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WHISPERS >
Synopsis
Episode Synopsis
by
Tracy Hemenover
A runabout zips through the wormhole into the Gamma Quadrant.
Inside, a tense O'Brien sets a course for the Parada system,
and opens a personal log. "I've got to try to set the record
straight about the last fifty-two hours. I don't know who's
gonna hear this. I don't even know if I'll be alive by the
time this log is recovered. I figure they'll be coming after
me." He orders a coffee, and sits down. "I wish I could tell
you who they are. That's part of the puzzle I haven't figured
out yet. Part of the puzzle, hell. None of this whole damn
thing makes any sense."
Flashback: It's the morning after O'Brien has returned to the
station from the Parada system. He wakes up early to find
Keiko and Molly already having breakfast. There is a tense and
vaguely remote quality in Keiko's manner as she casually tells
him she wanted to get an early start. When O'Brien goes to
give his daughter a kiss, Molly tells him to go away, and runs
to the other room. Keiko shrugs it off as a phase, and asks
about his mission. He says the Paradans gave him basic
training on the security measures for their peace talks. Keiko
takes Molly with her to school. It all seems perfectly normal,
yet something about it strikes him as perplexing.
O'Brien arrives at the security office to do some work there,
and finds one of his Starfleet engineers, DeCurtis, already
there and hard at it. The plan was to wait for Odo to come
back from Bajor first before they realigned the security net,
but DeCurtis says Sisko didn't feel they should wait. O'Brien
is surprised to hear that Sisko gave permission to start the
work without checking with him first. He goes out onto the
Promenade, and sees Keiko talking to Sisko.
O'Brien has the computer scan backward toward the wormhole,
and learns that he is being followed by another runabout, the
Mekong. He goes back to his log. "The way they were acting,
they might've been trying to pull off one of those surprise
parties that I can't stand -- only my birthday's not until
September. And believe me, as it turned out, I had nothing
else to celebrate."
Flashback: Arriving in Ops, O'Brien is greeted by Bashir, who
says he's been waiting for him. No more excuses; O'Brien is
going to have his physical. O'Brien is resistant, until Sisko
comes out of his office to ask if there's a problem, and
implies that he's ordering him. O'Brien finally agrees, but
wants to speak to Sisko. The commander understands how upset
O'Brien was by his assigning DeCurtis without advising him,
and apologizes. Relaxing a little, O'Brien discusses his
report on the Paradans with him. The Paradans seem preoccupied
with security, but it's understandable after a twelve-year
civil war. Sisko says that most of the work can be handled by
the engineering crews. He wants O'Brien to fix the upper
pylons, which are down again. O'Brien mentions that he saw
Sisko talking with Keiko earlier, and Sisko says Jake is
having some problems with his grades.
O'Brien then undergoes a painstaking examination by Bashir.
It's almost as if the doctor is hoping to find something
wrong. Bashir asks casually about O'Brien's parents, and the
Chief says, "Come on, Julian, you knew my mother died two
years ago." He chafes at the length of the physical, until it
occurs to him that the reason for everyone's behavior might be
because he's dying. But Bashir then gives him a clean bill of
health.
On his way to the upper pylons, O'Brien runs into Jake, who
wants help on a subspace transceiver for a science project.
O'Brien agrees, and assures him that they'll clear it with
Keiko. "Besides, it's a chance to help get those grades of
yours back up, right?" "Oh, my grades are great," says Jake.
"I just want to keep them that way."
The upper pylons are indeed in a state of failure, which makes
no sense to O'Brien. He can't escape the feeling that this
will keep him occupied during the security preparations. He
goes to the quarters assigned to the Paradans and tells
DeCurtis that he wants to look inside, but DeCurtis says the
security seal has been activated, and only Major Kira knows
the access codes. O'Brien calls Kira, but Sisko interrupts to
put O'Brien back on the upper pylons. Frustrated, O'Brien
storms off, but then stops around the corner, looks back, and
sees DeCurtis entering the room that he supposedly couldn't
get into.
Back on the Promenade, Jake catches up with O'Brien and shows
him an inverter for the subspace transceiver. O'Brien invites
him to his quarters later to work on the project, and, since
Jake at least seems to be acting normally, he asks him if
anything unusual happened here while he was in the Gamma
Quadrant. Just then, however, Kira interrupts to tell Jake his
dad is looking for him.
