DIRECTED BY
AIRED ON
April 15, 1996
RUNTIME
45 minutes
STARRING
VIEWS
198
LAST UPDATE
2024-09-13 04:06:27
PAGE VERSION
Version 2
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0
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0
SUMMARY
Stardate: Unknown. O'Brien tries to re-integrate to life on the station after serving 20 years in a virtual prison.
STORY
No story yet.
BEHIND THE SCENES
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QUOTES
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TOPICS
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REVIEWS
Rick and Jerry adventure
Written by
Pike on 2018-03-11
★
★
★
JERRY
This episode is a Rick and Jerry adventure. After Jerry left the house in S03E02, it felt really good to see him again in this S03E05. It was even a logical move to have him appearing again. The opening scene where we get to see his new daily life was really sad and I enjoyed to watch it. I would even say that I would have no problem watching Rick and Morty based only on the lives of the family.
ADVENTURE
The adventure is fun.
SUMMARY
A very good episode featuring Jerry, back into the series after being absent in two episodes. I give it 6 out of 10.
TRANSCRIPT
[Argrathi cell]
(A lighting unit in the ceiling sends a grid pattern onto the sandy floor where a wizened and tattered old man is sitting drawing a pattern with his fingers. A klaxon sounds.
ARGRATHI [OC]: All offenders prepare for decontamination. Decontamination will proceed immediately.
(The prisoner curls up tight as a green light sweeps the room, erasing his pattern and making him groan with pain. Once it is passed, he starts again. The door unseals and opens. The prisoner stands. The Prison governor enters with an armed escort.)
RINN: Miles Edward O'Brien. The Argrathi Authority has been conducting a review of your case. Do you wish to add anything to the official record?
(O'Brien shakes his grizzled, bearded head.)
RINN: No matter. Your correction is completed. You are free.
O'BRIEN: Free?
RINN: The crime of espionage requires a minimum of fifteen cycles of correction. You've been here for twenty. It's time for you to go.
O'BRIEN: Go? I can't leave. Where would I go to?
RINN: That's not my concern. Remove him.
(The guard uses his cattle prod and throws the screaming O'Brien into the bright light outside the cell.)
[Argrathi treatment room]
(A uniformed and clean-shaven O'Brien is strapped down and screaming. An Argrathi removes electrodes from his head and unfastens him.)
RINN: There. It's done.
O'BRIEN: Major?
KIRA: It's me, Chief.
O'BRIEN: It can't be. It's been twenty years. You haven't changed at all.
RINN: Only a few hours passed during your correction.
O'BRIEN: I don't understand.
KIRA: Chief, I know this is going to be hard for you to accept, but you haven't been in prison. What you experienced was an artificial reality, an interactive programme that created memories of things that never actually happened.
O'BRIEN: What?
RINN: The Major is correct. We punish our offenders by giving them memories of incarceration modelled to fit each offender's personality. It's more efficient and much more effective than maintaining an extensive prison system.
KIRA: Which means that what you think you experienced in prison, the things you remember, didn't happen. It wasn't real.
O'BRIEN: It's real to me, Major. It's real to me.
[O'Brien's quarters]
SISKO: He apparently got curious about some Argrathi technology and asked a few too many questions. The Argrathi security arrested him and charged him with espionage.
KEIKO: But Miles would never break the law intentionally.
SISKO: I know that. But by the time the Argrathi told us what had happened, they had already carried out his correction.
KEIKO: Can the memories that they implanted be removed?
SISKO: The Argrathi claim it's impossible, but Doctor Bashir will do his best.
KEIKO: When can I see him?
SISKO: As soon as Doctor Bashir gives the okay.
[Runabout]
(WHOOSH)
O'BRIEN: I used to dream about this. Being on in runabout, coming through the wormhole, seeing the station again. Now I keep expecting to wake up and find myself back in the cell.
KIRA: Being in your cell was a dream. This is the reality.
O'BRIEN: I'd forgotten how beautiful it was.
KIRA: Come on. Let's get you home.
