The Counter - Clock Incident ( episode ) When the " Enterprise " enters a negative universe , former captain Robert April saves the ship as the crew age backwards . ( " Series finale " ) Summary . Act One . Commodore April tells Captain Kirk that no place , wherever he went , has ever felt like home more than the bridge of the " Enterprise " , a sentiment Kirk can share . April says that he always felt the starship was almost like a child of his and that he was present at the San Francisco Navy Yards while the ship was under construction . McCoy enters the bridge along with Commodore April ' s wife Sarah accompanying him in the turbolift . McCoy tells Kirk that he was unaware that most of the instruments he uses in sickbay were designed by Sarah . Sarah says that being the first chief medical officer on a ship equipped with warp drive , she was forced to come up with new ideas constantly . Kirk tells her that her achievements as a medical pioneer are well known . Then McCoy tells her that she is still intelligent and lovely , much like the flower she ' s carrying , to which Sarah tells McCoy that while flattery will get him everywhere , the flower is dying . Kirk recognizes it as a native of Capella IV and then Sarah explains that it only has a life span of a few hours and that earlier in the day it was still a seedling and within a few hours the flower will be dead . Spock notifies Kirk , per his request , that the ship is within visual range of the Beta Niobe supernova and Kirk orders it put on the viewscreen to show Mrs . April . Spock reassures her that " Enterprise " is traveling far enough away from the supernova remnant to be safe . April mentions that Kirk was present when the star first started its explosion , which Kirk confirms . Suddenly , the ship ' s sensor s pick up an unidentified vessel on collision course with the " Enterprise " , traveling at an incredible speed . Kirk immediately orders red alert and then asks Spock how fast the ship is traveling . Spock says it is traveling at a speed which should be impossible to reach , a velocity on the order of about warp 36 . April says that no natural phenomenon has ever been recorded traveling that fast . Spock says he believes it to be a ship . Kirk wonders who could have built such an advanced vessel . Spock says that no one they know of could have done so , nevertheless they will collide in just over a minute . Kirk then orders evasive action and the collision is averted . But Spock realizes then that the collision course was only a coincidence and that the alien ship now seems to be on a heading right into the Beta Niobe nova . Kirk tries to warn the alien captain , but there is no response . The " Enterprise " locks its tractor beam on the ship , hoping to stop it before it enters the nova . Lieutenant Arex reports that the alien ship has dropped to warp 32 as a result of the tractor beam . The other vessel now makes visual contact and the alien captain speaks in a seemingly unknown language . Kirk has Uhura run the message through the universal translator to see if they can find out what she was saying . Uhura reports the translator has discovered the woman ' s language was , in fact , the same universal language that they all speak , only she was speaking in reverse . Kirk then tells Uhura to play the tape of the message backward and then the message is clear . The alien captain demands release from the tractor beam or she is doomed . Kirk tries to tell her that she is endangering her life by staying on this course but she will not answer . At that moment , Scotty calls from engineering and tells Kirk the engines are buckling and they can ' t keep this speed up anymore . Kirk asks Arex how fast they are traveling and he reports " Enterprise " s velocity at warp eleven . Kirk asks Scotty for three and a half minutes , based on Spock ' s estimate of the time until the alien ship ' s entry into the supernova . Arex reports that the ship is still increasing speed , now passing warp 14 and then warp 15 . Kirk orders Sulu to release the tractor beam because he can ' t risk the entire crew of the " Enterprise " to save one person ' s life , but due to the extreme speed , Sulu cannot disengage it . Kirk is alarmed when the tractor beam won ' t release , realizing it means that they ' ll plunge into the supernova along with the alien craft . Spock reports the speed of " Enterprise " is now at warp 20 . Kirk apologizes to the Aprils because it now appears they may not reach Babel . The Aprils tell Kirk that as starship personnel they were always prepared to give their lives in the line of duty and they are still starship personnel . Kirk then realizes that after the alien ship enters the supernova and burns up , it ' ll break contact with the tractor beam . Spock estimates they ' ll have little more than 22 seconds to change course after the alien ship is destroyed . Kirk calls Scotty who tells Kirk the only reason the engines are lasting so long at speeds now exceeding warp 22 + is because of the pull of the alien ship with their own tractor beam . As the alien ship prepares to enter the supernova Kirk has Sulu and Arex ready to change course immediately afterward . As the alien ship disappears in the nova , Kirk tells Sulu to execute the course change , but to the shock of the bridge crew , they are still locked onto the alien ship . Kirk notes that the alien ship might have been able to survive the heat of a supernova , but " Enterprise " will not . Finally the ship enters the supernova and is tossed about . To Kirk ' s amazement the ship and crew have survived . Kirk asks Uhura for a visual and when he gets it , he and April are shocked at what they see , white space with black stars and the " Enterprise " is flying backward through this strange space . Act Two . Scotty calls Kirk and tells him