Stardate 3196.1: On Janus VI a "monster" has killed over fifty workers of a pergium mine, burning them to a crisp. Just as the Enterprise landing party has arrived, it strikes again and steals a vital pump from the colony's power plant. Spock suspects that the creature, which is capable of moving through solid rock, may be a lifeform based on silicon, and he advises against killing it. Then the creature appears right in front of him and Kirk. They shoot and severely hurt it before it retreats through a tunnel. Kirk pursues and finds the creature, but he discovers that it is afraid of the phaser and so he doesn't shoot. While McCoy treats the creature's "wound" with concrete and Kirk retrieves the pump, Spock finds out in a mind-meld that the Horta, so its name, is the last of its kind. The Horta was protecting the future generation in the form of silicon "eggs" that the miners have been destroying all along. The miners, led by administrator Vanderberg, appear on the scene to kill the creature. But Kirk holds them back, explaining that they could co-exist with the Horta in a peaceful way and to their mutual benefit.

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