- Mr. Spock: [from shuttlecraft] Brace yourselves... the area of penetration will no doubt be sensitive.
- Dr. McCoy: Spock, how can you be so sure the Intrepid was destroyed?
- Mr. Spock: I sensed it die.
- Dr. McCoy: But I thought you had to be in physical contact with a subject before...
- Mr. Spock: Doctor, even I, a half-Vulcan, could hear the death scream of four hundred Vulcan minds crying out over the distance between us.
- Dr. McCoy: Not even a Vulcan could feel a starship die.
- Mr. Spock: Call it a deep understanding of the way things happen to Vulcans, but I know that not a person, not even the computers on board the Intrepid, knew what was killing them or would have understood it had they known.
- Dr. McCoy: But, 400 Vulcans?
- Mr. Spock: I've noticed that about your people, Doctor. You find it easier to understand the death of one than the death of a million. You speak about the objective hardness of the Vulcan heart, yet how little room there seems to be in yours.
- Dr. McCoy: Suffer the death of thy neighbour, eh, Spock? Now, you wouldn't wish that on us, would you?
- Mr. Spock: It might have rendered your history a bit less bloody.
- Mr. Spock: [Kirk has chosen Spock over McCoy for the mission] We're wasting time. The shuttlecraft is ready.
- Dr. McCoy: You're determined not to let me share in this, aren't you?
- Mr. Spock: This is not a competition, Doctor. Whether you understand it or not, grant me my own kind of dignity.
- Dr. McCoy: Vulcan dignity? How can I grant you what I don't understand?
- Mr. Spock: Then employ one of your own superstitions - Wish me luck.
- [Spock walks into the shuttlecraft bay and climbs aboard the shuttlecraft. The bay door closes]
- Dr. McCoy: [quietly] Good luck, Spock.
- Mr. Spock: That sound was the turbulence caused by the penetration of a boundary layer, Captain.
- Capt. Kirk: What boundary layer?
- Mr. Spock: Unknown.
- Capt. Kirk: A boundary layer between what and what?
- Mr. Spock: Between where we were and where we are.
- Capt. Kirk: Are you trying to be funny, Mr. Spock?
- Mr. Spock: It would never occur to me, Captain.
- Capt. Kirk: Captain's personal log - stardate 4309.2. We have established that the thing which destroyed the U.S.S. Intrepid and the Gamma 7A system is an incredibly huge but simple cellular being whose energies are totally destructive to all known life. Both Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy have volunteered to go in a specially equipped shuttlecraft to penetrate the cell, find a way to destroy it and free the ship. Dr. McCoy has the medical and biological knowledge. Mr. Spock is better suited physically and emotionally to stand the stress. Both are right, both are capable... and which of my friends do I condemn to death?
- Mr. Spock: [form the shuttlecraft] This is Spock. I am slowly losing life support and minimal shield energies. According to my calculations...
- [static]
- Mr. Spock: ...nervous energy of the organism...
- [louder static]
- Mr. Spock: ...is maximal... just within... its outer... protective... membrane. Relatively insensitive to interior irritation.
- [static]
- Mr. Spock: Believe sufficient charge of...
- [static]
- Mr. Spock: ...could destroy the organism. Tell Dr. McCoy...
- [static]
- Mr. Spock: ...he should have wished me luck.
- Capt. Kirk: What is that thing out there, Bones? It's not intelligent, not yet.
- Dr. McCoy: It's a disease, like a virus invading the body of our galaxy.
- Capt. Kirk: Yes, it is, isn't it? How many cells does a human body have?
- Dr. McCoy: Millions.
- Capt. Kirk: This thing, this cell, this virus... It's 11,000 kilometers long, and it's one cell. When it grows into millions... we'll be the virus invading its body.
- Dr. McCoy: Now, isn't that a thought? Here we are, antibodies of our own galaxy, attacking an invading germ. Be ironic indeed if that were our sole destiny, wouldn't it?
- Mr. Spock: Captain, the Intrepid would have done all these things, too, and yet they were destroyed.
- Capt. Kirk: Well, they may not have done ALL of these things. You just pointed out how illogical this situation is.
- Mr. Spock: True. It is also true they never knew what was killing them. Their logic would not have permitted them to believe they were being killed.
- Capt. Kirk: Explain.
- Mr. Spock: Vulcan has not been conquered within its collective memory. The memory goes back so far that no Vulcan can conceive of a conqueror. I knew the ship was lost because I sensed it.
- Capt. Kirk: What was it you sensed?
- Mr. Spock: Touch of death.
- Capt. Kirk: And what do you think they felt?
- Mr. Spock: Astonishment.