[Airlock]
BASHIR: Chief.
O'BRIEN: Julian. Is it really you?
BASHIR: It's me.
KIRA: He's all yours.
O'BRIEN: Never thought I'd see you again.
BASHIR: I was pretty worried about you, too.
O'BRIEN: Keiko?
BASHIR: She'll see you in a little while. I want to run some tests first, see what we're up against. As for everyone else, they send their best. They would have been here, but I didn't want you to get overwhelmed. You should take things easy for a while, get used to this place again. All right?
O'BRIEN: Doctor's orders?
BASHIR: Oh, absolutely.
[Corridor]
BASHIR: I can't imagine what it would have been like. Twenty years in that cell.
O'BRIEN: It was bad.
BASHIR: In all that time, were you able to talk to anyone? See anyone?
O'BRIEN: I was alone.
[Argrathi cell - memory]
(When O'Brien is first thrown from the light into the cell, an alien drips fruit juice on to his lips.)
EE'CHAR: Here.
ARGRATHI [OC]: All offenders refusing to comply with dormancy period will be subject to habitat reprogramming.
EE'CHAR: Eat this. It'll help you feel better. It's chee'lash fruit.
O'BRIEN: Thanks.
EE'CHAR: I'm the one who should be thanking you. I've been alone in here for six cycles.
O'BRIEN: Six years?
EE'CHAR: I know. It's a wonder I'm not insane. But you find ways to survive. Let me guess. Sedition?
O'BRIEN: Espionage.
EE'CHAR: It looks like we're going to be in here together for a long time. My name is Ee'Char.
O'BRIEN: Miles. Miles O'Brien.
EE'CHAR: Hello, Miles. Welcome to hell.
[Corridor]
O'BRIEN: Completely alone.
[Promenade - upper level]
BASHIR: The bottom line is, there isn't much I can do. The Argrathi didn't just install memory implants. They ran Miles through a highly realistic time-compressed simulation of the prison experience. In his mind, he lived those twenty years. He reacted to everything that happened. He felt pain, fear, hatred. He made choices and decisions that affected the outcome. As a result, those memories are real. The only way I could rid him of the memories would be to wipe his entire memory clean, and clearly that isn't an option.
KEIKO: I understand.
BASHIR: Listen, Keiko, he's been through some terrible things in his life, as you know. During the war on Setlik Three. That time he was taken prisoner by the Paradans. During his trial on Cardassia Prime. And he's always survived. In the long run, he's going to be okay. It's just going to take some time.
[Infirmary]
O'BRIEN: Computer. A piece of chee'lash fruit please.
COMPUTER: Requested pattern for requested fruit is not available. Please provide specifications.
O'BRIEN: Well, it's sort of. I don't know the specifications. Cancel the request.
BASHIR: Chief?
(Ee'Char is with Bashir, then it is Keiko.)
KEIKO: Miles? Oh, Miles.
(They embrace.)
KEIKO: Miles, what's wrong?
O'BRIEN: You're pregnant?
KEIKO: That's right.
O'BRIEN: It's been so long I'd forgotten.
KEIKO: Oh, Miles. It's all right. Everything's going to be all right.
[O'Brien's quarters]
(O'Brien is cutting his food up very small and dividing it into two piles on his plate.)
MOLLY: I'm done. Can I go colour?
KEIKO: Sure. Make sure to put your plate in the replicator, sweetie.
MOLLY: Okay. Do you want to come colour with me?
O'BRIEN: Maybe in a little while.
(Molly leaves)
KEIKO: It must be strange to suddenly have a family again.
O'BRIEN: It's just, I've been alone for so long.
KEIKO: Talking about it with Counsellor Telnorri should help. Julian says you'll be seeing him for a while.
O'BRIEN: Three counselling sessions a week. I can hardly wait.
(O'Brien is putting food into a napkin)
KEIKO: Miles?
O'BRIEN: Mm-hmm?
KEIKO: What are you doing?
O'BRIEN: Nothing.
KEIKO: I mean, with your food.
