Jim woke up not remembering what happened until he looked around him. He tried to sit up but the sudden change in position caused his head to pound. He lay down for a moment, hoping that pain would subside. Carol sat down beside him then. "Jim?"

"Carol. Are you alright?"

"I have a bit of a headache, but other than that, I'm fine."

"Have you met our captor?"

"Yes. She's very demanding."

"Have you seen anyone else?"

"Yes, but I have been here with you most of the time."

"We really have to start analyzing these places more."

"This is not your fault."

Jim rubbed his face. "We transported those tribbles to the other continent," he said. "Are they all going to die?"

"I don't know, Jim," Carol said. "But we had no way of knowing."

Jim finally sat up as he thought maybe his head would not explode. "Oh, my head."

"Did you hit your head?"

"No. She had some kind of rod. I think she shocked me."

"We're below the ground."

"I know. She said something about why the inhabitants died out. She believes whatever was there is still there. There was nothing detected."

"Perhaps whatever killed the inhabitants of the planet is gone now."

Jim started to stand up but his hip seemed not to want to hold him up. "What's wrong?" Carol asked.

"She shocked my hip too," Jim said. He stood up slowly and took slow steps trying to get his muscles moving again.

"Jim, how are we going to get out of here?"

"I don't know, but maybe we can convince this person that whatever killed everyone is not there anymore."

They heard someone approaching. Jim stood still as Tara came into view. "You have no right to hold us down here," Jim said. "Whatever you were afraid of up there is gone. There's nothing deadly in the atmosphere anymore. What caused everyone to die out and how did you end up down here?"

"You are not in charge here, Captain," Tara replied. "I want you to take us away from this miserable planet. We're tired of living underground."

"You're not listening. There's no reason for you to be living underground."

Tara stepped closer to him. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Why don't you enlighten me?"

"There's a micro-organism. Certain people are susceptible to it in the atmosphere, others aren't. However, once those susceptible people have contracted the sickness, they can pass it on to others."

"Sickness?"

"Yes. The organism attacks the respiratory system."

Jim was starting to get a little nervous. "How do you know whether you're infected or not?"

"You don't know until you get sick."

"Is there a cure?"

"If there was, do you think we would be down here? We would have eradicated the organism by now."

"So if anyone is infected, they die? Then how did you survive?"

"Those who were not infected moved down here, and I was born years later. That should be obvious."

"Then how do you know it's still there? Maybe it can't live without a host. We didn't detect anything."

"Like I said, you can't detect anything. We could be wrong, but we don't want to take the chance. We want you to get us off this planet."

"If you're holding me hostage, I can't do that," Jim said.

"I didn't intend to hurt you or your…girlfriend. I was only trying to warn you at first."

"By opening up that thing and dropping us down here?"

"You're unharmed."

Jim scowled. "My head hurts, and my hip doesn't feel right. That hip had been injured before."

"Are you going to help us or not?"

"Maybe we can help you determine if the micro-organism is still there," Jim said. "Wouldn't you rather live on your planet if you could?"

Tara just stared at him a moment. "I've never lived on the planet. I've only gone up there with protective gear on."

"How do you keep the organism from getting down here? You must have some sort of ventilation system."

"Of course."

"If you can do all that, why do you allow some little micro-organism to defeat you?" Jim asked.

Tara frowned. "Are you calling us stupid?"

"Of course not."

"He's saying that you should use your technology to purify your planet," Carol said. "Or to determine whether the organism even still exists. And we can help you."

"You make it sound so easy," Tara said. "If it was easy, don't you think we would have done it long ago? We do not have the technology to do such a thing."

"Our ship is the most advanced of its kind," Jim said. "We'll help you. I have science officers who can help you."

Tara just stood there silent a moment. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Well, we can never be certain of anything, but we can sure try."

"I accept your help, and I apologize for your pain."

"That's alright," Jim said.

"I will introduce you to the rest of my people."

