[ ORION RED LIGHT DISTRICT ]

The holovision illuminates a scene in an erotic dance club. A variety of aliens gather in the establishment’s ‘carnaval’-like atmosphere. Pike is seated at a table with a group of Earth traders, whose appearances range widely from disreputable riffraff to bourgeois tourists, from cynical to naïve. Venus, a jaguar-woman from Orion performs on stage. Second Alien is the Keeper, in disguise.

FIRST ALIEN

[to Pike]

[0:13] You used to be Captain of the Enterprise, didn’t you?

SECOND ALIEN

[0:23] Yes. He was.
[0:44] Used to stop by here just to look around…
[0:50] Once he had his thrill we’d wait for his report—a blistering report
[0:59] —Saying how -shocked- he was at our treatment of the natives.
[1:08] How we’re taking advantage of them.

FIRST EARTH TRADER

[1:13] What about these Orion leopard-women everyone’s talking about?
[1:21] I hear they fill a man with a feeling…an animal craving…

SECOND EARTH TRADER

[1:36] Who could want that? I know a man who thought he’d tamed one.
[1:51] Thought he was her master.

[to Pike]

[1:55] But he was confused…the beast had enslaved him.
[2:03] “I’ve never known such satisfaction,” he said…”this is my due!”
[2:17] But her punishing claws drew blood, and then he reasoned differently…
[2:35] He said she was improving him.
[2:41] He reached for more.

FIRST ALIEN

[2:45] I wonder how that ended—

SECOND EARTH TRADER

[to himself, a little dazed]

[2:50] In darkness. She confused him…
[2:59] Darkness. Except for a flame in the distance.
[3:09] "She was divine," he said. "Is that Venus’ torch?"

PIKE

[spoken—to Second Earth Trader]

You’re a part of me. It’s clear now—

SECOND EARTH TRADER

[now delirious]

[3:21] She was a dream!
[3:33] It drove him mad—

Pike rises angrily from his chair, and tries to escape, but he is hemmed in by the crowd.

PIKE

[now louder (still spoken), gesturing to the crowd]

All of you! Made from my fears!

SECOND EARTH TRADER

[3:42] Trapped again! Drove him mad—

Pike pushes the crowd aside and bolts for the door.

PIKE

[speaking]

Out of my way, damn you!

Second Earth Trader moves through the crowd toward the stage. As Pike nears the exit, the crowd cries out, some in astonishment others in pleasure, as Second Earth Trader lunges at Venus and tries to embrace her.

SECOND EARTH TRADER

[to Pike]

That’s the one! That’s Venus! She’s mine!

First Earth trader steps onto the dance floor. Venus is focused on Pike. The trader tries to grab Venus and embrace her, but Pike jumps up and knocks him down.

The crowd revels in the fight that follows. Venus tries to appear unfazed, but she is clearly shaken by the trader’s assault, and stops dancing, retreating a little. The music grows even more raucous and bawdy, and aliens coax two more women to the stage to satisfy the howling throngs.

FIRST ALIEN

Wouldn’t you say she’s worth a man’s soul, Captain? You can see that she wants you Captain. You alone.

The crowd—increasingly gyrating and libidinous—and the music—slowing, rocking, crooning—intensify each other. Remembering her original role, and maybe the punishment should she fail, Venus eases toward Pike again and amplifies her dance, cynically.

FIRST EARTH TRADER

She makes you believe she could be anything, do anything for you… doesn’t she?

PIKE

[to Venus]

It’s you, isn’t it, Vina?

After a climax, Vina and Pike remain enthralled and passionate; their embrace mixes desperation and resignation as the music in the club shifts to a new intensity at a down-tempo, quieter feel.

A Talosian Messenger enters, and lighting isolates some of the scene’s participants, formerly hidden or disguised, on the margins of the crowd’s densest throngs—optionally, they should have some costume or physiological feature in common, revealing them as Talosians. Second Alien now appears the Keeper. The newcomer addresses him directly but is unheard by Pike and Vina.

TALOSIAN MESSENGER

Keeper, we have just completed the long task of scanning the ship’s crude databases. Do you wish to assimilate it now?

The information is transferred telepathically from the Messenger to the Keeper.

SECOND ALIEN / KEEPER

A short history, but a fascinating one. Among other truths evident to me now, is their powerful hatred of captivity.  Some of them will prefer death to a cage—even if captivity proves otherwise rewarding.

FIRST TALOSIAN

This…will prove a challenge to us. Won’t it Magistrate?

The activity in the club is subdued as the down-tempo club music reaches a climactic point of digression.

PIKE

Who are you, Vina? I cannot resist you. Of course I can’t—you are made from desire itself. But you say you are real—and I want to believe you.

VINA

If you would only let me in, if only you would discover—

Lights shift to place Pike and Vina once again in their cage.

PIKE

Discover what? What can we discover in a cage?

KEEPER

[to First Talosian; still unheard by Pike and Vina]

A most serious challenge, yes.