O'BRIEN: It's just a habit I picked up in prison. The guards didn't care much whether I lived or died. Sometimes they wouldn't deliver food for days, weeks even. When they did feed me, I ate as little as possible and save the rest.
KEIKO: That's horrible.
O'BRIEN: You get used to it.
[Argrathi cell - memory]
(Ee'Char wraps food in a piece of cloth and buries it. O'Brien has got a beard already.)
ARGRATHI [OC]: All food rations will be suspended until further notice. Any offenders caught with rations will be disciplined.
EE'CHAR: For later.
O'BRIEN: How did you manage? Six years in here all by yourself.
EE'CHAR: Oh, you find ways. I'd exercise, tell myself stories, draw eseekas on the ground.
O'BRIEN: Eseekas?
EE'CHAR: Geometric patterns. Drawing them is a way to relax your body and occupy the mind.
O'BRIEN: That helps?
EE'CHAR: Helps me.
O'BRIEN: Show me.
EE'CHAR: It's not easy.
O'BRIEN: I have plenty of time to learn.
EE'CHAR: Here. This is a good spot. Start by drawing a circle.
(O'Brien copies him)
EE'CHAR: Now gaze into the circle. You want to learn or not?
O'BRIEN: I'm gazing.
EE'CHAR: Relax your mind. Imagine that the circle encompasses your whole existence. Let it become a part of you. Now without thinking, allow your hand to make a mark inside the circle. Now expand on the mark. Let it grow organically until it becomes a pattern.
O'BRIEN: What are you laughing at?
EE'CHAR: You look like a reeta-hawk picking at a corpse. Awk! Awk!
O'BRIEN: How do you do that?
EE'CHAR: What, awk?
O'BRIEN: No, laugh after six years in here.
EE'CHAR: Well, after six years in a place like this, you either learn to laugh or you go insane. I prefer to laugh.
ARGRATHI [OC]: All offenders prepare for dormancy period. Any offender still active during the dormancy period will be disciplined. Illumination will be suspended in twenty seconds.
(They lie down on the sandy floor. Ee'Char uses the stone that hides his stash as a pillow.)
EE'CHAR: Sleep well, Miles. And if you feel like laughing in the middle of the night, go ahead. I'm a heavy sleeper.
ARGRATHI [OC]: Dormancy period initiated.
[O'Brien's bedroom]
(Keiko wakes in the middle of the night to discover O'Brien isn't in bed)
KEIKO: Miles?
(He's sleeping on the floor, so she gently puts the duvet over him.)
[Quark's]
(O'Brien is playing darts with Worf)
WORF: Your throw.
O'BRIEN: Do I need one seventeen, or two?
WORF: I am not sure.
O'BRIEN: No, neither am I.
WORF: We could start again.
O'BRIEN: Nah, that's all right. I know darts isn't really your game. To be honest, I don't feel much like playing myself.
WORF: We could go kayaking in the holosuite.
O'BRIEN: You're a good friend, but
(O'Brien sees Ee'Char looking in from the Promenade.)
O'BRIEN: Hold on a second.
[Promenade]
(Ee'char is gone.)
WORF: Is everything all right?
O'BRIEN: It's fine. I just thought I saw someone I used to know.
[Cargo bay]
(Irony of ironies, Jake is showing O'Brien a box full of tools.)
O'BRIEN: Interphasic coil spanner. ODN recoupler.
JAKE: You got it.
(O'Brien picks up a fancy perspex tube, possibly with a light bulb in the end.)
JAKE: It's a
O'BRIEN: No, no, d on't tell me. I'll get it. A quantum flux regulator, mark three.
JAKE: Perfect.
O'BRIEN: Let's go through it again.
JAKE: Chief, you know this stuff. You don't have to worry about it.
O'BRIEN: I don't want to be embarrassed in front of the repair crews.
JAKE: Even if you get one wrong, no one'll think anything of it. You may be a little rusty, but you're still the Chief.
O'BRIEN: Oh, well if I'm still the Chief, I say we go through it again.
