"Straight On 'Til Morning"

(Original air date 11/8/74)
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Steve comes to the aid of a family of aliens after their
spaceship crashes into the ocean
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Writer: D.C. Fontana

Director: Lawrence Doheny

In NASA headquarters, supervising the launching of a lunar probe, Oscar and Steve decide to retire for the night while the instruments are being hauled aboard the rocket. Steve goes outside to stretch his legs and notices a bright object hovering in the night sky.
He returns to the control room to check if the radar registered its position. The project director (John Clavin) says that he hasn't picked up anything unusual on the screen and dismisses Steve's sighting as mere vapour condensation. A call comes through from the sheriff of a little town called Denbow, saying that he's flooded with calls from citizens who swear they've seen a UFO.


The object was indeed a spaceship that crashed into the ocean with onboard a family of four aliens endowed with special powers. To survive on this strange planet, the brother, Eymon (Christopher Mears), roams about town looking for food and clothes. He steals some in the backyard of Edward Hermon (Al Dunlap). The man threatens the thief but when he touches him, he screams in agony and collapses to the ground.
Back at Nasa Headquarters, Steve and Oscar argue the nature of the bizarre sighting. Steve is adamantly positive he saw a UFO and decides to drive to Denbow to lend credence to his suspicions. At the victim's house, he meets with Sheriff Bob Kemp (Cliff Osmond) and Dr. Matt Waters (Jimmy Lydon). The doctor tells Steve that Harmon was burnt by some sort of acid but after seeing a picture of the man, Steve concludes to radiation burns.


The aliens hide under a bridge to escape the police. Minonee (Meg Foster) communicates telepathically with her brother Eymon who tells her that the authorities are hunting him because he killed a citizen of earth, just by touching him.
The police pick up Eymon's trail. They want to run but Minonee calmly convinces them to remain still and that she will explain their situation. When she tries, Deputy Ray Cockrell (Kurt Grayson) is burnt at the slightest touch of her skin. His partner, Deputy Frank Packer (Lucas White) chases after them, but Eymon uses his telekinetic powers to slow him down by throwing a rock in his direction.


Steve and the Sheriff arrive on the scene and engage in a search. The father, Keron (Vincent Chase), uses his powers of diversion by creating a holographic image of themselves running toward one direction, but Steve is not so easily duped. He uses the infrared in his bionic eye to spot the real McCoys and follows them to a cave inside which they are cornered.
Steve assures them of his peaceful intentions and asks for some explanation in order for him to come to their aid. Minonee senses Steve's trustworthiness and agrees to relate the story of their ordeal and how they will all soon die on this strange planet.


The Sheriff and his deputies continue their search for the aliens. Steve asks Eymon to try to divert their attention away from the cave while he finds a better hiding location. Meanwhile, Minonee's parents are dying and Steve suggests she asks her mother for the coordinates of their mothership. Ilea (Frances Osborne) communicates the code to her daughter through telepathy before she and her husband pass away, their bodies dematerializing shortly after.
Minonee goes with Steve to NASA Headquarters where they will enter the coordinates to contact the mother ship. In the meantime, Eymon vainly tries to lose the posse but gets shot and dies, his body disappearing before the stunned officers.


Minonee senses her brother's death and feels like giving up. Steve insists they must act before the launch. He tells her to enter the code and to advise her people that a lunar probe will soon be heading for the dark side of the moon where they will be able to easily intercept it without NASA's knowledge. She will be aboard this rocket.
Oscar catches them in the act and forbids Steve to use the computers to help the alien. Oscar would prefer to keep Minonee on earth in order to study her. Steve lashes out at his boss that if she doesn't return to her people, she will die.


Oscar reluctantly yields to Steve's plea and all three hurry to the launching pad. Steve makes room in the rocket head for Minonee but worries that the mother ship might not have gotten her message. She reassures him that if it were the case, at least she knows he made the impossible for her.
Hours after the launch, the project director awaits a signal from the lunar probe once out of the dark side of the moon, but loses track of it completely. He receives a cryptic message about "a second star on the left that shines straight on 'til morning." Steve smiles at the quote he told Minonee after their encounter. That message was plain that she made it to the mother ship safe and sound.


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