02x20 - Return to Tomorrow

[bunniefuu]

The reading's growing
stronger, Captain.

Coming from a star system
directly ahead.

It's not a signal, sir.

It does not seem to even exist,
and yet it's affecting all my channels.

Well?

Someone or something is attempting
to attract our attention.

Someone or something
has succeeded.

Our distress signal relays
have been activated.

We've been given a direction
to follow, but how?

- What's causing it?
- I do not know.

Not even a Vulcan can know
the unknown, Captain.

We are hundreds of light years past

where any Earth ship
has ever explored.

Planet dead ahead, Captain.
Becoming visual.

- Class-M planet, Captain.
- Close to Earth conditions.

With two very important exceptions.
It is much older than Earth,

and about a half million years ago,

its atmosphere was totally ripped away
by some sort of cataclysm.

The planet has evidently
been dead since then.

Sensors detect no life of any kind.

All your questions will be answered
in time, Captain Kirk.

- Are your hailing frequencies open?
- No, sir.

I am Sargon.

It is the energy of my thoughts
which has touched your instruments

and directed you here.

Now, at this closer distance,
I can speak to you at last.

Who are you, Sargon?

Please assume a standard orbit
about our planet, Captain.

Is that a request or demand?

The choice is yours.

I read what is in your mind.
Words are unnecessary.

The planet is dead.

There's no possibility of life there
as we understand life.

And I am as dead as my planet.

Does that frighten you, James Kirk?
For if it does,

if you let what is left of me perish,

then all of you, my children,

all of mankind must perish too.

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 4768.3.

The Enterprise is in orbit
above a planet

whose surface, our sensors tell us,
is devoid of all life.

A world destroyed and dead
for at least a half million years,

yet from it comes a voice,
the energy of pure thought,

telling us something has survived
here for those thousands of centuries.

Since exploration and contact with alien
intelligence is our primary mission,

I've decided to risk the potential
dangers and resume contact.

Log entry out.

How long before Starfleet
receives that?

Over three weeks
at this distance, sir.

Captain.

Got something?

Sensors registering some form
of energy deep inside the planet.

Your probes have
touched me, Mr. Spock.

Reading energy only, Captain.
No life forms.

I have locked your transporter device
on my coordinates.

Please come to us.
Rescue us from oblivion.

Coming from deep under
the planet surface, Captain...

...under at least 100 miles
of solid rock.

I will make it possible
for your transporter

to beam you that deep
beneath the surface. Have no fear.

Reading a chamber now.

Oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere,
suitable for human life support.

Lieutenant Uhura, have Dr. McCoy
report to the Transporter Room

in 10 minutes with standard
landing-party equipment.

Yes, sir.

- Captain.
- Spock.

Captain, I do wish to inspect whatever this is
that lived that long ago.

And I'd want my Science Officer with
me on something as unusual as this,

but it is full of unknowns, and we can't
risk both of us being off the ship.

All power gone, sir.

On the other hand, perhaps this
Sargon would like you to come with us.

- Fascinating.
- All normal. No damage at all.

I see.

Will you transport
down with us, Mr. Spock?

- Evidently, Captain.
- Mr. Sulu, you have the conn.

Jim why no briefing on this? I'd at least
like to know what we're getting into.

Easy easy Bones. As long as you know
there's something down there

you know as much as we do.
The rest is only guesses.

I don't like it, sir.

The transporter coordinates preset
by an alien of some sort.

You could materialize
inside solid rock.

- Inside solid rock?
- Unlikely.

These coordinates correspond with the
location of the subterranean chamber.

I have a feeling that they, or it,

could destroy us just standing here
if they or it wanted to.

"They or it"?

- Who are you?
- Dr. Ann Mulhall, Astrobiology.

Well, I was ordered to report here
for landing-party duty.

By whom?

Strange. I'm not sure.

Well, I'm not a liar, Captain.

I did receive an order
to report here for duty.

I'm sure she did, Captain, just as you
received an order to bring me along.

Oh, yes.

Let's get back to this
solid rock business.

Just how much rock
are we going to go through?

Approximately 112.37 miles, doctor.

Miles?

Are you joking?

No, we're not. Let's go.

Please stand ready.
I will operate your controls.

Doctor, if you prefer to stay behind...

No.

No, if I'd be useful.
As long as you're going down,

I might as well take a medical look
at whatever this is.

Captain, the security guards.

- Kirk here.
- Can you read me, Captain?

Yes, Scotty. And I shouldn't be able
to this deep inside the planet.

But perhaps that's been
arranged for us too.

Is the security guard up there?

They're fine, Captain.
They just didn't dematerialize.