[Conduit]
(O'Brien is using one of the light bulb gizmos on a large printed circuit.)
O'BRIEN: All done here.
MUNIZ: That was quick.
O'BRIEN: I reconfigured the magnetic waveguides. Saved us the trouble of replacing the whole unit.
MUNIZ: Good as new. We're about done here. If it's all right with you, I was going to dismiss the crew for lunch.
O'BRIEN: You go ahead. There's a couple of things I want to look at down here. Brush up a little more.
MUNIZ: Keep up the good work, crewman. Another week or two, you'll be running the place.
O'BRIEN: Don't you forget it.
(The work crew leave, and Bashir comes down the ladder.)
BASHIR: Ah, there you are, Chief.
O'BRIEN: Hello, Julian. Come to check up on me?
BASHIR: To be honest, yes. Counsellor Telnorri says that you haven't been in to see him in ten days.
O'BRIEN: So?
BASHIR: So, you're supposed to see him three times a week.
O'BRIEN: What for? All Telnorri ever wants to do is sit and listen to me tell stories of what it was like to be in an Argrathi prison. How often did they beat me? Was I distressed by the lack of toilet facilities? If you ask me, he's the one with the problem.
BASHIR: You can talk to a different counsellor. Someone you might like better.
O'BRIEN: Julian, I don't want to talk to a counsellor. I just want to forget about what happened on Argratha and get on with my life.
BASHIR: Just like that?
O'BRIEN: Yes, just like that. I don't need counselling or relaxation or time to adjust. I just want to be left alone.
BASHIR: I'd have thought after being alone for twenty years, you'd want someone to talk to.
O'BRIEN: If there's one thing I haven't missed in the last twenty years, it's your smug, superior attitude. Now I have told you I want to be left alone and I meant it. So if you know what's good for you you'll stay the hell away from me.
[Turbolift]
O'BRIEN: Promenade.
[Argrathi cell - memory]
(It's years on and O'Brien has gone grey.)
EE'CHAR: Tell me about Keiko again. About how much you like her eyes.
O'BRIEN: I've told you about her a hundred times. What more is there to say?
EE'CHAR: Well, I like hearing about her. If I had a beautiful wife I'd talk about her, believe me. Besides, talking about her always relaxes you, and your pacing is getting a little distracting.
O'BRIEN: Oh, yeah?
EE'CHAR: Yeah.
O'BRIEN: Well, your drawing is bothering me.
EE'CHAR: Since when?
O'BRIEN: Since now.
(O'Brien kicks the sand painting)
EE'CHAR: You didn't need to do that.
O'BRIEN: Don't tell me what I need.
EE'CHAR: Miles.
O'BRIEN: Don't Miles me. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of this place, I'm sick of your drawings, and most of all I am sick of you!
EE'CHAR: Try to be calm.
O'BRIEN: I don't want to be calm. I've had it with this place. I don't belong here.
(His shouting starts up the other prisoners.)
O'BRIEN: Do you hear me? I don't belong here. I didn't do anything wrong. I know you're listening.
EE'CHAR: Miles!
O'BRIEN: I don't belong here! Let me out of here! I don't do anything wrong and you know it!
ARGRATHI [OC]: All offenders in detention area four. If you do not cease this disturbance immediately, you will be disciplined.
O'BRIEN: Discipline this!
EE'CHAR: Miles!
(Ee'Char grabs Miles and slams him against the wall, covering his mouth.)
EE'CHAR: Listen. Be quiet!
[Promenade]
ODO: Chief, how are you doing?
O'BRIEN: I wish people would stop asking me that. I'm sorry, Constable. Everything's fine. I've just had a tough day.
[Quark's]
QUARK: That's one Black Hole straight up, right?
O'BRIEN: A synthale please.
QUARK: Be right with you, Chief.
(Quark mixes the Black Hole.)
O'BRIEN: Quark, what about that synthale?
QUARK: Just another minute.
O'BRIEN: Quark.
QUARK: Look, Chief, I'm a little busy right now.
