Metamorphosis ( episode ) On an isolated asteroid , Kirk finds Zefram Cochrane , inventor of the warp drive , who has been missing for 150 years . Summary . Teaser . Kirk , Spock , and McCoy are ferrying Federation Commissioner Nancy Hedford back to the . The commissioner , who has been called upon by the Federation to prevent a war on Epsilon Canaris III , has developed Sakuro ' s Disease , an extremely rare life - threatening illness , and must be removed to a medical facility for treatment . The commissioner is bitter at what she regards as incompetence in the Federation Medical Department , which she believes should have properly prepared her . En route ( shortly past point 3 , on course 201 Mark 15 ) , the shuttlecraft " " encounters a phenomenon that Spock describes as " vaguely like a cloud of ion ized hydrogen , but with strong erratic electric al impulses " . Moving at warp speed , it quickly envelops the shuttlecraft and disables its systems . The craft is pulled to course 98 Mark 12 , towards the Gamma Canaris region . Act One . There , it is soft - landed on an iron - nickel planetoid with a standard oxygen - nitrogen atmosphere and standard gravity – a place entirely suited for Human life . Examining the shuttlecraft , Spock discovers something that should be impossible : nothing is damaged and yet nothing works . McCoy notes that the gas eous cloud they encountered in space seems to be here , on the surface . Then a loud " hallooooooo " breaks the stillness . Someone else is here – a young man who quickly joins the stranded group . He introduces himself simply as Cochrane . He tells the officer s that a damping field prevents some technology here from working . But he denies knowledge of the force that brought the shuttlecraft here . Kirk and McCoy find this man familiar , somehow , but cannot quite place him . Cochrane shows his visitors to his home , decorated with instruments Kirk regards as antiques . Ominously , Commissioner Hedford has developed a fever , the first symptom of her illness . Finally , Kirk presses Cochrane , and learns about the Companion . This is what he calls the strange creature that brought the " Galileo " here . Kirk asks him his first name , and then realizes why Cochrane seems so familiar : he is Zefram Cochrane of Alpha Centauri , inventor of space warp drive . Cochrane was old , and knew he wanted to die in space . So he took a spacecraft and left his home on Alpha Centauri for parts unknown . The Companion found him , reversed his aging process , and has maintained him here ever since . Cochrane is responsible for the abduction of Kirk and his party via communicating his loneliness to the Companion ; he had thought that the Companion would simply release him . During the discussion Hedford suddenly starts crying and yelling incoherently , forcing McCoy to sedate her with a hypospray and place her in Cochrane ' s bed . Act Two . Kirk asks Spock to attempt to repair the " Galileo " . While doing so , with a trident scanner , the Companion appears there , directly behind him . Curious , he touches it , and receives an electrical shock that destroys the scanner and knocks him out cold . The circuitry of the " Galileo " bursts into flame ; the Companion is taking no chances . Cochrane agrees to summon the Companion , to see if it can help the commissioner , but learns that it cannot . While observing the Companion with Cochrane , McCoy and Kirk notice the apparent communion , and find it cannot be minimized to anything less than love , perhaps equating it in their minds with a sex ual joining , something Cochrane alludes to later . McCoy discovers Spock ; the encounter has left Spock with a new insight : the Companion is largely made of electricity . McCoy asks Spock if he is correct in surmising that something made up of electricity can be shorted out . Spock confirms this and later constructs a mechanism to scramble electrical impulses ; with this , Kirk intends to disable or destroy the creature , so that the Humans may depart . Cochrane now has reservations ; he doesn ' t want the creature killed , saying " " we ' ve been close in a way that ' s hard to describe " " . Kirk overwhelms him with the force of his personality , though Cochrane understands their perspective . Unhappy at being forced into the role of a Judas goat , Cochrane nevertheless agrees to summon the creature . Spock throws the switch , and discovers that his mechanism is sufficient only to irritate the creature . It attacks Kirk and Spock , choking them . McCoy yells at it to stop before it kills his friends . Act Three . Despite McCoy ' s pleas , the Companion continues to attack Kirk and Spock . Cochrane eventually comes to and calls off the Companion . McCoy suggests to Kirk he is thinking too much like a soldier , not a diplomat . Trying the carrot instead of the stick approach , Kirk decides that they will communicate with the creature instead using the universal translator . Nearby , the " Enterprise " searches for the now long overdue shuttlecraft . Finally , at 210 Mark 40 , the sensors detect a strong antimatter particle concentration . Lacking evidence that the shuttlecraft has been destroyed , Scott elects to follow this tenuous course . On Gamma Canaris , Spock has completed modifying the universal translator from the " Galileo " so