I don't like it, sir.

No problem yet. Maintain alert.
Kirk out.

Atmosphere report, Captain.

A fraction richer in oxygen than
usual for us, but otherwise normal.

This vault was constructed
about a half million years ago.

About the same time the planet
surface was destroyed,

- if our sensor readings are accurate.
- Composition of walls?

They're an alloy or substance
completely unknown to me,

much stronger and harder than
anything I've measured before.

All readings are off the scale, Captain.

The air seems fresh.
It must be re-circulated somehow.

Is that for us?
Or does "it" need fresh air?

Welcome.

I am Sargon.

Sargon, would it harm you if I...

You may use your tricorder,
Mr. Spock.

Your readings will show energy,
but no substance.

Sealed in this receptacle
is the essence of my mind.

Pure energy. Matter without form.

Impossible.

But you once had
a body of some type?

A body much as yours, my children,

although our minds
were infinitely greater.

That's twice you've referred to us
as "my children."

Because it is possible you are
our descendants, Captain Kirk.

Six thousand centuries ago our
vessels were colonizing this galaxy

just as your own starships have
now begun to explore that vastness.

As you now leave your own seed
on distant planets,

so we left our seed behind us.

Perhaps your own legends
of an Adam and an Eve

were two of our travellers.

Our beliefs and our studies indicate that

life on our planet Earth
evolved independently.

That would tend, however, to explain
certain elements of Vulcan pre-history.

In either case, I do not know.

It was so long ago and the records of
our travels were lost in the cataclysm

- which we loosened upon ourselves.
- A w*r?

A struggle for such goals
and the unleashing of such power

that you could not comprehend.

Then perhaps your intelligence
wasn't so great, Sargon.

We faced a similar crisis
in our earlier nuclear age.

We found the wisdom
not to destroy ourselves.

And we survived our primitive
nuclear era, my son.

But there comes to all races,
an ultimate crisis

which you have yet to face.

I don't understand.

One day our minds
became so powerful

we dared think of ourselves as gods.

You said you wanted our help.
What is it you wish?

Just a moment, doctor.

I am Sargon.

Where's our Captain?

Where's Jim Kirk?

He is unharmed.

I have taken his body to demonstrate.

I won't go along with this!

Back to where you were, Sargon,
or whatever you are.

And if he refuses, doctor? What do
you propose to do with your phaser?

That is still Jim's body.

Lungs filling with air again...

...to see again...

...heart pumping, arteries

surging with blood again.

I can feel.

After a half a million years...

...to be again.

Your Captain has
an excellent body, Dr. McCoy.

I compliment you both

on the condition in which
you maintained it.

What are your plans for it?

Can you exchange places again
when you wish?

Have no fear.
Your Captain is quite unharmed.

Although his mind generates
insufficient energy

for him to speak from there as I do.

- Doctor.
- Yes, I have the same readings.

Are you aware of what's happening
to his body?

Heart action doubled,
temperature 104 degrees.

He'll die if you don't leave
his body soon.

What is it you want of us?

In the next room
there are other receptacles.

The other two of us that survived.

You, Dr. Ann Mulhall
and you Mr. Spock...

...we require your bodies also.

We must have Captain Kirk and you...

...so that we may live again.

Even for us, a half million years
is almost too long to wait.

Two others still survive, Henoch...

...and Thalassa.

Thalassa, my Thalassa...

...I am pleased you survived.

Forgive me. It has been so very long.

When the struggle came
which devastated your planet...

Only the best minds
were chosen to survive.

Thalassa, my wife,
as you may have guessed.

Henoch, from the other side.

Realizing our mistake,
we attempted to perpetuate both sides.

We built this chamber here

in order to preserve our essence
in this fashion.

Fascinating.

We knew the seed that we had planted
on other planets would take root,

that one day you would build vessels
as we did.

And one day you would come here.

These others, they were stored
differently than you.

But it was your task to remain
in the receptacle out there...

And search the heavens
with my mind, probing,

waiting, probing. And then one day
my mind touched your vessel...

...and brought you here.

So you could steal
our bodies from us?

To steal? To take them from you?
No, my children, you misunderstand.

We mean only that you should lend us
your bodies for a short time.

And destroy them. Just as
you're burning that one up now.

Heart b*at 262, Spock, the entire
metabolic rate correspondingly high.

I will return your Captain to you
before the body limit has been reached.

Our bodies, Sargon.
For what purpose?

To build...

To build humanoid robots.

We must borrow your
bodies long enough

to have the use
of your hands, your fingers.

Then you intend to
construct mechanical bodies,

move your minds into them,
and then return our bodies to us.

