Star Trek The Original Series
Episode: The Alternative Factor
Season 1, Episode 27

Well, Mr. Spock?
Very typical, Captain.
Iron-silicon base, oxygen-hydrogen atmosphere,
largely arid, no discernible life.
No surprises.
Cartographic section, begin scanning.
Tie in to visual section 988TG, computer bank 22.
Kirk out.
About four more orbits ought to do it, Mr. Lesley.
Then we'll wrap it up.
Lay in a course for Starbase 200.
Aye, aye, Captain.
Captain!
Mr. Spock.
Incredible, Captain.
What was that?
What my instruments read is totally unbelievable, Captain.
Twice, for a split second each time,
everything within range of our instruments
seemed on the verge of winking out.
I want facts, not poetry.
I've given the facts, Captain.
The entire magnetic field
in this solar system simply blinked.
The planet below,
the mass ofwhich we're measuring, attained zero gravity.
That's impossible.
What you're describing...
Is nonexistence.
Standard general alert signal from Starfleet Command, Captain.
All stations to immediate alert status.
Captain, scanners now report a life object on the planet's surface.
You just did a life survey minutes ago.
How are you just picking it up now?
Inexplicable, Captain. This reading began
when the pulsation phenomenon began to subside.
Well, what is it,
this object? lts physical makeup?
A living being. Body temperature 98.5 Fahrenheit.
Mass, electrical impulses, movement.
It is apparently human, Captain.
And its appearance coincided with this cosmic winking out?
Almost to the second.
Explanation.
None.
Speculation.
Could this being present any danger to the ship?
Possible.
Very possible.
Lieutenant Uhura, notify Security
to have an armed detachment ready to beam down with us.
Let's go.
Any word from Starfleet Command,
pipe it down immediately.
Communications, priority one.
Space -- the final frontier.
These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.
Its five-year mission--
to explore strange new worlds...
to seek out new life and new civilizations...
to boldly go where no man has gone before.
Captain's Log, Stardate 3087.6.
While investigating an uncharted planet,
the Enterprise and at least this entire quadrant of space
has been subjected to violent, unexplained stress and force.
Sensors have reported the presence ofa human being on the planet below
who might be connected with the phenomenon.
With my first officer and a security team,
I have set out in search of him.
You came!
Thank the heavens.
There's still time.
It's not too late.
We can still stop him.
But I--but I...
need...need your help.
Aah!
Nothing yet, sir.
Report on the dilithium crystals, Captain.
Whatever that phenomenon was,
it drained almost all ofour crystals completely.
It could mean trouble.
You have a talent for understatement, Lieutenant.
Without full crystal power, our orbit will begin to decay in 10 hours.
Reamplify immediately.
Any further magnetic disturbance?
Negative, Captain.
Scanners indicate situation normal.
Nothing?
Nothing.
Illogical. An effect of such proportions
unexplainable by any established physical laws that I'm aware of.
I have been able to ascertain one fact--
Though the effect, whatever it was,
was unquestioningly widespread,
it was strongest here on the planet beneath us.
Keep checking.
Red 2 message in one minute, Captain.
Starfleet Command.
Code factor 1, sir.
Repeat.
Code factor 1.
Invasion status.
All hands, this is the captain.
Battle stations.
I repeat, battle stations.
This is no drill.
[Siren Wails]
[Intercom Whistles] McCoy, Captain.
Kirk here.
About our patient...
Yes, Doctor, quickly.
He'll best if fandsore, but he'll be allright.
I'll talk to him later. Kirk out.
Message ready, Captain.
Main screen, coming up.
Kirk here. Enterprise standing by, Commodore.
You're aware of the effect an hour ago.
Yes, sir.
You may not be aware of its scope.
It occurredin every quadrant of the galaxy and far beyond.
Complete disruption of normal magnetic and gravimetric fields,
time warp distortion,
possible radiation variations...
and all of them centering in the general area
which you are now patrolling.
The question is, are these natural phenomena...
or are they mechanically created?
And if they are, by whom? For what purpose?
Your guess, Captain.
Thank you, sir.
I have considered all the alternatives.
My best guess is it could be a prelude to invasion.
Exactly our consensus.
I'm giving you the job of finding out specifically.
