Officer Spock,
reporting as ordered, Captain.
Please, sit down.
Spock, you haven't changed a bit.
You're just as warm
and sociable as ever.
Nor have you, Doctor...
as your continued predilection
for irrelevancy demonstrates.
Gentlemen.
At last report,
you were on Vulcan...
apparently to stay.
Yes, you were undergoing
the ''Kolanear'' discipline.
Sit down.
If you are referring to the
Kolinahr, Doctor, you are correct.
Well, however it's pronounced,
Mr. Spock, it's the Vulcan ritual...
that's supposed to purge
all remaining emotions.
The Kolinahr is also a discipline
you broke to join us.
Will you, please, sit down?
On Vulcan I began sensing
a consciousness...
from a source 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.
Isn't it lucky for you that we just
happened to be 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 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