Okay, here is the remainder of Act 1 and all of Act 2. As you can see, I am deviating from the script more and more. If I ever figure out Act 3, it will deviate even more, to the extent of being an entire new episode and will be when they figure out what is going on.
[Rec room. Nurse Chapel and the children]
CHAPEL: All right, children. Each card is a different flavor. You take your pick, and the computer will mix your favorite combination. Now, what would you like? Call out your favorites.
ALL: Vanilla! Chocolate! Cherry! Banana!
(The kids grab cards and dash to the food dispensers.)
CHAPEL: What’s the matter, Stevie?
STEVE: My favorite wasn’t on the cards.
CHAPEL: That’s okay. I can program it in. What would you like?
STEVE: Chocolate wobble and pistachio.
CHAPEL: Well, coming right up.
STEVE: And peach.
CHAPEL: Here you go. (This bowl is a lot bigger.)
STEVE: Wow! Thanks! My parents never let me have that much!
[Corridor]
MCCOY: The tests show no evidence of tensions due to lying. They behave as though nothing had gone wrong. They check out sound physically. There are no signs of any foreign biochemical substances to account for their present state. I have no answers, Jim.
KIRK: There has to be an answer. Have you asked them about their parents at all?
McCOY: Very indirectly. If I so much as hinted at it, Tommy would either change the subject or remind them how erratic their parents were in their last days.
KIRK: Given what we saw in the distress call, I can believe it. But don’t they remember before that?
McCOY: Too dangerous to mention.
KIRK: I’d like to talk to them.
MCCOY: Well, I won’t prevent you questioning them, but it could harm the children if you do.
KIRK: It could be far worse for them if I don’t, and for us too.
[Rec room]
CHAPEL: After this, we can all play games.
KIDS: Yeah.
(Kirk enters.)
KIRK: Well, well, well. You’re all having such a good time, I think I’ll join you. Is that all right?
MARY: Please do.
KIRK: t’s better than Triacus, isn’t it?
DON: That dirty old planet?
RAY: What’s so good about that place?
STEVE: Yeah?
MARY: You weren’t there very long. You don’t know.
KIRK: I don’t think your parents liked it very much either.
TOMMY: Yes, they did.
STEVE: Yeah. Mine sure did.
MARY: A lot better than they seemed to like us.
DON: Parents like stupid things.
CHAPEL: Oh, I don’t know about that. Parents like children.
MARY: Ha. That’s what you think.
RAY: They never had time for us.
DON: If we tried to talk to them, they just snapped at us.
STEVE: All they ever cared about was their stupid work.
KIRK: I’m sure your parents loved you. That’s why they took you with them to Triacus. So they wouldn’t be so far away from you for such a long time. That would make them very unhappy and miss you. I’m sure that you would miss them, too.
(There’s a silence, then )
TOMMY: Busy, busy.
ALL: Busy. Busy. Busy! Busy!
(The running around starts again.)
DON: Guess what we are.
CHAPEL: I know. A swarm of bees.
TOMMY: Can we have some more ice cream, please?
KIRK: No, I don’t think so. It’ll spoil your dinner.
TOMMY: See what I told you? They all say it.
MARY: Yeah.
KIRK: All right, children, you’ve had a busy day. I think you could use some rest. Nurse Chapel will see you to your quarters.
CHAPEL: Very good idea, Captain.
MARY: Aw, do we have to?
(Chapel ushers the little ones out.)
KIRK: Tommy, Just a moment. I’d like to ask you a question. Come and sit down. Tommy, will you tell me what you saw?
TOMMY: Saw where?
KIRK: In the cave, on the planet. On Triacus.
TOMMY: You were there.
KIRK: Did you see your father today?
TOMMY: I saw him.
KIRK: Did he seem upset?
TOMMY: Yeah, he was very upset.
KIRK: What about?
TOMMY: I didn’t ask him.
KIRK: What was going on that would have upset him?
TOMMY: How should I know? He was always upset, just like you, Captain Kirk.
KIRK: Aren’t you upset about leaving your parents?
TOMMY: My parents? They love it down there. Always busy. They’re happy. Can I go now? I’m tired too, you know.
KIRK: Yes, certainly.
(Tommy leaves.)
[Children’s quarters]
(The children are in a circle, chanting.)
ALL: Hail, hail, fire and snow. Call the angel, we will go. Far away, for to see, friendly Angel come to me. Hail, hail, fire and snow. Call the angel, we will go. Far away, for to see, friendly Angel come to me. Hail, hail
(The “friendly angel” appears. Perhaps he resembles some portraits we have seen among the ruins)
GORGON: (echo-y voice) You have done very well, my friends. You have come aboard the Enterprise. Now our destination is Marcus XII. Captain Kirk will undoubtedly choose a closer station. Do not let that deter you. We will defeat our enemies as we defeated them on Triacus.
