Artie and Spock were working on the security measures for the diamond display. Thaddeus Baines had not left, and he was not at all confident in their ability to make sure the diamonds were safe. "Do you know what a disaster this will be if anymore of these jewels are stolen?" he asked.

"I think I'm starting to," Artie replied trying to hide the fact that he was rolling his eyes.

Spock looked at Baines. "If you believe you can do this better, would you please tell us what measure we should take?" Spock asked.

Baines looked at him with disdain. "I simply want to make sure this is done right!" he declared.

"We intend to do it right, but I also believe Mister Gordon could concentrate better if he were not being bombarded by your criticisms the whole time."

Baines was taken aback by Spock's apparent disregard for his authority. "Pure insolence!" he said, and looked at Gordon. "Nothing better happen at that display, or you and West will pay the price." He looked at Spock. "And perhaps your friends too!"

Spock and Artie watched Baines leave. "I don't think he liked that too well," Artie said.

"I am not a subordinate of his," Spock replied. "Therefore, I do not find it necessary for me to be…courteous."

Artie laughed. "Oh, you just don't know these government people. They get all bent out of shape if someone doesn't treat them like royalty."

Artie got the bars under the display case. "Now you see that?" he asked. "You know what it does."

"Yes," Spock replied. "However, I do not believe it is sufficient to catch this thief."

Artie looked at him. "What? If someone sticks their hand in that case, they won't have one when they pull that arm back out."

Carol walked over to them. "What Mister Spock is saying," she said. "Is that if our thief is moving at a great enough speed to be invisible, chances are, he will be too fast for the booby trap to catch him."

Artemus folded his arms and looked very disappointed. "Well, what do you suggest?" he asked.

Carol smiled. "There's nothing here can catch him," she said. "It's not that your traps are not good, but that this thief is too fast for them."

"Then you're saying it's impossible?"

"Not atall." Carol looked at Spock with a smile.

Spock raised an eyebrow. "I believe she is suggesting that we use a little futuristic ingenuity to capture this thief."

Gordon smiled. "You know, you guys may be out of place, but I'm sure glad you're here," he said.

West, Kirk, and Bones arrived at the Midas mansion. Jim and Bones stood and looked at it a moment. "That's a big house," Bones said.

Jim nodded. "Yeah, it is," he agreed.

"Perfect place to hide something…like a lab?"

"It would definitely have plenty of rooms."

They followed West up onto the porch and he knocked on the door. This time, a young man opened the door, and the young woman was with him. "May I help you?" he asked.

"I'm James West, and these are my associates. I'm here to see Margaret Midas."

"Mister West, I'm afraid my aunt has gone on a trip, and won't be back for some time. I'm Morgan Midas, her nephew."

"Then you must know that she has diamonds to be displayed at the international diamond display. Surely, she left word with you that I was coming, because she was expecting me."

"I'm afraid she did not leave any word. You see, my aunt has not been well."

West was not as courteous as Gordon had been when he came to this house. "Look, your aunt agreed to show those diamonds, and I'm here to collect and protect them, and that's exactly what I'm gonna do."

Midas was silent a moment. "They would be in the safe."

"Then open it."

"We do not know the combination."

"Well, I happen to be an expert safe cracker, so if you'll just show me the safe."

Midas could see he was not going to get rid of West, so he let him in. "I do not like the idea of you taking something of my aunt's without her being here to okay it," he said.

"Don't worry," West replied. "She won't be a bit upset about this."

"Lucretia, would you show him the safe?"

"I believe this young lady here was rather rude to another of my associates when he was here earlier today."

"She simply did not understand, and could not let him in. I apologize."

Midas left the room, and Lucretia took West and the others to the safe. Jim stood beside him. "How are you going to open this safe?" he asked.

West smiled. "Very quietly," he said.

"He's gonna listen for the clicks," Bones whispered.

"You can actually do that?" Jim asked.

"He can probably do it a lot better if you stop talking."

They were silent as West got the safe open, and just as he had expected, there was nothing in the safe. "There's nothing in here," he said.

"I don't understand," Lucretia replied. "No one has been in the safe since his aunt left. There must be some mistake. Perhaps she took them with her. I will tell Morgan."

They watched as Lucretia went up the stairs. "Man, this is getting worse all the time," Bones said.

"Yeah, and I think we may have found our thief," West replied.

"Which one?"

"She has a hand in it, but he must be the one stealing the diamonds."

"Then where is Margaret Midas?" Jim asked. "And is he really her nephew?"

"Probably not, and Lucretia is most likely up there telling him now that I got this safe open."

