Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Overture

OPENING CREDITS

(three Klingon battle cruisers approach a luminescent Cloud)

[Klingon bridge]


 * KLINGON CAPTAIN: (In Klingonese) Tactical.

(the battle cruisers overfly the Cloud)
 * KLINGON CAPTAIN: (In Klingonese) Visual.

(the Cloud on the viewscreen)
 * KLINGON CAPTAIN: (In Klingonese) Tactical. Stand by on torpedoes. ...Ready. ...Fire!

(the battle cruisers fire photon torpedoes at the Cloud)
 * KLINGON CAPTAIN: (In Klingonese) Evasive!

[Epsilon IX - exterior]


 * LIEUTENANT: This is comm station Epsilon Nine, calling U.S.S. Columbia. Come in Columbia. Respond!
 * COLUMBIA VOICE: (too faint to understand)
 * LIEUTENANT: This is Epsilon Nine. Am boosting output. How do you read this?
 * COLUMBIA VOICE: All right. (too faint to understand)
 * LIEUTENANT: Scout Columbia NCC six two one to rendezvous with Scout Revere NCC five nine five on stardate seven four one one point four. Further orders to be relayed at that time. Signed, Commodore Probert, Starfleet. End of transmission.
 * COLUMBIA VOICE: All right. (too faint to understand)

[Epsilon IX - interior]


 * LIEUTENANT: Our sensor drone is intercepting this on Quad L fourteen.
 * BRANCH: That's in Klingon boundaries. Who are they fighting?
 * LIEUTENANT: Unknown, sir.
 * TECHNICIAN: I have an exterior visual.

(the battle cruisers are destroyed by energy bolts from the Cloud)
 * LIEUTENANT: We've plotted a course on that Cloud, Commander. It will pass into Federation space fairly close to us.
 * BRANCH: Heading?
 * LIEUTENANT: Sir, it's on a precise heading for Earth!

[Surface of Vulcan]


 * FEMALE MASTER: (in Vulcan) Our ancestors cast out their animal passions on these very sands, ...saving our race through the attainment of Kolinahr.
 * MALE MASTER: (in Vulcan) Kolinahr, through which all emotion is renounced and shed.
 * FEMALE MASTER: (in Vulcan) You have laboured for many seasons, Spock ...and you have proved yourself worthy ...to receive this symbol of pure logic.

(Spock stops her putting the ancient pendant around his neck)
 * FEMALE MASTER: (in Vulcan) Your thoughts, give them to me. Our minds are joined, Spock, ...together, and as one. I sense the consciousness calling to you from space. ...Your human blood is touched by it, Spock. You have not yet attained Kolinahr. He must search elsewhere for his answer. He shall not find it here. Live long and prosper, Spock.

STARFLEET HEADQUARTERS

STARDATE: 7410.2

[San Francisco Air Tram station]


 * KIRK: Commander Sonak, you received your appointment as Enterprise science officer?
 * SONAK: Based, I am told, on your recommendation, Admiral. Thank you.
 * KIRK: Why aren't you on board?
 * SONAK: Captain Decker requested I complete final science briefing here before we leave on our mission.
 * KIRK: Here? At Starfleet? The Enterprise is in final preparation to leave dock.
 * SONAK: Which will require twenty more hours at minimum.
 * KIRK: Twelve! I'm on my way to a meeting with Admiral Nogura which will not last more than three minutes. Report to me on the Enterprise in one hour.
 * SONAK: Report to you, sir?
 * KIRK: It is my intention to be on that ship following that meeting. Report to me in one hour.

[Orbital Office Complex]
 * SCOTT: Admiral.
 * KIRK: Mister Scott.
 * SCOTT: Those departure orders, twelve hours, Starfleet cannot be serious.
 * KIRK: Why aren't the Enterprise transporters operating, Mister Scott?
 * SCOTT: A wee problem, sir, really. Just temporary. Admiral, we have just spent eighteen months redesigning and refitting the Enterprise How in the name of hell do they expect to have her ready in twelve hours?
 * KIRK: Take me over, please.

[Travel Pod]


 * SCOTT: She needs more work, a shakedown.
 * KIRK: Mister Scott, there's an alien object with unbelievable destructive power less than three days away from this planet. ...The only starship in interception range is the Enterprise. Ready, or not, she launches in twelve hours.
 * SCOTT: The crew hasn't had near enough transition time with all the new equipment. And the engines are not yet tested at warp power. And an untried Captain.
 * KIRK: Two and a half years as Chief of Starfleet Operations may have made me a stale but I wouldn't exactly consider myself untried. They gave her back to me, Scotty.
 * SCOTT: Gave her back, sir? I doubt it was that easy with Nogura.
 * KIRK: You're right
 * SCOTT: Well, any man who could manage such a feat, I wouldna dare disappoint. She'll launch on time, sir, ...and she'll be ready.

(Enterprise flyby)
 * KIRK: Thank you, Mister Scott.
 * SCOTT: Aye sir.

[Enterprise cargo deck]


 * TANNOY VOICE: Cargo bay to launch crew. Travel pod is now available at dock six.
 * KIRK: Permission to come aboard, sir?
 * ENSIGN: Granted, sir. Welcome aboard, Admiral. ...Commander Scott, you're needed in engineering immediately.
 * SCOTT: Sir, you'll excuse me?
 * TANNOY VOICE: Flight deck. Prepare for incoming shuttlecraft.
 * ENSIGN: Sir, if you'll follow me, I'll...
 * KIRK: I think I can find my way, Ensign.
 * ENSIGN: Aye sir.

[Enterprise turbolift]


 * KIRK: Bridge.

[Enterprise bridge]


 * FEMALE CREWMEMBER'S VOICE: What's the problem? I thought you had that circuit patched an hour ago.
 * MALE CREWMEMBER'S VOICE: We did. And we had to disconnect it.
 * CREWMEMBER'S VOICES: (general technical chatter)
 * UHURA: I'll get somebody down there just as soon as I can. ...Captain! Starfleet just signalled your transfer-of-command orders, sir.
 * SULU: Captain!
 * KIRK: I appreciate your welcome. I wish the circumstances were less critical. Epsilon Nine is monitoring the intruder. Keep a channel open.
 * UHURA: Aye sir.
 * KIRK: Where's Captain Decker?
 * SULU: He's in engineering, sir. ...He ...doesn't know.
 * KIRK: Mister Chekov!
 * CHEKOV: Aye sir.
 * KIRK: Assemble the crew on the Recreation Deck at oh four hundred hours. I want to show them what we're facing.
 * SULU: He wanted her back. He got her!
 * ALIEN ENSIGN: And Captain Decker? He's been with the ship every minute of her refitting.
 * UHURA: Ensign, the possibilities of our returning from this mission in one piece may have just doubled.

[Enterprise engineering]


 * VOICES (OC): Check. Cleary on number six.