Aye, aye, sir.
Can you assign me other starships as a reserve?
Negative. I'm evacuating all Starfleet units and personnel
within 100 parsecs of your position.
It's going to be tough on you and the Enterprise,
but that's the job you've drawn.
You're on your own.
I see...
You mean... we're the bait.
Goodluck.
Thank you, sir.
Maintain alert status at all battle stations.
Aye, aye, sir.
From the top, Mr. Spock.
First, the phenomenon came from the planet below.
Secondly, the danger is apparently real and imminent.
Third, a closer examination of the planet's surface would be in order.
My job, sir?
Yes.
Meanwhile, I'll talk to our unexpected guest.
Maybe he can provide some answers.
That's how I came to be down there, Captain,
pursuing the devil's own spawn--
a thing I've chased across the universe.
He's humanoid, outside,
but inside, he's a hideous, murdering monster.
I'll get him, Captain.
I swear it.
You say this one man--
Not man!
Thing.
Thing...destroyed your entire civilization.
To the last man, woman, and child.
How did you escape?
I was inspecting magnetic communications satellites.
You believe me, don't you?
Before we picked you up,
our ship sustained a number of incredible effects.
That was he!
He's death...antilife.
He lives to destroy.
Is he the thing that attacked you?
Yes. I give you my word.
I swear it.
We don't have any other facts, any information.
Then you'll join me in my holy cause.
Help me in visiting justice and vengeance upon him.
My only cause is the safety of my ship
and the mission we're on.
You'll beam down with me.
I'll check your story out.
Spock... find anything?
Negative, Captain.
Anything from our guest?
According to him, there's a creature here, a humanoid.
Lieutenant Uhura communicated that information.
I ordered reconfirmation on our sensors.
They indicate no living creature on this planet.
I suggest, Captain, that you've been lied to.
Captain, you yourself said there were no other explanations.
Why do you give credence to this man?
I fail to comprehend your indignation, sir.
I've simply made the logical deduction that you are a liar.
Let's have the truth this time.
No!
You've come back, then?
Well, don't stop. Here I am.
Come at me again.
We'll finish it!
Can you identify that?
I'm trying, Captain.
Lazarus!
You stay here.
All personnel, security red.
Run!Run!
It'll do you no good.
I'll chase you to the veryfires of hell!
Lazarus, what happened?
I saw it again, the thing.
It attacked me.
Let's get out of here.
Captain, readings of the effect indicate
it centered here on this planet,
almost on this very spot.
I told you it was a thing--
all white, black...
and empty, a terrible emptiness.
Let's get back to the ship.
He'll kill us all
if we don't kill him first!
Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!
Captain's Log, Stardate 3088.3.
We continue to orbit the dead planet,
which seems to be the source of the phenomenon
which has struck the Enterprise
and all sections of the galaxy once again.
As for Lazarus,
the story he tells me about the humanoid
continues to trouble me.
Any luck?
Negative, Captain.
I can no more explain the second phenomenon
than I can the first.
If there's a shred of truth to what Lazarus said...
That a single creature,
a humanoid could be responsible
for an effect of such magnitude?
Hard to believe.
Indeed.
The rest of his story fits.
His wounds testify to an apparent confrontation.
Affirmative.
Assuming there is a humanoid,
a...something,
how does he do it?
He has no weapons, no power--
Captain, I know that the occurrence of the phenomenon
coincides exactly with the moments
that Lazarus has his alleged confrontations.
[Intercom Whistles]
Dr. McCoy asking to see you in Sick Bay, Captain.
I don't know,Jim.
Maybe I'm imagining things,
and maybe I'm not. You tell me.
You tell me. That's why you brought me down here.
We both brought Lazarus here.
I treated a deep abrasion on his forehead,
then I bandaged it,
stepped into this room for just a moment--
Bones, get to the point.
Say he's got the constitution of a dinosaur,
recuperative powers, ditto.
As we both know,
I'm a bright young medic with a miraculous touch.
Why, then, when I returned,
there wasn't a trace ofthat wound on his forehead...
not even a bruise.
It was like he had never been injured.
Where is he?
I don't know,Jim.
This is a big ship.
I'm just a country doctor.
Hi.
Hi. Coffee?
