Stardate 5718.3: Kirk and Spock beam down to Elba II, a penal colony for the criminally insane, to deliver a medicine that could heal them. They are welcomed by Governor Cory, who leads them to a cell in which Governor Cory is being held as a prisoner! The wrong Cory turns out to be Captain Garth, who has acquired the ability of shapeshifting and who is leading a mutiny of the prisoners. Garth morphs to Captain Kirk, but he fails to fool Scott on the Enterprise, because he does not know the password. Garth tortures Cory and then Kirk himself to get the password, but in vain. His attempt to trick Kirk into revealing the password by morphing into Spock fails as well. After a bizarre "coronation ceremony" Garth demonstrates his power by killing his inmate Marta with a powerful explosive. Spock manages to escape from his cell, only to face two Kirks that both claim to be the right one. But he finally identifies Garth in disguise and stuns him with a phaser. The treatment of the prisoners with the new medicine proves to be almost immediately successful.

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