Space matrix restoration coils. Dilithium crystals. I knew it. The transporter sensor was not activated. Faulty modules.
 * SCOTT (OC): Cleary! Put a new backup sensor into the unit.
 * CLEARY (OC): Aye sir.
 * DECKER: Admiral Kirk! ...We're getting a top brass send off? Don't worry, she'll launch on schedule if we have to tow her out with our bare hands. Right, Scotty?
 * SCOTT: Aye, yes, that we will, sir.
 * KIRK: Let's talk.
 * DECKER: Sure. Let me now when the backup's ready.
 * SCOTT: Aye sir.
 * DECKER: With all due respect, sir, I hope this isn't some kind of Starfleet pep talk, I'm really too busy.
 * KIRK: I'm taking over the center seat, Will.
 * DECKER: You're what?
 * KIRK: I'm replacing you as Captain of the Enterprise. You'll stay on as Executive Officer. Temporary grade reduction to Commander.
 * DECKER: You personally, are assuming command?
 * KIRK: Yeah.
 * DECKER: May I ask? Why?
 * KIRK: My experience, five years out there dealing with unknowns like this, my familiarity with the Enterprise, this crew.
 * DECKER: Admiral, this is an almost totally new Enterprise. You don't know her a tenth as well as I do.
 * KIRK: That's why you're staying aboard. I'm sorry,
 * DECKER: No, Admiral. I don't think you are, not one damn bit. I remember when you recommended me for this command. You told me how envious you were, and how much you hoped you'd find a way to get a starship command again. Well, it looks like you found a way.
 * KIRK: Report to the bridge, Commander. Immediately.
 * DECKER: Aye sir.
 * CLEARY: Transporter room, come in! Urgent! Redline on the transporters, Mister Scott!
 * SCOTT: Transporter room, do not engage! Do not...
 * CLEARY: It's too late. They're beaming now!

[Enterprise transporter room]


 * RAND: Do you read me Starfleet? Override us. Pull them back!
 * KIRK: Give it to me. Starfleet, boost your matter gain, we need more signal! ...More signal!
 * SCOTT: We're losing their pattern.
 * RAND: Oh, no! They're forming!
 * WOMAN: (a scream)
 * SONAK: (a moan)
 * KIRK: Starfleet, do you have them?
 * STARFLEET VOICE: Enterprise, ...what we got back didn't live long, ...fortunately.
 * KIRK: Starfleet, ...Kirk. Please ...express my condolences to their families. Commander Sonak's can be reached through the Vulcan Embassy. There was nothing you could have done, Rand. It wasn't your fault.

[Enterprise corridor]


 * KIRK: Yeoman! Turboshaft eight?
 * YEOMAN: Back that way, sir.
 * KIRK: We have to replace Commander Sonak. I'd still like a Vulcan there, if possible.
 * DECKER: None available, Captain. There's no one available. In fact there's no one who's fully rated on this design.
 * KIRK: You are, Mister Decker. I'm afraid you're gonna have to double as science officer.

[Enterprise recreation deck]


 * KIRK: That's all we know about it, except that it's now fifty-three point four hours away from Earth. Enterprise is the only Federation starship that stands in its way. Our orders are to intercept, investigate, and take whatever action is necessary, ...and possible.
 * BRIDGE VOICE: Bridge to Captain. Priority signal from Epsilon Nine.
 * KIRK: Put it on the viewer.
 * UHURA (OC): On viewer, sir.
 * BRANCH (on viewer): Enterprise, the Cloud is definitely a power field of some kind. Measures, my God, over two A.U.'s in diameter. Must be something incredible inside there generating it. We're transmitting linguacode friendship messages on all frequencies. No response.
 * TECHNICIAN (on viewer): I have a null reading at the center of the Cloud, sir.
 * LIEUTENANT (on viewer): Definitely something inside there but all scans are being reflected back.
 * BRANCH (on viewer): A kind of power surge.
 * LIEUTENANT (on viewer): Receiving an odd pattern now.
 * BRANCH (on viewer): Enterprise, ...they could be mistaking our scans as a hostile act.
 * LIEUTENANT (on viewer): They seem to be reacting to our scans, sir.
 * BRANCH (on viewer): Deflectors, emergency full! We are under attack!
 * KIRK: External view!

(Epsilon IX is destroyed in the same way as the Klingon battle cruisers)
 * KIRK: Viewer off. ...Pre-launch countdown will commence in forty minutes.

[Enterprise bridge]


 * UHURA (OC): Transporter system fully repaired and functioning normally, sir.
 * SULU: Dock signals clear, Captain.
 * KIRK: Reply we are holding position awaiting final crew replacements.
 * UHURA: Aye sir. Transporter personnel reports the Navigator Lieutenant ...Ilia. She's already aboard, and en route to the bridge, sir. She's Deltan, sir.
 * ILIA: Lieutenant Ilia reporting for duty, sir.
 * KIRK: Welcome aboard, Lieutenant.
 * DECKER: Hello, Ilia.
 * ILIA: Decker!
 * DECKER: I was stationed on the Lieutenant's home planet some years ago.
 * ILIA: "Commander" Decker?
 * KIRK: Yes, our Exec and science officer.
 * DECKER: Captain Kirk has the utmost confidence in me.
 * KIRK: And in you too, Lieutenant.
 * ILIA: My oath of celibacy is on record Captain. May I assume my duties?
 * KIRK: By all means.
 * UHURA: Captain, Starfleet reports our last six crewmembers are ready to beam up, ...but one of them is refusing to step into the transporter.
 * KIRK: Oh? I'll see that he beams up! ...Transporter room.

[Enterprise transporter room]


 * KIRK: Ellen.
 * ELLEN: Yes sir.
 * KIRK: What was the problem down there?
 * ELLEN: He insisted we go first, sir. Said something about first seeing how it scrambled our molecules.
 * KIRK: That has a familiar ring, doesn't it? Starfleet, this is Captain Kirk. Beam that officer up now! ...Well, for a man who swore he'd never return to Starfleet.
 * McCOY: Just a moment, Captain, sir. I'll explain what happened. Your revered Admiral Nogura invoked a little known, and seldom used, reserve activation clause, ...in simpler language, Captain, they drafted me!
 * KIRK: They didn't!
 * McCOY: This was your idea! This was your idea, wasn't it?
 * KIRK: Bones, there's a 'thing' out there...
 * McCOY: Why is any object we don't understand always called a 'thing'?
 * KIRK: ...headed this way. I need you. Dammit Bones, I need you. Badly!
 * McCOY: Permission to come aboard?
 * RAND (OC): Permission granted, sir.
 * McCOY: Well, Jim, I hear Chapel's an MD now. Well, I'm gonna need a top nurse, not a doctor who'll argue every little diagnosis with me. And ...they've probably redesigned the whole sickbay, too. I know engineers. They love to change things.

(the Enterprise in Spacedock) [Enterprise bridge]


 * UHURA: Dock control reports ready, sir.
 * SULU: Helm ready, sir.
 * ILIA: Orbital departure on plot, sir.
 * UHURA: Yard command signalling clear, sir.
 * KIRK: Maneuvering thrusters, Mister Sulu.
 * SULU: Maneuvering thrusters, sir.
 * KIRK: Hold station.
 * SULU: Thrusters at station keeping.
 * KIRK: Thrusters ahead, Mister Sulu. ...Take us out.

[Enterprise engineering]


 * SCOTT: Intermix set. Bridge, impulse power at your discretion.

[Enterprise bridge]


 * KIRK: Impulse power, Mister Sulu. Ahead, warp point five. ...Departure angle on viewer.
 * SULU: Departure angle.
 * KIRK: Viewer ahead.

(external space, Enterprise passes Jupiter)

Captain's log, stardate 7412.6. one point eight hours from launch. In order to intercept the intruder at the earliest possible time, we must now risk engaging warp drive while still within the solar system.


