here's the report on polex 5, captain. this entire system has been almost the same-- a strange lack of intelligent life on the planet. it bugs the percentages. bugs the-- well, carry out the standard procedures on polex 4. aye, s lieutenant, you look a bit tired this morning. well, i was up all night working on this report, sir. well, in that case, there's nothing like a wee bit of coffee to get you back in shape. join me, carolyn? all right, scotty. just let me give this to mr. spock. bones... could you get that excited over a cup of coffee? well, even from here i can tell his pulse rate's up. gentlemen.

i'm not sure i like that, jim. why, bones? scotty's a good man. and he thinks he's the right man for her, but i'm not sure she thinks he's the right man. on the other hand, she's a woman-- all woman. mm-hmm. one day she'll find the right man, and off she'll go, out of the service. mm-hmm. i'd like to think of it not so much losing an officer as gaining-- come along. actually, i'm losing an officer. entering standard orbit around polex 4, sir. cartographic detail, stand by. standing by, sir. preliminary reports, mr. spock. polex 4-- class "m" type planet, oxygen and nitrogen atmosphere. sensors indicate no life forms. approximate age 4 billion years. judge no reason for contact.

all cartographic standards full automatic. captain? what in the name of... analysis, mr. spock. momentarily. am i... seeing things? not unless i am, too. captain, that thing's a giant hand. what is it, mr. spock? is it a... a hand? negative, captain. not living tissue. a trick, then? a projection? not a projection, sir.

hard about. hard about. we can't seem to get away from it. it's almost as if it means to grab us. reverse all engines. all engines reversed. we're dead still, captain. we can't move. space-- the final frontier.

its five-year mission-- to explore strange new worlds... to seek out new life and new civilizations...

captain's log-- stardate 3468.1. while approaching polex 4, the enterprise has been stopped in space by an unknown force of some kind. lieutenant, relay our position and circumstances to starbase 12 immediately. aye, aye, sir. mr. sulu... try rocking the ship. full impulse power forward and back. aye, aye, sir. damage report coming in, captain. situation under control. minor damage-- stations 3, 7, and 19.

thank you. mr. sulu? applying thrust, sir. no results, captain. we're stuck tight. mr. spock. status. the ship is almost completely encircled by the field. it resembles a conventional force field but on unusual wavelengths. despite its appearance-- it is definitely not living tissue. it is energy. thank you. mr. sulu. our forward tractor beams-- adjust to repel. aye, aye, sir. [beep] standing by. activate. ineffective, captain. there doesn't seem to be anything

curious development on scanner 57. let's all take a look at it, mr. spock. screen on, captain. activity on hailing channel 3, sir. put it on audio, lieutenant. and what has been written has come about. you are most welcome, my beloved children. your places await you. response frequencies, lieutenant. calculated. channel open, sir. you have left your plains and valleys and made this bold venture. so it was in the beginning.

now you can rest. this is captain james t. kirk, commanding the u.s.s. enterprise. please identify yourself. we shall remember together. we shall drink the sacramental wine. there shall be the music of the pipes. the long wait has ended. are you responsible for stopping the ship? yes. i caused the wind to withdraw from your sails. give it back, then we'll talk. it has been 5,000 years. have you learned no patience in that time? i don't know who or what you are, but i must warn you, we have the power to defend ourselves. if you value your safety, release this ship. you have the same fire. how like your fathers you are-- agamemnon, hector, odysseus. never mind the history lesson. release the ship! you will obey me,

external pressure building up, captain. 800 gsc and climbing. compensate. 1,000 gsc and climbing. aah! it's becoming critical, captain. we can't handle it. all right! whatever you're doing, turn it off! you win! pressure is gone, captain. space normal on hull. that was your first lesson. remember it. captain kirk, i invite you and your officers to join me. but do not bring that one,

he is much like pan, and pan always bored me. no sad faces. this is a time to rejoice, not to fear. you are returning home. let your hearts prepare to sing. let's go, bones. you in good voice? sure it's wise, jim? if we don't accept his invitation, crushed eggshell where this ship used to be. verbose, isn't he? insulted, spock? insults are effective only where emotion is present. good. we'll tackle him together. we already know the questions.

tricorders. what am i doing down here, doctor? well, you're the a & a officer, aren't you? archaeology, anthropology, ancient civilizations. correct. well, we're going to need help in all those areas. come on. my children, long have i waited for this moment. the memories you bring of your lush and beautiful earth, the green fields and blue skies, the simple shepherds and their flocks. you know of earth? you've been there?

and i breathed upon it, and spring returned. you mentioned agamemnon, hector, odysseus. how do you know about them? search your most distant memories, those of the thousands of years past, and i am there. your fathers knew me, and your father's fathers. i am apollo. and i am the tsar of all the russias. mr. chekov. i'm sorry. i never met a god before. and you haven't yet. readings, doctor. simple humanoid, captain. evidently not so simple. earth... mother of the most beautiful of women in the universe. that at least has not changed. i am pleased.

us, athena, aphrodite, artemis-- a gallant band of travelers. we knew your earth well 5,000 of your years ago. all right. we're here at your invitation. would you mind telling us what you want without all the olympian generalities? you will not leave this place. transporter room. your transportation device no longer functions. enterprise, come in. i will not permit that device to work, either, captain. what is it you want? you will worship me, as your fathers did before you. if you want to play god and call yourself apollo, that's your business. you're no god to us, mister! i said you will worship me.

let the lesson begin!

