Post by magicmuggle01 on Dec 6, 2018 11:03:07 GMT
Enterprise crew members are stranded on a ghost planet and terrorized by the image of a beautiful woman.
Summary
The USS Enterprise investigates a planet whose size is approximately that of Earth's moon, yet mass and atmosphere are similar to Earth. Stranger yet is that it is apparently only a few thousand years old. Its geological age is much less than the indigenous vegetation and atmospheric content would indicate. Captain Kirk is intrigued by the unexplainable planet and organizes a landing party consisting of himself, Doctor McCoy, helmsman Sulu, and senior geologist D'Amato. As the landing party steps onto the transporter platform and starts to transport down to the surface of the planet, a mysterious woman suddenly appears, telling them that they must not go. She then touches the transporter operator Wyatt who instantly crumples to the deck as the dematerializing landing party watches helplessly. She is too late to prevent the beam down, and moments later the four men materialize on the planet's surface. Once on the planet, Kirk attempts to contact the Enterprise with his communicator to report the attack, but before he can do so, a powerful tremor rocks the planet. At the same instant the Enterprise is tossed about in some sort of turbulence. Both disruptions subside simultaneously, and the crew of the Enterprise quickly discovers that the planet is no longer on the viewscreen.
On the planet D'Amato's tricorder reads an energy burst of almost immeasurable power. When Kirk is unable to raise the Enterprise on his communicator, Sulu discovers that the Enterprise is missing from orbit, effectively stranding the landing party on the planet.
Act One
The landing party is at a loss to explain the sudden disappearance of the Enterprise. Sulu conjectures that the Enterprise must have blown up, citing high radiation readings as evidence of a matter/antimatter intermix explosion. Kirk quickly dismisses Sulu's theory due to a lack of residual radiation. McCoy then suggests that the Enterprise may have crashed onto the planet itself. Neither of these theories fits the facts. Recognizing that regardless of the Enterprise's fate, the landing party will soon need food and water, Kirk orders a detailed analysis of the planet's resources. The report is not encouraging, as all plant vegetation on the planet is poisonous to Humans, there is no evidence of rainfall or surface water and the only other form of life is a virus-like plant parasite. During the survey, Sulu makes a sweep with his tricorder and registers a sudden magnetic reading that quickly dissipates, like a door opening and then closing again. McCoy also detects a powerful lifeform reading that appears and then disappears. These fluctuations occur as the same woman who appeared in the transporter room of the Enterprise confronts D'Amato, killing him with her touch. McCoy reports that all the cells of D'Amato's body have been disrupted from the inside. Kirk attempts to dig a grave for the geologist with his phaser, but the surface of the planet withstands its force. Further investigation reveals that the planet is an artificial body.
McCoy and Sulu look upon
D'Amato's grave on the planet.
In the meantime, the crew of the Enterprise attempts to discern what had happened. Scott reports no damage to the ship's engines. Uhura reports that the ship is functioning normally and there are nothing more than bumps and bruises as a result of the turbulence, save one casualty: transporter officer Wyatt has been found dead. Doctor M'Benga reports that they are not yet sure of the cause of death, as Dr. Sanchez is in the middle of Wyatt's autopsy. Spock orders Scott to have the transporter checked for malfunctions. Helm officer Lieutenant Rahda notes that there is no debris, which would have been left over from a planet breakup. She then reports that the position of the stars have changed. She verifies her findings by replaying a recording of the stars made just prior to the turbulence on the viewscreen. Spock is able to interpolate that, in a manner of seconds, the Enterprise has somehow been thrown 990.7 light years from its previous position. The preliminary autopsy on the transporter officer comes in and the causes of death appears to be cellular disruption, as if every cell in the body had been blasted from inside. Spock orders that the Enterprise return to the planet at top warp speed, which turns out to be warp factor 8.
The Enterprise thrown 990.7 light
years.
Act Two
Although the ship did not appear to suffer any damage, chief engineer Montgomery Scott is disquieted, and reports that the ship feels "wrong." Spock initially dismisses this as emotional. Still concerned, Scotty instructs crewman Watkins to check the bypass valve on the matter-antimatter reaction chamber to ensure that it is not overheating. While Watkins is doing so, the woman appears in the control room and inquires about the engine mechanisms. She then kills him in the same manner as the others. Before Watkins dies, he cries out a warning about the intruder to Scott, but she disappears before Scott can see her.
