"Captain's log, stardate 5843.7." "The Enterprise is in the grip of a raging epidemic." "Three crewmen have died and 23 have been struck down by Rigelian fever." "In order to combat the illness, Dr McCoy needs large quantities of ryetalyn, the only known antidote for the fever." "Our sensors have picked up sufficient quantities on a small planet in the Omega system." "We are beaming down to secure this material." "Report." "Jim, there's a large deposit four kilometres away." "I must process it in four hours or the epidemic will be irreversible." " Everybody on board the Enterprise..." " Strange." "Readings indicate a human life-form in the vicinity." "Yet ship sensors indicated this planet was uninhabited." "Let's get that ryetalyn." "inoperative." "Do not kill." " l'm Captain James Kirk..." " l know who you are." "I have monitored your ship since it entered this system." "Then if you know who we are, you know why we're here, Mr...?" "Flint." "You will leave my planet." "Did you say your planet, sir?" "My retreat from the unpleasantness of life on Earth and the company of people." "Mr Flint, I have a sick crew." "We can't possibly reach another planet in time." " You can't refuse us the ryetalyn." " You're trespassing, Captain." "We're in need." "We'll pay for it, work for it, trade for it." " You have nothing I want." " But you have the ryetalyn we need." "If necessary, we'll take it." "If you do not leave voluntarily, I have the power to force you." "Or kill you where you stand." "Space - the final frontier." "These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise." "Its five-year mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no man has gone before." "Kirk to Enterprise." "Mr Scott, lock phasers onto our coordinates." "Aye, Captain." "All phasers locked on." "Mr Flint, if anything happens to us, four deaths and then my crew comes down and takes that ryetalyn." "An interesting test of power." "Your enormous forces against mine." "Who would win?" "Mr Flint, unless you are certain, I would suggest you refrain from a useless experiment." "We need only a few hours." "Have you seen a victim of Rigelian fever?" "They die in one day." "The effects are like Bubonic plague." "Constantinople, summer, 1334." "It marched through the streets, the sewers." "It left the city by oxcart, by sea, to kill half of Europe." "The rats, rustling and squealing in the night, as they, too, died." " The rats..." " Are you a student of history, sir?" "I am." "The Enterprise, a plague ship." "You have two hours, at the end of which time, you will leave." "With all due gratitude." "M-4 will gather the ryetalyn which you need." "Permit me to offer you more comfortable surroundings." "Come in, gentlemen." "Our ship sensors did not reveal your presence here." "My planet has screens which create the impression of lifelessness." "A protection against the curious, the uninvited." "Then you live here alone." "Except for M-4, which serves as butler, housekeeper, gardener and guardian." "A most impressive home, Mr Flint." "Yes." "Shakespeare first folio, a Gutenberg Bible." "The Creation lithographs by Taranullus." "That's one of the rarest book collections in the galaxy." "Be comfortable, gentlemen." "Help yourselves to brandy." "Do we trust him?" "It would seem logical to do so for the moment." "I'll need two hours to process that ryetalyn." "If it isn't here in one hour, we'll go prospecting, right over Mr Flint." "This is the most splendid private and unique collection of art I've ever seen." "The majority of the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance period." "Some of the works of Reginald Pollack, and a Sten from Marcus ll." "At last I've seen other humans." " Other men." " One is not human." "The Vulcan." "So that is a Vulcan. I'd like to discuss subdimensional physics with him." "You've taught me all you know and Vulcans know more." "Even he is not your intellectual equal, nor mine." "Let me meet them." "They are selfish, brutal, a part of the human community I rejected and from which I've shielded you." "Soon they will be gone." "Let me meet them." "Rayna..." "Have you been lonely?" "What is loneliness?" "It is a thirst." "It is a flower dying in the desert." "Flint, don't take this opportunity away from