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Enterprise Episode Guide - Season One Episode: 13
Dear Doctor
The crew of Enterprise has proven time and again that humans are capable of great compassion, but they learned in one instance that such compassion can interfere with the natural order of things. The starship encountered a pre-warp vessel manned by two incapacitated astronauts from a nearby planet called Valakis who had been travelling over a year in search of help to find a cure for a devastating plague. Captain Archer agreed to lend the assistance of Dr. Phlox to the dying Valakians, with reminders from Sub-commander T'Pol to exercise a certain degree of caution against contaminating this less advanced culture. Phlox studied the disease and found it was genetic, that its rate of mutation was accelerating, and that the Valakians will be extinct in less than two centuries. So he began to research the immunity system of the Menk, a second indigenous humanoid species on the planet who were not afflicted with the illness.
While interacting with the Menk, who were subservient to the Valakians, Phlox realized they were more evolved than they were given credit for. Phlox, in fact, was able to develop a cure for the epidemic, but he told Archer that it might not be ethical to administer it, as it would interfere with nature. The Menk had the potential to become the dominant species on the planet, which would not happen if the Valakians were saved. Thus the captain was faced with an enormous moral dilemma, and after much consideration in the lack of any guiding principles from Starfleet, Archer opted with a heavy heart to withhold the cure from the Valakians. He was also put in the uncomfortable position of having to reject the Valakians' plea to share warp technology with them. The most Archer and Phlox agreed to do was deliver medicine to help ease their symptoms, perhaps long enough for them to find a cure on their own. Archer came away from this experience understanding a little better the position Vulcans have been in dealing with the less advanced humans.
Episode info from: www.startrek.com
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