- Exposed to spiroid epsilon waves, the Enterprise crew begins to shrink in size. If a way can not be found to stop their condition, they will soon be too small to control the ship.
- While on a mapping mission, the Enterprise receives an outdated transmission from the star Cephas. A flash of light from its lone, volcanic planet passes through the ship and disables all dilithium crystals. Soon thereafter, the crew begins to shrink. With no cure in sight, it becomes increasingly difficult for the Starfleet officers to handle the ship's controls.—The TV Archaeologist
- While on a mapping mission of the burnt out super nova Arachna (measurements of its radiation and volume expansion.. The Enterprise is in touch with star base 23 regarding its findings and progress), the Enterprise receives an outdated transmission from the star Cepheus. The transmission received on the Enterprise is coded in the Intersat encoder last used 2 centuries ago, and contains one word on repeat Terratin. Kirk decides to investigate as the odds of a transmission being repeated at random are too low. He thinks there may be an intelligent life form trying to make contact. Spock can find not mention of the word Terratin in their databases. The planet around Cepheus is a molten core with crystalline surface, with a lot of volcanic activity on it..
A flash of light from its lone, volcanic planet passes through the ship and disables all Dilithium crystals (they unravel and come apart like peels of an orange). Soon thereafter, the crew begins to shrink by a factor of 0.3 per hour. Due to the drain on power, Enterprise is unable to transmit a message to star-base 23. As the warp drives are disabled, the ship is not able to escape the planet's orbit on impulse power alone. Meanwhile the ship continues to be bombarded by unidentified waves. With no cure in sight, it becomes increasingly difficult for the Starfleet officers to handle the ship's controls. Spock notices that only organic matter is impacted. Both Dilithium crystals and DNA have a helix structure. Spock theorizes that there is a limit to how much the human DNA can contract. As they contract, their weight remains the same, only the space between their molecules is being contracted.
Spock calculates that they will reach 1 cm height within the next 32 mins. At this point, the crew will lose their ability to operate their own ship. In desperation, Kirk asks Spock to figure out the location of the beam from the planet and beams down there. Before leaving Kirk had asked for an automatic return in 10 mins time. Kirk discovers that when he materializes, he is of normal height. The transporter rearranges molecules in the correct spacing. But as Kirk lands, the volcanic activity increases on the planet. Kirk finds a city hidden between the crystals of the planet. As volcanic lava attacks he returns to the Enterprise (as 10 mins have elapsed and the automatic beam back kicks in), only to find that his officer crew has been transported to the city. Kirk opens hailing frequencies and promises destruction unless his crew is returned to him. The city leader answers back and says that the name of the city is Terratin.
He reveals that Kirk's entire crew is on the planet & in their city. Spock says that the city is a descendant of an early Earth colony called Terra Ten, and hence the corrupt name Terratin. The Spiroid epsilon waves are natural on the planet and shrunk them to their size of 1/16th of an inch (due to which they were never found), and hence they were lost and forgotten in history. Thus the city dwellers developed the Spiroid epsilon waves as a defense against the outer world. They sought no outsiders and asked for no help.
But they needed help from Enterprise as their city is under threat from volcanic activity. The attack on Enterprise was to gain their attention for a rescue mission. They made the crew of their size and transported them to the city to see for themselves. The city offers Dilithium crystals to return the ship to full power. Kirk agrees to the rescue. He transports the entire city aboard just before the volcanoes tear the ground apart. They are sent to a new home on planet Verdanis.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content