(O'Brien grabs Quark's wrist and twists it back.)
O'BRIEN: I'm in no mood for games, Quark, so why don't you give me my drink now or I'll break every bone in your worthless little body.
QUARK: Chief, just because your life's in shambles right now. Ow! One synthale coming right up.
(O'Brien lets him go. Quark pours him the drink and O'Brien heads for a table in a quiet corner.)
EE'CHAR: Miles.
O'BRIEN: Ee'char. What are you doing here?
EE'CHAR: I've never really been gone, have I?
O'BRIEN: You're not real. You're just in my head.
EE'CHAR: That's all I ever was. But I'm real to you and that's all that matters.
O'BRIEN: Go away.
EE'CHAR: I can't. I'm your friend. You need me.
O'BRIEN: You are the last thing I need.
EE'CHAR: You're wrong, Miles. You need me now more than ever.
(Odo and Quark watch O'Brien.)
[O'Brien's bedroom]
(O'Brien is getting dressed when he sees Ee'Char's reflection in the mirror.)
EE'CHAR: What are you doing?
O'BRIEN: I'm going to work.
EE'CHAR: Miles, as your friend, I have to tell you I'm worried about you.
O'BRIEN: Don't be. I'm home, I'm working, and for the first time in as long as I can remember, I feel good.
EE'CHAR: Then why am I here?
SISKO [OC]: Sisko to O'Brien. Please report to my office.
O'BRIEN: On my way. Look, I don't know why you're here. And I don't care.
[Captain's office]
SISKO: Have a seat. (they go to the settee) I understand you had a confrontation with Doctor Bashir yesterday.
O'BRIEN: That, sir? That was nothing.
SISKO: Not according to Doctor Bashir.
O'BRIEN: We had a little argument. Julian and I are always arguing.
SISKO: According to Constable Odo, you also had an incident with Quark.
O'BRIEN: Did that little? Look, sir, I may have let things get a little bit out of hand, but it won't happen again.
SISKO: Doctor Bashir also tells me that you've stopped seeing your counsellor.
O'BRIEN: Sir, I've been a little busy lately
SISKO: The agreement was that you were going to see a counsellor on a regular basis.
O'BRIEN: You're right. I'll make an appointment to go see him tomorrow.
SISKO: You'll see him today. Immediately.
O'BRIEN: I've a lot of work to do today, sir.
SISKO: The work can wait. As of now, you're relieved of duty. I want you to report to Counsellor Telnorri and begin attending daily counselling sessions for as long as he thinks it's advisable.
O'BRIEN: Sir, you're blowing this all out of proportion.
SISKO: You know that's not true. What happened on Argratha affected you a lot more than you're willing to admit. And it's not going to get better overnight, no matter how much you want it to. You need help.
O'BRIEN: Please, Captain. I'm asking you as a personal favour to me, give me one more chance.
SISKO: I wish I could. But right now, in the judgement of this station's Chief Medical Officer, you're unfit for duty. Which means you're on medical leave effective immediately. And if you don't begin attending counselling sessions on a regular basis, and cooperating in every other way with your physician, I will have no choice but to have you confined to the infirmary. Is that clear?
O'BRIEN: Yes, sir.
SISKO: Dismissed.
[Ops]
DAX: Chief, I was just about to head down to the Replimat and I was wondering
O'BRIEN: Not right, Commander.
[Turbolift]
O'BRIEN: (throwing down his comm. badge) Promenade.
[Infirmary]
O'BRIEN: What the hell did you say to him?
BASHIR: I take it you talked to Captain Sisko.
O'BRIEN: I talked to him all right. He relieved me of duty.
BASHIR: It's for the best, Miles.
O'BRIEN: How do you know what's best for me? You have no idea what I've been going through.
BASHIR: You're right. You were alone in that cell. I wasn't there with you. I didn't see what they did to you. But I do know you suffered and that you're still suffering right now. And I'm trying to help.
O'BRIEN: I never asked for your help.
