WRITTEN BY
Don Ingalls
DIRECTED BY
Gerd Oswald
AIRED ON
March 30, 1967
RUNTIME
50 minutes
STARRING
VIEWS
290
LAST UPDATE
2024-09-18 20:55:51
PAGE VERSION
Version 5
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0
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BEHIND THE SCENES
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QUOTES
Spock: What my instruments read is totally unbelievable, Captain. Twice, for a split second each time, everything within range of our instruments seemed on the verge of winking out.
Kirk: I want facts, not poetry.
Spock: I have given you the facts, Captain. The entire magnetic field in this solar system simply blinked. The planet below, the mass of which we're measuring, attained zero gravity.
Kirk: That's impossible. What you're describing––
Spock: Is non-existence.
Lazarus: My spaceship is more than just that. It's a time chamber, a time-ship, and I... I am a time traveller.
Spock: Jim, madness has no purpose or reason, but it may have a goal. He must be stopped, held. Destroyed if necessary.
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REVIEWS
A complete mess
Written by
Pike on 2019-04-26
★
This episode is a complete mess. Not only the script is bad, but the execution is actually much worse. This is so bad that most of the episode, you don't understand at all what you see on the screen. This is not curiosity or mystery, this is simply bad, very bad.
Rarely I have seen an episode of a film that is so very difficult to follow. And this is not David Lynch here. Just very, very bad storyline.
LAZARUS
I would not have even remotely wanted to portray the character of Lazarus, having to wear this awful beard and then having to say random things, scream, run, faint, without any clear understanding of what he does or say.
ANNOYING KIRK
Also, like in the previous episode, I find Kirk to be quite annoying. Perhaps it is because it is the end of the season.
FIGHT
And the final confrontation between Kirk and Lazarus is really awful. I bet the director struggled with a poor script. Poor script and poor directing and poor costumes and poor sets (the UFO) for a poor episode that cannot be saved.
WHAT ABOUT LAZARUS?
Finally, the last scene on the deck, between Spock and Kirk shows that they had no clue how to conclude the episode. What about Lazarus?... What about Lazarus. Yeah, what about him?
BAD
I find this episode to be the worst since The Return of the Archons (1x21) and the last bad episode of the first season.
The very bad episodes of season one are, to me:
- 1x06 Mudd's Women
- 1x08 Miri
- 1x17 The Squire of Gothos
- 1x18 Arena
- 1x21 The Return of the Archons
- 1x27 The Alternative Factor
Not a long considering that this is a sci-fi series shot in the 60's, decades before the existence of CGI, and that they shot a staggering 29 episodes in one year, if you count the original pilot.
YET...
Yet, there is a fascinating scene between Kirk and Spock. I always love when Star Trek nurtures our brain with interesting conversations about concepts. It reminds me of the early seasons of The X-Files, with Fox Mulder and Dana Scully sharing potential hypothesis and ultimately coming up with the solution together.
VERDICT
I give it 1 out of 5. Very bad.
TRANSCRIPT
[Bridge]
(Enterprise is orbiting a red and white planet.)
KIRK: Well, Mister Spock?
SPOCK: Very typical, Captain. Iron-silicon base, oxygen-hydrogen atmosphere, largely arid, no discernible life. No surprises.
KIRK: Photographic section, begin scanning. Tie in to visual section 988-TG, computer bank 22. Kirk out. About four more orbits ought to do it, Mister Lesley. That'll wrap it up. Lay in a course for Starbase 200.
LESLEY: Aye, aye, Captain.
SPOCK: Captain.
(Something suddenly rocks the ship. We see a shot of a nebula along with the crew.)
KIRK: Mister Spock!
SPOCK: Incredible, Captain.
(And again.)
KIRK: What was that?
SPOCK: What my instruments read is totally unbelievable, Captain. Twice, for a split second each time, everything within range of our instruments seemed on the verge of winking out.
KIRK: I want facts, not poetry.
