Nancy Crater (portrayed by Jeanne Bal) was a minor character in the Star Trek episode "The Man Trap". She was the wife of Dr. Robert Crater, an archaeologist surveying ancient ruins on planet M-113. She had once been romantically involved with Dr. Leonard McCoy, whom she nicknamed "Plum".
Nancy is already dead prior to the events of the episode; the Nancy seen during the episode is actually a shape-changing creature that feeds on salt which had killed Nancy to feed on her body's salt content.
History[]
In 2261, the Craters arrived on M-113 to carry out an archeological survey of ruins left behind by an extinct civilization. Four years into the survey, the Craters encountered an alien life-form that was capable of assuming other forms. The creature killed Nancy by absorbing the salt content from her body. Although heartbroken, Crater came to understand that the creature was the last of its kind and needed salt to survive, and since there was no other source of salt on the planet, it resorted to feeding on Nancy. Crater forgave the creature and buried Nancy up on a hill.
For over a year, Crater continued his survey with the creature as his only companion, which took Nancy's form. Crater was able to sustain the creature with salt tablets he received from Starfleet supply drops. However, in 2266, the salt supply dwindled and the creature began to go hungry. When M-113 was visited by the USS Enterprise, Crater treated Captain Kirk and his crew coldly, wanting them to complete their business and leave as soon as possible. However, the starving creature began killing Kirk's crewmen, feeding on the salt in their bodies and assuming new forms in order to evade Kirk's notice.
While disguised as one of the crewmen it had killed, the creature joined Kirk and Dr. McCoy in returning to the Enterprise. While Kirk and McCoy investigated the cause of their comrades' deaths, the creature blended in with the crew, assuming different forms so as to escape notice, though its hunger for salt caused it to take special interest in Yeoman Rand when she was carrying around a tray of food with a salt shaker. Giving in to its hunger, the creature murdered a crewman and fed on him.
In order to protect itself, the creature took on Nancy's form again, using this form to sway Dr. McCoy into protecting it. It then took on McCoy's form when Kirk and Spock brought Dr. Crater up to the Enterprise after he had told them about the creature. Knowing that Crater had spent enough time around it to recognise it in whatever form it took, the creature killed the doctor.
Death[]
Cornered by its own appetite, the creature imitating Nancy fled to McCoy's quarters. Playing on McCoy's feelings for Nancy, the creature convinced the doctor to defend her when Kirk and Spock entered the room. McCoy tried to keep Kirk and Spock away from "Nancy" when they attempted to bait her with salt tablets, but the creature gave in to its hunger. Spock struck the creature, which didn't even flinch as it was hit. McCoy came to realise what the creature truly was and shot it with a phaser, killing it and bringing about the extinction of its species.