It takes mere seconds for Nyota, McCoy and Spock to materialise on M-113. As soon as they feel their bodies have stabilised, Spock patches in to The Enterprise via Personal Reciever.

"Spock, can you read me?" Kirk's voice asks on the other end.

"Affirmative, captain."

McCoy and Nyota look around to find the area barren and lifeless with only a few unusual plants and grasses dotted here and there. The ground is dry and sandy.

McCoy takes out a piece of equipment and scans the atmosphere around him. He laughs to himself. "Well it certainly was a good thing the captain didn't come here; the moisture content of this planet is way below average," he explains as he notices the 5% flashing on his scanner screen.

Nyota kneels to the ground and scoops up a handful of sand watching it seep between her fingers and to the ground. "A sole survivor living in these conditions? It seems questionable."

"Any sign of the life-form, Spock?" Kirk asks his first officer.

Spock looks around the area to see red sand spanning for miles in every direction. He soon sets his eyes in a direction and answers his captain. "Negative, captain. However I can visualise the remnants of a construct."

Kirk rests a hand on his chin as he watches from the Enterprise. "A ruin?"

"Affirmative," Spock replies.

"There certainly are signs of there once being life here, sir," McCoy adds.

He looks towards a brick of stone covered in unnatural carvings and designs and touches his fingertips against the indentations. "These life-forms must have been well-adapted in order to survive under these conditions…" He takes out a container and gathers different samples of soil and plantation before sealing the containers and placing them safely in the medical kit he had taken along.

"We must be wary," Nyota announces to the two men. "For some reason, I have a bad feeling about this."

Kirk listens from the Enterprise. "Keep your guards up at all times. You never know what could be on that planet."

Spock raises the receiver to his face. "Aye, Captain. I will report to you if we find anything extraordinary."

He ends the communication and looks towards the ruins. "Perhaps this building could provide information of the unknown life-form," he states before cautiously making his way towards the stone ruin ahead of him.

Nyota follows him closely whilst McCoy continues to inspect the atmosphere's construct. "I'll catch up with you; I still want to analyse the environment for a bit and see if I can figure out why this place is so desolate."

Spock and Nyota head into the ruins leaving the doctor behind on his own. The pair carefully approaches the building and step into the open gap to the interior.

Inside, it seems dark and stuffy, however surprisingly cooler than the exterior. The thick stone blocks making the basic shape of the building seem to act as good insulators from the heat usually apparent outside.

Nyota begins to wander on her own through the building as Spock checks out his surroundings. The communication officer stops at a small stone shelf suspended off the ground.

On its surface is a small statuette of what looks to be a winged creature carved from the same stone the building is built from. She touches the carved stone figure and traces the grooves on its face. "Looks like the inhabitants of this place enjoyed renaissance décor," she comments as her half-Vulcan lover looks elsewhere in the building.

He walks through the small rooms connecting to one-another, yet finds no sign of life. "Indeed, humanoid life-forms must have occupied this stone structure in times once prosper. Yet it seems their dwelling grew inadequate, therefore relocated elsewhere…"

As the two continue to search for clues, McCoy finalises his analysis and readies to join Nyota and Spock inside the ruin.

"Leonard?"

McCoy suddenly freezes.

"Leonard McCoy?"

McCoy turns around to see a woman standing there. Her green skin and red hair defined her as an Orion.

The doctor is somehow stuck in a trance as he gazes into the woman's eyes. "Y-you know my name? How?"

The Orion woman smiles and releases a petite laugh. "What, you don't remember me? I was—"

McCoy suddenly snaps out of it as he watches the woman suddenly collapse on the ground. "Hey!" He calls to her before rushing to her side and supporting her head on his arm. "Are you alright? Respond!" He tries to shake her awake, but she refuses to open her eyes.

Out of concern over her life and minor panic, he takes out his handheld Communicator. "McCoy to Bridge, do you read?" He waits impatiently for a reply.

"We read you, Bones," Kirk replies. "What's your report?"

"Sir, requesting to aboard the ship."

Kirk looks at the other crew in the bridge with concern on his face before leaning forward in his seat. "Has something happened? Where's Uhura and Spock?"

"They're both investigating the ruin, sir," he explains. "I also request for a patient to have beamed up with me."

"A patient? What do you mean a patient?"

McCoy looks down at the unconscious Orion. "The life-form detected by the scanners. I think I've found her."