Dagger of the Mind ( episode ) A routine visit to the Tantalus Penal Colony proves dangerous for Kirk and an " Enterprise " psychiatrist . Summary . Teaser . The is on a routine cargo drop to the Tantalus Penal Colony on the planet Tantalus V , beaming down cylinders containing infra - sensory drug s and other supplies . Lieutenant Berkley , in charge of the transporter , tries to beam the cargo down , but is having trouble doing so . Captain Kirk enters the transporter room seeing this and jokingly chides Berkley over the fact that the colony has not yet deactivated its security force field . After contacting the colony , it does so and the cargo is beamed down . The colony sends up a large case to the " Enterprise " , which is research supplies for the Central Bureau of Penology at Stockholm . After Kirk and Berkley leave , the case opens slowly , revealing a man , clearly mentally ill . He carefully makes his way towards the distracted assistant transporter operator , knocking him out . Act One . On the bridge , Kirk talks to Dr . McCoy , telling him that he wishes he could have had the time to meet Dr . Tristan Adams , and asks McCoy if he has visited a penal colony since they have started following his theories . " " A cage is a cage , Jim , " " he remarks . Kirk tells McCoy he is behind the times , as the captain considers them to be more like resorts now . Just then , the Tantalus Penal Colony hails the " Enterprise " , informing the starship that an inmate is missing , and possibly hid in the case they had sent up . They also inform them that the missing patient is a potentially violent case . Meanwhile , the mysterious stowaway has taken the transporter operator ' s operations red utility uniform and makes his way out into the " Enterprise " s corridor s . He is immediately spotted by Fields , who alerts the bridge through an intercom that he is on deck fourteen . Spock reports that deck fourteen is being closed off and a search is in progress . Security is then alerted to the stowaway and he surprises one of the guards looking for him , overpowers him , and takes his phaser . He then heads to the bridge where he easily dispatches the bridge guard and then reveals his name is Simon Van Gelder and he demands asylum from Kirk . After he is incapacitated by Spock using a Vulcan nerve pinch , he is captured and restrained in sickbay . Later , Kirk attempts to get answers out of Van Gelder , but he seems to struggle enormously when he tries to confirm his name and that he was a director at the Tantalus colony . McCoy then has him sedated with a hypospray . Later on the bridge , Spock determines that Van Gelder is indeed a former associate of Tantalus administrator Dr . Tristan Adams , assigned to the colony only six months prior . Required by regulations as quoted by McCoy to investigate Van Gelder ' s injury , Kirk decides to visit the penal colony with someone who has psychiatric experience . Act Two . The " Enterprise " has returned to Tantalus V and assumed standard orbit . Kirk enters the transporter room with Spock and is surprised to discover that he is beaming down to Tantalus V with Doctor Helen Noel , a psychiatrist with whom he ' s been previously acquainted . In the transporter room , she tries to remind Kirk about their previous encounter , but he cuts her off . After Kirk and Noel take a " very " fast turbolift down to the colony , Adams meets with the two immediately after the doors open shares a toast in his office with them . Just then , Lethe , an emotionally detached former patient at the colony and now therapist enters . " " I love my work , " " she says unenthusiastically . Adams raises his glass to Kirk and Noel for the toast . " " To all mankind . May we never find space so vast , planets so cold , heart and mind so empty that – that we cannot fill them with love and warmth . " " Later , walking through the corridors of the colony , Dr . Adams informs Kirk and Noel that Van Gelder injured his mind by testing an experimental therapy device on himself , the neural neutralizer . Adams shows the device in operation on a patient , but says that it is of limited therapeutic value . On board the " Enterprise " , Spock and Dr . McCoy continue to investigate Van Gelder , whose ravings are difficult to decipher . However , at one point , Van Gelder claims Dr . Adams will destroy " like death " . Act Three . In sickbay , Spock decides to employ an ancient technique , the Vulcan mind meld , to learn the truth that Van Gelder cannot speak aloud . Although Spock had never previously performed a mind meld on a Human , the procedure meets with some success . He learns that Adams has been experimenting on various individuals , including Van Gelder , using the neural neutralizer . At the colony , Kirk and Noel investigate the neural neutralizer privately . Kirk wants first - hand experience with the device . After Noel provides assurance that an experiment can be done safely with her supervision , Kirk sits in the treatment chair . Using a very low setting , she suggests to Kirk that he is hungry . A few seconds later , unaware of the suggestion , Kirk does