- Capt. Kirk: Captain's Log, stardate 4307.1. Approaching Starbase 6 for a much-needed period of rest and recreation. The crew has performed excellently, but is exhausted, and I, too, am looking forward to a nice period of rest on some lovely...
- [he watches a pretty yeoman pass his chair]
- Capt. Kirk: ... planet.
- Christine Chapel: Doctor, they seem to be stabilizing.
- Dr. McCoy: But at a dangerously low level. Well, we're still alive. I suppose that's something.
- Capt. Kirk: Spock! You're alive!
- Mr. Spock: [communicating from shuttlecraft] Obviously, Captain, and I have some fascinating data on the organism.
- Dr. McCoy: Don't be so smart, Spock, you botched the acetylcholine tests!
- Capt. Kirk: If you can't tell me what it is, let's use reverse logic. Perhaps it'll help if you tell me what it isn't.
- Mr. Spock: It is not liquid, gaseous, or solid, despite the fact we cannot see through it.
- Capt. Kirk: So far that's not much help.
- Capt. Kirk: Spock, give me an update on the dark area ahead.
- Mr. Spock: No analysis due to insufficient information.
- Capt. Kirk: No speculation, no information, nothing? I've asked you three times for information on that thing and you've been unable to supply it. Insufficient data is not sufficient, Mr. Spock! You're the science officer. You're supposed to have sufficient data all the time.
- Captain James T. Kirk: This is the Captain. We're on a difficult mission, but it's not the first time. Our orders do not say stay alive or retreat. Our mission is to investigate. We're sick, and we're getting sicker. We have no guarantees, but we have a good ship and the best crew in the Starfleet, so do your jobs. Carry on. Kirk out.
- Capt. Kirk: What do you think, Scotty? Forward thrust?
- Scott: I don't know, sir. It goes against the rules of logic.
- Capt. Kirk: Yes it does, doesn't it? Well, if it doesn't work, I'll never let Spock live it down.
- Capt. Kirk: All hands, this is the captain. We are slowly being pulled deeper into the zone of darkness by an unknown force. We're going to apply all available power into one giant forward thrust in the hope that it will yank us out of the zone. Prepare yourselves.
- Capt. Kirk: You got something to say?
- Dr. McCoy: Technically, no. Medically, yes. Between the stimulants and the pressure, I would suggest that you try to stay off your feet for a few minutes.
- Capt. Kirk: I don't have a few minutes, Bones. Maybe none of us do.
- Mr. Spock: Personal log, Commander Spock, U.S.S. Enterprise. I have noted the passage of the Enterprise on its way to whatever awaits it. If this record should survive me, I wish it known that I bequeath my highest commendation and testimonial to the Captain, officers, and crew of the Enterprise, the finest Starship in the fleet.
- Capt. Kirk: Spock?
- Dr. McCoy: What is it, Spock? Are you in pain?
- Mr. Spock: Captain, the Intrepid. It just died. And the four hundred Vulcans aboard, all dead.
- [the viewscreen is completely blank]
- Chekov: Captain, the stars are gone!
- Capt. Kirk: Malfunction, Mr. Spock?
- Mr. Spock: Negative, Captain. All systems functioning properly.
- Capt. Kirk: Then kindly tell me what happened to the stars.
- Capt. Kirk: [after Lt. Leslie collapses at his station] This ship is in trouble. We better start solving problems faster than than we pick up new ones.
- Dr. McCoy: Jim, according to the life indicators, the energy levels...
- Capt. Kirk: Yes, say it, Bones.
- Dr. McCoy: According to the life monitors, we're dying. We're all dying.
- Mr. Spock: Sir, we are accelerating. We're being pulled toward the center of the zone of darkness.
- Capt. Kirk: By what, Spock?
- Mr. Spock: Unknown, Captain. I suggest you order Mr. Scott to give us reverse power.
- Capt. Kirk: He just gave us reverse power. We lurched forward.
- Mr. Spock: In that case, Captain, I would suggest we apply forward thrust.
- Mr. Spock: It's logical to assume that something within this zone absorbs all forms of energy whether mechanically or biologically produced. Whatever it is, it would seem to be the same thing which drew all the energy out of an entire solar system and the Intrepid.
- Capt. Kirk: The same thing, not the zone itself?
- Mr. Spock: I would say not, Captain. The analysis of the zone indicates it is a negative energy field, however illogical that may sound, but it is not the source of the power drain.
- Capt. Kirk: Maybe it's a shield of some kind, some form of protection for something else.
- [Spock, McCoy and Kirk discuss sending a one-man probe into the giant creature. McCoy volunteers to go]
- Mr. Spock: You have a martyr complex, Doctor. I submit that it disqualifies you.