Can l interest you in some Yigrish cream pie?
Thank you, Doctor. l'm quite full.
- You barely touched your food. - l'm trying to lose a little weight.
Hemming women's dresses provides me with an income,
but not with exercise.
l could help you set up a holosuite-exercise programme
l might take you up on that, and speaking of holosuites...
Happy birthday.
lt's a few days off, but l wanted to give you your present early.
lt's a Cardassian holosuite programme.
An adaptation of one of Shoggoth's enigma tales.
l see.
You sound disappointed. l thought you liked mystery novels.
l do. Human mystery novels.
The trouble with Cardassian enigma tales is that they end the same way.
All the suspects are always guilty.
Yes, but the challenge is determining who is guilty of what.
ls Lieutenant Dax throwing you another surprise party this year?
- So l'm told. - You don't sound enthusiastic.
lt's not that l don't appreciate all the trouble she goes to.
But this year's a little different.
- How so? - This will be my 30th birthday.
And?
ln many human cultures,
the 30th birthday is considered a landmark.
lt marks the end of youth
and the beginning of the march into middle age.
And that's considered bad?
No. lt's just once you hit 30,
it becomes harder and harder to ignore the passage of time.
l wasn't aware that humans saw growing old as a negative experience.
On Cardassia, advanced age is seen as a sign of power and dignity.
l know ageing is part of the natural cycle of life.
l just don't want to be reminded of it.
ln two days l turn 30, and if l want to be grumpy, that's my prerogative.
By all means, be as grumpy as you like.
Thank you for the support.
- Excuse me, Doctor. - What?
l'm sorry, Quark. How can l help you?
Erm...
My friend Altovar wants to purchase
a small quantity of biomimetic gel,
and l was wondering if you could tell him where to find
let's say...a few hundred millilitres.
Biomimetic gel is a restricted substance.
lts sale is strictly forbidden.
l thought so. You see, l told you.
l'm willing to pay whatever's necessary. Name your price.
- Why do you need it? - That's my business.
l am sorry, but biomimetic gel can be hazardous if handled incorrectly.
lt's not for sale. At any price.
Well, we tried. Thank you, Doctor.
Quark, you should warn your friend
that even attempting to obtain it is a felony under Federation law.
l know. l told him that. But he insisted that l ask you anyway.
Letheans can be incredibly stubborn.
- l hope you'll forgive the interruption. - Of course.
You know, we just introduced a new lunch menu at the bar.
- Goodbye. - Don't take it personally.
He's turning 30.
Lights. What do you think you're doing here.
Bashir to security.
Bashir to ops.
This is Dr Bashir. Can anyone read me?
Computer, locate Commander Sisko.
Computer, respond.
Computer?
Hello?
ls somebody there?
Hello?
ls anybody there?
Where is everybody?
Who's there?
Quark?
lt's all right. lt's me. Bashir.
What's going on?
He's going to kill us.
- He's going to kill us all. - Who? Who are you so afraid of?
Where's Sisko? What happened to the rest of the crew?
Why don't you come with me? We'll go try to find them.
No. Don't you see? lf we move, he'll find us.
- lf we stay here, we might be safe. - Safe?
From whom? Quark, you have got to tell me.
He's here.
- We must get these lights back on. - lt's too late. He's found us.
- We've got to get out. - Wait!
Who's there? Show yourself!
Quark?
Quark.
Tarkalean Tea.
Constable?
Garak?
Doctor. What are you doing here?
- l was about to ask you that. - l was looking for Odo.
Everyone seems to have disappeared.
Not everyone. l just saw Quark.
He thinks someone is terrorising the station.
What do you mean? What's going on?
There's some thing in Quark's tearing up the place
and it's not friendly. Computer.
lt's no use. As far as l can tell,
the station's suffered a massive systems failure.
Aside from life support and simple functions nothing seems to work.
lt's been like that for hours.
l was up late programming some patterns for a suit
when everything went dead.
We can't be the only people left.
Sisko and the others must be somewhere.
Maybe. Or maybe they've fallen victim to some kind of rampant virus,
or space anomaly or Dominion plot.
All the more reason to try to locate them.
Wait. Do you hear that?
Hear what?
That sound.
- lt's like voices whispering. - l don't hear anything.
But Cardassian hearing isn't quite as acute as humans'.
Doctor, are you feeling all right? You look different somehow.
- What is it? - Your hair seems to be turning grey.
You had reason to worry about turning 30 after all.
Or your job is more stressful than l thought.
We don't have time for this. We must find out what's going on.
We should split up. l can search the Docking Ring
and you the Habitat Ring and the central core.
We'll meet on the Promenade in an hour. Be careful.
You, too. And try to relax.
Level H-1 , section A.
...some time to think, maybe l would.