in fact suggest they find a kitchen to raid . Then , at Kirk ' s request , Noel begins with a more elaborate suggestion ; that Kirk and Noel went back to Kirk ' s quarters for a romantic evening after a meeting at the previous year ' s science labs Christmas party , which didn ' t really occur . Suddenly , Adams surprises them , has his assistant Eli immobilize Noel , and begins using the device to condition Kirk , including the suggestion that he is desperately in love with Noel , and using very high settings that are obviously causing Kirk great distress . Act Four . Fighting off the suggestions placed in his mind by Adams , Kirk dispatches Noel through the air conditioning ducts , in the hope she can find the power controls and deactivate the security force field . That field protects the facility , and prevents transporters from operating in it . After crawling through the duct , Noel manages to locate the power control room for the colony . She takes care of the guard in the power control room and deactivates the field long enough for Kirk to escape the torture , and Spock and a security force to beam down and secure the colony . In an ironic twist , Dr . Adams dies of exposure to the neural neutralizer after Kirk knocks him unconscious and leaves him near it when Spock restored the power . However , Dr . Noel notes that the neutralizer was not on high enough to kill Adams . Kirk says that he died because he was alone , his mind emptied by it , " " without even a tormentor for company . " " Dr . Van Gelder is cured , and resumes his responsibilities at the colony . He also dismantles and destroys the neural neutralizer equipment . Before the " Enterprise " heads away from Tantalus V at warp factor 1 , McCoy says , " " It ' s hard to believe that a man could die of loneliness . " " Kirk tells him , " " Not when you ' ve sat in that room . " " He then instructs Spock to break orbit and proceed ahead at warp factor one , the speed of light , without specifying a heading . Memorable quotes . " " A cage is a cage , Jim . " " " " Interesting . Your Earth people glorify organized violence for forty centuries , but you imprison those who employ it privately . " " " " Where there is no emotion , there is no motive for violence . " " " " It appears we may have an inmate of yours aboard the ship . " " " " Transporter crewman found unconscious , captain . Cargo case open and empty . " " " " Make that definite , doctor . He ' s aboard . " " " " I want asylum . " " " " At gunpoint ? " " " " You smart , button - pushing brass hat ! Wash your hands of it ! Is that your system ? " " " " May we never find space so vast , planets so cold , heart and mind so empty that , that we cannot fill them with love and warmth . " " " " One of the advantages of being a captain , doctor , is being able to ask for advice without necessarily having to take it . " " " " You begin to feel a strange euphoria . Your body floats . " " " " I have no desire to damage my brain . Can this be handled with reasonable safety – yes or no ? " " " " It ' s hard to believe that a man could die of loneliness . " " " " Not when you ' ve sat in that room . " " Links and references . References . 2nd millennium BC ; 2220s ; 2246 ; 2265 ; 2266 ; acting captain ; air conditioning ; assistant ; associate ; asylum ; ball ; beam neutralizing ; blood stream ; blood vessel ; body function panel ; " Bones " ; brain wave ; brass hat ; briefing room ; cabin ; cage ; Central Bureau of Penology ; Chamber of Horrors ; Christmas ; colony ; control panel ; criminal ; dancing ; delusion s ; Devil ' s Island ; director ; dose ; duct ; Earth ; electronic clipboard ; elevator ; Emergency Channel D ; emotion ; engineering uniform ; euphoria ; Eurasia ; foot ; foot ( measurement ) ; force field ; general quarters ; general quarters 3 ; heart ; Hillel ; hospital ; hunger ; hyper - power circuit ; hypnosis ; hypo ; identification tape ( aka ID tape ) ; infra - sensory drug s ; inmate ; intruder alert ; kitchen ; library ; loneliness ; love ; Manual on Penal Colony procedures ; medical log ; medikit ; memory pattern s ; naked ; neural neutralizer ; neuro - synapse ; nerve ; over - changer ; oxygen mask ; penal colony ; penology ; personnel director ; power supply ; present ; psychiatry ; psychotherapy ; rehab colony ; rehabilitative therapy ; resort colony ; sage ; science lab ; Science Library ; schizophrenia ; second - in - command ; security alert ( aka security alert 3 / security alert , condition three / alert condition three ) ; security screen ( aka security cover ) ; sedative ; ship ' s library ; ship ' s surgeon ; short circuit ; speaker ; sponge ; standard orbit ; star ; starship regulation ; Stockholm ; study ; Tantalus V ; Tantalus Penal Colony ( aka Tantalus Penal Colony ) ; technical aide ( aka technical expert ) ; therapist ; tissue ; title ; toast ; towel ; tranquilizer s ; treatment room ; vault ; Vulcan ; Vulcan mind meld ; Vulcan neck pinch Unreferenced material . amen ; brain pattern ; brandy ; cat ; delta wave s ; Feinberg ; Finnerman ; Merhoff ; scimitar ; small white pill ; stencil ; Voice - O - Graph projection s