HARD CUT TO:

8 LONG ANGLE DOWN ANOTHER CORRIDOR—OPEN ON BLACK FRAME

as the BLACK FRAME becomes Beckwith dashing away from CAMERA IN PERSPECTIVE toward the Transporter Chamber. There is a GUARD on the portal, but Beckwith rushes INTO FRAME at such a breakneck pace—full out, dammit!—that he is on the Guard, grabs his phaser rifle and smashes the man to the deck with the butt of it, before the man can raise a hand to stop him. CAMERA WITH him as he plunges through the hatch and it closes behind him as CAMERA WHIP-PANS back down the corridor in the direction from which Beckwith came. Around the bend in the corridor boils a throng of Enterprise personnel—led by CAPTAIN JAMES KIRK, Spock, YEOMAN JANICE RAND and DR. McCOY—all ad-libbing “He came this way…” “Down there, the guard…” “The Transporter chamber…” “It’s Beckwith…” etcetera.

They dash TOWARD CAMERA and FRAME BLACK as HAND-HELD CAMERA GOES WITH and FRAME OUT OF BLACK as they dash away from us. McCoy drops to one knee, to aid the Guard, who lies twisted at an odd angle, possibly dead. Kirk and Spock try the hatch. Sealed from the other side. Yeoman Rand moves in between them with a phaser and begins to puddle the sealtite as we HEAR the SOUND of the SHIP’S TRANSPORTER.

9 INT. TRANSPORTER CHAMBER—FULL SHOT

as they burst through the hatch. The Transporter is still glowing. On the floor the TRANSPORTER CHIEF, half-conscious, struggles to sit up. He points to the machine.

TRANSPORTER CHIEF

(mumbling)

B-Beckwith…he went down…

KIRK

(tight, to Spock)

Fit out a patrol! Jump!

CAMERA HOLDS on Kirk as the crew rushes everywhichway to equip a patrol to transport down after the killer. Kirk turns to stare at the still-glowing Transporter with its EERIE HUMMING and we see his concern as we

FADE TO BLACK 
and 
FADE OUT.

END PROLOGUE

Act One

ACT ONE

FADE IN:

10 EXT. PLANET—ESTABLISHING—DAY

CLOSE on booted tracks as CAMERA ANGLE WIDENS to show us the desolate face of the barren world. Silver-gray sands that take a good impression of the Beckwith tracks receding toward the horizon. Nothing else. No rise, no hill, no foliage, no break or relief from the sheer flat desolation of the terrain. As though some cosmic god had flicked an ash and it had grown into a world. A burnt-out ember of a sun hanging dolorously in the cadaverous sky. As we HOLD a beat on the empty panorama, we HEAR the VOICE of KIRK OVER:

KIRK’S VOICE (OVER)

Ship’s Log: star-date 3134.8.This cinder, this empty death of a world.

As these lines are SPOKEN OVER we see the tell-tale shimmering and coalescing that means crewmembers from the Enterprise are materializing from the Transporter. As Kirk, Spock, Yeoman Rand and THREE ENLISTED CREW appear, VOICE OVER CONTINUES:

KIRK’S VOICE (OVER)