me." "It's so exciting." "Exciting?" "You have never made a demand of me before." "I'm sorry." "Do not be sorry." "It might be interesting." " Saurian brandy, 100 years old." "Jim?" " Please." "Mr Spock, I know you won't have one." "Heaven forbid those perfect brainwaves be corrupted by this all too human vice." "Thank you, Doctor. I will have a brandy." "Do you think we can handle a drunk Vulcan?" "Once alcohol hits green blood... lf l appear distracted, it is because of what I've seen." "I am close to experiencing an unaccustomed emotion." "I'll drink to that." " What emotion?" " Envy." "None of these da Vinci paintings has been catalogued or reproduced." "They are unknown works, apparently authentic to the last brushstroke and use of materials." "Undiscovered da Vincis would be priceless." "Would be?" "You mean you think they're fakes?" "Most strange." "A man of Flint's obvious wealth and impeccable taste scarcely needs to hang fakes." "Yet my tricorder analysis indicates that the canvas and pigments used are of contemporary origin." "Well, this could be what it seems to be." "Or it could be a cover, a set up, or even an illusion." "That could explain the paintings, similar to the real thing." "Spock, take a full tricorder reading of our host, see if he's human." "Kirk to Enterprise." "Mr Scott?" "Mr Scott, run a full computer check on Mr Flint and on this planet Holberg 917 G." "Stand by with your results." "I'll contact." "Kirk out." "Let's enjoy this brandy." "It tastes real." "Easy." "Bones?" "Ryetalyn, ready to be processed." "Beam up to the ship and start processing." "That will not be necessary, Captain." "M-4 can prepare it for inoculation more quickly in my laboratory." "I would like to supervise that." "When you are satisfied, do me the honour of being my guests at dinner." "Thank you, Mr Flint." "I don't think we have the time." "I regret my earlier inhospitality." "Let me make amends." "Gentlemen, may I present Rayna." "I...thought you lived alone." "I meant there are no others besides my family." "Dr McCoy." "Mr Spock." "Mr Spock, I do hope we can find a moment to discuss field density and its relationship to gravity phenomena." "lndeed. I would appreciate such a talk." "It is an interest of mine." "Captain Kirk." " Captain Kirk?" " Rayna." "Her parents were killed in an accident while in my employ." "Before dying, they placed their infant in my custody." " l have raised and educated her." " With most impressive results." "What else interests you besides gravity phenomena?" "Everything." "Less is betrayal of the intellect." "The totality of the universe?" "All knowledge?" "Rayna possesses 17 university degrees in the sciences and arts." "She is aware that the intellect is not all." "But its cultivation must come first, or the individual makes errors." "Wastes time in unprofitable pursuits." "At her age, I rather enjoyed errors with no noticeable damage, but I must admit you're the farthest thing from a bookworm I've ever seen." "Flint is my teacher." "You are the only other men I've ever seen." "The misfortune of men everywhere and our privilege." "If you accompany my robot to the laboratory, you can rest assured the ryetalyn is being processed." "Thank you, sir." "Your pleasure, gentlemen - chess, billiards, conversation?" "Why not all three?" " Did you teach her that?" " We play often." "May I show you, Captain?" "You mentioned savagery." "When did you last visit Earth?" "You would tell me it is no longer cruel." "But it is." "Look at your starship, bristling with weapons." "Its mission, to colonise, exploit, destroy, to advance Federation causes." "Thank you." "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." "The result of pressures which are not...your concern." "Those pressures are in everyone, urging him to what you call savagery." "The private hells, the inner needs and mysteries, the beast of instinct." "As human beings, that is the way it is." "To be human is to be complex." "You can't avoid a little ugliness from within and from without." "Why don't you play the waltz, Mr Spock?" "To be human is also to seek pleasure, to laugh, to dance." "Rayna is a most accomplished dancer." "May I have the pleasure?" " ls something wrong?" " The ryetalyn is no good." "It contains