o'neil, we've gogoto keep going. come on. get up. it's no use. they're everywhere. captain gave us an order. mr. sulu. look. there's one of them. there's another one. scouting party to enterprise-- come in. what is it, mr. sulu? emergency. transporter room, lock onto sulu and o'neil. beam u uimmediately. we've got to make a run for it. we can't just stand here. mr. o'neililstand tight. they'll beam us up in a minute. run, i tell you. we've got to get out of here.

neil! [zap] sulu, what is it? where's lieutenant o'neil? what? who? lieutenant o'neil-- where is he? you... you're not of the body. dr. mccoy. dr. mccoy, transporter room, quickly. you, you did it. they knew we were archons. these are the clothes they wear, not these.

landru. landru. sit dodo. what happened? they're wonderful. they're the sweetest... friendliest people in the universe. paradise. lieutenant o'neil-- where is he? paradise. paradise. space-- the final frontier.

to explore strange new worlds... to seek out new life and new civilizations...

captain's log. stardate 3156.2-- while orbiting planet beta 3 trying to find some trace of the starship archon that disappeared here a hundred years ago, a search party consisting of two enterprise officers were sent to the planet below. mr. sulu has returned, quires but in a highly agitated mental state. i beam down with an additional search detail. materialization completed. kirk out.

the expression on that man's face, the mindlessness, vacant contentment. like sulu. if everybody on this planet is like him... let's go. joy to you, friends. joy to you. you be strangers. come for the festival, are you? yes. got a place to sleep it off yet? go around to reger's house. he's got rooms... but you'll have to hurry. it's almost the red hour.

it starts at 6:00? tula, these folks come for the festival. yoyo daddy can put them up, can't he? you're from the valley? we've, uh, just arrived. my father will be glad to put you up, though. it's right over there. [clock bell tolls] aah! tula, come!

i'm sorry to break in on you like this. we didn't expect that kind of a welcome. e strangers? yes, that's right. we're...from t t valley. you came for the festival? yes. and how come you here? are you reger? yes. you have a daughter named tula? yes. well, you better do something. she's outside. i know. it's festival. it's the will of landru. reger, these are young men.

well, have they no lawgivers in the valley? why be they not at t t festival? we heard that you might have rooms for us. there. you see, hacom? they've merely come looking for a place to rest afterwards. the red hour has already struck. hacom, these be strangers. the valley has different ways. do you say that landru is not everywhere? no, of course not. it's simply that they may have different ways. they've come looking for shelter. can i turn them away? come, please. but the girl, out there? she is in festival, as you should be. come, please. hurry. the lawgivers should know. surely, hacom, they already know. are they not infallible? you mock them! you mock the lawgivers.

you will see. you can return here at the close of the festival. it's quiet. you'll havavneed of rest. we have no plans to attend the festival, sir. [crowd shouting and glass breaking] the hour has struck. you can hear. ndru. landru? you ask... well, you're strange. you scorn festival? are you... are you...

festival! festival! landru. my guess is we have until morning. let's put the time to good use. doctor, do atmospheric readings to determine whether there's anything in the air to account for all this. mr. lindstrom, correlate all that you've seen with any other sociological parallels, if any. mr. spock... you and i have some serious thinking to do. when we leave here tomorrow morning,

[bell tolling] spock. spock. lindstrom. doc. [woman screaming]

it's all over now, tula. that's all right. quiet. excuse me. come on. it's all right. it's all over. he'll give her a shot. it'll calm her down. trust us. you didn't even try to bring her back. what kind of father are you? it's landru's will. what about landru? who is he? it is true then. you did not attend the festival last night. no. then you're not of the body. you couldn't be. she's asleep. are you... are you archons? what if we are?

vers. we can take care of ourselves. landru will know. he will come. he is the one. he mocked the lawgivers. i heard him. no, hacom. it was a jest. the others, they were here, but they scorned the festival. i saw it. tamar, stand clear. i hear... and obey the voice of landru. you attacked the body.

you will be absorbed. what do you mean, absorbed? there. you see? not of the body. you will be absorbed. the good is all. landru is gentle. you will come. ? ? if you're on medicare, remember, open enrollment is here. the time to choose your medicare coverage begins october 15th and ends december 7th.

