Post by magicmuggle01 on Dec 29, 2018 11:20:19 GMT
The Enterprise is captured by an alien claiming to be Apollo, the Greek god of the sun.
Summary
Montgomery Scott is flirting with Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas on the bridge while Kirk and McCoy lightly tease him. As the USS Enterprise nears the planet Pollux IV, a huge green hand made of energy materializes in space, catching and holding the ship. "Am I… seeing things?", Ensign Pavel Chekov exclaims. Captain Kirk orders that the Enterprise reverse all engines but the "hand" manages to hold the ship anyway. "Helm doesn't answer. We can't move!", Lieutenant Sulu states. Kirk orders Uhura to send word to Starbase 12.
Act One
After a couple of failed attempts to break free of the "hand" holding the Enterprise in space, scanner five-seven displays the ghostly, laurel-wreathed head of a man. Claiming the eons have passed, he welcomes the Enterprise crew, congratulating his "beloved children" for leaving their plains and valleys and making a "bold venture" into deep space. Among other things, this being claims familiarity with Earth of five thousand years ago, dropping the names of individuals alive then. Captain Kirk's repeated demands for freedom finally irritate him, and he threatens to "close his hand" and crush the ship – a threat sufficiently credible that Kirk agrees to visit the planet with his officers, expressly omitting Spock, with Apollo saying that the Vulcan reminds him of Pan, whom he was always bored by.
The landing party consists of Kirk, McCoy, Scott, Chekov, and Palamas, who is trained in archaeology, anthropology, and ancient civilizations, all fields likely to be of some use. Materializing on the surface, the five crew members meet the being responsible for their capture, a being familiar with ancient Earth, who introduces himself as Apollo. Despite his claims, McCoy's tricorder scans show him to be a "simple humanoid". Changing to an enormous height, Apollo looks down at Kirk and the crew, and in a loud, booming voice, he intones, "Welcome to Olympus, Captain Kirk."
Act Two
Apollo claims he and others – Zeus, Athena, Aphrodite, Hera, Hermes, and Artemis – were a "gallant band of travelers" who visited Earth some five thousand years ago. He demands to be worshiped by the Enterprise landing party, and in return offers a simple yet pleasurable life. He reveals himself as petulant and arrogant – qualities that correspond to his depictions as a god. But he controls a dangerous power, as the crew discover in a number of ways: their phasers are all fused, the transporter device and communicators are inoperative, and Scott is injured by lightning strikes for other willful acts he commits against Apollo. Moreover, he has developed a romantic interest in Palamas, angering Scott.
Aboard the ship, Spock is proceeding under the same assumption, and the crew may be making headway: Lieutenant Uhura rigs a subspace bypass circuit to restore communications, and Sulu discovers a strange radiated power on the planet with no clear source. Spock asks the helmsman to scan the entire planet for the source of the power readings by looking where it is not – a simple process of elimination. Sulu, along with Leslie's assistance, begins the scan.
Apollo, meanwhile, has taken Palamas away from the rest of the Enterprise crew. He tells her the gods left Earth when mankind turned away from them, and that they need admiration just like Humans need food. They returned to their home, an empty place without worshipers. But they lacked the strength to leave, and so they waited. And over the course of time, all but Apollo discorporated. Apollo claims the gods are immortal, and can't die, at least, not the way Humans understand death. But even they eventually reach a point of no return; they "spread themselves upon the wind… thinner, and thinner, until only the wind remained…" He then mentions that he "knew Carolyn would come to the stars" and be forever by his side as his queen. Palamas doesn't understand, but Apollo seduces her by saying that fifty centuries ago, gods took mortals with them to love and care for, as his parents did.
As on the Enterprise, the landing party has discovered the energy flow but is equally unable to isolate it. Chekov's theory is that Apollo can channel this flow of energy through his body without harm to himself, much like the electric eel on Earth or the giant dry worm of Antos IV. Finding the source of this energy is top priority. McCoy notes that, although Apollo is generally a standard humanoid, he has a mysterious extra organ in his chest. Apollo returns to the landing party and tells them Palamas is no concern to them anymore. Scott is enraged and charges at Apollo with a vase, but the god strikes him down with a bolt of lightning, throwing him off his feet.