 * DECKER: Captain, assuming we have full warp capability, accelerating to warp seven on leaving the solar system will bring us to IP with the intruder, twenty point one hours.
 * KIRK: Well, Bones, do the new medical facilities meet with your approval?
 * McCOY: They do not. It's like working in a damned computer center.
 * KIRK: Programming ready?
 * DECKER: Programme set for standard warp entry, Captain, ...but I still recommend further simulation study.
 * KIRK: Mister Decker, every minute brings that object closer to Earth! Engineering! Stand by for warp drive.
 * SCOTT (on intercom): We need further warp simulation on the flow sensors.
 * KIRK: Engineer, we need warp speed now!
 * McCOY: Jim, you're pushing. Your people know their jobs.

[Enterprise engineering]


 * ASSISTANT ENGINEER: That's it, sir. I can't do any better.
 * SCOTT: Aye, lad. It's borderline on the simulator. Captain, I canna guarantee that she'll hold up.

[Enterprise bridge]


 * KIRK: Warp drive, Mister Scott. Ahead, warp one, Mister Sulu.
 * SULU: Accelerating to warp one, sir. Warp point seven, ...point eight, (The Enterprise warps) ...warp one, sir.
 * KIRK: Mister Decker... Wormhole! ...Get us back on impulse power! Full reverse!
 * SULU: Negative helm control, Captain! Going reverse on impulse power!
 * UHURA: Subspace frequencies are jammed, sir. Wormhole effect!
 * DECKER: Negative control from inertial lag will continue twenty-two point five seconds before forward velocity slows to sub-light speed.
 * ILIA: Unidentified small object has been pulled into the wormhole with us, Captain! Directly ahead!
 * KIRK: Forcefields up, full! Put object on viewer. ...Manual override on helm.
 * SULU: No manual response!
 * ILIA: Navigational deflectors coming up.
 * DECKER: Wormhole distortion has over-loaded main power systems!
 * ILIA: Navigational deflectors inoperative, Captain. Directional control also inoperative.
 * KIRK: (slowly, distorted) Time to impact?
 * ILIA: (slowly, distorted) Twenty seconds.
 * KIRK: (slowly, distorted) Mister Chekov, stand by on phasers.
 * DECKER: (slowly, distorted) No! ...Belay that phaser order! ...Arm photon torpedoes.
 * CHEKOV: (slowly, distorted) Photon torpedoes ...armed.
 * ILIA: (slowly, distorted) Object is an asteroid, reading mass point seven.
 * CHEKOV: (slowly, distorted) Targeting asteroid.
 * ILIA: (slowly, distorted) Impact in ten seconds. ...Impact in eight seconds
 * DECKER: (slowly, distorted) Fire torpedoes!
 * ILIA: (slowly, distorted) ...Six.
 * CHEKOV: (slowly, distorted) Torpedoes away!
 * ILIA: (slowly, distorted) ...Four.

(The Enterprise fires a photon torpedo at an asteroid, causing it to explode and the wormhole to collapse and freeing a starship)
 * SULU: Helm control restored, sir.
 * DECKER: Position report, Navigator?
 * ILIA: Computing new interception course.
 * UHURA (OC): Communications are normal, sir.
 * CHEKOV (OC): Negative damage report, Captain. No casualties reported, Doctor.
 * McCOY: Wrong, Mister Chekov, there are casualties. My wits! As in 'frightened-out-of', Captain, sir!
 * DECKER: We're at warp point eight. Engineer, ...report your status there.

[Enterprise engineering]


 * SCOTT: In just a second, Exec, we're picking up the pieces down here.

[Enterprise bridge]


 * KIRK: Mister Scott, we need warp drive as soon as possible.

[Enterprise engineering]


 * SCOTT: Captain, it was the engine imbalance that created the wormhole in the first place. ...It'll happen again if we don't correct it.

[Enterprise bridge]


 * DECKER: We must correct it.
 * KIRK: That object out there is less than two days from Earth. We need to intercept while it still is out there. Navigator lay in a new heading to conform with our initial IP. Mister Sulu, you have the conn.
 * KIRK: Mister Decker, I'd like to see you in my quarters.
 * McCOY: Mind if I tag along, Captain?
 * KIRK: Level five.

[Kirk's quarters]


 * KIRK: All right, explanation? Why was my phaser order countermanded?
 * DECKER: Sir, the Enterprise redesign increases phaser power by channeling it through the main engines. When they went into anti-matter imbalance, the phasers were automatically cut off.
 * KIRK: Then you acted properly, of course.
 * DECKER: Thank you, sir. ...I'm sorry if I embarrassed you.
 * KIRK: You saved the ship.
 * DECKER: I'm aware of that, sir.
 * KIRK: Stop ...competing with me, Decker!
 * DECKER: Permission to speak freely, sir?
 * KIRK: Granted.
 * DECKER: Sir, you haven't logged a single star hour in two and a half years. That, plus your unfamiliarity with the ship's redesign, in my opinion, sir, seriously jeopardizes this mission.
 * KIRK: I trust you will ...nursemaid me through these difficulties, Mister?
 * DECKER: Yes sir. I'll do that.
 * KIRK: Then I won't keep you from your duties any longer, Commander.
 * KIRK: Yes, Doctor?
 * DECKER: Aye sir.
 * McCOY: He may be right, Jim.

[Enterprise corridor]


 * ILIA: Was it difficult?
 * DECKER: No more than I expected. ...Not as difficult as seeing you. I'm sorry.
 * ILIA: That you left Delta Four? Or that you didn't even say 'goodbye'?
 * DECKER: If I had seen you again, ...would you have been able to say it?
 * ILIA: No.

[Kirk's quarters]


 * KIRK: Make your point, Doctor.
 * McCOY: The point, Captain, is that it's you who's competing. ...You rammed getting this command down Starfleet's throat. You've used this emergency to get Enterprise back.
 * KIRK: And I intend to keep her, is it that what you're saying?
 * McCOY: Yes! It's an obsession, an obsession that can blind you to far more immediate, and critical responsibilities. Your reaction to Decker is an example.
 * UHURA (on intercom): Bridge to Captain.
 * KIRK: Viewer on.
 * UHURA (on intercom): Signal from a Federation-registered long-range shuttle, sir.
 * UHURA (on viewer): She wishes to come alongside, and lock on.
 * KIRK: For what purpose?
 * CHEKOV (on viewer):Our security scanning shows it has a Grade-One priority, Captain. Non-belligerency confirmed. I suspect it is a ...courier of some kind.
 * KIRK: Very well, Mister Chekov, see to it. Viewer off. Your ...opinion has been noted.
 * McCOY: Is there anything further?
 * KIRK (OC): That depends on you.

[Shuttle dock entrance]


 * COMPUTER VOICE: Security scan. One border. Identity, Starfleet inactive.
 * SPOCK: Permission to come aboard, sir?
 * CHEKOV: Granted, sir! Granted!

