Sixties City: The Lights Of Zetar

Lt. Mira Romaine
Jan Shutan

Lt. Kyle
John Winston

The Enterprise is taking specialist Lieutenant Mira Romaine to a planetoid called Memory Alpha where she is to supervise the installation of equipment designed to contain the entire cultural history and scientific knowledge of the Federation planets. During the trip Scotty has become quite fond of her both for her technical expertise and her beauty. The ship encounters an unusual energy storm, the effects of which cause Mira to collapse, muttering a strange alien language.

Other members of the crew are also affected in different ways - Sulu temporarily becomes unable to speak and Uhura loses the use of her hands. Romaine is taken to sickbay and the effects pass as the storm moves away. Sulu calculates the heading of the storm and advises Kirk that it is headed directly for Memory Alpha. Even at top speed the Enterprise is unable to overtake the storm and by the time they arrive to send down a landing party all the personnel on Memory Alpha are dead except for one woman who appears to be muttering the same strange alien language as Mira Romaine did.

Romaine is beamed down but becomes upset by their surroundings and warns them that the storm is coming back. The landing party returns to the Enterprise, which leaves with the storm in pursuit. Kirk orders the ship's phasers to be fired at it. They have no apparent effect on the storm but Kirk gives the order to cease firing when he sees that Romaine appears to be badly affected by the phaser hits.

A command meeting is held where McCoy tells them that Romaine's brainwave pattern has somehow been changed and now appears to be the same as the storm's energy pattern. It is apparent that she has come under some alien influence and Kirk makes plans to put her into a gravity chamber where the pressure will be increased gradually in an attempt to force the alien influence out. Before this can be carried out the aliens take full possession of Mira.

They claim to be the disembodied life forms of the last survivors of the planet Zetar and have been searching for an acceptable body and consciousness in which to see out what remains of their lives. Despite their control over her, Romaine allows Scotty to place her in the gravity chamber where Kirk's plan is carried out. As the pressure increases, the aliens are forced out of Mira Romaine and are destroyed, much to Scotty's relief.