One of Our Planets Is Missing story
The Enterprise encounters a giant cloud creature that feeds on the energy of the planets that lie in its path. They determine it is heading for Mantilles, home to a Federation colony governed by former Starfleet officer Bob Wesley (featured in the ST/TOS episode " The Ultimate Computer )".
13 total · 2 choice · 6 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| attack from outer space by a giant spaceborne being | choice | A colony was nearly consumed by a world eating space cloud. |
| living space cloud | choice | Cosmic Cloud :: cloud entity |
| alien point of view | major | big vs. Small |
| choosing who dies and who lives | major | save the children |
| gaseous being | major | The Cosmic Cloud entity. |
| sacrifice to prevent mass death | major | Captain Kirk risked the Enterprise to save the colonists on Mantilles from being killed by a vast, planet-eating space cloud. |
| the calculus of human life | major | save the planet or the Enterprise |
| the ethics of valuing human lives | major | save the children |
| human biology | minor | McCoy explained that the human small intestine is lined with millions of villi, to absorb nutrients into the body. |
| mind reading ability | minor | Spock mind melded with the cloud entity. |