SPOCK: I have given you the facts, Captain. The entire magnetic field in this solar system simply blinked. The planet below, the mass of which we're measuring, attained zero gravity.
KIRK: That's impossible. What you're describing
SPOCK: Is non-existence.
UHURA: Standard General Alert signal from Starfleet Command, Captain.
KIRK: All stations to immediate alert status. Stand by.
SPOCK: Captain, scanners now report a life object on the planet surface below.
KIRK: You just did a complete life survey five minutes ago. How are you just picking it up now?
SPOCK: Inexplicable, Captain. This reading began at approximately the moment that the pulsation phenomenon began to subside.
KIRK: Well, what is it, this object? Its physical makeup?
SPOCK: A living being. Body temperature 98.5 Fahrenheit. Mass, electrical impulses, movement. It is apparently human, Captain.
KIRK: And its appearance coincided with this cosmic winking-out?
SPOCK; Almost to the second.
KIRK: Explanation.
SPOCK: None.
KIRK: Speculation. Could this being present any danger to the ship?
SPOCK: Possible. Very possible.
KIRK: Lieutenant Uhura, notify Security to have an armed detachment of men ready to beam down with us. Let's go. Any word comes through from Starfleet Command, pipe it down immediately. Communications, priority one.
Captain's log, stardate 3087.6. While investigating an uncharted planet, the Enterprise and at least this entire quadrant of space, has been subjected to violent, unexplained stress and force. Sensors have reported the presence of a human being on the planet below who might be connected with the phenomenon. With my first officer and a security team, I have set out in search of him.
[Planet surface]
(Kirk, Spock and four armed red-shirts arrive on a rocky terrain with a few scrubby bushes. They walk on a little way until they spot a strange craft on the ground. A one-man flying saucer with a perspex dome cockpit. As they reach it, a man calls out from a ridge.)
LAZARUS: You came! Thank the heavens. There's still time. It's not too late. We can still stop him. But I, but I, need, need your help.
(He falls.)
[Bridge]
UHURA: Nothing yet, sir.
MASTERS: (A woman in a blue uniform) Report on the dilithium crystals, Captain.
KIRK: Yes.
MASTERS: Whatever that phenomenon was, it drained almost all of our crystals completely. It could mean trouble.
KIRK: You have a talent for understatement, Lieutenant. Without full crystal power, our orbit will begin to decay in ten hours. Re-amplify immediately.
MASTERS: Aye aye, sir.
KIRK: Any further magnetic disturbance?
SPOCK: Negative, Captain. Scanners indicate situation normal.
KIRK: Nothing?
SPOCK: Nothing. Illogical. An effect of such proportions, unexplainable by any established physical laws that I'm aware of. I have been able to ascertain one fact. Though the effect, whatever it was, was unquestioningly widespread, it was strongest here on the planet beneath us.
KIRK: Keep checking.
UHURA: Red Two message in one minute, Captain. Starfleet Command. Code Factor one, sir.
KIRK: Repeat.
UHURA: Code Factor one.
KIRK: Invasion status. All hands, this is the Captain. Battle stations. I repeat, battle stations. This is no drill.
MCCOY [OC]: McCoy, Captain.
KIRK: Kirk here.
MCCOY [OC]: About our patient.
KIRK: Yes, Doctor, quickly.
MCCOY [OC]: He'll make it. He'll be stiff and sore for a while, but he'll be all right.
KIRK: I'll talk to him later. Thank you. Kirk out.
UHURA: Message ready, Captain. Main screen, coming up.
KIRK: Kirk here. Enterprise standing by, Commodore.
BARSTOW [on viewscreen]: You're aware of the effect an hour ago?
KIRK: Yes, sir.
BARSTOW [on viewscreen]: You may not be aware of its scope. It occurred in every quadrant of the galaxy and far beyond. Complete disruption of normal magnetic and gravimetric fields, timewarp distortion, possible radiation variations. And all of them centring on the general area which you are now patrolling. The question is, are these natural phenomena or are they mechanically created, and if they are, by whom? For what purpose? Your guess, Captain.
