"Who's there?" "It's your relief, Sam." " All quiet?" " Didn't see a thing, chief." "Nobody ever does." "Whatever the thing is, it's already killed 50 people." "Never realised before how dark it is down here." "Stay on your toes, Schmitter." "Keep your phaser in your hand at all times." "What good will that do?" "You saw what happened to Ed Appel when he took a shot at the thing." "How about all those other people," " before the monster got them?" " I'm sorry, Schmitter." "I know how you feel, but we've got to have guards." "Okay, chief." "I'll do what I can." "Keep alert." "If you hear anything or see anything, call in." "Somebody can be here in three minutes." "A lot can happen in three minutes." "Chief, is it true the Enterprise is on its way?" "It's coming." "Think it could get here in the next four hours?" "You'll be all right." "Come on!" "Schmitter." "Like the rest of them burned to a crisp." "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 civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before." "Captain's log, stardate 3196.1." "A distress call from the pergium production station on Janus VI has brought the Enterprise to that long-established colony." "Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy and I have beamed down to meet with Chief Engineer Vanderberg, administrative head of Janus VI." "All right, let's assume there is a monster." "What has it done?" "When did it start?" "About three months ago, we opened up a new level." "Sensors gave us an unusually rich pergium reading." "Not only pergium, whatever you want:" "Uranium, cerium, platinum." "The whole planet's like that." "It's a treasure house." "Yes, we're aware of that." "If mining conditions weren't so difficult," "Janus VI could supply the mineral needs of a thousand planets." "But what happened?" "First, the automatic machinery, piece by piece, started to almost disintegrate." "Metal began dissolving away." "There was no reason for it, and our chemists were unable to analyse the corrosive agent." "I'm sure there is an answer." "It simply has not yet been discovered." "Yes, it has." "I don't know what this butchering monster is, but I know what it's doing." "Our maintenance engineers, sent down into the drifts to repair the corroded machinery." "We found them, seared to a crisp." "Volcanic activity?" "There is no current volcanic activity on this planet, captain." "He's right." "None." "At first, the deaths were down deep, but they've been moving up toward our levels." "The last man died two days ago, three levels below this." "The same way, burned?" "I'd like to examine the body." "We kept it for you." "There isn't much left." "Roberts will show you." "It isn't pretty." "You post sentries, guards?" "Of course." "Five of them have died." " Who else has seen this?" " I have." "This is Ed Appel, chief processing engineer." " Describe it." " I can't." "I only got a glimpse of it, but it's big and shaggy." "Ed shot it." "You mean shot at it." "No, I mean shot it, with this." " Fascinating." " A good, clean shot." "Didn't even slow it down." "Well, I've made my report to you." "Production has stopped." "Nobody will go into the lower levels, and I don't blame them." "If the Federation wants pergium, then you're gonna have to do something about it." "That's why we're here, Mr. Vanderberg." "You're all pretty tough, aren't you?" "Starship, phaser banks..." "You can't get your starship down in the tunnels." "I don't think there will be any need." "Mr. Vanderberg, I'll need a complete subsurface chart of all the drifts, galleries, tunnels." " You'll get it." " Mr. Vanderberg, what is this?" "It's a silicon nodule." "They're a million of them down there." "No commercial value." "But a geological oddity, to say the least." "Pure silicon?" "A few trace elements." "Look, we didn't call you here so you could collect rocks." "Thank you, Mr. Vanderberg." "We'll need your complete cooperation." "You'll have it." "Just find that creature, whatever it is." "I've got a quota to meet." "Come on, Appel." "A vast number of tunnels is not gonna make our hunting any easier." " Doc?" " Schmitter didn't burn to death, Jim," " not in the usual sense, anyway." " Explain that." "Well, there were only fragments of bone and teeth left, but the plant's physician agrees with me." "A chemical corrosion, almost as if he'd been thrown into a vat of extremely corrosive acid." "Strong enough to eat machinery?" "Strong enough to eat anything else away you can think of." "Mr. Spock?" "I've charted the position of the deaths and the acts of sabotage." "Here, here and here." "If the times of these incidents are to be accepted as accurate, the