They followed Tara to another area of the cavern, and it was a large open area that was brightly lit, and Jim could see that they had built "rooms" or maybe it was apartments in the rock. He could see the extensive carving that went into the work, and it was built like a building with several stories…but it was inside the rock.

"Jim, it's amazing," Carol said.

Jim had to agree. "I agree," he replied. He could see that there were also caverns that went further back into the rock as well, and it was like tunnels that were lit. "I've never seen anything like this."

"It's like a hotel."

"Or an apartment complex."

Tara took them over to a man who did not look happy. "Who are these people, Tara?" he asked.

"This is Jim Kirk," Tara answered. "He's the captain of a star ship, and the lady is his girlfriend."

Jim did not know how she knew that. He had not told her, and he wondered if it was really that obvious. Carol stood close to him, and he wondered if she was nervous. He was a little nervous himself. He noticed that this man had the same jewel-like eyes that Tara had, although his were green. He wondered if they developed that because of living underground. Perhaps it helped them to see in darkness…although he had to admit, it was not extremely dark in the cavern.

"This is Joran, my father," Tara said. "He is the leader of the Kurlans."

"Why have you come to this planet?" Joran asked.

"Well, we were curious about it," Jim answered. "We wanted to figure out why the inhabitants died out, and find out more about the planet."

"Curiosity is not always a good thing, Captain Kirk. You should not have come here."

"I'm beginning to realize that. If you'll just let us out of here, we'll be going back to our ship."

"If you go back to your ship now, you may become ill with the micro-organism and spread it through your ship. We can quarantine you here."

Jim shook his head. "We have a very good doctor on our ship," he said. "If we become ill, he will take care of us. But we have not detected anything in your atmosphere. How do you know the organism is still there?"

"We will know soon enough."

"We want to go back to our ship. We'll deal with whatever happens there."

Joran was silent for a moment. "If that is what you wish, but in the future, you should be more careful about visiting planets you know nothing about," he said.

"How do we get out of here?"

"Tara will show you the way out. We would appreciate if you would not broadcast our situation here, but that you would let it be known why there is no one living on this planet."

"And if we prove to you that there's nothing there to hurt you? Will you start living on your planet again?"

"Captain, you should go now, and leave us alone."

"If that's what you want. I'm sorry we disturbed you but we were just exploring."

"Explore somewhere else."

Jim thought he could not get a kind word from these people. "Tara asked us to take you all away from this planet," he said.

Tara was visibly troubled that he had said that. Joran looked at her. "I do not understand why she would say something like that," he said. "We do not wish to leave."

"Perhaps there are some who don't like living like moles."

Joran stiffened and narrowed his jeweled eyes at Jim. "We have no more to say to each other," he said. "Tara, take them out of here. You and I will talk later."

Jim and Carol went with Tara, and she led them down one of the lighted tunnels. "I take it you're not happy living here," Carol said since Jim did not say anything.

"I don't have anything to say," Tara replied. "I don't have a say in what we do."

"There may be no reason for you to live here like this."

"I don't have a choice."

"In a few years, you may be the leader," Jim said. "Maybe you can make a difference then."

"I would never be the leader here," Tara said.

"Why not?"

Tara stopped and looked at them when they were far enough from the compound. "Only men are leaders here," she said.

"Not even the leader's own daughter?" Carol asked.

"Not even."

Tara walked on and they soon came to an outside exit that was protected by two energy shields. They went inside one, and Tara stood and looked out the exit for a moment, and then she looked at Jim and Carol. "You can get out here," she said. "I have to close it right back after you go out."

"Do you ever go out there?" Jim asked.

"That's not allowed."

"But you do it anyway, don't you?"

"No one can know that."

"If you know there's nothing out there, why don't you tell others?"

"They won't believe me. They'll only believe that I am just one who is immune."

"Well, we'll try to help you, but I'm afraid there's not a whole lot we can do…unless you want to come with us."

Tara did not say anything for a long time as she looked out the exit. "I just wonder what life would be like if we weren't trapped underground," she said.

