"Captain's log, stardate 1533.6." "Now manoeuvring to come alongside cargo vessel Antares." "Its captain and first officer are beaming over to us with an unusual passenger." "All right, chief." "Begin materialisation." "Captain Ramart, I'm Captain Kirk." " This is my navigator, Tom Nellis." " How do you do?" " How do you do?" " This is our young castaway, Charlie." "Charlie Evans." "His dossier." "Mr. Evans." "We've heard a great deal about you." "Welcome aboard." "Wonderful boy, Charlie." "We felt honoured to find him." "It's been a pleasure having him." "Why, it's been a great pleasure." " The things that he's learned..." " Absolutely." "To think this boy's spent practically his whole life alone on that planet, everyone killed, just a few micro-tapes to learn from." "How many humans like me on this ship?" "Like a whole city in space, Charlie." "Over 400 in the crew of a starship, aren't there, captain?" "Four hundred and twenty-eight, to be exact." "Is there anything we can do for you, captain?" "Medical supplies, provisions?" "Hundreds." "All human like me." "That's exciting." " Is that the right word?" " That's perfect." "It's the exact word." "You see?" "We'd like to keep Charlie with us, but with his closest living relatives on Colony V" " and your vessel going that way, why..." " I'd like to see your ship now." "All of it." "The people and everything." "You keep interrupting, Mr. Evans." "That's considered wrong." "I'm sorry." "We have a large supply of entertainment tapes, gentlemen." "No, we've a tight schedule to make, captain." " Just 20 of us." "We're making out fine." " This must be a space first." " A ship that doesn't need anything." " Nothing." "Not even Saurian brandy?" "We're fine, thank you." "Pleasant journey." "Thank you." "Yeoman Rand, this is Charles Evans." "Show him to his quarters and drop his records off at Dr. McCoy's office," " if you will." " Yes, sir." "Come with me, please." "Are you a girl?" "Is that a girl?" "That's a girl." "Space, the final frontier." "These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise." "Its five-year mission:" "To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no man has gone before." "Captain's log, stardate 1533.7." "We have taken aboard an unusual passenger for transport to Colony Alpha V." "Charles Evans, the sole survivor of a transport crash 14 years ago." "A child, alone from age 3, has not only survived, but has grown to intelligent, healthy adolescence." "Tell me, the ship's supply of food concentrates couldn't have lasted 14 years." "After that, I found other things to eat just growing around." "And you learned to talk by just listening to the ship's tapes?" "The memory banks still worked." "They talked to me, and I talked back." "You're 4-0." "Four?" "Four-0, 100 percent." "Sound of wind and limb." " That captain..." "Kirk?" " Yeah?" "Why does he call me Mr. Evans?" "Because that's your name." "He's not..." " Well, he isn't like Captain Ramart." " Oh, no." "Captain Kirk is one of a kind, Charlie." "Do you like me?" "Why not?" "Some..." "The other ship." "They didn't like me." "I tried." "I'm trying to make people like me." " I want them to like me." " Most 17-year-olds do." "Come on, let's go." "I'll show you to your quarters." "Hey, I'll put the equipment away." "See you in the Rec Room, huh?" " You got a deal, friend." " All right." "Hello." "I brought you a present." "Oh, thank you." "I really appreciate it, but..." "But I have to go." "I'm on duty." " Do you like that kind?" " Yes, I..." "It's my favourite." "Where did you get it?" "They don't have any in the ship's stores." "It's a present." "I know, but where did..?" "Gee, I'm late, Charlie." "I really have to go." "Can't you stay and talk a little while?" "Look, I'm off duty at 1400." "Why don't you join me in Recreation Room 6, Deck 3." "You've got a deal, friend." "Charlie!" "I thought..." "Don't be angry." "I didn't..." " I wanted..." " Charlie, you..." "You just don't go around slapping girls on the..." "It's okay, but just don't do it again." "Don't be angry." "Look, why don't you tell Captain Kirk or Dr. McCoy what you did, and they'll explain it to you, okay?" " I will." " Okay." "But tell me, what reason would he have to lie if there are Thasians?" "That is a very intriguing question." "Scanners show no disturbances in this quadrant, captain." "Good." "Dr. McCoy, Mr. Spock is working out..." " Excuse me, captain, status report." " Thank you." "He's working out a training programme for Charlie Evans." "Earth history, his own background, that sort of thing." "I'd like you to give him the necessary medical orientation on the problems of