Captain's log, stardate 1513.1.
Our position, orbiting planet M-113.
On board the Enterprise,
Mr. Spock, temporarily in command.
On the planet...
the ruins of an ancient and long-dead civilisation.
Ship's surgeon McCoy and myself are now beaming down
to the planet's surface.
Our mission,
routine medical examination of archaeologist Robert Crater
and his wife Nancy.
Routine, but for the fact that Nancy Crater is that one woman
in Dr. McCoy's past.
Shall we pick some flowers, doctor?
When a man visits an old girlfriend,
she usually expects something like that.
Is that how you get girls to like you, by bribing them?
Doesn't seem to be anybody around, does there?
Well, they'll be along.
You rushed us down ten minutes early.
Professor Crater?
Professor?
Mrs. Crater?
Nervous, Dr. McCoy?
Yeah, a little bit, I guess.
Well, you see, we walked out of each other's lives ten years ago.
She married Crater, and for all I know,
she may have forgotten me completely.
Of all the bonehead ideas, Jim.
How do I let myself in for things like this?
- Leonard. - Nancy.
Hello.
It's good to see you.
Let me look at you.
You haven't aged a day.
Oh, this is Captain Jim Kirk of the Enterprise.
Mrs. Crater. I've heard a great deal about you.
All good, I hope.
And Crewman Darnell.
How do you do, ma'am?
Something wrong, Darnell?
Excuse me, sir, but, ma'am, if I didn't know better, I would swear
that you were somebody I left behind on Wrigley's Pleasure Planet.
It's funny, you're exactly like a girl that...
A little less mouth, Darnell.
I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to...
I mean, I know it's impossible, of course.
Why don't you step outside, Darnell.
Yes, sir.
Thank you, sir.
Maybe I'll step outside too.
What?
And let Plum examine me all alone?
- Plum? - Plum.
A nickname I gave Leonard when we were very young.
I'll... I'll wait for the professor, and I'll catch you both at once.
I'd better go get Bob.
Every time he starts digging, he forgets time, sleep, food, everything.
Be back in a minute.
It's quite warm here, isn't it?
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, additional entry.
Since our mission was routine,
we had beamed down to the planet without suspicion.
We were totally unaware that each member of the landing party
was seeing a different woman, a different Nancy Crater.
Professor Crater, I'm Captain Kirk.
This is...
The heroic captain and the intrepid doctor
cross interstellar space to preserve our health.
Your sense of duty is overwhelming.
Now, will you please go back where you came from
and tell whoever issues your orders to leave me and my wife alone?
We need additional salt against the heat.
Aside from that, we're doing very well, thank you.
I'm pleased to hear you're doing well,
but I'm required to confirm that fact.
Doubtless, the good surgeon
will enjoy prodding and poking us with his arcane machinery.
Go away, we don't want you.
What you want is unimportant right now.
What you will get is what is required by the book.
Quote, "All research personnel on alien planets are required
to have their health certified by a starship surgeon
at one-year intervals."
Like it or not, professor, as commander of the ship, I'm required...
To show your gold braid to everyone. You love it, don't you?
He's all yours, Plum. Dr. McCoy.
Sit down and breathe deeply, please.
Did I hear you call him Dr. McCoy?
You did.
McCoy.
I've heard Nancy speak of a Dr. McCoy.
Well, that's me. Didn't she mention I was here?
You..? You've seen Nancy?
She went out to get you.
You've seen her too. You were with the good doctor.
Yes, why?
Nothing. It's just that it gives me great pleasure to know
that she's gotten to see an old friend and has a chance for some company.
It's different for me. I enjoy solitude.
But for a woman... You understand, of course.
Well, it certainly hasn't aged her.
She looks exactly as I knew her 12 years ago.
Amazing, Jim, like a girl of 25.
Oh, sorry. I'm sorry, captain.
Sit down. I seem to have forgotten my manners.
It's quite all right.
I'm not joking, Jim.
She hasn't aged a day. There's not a grey hair on her head.
She's got some grey, Bones.
Excuse me, professor. She's a handsome woman, yes,
but hardly 25.