Is that an order, Lieutenant?
I know what you mean.
We finished on the dilithium crystals?
Yeah. Ready and waiting.
Lazarus, are you all right?
Uh, yes, sir...
but impatient.
Have you decided to help me yet?
Is something wrong?
No. I have a ship's physician
with a strange sense of humor.
This is no joke. I know what I saw.
[Uhura] Bridge calling the captain.
[Spock] Request you come to the bridge, Captain.
Find something?
Something quite extraordinary.
On my way.
Lazarus, you're with me.
Bones, if I had time, I'd laugh.
Main screen on, Lieutenant.
Screen on, sir.
Source of radiation, Captain.
How is it the scanners didn't pick it up before?
Because it is not there.
Another riddle?
First Dr. McCoy, then you?
According to our usual scanning procedures,
there's nothing there that could be causing that effect.
But it is there.
Affirmative.
I confess I am somewhat at a loss for words.
It may be described,
though loosely and inaccurately,
as a...rip in our universe.
What?
A kind of physical warp, Captain,
where none ofour physical laws
apply with any regularity.
However, with the dilithium crystals,
I was able to localize it.
Yes!
That's it!
The dilithium crystals.
Their power...
we could do it.
You refer to the humanoid?
Yes. We've got him, Captain.
The crystals only show the point of radiation.
That's just it.
That's the key.
That's the way to trap him.
That's the solution.
Captain...
I beg of you.
I plead.
I demand.
Give me the crystals.
Out of the question.
Those crystals power my ship.
You fool.
There won't be any ship if we don't kill him.
He'll destroy you all.
How?
You tell me how!
All I've heard is double-talk, lies, threats,
accusations that don't hold water.
Tell me how it presents a danger to my ship.
I warn you, Captain.
You'll give me the crystals.
Don't threaten me, Lazarus.
No threat intended.
Captain...
I'll have my vengeance.
Lieutenant Masters, Captain's calling.
Masters here.
[Kirk] Lieutenant, can you prepare an experimentation chamber?
All dilithium crystals fullpower.
I'll check, sir.
Captain, the chamber will be ready in 10 minutes.
My assistant and I were--
Captain!
Captain!
Lieutenant, what is it? What's wrong?
Lieutenant?
Captain, Security reports Lazarus missing.
Captain's Log, Stardate 3088.7.
We are no closer to finding an answer
to the strange phenomenon
than we were at the beginning.
Two of my crewmen were attacked,
and two dilithium crystals are missing,
and without them,
the Enterprise cannot operate at fullpower.
They must be found.
Fact--you said you needed the crystals.
After you said you must have them, they're missing.
Fact--two of my crewmen were attacked.
And fact, Captain-- I didn't take the crystals.
I'm not the one.
Find my enemy.
Find the beast,
and you'll find the crystals.
How'd this beast get aboard my ship?
He did. Isn't that enough?
No. He didn't transport up.
A report would've been made.
We're dealing with a creature
capable of destroying worlds.
Why does he need the crystals?
For what reason?
For the same reason that I do.
Listen to me.
He's humanoid.
Why, he...
he can pilot a spaceship.
He can compute formulas to destroy races.
He can steal energy for his vehicle
so he can escape from me.
Are you deafas well as blind?
Sit down.
The crystals certainly aren't here.
There's an unexplained radiation source on the planet.
Obviously some connection.
We'll check it out.
Organize a search party immediately.
Mr. Lazarus will beam down with us.
Thank you, Captain.
You may not have reason to thank me,
depending on what we find.
What do you believe now, Captain?
I believe the missing crystals aren't in your ship.
Mr. Spock?
Unable to locate the source of radiation.
Why not? You had it spotted on the Enterprise!
It has simply disappeared, Captain.
I want this terrain checked.
Look for footprint, movement--anything.
Call if you spot anything.
Don't be afraid to use your weapons.
[Thunder]
[Hissing]
[Thunder]
[Hissing]
[Hissing Stops]
Captain, look out!
Aah!
[Thud]
He's coming out of it now.
Uh, the thing...
the thing...
It's all right.
You're on board the Enterprise.
The rock, I--
How's your head?
Aches.
You saved my life. I want to thank you.
Why shouldn't I?