adolescence." "Don't you think it'd be better for a father image like you?" " He already looks up to you." " The job is yours, Bones." "Flattery will get you nowhere." "Doctor, didn't the boy make any reference at all to Thasians?" "Do you believe the legend that Thasians still exist on that planet in some form?" "Charlie's very existence proves, in fact, there must be some intelligent form of life on Thasus." "He could not possibly have survived alone." "The ship's food would have been exhausted in a year or so." "By which time, he would've been eating fruits, vegetables." "Probes of Thasus indicate very little edible plant life." "And probes have been known to be wrong, Mr. Spock." "Doctor, are you speaking scientifically or emotionally?" "Gentlemen." "The fact is, the boy is here and he's alive and he needs our help." "And he needs a guide and he needs a father image, Jim." "I'll depend on your astute abilities to supply him with that." "Or find him one." "I'm sorry." "I did it again, didn't I?" "Oh, on the starship Enterprise" "There's someone Who's in Satan's guise" "Whose devil ears and devil eyes" "Could rip your heart from you" "At first his look could hypnotise" "And then his touch would barbarize" "His alien love could victimize" "And rip your heart from you" "And that's why female astronauts" "Oh, very female astronauts" "Wait terrified and overwrought" "To find what he will do" "Oh, girls in space be wary" "Be wary, be wary" "Girls in space be wary" "We know not what he'll do." "One more time." "Now, from a planet out in space" "There comes a lad Not commonplace" "A- seeking out his first embrace" "He's saving it for you" "Oh, Charlie's our new darling" "Our darling, our darling" "Charlie's our new darling" "We know not what he'll do" "Want to see something?" "Turn them over." "Well, how did you do that?" "I can do a lot of card tricks." "One of the men on the Antares showed me." "I don't believe it." "On Earth today, it's Thanksgiving." "If the crew has to eat synthetic meat loaf, I want it to look like turkey." " Charlie." " Captain?" " Yes." " I'm supposed to ask you something." "Why shouldn't I?" " I don't know how to explain it." " Say it right out, that usually works." "Well, in the corridor, I saw..." "When Janice..." "When Yeoman Rand was..." "Well, I did that to her, and she didn't like it." " She said you'd explain it to me." " Me?" "I see." "Well..." "There are things you can do with a lady, Charlie, that you..." "Well, there's no right way to hit a woman." "I mean, man-to-man is one thing, but man and woman, it's..." "Is..." "Well, it's another thing." " Do you understand?" " I don't know." " Captain Kirk." " Excuse me." "Kirk here." "Captain Ramart of the Antares is on D channel." "I'm on my way to the bridge now." " Can I come?" " I don't think so." " I won't get in the way." " Okay." "Can you boost your power, Antares?" "We're barely reading your transmission." "We are at full output, Enterprise." "I must speak to Captain Kirk." "Kirk here, Captain Ramart." "Captain, we're just barely in range." "I've got to warn..." "Reestablish contact." " They're not transmitting." " Well, try." "It wasn't very well-constructed." "Sweep the area of the Antares transmission" " with our probe scanners, Mr. Spock." " Affirmative, captain." "Do you think something happened to the Antares, Charlie?" "I don't know." "Picking up some debris on our scanners, captain." "What about the Antares?" "The debris is what's left of the Antares." " Captain Kirk, from ship's galley." " Kirk here." "Sir, I put meat loaf in the ovens." "There's turkeys in there now." "Real turkeys." "Chief, have you?" "Captain's log, stardate 1535.8." "UESPA headquarters notified of the mysterious loss of science-probe vessel Antares." "Your mind is not on the game, captain." "Check." "The Antares?" "A survey ship with 20 men aboard lost." "No reason." "Obviously Captain Ramart was not aware of any trouble." "I can't figure it." "My own concern is more immediate." "The boy." "I can usually follow you, Mr. Spock, but this time..." "He seemed to know what happened to the Antares before we did." "I'd call that a pretty long reach for evidence, Mr. Spock." "Come in, Charlie." "And again." "Check." "Checkmate." "Your illogical approach to chess does have its advantages on occasion, captain." "I prefer to call it inspired." "As you wish." "At any rate, the game is yours." "Do you play chess, Charlie?" "Oh, I..." "I watched them play on the Antares." "Can I try?" "I place you in the hands of our chess master." "The principles of three-dimensional chess are basically mathematic, Charlie." "You put the white here," " and