You've seen my wife with the eyes of your past attachment, doctor.
I'm sure when Nancy lets...
When you see her again, she'll be of a believable age.
Well, at any rate, she doesn't look a day over 30.
Genuine affection.
I'm glad you still feel it for her.
Leonard, isn't it?
- She's a fine woman. - Open your mouth.
Why, I thought the machine was...
The machine is capable of almost anything,
but I'll still put my trust in a healthy set of tonsils.
Now, open your mouth.
McCoy.
Dead, Jim.
It's strange, the red mottling all over his face.
- What happened? - What do you suppose happened?
You beamed down a crewman who doesn't know better
- than to eat an untested plant. - I've just lost a crewman, Mrs. Crater.
I wanna know what happened.
Well, I...
I...
Take it easy, Nancy.
Just tell us what you know.
Well, I was just...
I couldn't find Bob, and I was coming back.
I crossed to your crewman.
I wanted him to know
I wasn't offended by the things he'd said back there.
You remember.
Then I...
I noticed he had a Borgia plant in his hand.
Before I could say anything, he'd...
He'd taken a bite from it, and he fell.
His face all twisted.
Leonard, you look at me like you don't believe me.
No. No, no, no, it's not that at all.
It's something entirely different.
Jim, I suppose we could complete these examinations later.
We don't need an examination, you can see that.
Perhaps you'd better take your man and...
We're well aware of our next duties, professor.
We'll complete your examinations tomorrow.
Transporter Room.
Transporter Room, captain.
Lock onto us. Three beaming up.
Locked onto you, captain.
Salt. You did ask him about more salt tablets?
I'll take care of the provisioning, Nancy.
Miss Uhura, your last subspace log
contained an error in the frequencies column.
Mr. Spock, sometimes I think
if I hear that word "frequency" once more, I'll cry.
Cry?
I was just trying to start a conversation.
Well, since it is illogical
for a communications officer to resent the word "frequency,"
- I have no answer. - No, you have an answer.
I'm an illogical woman,
who's beginning to feel too much a part of that communications console.
Why don't you tell me I'm an attractive young lady.
Or ask me if I've ever been in love.
Tell me how your planet Vulcan looks on a lazy evening
when the moon is full.
Vulcan has no moon, Miss Uhura.
I'm not surprised, Mr. Spock.
Transporter Room to bridge. Landing party returning.
They report one death.
Bridge, acknowledging.
I don't believe it.
- Explain. - You explain.
That means that somebody is dead, and you just sit there.
It could be Captain Kirk.
He's the closest thing you have to a friend.
Lieutenant, my demonstration of concern
will not change what has happened.
The Transporter Room is very well manned
and they will call me if they need my assistance.
- She called it a Borgia plant. - Something new to me.
Bridge to Dispensary.
Go ahead, Mr. Spock.
Borgia plant listed in library record tapes
as Carbon Group III vegetation, similar to Earth nightshade family.
Alkaloid poison, chemical structure common to most Class-M planets.
About the strange mottling on his facial skin surface,
there is no reference to this symptom.
Well, then this man wasn't poisoned.
Stand by, Mr. Spock.
She said she saw him eat the plant.
She's mistaken. I know alkaloid poison and what to look for.
There's not a trace of it in his body.
There were bits in his mouth.
Jim, don't tell me my business.
He could not have swallowed any.
My instruments would have picked up any trace of it.
- Then what kills a healthy man..? - Now, I'll tell you something else.
This man shouldn't be dead. I can't find anything wrong with him.
According to all the tests, he should get up
and just walk away from here.
I don't know.
I'll have the tests double-checked. My eyes may be tricking me.
But I swear, Jim, when I first saw her,
she looked just as I'd known her ten years ago.
Granted, at the moment, I may have been looking at her
through a romantic haze.
How your lost love affects your vision, doctor,
doesn't interest me. I've lost a man.
I wanna know what killed him.
Yes, sir.
Captain's log, stardate 1513.4.
In orbit around planet M- 113.
One crewman, member of the landing party...
dead by violence. Cause unknown.
But we are certain the cause of death was not poison.
Message, captain.