BASHIR: You didn't need to ask. I'm your doctor and your friend.
EE'CHAR: You should listen to him, Miles. He cares about you just like I did. Don't make the same mistake with him you did with me.
O'BRIEN: Don't you get it. You're not my friend. Not anymore. The O'Brien that was your friend died in that cell.
BASHIR: He's not dead. He just needs a little help, that's all.
O'BRIEN: Stay away from me. I don't want your help, I don't want your friendship. I just want to be left alone.
[Promenade]
EE'CHAR: Where are you going?
O'BRIEN: I told you to go away.
EE'CHAR: Miles, please, don't do this. Go back there and talk to him. He wants to help you.
O'BRIEN: Like you did?
EE'CHAR: That's right. We're both your friends.
O'BRIEN: Yeah. And look what happened to you.
[Turbolift]
(Ee'Char is left behind)
O'BRIEN: Habitat ring.
[Corridor]
(Ee'char is waiting for him.)
EE'CHAR: You know sooner or later you'll have to tell someone about me.
O'BRIEN: Like hell I will.
(Ee'char is waiting round the corner.)
EE'CHAR: You can't run from me forever.
(Ee'char is in the next corridor)
O'BRIEN: You're dead. So why don't you go away and leave me alone.
EE'CHAR: You want me to leave? I'll leave. Send me away. Don't you see? If I keep coming back, it's because some part of you keeps bringing me here.
(And when O'Brien turns around, Ee'char is gone.)
[O'Brien's quarters]
KEIKO: Miles, Julian's been trying to contact you for an hour. Where have you been?
O'BRIEN: Walking, thinking.
KEIKO: I know, I heard. I'm sorry. I know how much your work means to you.
O'BRIEN: Try telling that to Julian.
MOLLY: Daddy, come see what I drew.
O'BRIEN: Not now, honey, okay?
KEIKO: I'm sure its only temporary. You'll be back at work before you know it.
MOLLY: Daddy. You have to come see.
O'BRIEN: Look, can we talk about this later?
MOLLY: Daddy, come on.
O'BRIEN: Not now.
MOLLY: Please, Daddy, please.
O'BRIEN: I said not now, right! I said
KEIKO: Miles, what are you doing?
(Keiko picks up the crying Molly.)
O'BRIEN: I didn't mean to. I'm sorry.
[Cargo bay]
(O'Brien takes his anger out on defenceless crates and barrels with a giant spanner until he notices wall unit 47 - Weapons locker. Authorised personnel only. He taps in the code, takes out one of the six hand phasers, winds the power level to the red and puts it under his chin.)
BASHIR: Chief?
O'BRIEN: Get out of here, Julian.
BASHIR: You don't want to do this, Chief.
O'BRIEN: The hell I don't.
BASHIR: Look, I don't claim to know what you're going through, but whatever it is, it's not worth dying for.
O'BRIEN: You don't understand at all. I'm not doing this for me. I'm doing this to protect Keiko, and Molly and everyone else on the station.
BASHIR: Protect us from what?
O'BRIEN: From me. I'm not the man I used to be. I'm dangerous. I nearly hit Molly today. All she wanted was a little attention and I nearly hit her.
BASHIR: But you didn't. You're a good man, Miles Edward O'Brien. And whatever it is you think you've done wrong, you don't deserve to die.
O'BRIEN: You sound like Ee'Char.
BASHIR: Who's Ee'Char?
(Ee'Char appears)
O'BRIEN: He's not real. He's just a memory, that's all.
BASHIR: A memory from Argratha? Who was he? Another prisoner? A guard?
O'BRIEN: He was my cell mate.
BASHIR: You told me you were alone in that cell. Twenty years with no one to talk to.
O'BRIEN: I was at the end. A week, two maybe. But the rest of the time there was Ee'char.
BASHIR: What happened to him?
[Argrathi cell - memory]
(O'Brien looks like he did in the teaser, and he is finishing a lovely sand painting. Then he erases it in annoyance.)
EE'CHAR: Why did you do that?
