[beeping] stay on top of it, mr. sulu. we're holding orbit, sir. the helm is sluggish. control circuits threatening to overload, captain. understood, engineer. mr. spock. we can't avoid these areas of turbulence. i believe we'll have them plotted in a few more orbits, captain. sick bay, to bridge. switching to manual, captain. we maintain this orbit? mr. spock?

we're actually passing through ripples in time. maintain orbit. open the channel to star fleet command. yes, sir. precautionary measure, lieutenant. broadcast to star fleet command my past week's log entry, starting with the unusual readings on the instruments and how they led us here. inform star fleet command that apparently... something or someone down on this planet... bones. can affect changes in time, causing turbulent waves of space displacement. some heart flutter. better risk a few drops of cordruzine. tricky stuff. are you sure you want to risk-- [hiss] you were about to make a medical comment, jim? who, me, doctor?

mr. spock? all plotted but one, captain. coming up on it now. seems to be fairly heavy displacement. [hiss] bones! back to your positions. the hypo, captain. it was set for cordruzine. empty. communications, emergency medical team. aah! i won't let you! i'll kill you first! i won't let you! you won't get me! murderers! killers! security alert.

these are the voyages of the starship enterprise. its five-year mission-- to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations...

captain's log, supplemental entry. two drops of cordruzine can save a man's life. a hundred times that amount has just accidentally been pumped into dr. mccoy's body. he has fled the ship's bridge. all connecting decks have been placed on alert. we have no way of knowing if the madness is permanent or temporary

continue alert, decks 4 through 11. the medical department knows as little as we do. in dosages approaching this, there's some record of wild paranoia. confirmed by the library record tapes, captain. subjects failed to recognize acquaintances, became hysterically convinced that they were in mortal danger, and were seeking escape at any cost. extremely dangerous to himself or to anyone else who might-- bridge, security. alert, alert! bridge here. go ahead. security 054, sir. we just found the transporter chief injured. captain, dr. mccoy has beamed himself down to the planet. and the transporter at that time, captain, was focused on the center of the time disturbance. so whatever's down there, mccoy's in the heart of it. set up a landing party.

these ruins extend to the horizon. begin recording. recording, sir. and of considerable age-- on the order of 10,000 centuries old. detail, fan out. what is this thing, mr. spock? it seems to be pulsating with power of some kind.

unbelievable, captain. that's funny. this single object is the source of all the time displacement. explain. i can't. for this to do what it does is impossible by any science i understand. it is operating even now... putting out waves and waves of time displacement, ns of miles away. landing party to enterprise. no sign of dr. mccoy. search progressing. incredible power. it can't be a machine as we understand mechanics. then what is it? a question.

and before your race was born, i have awaited a question. what are you? i am the guardian of forever. are you machine or being? i am both and neither. i am my own beginning, my own ending. i see no reason for answers to be couched in riddles. rstanding makes possible. a time portal, captain-- a gateway to other times and dimensions, if i'm correct.

is obviously primitive. really? annoyed, spock? behold. a gateway to your own past, if you wish. coy: killers! killers! i won't let you get me! i'll kill you first! i won't let you get me! assassins! murderers! killers! spock!

could we somehow take bones back a day in time, then... relive the accident, this time be certain that the hypo accident is avoided? look at the speed with which the centuries are passing, captain. to step through on precisely the day we wish... guardian. can you change the speed at which yesterday passes? i cannot change. strangely compelling, isn't it? to step through there... and lose oneself in another world. i am a fool. our tricorder is capable of recording even at this speed.

which no man before has ever-- dr. mccoy! bones, no! where is he? he has passed into... what was. captain, i've lost contact with the ship. i was talking to them. suddenly, it went dead. no static, just nothing. kirk to enterprise. scotty. nothing wrong with the communicator, sir. your vessel, your beginning, all that you knew is gone. mccoy... has somehow changed history.

captain, i'm frightened. earth's not there, at least not the earth we know.

no star date. for us, time does not exist. mccoy, back somewhere in the past, has effected a change in the course of time. all earth history has been changed. there is no starship enterprise. we have only one chance. we have asked the guardian to show us earth's history again.

whatever it was that mccoy changed. i was recording images at the time mccoy left-- a rather barbaric period in your american history. i believe i can approximate just when to jump, perhaps within a month of the correct time. a week, if we're fortunate. make sure we arrive before mccoy got there. it's vital we stop him before he does whatever it was that changed all history. guardian. if we are successful... then you will be returned. it will be as though none of you had gone. captain, it seems impossible. even if you're able to find the right date... then even finding mccoy would be a miracle.