We have engineers, technicians. Why
can't they build your robots for you?

No, our methods...

...our skills are far beyond
your abilities.

It is time.

Is it you, Jim?

Good. His metabolic rate
is back to normal.

Captain, do you know what happened?

- Do you remember any part of it?
- Yes.

Sargon borrowed my body.
I was floating in time and space.

He doesn't appear to be harmed
physically anyway.

Spock, I remember!

When Sargon and I exchanged,
as we passed each other...

...for an instant we were one.

I know him now.
I know what he is, and what he wants.

And I don't fear him.

That's the most ridiculous statement
I've ever heard.

An alien practically hijacks your body
and then corks you into a bottle...

I'm afraid I must agree
with Dr. McCoy.

You could be suffering from
a form of false euphoria.

- Sargon.
- I understand, my son.

Go to your vessel. All who
are involved must agree to this.

After all these centuries,
we can wait a few more hours.

And what if we should
decide against you?

Then you may go as free
as you came.

You're going to what?

- Are they all right in the head, doctor?
- No comment.

A simple transference,
their minds and ours.

Quite simple. Happens every day.

Scotty, I need your approval too,

since you'll be working with them,
furnishing them with all they need

to make the android robots.

You won't be working with them
you'll be working with us, our bodies.

- They'll be inside us and we'll be...
- It all seems rather indecent to me.

I'm not so certain of that, doctor.
It is scientifically fascinating.

Once inside their
mechanical bodies, Engineer...

...they can leave this planet,
travel back with us.

With their knowledge, mankind
could leap ahead 10,000 years.

Bones, they'll show us
medical advances,

miracles you never dreamed possible.

Scotty, engineering advances,
vessels this size,

with engines the size of walnuts.

- You're joking.
- No, he's not.

They're giants and we're insects
beside them.

They could destroy us
without meaning to.

And all he wants is
the body of our Captain

and our second in command too.

Coincidence?

They selected us
as the most compatible bodies.

What's your attitude on that, doctor?

Well, if we all agree...

...l'm willing to host Thalassa's mind.

I'm a scientist.

The opportunity is
an extraordinary one for...

...experimentation, observation.

A starship engine
the size of a walnut?

That's impossible.

But, I don't suppose there'd be any
harm in looking over diagrams on it.

Bones, you could stop all this
by saying no.

That's why I called you all
here together.

We'll all be deeply involved.
It must be unanimous.

Then I'll still want one question
answered to my satisfaction.

Why?

Not a list of possible miracles.

But a simple basic understandable
"why" that overrides all danger.

Let's not kid ourselves that
there is no potential danger in this.

They used to say, if man could fly,
he'd have wings.

But he did fly,
he discovered he had to.

Do you wish that the first Apollo
Mission hadn't reached the moon,

or that we hadn't gone on to Mars
and then to the nearest star?

That's like saying you wish that
you still operated with scalpels,

and sewed your patients up
with catgut,

like your great-great-great-
great-grandfather used to.

I'm in command. I could order this.

But I'm not...

...because Dr. McCoy is right...

...in pointing out the enormous
danger potential...

...in any contact with life
and intelligence,

as fantastically advanced as this.

But I must point out
that the possibilities

the potential for knowledge
and advancement is equally great.

Risk.

Risk is our business.

That's what this starship is all about.

That's why we're aboard her.

You may dissent without prejudice.

Do I hear a negative vote?

Engineer...

...stand by to beam aboard
three receptacles.

The extreme power of the alien mind

will drive the heart action
dangerously high

and the body functions will race
many times their normal metabolism.

So we're going to have to monitor
this very carefully.

Yes, sir.

Well, I guess we're about as ready
as we'll ever be.

- Jim.
- Ready, Sargon.

The transference is complete.

Metabolic rate is doubled
and rising, doctor.

Hello.

You are a lovely female.

A pleasant sight to wake up to
after half a million years.

- Thank you.
- You're welcome.

I'd forgotten what it felt like...

...even to breathe again.

Sargon?

Here.

In this body.

I am not displeased, my husband.

Your body is not unlike that
which was your own.

And I too, am pleased, beloved.

After so long...

...so very long.

Yes.

This is an excellent body, doctor.

I seemed to have received
the best of the three.

Strength, hearing, eyesight,
all far above your human norms.

I'm surprised the Vulcans
never conquered your race.

Vulcans worship
peace above all, Henoch.

Yes, of course. Just as we do, doctor.

Nurse.

Doctor.

Henoch, you'd better
get back to bed too.

It will be unnecessary, doctor.

