"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 5221.3." "On outward course beyond the fringe of our galaxy towards Questar M-17, a source of mysterious radio emissions." "Mission, starcharting." "Situation, Mr Scott?" "We've picked up speed, sir, rapidly." "I've cut back power, but we continue to gain momentum." " Mr Sulu?" " She's not answering the helm, sir." "Two minutes right ascension off course and drifting farther, Captain." "Stand by to reverse course." " Standing by, sir." " Reverse course." "I can only describe it as hypergravity, Captain, more powerful than any we've ever encountered." "It's dragging the Enterprise toward it." "Why aren't our sensors picking it up?" "Forward scanners, Mr Sulu." "Captain, that's the source of the radio emissions." "Negative star mass." "Spectra analysis, imploded matter, but every reading on it is negative." " Captain, we're still gaining speed." " Full reverse thrust." "No good, sir." "We're still falling toward it." " How much time do we have?" " Impact in 93 seconds, 92," " 91..." " Captain, there's another signal." "Listen." "40 seconds, Captain," "39, 38..." "Sulu, flank speed ahead." "Our only chance is to try to get into orbit around that thing." "Aye, aye, Captain!" "Nine seconds." "Eight, seven..." "Orbital velocity." "Steady as she goes, Mr Sulu." " Maintain orbit." " Aye, aye, Captain." "If its pull is this strong, Jim, how do we get out of orbit?" "Slingshot effect, Mr Spock?" "Do we have enough power?" "I'll need some time for the computations, Captain." "I'm getting that radio sound again, sir." "Nine seconds right ascension from galactic plane, dead ahead and closing fast." "It's on the view screen now, sir." " Put us alongside, Mr Sulu." " Aye, aye, sir." "It's a starship like nothing I've ever seen." " The size of it." " It's been damaged." "I'll bet she was pulled in like we were." "It's coming from that ship, Captain." "Confirmed, Captain, but it isn't possible." "That ship is dead." "Temperature is absolute zero." "There is no thermal reading to support life aboard her, and no energy store to send radio messages." "Nothing except a slight magnetic flux reading, which could be normal for the ship's metal." " You're sure, Mr Spock?" " Probability.997, Captain." "Can you identify that metal, or the design of the ship?" "Negative to both, Captain." "Unknown alloy, harder and lighter than any registered metal." "It is not a recorded galactic starship design." "Retro analysis of the ship's spectra dates it as having been in orbit here for slightly more than 300 million years." "It's beautiful." "What kind of people could have built it to..." "To touch even a starship with grace and beauty?" "A civilisation that advanced 300 million years ago before life even emerged on Earth." "Barely an instant in eternity, Jim." "Mr Spock, any indication of that ship's power source?" "No, Captain, but this far from a G1 star, it is logical to assume they had some kind of warp drive." "We'll board her, Mr Spock." "Scotty, Bones, you'll come with us." "We'll need life-support belts." "Mr Sulu, have the Transporter Room stand by." "Yes, sir." "Ready, Captain." "Activate life-support belts." "Energise." "The hexagonal shape of the windows suggests a similarity to natural insect designs of Earth, the honeycombs of bees." "The individual cells are shaped precisely like this." "Would you look at this now?" "This metal, it isn't cast or rolled." "It was drawn into filaments and spun." "Like a spider spins his web." "A lighter and stronger material than anything we have now." "Look, every pod, they've all been burst open." "Aye, from the inside, from the looks of them." "Must have been some accident to get almost every pod." "Accidents seldom have such system, Dr McCoy." "I believe we must consider the alternative possibility that the crew of this ship destroyed her themselves." "Captain's Log." "We have beamed aboard the alien ship found orbiting a strange dead star." "The Enterprise is recording all data for the log and a full report later." "Kirk to Enterprise." "Enterprise." "Lieutenant Uhura here." "Lieutenant, are you still getting that radio signal from this ship?" "Negative, Captain." "It stopped transmitting when you beamed aboard." "All right." "Lock on us with the transporter and be ready to transport." "We're going inside." "Transporter beam on and locked." "Standing by." "What do you make of it, Spock?" "Captain, it's registering energy," " very little, but building." " You mean it's functioning after all the millenniums this ship has been here?" "The wands are accumulators, receptors to attract energy, motion, sound, light, heat, every kind of energy around them." "The structure of the ship, those huge arches, thrusting up!" "The whole ship is designed to receive and store energy." "Gives me the creeps." "I feel like something's watching us." "I feel it, too, Captain." "A physiological symptom of latent primal superstition, the fear of primitive people confronting something unknown to them." "Compared to the beings that built this ship, we are primitive people, even you, Mr Spock." "All right, let's keep going." "Tricorder analysis, Mr Spock." "Artificial gravity is in effect here, Captain." "Both air and gravity within two points of Earth normal." "Enterprise, do you read me?" " Sulu?" " No use, Captain." "Some sort of interference has been set up." "We can cut our way out of here." "No energy registering." " Something's drained them." " You mean we're trapped here?" " No communication, nothing?" " For the moment." "This is..." "Was the control centre of the starship." "These must be control and navigational instruments." "The source of the interference is here, Captain." "It's not part of the normal equipment." "It's like something they jury-rigged during an emergency." "Something to shield this room." "But shield it from what?" "Possibly from whatever had come aboard their ship." "But nothing, no form of life could survive 300 million years." "Quite right, Mr Scott." "No known form of life." "Jim, the door." "Something is trying to get in." "The field of interference is reacting against the magnetic flux lines, Captain." " Will it hold?" " Lf the energy stays at that level." " What is it?" " I'm not sure, but I think..." "It could be a ship's log or a warning." "It seems to keep repeating." "A