FUGITIVE

[Captain's mess]

BELE: Putting the matter into the hands of your Starfleet Command is, of course, the proper procedure. How long will it be before we hear from them, Captain? 

KIRK: I expect the answer is already on its way. 

BELE: Well, then, let us drink to their wise solution to our problem. 

KIRK: Let's do that. 

SPOCK: Commissioner, Starfleet Command may not arrive at the solution you anticipate. There is the matter of the shuttlecraft which Lokai appropriated. The interrogation of that matter may be of paramount importance to Starfleet. 

BELE: Gentlemen, we are discussing a question of degree. Surely, stealing a shuttlecraft cannot be equated with the importance of murdering thousands of people. 

SPOCK: We do not know that Lokai has done that. 

BELE: One thing we are agreed on is that Lokai is a criminal. 

KIRK: No, Commissioner. The one thing we're agreed upon is that Lokai took a shuttlecraft. 

(Intercom whistle) 

KIRK: Excuse me. 

UHURA [OC]: Uhura to Captain Kirk. 

KIRK: Kirk here. 

UHURA [OC]: I have a communication from Starfleet Command, sir. 

KIRK: Yes, read it.

[Bridge]

UHURA: Starfleet Command extends greetings to Commissioner Bele of the planet Cheron. His urgent request to be transported to his planet with the man he claims prisoner has been taken under consideration.

[Captain's mess]

UHURA [OC]: It is with great regret that we cannot honour that request. Intergalactic treaty clearly specifies that no being can be extradited without due process. In view of the circumstances, we have no doubt that after a hearing at Starbase, Commissioner Bele will be permitted to retain his prisoner and be provided transportation 

KIRK: That's enough. Thank you. 

BELE: As always, Lokai has managed to gain allies. 

KIRK: Now, wait a minute, Commissioner, 

BELE: Even if they don't recognise themselves as being such. Yes, he will evade, delay, and escape again and in the process put thousands of innocent beings at each other's throats, getting them to kill and maim for a cause which they have no stake in, but which he will force them to violently espouse by twisting their minds with his lies, his loathsome accusations and his foul threats. 

KIRK: I can assure you, Commissioner, that our minds will not be twisted, not by Lokai, nor by you. 

BELE: It is obvious to the most simpleminded that Lokai is of an inferior breed. 

SPOCK: The obvious visual evidence, Commissioner, is that he is of the same breed as yourself. 

BELE: Are you blind, Commander Spock? Well, look at me. Look at me! 

KIRK: You're black on one side and white on the other. 

BELE: I am black on the right side. 

KIRK: I fail to see the significant difference. 

BELE: Lokai is white on the right side. All of his people are white on the right side. 

SPOCK: Commissioner, perhaps the experience of my own planet Vulcan may set an example of some value to you. Vulcan was in danger of being destroyed by the same conditions and characteristics which threaten to destroy Cheron. We were once a people like yourselves, wildly emotional, often committed to irrationally opposing points of view, leading, of course, to death and destruction. Only the discipline of logic saved my planet from extinction. 

BELE: Commander Spock, I am delighted that Vulcan was saved, but you cannot expect Lokai and people like him to act with self-discipline any more than you can expect a planet to stop orbiting its sun. 

KIRK: Let Lokai state his grievances. Hear him, listen to him. Maybe he can change. Maybe he wants to change his image. 

BELE: He cannot change. 

SPOCK: Change is the essential process of all existence. For instance, the people of Cheron must have once been mono-coloured. 

BELE: You mean like both of you? 

KIRK: There must have been a time, long ago no doubt, when that was true. 

(Intercom whistle)

KIRK: Excuse me. Kirk here. 

SCOTT [OC]: We're orbiting Ariannus, sir.

 

KIRK: Very good. Commence decontamination procedures when ready. Advise when complete. 

SCOTT [OC]: At once, sir. Scott out. 

BELE: I once heard that on some of your planets people believe they are descended from apes. 

SPOCK: The actual theory is that all life-forms evolved from the lower levels to the more advanced stages.