Kirk returns to Life Support and discovers that Compton is still alive, having also been accelerated, and is willingly working with the Scalosians. After a confrontation with Deela's chief scientist Rael, Kirk surmises that the unknown device is intended to turn the "Enterprise" into a cryogenic storage unit. He records a message to Spock explaining what he has learned; Deela, confident in her people's success, allows this. Their plan, she explains, is to use the "Enterprise" crew to help propagate their species, whose men have been rendered sterile by the same natural disaster that caused their accelerated state. After a heated debate on the ethics of this plan, Kirk rushes away and disables the transporter. Deela, finding it inoperative, pretends to believe Kirk's claim to be ignorant of the problem.