MARY: But these ones aren’t like the ones on Triacus. They’re nice.
DON: They never tell us they’re too busy for us.
RAY: They don’t yell at us. They even want to play.
STEVE: They let me have my favorite ice cream, as much as I wanted.
TOMMY: Then they told us no more or we’d spoil our dinner and sent us to bed. Just like all the other grownups. (Children seem confused, uncertain).
GORGAN: Soon you will see that adults are all the same. All are your enemies.
[End of Act 1].
Captain’s log, star date 5040.2. We continue to orbit Triacus, seeking answers. So far neither Mr. Spock’s sensors nor the security team on the planet have anything new to report. In the meantime, a strange sense of anxiety has settled over the crew, myself included.
[Bridge. Everyone except Spock is fidgeting, looking up uneasily, etc. and otherwise showing a sense of anxiety]
SULU: Maintaining standard orbit, Captain.
KIRK: Lieutenant Uhura, any report from the planet security team?
UHURA: Everything is quiet, sir.
(Children troop onto the bridge)
TOMMY: Captain, after we leave here, can you take us to Marcos Twelve?
KIRK: No. We’ll probably take you to a Federation Starbase.
TOMMY: But I have relatives on Marcos Twelve.
KIRK: I’m sorry, Tommy. Marcos Twelve is not within our patrol area.
MARY: But it’s no fun here.
DON: We’re cooped up all day in our room and the arboretum.
RAY: Nowhere to run and play.
TOMMY: We need a planet.
KIRK: (snappish because of his anxiety). I said we’re going to a Starbase! Now get off my bridge.
TOMMY: See, I told you. All like that.
(The children start to run and play, on the bridge).
KIRK: (Shouting) Mr. Leslie, take these children back to their quarters and keep them there!
[Children in their quarters, with the Gorgan].
GORGAN: As you can see, these grownups are no different than the ones on Triacus. All of them are short-tempered and just want to control you. I am never short-tempered. I will allow you your freedom. On Marcus XI you will have a planet to run and play in. To accomplish this mission, we must first control the Enterprise. To control the ship, we first must control the crew. You know how to do that. That is your next task. And as you believe, so shall you do, so shall you do. As you believe, so shall you do, so shall you do. As you believe, so shall you do, so shall you do. (Children pound their fists).
VOICE OVER: Captain’s log, Stardate 5042.6. Still no new developments on the planet. On the Enterprise, however, the children are becoming increasingly difficult to control. (We see children in Engineer, Auxiliary Control, etc. getting in the way, attempting to play, being chased out by an increasingly angry and exasperated crew, looking more boldly hostile). In the meantime, our unexplained sense of anxiety continues to grow.
[The bridge. Everyone looks jumpier and more jittery than before].
SPOCK: (enters) Captain, I have extracted the salient portion of Professor Starnes’ tapes.
KIRK: Good.
SPOCK: Among the technical facts he gathered, Professor Starnes also offered some rather unscientific hypotheses.
KIRK: Let’s see them.
(Tommy marches onto the bridge, followed by Mary, and gets in our Captain’s face).
KIRK: (shouting) How many times do I have to tell you to stay off my bridge! (Regaining his self possession). I’ve given you recreation rooms 2 and 4 to yourselves. I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t interfere in my running of the ship.
TOMMY: Captain, can I stay here and watch? I’ll be very quiet. (Shakes his fist).
KIRK: All right, Tommy. Mister Spock, we’ll pursue this in my quarters. Lieutenant, have Doctor McCoy report to my quarters for a brief conference. Mr. Sulu, take us out of orbit. Chekov, set course for Marcus XII.
SULU: Aye, aye, sir.
SPOCK: Captain, I thought our next destination was Starbase Twelve.
KIRK: (Disoriented). You’re right, Mr. Spock. I don’t know what came over me. Let’s go.
(Kirk and Spock leave.)
(Tommy does the fist clenching thing, Sulu blinks and presses some buttons and turns the navigation dial. Enterprise leaves orbit. Mary shakes her fist at Uhura. She pushes some buttons to short out her panel. We change the scene to see other children in Engineering and Auxiliary Control, shaking their fists and making the engineers do strange things, some of them steering the ship, others shorting things out).
[Kirk’s quarters, Kirk, Spock and McCoy. On the monitor we see the families on Triacus playing together].
KIRK: We’ve seen scenes of family life and routine archeological reports. Where are those unscientific hypotheses you were talking about?
SPOCK: Beginning here, Captain.