irillium, one part per thousand." "lrillium will render the antitoxin inert and useless." "Most unfortunate that it was not detected." "I shall go with M-4 to gather more ryetalyn and screen it myself." " You're welcome to join me." " Thank you." "Time factor?" "Epidemic?" "Two and a half hours." "We've got time." "I've never seen anything like that robot." " lt would take us twice as long." " Would we have made an error?" "What if all the ryetalyn on this planet contains irillium?" "Go with Flint." "Keep an eye on procedures." "Like a hawk." "Captain, something else which is rather extraordinary." "This waltz I just played is by Johannes Brahms." " Later, Spock." " Captain, it is written in manuscript." "In original manuscript in Brahms' own hand, which I recognise." "It is totally unknown, definitely the work of Brahms, and yet...unknown." "I'll go to the laboratory." "There may be a way of reversing the irillium's effect." "Stay here." "Let me know when Flint and McCoy return." "Captain's log, stardate 5843.75." "Have I committed an error in accepting Flint's word that he would deliver the antidote to us?" "The precious time I have let past may result in disaster for the Enterprise." "You left us." "The room became lonely." "It is a thirst." "A flower dying in the desert." "What?" " What's in there?" " l do not know." "Flint told me never to enter." "He denies me nothing else." "Then why are you here?" "I do not know." "I come here when I am troubled." "When I would...search myself." "Are you troubled now?" " Yes." " By what?" "Are you...happy here with Flint?" "He is the greatest, kindest, wisest man in the galaxy." "Then why are you afraid?" "Don't be afraid." "Stop command." "Stop." "Thank you, Mr Spock." "Fortunately, the robot did not detect my presence and deactivate my phaser." "M-4 was programmed to defend this household and its members." "I should have altered its instructions to allow for your predictable actions." "It thought you were attacking Rayna." "If it were around right now, it would correct..." "Too useful a device to be without, really." "I created another." "It will now go to the laboratory and join Dr McCoy." " Fascinating." " Be thankful that you did not attack me." "I might have accepted battle and I have twice your physical strength." "In your own words, it would be an "interesting test of power"." "How childish he is, Rayna." "Would you call him brave or a fool?" "I'm...glad he did not die." "Of course." "Death, when unnecessary, is a tragic thing." "Dr McCoy is in the laboratory with the ryetalyn." "He's satisfied with its quality." "May I suggest that you wait here patiently, safely?" "My defence systems operate automatically and not always in accordance with my wishes." "Come, Rayna." "Rayna." "Come." "I don't like the way he orders her around." "Since we are dependent on Mr Flint for the ryetalyn, Captain, may I respectfully suggest you pay less attention to the young lady if you encounter her again." "Our host's interests do not appear to be confined to art and science." "He..." "loves her?" "Strongly indicated." "Jealousy." "Yes, that would explain the attack, but he seemed to want us together." "The billiard game." "He suggested we dance." "It does appear to defy the male logic, as I understand it." "Kirk to Enterprise." "Mr Scott." "Report on the Rigelian fever." "Nearly everybody has got it." " We're working a skeleton crew." " Just a little while longer, Scotty." "Report on the computer search." "There's no report on Mr Flint." "He doesn't seem to have any past." "The planet was purchased 30 years ago by a Mr Brack, a wealthy financier and recluse." "Run a computer check on Rayna Kapec." "Status, legal ward after the death of her parents." "Kirk out, Mr Scott." "We have still a greater mystery. I was able to run a tricorder scan on Mr Flint." "He is human, but there are biophysical peculiarities." "Body-function readings are disproportionate." "For one thing, extreme age is indicated, on the order of 6,000 years." "Can you confirm that, Mr Spock?" "I shall program the readings through the medical computer on the ship." "Time factor?" "We must commence injections within two hours and 18 minutes, or the epidemic will prove fatal to us all." "What's keeping the processing?" "The