KIRK: Thank you, sir. I have considered all the alternatives. My best guess is it could be a prelude to invasion.
BARSTOW [on viewscreen]: Exactly our consensus. I'm giving you the job of finding out specifically.
KIRK; Aye, aye, sir. Can you assign me other starships as a reserve?
BARSTOW [on viewscreen]: Negative. I'm evacuating all Starfleet units and personnel within a hundred parsecs of your position. It's going to be tough on you and the Enterprise, but that's the job you've drawn. You're on your own.
KIRK: I see. You mean, we're the bait.
BARSTOW [on viewscreen]: Good luck.
KIRK: Thank you, sir. (transmission ends) Maintain alert status at all battle stations.
UHURA: Aye aye, sir.
KIRK: From the top, Mister Spock. First, the phenomenon came from the planet below. Secondly, the danger is apparently real and imminent.
SPOCK: Third, a closer examination of the planet's surface would be in order. My job, sir?
KIRK: Yes. Meanwhile, I'll talk to our unexpected guest. Maybe he can provide some answers.
[Kirk's quarters]
LAZARUS: That's how I came to be down there, Captain, pursuing the devil's own spawn, a thing I've chased across the universe. He's humanoid outside, but inside, he's a hideous, murdering monster. I'll get him, Captain. I swear it.
KIRK: You say this one man
LAZARUS: Not man! Thing.
KIRK: Thing destroyed your entire civilisation.
LAZARUS: To the last man, woman and child.
KIRK: How did you escape?
LAZARUS: I was inspecting magnetic communications satellites. You believe me, don't you?
KIRK: Before we picked you up, our ship sustained a number of incredible effects.
LAZARUS: That was he! He's death, anti-life, he lives to destroy.
KIRK: Is he the thing that attacked you?
LAZARUS: Yes. I give you my word. I swear it.
KIRK: We don't have any other facts, any information.
LAZARUS: Then you'll join me in my holy cause? Help me in visiting justice and vengeance upon him.
KIRK: My only cause is the safety of my ship and the mission we're on. You'll beam down with me and I'll check your story out.
[Planet surface]
(The flying saucer is being minutely examined)
KIRK: Spock, find anything?
SPOCK: Negative, Captain. Anything from our guest?
KIRK: According to him, there's a creature of some sort down here, a humanoid.
SPOCK: Lieutenant Uhura communicated that information. I ordered re-confirmation on our sensors. They indicate no living creature on this planet. I suggest, Captain, that you've been lied to.
LAZARUS: Captain, you yourself said there were no other explanations. Why do you give credence to this man?
SPOCK: I fail to comprehend your indignation, sir. I've simply made the logical deduction that you are a liar.
KIRK: Let's have it. The truth this time.
(Another one of those 'nebula overlay' events happens, and Lazarus starts shouting then runs off.)
LAZARUS: No! You've come back in, is it? Well, don't stop. Here I am. Come at me again. We'll finish it!
KIRK: Can you identify that?
SPOCK: I'm trying, Captain.
KIRK: Lazarus! You stay here. All personnel, security red.
LAZARUS: Come! Come! It'll do you no good. I'll chase you to the very fires of hell!
(We're treated to a negative image of Lazarus suddenly being pounced on by another person. They fight as the picture keeps being rotated to make you dizzy. Then it all ends and Lazarus staggers back on the planet surface again.)
KIRK: Lazarus, what happened?
LAZARUS: I saw it again. The thing. It attacked me.
KIRK: Let's get out of here.
SPOCK: Captain, readings of the effect indicate it centred here on this planet, almost on this very spot.
LAZARUS: I told you it was a thing. All white, black and empty. A terrible emptiness.
KIRK: Let's get back to the ship.
LAZARUS: He'll kill us all if we don't kill him first! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!