[Enterprise bridge]


 * CREW: Why... Why ...it's Mister...
 * KIRK: Spock! ...Spock.
 * SPOCK: Commander, if I may?
 * DECKER: If... Oh!
 * SPOCK: I have been monitoring your communications with Starfleet Command, Captain, I'm aware of your engine design difficulties. ...I offer my services as science officer. ...With all due respect, Commander.
 * KIRK: If our Exec has no objections?
 * DECKER: Of course not. I'm well aware of Mister Spock's qualifications.
 * KIRK: Mister Chekov, log Mister Spock's Starfleet commission reactivated, list him as science officer, ...both effective immediately.
 * CHAPEL: Mister Spock!!!
 * McCOY: Well, so help me, I'm actually pleased to see you.
 * UHURA: It's how we all feel, Mister Spock.
 * SPOCK: Captain, with your permission, I will now discuss these fuel equations with the Engineer.
 * KIRK: Mister Spock, welcome aboard.

Captain's log, stardate 7413.4. Thanks to Mister Spock's timely arrival, and assistance, we have the engines rebalanced into full warp capacity. Repair time less than three hours, ...which means we will now be able to intercept intruder while still more than a day from Earth.


 * SULU: Warp point eight, ...point nine, ...warp two, ...warp five, ...warp six, ...warp seven, sir.

[Enterprise officers lounge]


 * SPOCK: Science officer Spock, reporting as ordered, Captain.
 * KIRK: Please sit down.
 * McCOY: Spock, you haven't changed a bit. You're just as warm and sociable as ever.
 * SPOCK: Nor have you, Doctor, as your continued predilection for irrelevancy demonstrates.
 * KIRK: Gentlemen. At last report you were on Vulcan. Apparently to stay.
 * McCOY: Yes, you were undergoing the Kolineer discipline.
 * KIRK: Sit down.
 * SPOCK: If you are referring to the Kolinahr, Doctor, you are correct.
 * McCOY: Well, however it's pronounced, Mister Spock, it's the Vulcan ritual supposed to purge all remaining emotions.
 * KIRK: The Kolinahr is also the discipline you broke ...to join us. Will you, please, ...sit down?!
 * SPOCK: On Vulcan I began sensing a consciousness of a force more powerful than I have ever encountered. Thought patterns of exactingly perfect order. I believe they emanate from the intruder. I believe it may hold my answers.
 * McCOY: Well, isn't it lucky for you that we just happened to be heading your way?
 * KIRK: Bones! We need him. I need him.
 * SPOCK: Then my presence is to our mutual advantage.
 * KIRK: Any thought patterns you might sense, ...whether they appear to affect you personally or not, I expect to be immediately reported.
 * SPOCK: Of course, Captain. Is there anything else?
 * KIRK: No.
 * McCOY: Jim, ...if this super-intelligence is as important to him as he says, how do we know?
 * KIRK: That he wouldn't put his interests ahead of the ship's. I could never believe that.
 * McCOY: How do we know about any of us?
 * UHURA (on intercom): Bridge to Officer's lounge, Captain Kirk. Revised estimate on Cloud visual contact, three point seven minutes.
 * KIRK: On my way.

[Enterprise bridge]

(klaxon sounding RED ALERT)
 * KIRK: Give us a reading, Commander. ...Standard light, Engineer. Full mag on viewer.
 * SULU: Full mag, sir.
 * KIRK: Linguacode?
 * UHURA: Continuing friendship messages on all frequencies.
 * CHEKOV: All decks and divisions confirm, status red.
 * SPOCK: Captain, we are being scanned.
 * KIRK: Do not return scan, Mister Spock. It could be misinterpreted as hostility.
 * SPOCK: Intruder scans emanate from the exact center of the Cloud. Energy of a type ...never before encountered.
 * UHURA: No response to friendship messages, Captain.
 * CHEKOV: Should I go to battle stations, sir?
 * KIRK: Negative, We'll take no provocative action.
 * DECKER: Recommend defensive posture, screens and shields.
 * KIRK: No, Mister Decker, ...that could also be misinterpreted as hostile. Cloud composition, Mister Spock?
 * SPOCK: Twelfth-power energy field.
 * SULU: Twelfth-power?
 * DECKER: Captain, we've seen what their weapons can do. Shouldn't we take every possible precaution?
 * KIRK: Mister Decker.
 * SPOCK: Captain, I suspect there's an object at the heart of that Cloud.
 * KIRK: Mister Decker, I will not provoke an attack, If that order isn't clear enough for you...
 * DECKER: Captain, as your Exec, it's my duty to point out alternatives.
 * KIRK: I stand corrected.
 * ILIA: Five minutes to Cloud boundary.
 * KIRK: Navigator, lay in a conic section flight path into the Cloud center. Bring us parallel to whatever we find in there. ...Mister Sulu, tactical plot on viewer.
 * SULU: Tactical on viewer.
 * DECKER: That measures twelfth power energy? Thousands of starships couldn't generate that much.
 * KIRK: Spock... Spock, tell me.
 * SPOCK: I sense ...puzzlement. We have been contacted. Why have we not replied?
 * KIRK: Contacted? How?

(klaxon sounds again)
 * KIRK: Forcefields up. ...Deflectors now!
 * CHEKOV: Forcefields and deflectors up full, Captain.
 * KIRK: Analysis, Mister Spock
 * SPOCK: Alien weapon is a form of plasma energy, Captain. Exact composition unknown. Guidance system unknown.
 * KIRK: All decks brace for impact.

(an energy bolt hits the Enterprise)
 * KIRK: Engineering, status report.

[Enterprise engineering]


 * SCOTT: Systems overloading, Captain.

[Wilhelm scream] [Bridge}

(the effect of the energy bolt hits Chekov's right hand through his console)
 * CHEKOV: Aaaaarhh! ...Aaaaarhh!
 * KIRK: Medic.
 * DECKER: Medics are coming.
 * SCOTT (on intercom): Engineering to bridge.

[Enterprise engineering]


 * SCOTT: We cannot hold full power on forcefields. Deflector power is down seventy percent!

[Enterprise bridge]


 * KIRK: Divert auxiliary systems power to deflectors.
 * UHURA: Oh good, Christine. It's Chekov.
 * CHAPEL: Medic.
 * ILIA (OC): I can stop his pain.
 * CHEKOV: Thank you.
 * SPOCK: Captain, the intruder has been attempting to communicate. ...Frequency more than one million megahertz, and at such high rate of speed their entire message lasts only a millisecond.
 * SPOCK: I am now programming our computer to transmit linguacode at their frequency and rate of speed. ...Commander
 * KIRK: Spock!
 * SULU (OC): Here it comes!
 * KIRK: Engineering, ...what's happening to our forcefields?

[Enterprise engineering]


 * SCOTT: Our shields cannot handle another attack!

[Enterprise bridge]


 * KIRK: Mister Spock? ...Spock!
 * ILIA (OC): Fifteen seconds,...
 * KIRK: Spock! Transmit now!
 * ILIA (OC): ...ten seconds.
 * DECKER: Transmitting.
 * KIRK: It would seem that our friendship messages have been received and understood, Mister Spock.
 * SPOCK: I would say that was a logical assumption, Captain
 * ILIA: One minute, thirty seconds to Cloud boundary.
 * SPOCK: Captain, we are obviously confronted by a highly advanced mentality, ...yet they cannot understand who we are, or what we want.
 * KIRK: And yet it would seem that they understand our messages. They broke off the attack.
 * DECKER: They may have attacked only as a warning to us, Captain, to keep away.
 * SPOCK: That would presuppose a feeling, Commander, ...compassion. I sensed no emotion, only ...pure logic.
 * KIRK: Mister Sulu, hold present position.
 * SULU: Holding present position, sir.
 * KIRK: Tactical plot on viewer.
 * SULU (OC): Course projection on tactical, sir.
 * KIRK: Opinion, Mister Spock?
 * SPOCK: Recommend we proceed, Captain.
 * KIRK: Mister Decker?
 * DECKER: I advise caution, Captain, we can't withstand another attack.
 * KIRK: That thing is twenty hours away from Earth. We know nothing about it yet.
 * DECKER: That's precisely the point. We don't know it will do. Moving into that Cloud, at this time, is an unwarranted gamble.
 * KIRK: How do you define 'unwarranted'?
 * DECKER: You asked my opinion, sir.
 * KIRK: Viewer, standard ahead. ...Navigator, maintain course. Helmsman, ...steady as she goes.

