Kirk is planning to beam down to the overpopulated planet Gideon to meet with the leaders, but apparently arrives at the wrong place in a transporter malfunction. Kirk finds himself aboard the Enterprise, but cannot locate anyone else aboard except for Odona, who offers no answers to his bafflement at why no one is aboard the ship but him. It turns out that the leaders of Gideon plan on using Odona - and now Kirk - as pawns in a horrific scheme to reduce the planet's population...
