Quotes
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The Keeper : Wrong thinking is punishable; right thinking will be as quickly rewarded. You will find it an effective combination.
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The Keeper : With the female of your choice, you will now begin carefully guided lives.
Captain Christopher Pike : And start by burying you?
The Keeper : That is your choice.
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Vina : You see why I can't go with you?
The Keeper : This is the female's true appearance.
Vina : They found me in the wreckage dying, a lump of flesh. They rebuilt me. Everything works, but they had never seen a human. They had no guide for putting me back together.
The Keeper : It was necessary to convince you her desire to stay is an honest one.
Captain Christopher Pike : You'll give her back her illusion of beauty?
The Keeper : And more.
[a double of Pike appears and leaves with Vina]
The Keeper : She has an illusion, and you have reality. May you find your way as pleasant.
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[Pike finds himself surrounded by an inferno]
The Keeper : From a fable you once heard in childhood.
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First Talosian : [talking about Pike, who is being held in a Talosian prison cell] It appears, Magistrate, that the intelligence of the specimen is shockingly limited.
The Keeper : This is no surprise, since his vessel was baited here so easily with a simulated message. As you can read in its thoughts, it is only now beginning to suspect that the survivors and encampment were a simple illusion we placed in their minds.
Captain Christopher Pike : You're not speaking, yet I can hear you.
The Keeper : You will note the confusion as it reads our thought transmissions.
Captain Christopher Pike : All right then, telepathy. You can read my mind, I can read yours. Now, unless you want my ship to consider capturing me an unfriendly act...
The Keeper : You'll now see the primitive fear threat reaction. The specimen is about to boast of his strength, the weaponry of his vessel, and so on. Next, frustrated into a need to display physical prowess, the creature will throw himself against the transparency.
[Pike does so]
Captain Christopher Pike : If you were in here, wouldn't you test the strength of these walls, too? There's a way out of any cage, and I'll find it!
The Keeper : Despite its frustration, the creature appears more adaptable than our specimens from other planets. We can soon begin the experiment.
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The Keeper : I read most strongly a recent death struggle in which it fought to protect its life. We will begin with this, giving the specimen something more interesting to protect.
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The Keeper : She has an illusion, and you have reality. May you find your way as pleasant.
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Captain Christopher Pike : [forcing the Keeper to lead them out of their captivity] Make contact, Number One.
Number One : They kept us from seeing this, too. We cut through and never knew it.
[showing him her malfunctioning communicator]
Number One : Captain!
The Keeper : As you see, your attempt to escape accomplished nothing.
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The Keeper : The vial contains a nourishing protein complex.
Captain Christopher Pike : Is the keeper actually communicating with one of his animals?
The Keeper : If the form and the color is not appealing, it can appear as any food you wish to visualize.
Captain Christopher Pike : And if I prefer...
The Keeper : To starve? You overlook the unpleasant alternative of punishment.
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The Keeper : As you've conjectured, an Earth vessel did crash on our planet, but with only a single survivor.
Captain Christopher Pike : No, let's stay on the first subject. All I wanted for that moment was to get my hands around your neck.
The Keeper : We repaired the survivor's injuries and found the species interesting.
Captain Christopher Pike : Do primitive thoughts put up a block you can't read through?
The Keeper : It became necessary to attract a mate.
Captain Christopher Pike : All right, all right, let's talk about the girl. You seem to be going out of your way to make her attractive, to make me feel protective.
The Keeper : This is necessary in order to perpetuate the species.
Captain Christopher Pike : It seems more important to you now that I begin to accept her and like her.
The Keeper : We wish our specimens to be happy in their new life.
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The Keeper : We had not believed this possible. The customs and history of your race show a unique hatred of captivity. Even when it's pleasant and benevolent, you prefer death. This makes you too violent and dangerous a species for our needs.
Vina : He means that they can't use you. You're free to go back to the ship.
Captain Christopher Pike : And that's it? No apologies? You captured one of us, threatened all of us.
First Talosian : Your unsuitability has condemned the Talosian race to eventual death. Is this not sufficient?
The Keeper : No other specimen has shown your adaptability. You were our last hope.
Captain Christopher Pike : But wouldn't some form of trade, mutual cooperation...
The Keeper : Your race would learn our power of illusion and destroy itself, too.
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The Keeper : To help you reclaim the planet's surface, our zoological gardens will furnish a variety of plant life.
Captain Christopher Pike : Look, I'll make a deal with you. You and your life for the lives of these two Earth women.
The Keeper : Since our lifespan is many times yours, we have time to evolve you into a society trained to serve as artisans, technicians.
Captain Christopher Pike : Do you understand what I'm saying? You give me proof that our ship is all right, send these two back, and I'll stay with Vina.
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The Keeper : Each of the two new specimens has qualities in her favor. The female you call Number One has the superior mind and would produce highly intelligent children. Although she seems to lack emotion, this is largely a pretense. She often has fantasies involving you.
Captain Christopher Pike : All I wanna do is get my hands on you. Can you read these thoughts, images of hate, killing?
The Keeper : The other new arrival has considered you reachable, but now is realizing this has changed. The factors in her favor are youth and strength, plus unusually strong female drives.
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Captain Christopher Pike : [capturing the Talosian Keeper] Now, you hold still, or I'll break your...
Vina : Don't hurt him! They don't mean to be evil.
Captain Christopher Pike : I've had some samples of how good they are.
[the Keeper turns himself into a large, carnivorous creature]
Captain Christopher Pike : You stop this illusion, or I'll twist your head off!
[he does]
Captain Christopher Pike : All right. Now, you try one more illusion, you try anything at all, and I'll break your neck.
The Keeper : Your ship. Release me, or we'll destroy it.
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The Keeper : A curious species. They have fantasies they hide even from themselves.
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Captain Christopher Pike : [referring to Vina] Why would you want me attracted to her? So I'll feel love in a husband-wife relationship? That'd be necessary only if you intend to build a family group or perhaps a whole human community.
The Keeper : With the female now properly conditioned.
Captain Christopher Pike : You mean properly punished! I'm the one who's not co-operating! Why don't you punish me?
The Keeper : First, an emotion of protectiveness. Now, one of sympathy. Excellent.
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Yeoman J.M. Colt : Then why aren't we doing anything? Now that entry may have stood up against hand lasers, but we can transmit the ship's power against it, enough to blast half a continent.
The Keeper : Look. Brains three times the size of ours. If we start buzzing about down there, we're liable to find their mental power is so great they could reach out and swat this ship as though it were a fly.
Yeoman J.M. Colt : It's Captain Pike they've got. He needs help and he probably needs it fast.
Earth Trader : [Everyone looks towards Number One, who cooly responds] Engineering deck will rig to transmit ship's power. We'll try blasting through that metal.