Starship base on Corinth IV,
requesting explanation of our delay here, sir.
Space Commander Dominguez says we have supplies he urgently needs.
Tell José he'll get his chilli peppers when we get there.
Tell him they're prime Mexican reds. I handpicked them myself.
He won't die if he goes a few more days without them.
- Got it? - Got it, captain.
Well?
No mistake in our record tapes.
Borgia plant. Sole deadly property is alkaloid poison.
And Professor Crater and wife?
Check out perfectly.
They arrived here nearly five years ago,
visited by various vessels,
made fairly heavy shipments out of artefacts and reports.
However, there has been a marked drop in shipments during the last year.
Dispensary to captain.
- Kirk here. - We found something.
- What is it? - I'd rather not put it on the speaker.
Fascinating.
So improbable we almost didn't check it.
- What? - Sodium chloride.
Not a trace of it.
This man has no salt in his body at all.
Can you explain that, doctor?
I can't.
Except what we normally carry in our bodies is gone from his.
He would die almost instantly.
How? There's no mark on his body.
Except the red rings on his face.
You called that skin mottling.
I thought it was, sir.
Another error on my part.
I'm not counting them, Bones.
- Are you in the mood for an apology? - Forget it.
I probably was mooning over her.
I should have been thinking about my job.
Perhaps you were.
Both Nancy and Crater went out of their way
to mention one item they needed.
Salt tablets.
Mr. Spock,
outfit a landing party.
We're beaming down with some questions.
One might think that you had more important duties
than harassing people, captain.
I have, professor. Believe me, I have.
Where is Mrs. Crater? I want to talk to her too.
Captain, you can't just beam down here
and bully us and interfere with our work.
Mrs. Crater. I won't ask again.
Possibly at the other diggings.
- We don't keep military logs here. - Green, find her.
Yes, sir.
- Mr. Spock. - Standing by.
Sturgeon, transport a sample of the plant to Mr. Spock.
We'll check if it's actually the Borgia plant
or something we don't understand. You got that, Mr. Spock?
- Complete analysis. - Captain...
considering the inescapable fact
that you are a trespasser on my planet...
Your complaint is noted, sir.
Look...
something we don't understand killed one of my men.
It could prove to be a danger to you and Mrs. Crater too.
We've been here for almost five years.
If there were anything hostile here,
we would know about it, wouldn't we?
Bones, tell the professor what the autopsy revealed.
Our crewman died of salt depletion,
a sudden total loss of it.
Medically impossible by any standards.
And by coincidence, both you and Mrs. Crater
requested salt tablets.
And your esteemed physician cannot explain our need for salt tablets?
We're all aware of the need for salt
on a hot and arid planet like this, professor.
But it's a mystery, and I don't like mysteries.
They give me a bellyache, and I got a beauty right now.
Nancy and I started with 25 pounds.
This is what we have left.
Now, what is so mysterious about that?
Salt.
One of the missions of the Enterprise
is to protect human life in places like this.
I'm gonna have to ask you and Mrs. Crater to stay aboard my ship
until we find out what killed that crewman.
- But you can't do that. - But I can, professor.
You mustn't do it,
- it'll interfere with our work. - How?
You've been here five years. Will a couple of days make a difference?
- Mr. Spock. - Spock here.
Arrange quarters for Professor and Mrs. Crater.
Did you get the plant analysis?
It is the Borgia variety, captain.
Could not have caused Darnell's death.
Jim, he's run off.
Nancy!
You!
Salt!
I've got salt. Smell it.
- Smell it, Nancy. - Professor Crater!
Professor Crater.
Professor!
- Professor. - Jim. Jim.
It's Sturgeon.
He's dead.
We'd better locate Crewman Green. Green!
Green!
Crewman Green, report!
Green!
Crewman Green, report.
Green.
Green, where are you?
Could it be Crater? He came this way.
I don't know.
Green!
- Did you see this? - Yes, sir.
Sturgeon was dead when I found him.
I was circling to find whatever it was.
Same red rings on his face.
Have you seen Nancy? Mrs. Crater?
No, sir. I checked all through the ruins.