mr. spock, i can't contact the landing party. all frequencies are jammed. try to break through it, lieutenant. transporter and communications? inefficient. mr. sulu, rig all transmission circuits

the field around the ship. working, sir. lieutenant kyle, i want a complete sensor scan of the planet. locate all life forms. i want to know what's going on down there. to coin a phrase... fascinating. analysis. lieutenant palamis, what do you know about apollo? apollo--twin brother of artemis, son of the god zeus and leto, a mortal. he was the god of light and purity. he was skilled in the bow and the lyre. and...this thing? obviously, he has some knowledge of earth-- his classical references and the appearance of all this.

well, i can't say much till i check out these readings. he looks human, but of course, that doesn't mean a thing. whatever he is, sir, he seems to control a remarkable technology. power is what he controls. you can't do tricks like that without energy. fine, but what power and where is it? scout around with your tricorders. find the source of that power. bones. yes? bones, i wonder if 5,000 years ago... you have a theory? i have an idea. what? captain. i want from you that which is rightfully mine-- your loyalty, your tribute, and your worship. may i ask what you offer in exchange for this worship? life in paradise.

as it was those thousands of years ago on that beautiful planet so far away. apollo... we're willing to talk, but you'll find we don't bow to every creature who happens to have a bag of tricks. agamemnon was one such as you, and hercules. pride and arrogance. me, until they felt my wrath. i would like to point out that we are quite capable of some wrath ourselves. i have 430 people on that ship up there. no, you do not, captain. they are mine-- to save, to cherish, or to destroy at my will. but why? what you've said so far

how like aphrodite and athena. the beauty, grace. and you seem wise for a woman. what is your name? lieutenant palamis. i mean your name. carolyn. carolyn. yes. you are beautiful. you would do aphrodite credit. i will tell you a thousand tales, stories of courage and love. you will know what it is to be a goddess. leave her alone. you protest? you risk much. and so do you.

very impressive. how'd you do it? i've grown weary of discussion and argument. captain, the phasers. all the working parts are fused. none of your toys will function. yes. you are a beauty. but like artemis, the bow arm should be bare. oh. oh, it's beautiful. yes. come. she's not going with you. [thunder]

so shall you all. come. it's all right, captain. i'll go. without fear. she is fit, indeed. bones, how is he? i'm not sure it's wise to let her go off like that. he would have been rather difficult to stop. you saw how capricious he is-- benevolent one minute, angry the next. one wrong move from her and he could kill her. mr. chekov, i think you'd better continue your investigation. aye, aye, sir. how do you feel, scotty? i'm tingling all over. did he take her with him? it seems so. captain, we've got to stop him. he wants her, the way he looks at her!

but she volunteered to go with him, hopefully to find out more about him. she's doing her job. i think it's about time you started doing yours. we've got to find out the source of his power. you've got a tricorder. use it if you're able to. i'm able, sir. and one more thing-- i want no more unauthorized action against apollo or whatever he is. that's an order! aye, aye, sir. besides, you stiff-necked thistle head, you could have gotten yourself killed. aye. scotty doesn't believe in gods. apollo's no god. but... he could have been taken for one, though, once. say, 5,000 years ago, a highly sophisticated group of space travelers

to the simple shepherds and tribesmen of early greece, creatures like that would have been gods. especially if they had the power to alter their form at will and command great energy. in fact, they couldn't have been taken for anything else. ready to reverse polarity, mr. sulu? computed and standing by to generate, sir. activate all units. [crash] no good, mr. spock. we didn't even faze it. we're still locked tight. cut power, mr. sulu. lieutenant, we must restore communications with the landing party. well, i'm working, sir, but i can't do anything with this. oh? well, i might be able to rig up a subspace bypass circuit.

located the landing party, sir, but one of them seems separated from the other four. and apollo? i've just picked up readings for our own people, sir. mr. spock, here's something. there seems to be a radiated energy pulsation coming from the planet. i don't know what it is, sir. origin? i can't seem to pinpoint it, sir. i would suggest, mr. sulu, that if you cannot find out where the power source is, you should find out where it is not. a simple process of elimination. the whole planet, sir?

oh, it's lovely. i've known other women-- daphne, cassandra. but none more beautiful than you. are you frightened of me? frightened? no, i don't think so. of course, a girl doesn't go walking with a-- a god? all right. a god. every day. happened to the others? artemis, hera? they returned to the cosmos... on the wings of the wind. you mean they died? no. not as you understand it. we're immortal, we gods. but the earth changed. your fathers changed.

we need love, admiration, worship, as you need food. you really think you're a god? in a real sense, we were gods. we had the power of life and death. we could have struck out from olympus and destroyed. we have no wish to destroy, so we came home again. it was an empty place without worshipers, but we had no strength to leave, and we waited, all of us, through the long years. but you said the others didn't die. even for a god, there's a point of no return. hera was first. she stood in front of the temple and spread herself upon the wind--

until only the wind remained. but i knew you would come. you striving, bickering, foolishly brave humans. i knew you would come to the stars one day. of all the gods, i knew, and i waited-- waited for you to come sit by my side. i don't understand. even 5,000 years ago, to love, to care for, like zeus took leto, my mother. we were gods of passion... of love. there is a repeated occurrence of registrations, a regular pulsating pattern of radiated energy. unquestionably, an immensely powerful field of energy is being generated around here somewhere. but we're just having difficulty focusing on it.

he taps that energy, mr. scott. sir, some creatures can generate and control energy with no harm to themselves-- the electric eel on earth, the giant dry worm of antos 4, the fluffy-- not the whole encyclopedia, chekov. the captain requires complete information. spock's contaminating this boy, jim. are you suggesting that he--apollo-- taps a flow of energy and channels it through his body? mr. chekov, i think you've earned your pay for the week. but where is the source of that power? number one on our list of things to do. is that all you have to offer? yes, except my estimation for his physical condition. in spite of apollo's bag of tricks, he comes up essentially normal with just a few variations. however, there's an extra organ in his chest that i can't even make a guess about.