Chekov observes that, as Apollo vanishes, he appears tired or pained. It seems that Apollo has a limited reservoir, and when he expends too much energy, he must retreat and recharge his energy cells. They therefore plan to force him to expend his power, and weaken him so that he might be overpowered.
Aboard ship, Spock asks Kyle to take his equations to the nuclear electronics lab so that they can generate M-rays on selected wavelengths to punch a few holes in Apollo's force field to fire their phaser banks through.
On Apollo's return, the landing party attempts to goad him into attacking someone, however, Palamas, who was not part of the plan, ruins it in her well-meaning attempt to save Kirk from Apollo's wrath. Kirk begins to devise another plan – but notes that it depends on Palamas' loyalty. If his plan does not work, Kirk notes, the Enterprise crew had better get used to herding goats.
Act Three
The attack on Apollo's temple.
Palamas has fallen in love with Apollo, who has told her she will be his consort, the mother of a new race of gods, and will inspire men throughout the universe. Palamas is returned to the landing party, weakened but content. Palamas tells Kirk of Apollo's plans for the crew to live on the surface of the planet, but Kirk tells her she has work to do after noticing her weakened state. "All our lives, here and on the ship, depend on you." She must spurn Apollo; to do otherwise condemns the crew to "nothing less than slavery." Kirk reminds her of her loyalty to Humanity, since that is where her duty (and his) lie. Palamas reveals her sympathy for Apollo's plan, but Kirk speaks to her of duty, orders, and the Humanity she shares is tied together beyond any untying with Kirk and others that she cannot share with Apollo. Kirk seems to be getting through to Palamas – when Apollo summons her back. Kirk reminds her of her duty once more before she disappears.
Act Four
Uhura is successful in contacting the landing party. Spock determines that the god's powers come from his temple. The Enterprise has used Spock's technique with M-rays to pierce the force field around the ship. The ship could fire phasers, but Kirk needs to know exactly where Apollo and Palamas are first before they are fired.
Apollo and Palamas are kissing passionately, but then Palamas tells Apollo she has merely been studying him; she could no more love him than love "a new species of bacteria." Of course, she is lying through her teeth when she says this, and is broken-hearted, but she must put responsibility before romantic desire, no matter how reluctant she is to do so. She walks away, and there is wind and thunder, noticed by the rest of the landing party. Palamas screams, and the sounds appear to indicate that she and Apollo are near the temple, and a gigantic Apollo looms nearby. Kirk angles to lure Apollo closer to the temple – his power source – and orders phaser fire to destroy the temple, despite the close proximity of the landing party. The Enterprise shudders from lightning bolts fired at it by Apollo, but continues firing phasers until the temple is completely destroyed.
Apollo, rejected by a mortal woman and bereft of his powers, asks for the Humans' forgiveness and spreads himself upon the winds to join his fellow gods. After he is gone, McCoy and Kirk regret what they had to do. Now believing that Apollo was the god of the ancient Greeks, Kirk talks about all that Apollo's people gave to Earth – their culture and philosophy – and wonders whether another outcome was possible. He muses to McCoy if it really would have hurt them to have gathered just a few laurel leaves. The Enterprise departs Pollux IV for open space.
Log entries
"Captain's log, stardate 3468.1. While approaching Pollux IV, a planet in the Beta Geminorum system, the Enterprise has been stopped in space by an unknown force of some kind."
Memorable quotes
"Bones, could you get that excited over a cup of coffee?"
"Even from here, I can tell his pulse rate's up."
"Gentlemen!"
- Kirk' and McCoy,' observing Scott flirting with Palamas
"I like to think of it not so much as losing an officer as gaining… Actually, I'm losing an officer."
- Kirk to McCoy, about Scott and the consequences of his love for Carolyn
"Captain Kirk, I invite you and your officers to join me. But do not bring that one. The one with the pointed ears. He is much like Pan. And Pan always bored me."
- Apollo, inviting the whole Enterprise crew to Pollux IV except Spock
"If you want to play god and call yourself Apollo, that's your business, but you're no god to us, mister!"
