"Earth-style distress signal." "SOS." "I've answered on all frequencies." "No reply." "Not a vessel." "A ground source." "The third planet in this solar system, according to my instruments." "Directly ahead." "Definitely an Earth-style signal." "We're hundreds of light years from Earth." "No colonies or vessels out this far." "Measuring the planet now, Captain." "Spheroid shape." "Circumference, 24,874 miles." "Mass, six times ten to the 21 st power tons." "Mean density, 5.517." "Atmosphere, oxygen-nitrogen." "Earth." "Not the Earth." "Another Earth." "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 2713.5." "In the distant reaches of our galaxy, we have made an astonishing discovery." "Earth-type radio signals from a planet which is a duplicate of the Earth." "It seems impossible, but there it is." "Hold us in a fixed orbit, Mr Spock." " Still no response?" " None, Captain." "We'll beam down." "Alert security." "Prepare to transport landing party to surface." "We'll land in the vicinity of the distress signal being received." "identical." "Earth as it was in the early 1900s." "More the mid 1900s, I would say, Captain." "Approximately 1960." "But where is everybody?" "Readings indicate natural deterioration has been taking place for centuries." " You mean there's no one alive?" " Not conclusive, Yeoman." "The evidence would suggest that the distress signal is automated." "This is marvellous." "The most horrible conglomeration of antique architecture I've ever seen." "Mr Spock." "Mine!" "Mine!" "It's broke." "Somebody broke it." "Fix." "Somebody, please fix." "Of course somebody will fix it." "Definitely humanoid in spite of the distortion." "But with the mind of a child." " Bones, what is it?" " A seizure of some type." " We want to help you." " Liar!" "Fibber." "Fibber!" "Fibber!" "It's dead." " lt's incredible." " What is?" "Its metabolic rate. lt's impossibly high, as if it burned itself up." "Almost as if it aged a century in just the past few minutes." "Come on!" " How old is this thing?" " About 300 years." "Come out." "We mean you no harm." " Don't hurt me, please." " l'm not going to hurt you." " l didn't do anything." " l won't hurt you." " l only want to talk to you." " No, don't hurt." "I won't hurt you." "Come on." "We won't hurt you, sweetheart." "We're your friends." "Shh." "Take the guards." "Look outside." "Radioactive readings." " Any further sign of life." " Right, Captain." "I wonder what happened to her that she should be so terrified of us." "But I remember the things you grups did." "Burning, yelling, hurting people." "We didn't do anything like that." " You're not going to hurt?" " No, of course not." "We're here to help." "Grups don't help." "But we will." "What happened here?" "Where is everybody?" "You know." "No, I don't." "Won't you tell me?" "You've got a foolle and you want me to play, but I can't." "I don't know the rules." "I've got to know them." " Foolie?" " A game." "You know." "You can't play a game without rules." "Even grups ought to know that." " What are grups?" " You are." "They were." "When onlies get old." "Grown-ups." "You said something about the grups doing bad things." "Yelling, hurting, burning." "That was when they started to get sick in the before time." "We hid, then they were gone." "Am I doing all right?" " You're doing fine." " You said the grups got sick." "is that why there aren't any of them around?" "Yes, they died." "But that was after the awful things." "A plague, Captain." "That could explain a lot of it." "What about the children, the onlies?" "Didn't the awful things affect them?" " Of course not." "We're here." " More of you?" "How many?" "All there are." "What's your name?" " Miri." " Miri." "Pretty name for a pretty young woman." "Pretty?" "Very pretty." "Guards!" "Cover me." "Children, lots of them." "We couldn't begin to get close to them." "They just seemed to scurry away, like animals." "Only children." "Miri said all the adults died." "That creature which attacked us was certainly no child." "Perhaps it died of the disease the girl's talking about." "There must be records somewhere and answers to our questions." "Miri, do you know any buildings where the doctors used to work?" "Yes, I know that." "Them and their pills and things." " Will you take me?" " lt's a bad place." "It's important." "Please." "All right." "Do you have a name, too?" " Yes, it's Jim." " l like that name." "Good. I like yours, too. I like you." " Do you really?" " l wouldn't lie to you." "I wouldn't lie to you either, Jim." "I remember the grups, but you're nice." "You're different." "Thank you." "It's already starting. I knew it would." "Just like it did with the grups." "It'll spread all over and you'll yell, try to hurt everybody and then die." "I knew it would!" "Captain's log, stardate 2713.6." "The building Miri led us to also housed an automatic transmission station, which sent the signal that drew us here." "We also discovered something else." "The blue splotches of the disease had appeared on each of us, with the exception of Mr Spock." "There was a laboratory