they have had to re - learn how to run the ship as every control is working in reverse . At that moment , Sarah exclaims to Kirk about the Capellan flower she was holding . April tries to calm her and tells her that Kirk surely has other things to worry about currently besides that flower . Sarah tells him that what they ' re not realizing is that just before they entered this universe it was about to die and now it ' s in full bloom again and that she can actually feel it getting younger as she holds it . Spock realizes that the flower is not all that ' s getting younger . The ship ' s chronometer s are also running backward . It seems that the flow of time is reversed in this universe and the longer the " Enterprise " crew remains here , the younger they will become . Uhura says she now has established contact with the unknown ship . The captain appears and angrily tells Kirk his interference almost killed her . Kirk comments how he can now understand her without the universal translator , which makes Spock realize that in this universe , their brain s must also be working backward , so they can now understand the alien captain ' s language , which is why all systems on the ship seem to be working in the reverse to which they are used to . Kirk introduces himself to the alien captain and explains that they thought that her ship would have been destroyed when she entered the Beta Niobe supernova . The alien captain , a woman called Karla Five , explains that she was observing a dead star , Amphion , becoming a supernova and coming to life and she was accidentally pulled into the star , but instead of being destroyed , she accidentally traveled into " our " universe . April quickly realizes that in this universe , a supernova is a dead star that comes to life and when there are supernovas at exactly the same space in both universes , it ' s possible to travel between the two universes . Kirk proposes returning the same way but Karla Five tells him that Amphion is no longer a supernova , but has begun its life as a star . She asks Kirk to accompany her back to her planet where hopefully , they will be able to help Kirk and crew find a way home . Having little choice , Kirk agrees . Kirk mentions that he ' s sure no one will mind growing younger instead of older for a change . April comments that if they stay long enough he will no longer be at the mandatory retirement age . Kirk says that in any case , they have to find a way back home and he asks for suggestions . Spock says that they must reproduce the conditions that brought them into this universe . To return to normal space would mean finding one star dying in " our " universe and one star being born in the negative universe , exploding simultaneously at the same place to create the gateway . Upon arriving at Arret , Kirk , Spock and April prepare to beam down . Scotty tells Kirk that they have received coordinates to Karla Five ' s son ' s laboratory . Kirk says that while they have no time for children ' s games , to go ahead and beam them down . When they arrive , they see a child in a playpen and then Karla Five steps up and introduces her son , Karl Four , who happens to be an elderly man . Spock realizes what is happening : " " Most logic al . If the flow of time is reversed , then one is born at an old age , and dies in infancy . Your descendants are born before you and your ancestors are born after you . " " Kirk is still dumbfounded at the realization that the child in the playpen is in fact , Karla Five ' s father . Karl Four tells Kirk that he has been working on a way to get the " Enterprise " home since Karla told him of their troubles . He then brings up a star map of their galaxy , showing where Arret is at and then the Amphion nova where they entered this universe . Kirk asks Spock if they can compare this to a map of their own galaxy and he says they can . Spock then pulls up a map of the Milky Way ( likely downloaded from " Enterprise " s computer ) and that Beta Niobe and Earth correspond exactly with Amphion and Arret , respectively . Then he pulls up both maps at the same time ( turning the map into various shades of gray ) and there are many red dots on the screen which , according to Spock , represent where two stars are in the exact place in each universe but that no pair are novas in both universes . April then suggests bringing a supernova to life prematurely so they would have two such supernovas in the same space . Karla Five points out that " Enterprise " isn ' t capable of the speeds she needed in order to cross the dimensional barrier , which Kirk agrees . Karla says they are welcome to her ship , but Kirk tells her he has a crew of 430 and her ship would only fit a few people . Spock says that while they can ' t use her ship for transportation , they could use it as an unmanned ship with their tractor beam attached . April thinks it would work since that ' s how they got here to begin with . Kirk says that while it should work , he worries that any miscalculations anywhere along the way and they will plunge tail first into a supernova . Act Three . Kirk tells April they may get him to Babel after all . April says that while he ' ll be pleased to return to their proper universe , he isn ' t so enthusiastic about getting to Babel as it only means the end of his career . Karla Five then contacts Kirk and wishes him well even though the outcome will remain completely unknown to her . Kirk says that they ' ll either burn to a crisp or escape into their universe , but either way she will will never hear from them again and then he thanks her for the sacrifice of her ship . Karla tells them it is a small sacrifice to make and wishes them success . Sulu reports the tractor beam is on and stable . Arex says they ' re matching the speed of Karla Five ' s vessel . Kirk asks Spock