Captain's log, stardate 3088.3. We continue to orbit the dead planet, which seems to be the source of the phenomenon which has struck the Enterprise and all sections of the galaxy once again. As for Lazarus, the story he tells me about the humanoid continues to trouble me.
[Bridge]
KIRK: Any luck?
SPOCK: Negative, Captain. I can no more explain the occurrence of the second phenomenon than I can the first.
KIRK: If there's a shred of truth to what Lazarus said
SPOCK: That a single creature, a humanoid could be responsible for an effect of such magnitude?
KIRK: Hard to believe.
SPOCK: Indeed.
KIRK: But the rest of his story seems to fit. His wounds testify to an apparent confrontation with something.
SPOCK: Affirmative.
KIRK: Assuming there is a humanoid, a something, how does he do it? He has no weapons, no power.
SPOCK: Captain, I only know for certain that the occurrence of the phenomenon coincides exactly with the moments that Lazarus has his alleged confrontations.
UHURA: Doctor McCoy asking to see you in sickbay, Captain.
[Sickbay]
MCCOY: I don't know, Jim. Maybe I'm imagining things, and maybe I'm not. You tell me.
KIRK: You tell me. That's why you brought me down here, isn't it.
MCCOY: Well, as you know, we both brought Lazarus in here and I treated a deep abrasion on his forehead, right?
KIRK: Right.
MCCOY: Then I bandaged it, I stepped into this room for just a moment
KIRK: Bones, I've got a lot of things to do. Get to the point.
MCCOY: Well, say he's got the constitution of a dinosaur, recuperative powers ditto. As we both know, I'm a bright young medic with a miraculous touch. Why then, when I returned, there wasn't a trace of that wound on his forehead. Not even a bruise. It was like he had never been injured.
KIRK: Where is he?
MCCOY: I don't know, Jim. This is a big ship. I'm just a country doctor.
[Rec room]
(Lazarus is sitting nearby when the following conversation takes place.)
ENGINEER: Hi.
MASTERS: Hi. Coffee?
ENGINEER: Is that an order, Lieutenant?
MASTERS: I know what you mean. Re-amplification finished on the dilithium crystals?
ENGINEER: Yes. Ready and waiting.
(They leave, then Lazarus follows.)
[Corridor]
(Lazarus has some sort of seizure and we get the nebula effect, the fight, and then... he has a plaster on his forehead again. Kirk and McCoy exit the turbolift and spot him.)
KIRK: Lazarus, are you all right?
LAZARUS: Yes. But impatient. Have you decided to help me yet?
(McCoy removes the plaster to show the cut.)
LAZARUS: Is something wrong?
KIRK: No. I have a ship's physician with a strange sense of humour.
MCCOY: This is no joke, Jim. I know what I saw.
UHURA [OC]: Bridge calling the captain.
KIRK: Go.
SPOCK [OC]: Request you come to the Bridge, Captain.
KIRK: Find something?
SPOCK [OC]: Something quite extraordinary.
KIRK: On my way. Lazarus, you're with me. Bones, if I had time, I'd laugh.
[Bridge]
SPOCK: Main screen on, Lieutenant.
UHURA: Screen on, sir.
(Kirk and Lazarus enter.)
SPOCK: Source of radiation, Captain.
(A bright flashing light on the planet.)
KIRK: How is it the scanners didn't pick it up before?
SPOCK: Because it is not there.
KIRK: Another riddle? First Doctor McCoy, then you?
SPOCK: What I mean, Captain, is that according to our usual scanning procedures, there is nothing there that could be causing that effect.
KIRK: But it is there.
SPOCK: Affirmative. I confess I am somewhat at a loss for words. It may be described, though loosely and inaccurately, as a rip in our universe.
KIRK: A what?
SPOCK: A kind of physical warp, Captain, in which none of our established physical laws apply with any regularity. However, with the dilithium crystals, I was able to localise it.
LAZARUS: Yes! That's it! The dilithium crystals. With their power we could do it.