in the building." "Dr McCoy took tissue samples from us to isolate the organism responsible." "A veritable zoo of bacteria." "Beam down a bio computer and a portable electronic microscope." "If I'm dealing with viruses, I need better equipment." " Yes, Doctor." "Captain Kirk?" " Yes, Lieutenant?" "I've got volunteers ready to help you." "Under no circumstances will anyone beam down." "We can't take chances with contamination." " lf you become too ill..." " My orders stand." "Help us by clearing the computer banks and standing by." "Kirk out." "Bones, why do you think the symptoms haven't appeared on Mr Spock?" "I don't know." "Probably the little bugs have no appetite for green blood." "Being a red-blooded human obviously has its disadvantages." "There you have a museum piece." "Lens-type, manually-operated, light-activated." "Spare me the analysis, please." "It's enough that it works." "It spreads real fast. I know." "When you're old, it covers you like anything." ""intermediate experimentation report project on life prolongation."" ""Progress report, genetic section." "Life prolongation project."" "That's what it was." "Life prolongation?" "Didn't have much luck, did they?" "Captain's log." "Dr McCoy's bio computer and a portable electronic microscope have been beamed down." "They'll be used with computer banks onboard ship." "Tubular with extreme multiplicability." "Have affinity for nucleic acids." " This was 300 years ago." " All the adults are dead." "Only the children left alive." " But children become adults." " At least they have up till now." "Doctor, there are certain glandular changes which take place upon entering puberty, are there not?" "Of course. lt changes the entire body system." "You know that." "Of course you know that." "Why?" "is it possible that these children, as they enter puberty, contract the disease?" "That would explain why there are no adults." "Glandular, post pubescent. lt could be." "It's illogical. lt does not follow." "All the adults on this planet died 300 years ago." "But there are children in the streets." "Who'll die when they enter adolescence." "But how do they keep the line going?" "One thing. lf she were a wild animal ever since she's been a little girl, how do you explain that she wants to stay with us?" "Loneliness?" "Curiosity?" "Children have an instinctive need for adults." "They want to be told right and wrong." "There may be other emotions at work in this case, Captain." "She likes you, Jim." "She's becoming a woman." "Mr Spock." "Spock here." "Here are those figures you asked for." "12 to the 10th power." "Metabolic rate 72%." "Production of nucleic acids reduced to 33% of normal." "Conventional chronological progression, 100 by 3.6." "Acknowledged, Lieutenant." "I have their calculations now." "Try again." "See if you can find anything outside." " Clean up that desk for me, will you?" " All right, Jim." "According to their life-prolongation plan, what they thought they were doing, a person would age only one month for every 100 years of real time." " 100 years and only one month?" " Exactly, Yeoman." "Evidently, through some miscalculation, this virus annihilated the entire adult population in a very short period, leaving only the children." "But that means these children..." "Could very well be immensely old." "That would answer the question of what happened to their parents." " Answers it very well." " Children who never age." "Eternal childhood filled with play." "No responsibilities." "It's almost like a dream." "I wouldn't examine it too closely." "It might not turn out to be very pretty." "A week ago that creature that attacked us could have been like Miri." "A child entering puberty on this planet means a death sentence." "Do you suppose she knows?" "I don't think so." "If they're as old as Spock claims, they must have an idea what's happening." "There's no adult interpretation." "I think we're dealing with children." "immensely old, but children." "We'd better do something about the others." "Difficult." "We can't even get a glimpse of them." " You couldn't get close to them?" " lmpossible." "They know the area too well, like mice." "I'm going to try." "Miri." "Come here." " Want to go someplace with me?" " Sure." "That little girl... ls at least 300 years older than you are, Yeoman." "Think about it." "But Miri is with them." "Why?" " What you gonna do, Jahn?" " l don't know." "I know what we've got to do." "There's more of them than we see." "Somewhere." "Up in the sky maybe." "They talk to each other all the time." "You know grups." "You know what they do." "The hurting, killing." " l remember the way it was." " That's right." "The way it was in the before time." "They talk to the other grups with these little boxes." "If they didn't have those little boxes, they'd be all alone." "But they don't see us." "We hide." "Allee, allee outs in free!" "No!" "It's not a game. lt's real." "They're dangerous." "They're grups." "Don't you understand?" "Jahn!" "All right, let's hide." "Dead." "I don't understand it." "My phaser wasn't set to kill." "Her name was