"Somewhere Out There," [Gene] starts off, his eyes widening as he continues, "there's this massive ... entity, this abstract, unknown life force that seems mechanical in nature, although it actually possesses its own highly advanced consciousness.
It's a force thousands of times greater than anything intergalactic civilization has ever witnessed.
It could be God, it could be Satan, and it's heading toward Earth.
It demands worship and assistance, and it's also in a highly volatile state of disrepair."
He goes on to tell me that the original crew of the Enterprise are now being embraced as heroes all over the galaxy.
Spock has gone back to Vulcan to become head of their Science Academy. McCoy's married and living on a farm in the Midwest (although his wife, following in the time-honored tradition of women dumb enough to fall for an Enterprise crewman, is promptly killed off.)
Everyone else has been given hefty promotions, and continues to serve on active duty. Additionally, Starfleet has offered Kirk a prestigious but deskbound admiralcy, but he's passed, preferring to retain his rank as Captain while acting as a sort of consultant/ troubleshooter aboard Federation spacecraft. As we find him, he's visiting the recently overhauled Enterprise, supervising her new captain, Pavel Chekov.
Throughout the bulk of the next two hours Kirk rounds up the old crew, while studying and ultimately battling this "God thing."
As the drama builds and we finally approach the craft, the alien presence manifests itself on board the Enterprise in the form of a humanoid probe, which quickly begins shape-shifting while preaching about having traveled to earth many times, always in a noble effort to lay down the law of the cosmos.
Its final image is that of Jesus Christ. "You must help me!" the probe repeats, now bleeding from hands, feet and forehead.
Kirk refuses, at which point the probe begins exhausting the last of its energy in a last-ditch violent rampage, commanding the Enterprise crew to provide the assistance it needs in order to survive. Without warning, the force summons up the last of its remaining strength to blast Sulu, severing the crewman's legs in the process. When Spock attempts to comfort the mortally wounded Sulu he, too, is blasted and left for dead. With that expenditure of energy, the vessel is weakened to the point of vulnerability, and the Enterprise unleashes a barrage of firepower that destroys the craft.
"With that," says Gene, "we begin pondering the notion that perhaps mankind has finally evolved to the point where it's outgrown its need for gods, competent to account for its own behavior without the religiously imposed concepts of fear, guilt or divine intervention."
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