SPOCK: You refer to the humanoid?
LAZARUS: Yes. We've got him, Captain, we've got him.
KIRK: What do the crystals have to do with it? All they show us the point of radiation.
LAZARUS: That's just it, that's the key. That's the way to trap him. That's the solution. Captain, I beg of you. I plead, I demand. Give me the crystals.
KIRK: Out of the question. Those crystals are the very heart of the power of my ship.
LAZARUS: You fool! There won't be any ship if we don't kill him. He'll destroy all of you.
KIRK: How? Now you tell me how. All I've heard is double-talk, lies, threats, accusations that don't hold water. Now you tell me, how it presents a danger to my ship?
LAZARUS: I warn you, Captain. You'll give me the crystals.
KIRK: Don't threaten me, Lazarus.
LAZARUS: No threat intended. Captain, I'll have my vengeance.
(He leaves the Bridge by the turbolift, and the guard follows a moment later. Lazarus is walking along a corridor when he has another seizure and loses the head injury. Lazarus heads for...)
[Engineering]
ENGINEER: Lieutenant Masters, Captain's calling.
MASTERS: Masters here.
KIRK [OC]: Lieutenant, can you prepare an experimentation chamber in ten minutes? All dilithium crystals, full power.
(We see Lazarus jump the engineer, out of her sight.)
MASTERS: I'll check, sir.
(She goes into the room where Lazarus is hiding, checks a panel and leaves again.)
MASTERS: Captain. The chamber will be ready in ten minutes, sir. My assistant and I will
(Lazarus injects her neck with something.)
MASTERS: Captain! Captain!
KIRK [OC]: Lieutenant, what is it? What's wrong? Lieutenant?
[Bridge]
UHURA: Captain, Security reports Lazarus missing.
Captain's log, stardate 3088.7. We are no closer to finding an answer to the strange phenomenon than we were at the beginning. Not only have two of my crewmen been attacked, two of our dilithium crystals are missing, and without them the Enterprise cannot operate at full power. They must be found.
[Briefing room]
(This Lazarus has his head injury back again.)
KIRK: Fact. You said you needed the crystals. Fact. An hour after you said you must have them, they were missing. Fact. Two of my crewmen were attacked.
LAZARUS: And fact, Captain. I didn't take the crystals. I'm not the one. Find my enemy, find the beast, and you'll find the crystals.
KIRK: How'd this beast get aboard my ship?
LAZARUS: He did. Isn't that enough?
KIRK: No. He didn't transport up. A report would've been made.
LAZARUS: I tell you we're dealing with a creature capable of destroying worlds.
SPOCK: Why does he need the crystals? For what reason?
LAZARUS: For the same reason that I do. Listen to me. He's humanoid. Why, he he can pilot a spaceship. He can compute formulas to destroy races. He can steal an energy source for his vehicle so he can escape from me. Are you deaf as well as blind?
KIRK: Sit down. The crystals certainly aren't here. There's an unexplained radiation source on the planet. Obviously some connection. We'll check it out. Organise a search party immediately. Mister Lazarus will beam down with us.
LAZARUS: Thank you, Captain.
KIRK: You may not have reason to thank me, depending on what we find.
[Planet surface]
LAZARUS: What do you believe now, Captain?
KIRK: I believe the missing crystals aren't in your ship. Mister Spock?
SPOCK: Unable to locate the source of radiation.
KIRK: Why not? You had it spotted on the Enterprise.
SPOCK: It has simply disappeared, Captain.
KIRK: I want every inch of this terrain checked. Look for footprints, movement, anything. Call out if you spot anything. Don't be afraid to use your weapons.
(The entire party leave the little spaceship. The Starfleet group splits into two and take different lines along a rocky outcrop. Lazarus heads off on his own and has one of his nebula moments. There's a fight in negative space and then it's over again. Kirk sends his two security men on ahead, and for some reason Lazarus decides to climb down a cliff face. He dislodges a rock and it goes tumbling. Lazarus calls out, then follows it.)
