissions from a city. Possibly an antimatter reactor. No non-indigenous lifesigns, but it’s difficult to tell from this distance. Trip, T’Pol and the captain will accompany Hoshi to their new destination.
In the city, Hoshi indicates some sick people to T’Pol and Archer has detected the reactor, inside a curio shop. Which is locked, but Trip picks the locks as someone unseen to them watches. Inside, Archer contacts T’Pol; she and Hoshi will meet them. A local woman enters the shop as Archer and Trip examine a door protected by a magnetic barrier. The woman takes out a small crossbow and demands to know who they are, what they are doing and what they did to the door. Archer says they are collectors picking up antiques. The woman does not believe this very obvious lie. She’s been watching the shop for weeks and knows about the evening deliveries. People are getting sick, some even dying because of what is going on. Then T’Pol stuns her from behind. Archer asks if that was necessary. She was armed. Archer requests they try not to shoot anyone else. T’Pol will try. She says they should go soon. The woman has ID papers; her name is Riann and she’s an apothecary. Archer will take her home.
Riann wakes at her home and asks Archer what he did. Nothing; she just collapsed. She knows that’s a lie too and states Archer is not very good at lying. Did Garos tell Archer to bring her back? Archer doesn’t know who that is; it’s the shop’s owner. No; Archer just wanted to get her home safe. Then why was he there? Because there’s something strange going on and he’s trying to figure it out. He’s an investigator from another city. He can’t tell her anything more. Which Riann thinks is better than another lie. Archer asks about the sickness and if he can come back to talk to her about it. Ye, and what’s his name? John. Evidently not a local-sounding name.
Reed says their weapons probably won’t dint the shield around the shop, nor can sensors pick up anything below it. Trip suggests a dampening field. On the shuttle, Archer mentions people being sick and Hoshi says she thinks she saw them. Trip says if they took someone to the ship Phlox would be able to figure it out. T’Pol advises against it. Humans feared alien abduction for many years. Archer says they will talk to the shopkeeper first.
Trip and Archer go and once again Archer demonstrates his poor ability to lie. Garos says they are not from this province. Archer has scanned Garos and says they aren’t, but nor is Garos. His DNA doesn’t match any lifeforms on the planet. Garos scans them in return and says the same about them.
According to Garos, he used to be a Malurian explorer who arrived here two years ago on a survey mission and decides to stay. The reactor powers a fabrication device that makes food and clothing; a replicator, by the sounds of it. No, he isn’t responsible for the illness. It’s a lethal, but indigenous, virus that the locals can’t cure. As a newcomer, Riann is blaming him.
Garos may not be being truthful. Trip tells Archer afterwards that the reactor has too much power and could feed and clothe half the province. If he’s lying about that, he may be lying about why he’s there. Archer gets to start the tradition of Starfleet captains kissing alien women. Admittedly, it was as a distraction.