"Welcome to Delta Vega! I'd offer you my name, but I have been alone here so long with no one to talk to but myself, I have forgotten it. Be that as it may, feel free to introduce yourselves."

The four Vulcans took turns offering the man their names. Now the man continued:

"Now let me guess why the Vulcans came to Delta Vega. Your ship's supply of dilithium crystals is exhausted, so you came here to find some, right? Well, I happen to have what you came here for right here inside my kimono."

The man stuck his right hand inside the breast folds of his kimono then when he removed his hand and held it out for the Vulcans to see, in his palm were several examples of dilthium crystals, but not only that, science officer S'rong could see the crystals had already been cleaved in what looked like the proper configuration for them to function as they were meant to in the ships intermix chamber. S'rong asked the obvious question:

"Yes, those crystals are precisely what we need and came here to find. I find it interesting that without prior knowledge of our arrival here, how you would know in advance what we needed or how you would also know how to cleave the crystals to be configured to operate in a Vulcan warp drive system."

The man smiled with his head slightly tilted back as though he were looking down on the Vulcans:

"But of course you would ask me that. Now I see in your minds you are wondering why I have a lush jungle garden and lake in the middle of an otherwise totally dead desert planet, or how I managed alone to construct an entire castle made of stone, correct?"

S'rong replied:

"If you say you can see the questions in our minds, may we assume you are a telepath? Human beings with a degree of ESP have been recorded, but that doesn't account for the garden and this castle."

The man smiled again as he continued to look down upon the Vulcans.

"I did it like this!"

The Vulcans watched as the man with silver eyes stuck out his right hand then suddenly in his palm appeared a type of red apple like fruit materializing out of thin air! The landing party thought they were seeing what they assumed was merely a slight-of-hand magic trick.

S'rong spoke:

"Clever slight-of-hand magic I presume?"

The man laughed and gestured with his hands:

"Here's another trick!"

Suddenly all four Vulcans found themselves lying in repose on the grass presumably somewhere in the garden with half eaten apples in their hands and the taste of the fruit in their mouths! They could see the man with silver eyes standing near to them holding a woven basket full of the apples:

"Perhaps you'd like another apple?"

The amazed Vulcans watched as an apple for each of them levitated out of the basket, floated to them, and hovered before them! S'rong was impressed, but he showed no emotion of amazement on his face:

"Very well, Sir. We can see that you evidently possess a great power to be able to control matter as you have given us examples of it with these tricks. I am assuming you simply waved your hands and materialized this garden and your castle."

The man with the silver eyes replied:

"Something like that. My powers are great, but they do have a few annoying limitations. For one thing I cannot create a higher form of life beyond simple trees, flowers, and food bearing plants. So I have lived here alone the past 20 years after I was exiled here. I also cannot create with my mind advanced technology because what I create I must be able to imagine with prior knowledge. Thus I am unable to create a starship to take me away from here. As you know, this mining station is automated. You four Vulcans are the first living beings I have seen as long as I have lived here."

S'rong replied:

"You say you were left here in exile on purpose? May I inquire by whom?"

The man with the silver eyes replied:

"I may have forgotten my own name, but I will never forget the name of the man who marooned me here and who was the source of my intense loneliness! Captain James T. Kirk!"

S'rong replied:

"Yes, we all know who Admiral Kirk is. I reason if he marooned you here it must have had something to do with the powers of ESP you possess."

The man smiled and looked down on the Vulcan:

"Kirk couldn't stand it when I became a living god. Before my powers became too great, he and his crew marooned me here leaving Delta Vega under the impression I was dead. But I shall deal with Admiral Kirk later. I can tell you that while I was unable to create a starship to escape from exile in, one thing I do have the power for is to shape men's minds to do my bidding!"

Suddenly against their wills all four Vulcans began to smile, laugh, and dance for a minute with no control to stop. The man with the silver eyes addressed the Vulcan leader:

"Since you seem to be in charge, S'rong, it shall be your mind I will shape the most! You are going to contact your captain and tell him you found the survivor of a crashed vessel who wishes to be rescued, but also you shall tell him the survivor provided the landing party with the needed dilithium crystals. Once the five of us have beamed aboard your ship, I shall shape the mind of your captain and crew to do my bidding."

The man waved his hands again:

There it is done. Now, S'rong, do as I bid you to do and call your captain now!"

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