- The scene shifts to a desert landscape coated in an orange haze. This seems to be planet Vulcan, home of Spock and Sarek.
- Aw, yeah, there it is—captain's log time. Kirk says that the crew is in the "third month of [their] Vulcan exile." They've been here since the events of The Search for Spock.
- Dr. "Bones" McCoy recently renamed their commandeered Klingon vessel the HMS Bounty. This is a reference to a famous British naval mutiny.
- The crew has a decision to make: should they return to Earth and accept their punishment? Everyone agrees, so it's all set—they'll leave the next day.
- Kirk and McCoy take a stroll. McCoy complains about having to travel in a stinky Klingon vessel, but Kirk suggests that the cloaking system might come in handy.
- Suddenly, Kirk looks up to the sky and smiles. There's a figure in a white robe standing on an overhanging cliff. We think we can guess who it is…
- Aw, drat—we thought for sure it was Luke Skywalker. Actually, it's Spock—Enterprise's first mate and introvert extraordinaire.
- Spock takes off his hood as he enters a building. He orders a computer to "resume testing."
- The computer asks Spock a rapid-fire series of questions, touching on everything from history to chemistry to chess. Spock nails the questions with little effort.
- But then a question comes up that stumps him. It's pretty simple, actually: "how do you feel?"
- Spock stands perplexed, and the question repeats on a loop. He's rescued from this existential crisis by his mother, Amanda, who appears and asks what's going on.
- (Spock's father is Vulcan, but his mother is human. That makes him half-human and half-Vulcan.)
- (While we're giving context, we should note that Spock is undergoing a recovery period. He died back in Star Trek II and was resurrected in Stark Trek III. It was a rough couple of years.)
- Upon hearing the question, Amanda explains that Spock should be able to answer it easily because he's half-human.
- (Jeez, more context. Unlike humans, Vulcans are unemotional by nature. They make decisions exclusively using logic. Because he's half-human, Spock has a foot in both camps.)
- Amanda explains that Spock is leaning on his Vulcan side because he's undergoing his recovery in a Vulcan environment.
- Spock responds that he "can't wait here to find" his feelings because he needs to go to Earth with the crew of Enterprise.
- Amused, Amanda tells Spock that he's only alive today because the crew of Enterprise made the illogical decision to risk their lives to save him.