Summary:
Enterprise is targeted by primitive missiles.
The Enterprise easily shoots them
down and the crew begins to trace the origin of the attack. Meanwhile in sick
bay, Bones has completed his annual physicals and discovered that he has an
incurable blood disease, xenopolycythemia. He tells Kirk that he (Bones) only
has a year to live. Kirk has to inform Starfleet to request a replacement.
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| Bejeweled disk hats, bright plaids. Just because you're on a planet-ship doesn't mean you lack style. |
The origin of the missile attack is
traced to a round asteroid which is moving on an independent course. It’s
really a ship with an asteroid-like shell and a breathable atmosphere inside.
It’s about a year away from colliding with a populated planet. Kirk, Spock, and
Bones beam down to the asteroid (because the 23rd century is pretty chill with
letting all the top officers go on away missions together). Although their
instruments say the ship is uninhabited, they are attacked. The high priestess Natira says they
are on Yonada. The ship has been in flight for 10,000 years. The people do not
realize that it is a ship; they believe they are on a planet. Kirk, Spock, and
Bones are taken underground where Natira addresses an oracle. The oracle gives
the three of them an electric shock that knocks them to the ground.
When they awake later, they are in a
different room. Kirk wants to tell the people that Yonada is a ship so they can
work together in avoiding collision with the planet. Spock points out that this
would be a violation of the Prime Directive. Kirk effectively shrugs. An old
man arrives and gives them an herb to help them recoup after the shock. He
tells them that he once climbed the mountains and realized that things weren’t
as they seemed. “For the world is hollow and I have touched the sky.” It is
clear that sharing this information is causing the old man physical pain. A
device under his skin is hurting him and ultimately kills him.
Bones and Natira share an attraction.
Kirk makes a snide remark that basically shows how jealous he is that Bones
gets the romantic role this episode. Bones distracts Natira so that Kirk and
Spock can find the control room of the ship. Spock recognizes Fabrini writing
near the temple; they deduce that the people on board are descendants. Natira
shows up. Kirk and Spock hide and overhear her ask the oracle to let Bones be
her mate. The oracle says he may but only if he worships the creators and gets
“the instrument of obedience” put in his head. Then Then, Kirk and Spock are
shocked again and charged with sacrilege.
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| I wonder if I could pull off that eye make-up. |
Bones tells Natira that he’ll stay but
begs for Kirk and Spock’s lives. She agrees to let them go back to the Enterprise as a favor to Bones. Bones
receives the instrument of obedience and marries Natira. He is shown a sacred book
that supposedly contains all the information about Yonada, but the people are
not supposed to read it until they reach a new world. Bones contacts Kirk to
tell him about the book, but the device in his head knocks him out. Kirk and
Spock beam back down and remove the device. Kirk throws Natira around a bit
then tells her about the spaceship. Her device causes her pain, but she listens
to him. She doesn't understand why the creators would lie to the people, but she can't deny the truth once it is presented to her.
Kirk and Spock use the book in the
temple to find the hidden control room. Spock finds a way to redirect Yonada so
the collision will be avoided. While in the control room, they find the data
banks of Fabrini knowledge, which includes a cure for xenopolycythemia. Natira
tells Bones that even though she is free from the oracle’s control, she is
choosing to stay willingly and continue on the same path. She also tells Bones
that he should go back to his ship and live his life.
Lesson:
There is a reoccurring theme in Trek
where a group of people mistakenly attribute a superior technology as a god. In
this episode it goes even further in that the people don’t even understand that
they are on a ship. Kirk wants to free them of their ignorance and show them
the truth. There is a lot of talk about hiding the truth, blind obedience, and
ignoring outsiders. It’s a clear secular humanist message: let go of beliefs
you were taught and see things for what they are.
But only Natira is freed from the
device, and she still chooses to stay. While it probably just a plot device
that she stay so they didn’t have to deal with her on the Enterprise in later episodes, I think her choice to stay can say
something about faith as well. There is a difference in those who believe
blindly or for fear of punishment and those that see the truth and choose to
follow the faith. Natira knows that they are on a ship and that the oracle is a
computer, but she still believes that her people’s ways are beneficial. She
also knows that everyone will learn the truth soon and will need a leader to
help with that transition. So while the episode appears to be anti-religion, I
think it is really anti-blind obedience, and that it allows a faith when it is
informed and freely chosen.
Quotes:
Oracle: “Learn what it means to be our
enemy before you learn what it means to be our friend.”
McCoy: “We’re strangers to each
other.”
Natira: “Is that not the nature of men
and women? That the pleasure is in the learning of each other?”
Kirk: “Bones, this isn’t a planet.
It’s a spaceship, on a collision course with Daran V.”
McCoy: “I’m on a kind of collision
course myself, Jim.”
Natira: “You’ve released him from his
vow of obedience.”
Kirk: “We’ve freed him from the
cruelty of your oracle.”
Natira: “Is truth not truth for all? I
must know the truth of the world!”
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