vanderberg, take two men. ezvous with commander giotto. appel and the rest of the men, go through there. tie up with lieutenant osborne's detail. mr. spock and i will control the operation from a central point. that's all. mr. spock? captain, we are being watched. are you sure? intuition? no, sir. [electronic tone] captain. fresh readings within the hour in each of these tunnels. chart says both of these tunnels converge a few thousand yards further. you take a left. i'll take a right. should we separate? two tunnels. two of us.

chief engineer vanderberg standing by on channel 1. fine. yes, chief. kirk here. just wanted to tell you the eggs have started to hatch, captain. first thing the little devils do is start to tunnel. um deposits. i'm afraid to tell you how much gold and platinum and rare earths we've uncovered. i'm delighted to hear that, chief. once mother horta tells her kids what to look for, you people are gonna be embarrassingly rich. you know, the horta aren't so bad once you get used to their appearance. that's about it, kirk. thanks for everything. our pleasure, chief. kirk out. curious. what chief vanderberg said about the horta is exactly what the mother horta said to me. but she thought she could get used to it. oh, she did, did she? tell me, did she happen to make any comment about those ears? not specifically. but i did get the distinct impression she found them the most attractive human characteristic of all. i didn't have the heart to tell her that only i have-- she really liked those ears? captain, the horta is a remarkably intelligent and sensitive creature with im