emotions.
The Kolinahr is also a discipline
you broke... to join us.
Will you, please,... sit down?
On Vulcan,
I began sensing a consciousness
more powerful
than I have ever encountered.
Thought patterns
of exactingly perfect order.
I believe they emanate
from the intruder.
I believe it may hold my answers.
Well, isn't it lucky for you
that we're heading your way?
Bones!
We need him.
I need him.
Then my presence
is to our mutual advantage.
Any thought patterns
you might sense,...
..whether they affect you 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,
how do we know...?
That he wouldn't put his own
interests ahead of the ship's?
I could never believe that.
How do we know about any of us?
(Uhura) Bridge to Capt Kirk.
Revised estimate on cloud
visual contact. 3. 7 minutes.
On my way.
(alarm)
Give us a reading, Commander.
Standard light, Engineer.
- Full mag on viewer.
- Full mag, sir.
Linguacode?
Friendship messages
on all frequencies.
All decks confirmed. Status red.
Captain, we are being scanned.
Do not return scan. It could
be misinterpreted as hostility.
Intruder scans emanating
from the exact centre of the cloud.
Energy of a type
never before encountered.
No response to messages.
- Battle stations?
- Negative. No provocative action.
Recommend defensive posture.
Screens and shields.
No, Mr Decker, that could also
be misinterpreted as hostile.
Cloud composition, Mr Spock?
- Twelfth-power energy field.
- Twelfth?
We've seen what they can do.
We should take precautions.
- Mr Decker...
- Captain.
I suspect there's an object
at the heart of that cloud.
I will not provoke an attack.
If that isn't clear...
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 cloud centre.
Bring us parallel
to whatever we find in there.
- Mr Sulu, tactical plot on viewer.
- On viewer.
That measures twelfth-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?
(alarm)
Force fields up full!
Deflectors, now!
Force fields and deflectors up full,
Captain.
Analysis, Mr Spock.
Alien weapon
is a form of plasma energy.
Exact composition unknown.
Guidance system unknown.
All decks brace for impact.
- Engineering, status report.
- Systems overloading.
(screaming)
(screams)
- Medic.
- Medics are coming.
Engineering to bridge.
Cannot hold full power
on force field.
Deflector power is down 70 percent!
Divert auxiliary power to deflectors.
Good. Christine, it's Chekov.
- Medic.
- I can stop his pain.
Thank you.
Captain, the intruder has been
attempting to communicate.
(high-pitched static)
Frequency more than
one million megahertz.
At such speed, their entire message
lasts only a millisecond.
I will program our computer
to transmit linguacode
at their frequency and rate of speed.
Commander.
Spock!
- Here it comes.
- How is our force field?
Our shields
cannot handle another attack!
Mr Spock?
- Spock.
- (llia) 1 5 seconds.
Spock, transmit now!
(llia) Ten seconds.
Transmitting.
It would seem our messages
have been received and understood.
I would say
that was a logical assumption.
One minute, 30 seconds
to cloud boundary.
Captain.
We are confronted
by a highly advanced mentality,
yet they cannot understand
who we are or what we want.
Yet they understood our message.
They broke off the attack.
They may have attacked only
as a warning to us to keep away.
That would presuppose a feeling,
Commander. Compassion.
I sensed no emotion,...
..only pure logic.
- Mr Sulu, hold present position.
- Holding position, sir.
- Tactical plot on viewer.
- Course projection on tactical, sir.