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evidently they're not prepared to deal with outright disobedience. how did you know? everything we've seen here so far seems to indicate some sort of compulsive, involuntary stimulus to action. your analysis seems logical. it is clear that you simply did not understand. i will rephrase. you are ordered to accompany us to the absorption chambers. why did you kill that man? out of order. you will obey. it is the word of landru. you tell landru

you cannot. it is landru. landru. fascinating. this is merely a hollow tube, captain. no mechanism. they're communing. we have time. come with me. where to? to a place i know. you'll be safe there. but we must hurry. landru will come.

peace. what do you make of all this? totally illogical. yesterday without apparent cause or reason, they wrought total havoc, yet today, now-- now they're back to normal. morning, friends. good morning, bilar. your daughter-- that's the man! no, it wasn't bilar. it was landru. let's hurry. we haven't much time. it's too late. look. what is it? landru-- he's summoning the body. telepathy, captain. phasers on stun. which way, reger? perhaps through there, but landru... we'll handle landru.

i don't want to hurt them. warn them back. they're in the body. it's landru. phasers on stun, wide field. fire. fire. security. captain. lieutenant o'neil. he's one of our men. not anymore. he's been absorbed. bring him along. but i tell you, he's one of them. when he wakes, landru will find us through him.

we still don't know what's happened to the archons.

amazing in this culture. comes from a time before landru. before landru? how long ago was that? nobody knows positively. some say as long ago as 6,000 years. captain, it took a very advanced technology to construct a device like this-- inconsistent with this environment-- but not inconsistent with what we've seen. security. those staffs, hollow tubes-- antennae, some sort of broadcast power. what is it, mr. spock? mostly strong power generations, captain, near here, but radiating in all directions. he'll be coming around soon, captain. he must not. he's been absorbed. absorbed? the body absorbs its enemies. it only kills when it has to. when the first archons came, they were free, out of control,

re absorbed. when he regains consciousness, landru will find us through him, and if the others come-- what others? those like you and me, who resist landru. an underground? how are you organized? in threes-- myself, tamar, who's dead now, and one other. who? i don't know. tamar was my contact. give me a decision, captain. he's coming out of it. he must not regain consciousness. he'll destroy us all. he's of the body. give him a shot. keep him asleep. reger... i want some answers.

ful, how do you survive? i don't know, captain. some of us escaped the directives. not many, but a few. it was that way when the first archons came. the archons... tell me about them. they had invaded the body, but they resisted the will of landru. you see, landru had pulled them down from the skies. pulled them down from the skies? a starship? mr. spock, those power readings you took, are they... powerful enough to destroy a starship? affirmative. kirk to enterprise, come in. captain, we're under attack. there are heat beams of some kind coming up from the planet's surface. status report. our shields are holding, but they're taking all our power. if we try to warp out or even move on impulse engines, we'll lose our shields, and we'll burn up like a cinder. orbit condition.

we're going down, captain. unless we can get those beams off us so we can use our engines, we're due to hit atmosphere in less than 12 hours. keep your shield up. do everything you can to maintain orbit. we'll try and locate the source of the beam and stop it here. impossible to break away. i've tried the emergency bypass circuits, but they haven't been effective. [static] [spock] captain. what is it? sensor beams, very strong. we're being probed in this direction. landru. block them out. too strong, captain. can't be blocked. [whirring sounds] ooh...

projection, captain. unreal. but beautiful, mr. spock, with no apparatus at this end. you have come as destroyers. you bring an infection. you are holding my ship. i demand that you release it. you have come to a world without hate, without fear, without conflict... no war... no disease... none of the ancient evils. landru seeks tranquility... peace for all... the universal good. we mean you no harm. ours is a mission of peace and good will. the good must transcend the evil. it shall be done. so it has been since the beginning.

put that away. landru... listen to me. you will be absorbed. your individuality will merge into the unity of good, and in your submergence into the common being of the body, you will find contentment and fulfillment. you will experience... ohh...

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captain's log. stardate 3157.4-- the enterprise, still under attack by some sort of heat rays from the surface of beta 3, is now being commanded by engineering officer scott. the shore party has been taken