It's probably telling that the idea of higher forces stepping in / stomping down is such a shock in "Errand of Mercy", and that this idea basically never occurs to our heroes in any adventure before or after that. No matter how the Organians or the Time Cops or random busybody Douwds operated, they obviously are making no impact on the strategic thinking of our heroes and villains. Blowing up of planets is still very much considered, and nobody worries about divine intervention in the context. But blowing up of planets is also always abandoned - or then negated, usually through time travel, which might be telling, too. Possibly the point where higher powers step in is the blowing up of major planets, and at that point they arrange for time travel to happen so that the effect is reversed. Only it looks like us stupid mortals handled it all by ourselves... Timo Saloniemi