(the crew watch on the viewer as the Enterprise flies into the Cloud) KIRK: No vessel could generate a power field of this magnitude. ...Spock? SPOCK: Instruments fluctuating, Captain. Patterns unrecognizable. (the Enterprise continues flying even deeper into the Cloud until a giant vessel is revealed)
 * KIRK: Evaluation?
 * Spock: Fascinating. That vessel is generating a force field greater than the radiation of Earth's sun.
 * KIRK: Transmit image of the alien to Starfleet, advise we are attempting further to communicate.
 * UHURA: Unable to make contact with Starfleet, Captain. Any attempt to transmit out of the Cloud is being reflected back.
 * SULU: We're closing in on it rapidly, Captain.
 * KIRK: Reduce magnification. Factor four, Mister Sulu.
 * SULU: We're already two settings below that, sir.
 * KIRK: Mister Sulu, ...bring us into a parallel course, over the alien at five hundred metres distance.
 * SULU: Five hundred metres?
 * KIRK: Then take us out to one hundred kilometres, adjusting parallel course.
 * SULU: Aye sir.
 * KIRK (OC): Viewer astern.
 * SULU (OC): Reverse angle on viewer.
 * SULU: Five hundred metres.
 * KIRK: Viewer ahead.
 * SULU (OC): Viewer ahead, sir.

(Enterprise moves in front of the alien vessel)
 * KIRK: Hold relative position here.

(klaxon sounds alert for incoming alien weapon. Another energy bolt approaches the Enterprise. )
 * CHEKOV: Mister Spock! Can that be one of their crew?!
 * SPOCK: A probe from their vessel, Captain. Plasma-energy combination.
 * DECKER: Don't interfere with it!
 * CHEKOV: Absolutely I will not interfere.
 * KIRK: No one interfere. It doesn't seem interested in us, only the ship. ...Computer off.
 * DECKER: Its taken control of the computer!
 * KIRK: It's running our records. Earth defences, ...Starfleet strength,

(Spock smashes the computer console controls and the probe gives him an electric shock and scans Ilia)
 * DECKER: Ilia! ...Ilia!

(the probe with Ilia disappears)
 * DECKER: This is how I define unwarranted! ...Activate auxiliary computer circuits through manual shut-off.

(klaxon sounds again)
 * SPOCK (OC): Captain, we have been seized by a tractor beam.
 * KIRK (OC) Get someone up here to take the Navigator's station! Engineering, ...full emergency power!
 * DECKER: Chief Difalco to the bridge, on the double!

[Enterprise engineering]


 * SCOTT: Captain, if we don't break free in fifteen seconds, she'll burn up.

[Enterprise bridge]


 * SPOCK: We cannot break free, Captain. We only have a fraction of the power necessary.
 * KIRK: Engineering! Belay that order, Scotty! Disengage all main drive systems!
 * DECKER: Chief Difalco, take over Lieutenant Ilia's station.

(the Enterprise is pulled towards an 'iris' aperture)
 * KIRK: Difalco, disengage engine navigation relays now.
 * DIFALCO (OC): Aye sir.
 * ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN: Forcefield circuits E ten through E fourteen show ready for reactivation. Confirm, please.
 * KIRK (OC): Scotty, drive systems should be free now.
 * DECKER: Commander?
 * UHURA: Ready to launch remote drone with complete ship's record including our present situation, sir.
 * DECKER: Delay launching as long as possible. Our drone can't escape as long as we're held in their traction.
 * UHURA: Aye.
 * DECKER: Captain, a maximum phaser strike directly at the beam might weaken it just enough for us to break free.
 * SPOCK: Break free to where, Commander? Any show of resistance would be futile, Captain.
 * DECKER: We don't know that, Mister Spock. Why are you opposed to trying?

(the Enterprise's journey inside the alien ship continues)
 * DECKER: Why bring us inside? Not to destroy us, they could have done that outside.
 * KIRK: They still can.
 * SPOCK: Curiosity, Mister Decker, ...insatiable curiosity.
 * UHURA: Captain, photic-sonar readings indicate the aperture is closing. We're trapped, sir!
 * SULU (OC): Reverse angle on the viewer, Captain.

(The viewscreen shows the closing aperture)
 * SPOCK: The tractor beam has released us, Captain.
 * DIFALCO: Confirmed. Vessel is floating free. No forward momentum.
 * KIRK: Viewer ahead.
 * SULU: Viewer ahead, sir.
 * KIRK: Maneuvering thrusters, Mister Sulu, ahead, one third.
 * SULU (OC): Thrusters ahead one third.
 * KIRK: Let's take a look. Full sensor scan, Mister Spock. They can't expect us not to look them over now.
 * DECKER: Now that we're looking down their throat.
 * KIRK: Right! Now that they've got us just where they want us.
 * SULU (OC): It's closing up.
 * KIRK: Hold position.
 * SPOCK: Captain, ...all our scans are being reflected back. Sensors are useless.
 * KIRK: Damn! ...What do you make of all this?
 * SPOCK: I believe the closed orifice leads to another chamber. Undoubtedly part of the vessel's inner mechanism. I suspect it may be necessary...
 * COMPUTER VOICE: Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!
 * CHEKOV: Deck five, Captain, Officers' Quarters!
 * KIRK: Have a security team meet me at deck five main elevator. Spock! Mister Decker you have the conn. Hold position.

[Ilia's quarters]

(the Ilia probe is in the sonic shower)
 * ILIA PROBE: You are the Kirk unit. You will assist me. I've been programmed by V'Ger to observe and record normal functioning of the carbon-based units infesting U.S.S. Enterprise.
 * McCOY: Jim, what's going on?
 * KIRK: Tricorder. ...Who is ...'V'Ger'?
 * ILIA PROBE: V'Ger is that which has programmed me.
 * KIRK: Is V'Ger the name of the captain of the alien vessel?
 * McCOY: Jim, this is a mechanism!
 * SPOCK: A probe, Captain. No doubt a sensor-transceiver combination, recording everything we say and do.
 * KIRK: Where is Lieutenant Ilia?
 * ILIA PROBE: That unit no longer functions. I have been given its form to more readily communicate with the carbon-based units infesting Enterprise.
 * SECURITY GUARD: 'Carbon-based units'?