creature would have to have moved at an incredible rate of speed." "Mr. Vanderberg, how recent are these charts?" "They were made last year." "Before the appearance of whatever it is?" " That's right." " I see." "Mr. Spock, give us a report on life beneath the surface." "Within range of our sensors, there is no life, other than the accountable human residents of this colony beneath the surface." "At least no life as we know it." "We can't cover tunnel by tunnel on foot." "We must get production going again." "We must have that pergium." "Captain, if we could force another appearance of this creature..." "When that creature appears, men die." "Too many tunnels." "We couldn't possibly..." "Mr. Spock, our sensors can pick up normal life functions at a considerable distance," "but what about abnormal life functions?" "Something's happening in the reactor room!" "Back to your stations." "Look at that." "I wouldn't touch it, captain." "An extremely active corrosive." "Traces may linger." "Kirk, quickly!" "The main circulating pump for the entire reactor, it's gone." "The same indications shown at the door, captain," " a very strong corrosive." " Is there a replacement for that?" "No, none." "It's outdated." "But we've never had any trouble with it." "Spock, onboard?" "Nothing for a device this antiquated, captain." "Without the pump mechanism, the reactor will go supercritical." "It could poison half the planet." "We can't shut it down." "It provides heat and air and life support for the whole colony." "Mr. Spock, we seem to have been given a choice." "Death by asphyxiation, or death by radiation poisoning." "A PXK pergium reactor?" "No, sir, we don't have any spare circulating pump for a thing like that." "I haven't seen a PXK in 20 years." "Can you rig one up?" "It's vital." "Well, sir, I can put together some odds and ends, but it won't hold for long." "How long?" "Forty-eight hours, maybe, with a bit of luck." "Forty-eight hours is better than nothing." "Get together what you need and beam down here with it." " Top priority." " Aye, captain." "I'll be right down." "Scott, out." "What happens when it breaks down?" "Hopefully, we'll have found the missing part by then." " Hopefully?" "Small chance." " We'll have to, chief." "The alternative is to evacuate all your people up to the Enterprise." "A dozen planets depend on you for pergium for their reactor." "They're already screaming." "Reactors closing down, life-support systems failing..." "I'm concerned with my people right here, Kirk." "They're being murdered." "You find that monster and kill it." "The missing pump was not taken by accident." "It was the one piece of equipment absolutely essential for the operation of the reactor." "You think the creature is trying to push the colonists off the planet?" "It would seem so." "But why now, Mr. Spock?" "These production facilities have been in operation for over 50 years." "I don't know." "But there is a possibility." "What's that?" "Life, as we know it, is universally based on some combination of carbon compounds." "But what if life exists based on another element?" "For instance, silicon." "You're creating fantasies, Mr. Spock." "Not necessarily." "I've heard of the theoretical possibility of life based on silicon." "But silicon-based life would be of an entirely different order." "It's possible that our phasers might not affect it." "Certainly not phaser one, which is far less powerful than phaser two." "All right." "How about this?" "A creature that lives deep in the planet below us, at home in solid rock." "It seems to me that in order to survive, it would have to have some form of natural armour plating." "It could explain much, especially since the colonists are armed only with phaser one." "But our people have phaser two." "Which I could adjust to be more effective against silicon." "Silicon-based life is physiologically impossible, especially in an oxygen atmosphere." "It may be, doctor, that the creature can exist for brief periods in such an atmosphere before returning to its own environment." "I still think you're imagining things." "You may be right, doctor, but at least there's something to go on." "Mr. Spock, have Lieutenant Commander Giotto assemble the security troops and arm them with phaser number two." "You make the proper adjustments." "You seem fascinated by this rock." "Yes, captain." "You recall that Vanderberg commented there were thousands of these at a lower level." "The level which the machinery opened just prior to the first appearance of the creature." "Do they tie in?" " I don't know." " Speculate." "I have already given Dr. McCoy sufficient cause for amusement." "I