- Kirk, to Apollo
"Insults are effective only where emotion is present."
- Spock, on his rejection by Apollo
"I am Apollo!"
"And I am the czar of all the Russias!"
- Apollo and Chekov, as Apollo identifies himself
"I have four hundred and thirty people on that ship up there!"
"Not anymore, captain! They are mine now. To save, to cherish, or to destroy at my will."
- Kirk and Apollo
"To coin a phrase, fascinating."
- McCoy, after the giant Apollo suddenly looks tired and vanishes
"A god cannot survive as a memory."
- Apollo to Palamas, explaining why the other gods withered away
"Spock's contaminating this boy, Jim."
- McCoy, as Chekov provides Kirk detailed information
"Where's Apollo?"
"He disappeared again like the cat in that Russian story."
"Don't you mean the English story? The Cheshire Cat?"
"Cheshire? No… Minsk, perhaps…"
- Kirk and Chekov, after Apollo attacks Scott again and vanishes
"Approach me. I said approach me!"
"We're busy!" (to Scott) "Look after the girl."
"You will gather laurel leaves! Light the ancient fires! Kill a deer! Make your sacrifices to me! Apollo has spoken!!"
- Apollo and Kirk
"I offer you more than your wildest dreams have ever imagined. You'll become the mother of a new race of gods. You'll inspire the universe. All men will revere you, almost as a god yourself. And I shall love you, time without end, worlds without end. You shall complete me, and I you."
- Apollo to Palamas
"Mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate."
- Kirk to Apollo, on how Humanity has changed since Apollo left Earth
"A father doesn't destroy his children."
- Palamas, pleading with Apollo to spare Kirk's life
"We share the same history, the same heritage, the same lives. We're tied together beyond any untying. Man or woman, it makes no difference. We're Human."
- Kirk, convincing Palamas to reject Apollo
"The time has passed. There is no room for gods."
- Apollo, before he fades away for the last time
"I wish we hadn't had to do this."
"So do I. They gave us so much… In a way, they began the Golden Age. Would it have hurt us, I wonder, just to have gathered a few laurel leaves?"
- McCoy and Kirk, lamenting on the death of the Greek gods.
Summary
Montgomery Scott is flirting with Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas on the bridge while Kirk and McCoy lightly tease him. As the USS Enterprise nears the planet Pollux IV, a huge green hand made of energy materializes in space, catching and holding the ship. "Am I… seeing things?", Ensign Pavel Chekov exclaims. Captain Kirk orders that the Enterprise reverse all engines but the "hand" manages to hold the ship anyway. "Helm doesn't answer. We can't move!", Lieutenant Sulu states. Kirk orders Uhura to send word to Starbase 12.
Act One
After a couple of failed attempts to break free of the "hand" holding the Enterprise in space, scanner five-seven displays the ghostly, laurel-wreathed head of a man. Claiming the eons have passed, he welcomes the Enterprise crew, congratulating his "beloved children" for leaving their plains and valleys and making a "bold venture" into deep space. Among other things, this being claims familiarity with Earth of five thousand years ago, dropping the names of individuals alive then. Captain Kirk's repeated demands for freedom finally irritate him, and he threatens to "close his hand" and crush the ship – a threat sufficiently credible that Kirk agrees to visit the planet with his officers, expressly omitting Spock, with Apollo saying that the Vulcan reminds him of Pan, whom he was always bored by.
The landing party consists of Kirk, McCoy, Scott, Chekov, and Palamas, who is trained in archaeology, anthropology, and ancient civilizations, all fields likely to be of some use. Materializing on the surface, the five crew members meet the being responsible for their capture, a being familiar with ancient Earth, who introduces himself as Apollo. Despite his claims, McCoy's tricorder scans show him to be a "simple humanoid". Changing to an enormous height, Apollo looks down at Kirk and the crew, and in a loud, booming voice, he intones, "Welcome to Olympus, Captain Kirk."
