.
whether they appear to
affect you personally or not...
I expect immediately reported.
Of course, Captain.
- Is there anything else?
- No.
Jim?
If this super intelligence...
is as important to him as
he says it is, how do we know--
That he wouldn't put his own
interests ahead of the ship's?
I could never believe that.
Bridge to Officers' Lounge.
Captain Kirk.
Revised estimate on
cloud visual contact.:3.7minutes.
Standard light, Engineer.
- Full mag on viewer.
- Full mag, sir.
Lingua code?
Continuing friendship messages
on all frequencies, sir.
All decks and divisions confirmed.
Status red.
Captain, we are being scanned.
Do not return scan, Mr. Spock.
It could be misinterpreted
as hostility.
Intruder scans emanating from
the exact center of the cloud.
Energy of a type...
never before encountered.
There's no response to
friendship messages, sir.
- Shall I go to battle stations?
- Negative.
We'll take
no provocative action.
Recommend defensive posture,
Captain. Screens and shields.
No, Mr. Decker, that could also
be misinterpreted as hostile.
Cloud composition, Mr. Spock?
- Twelfth-power energy field.
- Twelfth-power?
We've seen what their weapons can do.
Shouldn't we take every precaution?
- Mr. Decker--
- Captain.
I suspect there's an object
at the heart of that cloud.
I will not provoke an attack.
If that order isn't clear enough--
Captain, as your exec
it's my duty...
to point out alternatives.
Yes, it is.
I stand corrected.
Five minutes to cloud boundary.
Navigator, lay in a conic section
flight path to the cloud center.
Bring us parallel
to whatever we find in there.
Mr. Sulu,
tactical plot on viewer.
Tactical on viewer, sir.
That measures 12th-power energy?
Thousands of starships
couldn't generate that much--
Mr. Spock?
Spock, tell me.
I sense...
puzzlement.
We have been contacted.
Why have we not replied?
Contacted?
How?
Force fields up full.
Deflectors, now.
Force fields and deflectors
up full, Captain.
Analysis, Mr. Spock.
Alien weapon is a form
of plasma energy, Captain.
Exact composition unknown.
Guidance system unknown.
All decks, brace for impact.
Engineering, status report.
Systems overloading, Captain.
Medic.
Medics are coming.
Engineering to Bridge.
Cannot hold full power
on force fields.
Deflector power
is down 70 percent.
Divert auxiliary power
to deflectors.
Captain.
The intruder has been
attempting to communicate.
I am now programming
our computer...
to transmit lingua code at
their frequency and rate of speed.
Commander.
Spock!
Here it comes.
Engineering, what's happening
to our force field?
Our shields cannot handle
another attack.
Mr. Spock.
Impact in 20 seconds
Spock.
Fifteen seconds.
Spock, transmit now.
Ten seconds.
Transmitting.
It would seem
our friendship messages...
have been received
and understood, Mr. Spock.
I would say that was
a logical assumption, Captain.
Mr. Sulu, hold present position.
Holding present position, sir.
Tactical plot on viewer.
Course projection
on tactical, sir.
Opinion, Mr. Spock.
Recommend we proceed, Captain.
- Mr. Decker?
- I advise caution, Captain.
We can't withstand another attack.
That thing is 20 hours
away from Earth.
- We know nothing about it as yet.
- Precisely the point, Captain.
We don't know what it'll do.
Moving into that cloud
at this time...
is an unwarranted gamble.
How do you define ''unwarranted''?
You asked my opinion, sir.
Viewer. Standard ahead.
Navigator, maintain course.
Helmsman...
steady as she goes.
No vessel could generate
a power field of this magnitude.
Spock.
Instruments fluctuating,
Captain.
Patterns unrecognizable.
Transmit image of alien
to Starfleet.
Advise we are attempting
further communication.
Unable to make contact
with Starfleet, Captain.
Any attempt to transmit out of
the cloud is being reflected back.
We are closing on it
rapidly, Captain.
Reduce magnification