scotty... when you think you've waited long enough, each of you will have to try it, even if you fail. at least you'll be alive in some past world somewhere. aye. seconds now, sir. stand by. good luck, gentlemen. happiness at least, sir. and...

i've seen old photographs of this period. an economic upheaval had occurred. it was called depression, circa 1930. quite barbaric. we seem to be costumed a little out of step with the time. i'm afraid i'm going to be difficult to explain ock, if we can't disguise you, we'll find some way of... explaining you. that should prove interesting. let's get out of here. [horn honks]

theft, captain? well, we'll steal from the rich and give back to the poor later. i think i'm going to like this century-- simple, easier to manage. we're not going to have any difficulty explaining-- ahem. well? you're a police officer.

you were saying you'll have no trouble explaining it. my friend is obviously chinese. i see you've noticed the ears. they're actually easy to explain. perhaps the unfortunate accident i had as a child. the unfortunate accident he had as a child. he caught his head in a mechanical... rice picker, there was an american missionary living close by who was actually a, uh... skilled plastic surgeon in civilian life. all right, all right! drop those bundles and put your hands on that wall there! come on! how careless of your wife to let you go out that way. oh, yes, it's quite untidy. here, let me help you.

[whistle blowing] [dog barking] you were actually enjoying my predicament back there. at times, you seem quite human. captain, i hardly believe that insults are within your prerogative as my commanding officer. sorry. time we faced the unpleasant facts. first, i believe we have about a week

lulu, boise, san diego? why not outer mongolia, for that matter? there is a theory. there could be some logic to the belief that time is fluid, like a river-- with currents, eddies, backwash. and the same currents that swept mccoy to a certain time and place might sweep us there, too. unless that is true, captain, we have no hope. frustrating-- locked in here even the images of what he did. if only i could tie this tricorder in with the ship's computers for a few moments. couldn't you build some form of computer aid here? in this zinc-plated vacuum-tubed culture? yes, well, it would pose an extremely complex problem in logic, mr. spock. excuse me.

s there? excuse us, miss. we didn't mean to trespass. it's cold outside. a lie is a very poor way to say hello. it isn't that cold. no. we were being chased by a policeman. why? for these clothes. we stole them. we didn't have any money. well, i could do with some help around here-- doing dishes, sweeping, general cleaning. at what rate of payment? i need radio tubes and so forth. my hobby.

what are your names? mine is jim kirk. his is... spock. i'm edith keeler. well, you can start by cleaning up down here. excuse me, miss. where are we? you're in the 21st street mission. do you run this place? indeed i do, mr. kirk. radio tubes and so on.

good evening. you'll be sorry. why? you expect to eat for free or something? you got to listen to goody two-shoes.

not that she's a bad-looking broad, but if she really wanted to help out a fella in need-- shut up. shut up. i want to hear what she has to say. yes, of course, captain. now, let's start by getting one thing straight. i'm not a do-gooder. if you're a bum, if you can't break off of the booze or whatever it is that makes you a bad risk, then get out. now i don't pretend to tell you s and love when every day is a just struggle to survive, but i do insist that you do survive because the days and the years ahead are worth living for. one day soon... man is going to be able to harness incredible energies, maybe even the atom. energies that could ultimately hurl us

will be able to find ways to feed the hungry millions of the world and to cure their diseases. they will be able to find a way to give each man hope and a common future, and those are the days worth living for. our deserts will bloom. development of atomic power is years away. space flight, years after that. speculation. gifted insight. but it will come. i find her most uncommon, mr. spock. mr. kirk. you are uncommon workmen.

en we can report back for other work? yes. 7:00 in the morning. do you have a flop for the night? a what? you really are new at this, aren't you? a flop is a place to sleep. oh. there's a vacant room at the place where i live for $2.00 a week. if you want to, i'll take you there. thank you. we have a flop. captain? a place to sleep. one might have said so in the first place.

[beeping and squealing stops] captain, i must have some platinum. a small block would be sufficient-- 5 or 6 pounds. by passing certain circuits through there to be used as a duo-dynetic field core-- mr. spock, i've brought you some assorted vegetables, baloney and a hard roll for myself, and i've spent the other 9/10 of our combined salaries for the last three days on filling this order for you. mr. spock, this bag doesn't contain platinum, silver, or gold, nor is it likely to in the near future. captain, you're asking me to use equipment which is hardly very far ahead of stone knives and bearskins. mccoy will be along in a few days, perhaps sooner. there's no guarantee that these currents in time

o work. captain... captain, in three weeks, at this rate, possibly a month, i might reach the first mnemonic memory circuits. [knock on door] your cap. if you can leave right away, i can get you 5 hours' work at 22 cents an hour. what--what on earth is that? ndeavoring, ma'am, to construct a mnemonic memory circuit