Stunts Biography

Under this threat Kirk agrees to beam down to Pollux IV with some officers. He takes along McCoy, Scotty, Chekov and Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas, an officer trained in archology, anthopology and this history of ancient civilizations.

On the surface they meet the being, who claims to be the god Apollo. McCoy's scans show him to be a simple humanoid, though not quite Human. Apollo claims he and his kind lived amongst Humans in the distant past, coming to be worshipped by the natives for their power and sophistication. He wishes to recreate that situation, with the Enterprise crew living simple lives and worshiping him. He demonstrates his power by fusing their weapons and firing a lightning bolt which injures Scotty.

The crew work on the problem from both ends; on the surface Kirk and the others try to work out who and what Apollo is, exactly, and what weaknesses he may have. Meanwhile in orbit Spock analyses the forcefield holding the ship and probes for weaknesses in it.

Apollo develops a liking for Lieutenant Palamas, and takes her away for a private discussion. It becomes clear that he is attracted to her, and to some extent she returns this attraction. She finds that the "gods" departed Earth because their worshipers turned away from them. Although immortal the group was left hopeless and forlorn without purpose in their lives. One by one the others "spread themselves on the wind", gradually becoming "thinner and thinner... until only the wind remained." Apollo is the last remaining one of his kind, and determined to recreate his glory days of godhood.

Back with the Enterprise officers, they have located a power source in the vicinity and speculate that it seems to feed into Apollo somehow - he has an extra organ in his chest that McCoy cannot make sense of, which may allow him to gather and utilise this energy source somehow. Chekov notes that Apollo often looks tired or pained when he leaves, and they speculate that he has a limited ability to expend energy. It is thus possible that they can provoke him into exhausting himself.

On the Enterprise, Spock proposes to penetrate the forcefield in a few selected areas by generating M-rays on discrete wavelengths. This, he hopes, will allow the ship to then act further against Apollo.

When Apollo next appears Kirk and his officers attempt to goad and provoke him into attacking them, thus weakening himself. Lieutenant Palamas, not knowing the plan, urges mercy and compassion on Apollo, and he relents and departs. Kirk has a talk with her and explains that even if she has some feelings for Apollo, her duty is to her fellow Humans and requires her to act against him. He essentially orders her to spurn Apollo's advances in the most cruel and painful way possible, reasoning that if he thrives on adulation and worship then such an approach may weaken him.

Spock gets sensor readings through the field and is able to determined that the energy source is the Greek-style temple the officers are at. Kirk orders him to be ready to fire on the temple. Meanwhile Lieutenant Palamas spurns Apollo as ordered, laughing at his suggestion that she could possible have loved him and describing him as merely an interesting study project for her work. Combined with the rejection of the other officers Apollo is suitably weakened, and Spock fires a sustained phaser barrage at the temple as the officers take cover. Apollo attempts to fight back, but although his energy blasts rock the Enterprise the ship proves equal to the task, and the temple is reduced to a burned out ruin and Apollo defeated.

A tearful Apollo practically begs Kirk for worship, but Kirk demurs. With no other choice, Apollo "spreads" himself out into nothingness, effectively ending his life. A victorious but saddened Kirk wonders if it wouldn't have harmed them to have given Apollo at least some small part of what he needed, and they depart.