O'BRIEN: It wasn't helping.
EE'CHAR: You need to concentrate more.
O'BRIEN: It doesn't matter how much I concentrate. I'm still starving.
EE'CHAR: So am I.
O'BRIEN: You're sure there's nothing left?
EE'CHAR: Not unless you have a hiding place I don't know about.
O'BRIEN: We ate the last of the food I put away a week ago. We should have stockpiled more. We should have planned for this.
EE'CHAR: They've never let us go this long without food before.
O'BRIEN: Maybe they've forgotten about us, or just decided to finally let us die.
EE'CHAR: Then we die.
ARGRATHI [OC]: All offenders prepare for dormancy period. Any offender still active during the dormancy period will be disciplined. Illumination will be suspended in twenty seconds.
O'BRIEN: What are you doing?
EE'CHAR: I'm going to sleep.
O'BRIEN: How can you sleep at a time like this?
EE'CHAR: Maybe I'll dream about food.
O'BRIEN: You're crazy.
EE'CHAR: No. Just hungry.
ARGRATHI [OC]: Dormancy period initiated.
(Later, Ee'Char wakes and goes to a hidden hole in the wall. But O'Brien has seen him. He picks up a stone, creeps up behind and hits Ee'Char.)
O'BRIEN: You pretended to be my friend and all the time you were holding out on me.
EE'CHAR: Now who's acting crazy?
(They fight.)
EE'CHAR: After all I've done for you. You ungrateful
(O'Brien throws sand in Ee'Char's eyes and gets his hands round his throat. They roll around on the floor until we hear a cracking noise. O'Brien goes to the rag full of food and looks at it.)
O'BRIEN: You were saving it for both of us. Ee'char? Ee'char, wake up. Ee'char. Ee'char.
[Cargo bay]
BASHIR: You killed him?
O'BRIEN: And the worst part of it was, the next day the guards began feeding me again. I'd killed him for nothing, for a scrap of bread he was going to share with me.
BASHIR: But it was a mistake. You didn't mean it.
O'BRIEN: I meant it. I wanted him to die. I keep telling myself it doesn't matter. It wasn't real. But that's a lie. If it had been real, if it had been you instead of him, it wouldn't have made any difference. He was my best friend and I murdered him. When we were growing up, they used to tell us humanity had evolved, that mankind had outgrown hate and rage. But when it came down to it, when I had the chance to show that no matter what anyone did to me, I was still an evolved human being, I failed. I repaid kindness with blood. I was no better than an animal.
BASHIR: No, no, no, no. An animal would've killed Ee'char and never had a second thought, never shed a tear. But not you. You hate yourself. You hate yourself so much you think you deserve to die. The Argrathi did everything they could to strip you of your humanity. And in the end, for one brief moment, they succeeded. But you can't let that brief moment define your entire life. If you do, if you pull that trigger, then the Argrathi will have won. They will have destroyed a good man. You cannot let that happen, my friend.
(O'Brien lets Bashir take the phaser and reduce the power level.)
EE'CHAR: Miles. Be well, Miles.
(Ee'Char walks away and vanishes.)
[Corridor]
BASHIR: Thirty milligrams twice a day. Take it religiously for a month, and if all goes well we'll experiment with a lower dosage.
O'BRIEN: You sure this'll work?
BASHIR: It's a treatment, not a cure. It'll prevent hallucinations, take the edge off the depression. But that's all it'll do. It won't take away the memories or the feelings.
O'BRIEN: You mean the guilt.
BASHIR: Well, that'll take time.
O'BRIEN: Now's the part where you tell me I have to start seeing Counsellor Telnorri again.
BASHIR: Unless you want to talk to me.
O'BRIEN: Telnorri'll be fine. Thanks, Julian. For everything.
BASHIR: What are friends for?
[O'Brien's quarters]
MOLLY: Daddy's home! Daddy's home!
(Molly hugs his legs.)
O'BRIEN: That's right, Daddy's home.
2024-09-13 04:06:27 -
Pike:
Added the transcript.