Louise." "She was a little bit older than I am when it happened." "Jim!" "Data has been fed into the computers." "Stand by." "Acknowledged." " Are these enough, Jim?" " We could use more, if you don't mind." "No, I don't mind." "There couldn't be any doubt about what you found here?" "This fellow made these notes in the last weeks." "After the disaster began." "I disregard these last entries." "He said himself he was too sick, too far gone to be sure he wasn't already mad, and I agree." "Based on the entries he made before that, I know how much time we have." "The computers will verify my figures." "Only a matter of time before we all go mad, destroy each other, until the last of us finally destroys himself." " What about Miri?" " Our guess was correct." "They contract the disease at puberty and their metabolism changes." "The notes indicate that it doesn't become acute for a month or so." " l estimate she has six weeks left." " What about us?" "The older the victim, the more rapid the progress of the disease." "And you?" "The disease doesn't seem to be interested in you." "I am a carrier." "Whatever happens, I can't go back to the ship." "And I do want to go back to the ship, Captain." "Of course, Mr Spock." "We still don't know what we're fighting." "But we know what it is and how fast it does it." "It's progressing." "We'll begin to feel it soon." "Intense fever." "Great pain in the extremities, fuzziness of vision." "Those are the early symptoms." "There'll be more." " Are you certain about the time?" " l presume my calculations are correct." " ls there any possibility..." " This is the Enterprise." "Computer indicates 170 hours, Mr Spock." "Verified, Captain." "We have seven days." "Captain's log, supplement." "It is the second day of the seven left to us." "We've found nothing." "Enterprise is standing by with its labs, computers, ready to assist us." "There's no data, no starting point." "I've found it." " Janice, take Miri for a walk." " Yes, sir." " One half intact." " Do you know what they were up to?" "More or less." "The idea was to create a new series of diseases." "A chain reaction of viruses to extend the life of the human cell." "Unfortunately, they weren't successful." "We've seen the results." "You two will have to recreate their thinking." "If you can isolate that virus, you'll be able to develop a vaccine." "is that all, Captain?" "We have five days, you know." "I know." "The children." " Anything?" " No." "You?" "The communicators, Captain." " They're gone." " We've got to have the communicators." "Without them, we don't have the computers and we don't have a chance." "Captain's log, stardate 2717.3." "Three days, seven hours left to us." "The supply of food left in the area is running low." "Unless something is done, the children will starve." "The disease is working on us according to Dr McCoy's prediction." "Our tempers are short and we are no further along than two days ago." " Haven't you found a thing yet?" " Would you like to take a crack at it?" "No!" "No!" "No!" "I'm upset, Captain." "So upset." "Back on the ship, I used to try to get you to look at my legs." "Captain, look at my legs." "We're all frightened." "Jim, I've found something!" "The last slide I examined, I failed to make the necessary adjustment." " Never mind that." "What did you find?" " The disease they created." " There's a chance." " At least it's a race now." "And we've just wasted a minute." "It'd be some foolle, Miri, but do you think it would work?" "I know." "Don't you think I've heard them talk?" "They have such little time to do this dumb thing of theirs." "If we get her away, that yeoman, that's one person less to start off with." "But, Miri, if they're so busy, how are you going to get her away?" "It's easy." "She's always asking me about the youngest onlies." "The little ones." ""What if they get sick, who takes care of them?" ""Do they have enough to eat?" "Where do they sleep?"" "I'll just tell her one of you fell down and got hurt." " Say it's me." " All right, you." "But grups, they know things and all that." "You know, I bet they'll be able to do it with one person less." "Not one, two." "Because he'll try to find her." "Who?" "Who will, Miri?" "The captain." "He'll try to find her, but he won't." " Mr Lovey-dovey." " Lovey-dovey." "Bonk, bonk on the head." "Bonk, bonk." "Bonk, bonk!" "Bonk, bonk!" "Bonk, bonk!" "Bonk, bonk!" "Bonk, bonk!" " lt looks right." " The nitrogen cycle. lt has to be." "The question is, what's the dosage?" "That is a very good question." "Where is she?" "Where's Janice?" "What's the matter with you?" "How should I know?" "Where is she?" " Has something happened?" " Don't you feel all right?" "No, I don't feel all right!" "None of us feel all right!" "Can't you see what's going on?" "I don't want anything to happen to you." " l've got to find Janice." " And those communicators." "We're trying very hard." "That's not good enough!" "This could be it." "But we can't test it without the ship's computers." "We've got to have those communicators." " This is the vaccine?" " That's what