foreword
Foreword
| Bones: | I doubt that this combination of things was ever used to make a tranquilizer before. |
| Kirk: | How soon will it be ready? |
| Bones: | Right now. |
| Kirk: | Good. How long will it take for the tranquilizer to have an effect? |
| Bones: | Three or four seconds. |
| Kirk: | How did you manage to test it? |
| Bones: | It has not been tested. |
| Spock: | It’s not necessary, Captain. |
| Bones: | It’s simple. Nothing can go wrong. |
| Kirk: | Up to now, everything’s gone wrong. I want it tested ... and now. |
| Scotty: | Would a volunteer solve the problem? |
| Bones: | It would. |
| Scotty: | Then I volunteer. (He takes a long pull on a bottle of whiskey.) It’s to kill the pain. |
| Spock: | But this is painless. |
| Scotty: | (Smirking.) Well, you should’ve warned me sooner, Mr. Spock. Fire away. (Scotty breathes deeply of the tranquilizing fumes, but there is no effect.) |
| Kirk: | It doesn’t work. |
| Spock: | Indeed. Fascinating. |
| Kirk: | It was our last chance. |
| Spock: | Captain, you don’t seem to understand. It did not function, but it must function. Nothing could go wrong, Captain. It should work. |
| Kirk: | A scientific fact ... |
| Spock: | But if the tranquilizer does not function, which is clearly impossible, then a radical alteration of our thought patterns must be in order. |
| Adapted from “Spectre of the Gun”, Star Trek original series Episode No: 056, Air Date: 10.25.1968, Stardate: 4385.3 |