Back on the surface of the planet, Sulu volunteers to keep watch while Kirk and McCoy sleep. While the captain and the doctor sleep, the woman appears to Sulu and, although she is able to briefly touch him, disrupting all the cells his shoulder, she does not kill him. Sulu yells out for help and Kirk and McCoy run to his rescue. Sulu cries out not to let her touch them. The woman insists that she is for Sulu and that she must touch him. When she touches Kirk on his shoulder, however, nothing happens. Kirk asks how she can destroy others and she explains that she does not want to destroy. She then disappears. The landing party surmises that the woman's destructive power can only be directed at one specific person at a time.
Act Three
Aboard the Enterprise, which is warping back to the planet, the ship's engines begin to race out of control. Scotty discovers that the emergency overload bypass of the matter-antimatter integrator has been fused, although it would have taken all the power of the ship's phasers to do so. It becomes apparent that the woman is responsible for this sabotage. With this damage, the Enterprise has less than fifteen minutes before its engines will explode.
Spock and Scotty devise a risky plan to save the ship – Scotty will enter the crawlway leading to the matter-antimatter reaction chamber and attempt to manually shut off the flow of fuel with a magnetic probe. Scotty installs explosives at the end of the service crawlway that will permit Spock to jettison the pod if Scotty ruptures the magnetic bottle. Recalling Scotty's earlier assertion that the ship felt wrong, Spock runs an analysis comparing the condition of the Enterprise with its ideal condition.
When the woman reappears to kill Kirk, the landing party is able to use this information to defend him. Kirk questions her with McCoy and Sulu keeping her at a distance. She calls herself Losira, commander of the station. When Kirk asks how she feels about killing him, she says that the act of killing is wrong but that she must do so. She says that she is sent to defend the station, although the people who once lived on it are no more. Kirk presses her, sensing her confusion and loneliness, and she disappears again. Following their tricorder readings, the landing party eventually finds an underground door to the planet-station.
Spock's analysis proves crucial, for he has discovered that the Enterprise has been put through a molecular transporter and then reassembled slightly out of phase, which will require Scott to reverse the polarity on the magnetic probe in order to seal the incision. Scott attempts to do so as the final seconds tick down, but the mechanism on the probe becomes jammed. Scotty insists multiple times to Spock that he jettison him, but Spock gives him a few seconds more. Scotty is able to loosen the tool and, just moments before the engines go critical, accomplishes the task and the Enterprise finally begins to slow down.
Act Four
On the planet, the landing party enters a computer room, where they are confronted with three versions of the destructive woman, each programmed to kill one of them. The landing party seems to be out of options when Spock and a security officer materialize into the room and Lemli destroys the computer with his phaser. The women disappear and are replaced by a recorded image of Losira. In the recording, Losira welcomes her fellow Kalandans to the colony. She explains that the population of the colony has been destroyed by a disease that they accidentally produced when they created the planet. Losira is the last survivor, and because she does not believe she will survive until help arrives, has set the station defense mechanism on automatic to defend against other life forms.
McCoy surmises that the entire species was destroyed by the disease, and that the image of Losira has been waiting thousands of years to deliver her message to a people who have become extinct. It is apparent to the landing party that the computer defense mechanism called upon the only image available, that of Losira, but the replication was too perfect and projected so much of her personality that it felt regret and guilt at killing. They agree that she was a remarkable and beautiful woman. Spock says that beauty is transitory, but Kirk disagrees, saying "beauty survives".
Memorable quotes
"What is it, Jim?"
"A planet that even Spock can't explain."
- McCoy and Kirk, on the Kalandan outpost
"What happened?"
"The occipital area of my head seems to have impacted with the chair."
"No, Mister Spock. I meant what happened to us?"
- Uhura and Spock, after the Enterprise is hurled away from the planet
"Mister Sulu, if I'd wanted a Russian history lesson, I'd have brought along Mister Chekov."