the computers will tell us." "Without them, it could be a beaker full of death." "Did you hear them?" "We only have a few hours left." "I don't care." "You've got to care." "Miri, I'm going to tell you something." "You, your friends, all the onlies, are going to get the disease, unless we succeed in what we're doing." " You've seen friends get it." " Sometimes." "Not sometimes, all the times." "As soon as you start growing up, the way you are..." "Don't you know why you don't like to play games any more?" "Why you don't see your friends the way you used to?" "It's because you're becoming a young woman." "And the moment you become a young woman, you get the disease." " All of you." " lt just happens sometimes." "All the time, Miri!" "It's happening to you right now!" "Look at it!" "It's in you!" "No!" "No!" "Blah, blah, blah." "No." "You got the wrong game." "A teacher, I told you." "What does a teacher say, huh?" "Yeah..." "Study, study, study, or bonk, bonk, bad kid." " lt's not funny." " lt's a foolle." " What are you going to do with me?" " Think I'd tell you?" " Miri, you're not supposed to be here." " l know." "What's the matter?" "Did something go wrong?" "OK, then." "Just don't stand there in the doorway." "Come on in." " Listen to him." " You listen, Miri." "I did." "Why do you think I brought him here?" " Tell them, Jim." " "Tell them, Jim." "Tell them, Jim."" "Tell them, Jim!" "Tell them, Jim!" "Tell them, Jim!" "Tell them, Jim!" "Tell them, Jim!" "Tell them, Jim!" "Tell them, Jim!" "Tell them, Jim!" "Tell them, Jim!" "Listen to me." "Listen to me!" "Yelling in a classroom." "Look at him." "A very bad citizen." "This isn't a game." "There never was a game." " Call the police!" " l'm the police." " Bonk, bonk unless you're good." " You're a teacher." "I got two jobs." "Blah, blah, blah." "Blah, blah, blah." "Listen to me!" "You've got our communicators." "The boxes we talk into." "We need them to talk to the ship." "Blah, blah, blah." "No blah, blah, blah!" "Because if we don't talk to the ship... lf you don't help us, there won't be any games any more." "There won't be anything." "Nothing." "No grups, no onlies." "Nobody left for ever and ever." "Captain!" "Now, listen to me." "You've got to help us before it's too late." "Let Janice go." "Give me those communicators before it's too late." "Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah." "Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah." "Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah." "You've seen your friends change, one by one, as they grew up." "Did you ever see one of them not change?" "They got the disease." "They became like those creatures you're afraid of, like Louise!" "One by one, they got the disease, like I've got, like Miri has!" "Do you understand?" "You're not babies." " We can help you." " Naughty grup." "No!" "Please, no!" "It's waiting for you." "Maybe only a matter of months." "Listen to him." "He's telling the truth." " He thinks he's funny." " Bonk, bonk, hit him!" "Look at my arms!" "That's what's going to happen to you." " Unless you let me help you." " Bonk, bonk, hit him." "And the little ones." "What's going to happen to them after you've turned into creatures?" "They'll still be here, but not for long, because the food's all gone." "You've eaten it." "Maybe six months left." "And then nothing left to eat." "Nobody left to take care of them." "They'll die, too." "Look at my arm. lt's happening to me." "He's telling the truth." " They're grups!" " Bonk!" "Bonk!" "Bonk!" "All right, you want a foolle?" "I dare you." "I double dare you." "Look at the blood on my face." "Look at your hands." "Blood on your hands." "Now who's doing the hurting?" "Not the grups." "It's you hurting, yelling, maybe killing." "Just like the grups and the creatures." "You're acting like them and you're going to be just like them, unless you let me help you." "I'm a grup and I want to help you." "I'm begging you." "Let me help you." "Or there won't be anything left at all." "Please." "We can't wait for the communicators any longer." "We must." "The vaccine could be fatal." "The disease certainly is." "How long do we have left?" "Hours?" "Minutes?" "How much longer do you want to wait?" "Bickering is pointless." "I'll check on the captain's progress." "Spock!" " ls he dead, Mr Spock?" " Not yet." "Three hours, 11 minutes left." "Thank you." "Keep this channel open." " What happened?" " He injected the vaccine." "He was unconscious when I found him." "Look at his face." "The blemishes are fading." "They're fading." "I'll never understand the medical mind." "is this supposed to be a good thing, Miri?" "Of course it is." "They're just children." "Simply to leave them there with a medical..." "Just children. 300 years old and more." "I contacted Space Central." "They'll send teachers, advisors." " And truant officers, I presume." " They'll be all right." "Miri...she really loved you, you know?" "Yes." "I never get involved with older women, Yeoman." " Mr Spock." " Captain." " Full ahead." "Warp factor 1." " Warp factor 1, Captain."