- Hodin: [on viewscreen, speaking from Gideon] Mr. Spock you are an officer of a spaceship. In your profession you use many instruments, tools and weapons to achieve your objectives.
- Mr. Spock: [on the bridge of the Enterprise] True, your excellency.
- Hodin: However, the only 'tool' diplomacy has is language. It is of the utmost importance that the meaning be crystal clear.
- Mr. Spock: Your excellency, I am basically a scientist. Clarity of formulation is essential in my profession also.
- Hodin: I am glad to hear it. Perhaps you could then make greater effort to choose your words more precisely.
- [sits down]
- Dr. McCoy: [to Spock] Are you gonna let him get away with that?
- Scott: No matter what ye say, Mr. Spock, he'll twist your meaning.
- Uhura: Yes, he's infuriating, sir, how can you stand it?
- Spock: Diplomats and bureaucrats may function differently, but they achieve exactly the same results.
- Mr. Spock: Unfortunately, I must violate a direct order from Starfleet.
- Dr. McCoy: That's the best possible decision you could make, Spock. I'm with you.
- Mr. Spock: I do not make it lightly, Doctor. However, Command knows that Ambassador Hodin has not been totally honest with us. Lieutenant Uhura, repeat original Gideon co-ordinates for beam down.
- Uhura: Eight seven five, zero two zero, zero seven nine.
- Mr. Spock: Mister Scott, the co-ordinates given you?
- Scott: Eight seven five, zero two zero, seven zero nine.
- Dr. McCoy: Co-ordinates don't match.
- Mr. Spock: Precisely. I shall beam down at once. Mr. Scott, you have the con.
- Dr. McCoy: I'll pick up my medical tricorder and meet you in the transporter room.
- Mr. Spock: Negative, Doctor. I cannot accept the responsibility for ordering a fellow officer to violate a Starfleet directive. I can make such a decision only for myself.
- Dr. McCoy: I'm not asking you to make the decision for me.
- Mr. Spock: The situation forces me to do so, Doctor.
- Dr. McCoy: Well in that case, it's the worst possible decision you can make, Spock.
- Odona: All my life, I've dreamed of being alone.
- Captain James T. Kirk: Most people are afraid of being alone.
- Odona: Where I come from, people dream of it.
- Spock: Diplomats and bureaucrats may function differently, but they achieve exactly the same results
- Spock: We must acknowledge once and for all that the purpose of diplomacy is to prolong crisis.
- Dr. McCoy: Well, what are we waiting for, Mr. Spock, we're not diplomats.
- Spock: We are representatives of the Federation, doctor.
- Dr. McCoy: That doesn't mean we have to behave like children and listen to some fool lecture by a diplomat.
- Spock: Unfortunately, diplomacy is the only channel available to us at the moment.
- Mr. Spock: Diplomats and bureaucrats may function differently, but they achieve exactly the same results.
- Odona: Is this the way one looks when one is developing a sickness?
- Captain James T. Kirk: There's no sickness on your planet, remember?
- Odona: [joyously happy] Now there will be. There will be sickness. There will be death.
- Hodin: We are incapable of destroying or interfering with the creation of that which we love so deeply - life, in every form, from fetus to developed being. It is against our tradition, against our very nature.
- Mr. Spock: The planet is shielded from our sensors, therefore, we cannot scan it. Therefore, we are unable to select coordinates, they must be provided by Gideon.
- Chekov: We should never have agreed to such restrictions.
- Mr. Spock: We did not, Mr. Chekov, the Federation did. Lt. Uhura.
- Uhura: Yes, Mr. Spock.
- Mr. Spock: Contact Starfleet immediately, explain our problem, request permission to use every means at our disposal to press the search for Captain Kirk.
- Uhura: At once, sir.
- Chekov: Are there any other possibilities?
- Mr. Spock: They are endless, Mr Chekov.
- Dr. McCoy: Where do we start, Mr. Spock.
- Mr. Spock: Institute a sensor scan 360 degrees, one degree at a time.
- Dr. McCoy: You mean you're going to scan space for him?
- Chekov: But, sir, that could take years.
- Mr. Spock: Then the sooner you begin, the better.
- Captain James T. Kirk: [narrating] I am alone on the Enterprise. I have searched every area of the ship and still cannot find a trace of the crew, or an indication of how its disappearance was managed. The one thing that is obvious is that I suffered a memory lapse, during which time I bruised my arm. It is causing me some irritation.
- Dr. McCoy: And just when I was beginning to think you might find a whole new career as a diplomat, Mr. Spock.
- Hodin: [explaining Gideon's avoidance of contraception] But, you see, the people of Gideon have always believed that life is sacred, that the love of life is the greatest gift. That is the one unshakable truth of Gideon, and this overwhelming love of life has developed our regenerative capacity and our great longevity.
- Captain James T. Kirk: And the great misery which you now face.
- [first lines]
- Captain James T. Kirk: [narrating] Captain's Log, stardate 5423.4: We are orbiting the planet Gideon, which is still not a member of the United Federation of Planets. The treaty negotiations have been difficult because Gideon has consistently refused the presence of a delegation from the Federation on its soil or any surveillance by the ship's sensors. They have finally agreed to a delegation of one. They insisted it be the captain of the Enterprise. I am, therefore, beaming down at once.