Act Two
Apollo claims he and others – Zeus, Athena, Aphrodite, Hera, Hermes, and Artemis – were a "gallant band of travelers" who visited Earth some five thousand years ago. He demands to be worshiped by the Enterprise landing party, and in return offers a simple yet pleasurable life. He reveals himself as petulant and arrogant – qualities that correspond to his depictions as a god. But he controls a dangerous power, as the crew discover in a number of ways: their phasers are all fused, the transporter device and communicators are inoperative, and Scott is injured by lightning strikes for other willful acts he commits against Apollo. Moreover, he has developed a romantic interest in Palamas, angering Scott.
Aboard the ship, Spock is proceeding under the same assumption, and the crew may be making headway: Lieutenant Uhura rigs a subspace bypass circuit to restore communications, and Sulu discovers a strange radiated power on the planet with no clear source. Spock asks the helmsman to scan the entire planet for the source of the power readings by looking where it is not – a simple process of elimination. Sulu, along with Leslie's assistance, begins the scan.
Apollo, meanwhile, has taken Palamas away from the rest of the Enterprise crew. He tells her the gods left Earth when mankind turned away from them, and that they need admiration just like Humans need food. They returned to their home, an empty place without worshipers. But they lacked the strength to leave, and so they waited. And over the course of time, all but Apollo discorporated. Apollo claims the gods are immortal, and can't die, at least, not the way Humans understand death. But even they eventually reach a point of no return; they "spread themselves upon the wind… thinner, and thinner, until only the wind remained…" He then mentions that he "knew Carolyn would come to the stars" and be forever by his side as his queen. Palamas doesn't understand, but Apollo seduces her by saying that fifty centuries ago, gods took mortals with them to love and care for, as his parents did.
As on the Enterprise, the landing party has discovered the energy flow but is equally unable to isolate it. Chekov's theory is that Apollo can channel this flow of energy through his body without harm to himself, much like the electric eel on Earth or the giant dry worm of Antos IV. Finding the source of this energy is top priority. McCoy notes that, although Apollo is generally a standard humanoid, he has a mysterious extra organ in his chest. Apollo returns to the landing party and tells them Palamas is no concern to them anymore. Scott is enraged and charges at Apollo with a vase, but the god strikes him down with a bolt of lightning, throwing him off his feet.
Chekov observes that, as Apollo vanishes, he appears tired or pained. It seems that Apollo has a limited reservoir, and when he expends too much energy, he must retreat and recharge his energy cells. They therefore plan to force him to expend his power, and weaken him so that he might be overpowered.
Aboard ship, Spock asks Kyle to take his equations to the nuclear electronics lab so that they can generate M-rays on selected wavelengths to punch a few holes in Apollo's force field to fire their phaser banks through.
On Apollo's return, the landing party attempts to goad him into attacking someone, however, Palamas, who was not part of the plan, ruins it in her well-meaning attempt to save Kirk from Apollo's wrath. Kirk begins to devise another plan – but notes that it depends on Palamas' loyalty. If his plan does not work, Kirk notes, the Enterprise crew had better get used to herding goats.
Act Three
The attack on Apollo's temple.
Palamas has fallen in love with Apollo, who has told her she will be his consort, the mother of a new race of gods, and will inspire men throughout the universe. Palamas is returned to the landing party, weakened but content. Palamas tells Kirk of Apollo's plans for the crew to live on the surface of the planet, but Kirk tells her she has work to do after noticing her weakened state. "All our lives, here and on the ship, depend on you." She must spurn Apollo; to do otherwise condemns the crew to "nothing less than slavery." Kirk reminds her of her loyalty to Humanity, since that is where her duty (and his) lie. Palamas reveals her sympathy for Apollo's plan, but Kirk speaks to her of duty, orders, and the Humanity she shares is tied together beyond any untying with Kirk and others that she cannot share with Apollo. Kirk seems to be getting through to Palamas – when Apollo summons her back. Kirk reminds her of her duty once more before she disappears.
Act Four
Uhura is successful in contacting the landing party. Spock determines that the god's powers come from his temple. The Enterprise has used Spock's technique with M-rays to pierce the force field around the ship. The ship could fire phasers, but Kirk needs to know exactly where Apollo and Palamas are first before they are fired.
