won.
Good. He's using
audiovisual association.
This device serves no purpose.
Why does Enterprise require
the presence of carbon units?
Enterprise would be unable
to function without carbon units.
More data concerning
this functioning is necessary...
before carbon units
can be patterned...
for data storage.
What does that mean?
When my examination is complete...
all carbon units will be
reduced to data patterns.
Within you...
are the memory patterns
of a certain carbon unit.
If I can help you
to revive those patterns...
you could understand
our functions better.
That is logical.
You may proceed.
I remember Lieutenant Ilia
once mentioning she wore that.
On Delta.
Remember?
Ilia.
Dr. Chapel.
Will?
Ilia.
Commander.
Commander.
This is a mechanism.
Ilia...
help us make direct contact
with V'Ger.
I cannot.
This creator V'Ger is looking for...
what is it?
V'Ger does not know.
Computer, commence recording.
Captain Kirk, these messages
will detail my attempt...
to contact the aliens.
Warning! Your emergency evacuation
thruster pack has been armed.
Once ignited the
burn duration is ten seconds.
There might not be
a warning.
Push the igniter enable release...
to begin a ten second
countdown to the thruster ignition.
To abort countdown leave the
control arm up.
I intend to calculate thruster
ignition and acceleration rate...
to coincide with the opening
of the V'Ger orifice.
This should facilitate
a better view...
of the interior
of the alien spacecraft.
Captain, Starfleet signals
are growing in strength, sir.
They still have the intruder
on their monitors.
- It's decelerating.
- Confirmed, sir.
Lunar beacons indicate intruder
on a course into Earth orbit.
Sir, air lock 4
has been opened.
A thruster suit
is reported missing.
A thruster suit?
That's Spock.
Damn him.
Bring him back here.
No, wait.
- Get a fix on his position.
- Aye, sir.
I have successfully penetrated...
the next chamber
of the alien's interior...
and I'm witnessing
some sort of dimensional image...
which I believe to be
a representation...
of V'Ger's home planet.
I'm passing through
a connecting tunnel.
Apparently, a kind of
plasma-energy conduit.
Possibly a field coil for
a gigantic imaging system.
Curious.
I'm seeing images
of planets, moons, stars...
whole galaxies
all stored here, recorded.
It could be a representation
of V'Ger's entire journey.
But who or what...
are we dealing with?
The Epsilon 9 station,
stored here with every detail.
Captain, I am now
quite convinced...
that all of this is V'Ger...
that we are inside
a living machine.
Ilia.
The sensor...
must contain
some special meaning.
I must try to mind-meld with it.
Spock.
Spock!
Spock.
Now scanning pons area
at spinal nerve fiber connection.
Indications of some
neurological trauma.
The power pouring through that
mind-meld must have been staggering.
Spock.
Jim.
I should have known.
Were you right...
about V'Ger?
A life-form of its own.
A conscious, living entity.
A living machine?
It considers the Enterprise
a living machine.
That's why the probe
refers to our ship as an entity.
L saw V'Ger's planet.
A planet populated
by living machines.
Unbelievable technology.
V'Ger has knowledge
that spans this universe.
And yet...
with all its pure logic...
V'Ger is barren...
cold.
No mystery.
No beauty.
Should have known.
Known?
Known what? Spock.
What should you have known?
What should you have known?
Jim...
this...
simple feeling...
is beyond V'Ger's comprehension.
No meaning, no hope.
Jim...
no answers.
It's asking questions.
"Is this...
all that I am?
Is there nothing more?"
Bridge to Captain.
Kirk here.
A faint signal
from Starfleet, sir.
Intruder cloud has been located
on their outer monitors...
for the past 27 minutes.
Cloud dissipating rapidly
as it approaches.
Starfleet reports forward velocity
has slowed to sub-warp speed.
We are