  We present detailed non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) synthetic
spectra for comparison with a time series of observed optical spectra of the
Type Ic supernova 1994I which occurred in M51. With the exceptions of Si I and
S I, we treat the important species in the formation of the spectrum in full
NLTE. We present results for both a hydrodynamic model that has been fit to the
light curve and for an illustrative custom crafted model that is more massive.
Both models give reasonable fits to the overall observed spectra; however,
neither is able to reproduce all the observed features. Some conspicuous
observed features are absent and some predicted features are unobserved. No
model that we have explored is able to satisfactorily reproduce the observed
infrared feature near 1 micron on April 15, 1994 (+7d), which has been
attributed to the triplet He I lambda 10830 transition. The low-mass
hydrodynamic model produces an infrared feature with a blend of He I, C I, O I,
and Si I--II lines, but it predicts a strong unobserved absorption feature near
6100 Angstroms due to Fe III, and the observed feature just blueward of 6000
Angstroms most likely due to Na D is not reproduced. The more massive model
does a better job of reproducing the observed infrared lineshape, but also
predicts the unobserved feature near 6100 Angstroms. The early-time spectrum of
the low-mass model is far too blue; thus, a more massive model may be slightly
favored. Since the predicted infrared feature is produced by a blend of so many
elements and there is no overwhelming evidence for other helium features such
as lambda 5876, it may be premature to conclude that SNe Ic unambiguously
contain helium. Thus, we conclude that pure C+O cores are still viable
progenitors for SNe Ic.