I'm worried about her. She's not at the quarters, not at the diggings.
- She could be in trouble. Nancy! - Crater!
Nancy, it's Leonard!
- We're beaming aboard the ship. - You can't leave her.
We can't search this whole planet on foot.
Learn something from Mr. Spock, doctor.
Stop thinking with your glands.
We have equipment aboard the Enterprise
that could pinpoint a match lit anywhere on this planet
or the heat of a body.
Transporter Room, Kirk speaking.
Three to beam up.
- Kirk to bridge. - Spock here.
Break out the surface search equipment.
- I want coordinates on two people. - Acknowledged.
There's a body down there. Sturgeon.
We'll bring him home, sir.
You could use some sleep, Bones.
All right, Jim.
Bridge.
Oh, Green, what went on down there?
Who do you think you are?
Something odd, captain.
You said two people.
Professor and Nancy Crater.
We get a reading on only one person.
Probably Crater.
He's circling, as if searching for something.
- Expand search radius. - Yes, sir.
Why don't you go chase an asteroid.
Hey, Janice, is that for me?
Don't you wish it was.
How about that?
Yeah, how'd you like to have her
as your own personal yeoman?
Where are you, Sulu?
In here, feeding the weepers, Janice.
Well, I've got your tray.
May the great bird of the galaxy bless your planet.
Thank you.
Hello, Beauregard.
How are you today, darling?
Her name's Gertrude.
No, it's a he plant.
A girl can tell.
Why do people have to call inanimate objects "she"?
Like, "She's a fast ship."
He is not an inanimate object.
He's so animate, he makes me nervous.
In fact, I keep expecting one of these plants of yours to grab me.
Hello, Green.
He's not talking today.
You been nipping Saurian brandy or something?
Take it easy. Calm down.
Very sensitive.
He's the real spook.
Suppose he's going space-happy or something?
Hey, the door to my quarters still rattles when it opens.
Would you stop by and see if you can do something about it?
Thanks, Bobby.
Crewman...
do I know you?
In a way, ma'am.
You were just thinking of someone like me.
I'm guessing, of course, but you do look a little lonely.
I see.
So naturally, when I'm lonely I think of you.
You're Swahili?
Lieutenant Uhura to the bridge.
I better get this tray back. Bye, Beauregard.
Wait a minute. I'll walk along.
Lieutenant Uhura, report to the bridge.
Lieutenant Uhura. On my way, sir.
McCoy to bridge. Captain there?
Kirk here. Nothing to report, doctor.
We haven't located Mrs. Crater.
- What's the matter, can't you sleep? - Nope.
Try taking one of those red pills you gave me last week.
You'll sleep.
The simple fact is...
unless there's something seriously wrong with the ship's equipment,
there's only one person within a hundred-mile circle.
All right, we'll triangulate on him.
We'll let Professor Crater explain what happened to his wife.
Remember my instructions, lieutenant.
Keep a tight fix on us.
If we let out a yell, I want an armed party down there
- before the echo dies. - Yes, captain.
Nancy.
Well, come in, come in.
I've been worried sick about you.
I wonder why Jim didn't tell me he found you.
I'm so happy to see you, Leonard.
The others, they... Well, I...
I don't relate to them as much as with you.
You have such strong memories of me.
- Well, I... - You do care, don't you, Leonard?
It makes me feel so...
So safe.
Nancy...
My husband?
I like your feelings better.
Much...
stronger.
But you're tired.
You need to rest.
You're as bad as Jim Kirk.
He's been telling me to take these.
Well, I think you should.
I'll get you some water.
Look at his face!
Bridge, Sulu. Trouble on Deck 9, Section 2.
We need a medical team.
Captain's log, stardate 1513.8.
I am now certain that the violent death of my crewman
was caused by some strange life form.
I was so worried.
Your husband acting strange.
Crewmen dying.
You're so tired, darling. Just rest now.
Medical Department alert.
Doctors and medics, acknowledge.
It's nothing, dear. It's nothing.
You just sleep.
Nancy will take care of everything.
Dr. McCoy to the bridge.
Captain's log, additional.
Armed and able-bodied crewmen
are not attacked and slaughtered this easily.
