We were consulting with writer Lee Sheldon, who wanted to know 
how long it would take the Enterprise to evacuate the entire population of a 
planet for the episode ÒDevilÕs Due.Ó Based on maximum rates mentioned 
here, we estimated that the transporters and shuttlecraft could bring 
approximately 1,250 persons per hour to the ship. It would therefore take 
about twelve hours to bring up 15,000 people, the theoretical maximum. If 
they were taking these people to a planet five light years away at Warp 9, it 
would take about forty-eight hours for the round trip. Adding twenty-four 
hours for loading and off-loading, this would average out to about 200 people 
an hour. If the planet had four billion inhabitants, it would therefore take the 
Enterprise about 1,900 years to evacuate everyone, assuming they lived that 
long. (Melinda Bell points out that things would be made even worse if they 
had children.)  Æ