McCOY: Humans, Ensign Perez. Us.
 * KIRK: Why does V'Ger travel to the third planet of the solar system directly ahead?
 * ILIA PROBE: To find the Creator.
 * KIRK: To find the Creator? Whose? ...What does V'Ger want with the Creator?
 * ILIA PROBE: To join with him.
 * SPOCK: Join with the Creator? ...How?
 * ILIA PROBE: V'Ger and the Creator will become one.
 * SPOCK: And who is the Creator?
 * ILIA PROBE: The Creator is that which created V'Ger.
 * KIRK: Who is V'Ger?
 * ILIA PROBE: V'Ger is that which seeks the Creator. I am ready to commence my observations.
 * SPOCK: Doctor, a thorough examination of this probe might provide some insight into those who manufactured it, and how to deal with them.
 * McCOY: Fine! Let's get her to sickbay.
 * ILIA PROBE: I am programmed to observe and record only the normal functioning procedures of the carbon-based units.
 * KIRK: The ...examination is a normal function.
 * ILIA PROBE: You may proceed.

[Enterprise examining room]


 * McCOY: ...micro-miniature hydraulics, sensors, and molecule-sized multi-processor chips. ...And take a look at this!
 * CHAPEL: Osmotic micro-pump, ...right here. Even the smallest body functions are exactly duplicated. ...And every exocrine system is here, too, ...even eye moisture.
 * ILIA PROBE Deck ...er.
 * SPOCK: Fascinating. Not 'Decker-unit'? ...Gentlemen.
 * KIRK: Will.

[Enterprise corridor]


 * DECKER: What happened to her?
 * SPOCK: Captain, ...this probe may be a key a key to the aliens.
 * DECKER: Probe? Ilia?
 * SPOCK: Exactly. It's a programmed mechanism, Commander. ...Its body duplicates our navigator in precise detail. Suppose that beneath it's programming, the real Ilia's memory patterns are duplicated with equal precision.
 * KIRK: They had a pattern to follow.
 * SPOCK: Indeed. ...They may have followed it too precisely.
 * KIRK: Ilia's memory, her feelings of loyalty, obedience, friendship, ...might all be there.
 * SPOCK: You did have a 'relationship' with Lieutenant Ilia, Commander.
 * DECKER: That probe in there, in a different form now, is what killed Ilia!
 * KIRK: Commander! Will, we're locked in an alien vessel, six hours from Earth orbit, our only contact with our captor is that probe. If we could control it, persuade it, use it in some way.

(the Ilia probe breaks out into the corridor)
 * ILIA PROBE: I have recorded enough here. You will now assist me further.
 * KIRK: The Decker-unit can assist you with much greater efficiency. ...Carry on with your assignment, Mister Decker.
 * DECKER: Aye sir.
 * SPOCK: I am concerned with that being our only source of information.

Captain's log, stardate 7414.1. Our best estimates place us some four hours from Earth. No significant progress thus far reviving Ilia memory patterns within the alien probe. This remains our only means of contact with our captor.

[Kirk's quarters]


 * DECKER (on viewscreen): All these vessels were called "Enterprise".

[Enterprise recreation deck]


 * DECKER: The carbon units use this area for recreation. ...This is one of the games. ...What type of recreation does the crew aboard your vessel enjoy?
 * ILIA PROBE: The words 'recreation' and 'enjoy' have no meaning to my programming.
 * DECKER: Ilia enjoyed this game, ...she nearly always won.

[Kirk's quarters]


 * McCOY: Good! He's using audial-visual association.
 * ILIA PROBE (on viewscreen): This device serves no purpose. ...Why does Enterprise require the presence of carbon units?
 * DECKER (on viewscreen): Enterprise would be unable to function without carbon units.
 * ILIA PROBE (on viewscreen): More data concerning this functioning is necessary before carbon units can be patterned for data storage.
 * DECKER (on viewscreen): What does that mean?
 * ILIA PROBE (on viewscreen): When my examination is complete, all carbon units will be reduced to data patterns.
 * DECKER (on viewscreen): Within you, are memory patterns of a certain carbon unit. If I can help you revive those patterns, you could understand our functions better.
 * ILIA PROBE (on viewscreen): That is logical. You may proceed.

[Enterprise airlock area]

(Spock disables a technician with a nerve pinch) [Kirk's quarters]

(viewscreen has moved to Ilia's quarters)
 * CHAPEL (on viewscreen): I remember Lieutenant Ilia once mentioning that she wore this.
 * DECKER (on viewscreen): Put it on. ...On Delta, ...remember?
 * CHAPEL (on viewscreen): Ilia.
 * ILIA PROBE (on viewscreen): Doctor Chapel, ...Will?
 * DECKER (on viewscreen): Ilia.
 * McCOY (on viewscreen): Commander. ...Commander, ...this is a mechanism.
 * DECKER (on viewscreen): Ilia, help us make direct contact with V'Ger.
 * ILIA PROBE (on viewscreen): I cannot.
 * DECKER (on viewscreen): This Creator V'Ger's looking for. What is it?
 * ILIA PROBE (on viewscreen): V'Ger does not know.

[Outside Enterprise - Spock in a thruster suit]


 * SPOCK: Computer. Commence recording. Captain Kirk, these messages will detail my attempt to contact the aliens. ...I intend to calculate thruster ignition and acceleration rates to coincide with the opening of the V'Ger orifice. This should facilitate a better view of the interior of the alien spacecraft.

[Enterprise bridge]


 * UHURA: Captain, Starfleet signals growing in strength, sir. ...They still have the intruder on their monitors. It's decelerating!
 * SULU: Confirmed. Lunar beacons indicate intruder on a course into Earth orbit.
 * CHEKOV: Sir! Airlock four has been opened. A thruster suit is reported missing!
 * KIRK: A thruster suit? That's Spock! Damn him! Bring him back here. ...No wait, ...get a fix on his position.
 * CHEKOV: Aye sir.

[Outside Enterprise]

(Spock fires the thruster suit and successfully passes through the opening orifice)
 * SPOCK: I have successfully penetrated the next chamber of the alien's Interior, and I am witnessing some sort of dimensional image which I believe to be a representation of V'Ger's home planet. I am passing through a connecting tunnel. Apparently a kind of plasma-energy conduit. Possibly a field coil for gigantic imaging systems. Curious. I am seeing images of planets, moons, stars, whole galaxies all stored in here, recorded. It could be a record of V'Ger's entire journey. But who, or what, are we dealing with? The Epsilon Nine station, stored here with every detail. Captain, I am now quite convinced that all of this is V'Ger. That we are inside a living machine. Ilia. The sensor ...must contain some special meaning. I must try to mind-meld with it. Aaaaarhh!

(Spock reappears outside the Enterprise, Kirk in a spacesuit retrieves him)
 * KIRK: Spock? ...Spock?

[Enterprise sickbay]


 * CHAPEL: Now scanning pons area. Spinal nerve fiber connection.
 * McCOY: Indications of some neurological trauma. The power pouring through that mind-meld must have been staggering.
 * SPOCK: Jim, ...I should have known.
 * KIRK: Were you right? About V'Ger?
 * SPOCK: A lifeform of its own, a conscious, living entity.
 * CHAPEL (OC): A living machine?
 * KIRK: It considers the Enterprise a living machine. That's why the probe refers it as an entity.
 * SPOCK: I saw V'Ger's planet, a planet populated by living machines. Unbelievable technology. V'Ger has knowledge that spans this universe. And, yet with all this pure logic, ...V'Ger is barren, cold, no mystery, no beauty. I should have known.
 * KIRK: Known? Known what? ...Spock, what should you have known?
 * SPOCK: This simple feeling ...is beyond V'Ger's comprehension. No meaning, ...no hope, ...and, Jim, no answers. It's asking questions. 'Is this ...all I am? Is there nothing more?'
 * UHURA (on intercom): Bridge to Captain.
 * KIRK: Kirk here.