Apparently, the killer can immobilize them as it approaches,
perhaps with some hypnotic or paralyzing power.
The answer lies with Professor Crater.
Professor Crater?
- Go away, we don't want you here. - We?
Where's your wife, professor? We're concerned about her.
I'm armed. Go away.
Where's your wife, professor?
She's no concern of yours.
We're worried about her safety. Aren't you?
Professor, you're a reasonable man. Let me...
- Kirk here. - Casualty, captain.
Barnhart was found dead on Deck 9. Same symptoms.
Spock cutting in, captain. Something here,
through the arches to your left.
Stand by, Mr. Sulu. Spock has something.
Green.
- He beamed up to the ship with us. - Or something did.
Enterprise, from Kirk.
Bridge, Sulu.
You have an intruder aboard.
Could be masquerading as Crewman Green.
General Quarters, Security Condition 3.
G. Q., Security 3, sir.
General Quarters 3. Intruder alert.
G. Q. 3. Intruder alert.
General Quarters 3, intruder alert.
G. Q. 3, intruder alert.
Reporting G. Q. 3 secure, captain.
Do you require assistance there?
Crater knows the creature. If we can take him alive...
Negative, lieutenant.
But keep locked in on us.
Kirk out. Let's get him.
We don't want you here.
We're happy alone.
I'll kill to stay alone.
You hear that, Kirk?
Or you'll have to kill me. I don't care either way.
Obviously, taking him alive is going to be difficult.
Set your phaser on one-quarter. I'll leave mine on stun.
Why risk your life for his?
He's not trying to kill us, he's trying to frighten us.
And he's doing a pretty good job.
G.Q. 3 now secured, except for Decks 5, 7 and 10.
Come in, please.
He's not in Supply and Maintenance, Sulu.
All right, Uhura. Engineering Deck now.
Run through file photos of the crewmen there.
- Check. - Deck 5 reporting.
Crewman Green is not in his quarters. No one has seen him.
Keep in mind if you find him, he's not Crewman Green.
Captain reports Green's dead.
And he... Or rather, it followed me.
I thought there was something twitchy about him.
He, or whatever, was probably your crewman too, lieutenant.
He must have been it.
You know, I would have remembered a crewman like him.
The creature leading you a merry chase, Mr. Sulu?
Creature?
Or whatever it is that's killing the crewmen.
Perhaps I can help.
Fill me in.
- Set. - Acknowledged.
Crater.
Your wife, professor, where is she?
She...
was the last of her kind.
The last of her kind?
The last of its kind.
Earth history, remember?
Like the passenger pigeon or the buffalo.
I feel strange.
You're just stunned. You'll be able to think in a minute.
The Earth buffalo, what about it?
Once there were millions of them. Prairies black with them.
One herd covered three whole states,
and when they moved, they were like thunder.
And now they're gone. Is that what you mean?
Like the creatures here.
Once there were millions of them.
Now there's one left.
Nancy understood.
Always in the past tense.
Where's your wife? Where is she now?
Dead. Buried up on the hill. It killed her.
- When? - Oh, a year...
Or was it two?
Kirk to Enterprise.
Bridge to captain. Sulu here.
It's definite, Mr. Sulu. The intruder can assume any shape,
a crewman, you, myself, anyone. Understand?
Affirmative, captain.
Go to G.Q. 4.
General Quarters 4, captain.
The creature was trying to survive. It has that right, doesn't it?
Kirk to Transporter Room, three to beam up.
They needed salt to stay alive. There was no more salt.
It's the last one.
The buffalo. There is no difference.
There's one, professor. Your creature is killing my people.
Captain's log, continuing.
The Enterprise has been invaded by a creature
capable of assuming any form and with the capacity to paralyze
and draw the life from any one of us.
Deck 5, Section 3,
Deck 5, Section 3, report.
Security 3-A here, 3-B in sight.
Negative, captain. I've checked every face on this vessel.
It was not a crewman I saw.
Yeoman Rand, how long was this Green with you?
As long as he...
It thought it could get to the salt on my tray, sir.
Mr. Spock?