the black on the secondary level." " I know what it is." "Let's play." "Very well." "That was a mistake, Charlie." "No, it wasn't." "Checkmate." "No, it isn't." "If you'll excuse me." "Oh, Charlie, I was looking for you." "I'd like you to meet Tina Lawton, yeoman, third class." " Charlie Evans." " Hello, Charlie." "I thought you might enjoy meeting someone your own age." "Can I talk to you?" "Alone." "Charlie, Tina is..." "Excuse me." "I must be wanted somewhere." "That was..." "That was rude and completely uncalled for." "But I don't need her." "I wanna talk to you." "But that's no excuse." "You'd better learn that right now." "You have to live with people, Charlie." "You're not alone anymore." "But she's not as..." "She doesn't..." "She's not the same." "Not like you." "She's..." "She's just a girl." "You're..." "You smell like a girl." "All the other girls on the ship, they..." "They look just like Tina." "You're the only one who looks like you." "You can understand, can't you?" "You know about being with somebody?" "Wanting to be?" "If I had the whole universe I'd give it to you." "When I see you, I..." "I feel like I'm hungry." "All over." "Hungry." "Do you know how that feels?" "He what?" "I wasn't sure I should talk to you about this." "Yeoman, Charlie's a 17-year-old boy." " Exactly." "And he's..." " I talked to him about the swat." "It's not that." "Captain, I've seen the look before, and if something isn't done, sooner or later, I'm gonna have to hurt him." "Tell him to leave me alone." "And that wouldn't be good for him right now." "You see, I'm his first crush, his first love," " and his first..." " Yes, yeoman." "I'll talk to him." "I'll look into it." "Thank you, sir." "Come in, Charlie." "Charlie..." "Charlie, do you know anything about this chess piece?" "Did you notice anything peculiar in them when we were using them?" " No, sir." " Is that all?" " No." "No, no." "Sit down." "Charlie, being 17 is more than how many years you've lived." "It's a whole other thing." "Dr. McCoy could probably explain the biological conditions." "Well, let's..." "Let's use a specific." "Yeoman Rand is a woman." " I won't hit her like that anymore." " No, there's more to it than that." "Everything I do or say is wrong." "I'm in the way." "I don't know the rules." "When I learn something and try to do it, suddenly, I'm wrong!" " Now, wait a minute." "Wait a minute." " I don't know what I am or what I'm supposed to be or even who." "I don't know why I hurt so much inside all the time." "You'll live." "Believe me." "There's nothing wrong with you that hasn't gone wrong with every other human male since the model first came out." "What if you care for someone?" "What do you do?" "You go slow." "You..." "You be gentle." "I mean, it's..." "It's not a one-way street, you know." "How you feel and that's all." "It's how the girl feels too." "Don't press, Charlie." "If the girl feels anything for you at all, you'll know it." "Do you understand?" "You don't think Jan..." "Yeo..." " She could love me!" " She's not the girl, Charlie." "The years are wrong, for one thing." "And there are other things." " She can." " No, Charlie." " She is." " No!" "But if I did what you said, if I was gentle." "There are a million things in this universe you can have, and there are a million things you can't have." "It's no fun facing that, but that's the way things are." "Well, then what am I going to do?" "Hang on tight and survive." "Everybody does." " You don't." " Everybody, Charlie." "Me too." "I'm trying but I don't know how." " Kirk here." " You asked to be notified when we were to make our course adjustments, sir." "Ask Mr. Spock to see to it." "Charlie, come on with me." "Gotta slap the floor to absorb the energy when you fall." "Go ahead, try it." "Like everything else it takes practise, Charlie." "Try again." "Good." "Much better." "Here, now I'll show you a shoulder roll." "Try that." "I don't wanna do that." " Well, it makes it hard to teach you..." " I don't wanna do that." "All right, Charlie, lesson's over for today." "You were gonna teach me how to fight." "You have to learn to protect yourself from the fall before I do that." "It's more than just teaching you how to defend yourself." "Charlie, I want you to learn..." "Charlie." "Hey, Sam, let me borrow you for a couple of easy throws, huh?" " All right." " Watch this, Charlie." "Wasn't so bad, was it?" "Now I'll throw him." "Here we go, Sam." "That looks hard." "Come on, Charlie, try it." "Attaboy." "That's good." "Wasn't so bad, was it?" " Don't laugh at me." " Cool off, Charlie." "Don't laugh at me!" "Charlie." "He shouldn't have done that." "It's