"Come with us, and we'll show you," Jim replied. "Come to our ship."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"If I leave, they will not allow me to come back."

"And you would miss your father."

"Yes. He may be stubborn, but I love him."

"Why did you ask us to take you all away from here if you knew it wasn't possible?"

"I don't know."

"You have your chance now."

"Just find that evidence for us."

"We'll try."

Tara let Jim and Carol out. Jim got his communicator to contact the Enterprise…

Spock, Bones, Scotty, Sulu, Solan, and Uhura were gathered around the science station. "I don't see why the scanners aren't picking this up," Scotty said. "They should be reading it, unless it's shielded some way."

"Obviously that's what it is," Bones said. "How are we supposed to get Jim and Carol out of there?"

"I don't know, Laddy. They're hidden down there wherever they are."

"I do not believe that such a device can exist without someone operating it," Spock said. "There certainly cannot be shielding such as this without someone maintaining it. Therefore, it is logical to believe that there are beings living beneath the surface of the planet, and perhaps there is another way in or out of the cavern."

"I didn't see anything," Bones said.

"We were not looking for a way."

The communication system whistled. "Spock," Jim said. "You copy this?"

"Captain, are you okay?" Spock asked.

"Other than a few bruises, and maybe a headache, we're fine. Beam us out of here."

Scotty hurried to the transporter room, and the others followed him. Jim and Carol were soon appearing on the transporter pad. "Jim, what happened?" Spock asked.

"It's kind of a long story," Jim said.

"Are you alright?" Bones asked.

"I think so. My hip hurts. It's that hip that Khan injured. She shocked me."

"Well, before you tell any long stories, you're going to the medical bay."

"Fine. I think we can probably tell you while we're there."

"Great."

They were soon in the medical bay. Jim lay down on a bed. "Check her first," he said. "She hit her head when she fell through that…whatever it was."

Carol sat down on a bed, and Bones scanned her head. "No concussion," he said. "I guess you have a hard head too."

"Captain, I would like you to tell me what happened," Spock said.

"Well, we fell through that trap door," Jim said. "When we got down there, there was a young woman named Tara. She knocked me out, and the next thing I know, she's telling us that she wants us to get them off the planet. When we met her father later, he did not agree. They all live underground in this…it's like a hotel or an apartment complex, and it's all hewn out in the rocks. It's incredible, but Tara isn't happy living there."

"Doesn't sound like much fun to me either," Bones said as he was scanning Jim. "Why do they want to live underground?"

"The planet was wiped out by a micro-organism…or at least that's what they said. They said that everyone isn't susceptible to it, but there are some who are, and once they are infected by it, they can spread it to everyone else."

Bones just stood there a moment. "Are you telling me that we were exposed to some micro-organism on this planet?" he asked.

"We can't know that it's even still there. It's been years, Bones. How can it survive with no hosts?"

Bones considered that. "I don't know, but how will we know if we come down with this…sickness?"

"She said it's a respiratory illness."

"Captain, I detected nothing on the planet," Spock said.

"It may have died out after they left the planet surface," Jim replied. "Where would something like that come from?"

"It could have been a natural occurrence, or someone could have visited their planet and brought it there."

"Either way, they're afraid to come to the surface again because of the unpredictability of the sickness. There's no way to tell who's vulnerable."

"That means everyone who was down there needs to stay quarantined until we find out," Bones said.

"Bones, I don't think there's any danger anymore," Jim said. "Remember, we even put those tribbles down there. Have Scotty scan and see if the tribbles are okay."

"I will tell him, Captain," Spock said. "However, organisms that affect humanoids do not always affect animals."

"Check anyway."

"Jim, we might not even be able to tell without having one of the critters here," Bones said.

"One thing at a time, Bones."

"Maybe I can test all of us, take tissue samples and find out if we've been exposed to something."

"That's a good idea. Do that."

"Alright. I'll start with you."

Jim just lay there while Bones prepared to test them all for something unknown. He hoped there was nothing to find.