LAZARUS: Captain, look out!
[Sickbay]
MCCOY: He's coming out of it now.
LAZARUS: The thing, the thing.
MCCOY: It's all right. You're on board the Enterprise.
LAZARUS: The rock, I
MCCOY: How's your head?
LAZARUS: Aches.
KIRK: You saved my life down there. I want to thank you.
LAZARUS: Why shouldn't I?
KIRK: I have some questions I want to ask you.
MCCOY: Not now, Jim.
KIRK: It's necessary.
LAZARUS: Go ahead. It's all right.
KIRK: This is a computer report of the evidence you gave at your first screening. It calls you a liar, Lazarus. For one thing, there's no planet at the location you said you came from. There never has been. If you want help from us, you'd better start telling the truth.
LAZARUS: You wouldn't believe me if I told you.
KIRK: Try us.
LAZARUS: All right. I distorted a fact in the interest of self-preservation, for my holy cause. I needed help, not censure. Freedom, not captivity for being a madman. I was afraid that's what you'd call me if I told you the truth.
KIRK: I'll have the truth now.
LAZARUS: My planet, my Earth, or what's left of it, is down there beneath us.
KIRK: What are you saying?
LAZARUS: My spaceship is more than just that. It's a time chamber, a time-ship, and I. I am a time traveller.
KIRK: And this thing you search for is a time traveler, too?
LAZARUS: Oh, yes. He's fled me across all the years, all the empty years to a dead future on a murdered planet he destroyed. Help me! Give me the tools I need to kill him! The crystals! Don't let him get away! Don't let him get away.
KIRK: Lazarus, you're hurt. I know. I sympathise, but I've got four hundred and thirty other men to worry about. Now where are those crystals?
LAZARUS: I told you, he's got them. He took them. The thing! The thing!
MCCOY: He's got to get some rest, Jim. And would you get that muscleman out of my Sickbay. (gestures at the security guard)
KIRK: Dismissed.
(The guard leaves.)
MCCOY: He's in a lot of pain.
KIRK: Sometimes pain can drive a man harder than pleasure. I'm sure you know that, Doctor.
MCCOY: Well, don't worry, he's not going anywhere. Not this time.
(But once the medical bay is empty, Lazarus gets out of bed and has a quick seizure.)
[Briefing room]
KIRK: What have we got, Mister Spock? A magnetic effect which produces a winking-out phenomenon. A mysterious, unidentified source of radiation on the planet. Lazarus, a walking powder keg. Your rip in the universe. A so-called murdering humanoid.
SPOCK: True, Captain, but more significant to me is the fact that our ship's instruments are specifically designed to locate and identify any object in our universe, be it energy or matter.
KIRK: But by using those instruments you were unable to identify the source of the radiation on the planet.
SPOCK: Correct. Which would seem to be impossible.
KIRK: Are the instruments in order?
SPOCK: Perfect working condition.
KIRK: Then what you say leads obviously to one alternative. The source of radiation is not from our universe.
SPOCK: Nor in our universe, Captain. It came from outside.
KIRK: Outside? Yes, that would explain a lot. Another universe, perhaps in another dimension, occupying the same space at the same time.
SPOCK: The possible existence of a parallel universe has been scientifically conceded, Captain.
KIRK: All right. What would happen if another universe, say a minus universe, came into contact with a positive universe such as ours?
SPOCK: Unquestionably a warp. A distortion of physical laws on an immense scale.
KIRK: Which is what we've been experiencing. The point where they come into contact, couldn't that be described as a hole?
SPOCK: Indeed. I point out that a hole in the universe or in a simple container can either allow the contents to escape
KIRK: Or what is outside to enter. The invasion that Commodore Barstow suspected.
SPOCK: There has been no evidence of a large-scale invasion.
KIRK: But a small scale invasion, Mister Spock. What is your analysis of the mental state of Lazarus?