Jim and Bones looked at West. "And what is his reaction going to be?" Bones asked.

Just then, West was knocked backward by an unseen force. Jim and Bones moved, but they were soon victims themselves…

Artemus Gordon was enjoying having help from his futuristic friends. "I'd like to see someone get out of this," he said as he was looking at the door of the building. "No way anyone is getting out of here with any diamonds no matter how fast they are."

"How many diamonds are going to be displayed here?" Uhura asked.

"At least ten displays, and some of them are…very expensive jewelry."

"Are you going to bring the real ones here?"

"I haven't had time to have replicas made of the jewelry. It still makes me very nervous to have them here."

"We'll all be on duty so we'll do everything we can to keep anyone from stealing them."

Spock stood with his hands behind his back. "It is puzzling to me that anyone wants to display something that is so coveted by criminals and put their own lives in danger of being killed for it," he said.

"Well, Spock, people have a right to own something beautiful like that," Uhura said. "It's not they who have the problem, it's the criminals."

"I realize that. However, to display them in a manner such as this seems foolish."

"They just want people to see it because it's something beautiful." Uhura grasped the amulet that she still wore around her neck. "I'll always treasure this, and I like to wear it because it reminds me of you and the special relationship we have."

Carol wondered where Jim and the others were. She hoped he was not getting into trouble, but she also knew there was something he was keeping from her. That was the one thing that she did not like was that he felt the need to keep things from her that he thought would upset her. Of course, she knew it was just part of his male nature, but she wanted to know everything that troubled him and she would share what troubled her as well. However, she could not say that she had not kept things from him that upset her. She supposed they would both have to work on that.

Jim woke up with a sore jaw, and he thought he could feel a little pain from where he had been shot before. "Jim, wake up!" Bones was saying. "Wake up!"

"I don't want to get up," Jim said thinking that he had been asleep. He felt sore.

"Jim!"

West was starting to wake up as well. He opened his eyes and looked around him. He realized he was definitely in a crude lab, and as his vision cleared, he saw Morgan Midas…if that was his real name…standing at a lab table. "Welcome back, Mister West," he said.

West realized he was tied to a metal frame. He was not sure what had happened but he knew now that they had found their thief. "What are you doing?" he asked.

Midas turned his attention to West. "I find your intrusion most offensive," he said. "You're a government agent and you must be here to investigate my research. I heard what happened over in Carson City. You've come here to destroy my research as well."

"What research?" West asked. He was completely confused now. "I don't know anything about any research."

"You're lying!"

Bones gasped as Midas flipped a lever that sent electricity through Jim West. "Stop that!" Bones exclaimed. "You could kill him!"

"Quiet!" Midas demanded.

"You crazy…"

Midas walked over to Bones. "Perhaps you would like to trade places with him."

"I don't know anything about your crazy research! And neither does he! We were just here to get those diamonds! That's all!"

Midas walked back to his research table. "I don't happen to believe that lie." He flipped the switch again.

Jim Kirk was awake now and he saw what was happening. "Jim, we have to do something," Bones said as he pulled at the ropes that were holding him. "He's gonna kill him!"

"I have no intention of killing him," Midas said. "I simply want to know what the government knows about my research."

"We weren't here for anything but to get those diamonds," Jim said. "But we know something else is going on now."

"Perhaps you didn't know anything, but you do now. So, I can't just let you go, can I?"

Lucretia came into the lab just as Morgan Midas was shocking West again. "You'll kill him," she said.

"I won't kill him," Midas said. "I will simply scramble his brains." He looked at Lucretia. "You are too soft. Watch him a moment, and I will return."

West was working on getting out of his restraints with his boot knife which came out the toe of his boot at the flick of a small button on the side of the boot. Lucretia was not paying much attention to what he was doing but was watching what was happening at the lab table. Midas soon came back with another test tube, and Lucretia left again.

"What are you doing to that diamond?" West asked.

"Well, if you must know," Midas said. "I'm heating it to four thousand degrees."

Jim and Bones looked at each other. "You're melting a diamond?" Bones asked. "What for?"

"It is part of my secret formula for…invulnerability."

"How can melting a diamond give you invulnerability?" Jim asked.

"You will simply have to wait and see…and I think you will be my guinea pig…Mister…"

Jim frowned. "Oh, come on, you should tell me your name," Midas said. "I'm sure the authorities won't have any trouble finding out what it is when you're arrested."

