The City on the Edge of Forever (19 page)

KIRK

The gateway to the past? A time machine?

1ST GUARDIAN

Not a machine. A creation, a Vortex. Kirk is about to ask what they mean, but Spock—logical—cuts in.

17 ON SPOCK

SPOCK

Have you seen another man, dressed as we are?

1ST GUARDIAN

What we see has already been, or is yet to be. No. No other like you.

18 ROCKY NICHE—CLOSE PAST BECKWITH

past him hidden in a shadowy crevice, the phaser aimed at Kirk, listening. He looks around himself, trying to find a way out, but we see it is a cul-de-sac. The only escape route is past the
Enterprise
crewmen. He looks desperate but vicious, far from finished. KIRK’S VOICE CARRIES.

KIRK

There are legends in space. About you.

1ST GUARDIAN

You are the first visitors we have had for twice two hundred thousand years.

19 ANGLE PAST KIRK IN F.G.

to the Guardians, the mist rising, the light changing. Kirk approaches another step. We can see something in him we have never seen before: wonder, absolute all-consuming wonder. He has found a key to the secrets of the universe that compel him. He is being filled to the top with amazement, and he leans forward almost like a child.

KIRK

I always thought stories about time machines were the drunk-stuff of lab technicians when they’d had too much pure grain to drink.

1ST GUARDIAN

That which is…
is
.

And he turns his head only infinitesimally. Kirk looks in the direction the Guardian has indicated, and his eyes open wide, delight and amazement and confusion and belief there.

20 THE TIME VORTEX—ESTABLISHING

Set in a tall, narrow rocky defile, it rises up, different to each who see it. A pillar of flame, a shaft of light, a roiling brightness of smoke, whatever wonder you care to make of it, the obvious aspects are light, height and insubstantiality. Construct it as you choose.

1ST GUARDIAN O.S.

Pure matter. Built by a science man will not understand for a hundred thousand times the span of years he has already existed.

21 PAST GUARDIANS TO KIRK

and the others near him, wondering, listening.

KIRK

(awed)

And it’s possible to go back…and forward…in time…?

1ST GUARDIAN

All time, all space. They meet in this brightness, the Vortex.

SPOCK

(very scientific)

Can you give us a demonstration? Is that possible?

The Guardian’s answer is oddly tinged with weariness and pleasure.

1ST GUARDIAN

Time is weary for the craftsman who cannot demonstrate his craft. We have nothing to do but desire to show you. The past.

KIRK

Can you show us the past of any world? There is the faintest possible nod of: Yes, we can.

KIRK

(softly)

The past of Old Earth…please…

The Guardians look toward the pillar of light and as Kirk does so, the CAMERA SHOOTS PAST HIM. At first there is no change, but in a moment there is movement in the light…a thickening…a roiling like oil…like quicksilver mixed with smoke…and a scene begins to take FORM IN THE VORTEX. (NOTE: this, and other scenes in Vortex will be MATTE INSERTS.)

22 CLOSE ON VORTEX—FEATURING MATTE INSERTS (STOCK)

A
scene
of primordial times; great saurians; a woolly mammoth; steaming prehistoric jungle; reality!

It FADES OUT to be replaced by:

A scene
in the days of the Clipper ships; something typical of the period; reality!

It FADES OUT to be replaced by:

A scene
of New York City in the time of the Depression, 1930-32.

(NOTE: At Director’s discretion, INTERCUTS of the Earthmen marveling at this demonstration may be inserted.)

23 PAST BECKWITH TO VORTEX

as he watches with as much rapt attention as Kirk and his patrol. But the cunning is there, the arched brow and the faintly smiling mouth. The animal has sensed an avenue of escape, as we HEAR KIRK SAY:

KIRK

Could we go back, any of us…say, to this time, 1930 of Old Earth?

Beckwith strains for the answer.

24 UP-ANGLE ON GUARDIANS

SHOT FROM TILT they look immense, rising up, almost Messianic in tone, something reverential as they speak about their religion—time.

1ST GUARDIAN

Yes, but it is not wise. Man and non-Man must live in their present or their future. But never in their past, save to learn lessons from it. Time can be dangerous. If passage back is effected, the voyager may add a new factor to the past, and thus change time, alter everything that happened from that point to the present…all through the universe.

25 SPOCK AND GUARDIANS PAST HIM

fascinated by the concepts, not the magic of it all.

SPOCK

Then time is not a constant. It is not

rigid?

1ST GUARDIAN

Time is elastic. It will revert to its original shape when changes are minor. But when the change is life or death—when the sum of intelligence alters the balance—then the change can become permanent…and terrible.

SPOCK

Like changing the flow of a river.