This Vulcan body is accustomed
to the higher metabolism.

Sargon, it won't work. You've got to
get out before you k*ll them.

We will vacate at once

until you can administer a metabolic
reduction injection.

- A what?
- I'll prepare the formula, Sargon.

Henoch, your condition?

I can continue in this body
for several hours.

Fortunate.

We will vacate at once.

This woman will assist me.

You will take me
to your pharmacology laboratory.

Bones, what...

It was close, Jim.
You both barely got back alive.

Unless the formula works,
we can't risk it again.

Now, this formula will reduce
the heart action

and the bodily functions to normal.

While the bodies are occupied,

you will administer one injection
of 10 cc's each hour.

I understand.

This hypo you will code mark
for Thalassa.

And this one,
you will code mark for me.

Yes, sir.

This one, you will administer
to Captain Kirk...

...while Sargon is in his body.

This hypo does not contain
the same formula.

No, that's correct.

But since I will arrange for you
to administer each of the injections,

no one else will notice.

But without the same formula,
Captain Kirk will die.

What were you saying?

I was... I wanted to say something.
I've forgotten what it was.

You were about to say that you
watched me prepare the formula

and fill each of the hypos.

Yes, that was it.

I will inform Dr. McCoy that each
is properly filled for each patient.

Very good.

You see, Sargon would not permit me
to keep this body.

It is therefore necessary for you
to k*ll your Captain

so that Sargon will die with him.

Enterprise Medical Log.
Stardate 4769.1.

Three alien minds now inhabit
the bodies of Captain Kirk,

Science Officer Spock,
and Dr. Ann Mulhall.

As planned, the construction
of android robots is underway.

All is proceeding as expected
and as promised.

I can find no reason for concern...

...but yet, I am filled with foreboding.

Sargon, I remember a day long ago.

We sat beside a silver lake.

The air was scented
with the flowers of our planet.

I remember.

You held my hand like this.

I think it best not to remember so well.

In two days you'll have hands
of your own again, Thalassa.

Mechanically efficient
and quite human looking.

Android, robot hands, of course.
Hands without feeling.

Enjoy the taste of life while you can.

Our minds will have survived.
And as androids...

...we can move among
the people who do live...

...teaching them, helping them
not to make the errors we did.

- What is it, Sargon?
- Nothing.

Our next injection will renovate me.
Do not be concerned.

Nurse, how are the last metabolical
readings on our patients?

You'll find them excellent, doctor.
Well within normal.

Is something wrong, Miss Chapel?

Yes...

...I had something to say.

- I can't seem to remember.
- Regarding our patients?

Yes. That must be it.

I am so pleased
the way they are responding, doctor.

The formula is working perfectly.

You look tired, Miss Chapel.

Perhaps you'd care for me to
administer the last few injections.

Tired? Not at all, doctor.

Thank you for asking.

Thank you.

Have you prepared
the megaton hydra coils

for the drawings Sargon supplied?

For all the good it will do you.

It's a fancy name but...

...how will something that looks like
a drop of jelly make this thing work?

You'll need micro-gears
and some form of pulley

that does what a muscle does.

That would be highly inefficient.

I tell you, lady. This thing won't work.

It will have twice the strength
and agility of your body, Engineer,

and will last a thousand years.

That is, assuming you'll stop wasting
your time and allow us to complete it.

A thousand-year prison, Thalassa.

When it wears out,
we'll build another one,

and we'll lock ourselves into it
for another thousand years,

and then another and another.

Sargon has closed his mind
to a better way...

...with these bodies.

They're not ours, Henoch.

When you awoke
in this body, Thalassa...

...you said how good it was
to breathe again...

...to have eyes
and to see again, to feel...

...to live and feel again, Thalassa.

Just think, how much we can do
for mankind.

Are these bodies too much to ask for
in return? Would you prefer this?

No.

I'm beginning to hate it.

Sickbay.

Sickbay. McCoy.

Sargon here, McCoy. I'm in your...

- Deck 6 briefing room.
- You sound terrible. Wait there for me.

Sargon, what is it?

Nothing of importance.
Fatigue perhaps.

Henoch's formula.

Yes, I wanted to be certain
there was no error.

The formula is correct.

Don't be concerned.

It is an excellent body.

There you see, I feel better already.

In time our host body will become
accustomed to us, husband.

Injections will no longer be necessary.

That will take months, perhaps years.
We haven't that choice, Thalassa.

Husband...

...feel the touch of my hand, husband.

No, beloved.

- If we torment ourselves...
- Beloved.

What will that word mean
to a machine?

Our thoughts will intertwine.

Will they, husband?