not nice to laugh at people." "What happened to him, Charlie?" "He's gone." "That's no answer." "He's gone!" "I didn't mean to do that." "He made me do it." "He laughed at me." " Bridge." " Kirk here." "Two men from Security on the double." " Affirmative." " What are you going to do to me?" "I'm confining you to quarters." "I want you to stay there." "I won't let them hurt me." " I'll make them go away too." " They won't hurt you, Charlie." "They'll take you to your quarters, Charlie." "Go with them." "No!" "Go to your quarters." "He was going to hurt me." "Go to your quarters, or I'll pick you up and carry you there." "I won't let you." "That's your choice, Charlie." "I won't let them hurt me." "They won't hurt you." "Captain Kirk?" "Kirk here." "Security reports that all phaser weapons have disappeared." "Shall I repeat, captain?" "No, I heard you." "Have Dr. McCoy and Mr. Spock meet me in the Briefing Room." "Thasians have been referred to in our records as having the power to transmute objects or render substances invisible." "It has generally been regarded as legend, but Charlie does seem to possess this same power." "What chance is there that Charlie isn't an Earth being, that he's a Thasian?" "No, I don't think so." "Not unless they're exactly like earthlings." "The development of his fingers and toes exactly matches the present development of man's on Earth." " Agreed." " But whatever he is, we have some idea of the power he has." "I know what I saw him do in the gymnasium." "Considering the effect a normal adolescent has on a home," "Charlie, with the power he has..." "Short-tempered, because he doesn't understand." "He needs, he wants." "Nothing happens fast enough." "The probability is, he's responsible for the destruction of the Antares, which would indicate a total disregard for human life." "He doesn't understand what life is." "He's a boy." "Well, what do we do with this boy, Jim?" " How do we keep him caged up?" " It goes even further than that, doctor." "We can't take him with us to Earth Colony V." "Can you imagine what he'd do in an open, normal environment?" "I've talked with him." "I've listened to him." "He's a boy in a man's body, trying to be an adult, with the adolescent in him getting in the way." "And with a weapon in him, which could destroy you or anyone, anywhere on this ship." "Well, for the moment, he's stopped." " You're an authority he respects, Jim." " Agreed." "The struggle must remain between you and him." "Should any of us interfere..." "You wanted to ask me something, he said." "Are you responsible for what happened to the Antares, Charlie?" " Why?" " Answer me." "Yes." "There was a warped baffle plate on the shield of their energy pile." "I made it go away." "It would have blown up anyway." "Well, they weren't nice to me!" "They wanted to get rid of me." "They don't now." "What about us, Charlie?" "I don't know." "We're in the hands of an adolescent." "Lieutenant, raise Colony V." " I want to speak to the governor." " Yes, sir." "Navigator, lay in a course away from Colony V." " Buy me some time." " Yes, sir." "Spock, get the doctor up here on the double." "How bad is it?" "I think it's all right, sir." "Sir, there's no reason for that panel to cross-circuit like that." "I checked it over myself not 15 minutes ago." "Captain!" "I can't feed any course coordinates into the panel, sir." " It rejects the course change." " Helm doesn't respond either, sir." "Mr. Spock, you getting any readings on your instruments?" "Yes, sir." "There's a..." "Tiger, tiger, burning bright" "In the forest of the night" " Mr. Spock?" " I'm trying to..." "Saturn rings around my head Down a road that's Martian red" "You're trying to change course, captain." "You can't do that." "I want to get to Colony V as soon as we can." "Release the transmitter." "You don't need all that subspace chatter." "What's going on here?" "Spock calls me to the bridge" " and then goes into poetry." " See to her, doctor." "Once upon a midnight dreary, While I pondered, weak and weary" "Very nice, Mr. Ears." "Oh, I can make him do anything." "Whirl around, laugh, anything." "That's enough, Charlie." "Don't you think he's funny?" "I think he's funny." "Leave my crew alone." "Jim, he'll soon reach a point where he won't back down." "I know." "Charlie, what's wrong?" "I have something for you." "Pink is your favourite, isn't it?" "You don't walk into a room without knocking." "Don't ever lock your door on me again, Janice." "I love you." "I'll lock it when I please." "What is it you want, anyway?" "You." "I only want to be nice to you." "I can give you anything." "Just..." "Just tell me." "I