1ST GUARDIAN

A river, a wind, a flow, elastic. It makes no difference how you imagine it to yourself.

KIRK

How long has it been since anyone went—

1ST GUARDIAN

We do not go back. We guard. For one hundred thousand years no one has gone back.

SPOCK

(to Kirk)

Captain, I understand now why we can breathe here, and why our chronometers turned backwards.

The Time Vortex has been left set at 1930. While CAMERA DOES NOT dwell on it, whatever shot we enter, we should see the scene of the Depression back there, to remind us it’s on.

KIRK

They’ve created a zone of no-time here.

SPOCK

Within the sphere of influence of the Vortex, time does not move. All through the rest of the universe it flows at its normal rate, but here—

KIRK

(softly)

If they can control time, how much simpler it must be for them to control the atmosphere.

1ST GUARDIAN

There is wisdom that lesser species have not grasped. Perhaps you who call yourselves “men” will be next to guard all of time.

SPOCK

But if this is true…how old you are…if time does not move at its normal rate here…how long have you been here to get as old as you are…

26 FULL SHOT—THE SCENE—HAND-HELD

But they have no time to ponder an answer, for at that moment Beckwith breaks from cover and makes a long run toward the Time Vortex. He is halfway there before they realize what is happening. Kirk and Spock plunge forward to stop him. Spock gets to him first, and knocks the phaser out of Beckwith’s hands, but Beckwith slams Spock across the jaw and keeps going. He grabs Yeoman Janice Rand as a shield and roughhouses her in front of him, ever closer to the Vortex. She half-turns and elbows him; he leaves her and Kirk reaches him just as he closes on the Vortex. Kirk sees he is going for the Vortex (from which the 1930s scene is gone, but which still flickers and glows so we know it is in operation) and makes a flying dive for him. But Beckwith does a little dance-step of broken-field maneuvering and flings himself forward. CAMERA WITH HIM as he dives headfirst into the Vortex. There is the SOUND of a LOUD WHOOOOSH! as space rushes to fill the vacuum where he has been, even as Kirk grabs up the phaser lying near him on the ground and fires at the Vortex. A blast of coruscating energy hits the light pillar, but does nothing. The Vortex is empty. Beckwith is gone.

27 WITH KIRK

as he crawls back to Spock, who is just rising. Yeoman Rand joins them, and the rest of the crew patrol.

KIRK

(to Spock)

Are you—

SPOCK

I am undamaged, Captain.

Kirk looks at Janice Rand. She nods tightly that she’s fine also. Then Kirk turns quickly, speaks to the Guardians.

KIRK

He went back?

1ST GUARDIAN

(panic)

Yes. The Vortex was active. Your world, Old Earth.

KIRK

But you said—

1ST GUARDIAN

All past history has been changed.

KIRK

But how can that be…it all looks the same here?

1ST GUARDIAN

Yes, here. But from here outward, everything has been changed. It is another universe in which we stand.

SPOCK

How has it been changed?

28 ANGLE ON GUARDIANS—CITY IN B.G.

high on that farther crag, the CITY BEGINS TO PULSE & GLOW. We SEE IT over the Guardians’ shoulders. One of the other two who has been bone-silent all through this action, suddenly begins to show animation. His body quivers ever so faintly under the robes, and his face makes a slight movement.

1ST GUARDIAN

The time-flow has been diverted. We are being summoned. The machines of the Ancients are registering traumas in time. We must return.

And THEY VANISH! The Vortex dies out. Kirk,
et al
alone.

29 TWO-SHOT—KIRK & SPOCK

with the crew patrol behind them. Yeoman Rand prominent.

KIRK

We have to get back to the ship.

SPOCK

(to Rand)

Yeoman. Signal
Enterprise
for Transporter pickup; give these coordinates.

RAND

Yes, sir.

She fiddles with the console, BLEEPS a signal.

KIRK

If they were right—If it’s changed…

SPOCK

Conjecture has no merit.

KIRK

Yeoman, stay with us for the second shift. Send the lower ranks up first.

RAND

Yes, sir. Pickup commencing.

CAMERA ANGLE EXPANDS as the six enlisted personnel group together. They begin to shimmer as we have seen previously, then vanish.

RAND

Captain?

Kirk looks at her.

RAND (CONT’D.)

What’s happened up there, sir?

KIRK

(distant)

Beckwith may have killed again…

DISSOLVE TO:

30 INT. TRANSPORTER CHAMBER—CLOSE ON KIRK & SPOCK

in the last stages of materialization. Rand behind them. As they appear corporeally, suddenly we see Kirk’s face assume a BROAD EXPRESSION of disbelief and consternation. Rand’s eyes widen in total confusion. Even Spock is momentarily set back. Rand gives a small YELP of anxiety.