Let's not do anything until we get...
- Julian, where have you been? - Looking for you.
- l'm glad you're here. - Get the communications system back.
lt'll take hours. Too many systems have been sabotaged.
l can't make new parts until the replicators are fixed.
First we must neutralise the Lethean.
The Lethean? You mean Altovar?
- You know him? - We've met. He attacked me.
And now he's trying to kill us all.
Let's get some phasers and hunt him down.
None of us are safe until he's dead.
lf we go looking for him, we'll end up dead.
When we find the Lethean, maybe we can find you a backbone.
Maybe he's in league with him.
Computer, scan the occupants of this room for any anomalies.
- Doctor, what are you doing? - You're all acting very strangely.
- Computer? - The computer isn't working.
Don't blame me.
This wouldn't have happened if security had done its job.
That's enough. Where's Sisko?
Where are O'Brien's work crews?
The only people l've seen are Quark and Garak.
Where's everybody else? There's something very wrong here.
l'll say there is. Have you looked in the mirror lately?
Hold on. Does anybody else hear that?
- What? - l don't hear anything.
- Garak didn't either. - What are you talking about?
l keep hearing voices.
And he says we're acting peculiar.
So what are these so-called voices saying?
That's the problem. l can't make out the words.
You're the one who needs help. Not us.
- Maybe you should lie down. - l'm fine.
Except that you're hearing voices
and you've aged 30 years in the last hours.
There must be a logical explanation.
Maybe there's a virus or a subspace anomaly.
A neural inversion field, anaphasic parasites.
While you try to figure it out, l'll find the Lethean
and stop him before he sabotages more systems.
What good will that do? You don't know where he is.
We don't know how strong is he, if he can be hurt by phaser fire.
Don't worry. l wasn't asking you for help.
lf he's here, l'll find him. Even if l have to do it by myself.
Calm down. You're not going anywhere.
There are too many strange things going on.
My ageing, the missing crewmembers,
the sabotage, your behaviour.
You think it's all connected?
l think we should find out.
ls there any way of getting the internal sensors on line?
There's a computer processing junction near here.
l might be able to repair the internal sensors from there.
- But l'm not going alone. - What a surprise.
l won't let you out of my sight.
We'll all go together. Let's move.
lt's even worse than l thought.
The sensor array is burnt out
and there's great damage to the central processor.
Only the subspace communication relay looks salvageable.
That would at least let us contact Bajor.
- See what you can do. - Would you stop doing that?
- Doing what? - Looking around like that.
There's no harm in keeping both eyes open.
- l didn't ask for your opinion. - l want to know if the Lethean's around.
l saw him last in the central core.
- What level? - Level 5. But l think l lost him.
- You think? - Just keep working.
He could be right outside the door.
And if he is, then you'll have led him here.
l've got the communications relay working.
Open hailing frequencies. Contact Bajor.
lt's not working.
But l'm receiving a signal. Audio only.
- Let's hear it. - Patching it through.
...four cc's of cordrazine, but no response...
lt sounds like you, Lieutenant.
There has to be something we can do.
That's Sisko's voice.
We've tried everything, but we can't counteract the telepathic damage.
- Where's this signal coming from? - l don't know.
Somewhere outside the station.
Give me the bottom line.
Julian's in a telepathically induced coma.
Unless we can get him out of it he'll be dead in three hours.
Keep me informed.
What the hell is going on here?
Delta waves.
When l scan myself for brain activity,
l get low frequency delta waves.
And what's that supposed to mean?
lt means the voices were telling the truth.
l'm in a coma.
How can you stand there and say that you're in a coma? That's crazy.
Not necessarily, Major.
The next thing you're going to tell us is that we're unconscious.
- Not according to these readings. - l'm glad to hear it.
Actually, l'm not picking up any life signs from you at all.
Let me see that.
You want to know what this means?
This tricorder's broken, that's what it means.
- l don't think so. - Are you saying that we don't exist?
l've had enough of this. l'm not some figment of your imagination.
That is why you're all behaving so strangely.
- l'm not behaving strangely. Am l? - You all are.
Dax doesn't usually solve her problems by running around with a phaser.
Chief, you're not usually so pessimistic.
We're wasting time. The Lethean could be here any minute.
lf you're in a coma, and we're not real, then what are we doing here?
Maybe we're just here to give him someone to talk to.
A paranoid, a coward, a hothead, and me?
You'd think he'd pick better company.
l haven't picked anyone. l'm in a coma.
l'm the only one who's really here.
Which means when l talk to you, l'm really just talking to myself.
- l wish you'd stop saying that. - lt's the only possible explanation.
So you're saying that l'm you?
- ln a manner of speaking. - And he's you, too?
You all are.