SPOCK: Difficult, Captain. One moment, paranoid, the next, calm, mild, rational. Almost as if he were two men.
KIRK: Yes, two men. Different, but identical. And a hole in the universe. No, not a hole, A door.
SPOCK: Through which these two beings are somehow enabled to pass.
KIRK: Take a look at Lazarus. One minute he's at the point of death, the next he's alive, well, strong as a bull.
SPOCK: The cut on his forehead. First he has it, then it's gone, then he has it again.
KIRK: Which is physically impossible for one man.
SPOCK: Quite right. Unquestionably, there are two of him.
KIRK: What's going on? This leaping from universe to universe. This wild talk about a murdering creature who destroys civilisations What's the purpose?
SPOCK: Jim, madness has no purpose or reason, but it may have a goal. He must be stopped, held. Destroyed if necessary.
KIRK: I don't follow you.
SPOCK: Two parallel universes project this. One positive, the other negative. Or, more specifically, one matter, the other antimatter.
KIRK: Do you know what you're saying? Matter and antimatter have a tendency to cancel each other out. violently.
SPOCK: Precisely. Under certain conditions, when two identical particles of matter and antimatter meet
KIRK: Like Lazarus. Identical. Like both Lazarus', only one is matter and the other antimatter. If they meet.
SPOCK: Annihilation, Jim. Total, complete, absolute annihilation.
KIRK: Of everything that exists, everywhere.
[Corridor]
(Lazarus is prowling when he spots a High Voltage access panel. He opens it, removes a couple of transistors then puts one back to short it out. He leaves the area as smoke billows forth.)
[Engineering]
(Smoke starts to come from the main control panels.)
MASTERS: The energiser has shorted. Get out of here. Sound the alarm.
ENGINEER: Come on. You, too, Lieutenant.
MASTERS: No, I've got to stay
ENGINEER: We've got to get out of here. The whole thing might blow!
(He bustles her out into the corridor.)
[Corridor]
MASTERS: Engineering calling Bridge. Fire! Fire in the energising circuit.
(Hidden by the smoke, Lazarus enters Engineering.)
[Bridge]
UHURA: Fire, Captain. Engineering. Situation critical.
KIRK: All available personnel, on the double. Spock, with me.
[Corridor]
(Two firefighters in protective gear are entering Engineering)
KIRK: Report.
ENGINEER: Under control, sir, but it couldn't have started by itself.
SPOCK: Lazarus. A trick to get the crystals.
[Transporter room]
CHIEF: Sir, you shouldn't be in here.
LAZARUS: Oh, I didn't know.
(He knocks the poor lad out, then sets co-ordinates and is beamed to the planet carrying a bundle.)
[Corridor]
(Kirk and Spock exit Engineering.)
KIRK: He's probably beaming down with the crystals right now. I'm going after him. You organise a security detail. Follow me as soon as you can.
SPOCK: Spock to Bridge.
[Planet surface]
(Lazarus climbs into his saucer and unwraps the crystals.)
LAZARUS: I'll get you now. I have a threshold. Run, run. I'll get you now.
[Transporter room]
KIRK: Energise.
[Planet surface]
LAZARUS: It's done, it's done! Finished, finished. It's done. It's done. It's done, it's done.
KIRK: Lazarus.
LAZARUS: Done. No! Don't! Not you!
(Kirk leans into the saucer - and vanishes.)
LAZARUS: No!
(Kirk goes into that negative space and finds that there is nowhere to run to. Then suddenly he's on the ground on the planet again. Or is he? He walks over to the saucer and is greeted by uninjured Lazarus.)
LAZARUS: Welcome, Captain. I wasn't expecting you.
KIRK: No, him.
LAZARUS: Yes, him. You understand.
KIRK: Not completely. This is a parallel universe?
LAZARUS: Of course.
KIRK: Antimatter?
LAZARUS: Here, yes.
KIRK: And if identical particles meet
LAZARUS: The end of everything. Civilisation, existence, all gone. I tried to stop him, Captain. That's why I took your dilithium crystals.