STARNES [on monitor]: Log date 5025.3. Ever since our arrival on Triacus, I’ve felt a certain growing feeling of uneasiness. At first I attributed it to the usual case of nerves associated with any new project. However, I’ve found that the rest of my associates are also bothered by these anxieties. The only ones not affected are the children Bless them, they find the whole thing an exciting adventure. Ah, to be young again.
KIRK: Let’s see some more of these unscientific hypotheses, Mister Spock.
STARNES [on monitor]: (tense) 5032.4. The feeling of anxiety we’ve all been experiencing is growing worse. It’s even affected our interaction with the children. Today I snapped at Tommy for no reason. I can see them becoming estranged by it.
SPOCK: There is another portion, Captain, which I believe you’ll find particularly interesting.
STARNES [on monitor]: 5038.3. Professor Wilkins finished his excavation today. Up till now we had seen no evidence of either survivors or bodies of the Gorgan civilization beyond the point where resistance stopped. It now appears there was one last survivor who took refuge in the cave. And, for our efforts, we are becoming only more apprehensive. As if some unseen force were influencing us.
KIRK: That is very interesting, Mr. Spock. Anything else?
SPOCK: Only one final entry.
STARNES [on monitor]: 5038.9. I’m being influenced to do things that do not make sense. I even went so far as to call Starfleet Command to request a spaceship to be used as a transport. It was only when I couldn’t tell them what I wanted to transport that I began to realize that my mind was being directed. I decided to send a dispatch to Starfleet, warning them. God forgive us. Must destroy ourselves! Alien upon us. The enemy from within. The enemy!
SPOCK: He never completed the entry, and the dispatch was never sent. Whatever overwhelmed them must have done so with incredible speed. Otherwise, the professor would have provided details of the experience. He was an excellent scientist and tireless in his pursuit of the truth.
KIRK: What was it Professor Starnes said about the unseen force?
McCOY: He said an unseen force was influencing him, that he recognized it, was beginning to fight it and cancelled his request for a ship.
KIRK: But he got a ship. Us! And now we’re beginning to experience the same feelings of anxiety. Spock! We’re starting to do things that make no sense! Remember I just ordered us to go to Marcus XII. Everyone seemed eager to obey. We’d be heading there now if you hadn’t corrected me.
SPOCK: Indeed, Captain. And Marcus XII was the planet that Tommy wanted to go to.
KIRK: What do we know about Marcus XII, Mr. Spock?
SPOCK: Marcus XII is a phlebotinum mining and processing colony. Approximate population two thousand, including approximately five hundred children.
KIRK: But why Marcus XII? What are they looking for?
McCOY: More children to recruit to their cause?
KIRK: But there are other planets closer by with similar populations. What’s so special about Marcus XII?
SPOCK: Unknown, Captain, but we may have a more immediate concern.
KIRK: What is it, Mr. Spock?
SPOCK: This alien force destroyed Professor Starnes and his party only after he became aware that it was controlling their minds and resolved to fight it.
McCOY: Are you saying that now that we’re aware of this alien force, it might start destroying us, too.
SPOCK: It seems unlikely, Doctor. The alien destroyed Professor Starnes only after he had served his purpose of summoning a star ship.
KIRK: That means we’ll be kept alive only until we serve our purpose of taking this ship to Marcus XII. And in the meantime, we’ve allowed the children free run of this ship while we’ve been meeting here. Which makes me wonder what’s been happening -- . (Runs out to the bridge).
[Bridge. Star field on the screen. The children are gone].
(Kirk runs in).
KIRK : Mister Sulu, we’re not orbiting Triacus.
SULU: With all respects, Captain, you’re wrong. I have Triacus on my screen now.
KIRK: Look at your instruments. We’re off course.
(Sulu looks down, then looks up, stunned).
KIRK: Turn back, Mr. Sulu. Take us back to Triacus.
SULU: The helm’s not responding, Captain.
KIRK: (Pushes him aside and tries it himself). Directional control is shorted out! Sabotage! Uhura, contact Starbase Four. Tell them what’s happening on this ship.
UHURA: I can’t Captain. This panel is shorted out, too.
KIRK: (On intercom). Scotty! What’s going on down there?
SCOTTY: I canna say, Captain. There’ve been controls shorted out all over Engineering. The whole ship seems rigged to keep her from changing course.
KIRK: Whatever it is, it’s taking control of this crew fast. Well, commence repairs, everyone. In the meantime, I’m going to demand some answers from those children. (Walks off).
[Arboretum]
(The children are doing their chant as Kirk and Spock rush in.)
KIRK: What in the -- ?!
CHILDREN: Hail, hail, fire and snow. Call the angel, we will go. Far away, far to see, friendly Angel come to me.
[The Gorgan appears. End of Act 2].
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