would prefer to cogitate the possibilities for a time." "A short time, Mr. Spock." "We have very little." "How's it going, Scotty?" "Well, sir, it's a plumber's nightmare, but it'll hold for a bit." "It has to hold longer than a bit." "I'm sorry, sir, that's about the best I can do, and I guarantee it's not good enough." " Kirk here." " Captain, the security officers have gathered in Chief Vanderberg's office." "I'll be right there." "Kirk, out." "Scotty, ride herd on it." "Kind words, tender, loving care." "Kiss it, baby it, flatter it if you have to, but keep it going." "I'll do what I can, sir." "You'll proceed from level to level, checking out every foot of opening." "You are searching for some sort of creature which is highly resistant to phaser fire." "Your phasers will be set on maximum." "And remember this, 50 people have died." "I want no more deaths." "Except the bloody thing." "The creature may or may not attack on sight." "However, you must." "It is vitally important that we get this installation back into production." "Mr. Vanderberg, may I ask at which level you discovered the nodules of silicon?" "The 23rd." "Why?" "Commander Giotto, take your detail, go directly to the 23rd level," " start your search there." " Aye, aye, sir." "May I ask if you have reason to suspect this creature may be on that level?" "It's one of the possibilities we've discussed." "I want your people to stay on the top level," " together and at a safe place." " I don't know any safe place, captain." "The way that thing comes and goes..." "Well, gentlemen, you have your instructions." "Let's get at it." "Mr. Spock, find something?" "Adjusting my tricorder to register for silicon, captain." " Interesting." " Traces?" "A life form, captain." "Bearing, 111 degrees." "Elevation, four degrees." " One of our people?" " No, sir, silicon." "He never even had a chance to fire, captain." "It's only been seconds since we heard him scream." "The creature must still be around." "Captain." "This tunnel." "My readings indicate it was made within the hour." "Moments ago, in fact." " Are you certain?" " Positive." "This tunnel goes back as far as the eye can see." "Our best machinery couldn't cut a tunnel like this, not even with phasers." "Indeed, captain." "I'm quite at a loss." "Gone." "Disappeared." "Astonishing that anything of that bulk could move so rapidly." " These walls are hot." " Indeed." "This tunnel was cut within the last two minutes." "You all right, captain?" "Yes, perfectly." " Did you see it?" " Yes, we saw it." "Where does this tunnel go?" "Readings indicate a maze of tunnels of this general category in that direction." " Did you get a shot at it?" " Yes, we took a bite out of it." "Not animal tissue." "What is it?" "The closest approximation I could come to would be fibrous asbestos." " A mineral, captain." " Then your guess was right." "It would seem so." "Silicon based." "Summation." "We are dealing with a silicon creature of the deep rocks, capable of moving through solid rock as easily as we move through the air." " That would account for the tunnels." " Correct." "This creature's body secretes an extremely powerful corrosive." "Powerful enough to dissolve the door of the reactor chamber." "And it explains the murdered men." "It's definitely phaser-resistant." "We had our weapons set for silicon and on full power, yet we only damaged it." "It still lives." "You mean, it's impossible to kill." "No." "No, it might require massed phasers." "Or a single phaser with much longer contact." "Commander pass this on to your men." "We knew it was a killer, now it's wounded." "Probably in pain somewhere back there." "There's nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal." "Commander Giotto, instruct your men to concentrate the search in this sector." "Remind them that the creature is wounded." "Aye, aye, sir." "What is it, Mr. Spock?" "I've run a complete spherical check on all life forms, captain, radius 100 miles." "I've located our men, all of them." "And I've located one creature moving rapidly through native rock." "Bearing, 201, and that is all." " One creature in 100 miles?" " Exactly." "Captain, there are literally thousands of these tunnels in this general area alone." "Far too many to be cut by the one creature in an ordinary lifetime." "Then we're dealing with more than one creature despite your tricorder readings." "Or we have a creature with an extremely long life span." "Or it is the last of a race of creatures which made these tunnels." "If so, if it is the only survivor of a dead race, to kill it would be a crime against science." "Mr. Spock our mission is to protect this colony, to