[Enterprise bridge]


 * UHURA: A faint signal from Starfleet, sir. Intruder Cloud has been located on their outer monitors for past twenty-seven minutes. ...Cloud dissipating rapidly as it approaches.
 * SULU: Starfleet reports forward velocity has slowed to sub-warp speed. We are three minutes from Earth's orbit.

[Enterprise sickbay]


 * KIRK: I'll be right there. ...I need Spock on the bridge.
 * CHAPEL: Dalaphaline, five cc's.

(As V'Ger approaches Earth, the Cloud finishes dissipating and the ship slides into orbit) [Enterprise bridge]


 * UHURA (OC): Captain, Starfleet is sending this tactical on V'Ger's position. V'Ger is transmitting a signal.
 * DECKER: Jim!
 * KIRK: From V'Ger?
 * ILIA PROBE: V'Ger signals the Creator.
 * KIRK: Spock?
 * SPOCK: A simple binary code transmitted by carrier-wave signal. Radio.
 * KIRK: Radio?
 * DECKER: Jim, V'Ger expects an answer.
 * KIRK: An answer? I don't know the question.
 * ILIA PROBE: The Creator has not responded.

(An energy bolt is released from V'ger and positions itself above Earth.)
 * CHEKOV: All planetary defence systems have just gone inoperative.

(Several more bolts are released, and they all split apart to form smaller ones and they assume equidistant positions around the planet.)
 * UHURA: Sir, Starfleet says the devices are proceeding to equidistant positions orbiting the planet.
 * McCOY: They're the same things that hit us.
 * SPOCK: They are hundreds of times more powerful, Captain. From those positions they could devastate the entire surface of the planet.
 * KIRK: Why?
 * ILIA PROBE: The Creator has not answered. The carbon-units infestation is to be removed from the Creator's planet.
 * KIRK: Why?
 * ILIA PROBE: You infest, Enterprise. You interfere with the Creator in the same manner.
 * KIRK: The carbon-units are not an infestation. They are ...a natural function of the Creator's planet. They are living things.
 * ILIA PROBE: They are not true lifeforms Only the Creator and other similar lifeforms are true.
 * McCOY: Similar lifeforms. Jim, V'Ger is saying its Creator is a machine.
 * KIRK: Machine!
 * SPOCK: Captain, V'Ger is a child. I suggest you treat it as such.
 * KIRK: A child?
 * SPOCK: Yes, captain, a child. Evolving, learning, searching, instinctively needing.
 * DECKER: Needing what?
 * McCOY: Spock! This thing is about to wipe out every living thing on Earth Now what do you suggest we do? Spank it?
 * SPOCK: It only knows that it needs, Commander. But like so many of us, it does not know what.
 * KIRK: The carbon units know why the Creator has not responded.
 * ILIA PROBE: Disclose the information.
 * KIRK: Not until V'Ger withdraws the devices orbiting the third planet.

(V'ger cuts off the ship's communications with Starfleet)
 * UHURA: Captain! I'm losing Starfleet. Interference from V'Ger.
 * ILIA PROBE: Kirk unit, disclose the information. Why has the Creator not responded?
 * KIRK: No. ...Secure all stations, clear the bridge.

(the Enterprise suffers a severe shock)
 * SULU: Clear the bridge, Captain?
 * KIRK: That was the order, Mister Sulu. Clear the bridge.
 * SULU: Aye sir.

(the Enterprise is rocked by more severe shocks)
 * McCOY: Your child is having a tantrum, Mister Spock.
 * ILIA PROBE: V'Ger requires the information.
 * KIRK: Bridge. Secure all stations. Move out!
 * McCOY: Jim! What the hell kind of strategy is this?
 * DECKER: All ship's functions going to automatic, Captain.
 * KIRK: If V'Ger destroys the Enterprise, all the information that V'Ger requires will also be destroyed.
 * ILIA PROBE: It is illogical to withhold the required information. ...Kirk unit. Kirk unit, why do you not disclose the information?
 * KIRK: Because V'Ger is gonna to destroy all the carbon units on the third planet...
 * ILIA PROBE: They have repressed the Creator.
 * KIRK: ...the information will not be disclosed.
 * ILIA PROBE: V'Ger needs the information.
 * KIRK: Then V'Ger must withdraw all the orbiting devices.
 * ILIA PROBE: V'Ger will comply if the carbon units will disclose the information.
 * McCOY: It learns fast, doesn't it?
 * SPOCK: Captain, the vessel, V'Ger, obviously operates from a central brain complex.
 * KIRK: The orbiting devices will be controlled from that point.
 * SPOCK: Precisely.
 * KIRK: The carbon unit's information cannot be disclosed to V'Ger's probe, but only to V'Ger directly.

(The orifice opens and the tractor beam drags the Enterprise forward into the next chamber)
 * DECKER: Forward motion, Captain!
 * SPOCK: Tractor beam.
 * DECKER: Captain, what's the next move?
 * KIRK: The question is, Mister Decker, is there a next move? ...Resume duty stations.
 * DECKER: All personnel resume stations.
 * KIRK: Well, Mister Decker, it seems my bluff has been called.
 * DECKER: I'm afraid our hand is pretty weak, Captain.
 * KIRK: Mister Chekov, when do those devices reach final position?
 * CHEKOV: Twenty-seven minutes. Mark.
 * KIRK: Engineering.
 * SCOTT (on intercom): Scott here.
 * KIRK: Mister Scott, be prepared to execute Starfleet order two zero zero five.

[Enterprise engineering]


 * SCOTT: When, sir?

[Enterprise bridge]


 * KIRK: On my command.

[Enterprise engineering]


 * SCOTT: Aye sir.
 * ROSS: Why has the Captain ordered self-destruct, sir?
 * SCOTT: I would say, lass, because he thinks, he hopes, that when we go up ...we'll take the intruder with us.
 * ROSS: Will we?
 * SCOTT: When that much matter and anti-matter are brought together, oh yes, we will, indeed.

[Enterprise bridge]


 * CHEKOV: Eighteen minutes to device activation.
 * DECKER (OC): Give me an all-decks read-out.
 * UHURA: Starfleet has been apprised of our situation, Captain.
 * COMPUTER VOICE: Crew status is one seven two at duty stations, two four eight off duty, eleven in sickbay, all minor, Over.
 * SULU: Tractor beam remains constant.
 * DIFALCO: We are seventeen kilometres inside the vessel.
 * DECKER: Engineering, show me your readings.
 * SCOTT (on intercom): Deck four, that temperature should read one zero one three degrees.
 * DECKER (OC): Please confirm.
 * KIRK: Spock. ...Spock?