Will they intertwine like this?

Can two minds press close like this?

Can robot lips do this?

Sargon, what is it?

Hypo.

Doctor, help him.

He's dead.

Medical Log. Stardate 4770.3.

Do I list one death or two?

When Kirk's body d*ed,

Sargon was too far distant
from his receptacle to transfer back.

Sargon is dead.
But is Captain Kirk dead?

His body is, but his consciousness
is still in the receptacle,

into which it was transferred earlier.

All his vital organs
are now working, doctor.

Yes, we can keep them going
for a few weeks or a month,

for all the good it'll do.

Why pretend to work
on that thing, Henoch?

You know you never intended
to leave Spock's body.

This is your new home, Thalassa.

Once occupied, I'll add female features
and some texturing.

You, no doubt, want the mechanism
to at least appear to be a woman.

- It is ready, Thalassa.
- No!

You have no excuse
to keep the real body any longer.

Sargon would have required that you
enter the mechanism immediately.

I cannot live in that thing.

Doctor?

Yes?

Would you like to save
your Captain Kirk?

But you said that was impossible.

We have many powers
Sargon did not permit us to use.

He thought them too tempting to us.

This body pleases me.
I intend to keep it.

I see.

And Henoch intends to keep
Spock's body, of course.

Henoch's plans are his own affair.

I wish only to exist in peace...

...as a living woman.

- If you're asking my approval...
- I require only your silence.

Only you and I will know that Dr.
Mulhall has not returned to her body.

Isn't that worth your Captain's life?

Doctor...

...we can take what we wish.

Neither you, this ship, nor all your
worlds have the power to stop us.

Neither Jim nor I can trade a body
we don't own.

- It belongs to a young woman.
- Who you hardly know.

Almost a stranger to you.

I will not peddle flesh. I'm a physician.

A physician?
In contrast to what we are...

...you are a prancing...

...savage medicine man.

You dare defy one you should be
on your knees worshiping?

I could destroy you
with a single thought.

Stop!

Sargon was right.

Temptations within a living body
are too great.

Forgive me.

I am pleased, my beloved.

It is good you have found
the truth yourself.

Sargon.

Where are you?

I thought you destroyed by Henoch.

I have power even Henoch
does not suspect, beloved.

Yes, I see. I understand.

Just as we would have placed
our consciousness within robots...

...Sargon has placed his
into your vessel.

Doctor.

Doctor, leave us.

Sargon has a plan.
We have much work to do.

This is the Sickbay. Get me...

Nurse Chapel, what in the devil...

Jim, are you all right?

Yes, I'm fine, Bones.

- Thalassa?
- She is now with Sargon, doctor.

I'm Ann Mulhall, back in my own body.

Jim, the receptacles. Spock's
consciousness was in one of them.

- It was necessary.
- What are you talking about?

There is no Spock
to return to his body.

You've k*lled a loyal officer.
Your best friend!

Bones, prepare a hypo. The fastest,
deadliest poison to Vulcans.

Spock's consciousness is gone.

We must k*ll his body...

...the thing in it.

Must I make an example
of you too, Helm?

Pain, Captain.

And you, my dear...

Fortunately, doctor,

I know every thought of every
mind around me. See?

Take the hypo from him.

And inject him with it.

You fools!

I'll simply transfer to another place,

another body.

Sargon.

No, Sargon, please, let me...

...let me transfer...

Spock.

My friend, Spock.

If there'd only been another way.

I could not allow your sacrifice
of one so close to you.

You're alive.

There was enough poison in that hypo
to k*ll 10 Vulcans.

No, doctor. I allowed you
to believe that to be true

so that Henoch would read your
thoughts and believe it also.

Sargon.

It seems, doctor, the injection was only
enough to cause unconsciousness.

But Henoch believed
and fled the body.

He is destroyed.

But your vessel was destroyed too.
Where was your consciousness kept?

The place Henoch
would least suspect, Captain.

That is why I was summoned
into the Sickbay, doctor.

Mr. Spock's consciousness
was placed in me.

We shared consciousness together.

We now know we cannot
permit ourselves

to exist in your world, my children.

Thalassa and I must now also depart
into oblivion.

Is there any way we can
help you, Sargon?

Yes, my son.

You can allow Thalassa and me
to share your bodies again.

A last moment together.

Oblivion together
does not frighten me, beloved.

Promise we will be together.

I promise, beloved.

Together forever.

Forever, beloved...

...forever.

Well, I'm sure...

...that Sargon appreciated your
cooperation, Dr. Mulhall.

Yes, I was happy to cooperate,
Captain.

It was beautiful.