Stardate 5710.5: The Enterprise receives a distress call from the planet Scalos, but the landing party doesn't find anything but strange lifeform readings and the apparent sound of insects. Then one of the team, Compton, suddenly disappears. Upon the return of the landing party a series of malfunctions occurs on the ship. After drinking a coffee Kirk suddenly finds himself on an accelerated time level, where the Scalosian woman Deela welcomes him. The Scalosians are hyperaccelerated and sterile after a natural disaster on their planet, and they abduct outworlders to their time level in order to maintain their species. However, as the death of Compton drastically demonstrates, the accelerated outworlders easily die of cumulative cellular damage after the slightest injury. This is why the Scalosians plan to turn the Enterprise into a "deep freeze", to preserve the crew for their long-term demand. Kirk, however, manages to record a tape with a message that McCoy finds in his computer on the slow time level. He and Spock, who has discovered that the "insect" sound is accelerated speech, develop an antidote. Spock arrives on the accelerated level, where he and Kirk destroy the Scalosian installation. They send the Scalosians back to their planet. Kirk successfully tests the antidote, while Spock remains on the fast level to repair the ship quickly.

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