- Kirk, after Sulu refers to the Tunguska Oblast of Siberia
"Can you give me warp eight?"
"Aye, sir. And maybe a wee bit more. I'll sit on the warp engines myself and nurse them."
"… That position, … Mister Scott … would not only be unavailing but also … undignified."
- Spock to Scott, in a measured, very logically thought out response to Scott saying he will sit on the warp engines and nurse them
"I am only for D'Amato."
"Lucky D'Amato."
- Losira and D'Amato, before she kills him
"What a terrible way to die."
"There are no good ways, Sulu."
- Sulu and Kirk, after discovering D'Amato's body
"Mister Spock, the ship feels wrong."
- Scott, in the engineering room
"It looks so lonely there."
"It would be worse if he had company."
- Sulu and McCoy, at D'Amato's grave
"Mister Scott, there's a strange woman who knows the entire plan of the Enterprise!"
- Watkins, before Losira kills him
"Well, your guess is as good as mine."
"My guess, doctor, would be valueless."
- M'Benga and Spock, on the cause of death for Watkins
"Stop or I'll shoot! I don't want to have to kill a woman!"
- Sulu, to Losira
"How can such people be, captain? Such evil and she's so, so beautiful."
- Sulu, as McCoy treats him
"Mister Spock, what are the chances of the captain and the others being alive?"
"Lieutenant, we are not engaged in gambling."
- Uhura and Spock, after the red alert is canceled
"This thing is going to blow up, and there's nothing in the universe can stop it."
- Scott to Spock, on the sabotage
"You'll be killed, man!"
"Unless a solution is found quickly, that fate awaits all of us."
- Scott and Spock, on going into the crawlway
"I'm so close to the flow now it feels like ants crawling all over my body."
- Scott, inside the crawlway
"I know what time it is. I don't need a bloomin' cuckoo clock."
- Scott, as Spock counts down
"You might at least say thank you."
"For what purpose, Mister Scott? What is it in you Humans –"
"Never mind."
- Scott and Spock, after Scott fixes the sabotage
"Beauty is transitory, doctor."
- Spock, on Losira
"Beauty survives."
- Kirk, to Spock
Summary
The USS Enterprise investigates a planet whose size is approximately that of Earth's moon, yet mass and atmosphere are similar to Earth. Stranger yet is that it is apparently only a few thousand years old. Its geological age is much less than the indigenous vegetation and atmospheric content would indicate. Captain Kirk is intrigued by the unexplainable planet and organizes a landing party consisting of himself, Doctor McCoy, helmsman Sulu, and senior geologist D'Amato. As the landing party steps onto the transporter platform and starts to transport down to the surface of the planet, a mysterious woman suddenly appears, telling them that they must not go. She then touches the transporter operator Wyatt who instantly crumples to the deck as the dematerializing landing party watches helplessly. She is too late to prevent the beam down, and moments later the four men materialize on the planet's surface. Once on the planet, Kirk attempts to contact the Enterprise with his communicator to report the attack, but before he can do so, a powerful tremor rocks the planet. At the same instant the Enterprise is tossed about in some sort of turbulence. Both disruptions subside simultaneously, and the crew of the Enterprise quickly discovers that the planet is no longer on the viewscreen.
On the planet D'Amato's tricorder reads an energy burst of almost immeasurable power. When Kirk is unable to raise the Enterprise on his communicator, Sulu discovers that the Enterprise is missing from orbit, effectively stranding the landing party on the planet.
Act One
The landing party is at a loss to explain the sudden disappearance of the Enterprise. Sulu conjectures that the Enterprise must have blown up, citing high radiation readings as evidence of a matter/antimatter intermix explosion. Kirk quickly dismisses Sulu's theory due to a lack of residual radiation. McCoy then suggests that the Enterprise may have crashed onto the planet itself. Neither of these theories fits the facts. Recognizing that regardless of the Enterprise's fate, the landing party will soon need food and water, Kirk orders a detailed analysis of the planet's resources. The report is not encouraging, as all plant vegetation on the planet is poisonous to Humans, there is no evidence of rainfall or surface water and the only other form of life is a virus-like plant parasite. During the survey, Sulu makes a sweep with his tricorder and registers a sudden magnetic reading that quickly dissipates, like a door opening and then closing again. McCoy also detects a powerful lifeform reading that appears and then disappears. These fluctuations occur as the same woman who appeared in the transporter room of the Enterprise confronts D'Amato, killing him with her touch. McCoy reports that all the cells of D'Amato's body have been disrupted from the inside. Kirk attempts to dig a grave for the geologist with his phaser, but the surface of the planet withstands its force. Further investigation reveals that the planet is an artificial body.
