Stardate 5843.7: The Rigelian fever has broken out on the Enterprise. Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to Holberg 917-G to find ryetalyn, the only known basis for an antidote. The planet's sole resident is a man named Flint, and despite his initial hostility he agrees to let his robot M-4 collect and synthesize the ryetalyn. He invites the landing party to his house and introduces them to his foster daughter Rayna Kapec. Rayna feels attracted to Kirk, and while he returns her feelings he also feels that something is wrong and that Flint deliberately defers the delivery of the antidote. What's more, Spock discovers that Flint possesses previously unknown works of Leonardo da Vinci and Johannes Brahms and that the man is probably around 6000 years old. When the ryetalyn is ready, the landing party discovers a lab with android bodies, all copies of Rayna. Rayna is an android, and the immortal Flint used Kirk to let her emotions come to life. However, as Kirk and Flint are struggling for the welfare of Rayna, she dies of her inner conflict. Dr. McCoy successfully stops the epidemic. He also finds out that Flint is subjected to normal aging again since he has left Earth. As Kirk is suffering from the loss of Rayna, Spock decides to ease the captain's pain with a mind-meld.

• E20 Previous
• E22 Next