message from 300 million years ago?" "It is possible that this much of their technology survived." " Anything?" " I may be able to get a translation." " Hurry up, Spock." " Patience, Doctor." "Danger." "Danger." "The dead star, we are being drawn to it." "Rather than carry this malevolent life form to other worlds, we have decided to destroy our own ship." "There is no other answer." "If you understand this message, you are protected only for this moment in this room." "This thing it wants..." "Get out of here!" "Hurry!" "Located them right after that explosion, Mr Sulu." "We're locked on and beaming them aboard." "Good work, Mr Kyle." "I thought we lost them when we were cut off so long." "Piece of cake, sir." "Here they come now." "Captain, something beamed aboard with you." "Transport it back out." "Status?" "Sickbay reports no injuries to crew, sir." "No damage to hull or engines, Captain." "Automatic bridge defence system on and prepared, sir." "So, we're all just fine, but whatever was on that ship used our transporter beam to come aboard with us, and now it's here." "That alien commander, sir." "The message said that they had to destroy their own ship." "Until we learn more about it, Scotty, perhaps we should be ready to do the same." "Take two of your men and arm the self-destruct device in the Engineering core." " Aye, sir." " Mr Spock, any change in ship's readings?" "We're registering a slightly higher than normal magnetic flux." "Not dangerous, but the level isn't constant." "It seems to fluctuate, a steady, almost pulsing rhythm." "Like the beating of a heart." "Bridge, Lieutenant..." "What?" "Captain, Decks 5 and 6 report shutdown of all life-support systems." "They've gone to life-support belts, manual override is not responding." "Trouble in the Engineering core, sir." "Bridge to Sickbay." "Bones, get down to the Engineering core on the double!" "Get on those life-support systems now!" "The force field of his belt won't hold that weight for long, Jim." "Override systems, Mr Spock." "Open the core hatch." "It's no use, sir." "The mechanism is frozen." "They've already tried." "Something's jammed the circuits." "They're magnetised." "All right, get the cutter beams on that hatch." " Move!" " Yes, sir." "I thank you, sir." "Bridge to Captain Kirk." "Something's activating the ship's phaser banks." "They're locking on the alien starship." "Phaser banks were off, Captain." "They activated themselves." " And mutual override did not work?" " No, sir." "Exactly like the Engineering controls and the life-support systems on Decks 5 and 6." "Sir, we cannot get into the core." " The cutter beams." " Drained of all energy, sir." "Sir, Cargo Holds 3, 4 and 5 just shut down life-support systems." "Power out on all but key levels, Captain." "High magnetic flux reading." "Captain Kirk, the ship's computers." "Something's going through every storage bank." "It seems to be taking control of the whole ship." "Spock, can you rig a low-frequency shield like the one on the alien ship, on our navigation console?" " It would have a very small field." " Do it." "It's activated, Captain, but only an area three meters square." "Do you get a magnetic flux reading there now?" "Negative, Captain." "Jim, you don't think that's going to help us?" "Whatever that thing is, it survived millennia in a dead hulk." "All it has to do here is outlast us and just take over." "No." "It must be held by the magnetic force of the dead star, and it needs a starship to break free and a crew to man it." "You are correct, Captain James T. Kirk, and I have the starship I've waited for so long, so terribly long." "It has absorbed the memory banks, Captain, all of them." "You will now remove the static shield from the navigation console, Captain James T. Kirk." "You have shut down life-support systems and endangered members of my crew." "Restore those systems first." "All nonessential systems are extinguished." "You will obey me." "And if I refuse?" "Obey me!" "Captain!" "Obey me!" "Stop!" "You'll hurt him!" "Remove the static shield from the warp drive controls!" "Do it now!" "No, Captain!" "I'll obey!" "Let him go!" "Repair the warp drive controls!" "Obey me!" "Mr Scott, start repairs." " Install the auxiliary controls." " Aye, Captain." "I'm all right, Captain." "What are we dealing with, Spock?" "High rank probabilities, Captain." "It is a magnetic organism without mass, but capable of symbiotic relationship with a host body, a starship, for instance." "It is a form of primal energy, and it can utilise the electronic control systems of a starship like the mind of a man uses the neural control systems of the human body." "It has become the Enterprise, and we are only life-support organisms in its body like the white corpuscles in human blood, and, Captain, the magnetic flux readings are higher." "It is growing stronger, building itself." "A slingshot effect to yank us out of orbit." "Can you compute it in your mind?" " Lf we try to use ship's computers..." " The alien will know." "I believe I can, Captain." "I will need to aid Mr Scott." "The engineer will need aid from my first officer to complete repairs." "Is that permitted?" "I guess it is." "You will leave this orbit and plot course to galactic coordinates 036.231." " That's the heart of the galaxy, Captain." " Plot the course, Mr Sulu." "Captain, this symbiont can reproduce itself by mitosis and take over every starship we encounter." "It can control computer centres, whole planets." "I'm aware of that, Mr Spock." "Complete repairs!" "Obey me!" "Auxiliary controls ready to activate, Captain." "The auxiliary warp drive controls can only be operated manually." "That is correct." "You will activate the manual controls." "Obey!" "Controls activated." "Captain, we're dropping out of orbit!" "We're falling into the dead sun." "Apply full power!" "Obey me!" "No!" "Accelerate!" "Do not destroy the ship!" "Obey me!" "Obey!" "Obey!" "Standby to activate warp drive unit!" "No!" "Don't!" "Activate warp drive!" "Activated, Captain!" "Please..." "Don't!" " Is it gone?" " Affirmative." "It fled the ship when it thought we would crash into the dead star." "Don't leave me alone." "Please, please." "So lonely." "Captain's Log, Stardate 5221.8." "Final entry." "Resuming outward course beyond the farthest star of our galaxy." "Mission, starcharting."