Jim did not say a word. West was cutting at the rope that was holding his feet and it was not an easy task while he made sure Midas did not see him. Bones could see what West was doing so he decided to keep Midas's attention. "You can't get away with this!" Bones declared. "No one is going to believe Jim stole anything!"

"They will when he's caught in the traps set up at the display," Midas replied.

"How do you know they won't catch you?"

"Because I have a plan which you will not be a part of."

"We'll just see about that. You're forgetting that there are three of us, and we'll know what you're doing."

"I'm afraid you won't be around to tell anyone."

"You have way too much confidence in yourself."

"I think it is you who does not realize the seriousness of his own trouble."

Jim looked at Bones and then at West, whom he hoped was going to get out of his restraints soon. He had almost cut the rope in two that was holding his feet and was also connected to his wrists.

Midas noticed that West was about to get loose, and he hurried over to him, but West got his hands loose just as Midas got to him, and he knocked him backward.

West was trying to finish getting his hands loose, but Midas was drinking something. He suddenly vanished. Jim and Bones could not get out of their restraints. "West! He's vanished!" Bones yelled.

West finally got his hands loose, but he had no time to think before he was hit by an invisible force again. He could do nothing to defend himself because he could not see his opponent. He fell to the floor once again.

"Bones, can you get out of those ropes?" Jim asked.

"No, they're too tight," Bones said.

"See if you can turn that chair around."

"How do we know he's not still in here?"

"He's occupied."

While West was keeping Midas occupied, Bones and Jim started trying to turn their chairs around so that their backs were together. Jim could touch Bones' hands with his fingers, and could feel the ropes. "Hurry, Jim!" Bones said.

"I'm trying!" Jim replied. "This is a knot, you know!"

Jim Kirk almost had Bones' hands untied, and finally he got the last rope loose. "Go, Bones!" Jim said.

"What? I'm not leaving you here!" Bones declared.

"Bones, you have to go get help! He'll be back any minute!"

Bones did not like the idea of leaving his friend. "That's an order, Bones!" Jim said authoritatively.

Bones could see that Jim meant it. He looked around them. "How am I supposed to get out of here?" he asked.

"Think about it, Bones. If he's trying to steal so many diamonds and is making that all the time, it must not last long!"

"You're saying he'll be visible again soon!"

"Exactly!"

Just as they said that, Midas reappeared. Bones went out the door of the lab and looked down the stairs. He knew Midas could not come after him without him seeing him now, but he ran down the hallway in the other direction to see if there was another stairway and way out of this maze. He finally did come to another stairway that went down into the kitchen. When Bones came barreling out into the kitchen, there were two female cooks in there and they screamed.

"Shhhhh!" Bones hissed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you!"

Bones kept running and went out another door but he found that it led into a pantry and he almost ran into a rack of wine. He maneuvered his way around that and ran toward the back of the room, and finally found a door that led outside. He looked around him and did not see anyone so he ran out into the forest, hoping that he could make his way back around to the front where his horse was, but there was an eight foot wall that barred his way. He was not sure what to do but he would have to just run, which he hated, but he would have to find his way back to the road some way. He skirted the wall and finally came to a door in the wall which was basically overgrown with trees and vines, and then he heard dogs! He managed to get to the door and it opened, although outside the door there were also bushes and vines, but he got out. He did not know which way to go but he could not go back to the house. He oriented himself by which way the house was, and ran that way through the forest hoping that he would come to the road.

Midas found that Jim Kirk had almost gotten himself loose but that Lucretia had caught him. "Were you trying to miss your opportunity to make history?" Midas asked.

Jim glared at him. "You can't possibly think you can get away with this!" he said.

"The other one got away, but he won't be able to get back to town in time to cause us any problems. We'll have to move from here just in case he finds help someway. They will spoil the plan if we stay here."

Jim wondered what that meant, but he certainly did not want to be shot again, so he would have to go along with them for the time being. He was tied up even tighter in a room by himself, and did not know what they did with Jim West.

The time for the diamond display came soon, and Midas got ready to go to the party. He untied Jim from the chair he was in, and then held a gun on him. "Now," he said. "You and I are going to take a little trip."

"To where?" Jim asked.

"Why, the diamond display. Where else? You're going to be my scapegoat."

Jim went with him out to the carriage which was being driven by one of the butlers. When they arrived at the party, Midas took what looked like a flask from his coat pocket. "Now, you and I are going on another trip," he said. He poured a small amount of the liquid from the flask into what looked like a large thimble for Jim. "Drink up."

"And if I refuse?" Jim asked.

Midas pulled the hammer back on the gun. "Don't think that I won't kill you."

