Synopsis: On a routine visit to the experimental colony at Gamma Hydra IV, a landing party discovers the young colonists dying of old age.
In “The Deadly Years” we see how Mercurial insight is needed to find a solution to a situation.
When the landing party of Captain James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. Leonard (Bones) McCoy, Lt. Arlene Galway, and Ensign Pavel Chekov visit the colony on Gamma Hydra IV, they first seem to find it deserted. Then Chekov comes across a dead body and panics. Shortly thereafter, the landing party is met by Robert Johnson, age 29, and his wife Elaine Johnson, age 27, although they appear to be much older, and within a few minutes die themselves of old age. Unfortunately for the landing party, it seems that whatever killed the colonists, has also affected them, and they are aging very quickly.
While it is not difficult for Spock to reason out that a comet passing close by the planet may have been the cause of the radiation sickness, it is much harder to find an antidote for the ageing that the radiation causes. Every member of the landing party was affected except Chekov. The scientists aboard the Enterprise work round the clock, running tests on him trying to understand why he was not affected. At the same time, Commander Stocker, who is aboard the Enterprise takes command of her in light of the senior officers’ condition.
McCoy is frustrated and says: “you can’t argue with a machine.” Maybe not, but if one has a Mercurial flash of insight, the machine can be programmed with different information. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy go over the facts again, and Kirk gets the flash of insight the Chekov was scared to death, from which McCoy and Spock, the men of science, can reason out that adrenaline might be the cure they are looking for. And it is. However, while they were working on the antidote, Stocker orders the Enterprise into the Neutral Zone, where she is fired on by Romulans. When all seems lost, the now rejuvenated Kirk, back to his former Mercurial self, uses the Corbomite Maneuver ploy again, and that bit of hermetic bluffing allows the ship and all hands aboard to escape. Mercury, also known as Hermes, saves the day not once but twice.
Original post created 18 February 2021
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