- While the Enterprise investigates a water-world, Captain Kirk and Commander Spock go missing. They've been abducted by the world's inhabitants and altered into water-breathers as well.
- The Enterprise investigates conditions on planet Argo, currently a water world whose previous dry world history matches events about to befall a nearly identical Federation planet. Kirk and Spock encounter the native sea-dwelling Aquans, who save the pair from drowning by transforming them into water-breathers but otherwise want nothing to do with them. Kirk and Spock seek to reverse their transformations before a devastating earthquake strikes, which requires the capture of a sea monster.—statmanjeff
- The Enterprise investigates conditions on planet Argo, currently a water world whose previous dry world history matches events about to befall a nearly identical Federation planet. Enterprise is assigned to study the transformation which would save millions of lives on the Federation planet.
Kirk and Spock go with MCCoy in a shuttle-craft, which is attacked by a sea monster. The shuttle-crafts breaks up before Scott can beam up the landing party. Kirk and Spock get thrown into the sea, and only McCoy is beamed back. They are now missing for 5 days. Scott finds them 5 days later unconscious in the water, but when they come to, they cant breathe and have gills and webs.. Something has changed their entire lung structure. Kirk and Spock are beamed back aboard, but cant breathe in air. They don't remember what happened to them and are kept in large water tanks.
To figure out what happened, Kirk and Spock volunteer to go back into the ocean (as the Enterprise is unable to scan the lower depths of the Ocean and their ocean craft is damaged). McCoy is not able to change Kirk and Spock back, so their only hope is to find the species that transformed them and then get them to change them back.
Kirk and Spock encounter the native sea-dwelling Aquans, who save the pair from drowning by transforming them into water-breathers but otherwise want nothing to do with them. The council of the Aquans say that they distrust the air breathers, but the younger ones of the Aquans disagree with the council chambers and say that they should not do everything by consulting the historical records alone. Kirk and Spock respond that they are not from this world and only came to reverse their mutations. Meanwhile Scott figures on the Enterprise that a major sea quake is due on the planet in 4 hrs.
The council led by Domar (James Doohan) banishes Kirk & Spock to be left on the surface in a net, so they cannot breathe and hence die. Aquan Rila (Majel Barrett) doesn't agree with Domar, and fetches Scott to help Kirk and Spock. Scott tells Kirk about the impending earthquake. Rila tells Kirk of such a cataclysmic event many yrs ago when surface dwellers were forced into the sea. But they didn't evolve naturally and were given surgeries to be able to breathe underwater, which later became hereditary. RIla also says that ancient ruins of the city have medical records on how the surgeries can be reversed, but they have not been used for many many yrs. Kirk and Spock locate the medical records in the ruins are about to surface, when the sea monster attacks again. The earthquake kills the monster. On the ship McCoy figures that the mutations can be reversed with the use of an anti-toxin made from the venom of a Sur-snake. Kirk goes back to Rila for help.
Rila gets the young Aquans to help Kirk and obtain the venom. The anti-toxin is administered and it works. Then Kirk works with Scott and Spock to fire phasers at the planet to shift the epicenter of the quakes away from the Aquan cities. Rila & Domar thank Kirk and say that they will allow young Aquans to rehabilitate the surface cities, but senior Aquans will continue to stay in the seas.
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