Invaders Must Die

Fierce Orion

 

 

GORN : 

Earthling! Captain!

 

KIRK :

Who is this, the Metron?

 

GORN : 

This is your opponent, Earthling. 

I have heard every word you have said.

 

KIRK : 

All right.

What do you want?

 

GORN : 

I'm weary of The Chase. 

Wait for me.

I shall be merciful and quick.

 

KIRK : 

Like you were at Cestus Three?

 

GORN : 

You were intruding! 

You established an outpost in our space.

 

KIRK : 

You butchered helpless human beings

 

GORN : 

We destroyed Invaders!

As I shall destroy you!

 

MCCOY :

Can that be True? 

Was Cestus Three an intrusion on their space?

 

SPOCK: 

It may well be possible, Doctor. 

We know very little about that section of the galaxy.

 

MCCOY: 

Then we could be in the wrong.

 

SPOCK: 

Perhaps. That is something best decided by diplomats.

 

MCCOY: 

The Gorn simply might have been trying to protect themselves.

 

SPOCK: 

Yes.

 

(They watch as Kirk returns to the bamboo clump and picks out a short, wide stem.)

 

SPOCK: 

Fascinating. 

Good. Good. 

 

(Kirk cuts vines to length against a rock) 

 

He knows, Doctor. 

He has reasoned it out.

 

(Potassium nitrate gets shoveled into the bamboo)

 

SPOCK: 

Yes. Yes.

 

MCCOY: 

What is it, Spock?

 

SPOCK; 

An invention, Doctor.
First potassium nitrate,

and now if he can find some sulphur

and a charcoal deposit or ordinary coal.

 

(Kirk is at the outcrop of sharp diamonds, and putting them into the bamboo too.)

 

MCCOY: 

What's he doing?

 

SPOCK :

Diamonds. The Hardest Known Substance. 

Impelled by sufficient force, they would make formidable projectiles.

 

MCCOY:

What force?

 

SPOCK :

Recall your basic chemistry, Doctor.

Gunpowder.

 

GORN :

Captain, let us be reasonable --

 

 

You have Lost.

Admit it to Yourself.

Stop Running.

 

(Now the sulphur goes into the cannon, and finally he finds a vein on coal.)

 

SPOCK :

Coal.

 

(Now Kirk settles down to empty the bamboo, crush the coal, make a hole in the bamboo for a fuse and then mix his ingredients a little more precisely.)

 

MCCOY: 

Can he do it?

 

SPOCK: 

If he has the time, Doctor.

If he has the time.

 

(The cannon is strengthened with the vine tied around it, and the gunpowder gets rammed home with a small branch. Finally the diamonds go in, and a piece of torn trouser will serve as a fuse, once he can raise a spark from a stone and the translating device. Fire is created as the Gorn approaches him from behind. Seeing the danger, he braces the cannon and fires it. The explosion blows the bamboo apart, and also incapacitates his opponent. Kirk picks up his fallen stone dagger and puts the point to the Gorn's windpipe, but cannot administer the coup de grace.)

 

KIRK : 

No. No, I won't kill you.

Maybe you thought you were protecting yourself when you attacked the outpost.

 

(He throws the dagger away, stands up and shouts to the sky)

 

KIRK: 

No, I won't kill him! Do you hear?

You'll have to get your entertainment someplace else!

 

(The Gorn disappears, and a young blond boy in a white shift appears instead.)