A tardigrade needs a safe place for her eggs to mature. She runs into the USS Enterprise where she is identified as an intruder by a repair robot. Despite being chased by the robot, the tardigrade manages to deposit her eggs in the engine room. But then the Enterprise warps away. The tardigrade follows the ship for many years, until the battle with Kruge's Bird-of-Prey, just before the self-destruct of the Enterprise. The repair robot once again attacks her and throws her out of the airlock, but then recognizes that the eggs are a lifeform that must be protected. The robot survives the explosion of the Enterprise, with little tardigrades just hatching from their eggs stored inside.

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