delay may be deliberate." "As though he was keeping us here." "Most interesting." "Our host appears to wish us to linger, yet he is apprehensive." "It is logical to assume that we are being monitored and that he is aware of our every move." "You sent the robot to kill him." "It came to protect you." "My mind did not summon it." "I was not frightened." "It was defective, then." "I would have destroyed it myself." "Have I lied to you?" "Never." "Believe what I say." "I would not want Captain Kirk dead." "What did you feel?" "You'll let them have the ryetalyn?" "Yes." "Go to them if you wish." "Say your farewells." " Kirk here." " Mr Scott, sir." "There's no record of a Rayna Kapec in Federation legal banks." " No ward of custody?" " No background in any computer banks." " Like Flint." " Kirk out." ""Like Flint." People without a past." "What hold does he have over her?" "Captain, I would suggest our immediate concern is the ryetalyn." "Let's find McCoy." "I'll meet you in the lab." " l've come to say goodbye." " l don't want to say goodbye." "A last tender encounter, Captain Kirk, to end your usefulness." "I tell you, I was waiting for the robot to finish the processing and then it was gone and so was the ryetalyn." "Interesting." "Obviously, Mr Flint is not yet ready for us to depart." " We'd better tell Jim." " The captain wanted us to wait here." "Come with me." "I..." "I offer you happiness." "I've known security here." "Childhood must end." "You love me, not Flint." "Flint lied." "The ryetalyn isn't here." "Picking up tricorder readings." "Apparently, the ryetalyn is behind this door." "Why is Flint playing tricks on us?" "Apparently, we're supposed to go in and get it...if we can." "Let's not disappoint the chess master." "Phasers on full." "Captain, I shall get the ryetalyn." " Why you?" " There may be dangers within." " Let's find out." " Let me go alone." "Why?" "Get to the point, Spock, if there is one." "We'll all go." "The ryetalyn." "Captain's log, stardate 5843.8." "We have the ryetalyn ready to combat the epidemic aboard the Enterprise." "But we have also discovered our benefactor's secret." "He has created the perfect woman." "Her only flaw...she's not human." "Physically human, but not human." "These are earlier versions of Rayna." "She's an android." "Created here by my hand." "Here centuries of loneliness were to end." "Your collection of da Vinci masterpieces appear to have been recently painted on contemporary canvas with contemporary materials." "And on your piano, the waltz by Johannes Brahms, an unknown work, in manuscript, written in modern ink." "Yet absolutely authentic, as are your paintings." "I am Brahms." " And da Vinci?" " Yes." "How many other names shall we call you?" "Solomon, Alexander, Lazarus, Methuselah, Merlin, Abramson." " 100 other names you do not know." " You were born?" "In that region of Earth later called Mesopotamia, in the year 3834 BC, as the millennia are reckoned." "I was Akharin." "A soldier, a bully and a fool." "I fell in battle, pierced to the heart, and did not die." "Instant tissue regeneration coupled with some perfect form of biological renewal." " You learned that you're immortal..." " And to conceal it." "To live some portion of a life." "To pretend to age and then move on before my nature was suspected." "Your wealth and your intellect are the product of centuries of acquisition." "You knew the greatest minds in history." "Galileo, Socrates, Moses." "I have married 100 times, Captain." "Selected, loved, cherished, caressed a smoothness, inhaled a brief fragrance." "Then age, death, the taste of dust." "Do you understand?" "You wanted a perfect, ultimate woman, as brilliant, as immortal, as yourself." "Your mate for all time." "Designed by my heart." "I could not love her more." "Spock, you knew?" " l'd hoped I was wrong." " You cannot love an android. I love her." "She is my handiwork, my property." "She is what I desire." "You brought me here to learn this?" " Does she know?" " She will never know." " Let's go." " You will stay." " Why?" " We have discovered what he is." "If you leave, the curious would follow." "The foolish, the meddlers, the officials, the seekers." "My privacy was my own." "Its invasion be on your head." "We can remain