"The Cloud Minders"

"The Cloud Minders" They hang a lantern on "troglyte" being derived from "troglodyte", meaning cave-dweller. The word comes from the Greek 'trōglodutēs'. What they don't explain, but I love, is the mineral the troglytes mine, that the Enterprise needs, is called "zenite". 'Xenos' is ancient Greek for "foreigner". It shows up in English in the word xenophobia (fear of foreigners) and is us used as a prefix in medicine meaning "not human" (xenograft, xenotransplant) and in science meaning "alien" (xenobiology). Basically "zenite" is a more clever version of the sci-fi classic "unobtanium". via Instagram