how long they have until the youngest crew member reverts to the time of birth . Spock says that while that ' s just under nineteen minutes away , long before that , the crew will all be children and that also means they are losing their knowledge at an alarming rate and that it is possible that before they reach the dead star , they may no longer be able to control the " Enterprise " . Kirk asks Sulu how their course is and Sulu has no idea what he ' s doing there or what all that equipment is . Kirk has Arex take over for Sulu and tells Uhura to report to navigation but she has no idea what she ' s supposed to do with her controls either . Kirk then asks Spock if he can fill in for Sulu and Uhura . Spock says that he can , but wonders who will fill in for Kirk . He asks Kirk at what age did he become a starship captain and what age did he enter Starfleet Academy . Spock says that because as a Vulcan , his aging process is much slower so he ' ll be able to retain command longer than anyone else , but that even Spock will become too young to know what to do . With Spock at the helm , he tells Kirk they have just over ten minutes left to reach the dead star and that they will need to disconnect the tractor beam at the right time . When that statement confounds Kirk , Spock realizes he must assume command . At that point , April , who , along with Sarah , have reverted into healthy young adults , tells Spock that while he ' s here he is senior officer and that , while he hates to pull rank , the fact is that Spock won ' t be able to maintain command long enough to get the ship home . Spock relents and offers Commodore April command of the ship , to which April replies , " " Commodore ? I ' m Captain April , Mr . Spock . " " At that point Sarah realizes that she and Robert are the only two adults left on the bridge as the crew have all reverted to teenagers and children . Robert tells Sarah to keep the children safe and asks Spock if he can still follow orders . Spock says he can and so April sends him back to navigation and April sits down in his old command chair . Spock says the dead star is directly ahead . April tells Spock to arm Karla Five ' s ship and he does so . Then just as it comes time for the detonation , Spock becomes too little to reach the controls and so April detonates Karla Five ' s ship , triggering the supernova , which the " Enterprise " passes through , and they make it home to " our " universe . Sarah asks Robert what they will do with the crew now that they ' re all children . April says they can use the transporter to restore the crew as the transporter retains a memory of their original molecular structure . Sarah tells Robert they could stay young and live their lives over again and that Robert could be a starship captain again . Robert says that would be such a blessing if the life one leads has left one unfulfilled , but since his life has been full , Robert says he doesn ' t want to stay young and he couldn ' t improve one bit on the life they had together . He moves over to his wife and gives her a kiss . Later , after everyone has been restored , Kirk tells the Aprils that they ' ve received a message from the Federation that should make them happy and has Uhura relay a message : " " In view of Commodore April ' s heroic actions aboard the USS " Enterprise " this stardate , we are reviewing his mandatory retirement and will consider his appeal to remain Federation Ambassador - at - Large . " " April is pleased and comments that just because someone is 75 years old , doesn ' t mean they are ready to stop giving service to the galaxy . Kirk notices that Sarah ' s flower has blossomed again . She says that their trip into the negative universe gave the flower a second life and it gave all of them as well , a second life . Memorable quotes . " " No matter where I ' ve traveled in the galaxy , Jim , this bridge is more like home than anywhere else . " " " " Yes , Commodore , I know the feeling . " " " " To me she was always like my child . I was there in the San Francisco Navy Yards when her unit components were built . " " " " Captain Kirk , the Capellan flower . " " " " I ' m sure Captain Kirk has other problems besides your flower , dear . " " " " You don ' t understand . Before we entered this universe it was about to die and - and now it ' s in full bloom again . " " " " How is that possible ? " " " " It ' s as if it were growing younger again . I - I can almost feel it while I - I ' m holding it . " " " " In her universe a nova is a dead star which comes to life . And when the explosions of a nova in her universe and one in our universe occur together it ' s possible to travel between the two universes . " " " " Then we must return the same way , through the two novas . " " " " We could remain forever awed with the differences between our universes , Karla Five , but we must discover a way to return to our positive matter universe . " " " " We will need to disconnect the tractor beam at the appropriate time . " " " " Tractor beam ? How do we do that , Spock ? " " " " Captain , I " must " assume command . " " " " Our trip into the negative universe gave it [ the flower ] a second life . It gave all of us a second life . " " Links and references . References . 2195 ; 2250 ; Ambassador - at - Large ; Amphion ; anti - matter universe ; ; Arret native ; Babel ; Beta Niobe ; Capella IV ; Capellan flower ; chronometer ; commodore ; dead star ; Earth ; galactic plane ; Karla Five ' s vessel ; logic ; mandatory retirement ; medical officer ; midwife ; Milky Way Galaxy ; Minara ; navigation console ; negative universe ; pioneer ; playpen ; red alert ; San Francisco Navy Yards ; senior officer ; Starfleet Academy ; supernova ; time ; tractor beam ; transporter ; universal language ; universal translator ; Vulcan ; warp drive ; warp factor