Jim swallowed hard, and then he drank the liquid which did not seem to have any sort of flavor. Midas drank straight from the flask. "You'll feel a little dizzy in a moment," he said.

Jim grimaced as the affects of the formula hit him, but it subsided quickly. "What is it supposed to do?" he asked.

"I'll show you," Midas replied.

They got out of the carriage, and Jim was surprised that people on the street were stopped in mid-stride, and other positions as though they had been walking down the street or standing and talking, and suddenly became immobile. "Now do you believe me?" Midas asked. "You're moving much too fast for them to see you."

Jim could not believe what he was seeing or hearing…especially since he was in the nineteenth century. "Let's go," Midas said.

Jim followed him and they went into the place where the diamond display was. He saw Spock, Uhura, and Carol there, but they were frozen in place like everyone else. Then he heard something and thought for a second that his communicator was chirping at him. "What's that noise?" he asked.

"You're hearing people talking, but can't understand them because of your speed," Midas said.

They went over to the diamond displays. Midas simply lifted the cases and took the diamonds. "I don't know what his traps are, but they aren't fast enough to catch us," he said.

When he had all the diamonds, they headed for the door. Before he could get out, Jim grabbed his chest as he had a horrible pain. "What's happening?" he asked.

"The formula is wearing off," Midas said. "Come on!"

Jim tried to follow him, but he felt as though he were walking in slow motion and he actually saw the bars coming down that Artemus and Spock had installed in the doorway to capture the thief between them. "Well, I suppose this is as good a place as any for us to part," Midas said. He put one of the diamond bracelets he had stolen into Jim's pocket, making sure it was not completely inside. "Good bye."

"Wait," Jim said but he could not follow Midas.

Suddenly, everything went into motion, and the metal bars slammed down behind and in front of Jim and he was trapped. He could hear screams inside the room as the other traps Artemus had created slammed into place as well.

Thaddeus Baines came up to the bars of the makeshift jail that Jim was now trapped in. "I knew it!" he exclaimed as he grabbed the diamond bracelet from Jim's pocket. "This is the thief!"

"Wait a minute!" Jim said. "I…"

Suddenly, Jim saw that Q was among the people looking in at him. "That man is a thief!" Q declared. "He should be arrested at once! We'll find out who he is and where he came from!"

Carol, Spock, Uhura, and Artemus came up to the cage bars. "And these friends of his should be searched as well!" Q said.

Artie glared at him. "My friends are not thieves!" he said. "This is all a mistake, Mister Baines!"

"We'll see about that!" Baines said. "Get him out of there. He will be arrested and detained for thievery!"

Just then, Bones came in the front door of the place looking definitely like he had walked all that time trying to get back there. He could see that he was too late. Jim sighed as he knew this had to be part of Q's plan. They would have to find a way to get out of this mess, and he was sure West would find a way out of his bonds.

West was trying to get out of his ropes, which was not easy. They had taken his boots because they had known how he got loose the other time. He was simply having to squirm his way out this time. He had gotten the ropes looser but they were still too tight for him to get his hand out.

Jim Kirk was taken to jail. The others came in there to see him. "Jim, what happened?" Bones asked. "I tried to get back but it was just too far on foot! I've got blisters on both feet! These boots are not made for walking."

"He brought me here with him to show me how he stole all those diamonds," Jim said. "He has some sort of formula that he takes that makes him move faster or something! It was like everyone else was frozen in place."

"He gave you some of it too?" Bones asked. "And you drank it? How do you know what that stuff will do to you?"

"I didn't have much of a choice, Bones. It was either drink it or be shot. It was only like a sip."

"That would mean that he has gone back to his lab," Spock said. "I suggest we go there and stop him from making any more of this formula."

"He's gotta be back at the Midas house," Jim said. "What about me? You all saw Q."

"I am not certain, Captain. However, I do believe that Mister Gordon will find a way to get you out."

Just then, Artemus came into the cell block. "Where is Jim West?" he asked.

"I guess he still has him out there," Jim replied. "Are you gonna get me out of here?"

Artie looked around them and then reached into his lapel pocket. He laid what looked like a string across the bar that held the vertical bars of the jail cell. "Stand back," he said quietly and struck a match.

They all watched while the "string" burned across like a fuse. Artie then pushed the bars out and they got Jim out of the cell. "That was incredible," Jim said.

"Come on," Artie said. "We'll talk about it later."

They all went out the back door of the jail into the dark street. They hurried to the livery stable and rented horses which they would have to have if they were to stop Midas. They were soon on their way, hoping that they could get there in time.