Apollo and Palamas are kissing passionately, but then Palamas tells Apollo she has merely been studying him; she could no more love him than love "a new species of bacteria." Of course, she is lying through her teeth when she says this, and is broken-hearted, but she must put responsibility before romantic desire, no matter how reluctant she is to do so. She walks away, and there is wind and thunder, noticed by the rest of the landing party. Palamas screams, and the sounds appear to indicate that she and Apollo are near the temple, and a gigantic Apollo looms nearby. Kirk angles to lure Apollo closer to the temple – his power source – and orders phaser fire to destroy the temple, despite the close proximity of the landing party. The Enterprise shudders from lightning bolts fired at it by Apollo, but continues firing phasers until the temple is completely destroyed.
Apollo, rejected by a mortal woman and bereft of his powers, asks for the Humans' forgiveness and spreads himself upon the winds to join his fellow gods. After he is gone, McCoy and Kirk regret what they had to do. Now believing that Apollo was the god of the ancient Greeks, Kirk talks about all that Apollo's people gave to Earth – their culture and philosophy – and wonders whether another outcome was possible. He muses to McCoy if it really would have hurt them to have gathered just a few laurel leaves. The Enterprise departs Pollux IV for open space.
Log entries
"Captain's log, stardate 3468.1. While approaching Pollux IV, a planet in the Beta Geminorum system, the Enterprise has been stopped in space by an unknown force of some kind."
Memorable quotes
"Bones, could you get that excited over a cup of coffee?"
"Even from here, I can tell his pulse rate's up."
"Gentlemen!"
- Kirk' and McCoy,' observing Scott flirting with Palamas
"I like to think of it not so much as losing an officer as gaining… Actually, I'm losing an officer."
- Kirk to McCoy, about Scott and the consequences of his love for Carolyn
"Captain Kirk, I invite you and your officers to join me. But do not bring that one. The one with the pointed ears. He is much like Pan. And Pan always bored me."
- Apollo, inviting the whole Enterprise crew to Pollux IV except Spock
"If you want to play god and call yourself Apollo, that's your business, but you're no god to us, mister!"
- Kirk, to Apollo
"Insults are effective only where emotion is present."
- Spock, on his rejection by Apollo
"I am Apollo!"
"And I am the czar of all the Russias!"
- Apollo and Chekov, as Apollo identifies himself
"I have four hundred and thirty people on that ship up there!"
"Not anymore, captain! They are mine now. To save, to cherish, or to destroy at my will."
- Kirk and Apollo
"To coin a phrase, fascinating."
- McCoy, after the giant Apollo suddenly looks tired and vanishes
"A god cannot survive as a memory."
- Apollo to Palamas, explaining why the other gods withered away
"Spock's contaminating this boy, Jim."
- McCoy, as Chekov provides Kirk detailed information
"Where's Apollo?"
"He disappeared again like the cat in that Russian story."
"Don't you mean the English story? The Cheshire Cat?"
"Cheshire? No… Minsk, perhaps…"
- Kirk and Chekov, after Apollo attacks Scott again and vanishes
"Approach me. I said approach me!"
"We're busy!" (to Scott) "Look after the girl."
"You will gather laurel leaves! Light the ancient fires! Kill a deer! Make your sacrifices to me! Apollo has spoken!!"
- Apollo and Kirk
"I offer you more than your wildest dreams have ever imagined. You'll become the mother of a new race of gods. You'll inspire the universe. All men will revere you, almost as a god yourself. And I shall love you, time without end, worlds without end. You shall complete me, and I you."
- Apollo to Palamas
"Mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate."
- Kirk to Apollo, on how Humanity has changed since Apollo left Earth
"A father doesn't destroy his children."
- Palamas, pleading with Apollo to spare Kirk's life
"We share the same history, the same heritage, the same lives. We're tied together beyond any untying. Man or woman, it makes no difference. We're Human."
- Kirk, convincing Palamas to reject Apollo
"The time has passed. There is no room for gods."
- Apollo, before he fades away for the last time
"I wish we hadn't had to do this."
"So do I. They gave us so much… In a way, they began the Golden Age. Would it have hurt us, I wonder, just to have gathered a few laurel leaves?"
- McCoy and Kirk, lamenting on the death of the Greek gods.