get the pergium moving again." "This is not a zoological expedition." "Maintain a constant reading on the creature." "If we have to, we'll use phasers to cut our own tunnels." "We'll try to surround it." "I'm sorry, Mr. Spock, but I'm afraid the creature must die." "I see no alternative myself, captain." "It merely seems a pity." "The search team is gathering in the main tunnel." "Good." "So it is wounded, and therefore twice as dangerous." "Stay in pairs." "If you see it, concentrate your phaser fire at what appears to be its head." "Concentrate it, maintain it." "It is definitely resistant, but it can be hurt." "If it can be hurt, it can be killed." "Mr. Spock?" "Gentlemen, if you'll examine your charts, please." "I last located the creature in the area marked adit 26, moving at bearing 201." "This particular group will move out beyond that area in all directions, in an effort to surround it, possibly capture it." "Your orders are shoot to kill." "Protect yourself at all times." "Commander Giotto, disperse your search parties." "Aye, aye, sir." "Lewis, Vinci, take your men out." "Mr. Spock." "Capture it?" "I don't recall giving any such order." "You did not, sir." "I thought that if the opportunity arose..." "I will lose no more men." "The creature will be killed on sight, and that's the end of it." " Very well, sir." " Mr. Spock," "I want you to assist Scotty in maintaining that makeshift circulating pump." " I beg your pardon, sir?" " You heard me." "It's vital that we keep that reactor in operation." " Your scientific knowledge..." " Is not needed there, sir." "Mr. Scott has far more knowledge of nuclear reactors than I do." "You're aware of that." "Mr. Spock, you are second-in-command." "This will be a dangerous hunt." "Either one of us, by himself, is expendable." "Both of us are not." "Captain, there are approximately 100 of us engaged in this search against one creature." "The odds against you and I both being killed are 2228.7 to one." "2228.7 to one?" "Those are pretty good odds, Mr. Spock." "And they are, of course, accurate, captain." "Of course." "Well, I hate to use the word, but, logically, with those kind of odds, you might as well stay." "But please stay out of trouble, Mr. Spock." "That is always my intention, captain." " Kirk here." " Scotty here, captain." "My brilliant improvisation just gave up the ghost." "It couldn't stand the strain." " Can you fix it again?" " Negative, captain." "It's gone for good." "Start immediate evacuation of all colonists to the Enterprise." "Not all of them, captain." "I and some of my key personnel are staying." "We'll be down to join you." "We don't have enough phasers for you." "Then we'll use clubs." "We're not being chased away from here." "We're staying." "Good." "Get everybody else aboard the Enterprise." "The fewer people breathing the air down here, the longer the rest of us will hold out." "How much longer, Scotty?" "The reactor will go supercritical in about ten hours, sir." "You have that long to find the mechanism." "We'll do our best." "Start feeding us constant status reports, Scotty." "Vanderberg, you and your crew assemble at level 23," "Checkpoint Tiger." "Kirk, out." "Team up with the Enterprise security personnel." "They're better armed than you." "Keep someone in sight at all times." "Vanderberg, take two men, go through that tunnel there, rendezvous with Commander Giotto." "Appel, the rest of the men, go through there, tie up with Lt. Osborne's detail." "Mr. Spock and I will control the operation from a central point." "That's all, gentlemen." "Mr. Spock?" "Captain, we are being watched." "Are you sure?" "Intuition?" "No, sir." "We're being watched." "Captain." "Fresh readings within the hour, in each of these tunnels." "The chart says both these tunnels converge a few thousand yards further." " You take the left, I'll take the right." " Should we separate?" "Two tunnels, two of us." "We separate." "Mr. Spock." "Yes, captain." "I found a whole lair of these silicon nodules of yours." " Hundreds of them." " Indeed." "I find that most illuminating, captain." "Be absolutely certain you do not damage any of them." " Explain." " Only a theory I have." "Captain." "Are you all right?" "Jim." "Jim!" "Yes, Mr. Spock, all right." "We seem to have had a cave-in." " I could phaser you out." " No." "No, no, you better not." "Any disturbance might bring down the rest of the wall." "Besides, it isn't necessary." "The chart said that the tunnels meet further on." "Very well." "But I find it extremely disquieting that your roof chose that particular moment to collapse." "Please proceed with extreme caution." "I shall quicken my pace." "Very