I have some questions I want to ask you.
Not now, Jim.
It's necessary.
Go ahead.
It's all right.
This is a computer report
of the evidence you gave
at your first screening.
It calls you a liar, Lazarus.
There's no planet at the location
you said you came from.
There never has been.
If you want help from us,
you better start telling the truth.
You wouldn't believe me if I told you.
Try us.
All right.
I distorted a fact
in the interest of self-preservation,
for my holy cause.
I needed help,
not censure,
freedom, not captivity for being a madman.
I was afraid that's what you'd call me
if I told you the truth.
I'll have the truth now.
My planet...
my Earth...
or what's left of it,
is down there beneath us.
What are you saying?
My spaceship...
is more than just that.
It's a time chamber...
a time ship...
and I...
I am a time traveler.
And this thing you search for
is a time traveler, too?
Oh, yes.
He's fled me across all the years...
all the empty years to a dead future...
on a murdered planet he destroyed.
Help me!
Give me the tools I need to kill him! The crystals!
Don't let him get away!
You've been hurt. I know.
I sympathize with you,
but I've got 430 men to worry about.
Where are those crystals?
I told you.
He's got them. He took them.
The thing...
He's got to rest,Jim.
And get that muscleman
out of my sick bay.
Dismissed.
He's in a lot of pain.
Sometimes pain can drive a man harder than pleasure.
I'm sure you know that, Doctor.
Well, don't worry. He's not going anywhere,
not this time.
Oh...
What have we got, Mr. Spock?
A magnetic effect which produces a winking-out phenomenon,
a mysterious, unidentified source
of radiation on the planet,
Lazarus, a walking powder keg,
your rip in the universe,
a so-called murdering humanoid--
True, Captain, but more significant to me
is the fact that our ship's instruments
are designed to locate and identify
any object in our universe,
be it energy or matter.
But by using those instruments,
you were unable to identify
the source of the radiation.
Correct... which would seem to be impossible.
Are the instruments in order?
Perfect working condition.
Then what you say leads obviously...
to one alternative.
The source of radiation is not from our universe.
Nor in our universe, Captain.
It came from outside.
Outside...
Yes...
That would explain a lot.
Another universe...
perhaps in another dimension...
occupying the same space at the same time.
Possible existence of a parallel universe
has been scientifically conceded, Captain.
All right.
What would happen if...
another universe,
say a minus universe,
came into contact with a positive universe
such as ours?
Unquestionably a warp,
a distortion of physical laws
on an immense scale.
Which is what we've been experiencing.
The point where they come into contact,
couldn't that be described as...
a hole?
Indeed.
I point out that a hole in the universe
or in a simple container
can either allow the contents to escape...
Or what is outside to enter.
The invasion that Commodore Barstow suspected.
There has been no evidence
of a large-scale invasion.
But a small-scale invasion, Mr. Spock?
What is your analysis
of the mental state of Lazarus?
Difficult, Captain.
One moment, paranoid,
the next, calm, mild, rational.
Almost as if he were...two men.
Yes, two men.
Different, but identical.
And a hole in the universe.
No, not a hole.
A door.
Through which
these two beings
are somehow enabled to pass.
Take a look at Lazarus.
One minute he's at the point of death,
the next, he's alive, well, strong as a bull.
The cut on his forehead.
First he has it, then it's gone,
then he has it again.
Which is physically impossible for one man.
Quite right.
Unquestionably, there are two of him.
But what's going on?
This leaping from universe to universe...
this wild talk about a murdering creature
who destroys civilizations--
What's the purpose?
Jim, madness has no purpose...
or reason...
but it may have a goal.
He must be stopped, held...
destroyed if necessary.
I don't follow you.
Two parallel universes-- project this--
one positive, the other negative...
or, more specifically,
one matter...
the other antimatter.
Do you know what you're saying?
Matter and antimatter have a tendency
to cancel each other out...
violently.
Precisely.
Under certain conditions,
when two identical particles
of matter and antimatter meet...
Like Lazarus...
Identical...
Like both Lazarus...
only one is matter and the other antimatter.
If they meet...
Annihilation,Jim.
Total, complete...
absolute annihilation.
Of everything that exists...
everywhere.
[Beep]
The energizer's shorted.
