| abstract | - Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu and Uhura are surrounded by famous people from Earth history wielding clubs and swords. Levelling his phaser at the historical figures, Kirk says they will go down fighting... Captain's log, star date 10:26.3 – We've established orbit around Gamma Alpha V to verify findings of the robot probe that discovered this planet ten years ago... Although the probe reported the planet as uninhabited, Spock's sensors now detect a large city on the surface. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu and Uhura beam down to the city, where Kirk is stunned to recognize the first inhabitant he approaches as George Washington. Washington explains that the city's people have been there for as long as they can remember. A huge silver spire in the center of the city is off-limits to them. Kirk orders Spock and Sulu to investigate the tower, while Washington introduces Kirk, McCoy and Uhura to some of the city's other residents, including Emperor Nero Abraham Lincoln, and Anton York, 45th President of the United States of America, who refers to Kirk and his crewmates as "new additions". When Kirk is unable to contact Spock, the three Enterprise officers rush to the silver spire, where Sulu is recovering from a blow to the head. Spock has disappeared. In a cavern miles beneath the city, Spock is seated in a chair, his hands manacled behind his back. He is the prisoner of a man who identifies himself as Alexander Lazarus, an Earth historian. Lazarus explains how he fled Earth after being discredited by a computer malfunction. He gathered his android assistants and traveled to Gamma Alpha V, where the androids set up his computer in the underground cavern and built the silver spire above it. The spire is a receiver for the brain-waves of famous people throughout Earth's history, which are recorded on punch-cards. One day one of Lazarus' androids was caught in a burst of energy from the computer and was transformed into Benjamin Franklin in both body and mind. The androids constructed the city around the antenna, and Lazarus then built more androids and turned them into duplicates of famous people from Earth's past. However, Lazarus has now grown bored of their reminiscences. Spock's arrival has inspired him to study Vulcan history – for which he will need Spock's brain...
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