silent." "The disaster of intervention, I've known it. I will not risk it." "Kirk to Enterprise." "Clear the area." "Inform Starfleet Command..." " Enterprise?" "Scotty?" " They cannot answer, Captain." " My crew." " The test of power." "You had no chance." " lt is time for you to join your crew." " You'd wipe out 400 lives?" "Why?" "I have seen 100 billion fall." "I know death better than any man." "I have tossed enemies into his grasp." "And I know mercy." "Your crew is not dead, but suspended." "Worse than dead." "Restore them." "Restore my ship." "In time. 1,000, 2,000 years." "You will know the future, Captain Kirk." "You have been such men." "You've known and created such beauty." "You've watched your race evolve from barbarism throughout your life and yet you would do this to us?" "The flowers of my past." "I hold the nettles of the present." " l am Flint now, with my needs." " What needs?" "Tonight I've seen something wondrous, something I've laboured for." "Nothing must endanger it." "At last Rayna's emotions have stirred." "Now they will turn to me in this solitude which I preserve." "No." "Rayna." " You must not do this to them." " l must." "What will you feel for him after we are gone?" "All emotions are in play, Mr Flint." "You harm us, she hates you." "Give me back my ship." "Your secret is safe with us." "That's why you delayed the processing of the ryetalyn." "You realised what was happening." "You kept us together, Rayna and me." "Because you knew I could bring her emotions alive." "Now you're just going to take over?" "I shall take what is mine, when she comes to me." "We are mated, Captain." "Alike, immortal." "Forget your feelings, which is impossible for you." "lmpossible!" "lmpossible." "From the beginning, you used me." "I can't love her." "But I do love her." " And she loves me." " No!" "Your primitive impulses will not alter circumstances." " Stay out." "We're fighting over a woman." " No, you're not, for she is not." "I...cannot be the cause of this." "I...will not be the cause of this." "Please stop." "Stop!" "I choose...where l want to go." "What I want to do." "I choose." "I choose." " Rayna!" " No, do not order me." " No one can order me." " She's human." "Down to the last blood cell, she's human." "Down to the last thought, hope, aspiration, emotion, she's human." "The human spirit is free." "You have no power of ownership." " She's free to do as she wishes." " Gentlemen, I urge you to stop." " There is a danger." " No man beats me." "I don't want to beat you." "This is no test of power." "Rayna belongs to herself." "And she claims the human right of choice, to be...as she wills." "To do as she wills, to think as she wills!" "That's what I've worked for." "Stay." "I...was not human." "Now..." "I..." "love." "I..." "love..." "You can't die." " What happened?" " She loved you." "And you, too, Mr 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." "Spock." "The epidemic is reduced and no longer a threat." "The Enterprise is on course 513, mark 7, as you ordered." "A very old...and lonely man." "And a young and lonely man." "We put on a pretty poor show, didn't we?" "If only I could forget." "Jim." " Thank heaven, sleeping at last." " Your report, Doctor." "Those tricorder readings on Mr Flint are finally correlated." "He's dying." "Flint, in leaving Earth, with its complex fields within which he was formed, sacrificed immortality." "He'll live the rest of a normal life and die." "On that day, I shall mourn." "Does he know?" "Yes, I told him." "He intends to devote the remainder of his years and great abilities to the improvement of the human condition." " Who knows what he'll come up with?" " indeed." "Well, I guess that's all." "I can tell Jim later, or...you can." "Considering his opponent's longevity, truly an eternal triangle." "You wouldn't understand that, would you?" "You see, I feel sorrier for you than I do for him, because you'll never know the things that love can drive a man to." "The ecstasies, the miseries, the broken rules, the desperate chances, the glorious failures and the glorious victories." "These things you'll never know because the word love isn't written into your book." " Good night, Spock." " Good night, Doctor." "I do wish he could forget her." "Forget."