You all embody different aspects of my personality,
different voices in my head.
l don't believe we're having this discussion.
lf l had to guess, l'd say you represent doubt and disbelief.
- l don't. - l knew you'd say that.
Major, you're the perfect choice for my aggression.
Odo, you represent my sense of suspicion and fear.
Dax...
you've always represented my confidence and sense of adventure.
Thank you, Julian.
You're forgetting something. What does the Lethean represent?
l suppose he represents the telepathic damage
that the real Lethean did to my mind.
So why is this Lethean running around sabotaging the station?
lt's not the station he's sabotaging.
lt's my mind.
The station represents my mind.
Just as you represent aspects of my personality.
When the Chief fixed the communications relay,
we could hear what was happening in the real word.
- lt's like he restored your hearing. - Exactly.
- So if we could repair the station... - You'd wake up.
But if you wake up, what happens to us?
Julian! Julian!
- Jadzia! - Help me! Julian!
Jadzia! Jadzia!
How did l get here?
Don't ask me. After all, we're inside your mind.
- lt's a pity about Lieutenant Dax. - How do you know about her?
l'm part of you, remember? l know what you know.
- Maybe more. - Still the man of mystery?
You wouldn't have me any other way.
- l'm getting too old for this. - Apparently so.
You, or should l say ''we'', are running out of time.
Your service, Doctor.
l can't stay here. l must get the main computer back on line.
Then you'd better get to ops.
That's the place to do repairs.
You're right. Try to find Kira, Odo and O'Brien.
- Tell them to meet me in ops. - l wonder if any of them plays tennis.
Help me.
Doctor...help us.
l'll handle this, Doctor.
She's suffering cranial trauma.
Treat the fracture with an osteogenic stimulator and follow it up
with two cc's of inpedrezine.
- How did you know that? - l'm just doing my job.
No, you're not. You're doing my job. And as well as l could.
Give him a coagulation activator to stop the bleeding.
You represent my professionalism and my skill.
l'm flattered.
Come on. You've got to come with me to ops.
l'm needed here.
l can't repair the station without your help.
l suppose you're right. Look after things here. l won't be long.
Yes, sir.
You're not going anywhere, Doctor.
You're staying here, trapped on this station,
watching while l destroy you piece by piece.
When all the best parts of you are gone, when only a withered shell is left
then, and only then, will l put you out of your misery.
You can't escape, Doctor.
You can run if you want, but you can't outrun death.
Major.
Doctor...
Odo, what happened?
The Lethean. He came out of nowhere.
He's trying to rob me of my confidence,
my intelligence, my strength.
l have to get to ops.
Use the conduits. They're your best chance.
l have to get there while l still can.
Chief.
Julian. What the hell are you doing here?
- l've got to get to ops. - You'll never make it.
l've got to do something. l can't just let the Lethean kill me.
The Lethean's too strong. He'll kill us all.
- You sound awfully sure of that. - l know you can't stop him.
You look like you've got one foot in the grave already.
l'll tell you something. l like the real Chief better than you.
Where are you going?
To find a way out of these conduits. lt's hard enough for me to walk.
- Mind if l come? - l thought you said l had no chance.
- l'm hoping l was wrong. - So am l.
But l doubt it.
How did we get back here?
You tell me. lt's your mind.
This monitor, it's displaying my vital signs.
What's the prognosis?
Pulse is thready, blood pressure dropping steadily.
l'm dying.
l could've told you that just by looking at you.
Excuse me.
Can l offer you gentlemen a drink?
Quark, where did all these people come from?
Give the people what they want, and they'll show up in droves.
Now. Care to place a wager?
A wager? On what?
You name it. On how much longer you have to live.
What organ will fail first. Ultimate cause of death.
The house is covering all bets.
What if l want to bet that l'll survive?
lt's a long shot, but if you want to throw your money away,
who am l to stop you?
Uh-oh.
lt looks like all bets are off.
Everyone loses.
Garak. The Lethean. He's in Quark's.
He hasn't caught you yet, Doctor. Let's get you out of here.
l've got to go to ops.
- What's wrong? - l don't believe this.
l've broken my hip. l can't walk.
Well, Doctor, it was a good game while it lasted.
l've got to keep moving.
And how do you propose doing that?
You're going to help me.
l admire your tenacity, but it's over. Look at yourself.
Your bones are brittle, you can't catch your breath.
You can't even stand, let alone walk.
But other than that, l feel wonderful.
Now are you going to give me a hand or not?
lt would be my privilege. What would you like me to do?
- Get me up. - Of course.
All right? Let's go.
Anybody home?
All right, Doctor. Here we go.
Easy now. That's it.
Good.
Surprise!
What is this?