McCoy and Sulu look upon
D'Amato's grave on the planet.
In the meantime, the crew of the Enterprise attempts to discern what had happened. Scott reports no damage to the ship's engines. Uhura reports that the ship is functioning normally and there are nothing more than bumps and bruises as a result of the turbulence, save one casualty: transporter officer Wyatt has been found dead. Doctor M'Benga reports that they are not yet sure of the cause of death, as Dr. Sanchez is in the middle of Wyatt's autopsy. Spock orders Scott to have the transporter checked for malfunctions. Helm officer Lieutenant Rahda notes that there is no debris, which would have been left over from a planet breakup. She then reports that the position of the stars have changed. She verifies her findings by replaying a recording of the stars made just prior to the turbulence on the viewscreen. Spock is able to interpolate that, in a manner of seconds, the Enterprise has somehow been thrown 990.7 light years from its previous position. The preliminary autopsy on the transporter officer comes in and the causes of death appears to be cellular disruption, as if every cell in the body had been blasted from inside. Spock orders that the Enterprise return to the planet at top warp speed, which turns out to be warp factor 8.
The Enterprise thrown 990.7 light
years.
Act Two
Although the ship did not appear to suffer any damage, chief engineer Montgomery Scott is disquieted, and reports that the ship feels "wrong." Spock initially dismisses this as emotional. Still concerned, Scotty instructs crewman Watkins to check the bypass valve on the matter-antimatter reaction chamber to ensure that it is not overheating. While Watkins is doing so, the woman appears in the control room and inquires about the engine mechanisms. She then kills him in the same manner as the others. Before Watkins dies, he cries out a warning about the intruder to Scott, but she disappears before Scott can see her.
Back on the surface of the planet, Sulu volunteers to keep watch while Kirk and McCoy sleep. While the captain and the doctor sleep, the woman appears to Sulu and, although she is able to briefly touch him, disrupting all the cells his shoulder, she does not kill him. Sulu yells out for help and Kirk and McCoy run to his rescue. Sulu cries out not to let her touch them. The woman insists that she is for Sulu and that she must touch him. When she touches Kirk on his shoulder, however, nothing happens. Kirk asks how she can destroy others and she explains that she does not want to destroy. She then disappears. The landing party surmises that the woman's destructive power can only be directed at one specific person at a time.
Act Three
Aboard the Enterprise, which is warping back to the planet, the ship's engines begin to race out of control. Scotty discovers that the emergency overload bypass of the matter-antimatter integrator has been fused, although it would have taken all the power of the ship's phasers to do so. It becomes apparent that the woman is responsible for this sabotage. With this damage, the Enterprise has less than fifteen minutes before its engines will explode.
Spock and Scotty devise a risky plan to save the ship – Scotty will enter the crawlway leading to the matter-antimatter reaction chamber and attempt to manually shut off the flow of fuel with a magnetic probe. Scotty installs explosives at the end of the service crawlway that will permit Spock to jettison the pod if Scotty ruptures the magnetic bottle. Recalling Scotty's earlier assertion that the ship felt wrong, Spock runs an analysis comparing the condition of the Enterprise with its ideal condition.
When the woman reappears to kill Kirk, the landing party is able to use this information to defend him. Kirk questions her with McCoy and Sulu keeping her at a distance. She calls herself Losira, commander of the station. When Kirk asks how she feels about killing him, she says that the act of killing is wrong but that she must do so. She says that she is sent to defend the station, although the people who once lived on it are no more. Kirk presses her, sensing her confusion and loneliness, and she disappears again. Following their tricorder readings, the landing party eventually finds an underground door to the planet-station.
