Devon, Garth and Rachel enter a biosphere that’s been left in prime condition – fresh food everywhere, clean quarters…and no people to be found, at least until Garth discovers a young woman named Lethe, who appears to be in shock after the rest of her people suddenly abandoned her – or so she says. She seems to make a remarkable recovery and begins to say things that cause the three travelers to doubt one another. Devon eventually finds the other former inhabitants of this dome, discovering that they’re paranoid to the point of being fully prepared to kill any strangers in their midst. Devon protests, but is sentenced to death – and Lethe has turned Garth against him, so he refuses to save him. But in a secret observation room, a cynical scientist is pulling Lethe’s strings – using all of these events to prove his belief that the descendants of the Ark’s original residents are too soft to survive.
written by Shimon Wincelberg
directed by Ed Richardson
music by Score Productions Ltd.Guest Cast: Simon Oakland (Dr. Asgard), Irena Mayeska (Dr. Diana Tabor), Trudy Young (Lethe), Tim Whelan (Village Elder), John Bethune (Villager “A”)
Notes: The “ancient poem” Devon remembers is the hymn “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains”, written by Reginald Heber in 1819. The section quoted on the obelisk at the beginning of the episode – which also gives this episode its title – is “Though every prospect pleases / And only man is vile / In vain with lavish kindness / The gifts of God are strown / The heathen in his blindness / Bows down to wood and stone.”
LogBook entry by Earl Green