(as Spock turns Kirk and McCoy see that he is crying)
 * KIRK: Not for us?
 * SPOCK: No, Captain, not for us, ...for V'Ger. ...I weep for V'Ger, as I would for a brother. As I was when I came aboard, so is V'Ger now, empty, incomplete, ...searching. Logic and knowledge are not enough.
 * McCOY: Spock, are you saying that you've found, what you needed, but V'Ger hasn't?
 * DECKER: What would V'Ger need to fulfill itself?
 * SPOCK: Each of us, at some time in our life, turns to someone, a father, a brother, a god and asks 'Why am I here?' 'What was I meant to be?' V'Ger hopes to touch its Creator to find its answers.
 * KIRK: 'Is this all that I am? Is there nothing more?'
 * DIFALCO: Captain!
 * SULU: Forward motion slowing, Captain.
 * SPOCK: Captain, I believe that is our destination.
 * CHEKOV: I read an oxygen gravity envelope forming outside the Enterprise!
 * SULU: Forward motion stopped.
 * ILIA PROBE: V'Ger.
 * UHURA: Sir, I have located the source of V'Ger's radio signal, it's directly ahead.
 * SPOCK: That transmitter is a vital link between V'Ger and it's Creator.
 * ILIA PROBE: The carbon units will now provide V'Ger the required information.
 * KIRK: Spock, Bones. Mister Decker. ...I will contact you every five minutes.
 * DECKER: Captain, ...I'd like to go along.
 * KIRK: Mister Sulu, you have the conn.

[Outside Enterprise - with a 'Giant's Causeway' leading away]


 * ILIA PROBE: V'Ger!

[Voyager VI platform]


 * KIRK: V-G-E-R ...V'Ger! ...V-O-Y-A-G-E-R ...Voyager! ...Voyager VI?
 * DECKER: NASA. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Jim, this was launched more than three hundred years ago.
 * KIRK: Voyager series, designed to collect data and transmit it back to Earth.
 * DECKER: Voyager VI ...disappeared into what they used to call a black hole.
 * KIRK: It must have emerged sometime on the far side of the Galaxy and fell into the machine's planet's gravitational field.
 * SPOCK: The machine inhabiters found it to be one of their own kind, primitive yet kindred. They discovered its simple twentieth-century programming. Collect all data possible.
 * DECKER: Learn all that is learnable. Return that information to its Creator.
 * SPOCK (OC): Precisely, Mister Decker, the machines interpreted it literally.
 * SPOCK: They built this entire vessel so that Voyager could fulfill it's programming.
 * KIRK: And on its journey back it amassed so much knowledge, it achieved consciousness itself. It became a living thing.
 * ALIEN MACHINE VOICE (OC): (unintelligible)
 * ILIA PROBE: Kirk unit, V'Ger awaits the information.
 * KIRK: Enterprise, order up the ship's computer library of records, on the late twentieth-century NASA probe, Voyager VI.

[Enterprise bridge]


 * KIRK (on intercom): We want the old NASA code signal that instructs the probe to transmit its data.

[Voyager VI platform]


 * KIRK: ...and fast, Uhura, fast!
 * UHURA (on intercom): Aye sir.
 * DECKER: That's what it's been signalling, its readiness to transmit its information.
 * KIRK: And there's no one on Earth who could recognize the old signal and send a response.
 * McCOY: The Creator does not answer.
 * KIRK: V'Ger, ...V'Ger, ...V'Ger, ...we are the Creator.
 * ILIA PROBE: That is not possible. Carbon units are not true lifeforms.
 * KIRK (OC): We will prove it. We will make it possible for you to complete your programming. Only the Creator could accomplish that. ...Enterprise?

[Enterprise bridge]


 * UHURA: We have just received the response code, Captain.

[Voyager VI platform]


 * KIRK: Set the Enterprise transmitter on appropriate frequency, and transmit the code now.
 * UHURA (on intercom): Transmitting.
 * DECKER: Five zero four, three two nine, three one seven, five one zero, and the final sequence...
 * KIRK: That should trigger Voyager's transmitter.

[Voyager sputters]
 * SPOCK: Voyager is not transmitting its data, Captain.
 * ILIA PROBE: The Creator must join with V'Ger.
 * KIRK: Uhura! Repeat the final sequence.
 * ILIA PROBE: The Creator must join with V'Ger.
 * SPOCK: Voyager is not transmitting, Captain, because it did not receive the final sequence.
 * McCOY: Jim, we're down to ten minutes.
 * KIRK: Enterprise, stand by. The antenna leads are melted away.
 * SPOCK: Yes Captain, just now. By V'Ger itself.
 * KIRK: Why?
 * SPOCK: To prevent reception.
 * KIRK: Of course.
 * DECKER: To bring the Creator here, to finish transmitting the code in person, ...to touch the Creator.
 * McCOY: To capture God! V'Ger's going to be in for one hell of a disappointment.
 * SPOCK: Perhaps not. ...Captain, ...V'Ger must evolve. Its knowledge has reached the limits of this universe and it must evolve. What it requires of its God, Doctor is the answer to its question, 'Is there nothing more?
 * McCOY: What more is there than the universe, Spock?
 * DECKER: Other, dimensions, higher levels of beings.
 * SPOCK: The existence of which cannot be proved logically, therefore V'Ger is incapable of believing in them.
 * KIRK: What V'Ger needs in order to evolve is a human quality. Our capacity to leap beyond logic.
 * DECKER: And joining with its Creator might accomplish that.
 * McCOY: You mean that this machine wants to physically join with a human? Is that possible?
 * DECKER: Let' find out.
 * KIRK: Decker!
 * DECKER: I'm gonna key the sequence through the ground-test computer.
 * McCOY: Decker! You don't know what that will do to you.
 * DECKER: Yes, I do, Doctor.
 * KIRK: Decker, don't!
 * DECKER: Jim, I want this. As much as you wanted the Enterprise, I want this.

(the 'Ilia probe' merges into the incandescent cloud enveloping Decker. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy retreat back to the Enterprise. V'ger disappears in a blinding flash of white light, leaving the Enterprise above Earth, unharmed) [Enterprise bridge]


 * SULU: Captain.
 * KIRK: Spock! Did we just see the beginnings of a new lifeform?
 * SPOCK: Yes, Captain, we witnessed a birth. Possibly a next step in our evolution.
 * KIRK: I wonder.
 * McCOY: Well, it's been a long time since I delivered a baby, and I hope we got this one off to a good start.
 * KIRK: I hope so, too. I think we gave it the ability to create its own sense of purpose. Out of our own human weaknesses, and the drive that compels us to overcome them.
 * McCOY: And a lot of foolish human emotions. Right, Mister Spock?
 * SPOCK: Quite true, Doctor. Unfortunately it will have to deal with them as well.
 * UHURA: A communication from Starfleet. They're requesting damage and injury reports and complete vessel status.
 * KIRK: Report two casualties. Lieutenant Ilia. Captain Decker.
 * UHURA (OC): Aye sir.
 * KIRK: Correction! They're not casualties. They are... List them as missing. Vessel status, fully operational.
 * UHURA (OC): Aye sir.
 * KIRK: Mister Scott! Shall we give the Enterprise a proper shakedown?
 * SCOTT: I would say it's time for that, sir, aye. We can have you back on Vulcan in for days, Mister Spock.
 * SPOCK: Unnecessary, Mister Scott. My task on Vulcan is completed.
 * KIRK: Mister Sulu, ahead, warp one.
 * SULU (OC): Warp one, sir.
 * DIFALCO (OC): Heading, sir?
 * KIRK: Out there. Thataway!

(The Enterprise flies overhead and engages warp drive on its way to another mission of exploration and discovery.)

THE HUMAN ADVENTURE IS JUST BEGINNING. END CREDITS