well, Mr. Spock." "I'll meet you at the other end..." "Kirk here." "Captain, I've just read some fresh signs." "The creature is in this area." "I'll take a life-form reading." "It's not necessary, Mr. Spock." "I know exactly where the creature is." "Where, captain?" "Ten feet away from me." "Kill it, captain, quickly." "It's not making any threatening moves, Spock." "You don't dare take the chance, captain." "Kill it." "I thought you were the one that wanted it kept alive, captured, if possible." "Jim, your life is in danger." "You can't take the risk." "It seems to be waiting." "I remind you, it is a proven killer." "I'm on my way." "Spock, out." "Well, what do we do, just talk it over?" "Well, you can be hurt, can't you?" "We just sit here?" "It's your move." "No, no, don't shoot." "Come on over, Mr. Spock." "Fascinating." " It's made no moves against you?" " No." "It seems to be waiting." "I tried talking to it, but it didn't do any good." "Yes." "They're all through here, all over the place." "Thousands of them." "Yes, I see." "It means something to you?" "Possibly the answer, captain." "But I'm not certain." "Captain, you're aware of the Vulcan technique of the joining of two minds." "You think you can get through to that thing?" "Possible." "Mr. Spock," "I know it's a terrible personal lowering of the mental barriers, but if there's a chance..." "I'll try." "Pain!" "Pain!" "Pain!" "That's all I got, captain." "Waves and waves of searing pain." "It's in agony." ""No kill I."" "What is that, a plea for us not to kill it?" "Or a promise that it won't kill us?" "I don't know, captain." "Evidently, it gained an immediate knowledge of us from its empathy with me." "In my brief contact with the creature's mind," "I discovered it is a highly intelligent, extremely sophisticated animal, in great pain, of course, because of its wound, but not reacting at all like a wounded creature." "It calls itself a "Horta."" "A Horta." "A Horta." "Mr. Spock, we need that retardation mechanism." "You must re-establish communications with it." "Captain, it has no reason to give us the device, and apparently every reason for wishing us off this planet." "Yes, I'm aware of that." "If we could only win its confidence." " Dr. McCoy, this is Captain Kirk." " Yes, captain." "Grab your medical kit, and come down here on the double." "I've got a patient for you." "Is somebody injured?" "What happened?" "Never mind." "Just come down to the 23rd level." "You'll be led to us by tricorder readings." "Kirk, out." "Jim, I remind you that this is a silicon-based form of life." "Dr. McCoy's medical knowledge will be totally useless." "He's a healer, let him heal." "Mr. Spock, you must re-establish communications." "I want to know why it suddenly took to murder." "To obtain that kind of communication, captain, it will be necessary to touch it." "We've seen how the creature destroys." " Lieutenant Commander Giotto." " Giotto here, captain." " Are you all right?" " Perfectly all right." " Where are you?" " We're at the end of the tunnel." "Now, Mr. Vanderberg and his men are here, and they're pretty ugly." "Should I let them through?" "Under no circumstances allow them in here yet." "The minute Doc McCoy gets there, send him through." "Aye, aye, sir." "Murder!" "The thousands." "Devils." "Eternity ends." "The chamber of the ages." "The altar of tomorrow." "Murderers." "Stop them." "Kill!" "Strike back!" "Monsters!" "What in the name of?" " What is Spock doing?" " It's wounded, badly." "You've got to help it." "Help that?" "Go take a look." "The end of life." "Murderers." "You can't be serious." "That thing is virtually made out of stone." "Help it." "Treat it." "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer." "You're a healer, there's a patient." "That's an order." "Mr. Spock." "Tell it we're trying to help." "The mechanism." "Understood." "It is the end of life." "Eternity stops." "Go out into the tunnel." "To the chamber of the ages." "Cry for the children." "Walk carefully in the vault of tomorrow." "Sorrow for the murdered children." "The thing you search for is there." "Go." "Go." "Sadness. ...for the end of things." "Go into the tunnel." "There is a passageway." "Quickly." "Quickly." "The captain said for you to wait here, and here is where you're gonna wait." "That murdering monster's in there, and we're gonna go in and kill it." "You're going to stay here." "That's right, lieutenant, just beam it down to me immediately and never mind what I want it for." "I just want it." "Now, move." "It is time to sleep." "It is over." "Failure." "The murderers have won." "Death is welcome." "Let it end