Spock's analysis proves crucial, for he has discovered that the Enterprise has been put through a molecular transporter and then reassembled slightly out of phase, which will require Scott to reverse the polarity on the magnetic probe in order to seal the incision. Scott attempts to do so as the final seconds tick down, but the mechanism on the probe becomes jammed. Scotty insists multiple times to Spock that he jettison him, but Spock gives him a few seconds more. Scotty is able to loosen the tool and, just moments before the engines go critical, accomplishes the task and the Enterprise finally begins to slow down.
Act Four
On the planet, the landing party enters a computer room, where they are confronted with three versions of the destructive woman, each programmed to kill one of them. The landing party seems to be out of options when Spock and a security officer materialize into the room and Lemli destroys the computer with his phaser. The women disappear and are replaced by a recorded image of Losira. In the recording, Losira welcomes her fellow Kalandans to the colony. She explains that the population of the colony has been destroyed by a disease that they accidentally produced when they created the planet. Losira is the last survivor, and because she does not believe she will survive until help arrives, has set the station defense mechanism on automatic to defend against other life forms.
McCoy surmises that the entire species was destroyed by the disease, and that the image of Losira has been waiting thousands of years to deliver her message to a people who have become extinct. It is apparent to the landing party that the computer defense mechanism called upon the only image available, that of Losira, but the replication was too perfect and projected so much of her personality that it felt regret and guilt at killing. They agree that she was a remarkable and beautiful woman. Spock says that beauty is transitory, but Kirk disagrees, saying "beauty survives".
Memorable quotes
"What is it, Jim?"
"A planet that even Spock can't explain."
- McCoy and Kirk, on the Kalandan outpost
"What happened?"
"The occipital area of my head seems to have impacted with the chair."
"No, Mister Spock. I meant what happened to us?"
- Uhura and Spock, after the Enterprise is hurled away from the planet
"Mister Sulu, if I'd wanted a Russian history lesson, I'd have brought along Mister Chekov."
- Kirk, after Sulu refers to the Tunguska Oblast of Siberia
"Can you give me warp eight?"
"Aye, sir. And maybe a wee bit more. I'll sit on the warp engines myself and nurse them."
"… That position, … Mister Scott … would not only be unavailing but also … undignified."
- Spock to Scott, in a measured, very logically thought out response to Scott saying he will sit on the warp engines and nurse them
"I am only for D'Amato."
"Lucky D'Amato."
- Losira and D'Amato, before she kills him
"What a terrible way to die."
"There are no good ways, Sulu."
- Sulu and Kirk, after discovering D'Amato's body
"Mister Spock, the ship feels wrong."
- Scott, in the engineering room
"It looks so lonely there."
"It would be worse if he had company."
- Sulu and McCoy, at D'Amato's grave
"Mister Scott, there's a strange woman who knows the entire plan of the Enterprise!"
- Watkins, before Losira kills him
"Well, your guess is as good as mine."
"My guess, doctor, would be valueless."
- M'Benga and Spock, on the cause of death for Watkins
"Stop or I'll shoot! I don't want to have to kill a woman!"
- Sulu, to Losira
"How can such people be, captain? Such evil and she's so, so beautiful."
- Sulu, as McCoy treats him
"Mister Spock, what are the chances of the captain and the others being alive?"
"Lieutenant, we are not engaged in gambling."
- Uhura and Spock, after the red alert is canceled
"This thing is going to blow up, and there's nothing in the universe can stop it."
- Scott to Spock, on the sabotage
"You'll be killed, man!"
"Unless a solution is found quickly, that fate awaits all of us."
- Scott and Spock, on going into the crawlway
"I'm so close to the flow now it feels like ants crawling all over my body."
- Scott, inside the crawlway
"I know what time it is. I don't need a bloomin' cuckoo clock."
- Scott, as Spock counts down
"You might at least say thank you."
"For what purpose, Mister Scott? What is it in you Humans –"
"Never mind."
- Scott and Spock, after Scott fixes the sabotage
"Beauty is transitory, doctor."
- Spock, on Losira
"Beauty survives."
- Kirk, to Spock