Get out of here. Sound the alarm.
Come on. You, too, Lieutenant.
I've got to stay--
The whole thing might blow!
[Coughing]
[Siren Wails]
Engineering calling Bridge.
Fire!
Fire in the energizing circuits...
[Siren Wails]
Fire, Captain. Engineering.
Situation critical.
All available personnel, on the double.
Spock, with me.
Report.
Controlled, but it couldn't have started by itself.
Lazarus-- a trick to get the crystals.
Sir, you shouldn't be in here.
Oh, I didn't know.
He's probably beaming down. I'm going after him.
Organize a security detail.
Follow me as soon as you can.
Spock to Bridge.
I'll get you now.
I have a threshold.
Run, run...
I'll get you now.
[Siren Wails]
Energize.
It's done.
Finished, finished.
It's done.
It's done.
It's done, it's done.
Lazarus...
No! Don't!
Not you!
No!
Welcome, Captain.
I wasn't expecting you.
No...
him.
Yes, him.
You understand?
Not completely.
This is a parallel universe?
Of course.
Antimatter?
Here, yes.
And if identical particles meet...
The end of everything.
Civilization, existence--
All gone.
I tried to stop him, Captain.
That's why I took your dilithium crystals.
He has two more.
That's very bad, Captain.
If he comes through
at a time of his own choosing...
Well, I think if we hurry
and you will help me,
he can yet still be stopped.
There's little time left.
He meant to come through.
When you accidentally passed through,
it drained his crystals.
It'll take him about 10 minutes to re-energize
with the equipment aboard his ship.
That should give us enough time.
Exactly what did I pass through?
That's hard to explain, Captain.
I call it an alternative warp.
It's sort of a negative magnetic corridor
where the two parallel universes meet.
It's sort of a safety valve.
It keeps eternity from blowing up.
This, uh, corridor...
Is it what caused the magnetic effect,
the winking-out phenomenon?
Precisely, Captain...
but not because of its existence...
because...
because my foe entered.
The corridor is like a prison
with explosives at the door.
Open the door,
and the explosives might go off.
Stay inside...
And the universe is safe.
Both universes, Captain...
yours and mine.
Surely Lazarus must realize what would happen
if you should meet face-to-face
outside the corridor.
Of course he knows, Captain,
but he's mad.
You heard him. He's lost his mind.
When our people found a way
to slip through the warp
and prove another universe,
an identical one, existed,
it was too much for him.
He could not live knowing that I lived.
He became obsessed
with the idea of destroying me.
The fact that it meant his own destruction
and everything else...
meant nothing to him.
So you're the terrible thing,
the murdering monster...
the creature?
Yes, Captain.
Or he is.
It depends on your point of view,
doesn't it?
It's ready, Captain.
If we can force him into the corridor while I'm waiting,
we can put an end to this.
If he comes through
at a time of his own choosing
and breaks into this universe to find me--
I understand.
What do you want me to do?
Find him.
Force him through his threshold,
while I'm waiting for him,
into the corridor...
and I'll hold him there.
You can't hold him forever.
Can't l, Captain?
You destroy his ship.
If I destroy his ship,
won't yours also be destroyed?
It will.
And your door will be closed.
Yes, and so will his.
You'll be trapped inside that corridor with him
forever...
at each other's throats throughout time.
Is it such a large price to pay
for the safety of two universes?
I'm ready.
Send him to me.
I'll be waiting.
Lazarus.
Stand back.
No! No!
No, I'm not ready!
I'm not ready!
Aah!
Take these crystals to the Enterprise.
We must destroy that ship completely.
What of Lazarus?
And what of Lazarus?
[Siren Wails]
Activate phaser banks.
Phaser banks activated.
Stand by to fire.
Phasers standing by, sir.
Fire phasers.
All right, Mr. Lesley, let's get out of here.
Ahead warp factor 1.
Warp 1, sir.
Everything's all right, Mr. Spock...
for us.
There is, of course,
no escape for them, sir.
There is, of course,
no escape.
How would it be...
trapped forever
with a raging madman at your throat
until time it selfcame to a stop?
For eternity.
How would it be?
Captain...
the universe is safe.
For you and me.
But what of Lazarus?
What of Lazarus?