KIRK: He has two more.
LAZARUS: That's very bad, Captain. If he comes through at a time of his own choosing. But I think if we hurry and you will help me, he can yet still be stopped. There's little time left. He meant to come through. When you accidentally passed through, it drained his crystals. It'll take him about ten minutes to re-energise with the equipment aboard his ship. That should give us enough time.
KIRK: Exactly what did I pass through?
LAZARUS: That's hard to explain, Captain. I call it an alternative warp. It's sort of a negative magnetic corridor where the two parallel universes meet. It's sort of a safety valve. It keeps eternity from blowing up.
KIRK: This corridor, is it what caused the magnetic effect, the winking out phenomenon?
LAZARUS: Precisely, Captain, but not because of its existence. Because, because my foe entered. The corridor is like a prison, with explosives at the door. Open the door, and the explosives might go off. Stay inside
KIRK: And the universe is safe.
LAZARUS: Both universes, Captain. Yours and mine.
KIRK: Surely Lazarus must realise what would happen if you should meet face to face outside the corridor.
LAZARUS: Of course he knows, Captain, but he's mad. You heard him. He's lost his mind. When our people found a way to slip through the warp and prove another universe, an identical one, existed, it was too much for him. He could not live knowing that I lived. He became obsessed with the idea of destroying me. The fact that it meant his own destruction, and everything else, meant nothing to him.
KIRK: So you're the terrible thing, the murdering monster. The creature.
LAZARUS: Yes, Captain. Or he is. It depends on your point of view, doesn't it? It's ready, Captain. If we can force him into the corridor while I'm waiting for him, we can put an end to this. But if he comes through at a time of his own choosing and breaks into this universe to find me
KIRK: I understand. What do you want me to do?
LAZARUS: Find him. Force him through his threshold, while I'm waiting for him, into the corridor, and I'll hold him there.
KIRK: You can't hold him forever.
LAZARUS: Can't I, Captain? You destroy his ship.
KIRK: If I destroy his ship, won't yours also be destroyed?
LAZARUS: It will.
KIRK: And your door will be closed.
LAZARUS: Yes, and so will his.
KIRK: You'll be trapped inside that corridor with him forever. At each other's throats throughout time.
LAZARUS: Is it such a large price to pay for the safety of two universes?
KIRK: I'm ready.
LAZARUS: Send him to me. I'll be waiting.
(Lazarus activates his crystals manually, and Kirk vanishes, then reappears on 'our' planet and gestures to Spock who has come down with two guards.)
SPOCK: Lazarus.
(Kirk jumps him while he is distracted and knocks him down.)
KIRK: Stand back.
(But Lazarus has him in a bear hug, and they struggle together for a while until Kirk finally gets the upper-hand again.)
LAZARUS: No! No! No, I'm not ready! I'm not ready!
(Kirk throws him through the threshold.)
SPOCK: Take these crystals to the Enterprise.
KIRK: I must destroy that ship completely.
SPOCK: What of Lazarus?
KIRK: And what of Lazarus?
[Bridge]
KIRK: Activate phaser banks.
LESLEY: Phaser banks activated.
KIRK: Stand by to fire.
(The bright dot appears on the planet surface.)
LESLEY: Phasers standing by, sir.
KIRK: Fire phasers.
(A sustained burst hits the little saucer, while the two Lazarus' wrestle in non-space. Finally it disappears.)
KIRK: All right, Mister Lesley, let's get out of here. Ahead warp factor one.
LESLEY: Warp one, sir.
KIRK: Everything's all right, Mister Spock, for us.
SPOCK: There is, of course, no escape for them, sir.
KIRK: There is, of course, no escape. How would it be? Trapped forever with a raging madman at your throat until time itself came to a stop? For eternity. How would it be?
SPOCK: Captain, the universe is safe.
KIRK: For you and me. But what of Lazarus? What of Lazarus?
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