Kirk can communicate with the Companion . Among the first things they discover is that the Companion is female , casting her relationship with Cochrane in an entirely new light . Kirk implores the Companion to permit their departure , but she is adamant ; to her , the safety and health of Cochrane is the " only " important goal . And to ensure that , she intends to keep the shuttlecraft crew here , forever . Cochrane is dismayed to discover the apparent sexual dynamic between himself and the Companion . He finds it repulsive , disgusting even , and feels used . Kirk , Spock and McCoy do not understand his parochial attitude . For her part , the Commissioner – who is now barely conscious and close to death , but has regained some level of lucidity – is baffled by someone who , offered love , rejects it . The great regret of her life , as it draws near its end , is that she has never been loved . The " Enterprise " continues its search . Sulu has discovered an asteroid field containing 7 , 000 bodies in sizes ranging from A to M . Thirty percent of them have atmospheres in types ranging from H to M . The search will be a long one , but Scott remains convinced by the lack of evidence that the shuttlecraft landed safely " somewhere " , and he is prepared to search every asteroid if necessary . Kirk tries new tactics . First , he tries to convince the Companion that without obstacles to overcome , the Humans will weaken and die . When that fails , he tries to convince the Companion that there can never be real love , because it and Cochrane are too different . The Companion considers this , and then disappears . Kirk ' s hope is that the Companion will release Cochrane and his party – love expressing itself as sacrifice – but this is not her choice . Instead , moments later , an apparently healthy Nancy Hedford appears in the door of Cochrane ' s small home , her voice now gently echoing . Act Four . The Companion has joined with Hedford , sacrificing her powers and immortality to become Human , and experience life with Zefram Cochrane as a Human woman would . Cochrane is reluctant , but becomes enthusiastic , promising to show her the galaxy now that he can . Sadly , she tells him that she cannot leave ; her life emanates from this small planetoid . Just as he must eat , so she must remain here or perish in a short march of days . Cochrane cannot bring himself to leave her , and elects to remain behind . He asks Kirk to keep his existence a secret , a request Kirk grants . Spock observes that Cochrane and Hedford will now live out a normal life span without immortality – a condition that both of them accept as inevitable and uniquely Human . McCoy fears that they have failed to stop the war on Epsilon Canaris III , but Kirk gives him relief that the Federation can surely find “ another woman , somewhere , who will stop that war . ” Memorable quotes . " " You ' re food to a starving man . " " " " I could even offer you a hot bath . " " " " How perceptive of you to notice that I needed one . " " " " You wear your age very well . " " " " Immortality consists largely of boredom . " " " " What was it they used to call it ? The Judas goat ? " " " " Maybe you ' re a soldier so often that you forget you ' re also trained to be a diplomat . Why not try a carrot instead of a stick ? " " " " It ' s a big galaxy , Mister Scott . " " " " The idea of male and female are universal constants . " " " " You ' re not a pet . You ' re not a specimen kept in a cage . You ' re a lover . " " " " But I ' ve never been loved . Never . What kind of life is that ? Not to be loved , never to have shown love ? And he runs away from love . " " " " This is loneliness . Oh , what a bitter thing . " " " " I can ' t leave her . I love her . Is that surprising ? " " " " Not coming from a Human being . You are , after all , essentially irrational . " " Background information . Remastered information . The remastered version of this episode premiered in syndication the weekend of . It featured new shots of the " Galileo " and the Companion in space , replaced a foreground rock with a shot of the sky in Cochrane ' s initial appearance , and included the shuttle returning to the " Enterprise " in the closing shot . Curiously , the remastered version of the planetoid matches the purple sky of the sound stage less than the original . The original planetoid was all purple while the remastered version is brown with only a slight purple atmosphere . Links and references . References . 2030 ; 2119 ; Alpha Centauri ; antimatter ; argon ; asteroid ; asteroid belt ; automatic scanner ; bath ; " Bones " ; brain wave pattern ; cane ; carrot ; class M ; commissioner ; dampening field ; decency ; Earth ; electricity ; electronic scrambler ; English language ; Epsilon Canaris ; Epsilon Canaris III ; Fahrenheit ; Federation ; fig tree ; first name ; " " ; Gamma Canaris N ; Gamma Canaris region ; gender ; grammar ; hammer ; hydrogen ; ion ; inoculation ; iron ; Judas goat ; krypton ; logic ; love ; Milky Way Galaxy ; morality ; nickel ; nitrogen ; neon ; oxygen ; physicist ; planetoid ; probability ; Sakuro ' s Disease ; scientist ; shuttlecraft ; shuttlecraft bay ; space warp ; standard orbit ; Starfleet ; Starfleet Medical ; symbiosis ; tricorder ; trident scanner ; universal translator ; volt ; Vulcan ; zookeeper