here." "Mr. Spock." "Mr. Spock." "Spock." "Spock." "Come out of it." "I found the unit in there." "It's in pretty good shape." "And I also found about a million of these silicon nodules." "They're eggs, aren't they?" "Yes, captain, eggs, and about to hatch." "The miners must have broken into the hatchery." "Their operations destroyed thousands." "No wonder..." "There, they're coming." "All right." "All right, let's go!" "Come on." "How you doing, doc?" "I'll let you know." " No, don't fire!" " Kill it!" "The first man that fires is dead." "That thing has killed 50 of my men." "And you've killed thousands of her children." "What?" "Those round silicon nodules that you've been collecting and destroying, they're her eggs." "Tell them, Mr. Spock." "There have been many generations of Horta on this planet." "Every 50,000 years, the entire race dies, all but one." "Like this one." "But the eggs live, she cares for them, protects them." "And when they hatch, she is the mother to them, thousands of them." "This creature here is the mother of her race." "The Horta is intelligent, peaceful, mild." "She had no objection to sharing this planet with you till you broke into her nursery and started destroying her eggs." "Then she fought back in the only way she knew how, as any mother would fight when her children are endangered." "We didn't know." "How could we?" "But you mean if these eggs hatch, there will be thousands of those things crawling around down here?" "This is where they live." "They digest rock." "They tunnel for nourishment." "And they are the most inoffensive of creatures." "They harbour ill will toward no one." "Now, look, we have pergium to deliver." "Yes, I know." "Here's your circulating pump." "Now, you've complained that this planet is a mineralogical treasure house if you had the equipment to get at it." "Well, gentlemen, the Horta moves through rock the way we move through air, and it leaves tunnels." "The greatest natural miners in the universe." "Seems to me that we could make an agreement, reach a modus vivendi." "They tunnel, you collect and process, and your process operation would be a thousand times more profitable." "Sounds all right, if it'll work." "Except for one thing." "The Horta is badly wounded." " It may die." " It won't die." "By golly, Jim, I'm beginning to think I can cure a rainy day." " Can you help it?" " Helped it?" "I cured it." "How?" "I had the ship beam down a hundred pounds of that thermo-concrete." "You know, the kind we use to build emergency shelters out of." "It's mostly silicon." "So I just trowelled it into the wound, and it'll act like a bandage until it heals." "Take a look." "It's good as new." "Mr. Spock, I'm gonna have to ask you to get in touch with the Horta again." "Tell her our proposition." "She and her children can do all the tunnelling they want, our people will remove the minerals, and each side will leave the other alone." " Do you think she'll go for it?" " It seems logical, captain." "The Horta has a very logical mind." "And after close association with humans," "I find that curiously refreshing." "Ship ready to leave orbit, captain." " Course laid in." " Very good, Mr. Spock." "Chief Engineer Vanderberg standing by on channel one." "Fine." "Yes, chief?" "Kirk here." "Just wanted to tell you the eggs have started to hatch, captain." "The first thing the little devils do is start to tunnel." "We've already hit huge new pergium deposits." "I'm afraid to tell you how much gold and platinum and rare earths we've uncovered." "I'm delighted to hear that, chief." "Once Mother Horta tells her kids what to look for, you people are gonna be embarrassingly rich." "You know, the Horta aren't so bad once you get used to their appearance." "Well, that's about it, Kirk." "Thanks for everything." "Our pleasure, chief." "Kirk, out." "Curious." "What Chief Vanderberg said about the Horta is exactly what the mother Horta said to me." "She found humanoid appearance revolting, but she thought she could get used to it." "Oh, she did, did she?" "Now, tell me, did she happen to make any comment about those ears?" "Not specifically." "But I did get the distinct impression she found them the most attractive human characteristic of all." "I didn't have the heart to tell her that only I have..." "She really liked those ears?" "Captain, the Horta is a remarkably intelligent and sensitive creature with impeccable taste." "Because she approved of you." "Really, captain, my modesty..." "Does not bear close examination, Mr. Spock." "I suspect you're becoming more and more human all the time." "You..." "Captain, I see no reason to stand here and be insulted." "Ahead, warp factor 2."