"Requiem for Methuselah" by Jerome Bixby
The crew of the Enterprise is struck with deadly Rigellian fever, for which the only treatment is ryetalyn. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to a planet in search of the substance and are attacked by a drone, M4, which is called off by its master, Flint. Flint demands they leave immediately and threatens them. Kirk orders the Enterprise to fire phasers on their coordinates if they are attacked. McCoy compares the fever to the Bubonic Plague and Flint agrees to let them remain long enough for M4 to obtain the ryetalyn. Flint invites them back to his home.
I love the matte painting for Flint's home.
While Our Heroes admire Flint's art and artifacts, they are being watched by a blonde woman. We see her talk to Flint later. He tries to kiss her but she seems uninterested. Her excitement over meeting the landing party and the fact she's never asked for anything before causes Flint to decide to introduce Rayna. Meanwhile, Spock notices that the brushwork of the paintings is identical to Leonardo da Vinci's, but his tricorder indicates that they are made with modern materials.
Kirk plays billiards with Rayna, and they dance to a waltz played by Spock. The music, apparently in the hand of Johannes Brahms, is completely unknown. M4 returns with a container of ryetalyn, but it is contaminated with irilium, and therefore useless. Flint apologizes and he and McCoy accompany M4 on a search for more ryetalyn. For some reason, instead of sending Spock, Kirk goes to the lab to see if the irilium can be removed.
This is a nice bit:
KIRK: You said something about savagery, Mister Flint. When was the last time you visited Earth?
FLINT: You would tell me that it is no longer cruel. But it is, Captain. Look at your starship, bristling with weapons. Its mission to colonise, exploit, destroy, if necessary, to advance Federation causes.
KIRK: Our missions are peaceful, our weapons defensive. If we were barbarians, we would not have asked for ryetalyn. Indeed, your greeting, not ours, lacked a certain benevolence.
Rayna enters the lab and approaches a door, but doesn't open in. It's the only place she's not allowed. Her vulnerability touches Kirk and he hugs her and kisses her gently, which she looks surprised by. M4 comes in an attacks Kirk. It doesn't listen to Rayna's commands. Spock phasers M4. Meeting up with Flint later, another M4 joins them.
I love Spock commenting that they're being watched as we see Flint and Rayna watching them!
The Enterprise reports that no information can be found on Flint or Rayna. A tricorder scan reveals that Flint is human, but over 6,000 years old.
Rayna comes to say goodbye to Kirk. He kisses her and she kisses him back, while Flint watches on screen. Flint says Kirk's usefulness is almost at an end.
McCoy tells them that after being processed in Flint's laboratory, the ryetalyn vanished. Spock follows tricorder readings to The Forbidden Door. Behind it, there's another laboratory, containing not only the ryetalyn, but a number of Rayna bodies.
Flint reveals that he was born in 3834 BC, and after falling in battle discovered he could not die. Flint has lived "lifetimes" as various famous and not-so famous people. He built Rayna to be his immortal mate and manipulated Kirk into teaching her how to love. Paranoid about the possibility that the Enterprise crew would reveal him and his location, Flint causes the Enterprise to disappear from orbit and reappear as a tabletop miniature in his laboratory, with the crewmembers in suspended animation. He proposes to keep them that way for up to 2,000 years. Rayna happens into the room and vehemently objects, so he restores the starship to its previous state. When Kirk professes his love for Rayna and pleads with her to leave with him, a fight breaks out between him and Flint for the possession of Rayna. And then one of my favorite scenes, as Rayna gains true sentience.
RAYNA: I cannot be the cause of this. I will not be the cause of this. Please stop. Stop! I choose where I want to go, what I want to do. I choose. I choose.
FLINT: Rayna!
RAYNA: No. Do not order me. No one can order me!
She collapses and "dies".
SPOCK: She loved you, Captain. And you, too, Mister Flint, as a mentor, even as a father. There was not enough time for her to adjust to the awful power and contradictions of her new-found emotions. She could not bear to hurt either of you. The joys of love made her human, and the agonies of love destroyed her.
Back on the Enterprise, McCoy reports that readings show that Flint has been aging normally since he left Earth's environment, and will soon die. Kirk falls asleep on his desk after commenting ruefully on Rayna's fate. McCoy monologues about how he pities Spock for not understanding love. Spock places a suggestion to "forget" into Kirk's mind.
This is one of my favorite episodes (even if Kirk seems more concerned with the woman than with his crew's epidemic at points). James Daly's world-weary sophistication as Flint is absolutely perfect. Louise Sorel projects an innocence and intelligence that is truly captivating. I feel very sad for Rayna, which is a testament to Ms. Sorel's portrayal. A real winner of an episode.
FYI (and I'm boggled I didn't catch this), Rayna's last name, "Kapec", is an
anagram of Capek, after
Karel Čapek, whose play
R.U.R. (
Rossum's Universal Robots, 1920) introduced the term "
robot".
This is mostly for me to keep my own thoughts in order, but feel free to follow along and comment.