Supplies of salt have been set out as bait
at all decks and engineering levels, captain.
However, no one or nothing has approached them as yet.
Dr. McCoy?
Yes?
The Medical Department report, doctor.
Well, we could offer it salt without tricks.
There's no reason for it to attack us.
Your attitude is laudable, doctor, but your reasoning is reckless.
The creature is not dangerous when fed.
No, it's simply trying to survive
by using its natural ability to take other forms.
The way the chameleon uses
its protective colouring. An ability retained, no doubt,
from its primitive state,
the way we have retained our incisor teeth. They were once fangs.
Certain of our muscles were designed for chase.
It uses its ability the way we would use our muscles and teeth if necessary
to stay alive.
And like us, it's an intelligent animal.
It's... There's no need to hunt it down.
A very interesting hypothesis, doctor.
- Briefing Room. - All the halls sealed off.
All weapons accounted for and locked away.
Security 4 in effect on every level.
Still no lead on the intruder.
Thank you, lieutenant. Continue the search.
Crater, we don't know who or what we're looking for.
We need your help, and now.
I demanded, I even begged that you get off my planet.
Can you recognise this thing when you see it?
Professor...
l'll forego charges up to this point,
but this creature is aboard my ship, and I'll have it,
or I'll have your skin or both. Now, where is it?
I loved Nancy very much.
Few women like my Nancy.
She lives in my dreams.
She walks and sings in my dreams.
And it becomes Nancy for you.
Not because of tricks. It doesn't trick me. It needs love
as much as it needs salt.
When it killed Nancy, I almost destroyed it, but...
it isn't just a beast.
It is intelligent and the last of its kind.
You bleed too much, Crater.
You're too pure and noble.
Are you saving the last of its kind,
or has this become Crater's private heaven,
here on this planet?
This thing becomes wife, lover, best friend, wise man,
fool, idol, slave.
It isn't a bad life
to have everyone in the universe at your beck and call,
and you win all the arguments.
You don't understand.
Have you learned to see this thing in whatever form it becomes?
- Yes. - Are you gonna help us find it?
Sorry, I can't.
Recommend we use truth serum, captain.
Doctor?
Well, I resist using it, but in this case,
the professor will give us the truth.
Take him.
I'll accompany you, doctor.
Oh, yes, of course.
Captain Kirk to Dispensary.
Urgent.
It wasn't McCoy.
It was the creature. It hit me.
Crater grabbed my phaser.
I wondered about McCoy. A doubt had crossed my mind.
Captain.
- Professor Crater. - Dead.
But it had you too.
Fortunately, my ancestors spawned in another ocean than yours did.
My blood salts are quite different.
Leonard. Leonard, wake up, please!
Help me. Help me, Leonard.
They're trying to kill me. Don't let them kill me!
Who? Easy, easy, nobody's going to hurt you.
But you must help me!
Move aside, Bones.
- What's going on here, Jim? - She's not Nancy, Bones.
Are you insane?
It killed four crewmen, now Crater.
- It? - The creature. It kills.
It needs salt to live.
- Bones, move aside. - No!
My guess is she needs more.
You want it, Nancy?
Come and get it.
You're frightening her, Jim.
Not fright. Hunger. Look at her.
Leonard, if you love me, make him go away.
Come on. Do you want this, Nancy?
Come on, Nancy. Come and get it. Here it is.
- Help me. - I can't fire. Out of the way.
- Stop it, Jim! - McCoy, out of the way!
What's the matter with you? Are you out of your mind?
Get out of the way.
It's killing the captain.
- Shoot it, doctor, quickly. - No.
No!
It's killing the captain. Shoot, quick!
I won't shoot Nancy.
This is not Nancy.
If she were Nancy, could she take this?
Stop it! Stop it, Spock!
Stop it!
Is that Nancy, doctor?
No.
Leonard. Leonard, no.
Leonard, please.
Lord, forgive me.
I'm sorry, Bones.
Ready to leave orbit, captain.
Is something wrong, captain?
I was thinking about the buffalo, Mr. Spock.
Warp 1, Mr. Sulu.
Warp 1, sir. Leaving orbit.