{y:i}Happy birthday to you
{y:i}Happy birthday to you
{y:i}Happy birthday, dear Julian
{y:i}Happy birthday to you
{y:i}And many more
l really must congratulate you. You have a fascinating mind.
l'm sorry, but l haven't got time for this.
But it's a party. And it's all for you.
You must try to enjoy yourself. lt's your birthday.
Garak, get me over to the engineering station. Now.
Sorry, dear.
Come along, Doctor. That's it.
Good.
There must be a way to reactivate the central computer network.
Any ideas on how to go about doing that?
My engineering extension courses at Starfleet Medical
focused mainly on starship operations.
But l think if l can reroute...
reroute the central command processor,
l could bypass the disabled systems
and get it operational.
So which panel accesses the computer?
lf you were really Garak, you could tell me.
ln fact, you could fix this computer without my help.
But l'm not really Garak, am l? l'm just another part of you.
Help me get this panel off.
My tennis balls?
This station is in worse condition than we thought.
Garak...
The computer controls are behind one of these panels.
l just have to find the right one.
Face it, Doctor, there's no way to repair the damage.
lt's too extensive.
lf you won't help me, l'll do it myself.
l'd be willing to help, if l thought it would accomplish anything,
but you're only delaying the inevitable.
That doesn't sound like the Garak l know.
We've been through this. l'm not Garak. l'm you.
lt doesn't sound like me either.
l've been thinking.
Why did the Lethean let you live?
He killed everyone else who could've helped me.
Exactly what part of me do you represent?
My conscience? My curiosity? ls it?
ls it my sense of humour?
- You tell me. - l don't think you're any part of me.
ln fact, l don't think you belong here at all.
Which leaves me with one question.
Who are you?
You've put up an entertaining struggle, Doctor.
l'm glad you enjoyed yourself.
Now it's time to make things easy on yourself.
You mean just give up? l don't think so.
Why not? lsn't that what you've always done?
Remember, Doctor, l'm inside your head.
l know all about you.
When you were younger,
you wanted to be a tennis player, didn't you?
l wasn't good enough to play professionally.
Don't lie to me. Not in here.
You were good enough.
But you knew your parents wouldn't approve.
So you gave up. And became a doctor instead.
l love medicine.
But you loved tennis more.
And what about medical school?
You should've been first in your class. What went wrong?
l made a mistake in the final exam.
You mistook a pre-ganglionic fibre for a post-ganglionic nerve.
That's right.
But pre-ganglionic fibres and post-ganglionic nerves aren't alike.
Any first year medical student could tell them apart.
You purposely gave the wrong answer.
That's ridiculous.
You didn't want to be first in your class.
You couldn't take the pressure.
- That's not true. - lsn't it?
Then let's talk about Lieutenant Dax.
You like her, don't you?
She is my friend.
She could've been more if you'd tried a little harder.
But you'd rather give up than fight, wouldn't you?
We'll see about that.
Wait. Where are you going?
What do you think you're doing?
The mistake l made was trying to repair the station from ops.
lt may be the nerve centre of the real world,
but this is the centre of my world.
Get away from that panel.
Or what?
You'll kill me?
Go ahead. You've had plenty of opportunities so far.
l don't think it is as easy for you as you say it is.
You know, you don't look half as threatening in normal light.
Take a close look, Doctor.
You're dying. Why can't you just accept it?
Because that's what you want me to do.
You may be inside my head,
but you don't know me half as well as you think you do.
Take Dax...
l do have feelings for her.
But the important thing is she's my friend.
You know? Friend?
And l wouldn't exchange that friendship for anything.
As far as my career is concerned,
l may have been a good tennis player, but l'm a great doctor.
Maybe l could've been first in my class,
but it wouldn't have changed anything in my life.
l still would've chosen this assignment.
This is where l belong.
Computer, activate quarantine field 3J.
You can't do this.
l can do anything l want.
lt's my mind.
Begin sterilisation.
Julian...
- He's awake. - His vital signs are stabilised.
His brain wave activity is normal.
Welcome back, Doctor.
You will never believe where l've been.
The real Altovar tripped a security alert when he broke into the lnfirmary.
Odo arrested him straight away.
lt seems he was more dangerous in your mind than in the real world.
l did some checking on Letheans.
Their telepathic attacks are usually fatal. l was lucky.
Cardassians don't believe in luck, Doctor.
You survived because you are strong.
One thing is for sure, after experiencing life at a hundred plus,
turning 30 doesn't seem that bad anymore.
ln that case... Happy birthday.
What l find most fascinating about this incident
is how your unconscious mind chose people you know
to represent the various parts of your personality.
- lt did make things interesting. - What l find interesting
is how your mind gave me the role of the villain.
l wouldn't read too much into that, Garak.
How can l not?
To think, after all our lunches together, you still don't trust me.
There's hope for you yet, Doctor.

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