want you to get out." " I only want to be nice to you." " Get out, Charlie." " Spock." " I can't make it any plainer than that." "I love you." "You don't know what the word means." " Then show me." " No!" "Charlie." "Why did she do that?" "I loved her but she wasn't nice at all." "What you did wasn't nice either." "But I still need you, captain." "The Enterprise isn't quite like the Antares." "Running the Antares was easy." "You have to be nice." "All right?" "Mr. Spock." "My legs." "They're broken." "Let him go too, Charlie." " Why?" " Because I'm telling you to." "Because you need me to run the ship, and I need him." "If you try to hurt me again," "I'll make a lot of people go away." "And what about Yeoman Janice?" "Is she dead, gone, destroyed?" "I won't tell you." "Growing up isn't so much." "I'm not a man, and I can do anything." "You can't." "I'll activate the force field myself." "You can return to your section." "He had a mean look." "I had to freeze him." "I like happy looks." "Aren't you coming in?" "That wasn't nice." "You'll be sorry." "You wait, you'll see." "You'll be sorry you did that." "You will." "No." "No laughing!" "Captain Kirk, my instruments show we're receiving a message on subspace frequency three, ship to ship." "I can't hear it, sir." "Are you creating that message, or are you blocking one that's coming in?" "It's my game, captain." "You have to find out." "Like you said, that's how the game's played." "You can have it now." "I've locked on course for Colony V again." "I've waited long enough." "I'm gonna take him on." "You don't have any special immunity." "Not anymore." "Push far enough, he'd send you off to oblivion too." " Mr. Spock?" " Out of the question." "Wait a minute." "Is Charlie..?" "No, wait." "Spock, has he done away with anybody since he took over?" "Not so far as we know." "Then maybe he can't." "Could be he's overreached himself." "It's a big ship." "He's taken full control." "If we could tax his power, turn on every device on the ship, every circuit, every light, all of it." "And while he's fighting that, if I could distract him, maybe you could tranquilize him and keep him under until we reach Colony V." "Risky, Jim." "If we don't try, doctor, he'll get rid of us anyway." "There's no choice, gentlemen, none at all." "I can make you all go away, any time I want to." "Get out of my chair, Charlie, and get out of it now." "I've got your ship, captain." "Maybe, Charlie, but I don't think you can handle any more." "I think you've reached your limit and can't take on one more thing." "But you're gonna have to." "I could have sent you away before, but I didn't." "You're gonna have to take me on." "Don't make me do it now." "You've got my ship, and I want it back." "I want my crew back, whole if I have to break your neck to do it." "Don't push me." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry, but..." "Stop it." "I said, stop it!" "Captain, navigation console is clear now." "The ship is answering the helm." "Sir, something off our starboard bow." "The message says they're from Thasus." "No." " Captain, how did I?" " It's all right, yeoman." "Sensors show there's something there." "Deflectors indicate no solid substance." "No!" "Oh, no, please." "Don't let them take me." "I can't live with them anymore." "You're my friends." "You said you were my friends, remember?" "When I came aboard!" "Please." "I wanna go home." "Take me home." "I have taken my form centuries ago so that I may communicate with you." "We did not realise until too late that the boy had gone, and we are saddened that his escape cost the lives of the first ship." "We could not help them, but we have returned your people and your ship to you." "Everything is as it was." "Oh, I won't do it again." "Please, I'll be good." "I won't ever do it again." "I'm sorry about the Antares." "I'm sorry!" "When I came aboard!" "Please." "I want to go with you." "Help me." "The boy belongs with his own kind." "That will be impossible." "We can teach him to live in our society." "If he can be taught not to use his power." "We gave him the power so he could live." "He will use it, always." "And he would destroy you and your kind, or you would be forced to destroy him to save yourselves." "Is there nothing you can do?" "We offer him life." "And we will take care of him." "Come, Charles." "Oh, please." "Don't let them take me." "I can't even touch them!" "Janice." "They can't feel." "Not like you." "They don't love!" "Please." "I want to stay." "Stay, stay, stay..." "Charlie's back onboard the Thasian ship, sir." "They signalled they're leaving." "It's all right, yeoman." "It's all over now."