Beyond the Farthest Star ( episode ) Kirk ' s crew come across an ancient derelict vessel , but something is still living inside it . ( " Series premiere " ) Summary . En route to investigate , the " Enterprise " suddenly experiences severe hypergravitational effects from Questar M - 17 ' s negative star mass . The starship gets pulled towards the remnants of the star , but manages to achieve a standard orbit . The crew discover a huge , damaged pod ship of unknown alien origin . Uhura discovers that this vessel is the source of the radio emissions . Kirk orders Sulu to maneuver the " Enterprise " alongside the ancient starship , and then he asks Spock for readings on the ship . Spock reports that the temperature is absolute zero and that there is no energy or thermal reading in the ship to support life or send the radio messages . The only thing detected is a magnetic reading that could be normal for the metal used in the ship ' s construction . To Kirk ' s questions as to whether the metal or design can be identified , Spock replies negatively , saying both aspects of the craft are unidentified . However , Spock ascertains the ship as having been in the same orbit it currently is in for over 300 million years . Kirk decides to board the impressively designed starship with a landing party consisting of Spock , Scotty , and Dr . McCoy , so they strap on their life support belt s and beam over . The ship appears to have been built by an insectoid race ; hexagonal windows aboard the vessel , however , look precisely like the individual cells in honeycomb s of bee s . However , the craft ' s metal , rather than having been cast or rolled , has remarkably been drawn into filaments and spun , which a fascinated Kirk believes is much like a spider spins its web . The metal is also , as Spock points , lighter and stronger than any material currently available to the Federation . The landing party then notices that every pod on the ship has been burst open , apparently from the inside . Although McCoy conjectures the widespread breach of the pods " must have been " some kind of accident , Spock refutes this theory , stating that the systematic nature of the breakage suggests that the vessel ' s crew themselves broke the pods and essentially destroyed the craft . Kirk contacts the " Enterprise " and reaches Lieutenant Uhura . Upon him asking , she notifies Kirk that she is no longer receiving the radio signal from the alien ship , the transmission having ceased when the landing party beamed aboard . Kirk then requests she keep a transporter lock on them because he has decided to investigate the inside of the strange spaceship . Spock registers a slight energy reading on his tricorder . He tells Kirk that it seems the ship is receiving the energy being generated by the away team and that the craft is apparently storing up the energy . The whole ship was made for just that purpose . When the " Enterprise " crew enter the control center of the ship , the door seals behind them and an interference field prevents the landing party ' s communicator s and phaser s from operating . The source of this field turns out to be a device attached to the navigational console . Spock describes it as " not part of the normal equipment ; it ' s like something they jury - rigged during an emergency . " The field ' s purpose seems to have been to shield the control center from an intruder . Further investigation is interrupted when something begins trying to break through the door of the control center . A log entry begins playing , explaining that the original crew chose to destroy their vessel to avoid carrying a malevolent entity to other worlds . As the door collapses and explosions begin to destroy the control center , the interference field fails and the landing party is beamed back aboard the " Enterprise " by Kyle . After materializing in the transporter room , they discover that the malevolent entity has beamed aboard with them . It takes over control of the ship ' s systems , using the " Enterprise " s phasers to destroy the insectoid craft . The entity wants to use the " Enterprise " to take it away from the dead star and takes control of the bridge ' s automatic defense system . But Spock has placed the navigation console inside a static shield , so the entity cannot steer the ship . However , the entity has taken the crew hostage . Kirk acts as if he is obeying the entity , but actually plans to use the slingshot effect to break the " Enterprise " out of orbit . The entity , thinking Kirk is going to crash the " Enterprise " into the star , flees for its life while the ship frees itself from Questar ' s gravitational pull , leaving the creature to orbit around the star forever , wailing to the crew in terrible , endless loneliness . Memorable quotes . " " It ' s a starship - like nothing I ' ve ever seen . The " size " of it ! " " " " Look . Every pod . . . they ' ve all been burst open . " " " " Aye , from the inside from the looks of them . " " " " Must have been some accident to get almost every pod . " " " " Accidents seldom have such system , Dr . McCoy . I believe we must consider the alternative possibility that the crew of this ship destroyed her . . . themselves . " " " " The whole ship is designed to receive and store energy . " " " " A physiological symptom of latent primal superstition . The fear of primitive people confronting something unknown to them . " " " " Compared to the people who built this ship , we " are " primitives . Even you , Mr . Spock . " " " " Danger ! Danger ! The dead star . . . we are being drawn to it ! Rather than carry this malevolent life form to other worlds , we have decided to destroy our own ship ! There is no other answer ! If you understand this message , you are protected only for this moment in this room ! This thing , it wants . . . " " " " Jim , you don ' t think that ' s going to help us . Whatever that thing is , it survived a millennia in a dead hulk . All it has to do here is outlast us and just take over . " " " " No . It must be held by the magnetic force of the dead star . And it needs a starship to break free and a crew to man it . " " " " You are correct , Captain James T . Kirk . And I have the starship I ' ve waited for so long , so terribly long ! " " " " You will now remove the static shield from the navigation console , Captain James T . Kirk . " " " " You have shut down life support systems and endangered members of my crew . Restore those systems first ! " " " " All non - essential systems are extinguished . You will obey me . " " " " And if I refuse ? " " " " Obey me ! " " " " Stop ! You ' ll hurt him ! " " " " Remove the static shield from the warp drive controls ! Do it now ! ! " " " " No , captain ! " " " " I ' ll obey ! Let him go ! " " " " What are we dealing with , Spock ? " " " " High rank probabilities , captain . It is a magnetic organism without mass , but capable of symbiotic relationship with a host body ; a starship , for instance . It is a form of primal energy , and it can utilize the electronic control systems of a starship like the mind of a man uses the neural control systems of the Human body . It has become the " Enterprise " , and we are only life - support organisms in its body like the white corpuscles in Human blood . And captain , the magnetic flux readings are higher . It is growing stronger , building itself . " " You will leave this orbit and plot course to galactic coordinates zero - three - six - point - two - three - one ! " " " " That ' s the heart of the galaxy , captain ! " " " " Plot the course , Mr . Sulu . " " " " Captain , this symbiote can reproduce itself by mitosis and take over every starship we encounter . It can control computer centers . . . whole planets . " " " " I ' m aware of that , Mr . Spock . " " " " Complete repairs ! Obey me ! " " " " No ! Accelerate ! Do not destroy the ship ! Obey ! Obey ! ! OBEY ! ! ! " " " " Is it gone ? " " " " Affirmative . It fled the ship when it thought we would crash into the dead star . " " " " Don ' t leave me alone ! Please ! Please ! So lonely . . . ! " " Links and references . References . 300 million years ago ; absolute zero ; accumulator ; artificial gravity ; automatic bridge defense system ; bee ; " Bones " ; brain ; cargo hold ; computer center ; cutter beam ; core hatch ; Earth ; Earth normal ; engineering core ; flank speed ; force field ; G1 star ; galactic plane ; galactic coordinate ; gravimetric slingshot ; heartbeat ; honeycomb ; hypergravity ; insect ; insectoid ; insectoid ship ; life support belt ; life support system ; log entry ; logic ; magnetic organism ; memory bank ; meter ; Milky Way Galaxy ; mitosis ; mutual override ; navigation console ; negative mass ; neutron star ; primate ; probability ; Questar M - 17 ; radio ; red alert ; self - destruct device ; slingshot effect ; spectra analysis ; spider ; star chart ; static shield ; superstition ; symbiotic lifeform ; warp drive ; white corpuscle