[Nate the Great]

January 19th, 1968, "The Immunity Syndrome"

Fiver (by FatMatDuhRat)
Transcript
Memory Alpha

PART ONE

The Episode

MCCOY: The Intrepid is manned by Vulcans, isn't it?
KIRK: Yes, that's right, Bones.

On the one hand, I can understand that some Vulcans would prefer to be among other Vulcans. On the other, it seems like favoritism, pampering, and against the goal of the Federation. At least for a full starship on a general exploratory mission.

Plus there's another problem. It was Surak himself who said "I am pleased to see that we have differences. May we together become greater than the sum of both of us." Time and time again it's been made clear that if Spock's logic was left unchecked by emotion and intuition many people would have died, if not the entire ship.

STARBASE [OC]: We've lost all contact with solar system Gamma Seven-A...

Who's the numnut who keeps using numbers, English letters, and Greek letters when naming things? Can't you just imagine a giant Boggle cube in the writing room, filled with Greek letters and Arabic numerals? "We need a new solar system name! *shake shake* Gamma Seven-A!"

KIRK: No speculation, no information, nothing. I've asked you three times for information on that, and you've been unable to supply it. Insufficient data is not sufficient, Mister Spock. You're the science officer. You're supposed to have sufficient data all the time.

See, Kirk is stressed, impatient, and snappish! In your face, Gene! Humanity isn't perfect yet, and can never be perfect as long as the unknown exists.

SPOCK: It is not a galactic nebula such as the Coal Sack...

The Coalsack Dark Nebula is a real thing. Furthermore, it's only 600 light years from here. And what's more than that, it's near the Southern Cross, so that's why Americans seldom hear about it.

KIRK: We're on a difficult mission, but it's not the first time. Our orders do not say stay alive or retreat.

No, your orders say find what killed the Intrepid. You have. Now get out of here ASAP, surround it with warning beacons, and come back with a plan for dealing with it. We have no proof that this thing has superluminal capacity or if there are planets in immediate danger like with the doomsday machine.

MCCOY: According to the life monitors, we're dying.

To quote our good friend Kruge, "Get out! Get out of there!"

Captain's log, stardate 4308.8. It is now ten minutes since we entered the zone of darkness. We have stopped engines while we seek a defence against the energy drain which seems to pervade the zone.

The crew's been effectively crippled in less than ten minutes! Couldn't they have at least tossed in a line where between the interference and power drain the sensors can't find the way out right now?

MCCOY: That is an amoeba.
KIRK: Yes, I remember my basic biology, Doctor. You mean to tell me that that thing is a giant single-celled animal?
MCCOY: Yes, for lack of a better term.

Ugh, space whales I'll buy. Junior, sand with a hive mind, Gomtuu, and so forth I'll buy. But a giant single-celled animal? No. My single-celled biology is way, way back there in college, but I know enough about the conditions required to know that this is patently ridiculous.

KIRK: Both Mister Spock and Doctor McCoy have volunteered to go in a specially equipped shuttlecraft to penetrate the cell, find a way to destroy it, and free the ship. Doctor McCoy has the medical-biological knowledge. Mister Spock is better suited physically and emotionally to stand the stress.

How is this a choice? When it comes to normal ameba, Spock would know as much as McCoy. And when it comes to flying a shuttle at all, much less into a dangerous situation like this when keeping calm under fire and multitasking are required, Spock is the clear choice.