Doctor,
but you'll be
happy to stay.
[Laughing]
He's a Vulcan.
You can't force
emotion from him.
You must be joking,
Doctor.
It'll destroy him.
[Laughing]
We can't let him
die laughing, can we?
[Sobbing]
I beg you.
Spock...
Spock...
Don't...
let them...
break you.
Hold on.
Don't--
Parmen...
they saved your life.
I'm ashamed to be
a Platonian.
Ashamed!
Aah!
[Whinny]
[Whinny]
How can you
let this go on?
[Whinny]
[Whinny]
[Whinny]
[Whinny]
Can you do
anything for him?
No medicine
can help.
He'll have to
come through this himself.
I trust they did not injure you
too much, Captain.
My muscles are sore,
that's all.
The humiliation
must have been
most difficult
for you to bear.
I can understand.
The release
of emotions, Mr. Spock,
is what keeps us healthy,
emotionally healthy,
that is.
That may be, Doctor,
however I have noted that
the healthy release of emotion
is frequently
very unhealthy
for those closest to you.
Which just
goes to prove
that there's no such thing
as a perfect solution.
So it would seem.
Captain.
Yes, Spock.
Do you still feel
anger toward Parmen?
Great anger.
And you, Dr. McCoy?
Yes, Spock.
And hatred.
Then you must
release it, gentlemen,
as I must master mine.
I might have seriously
injured you, Captain,
even killed you.
They have evoked
such great hatred in me.
I cannot allow it
to go further.
I must...
master it.
I must...
control.
Jim.
This is senseless.
I've thought it over. I'm staying.
You can't.
Parmen promised
you'll be safe.
Promised?
Parmen?
He'd let us go,
then destroy the ship.
Why? Why trick me?
If he killed us
in front of you,
you'd retaliate.
You're a doctor.
You have the means.
Bones, I know you're trying
to do the right thing,
but if any one
of us escaped,
Parmen knows Starfleet
would never let this
planet go unpunished.
Sacrifice yourself
by agreeing to stay,
and you sign
our death warrant.
He's right.
I should have warned you.
They were treating you
the same way they treat me,
only you fight them.
All the time,
I thought it was me,
my mind that couldn't
move a pebble.
They said I was lucky they kept me
around, and I believed them.
The arms and legs
of everybody's whim.
Look down. Don't meet
their eyes. Smile. Smile.
Those great people...
they were gods to me.
But you showed me
what they really are.
Now I know.
Don't you see?
It's not me or my size.
It's them!
It's them!
It's them!
Put it down.
This is the best thing
for them.
I'm going to cut them.
Parmen first.
They'll all get infected.
But this time,
don't save them.
Let them die.
At least let me
give them a taste
of what they gave me.
They'll kill you anyway.
In that case, what's the point
in you dying, too?
Give it to me.
Th-That's
the first time
anybody ever thought
of my life before his own.
I should have told you when you
first came they'd kill you.
I knew,
but I was afraid.
I was afraid.
That's all right.
It's all right,
Alexander.
Listen,
we haven't given up,
and there may be something
you can do to help.
Anything I can do,
you just tell me.
Did the Platonians
always have this power?
Not until we came
to this planet.
Alexander,
can you recall
how long after
you arrived here
that their power
began to develop?
How could I forget that?
It was 6 months
and 1 4 days after arrival
they started
pushing me around.
How many months' supplies
did you bring with you?
Well, four, I think.
Uh, three.
That's close enough,
Alexander.
Fascinating.
Their power developed
two or three months
after they started eating
the native foods.
That's right.
Then it's logical
to assume
there's a connection between
the psychokinetic power
and eating the native foods.
Then why wouldn't Alexander
have the same power?
Perhaps his system cannot absorb
the crucial element.
Bones, take a reading
of Alexander's blood.
Uh, not that I'm afraid
or anything,
but will