Taking apart the pylon controls, O'Brien finds a crack in an
RF power conduit, and can't think how it could occur so deep
in the system -- unless it was done deliberately. He goes home
as Keiko is preparing supper. She says Jake can't make it
tonight; he's not feeling well. O'Brien notes that he seemed
fine a few hours ago. Molly is staying elsewhere, and O'Brien
decides to test his wife by taking this as a chance for
intimacy. Keiko says she's not in the mood. They sit down to
eat, and it's one of O'Brien's favorite meals, but now he is
suspicious of everything, of the fact that Keiko is having
salad instead, of the way she seems to be watching him to make
sure he eats. He finally says he's not hungry, and goes to lie
down.
"I don't know if there was anything wrong with the stew or
not," O'Brien tells his log. "When I went back later to check,
she'd already put it into the disposal. But all I could think
of, as I looked at her, was that this was not my Keiko." He is
hailed by the pursuing runabout, but ignores it.
Flashback: After Keiko goes to bed, O'Brien stays up to search
through the computer for any clues to explain what might be
going on. There are no unknown micro-organisms, no chemical
agents, no sub-harmonic transmissions, no unusual neural wave
patterns, no telepathic activity, no ships arriving from the
Gamma Quadrant. He has the computer play back station logs
chronologically for the week that he was gone. And he listens
for a long time until the computer suddenly announces, "Access
denied." The logs from after the day he got back are
restricted to level one clearance. O'Brien is level one, but
the computer denies his security verification.
O'Brien goes to Ops, and pulls out a console, giving DeCurtis
the excuse that he just wants to make sure the upper pylons
are working by morning. He finds several traps in the computer
subroutine, but is able to release the protected files. Back
in his quarters, he looks at the files, and finds that the
other officers have been analyzing and re-analyzing everything
in his report on Paradan security. But the logs don't answer
all his questions.
O'Brien catches Odo as the security chief arrives back on the
station from Bajor, and pours out the tale. "I'd call
Starfleet, but what do I tell them?" Odo, who seems
sympathetic, notes that Starfleet might even call Sisko about
it. He doesn't want the Paradans coming here until this is
cleared up, and tells O'Brien to go on about his business as
normal. Odo will investigate, and if he can confirm O'Brien's
suspicions, they can go to Starfleet and Bajoran authorities.
"We'll get to the bottom of this," Odo assures him, and
O'Brien feels better knowing someone's on his side. But he
gets antsy waiting, and starts doing some work on a small
gadget.
"The odds are against you, O'Brien," Quark says later as
O'Brien sits at the bar. When O'Brien grabs him, he clarifies
that he meant the racquetball rematch with Bashir next week.
O'Brien tells him to change the subject, and Quark asks him
about the Paradans. At that moment, Odo calls.
"I see what you mean," Odo says when O'Brien enters his
office. He asks how much O'Brien knows about the Paradan
rebels. Remembering that Sisko's log mentioned messages from
the Paradan system, O'Brien wonders if they could have been
from the rebels. Odo confirms this, and O'Brien is disturbed.
It's a breach of the security agreement with the Paradan
government, one that justifies canceling the peace talks. Odo
says that might be premature, and O'Brien stares at him. "They
got to you."
Sisko and Kira enter the office at that point, armed with
phasers, accompanied by Bashir with a hypo. They try to soothe
O'Brien, who only wants to know who they really are. He takes
out his gadget and uses it to create a blinding flash,
temporarily incapacitating everyone; he grabs Kira's phaser
and runs, firing at two security officers outside, and
escaping.
Unable to beam onto a runabout, he tears off his combadge. He
sees a forcefield being activated as he enters a corridor, but
opens a panel and activates all the forcefields in the area.
If they want to get to him, they'll have to release all of
them. The forcefields go off, and O'Brien continues on his
way. He sees Jake in another corridor, and tries to warn him
that something's not right, but Jake calls security. "It'll be
okay," he says. "Just surrender to them and you'll be fine."
With no other option now that security knows his whereabouts,
O'Brien crawls into a conduit and begins to climb, losing his
phaser in the process. He makes it to a cargo bay and uses the
transporter there to beam onto a runabout. Sisko orders him to
shut down the engines; he won't be allowed to leave. But
O'Brien has thought of everything: the mooring clamps are
unlocked and the tractor is offline. He puts shields up and
flies the runabout away as the station fires.
O'Brien opens a channel to Admiral Rollman at Starbase 401,
and tries to tell her about the emergency situation on the
station, some kind of takeover or conspiracy, but the admiral
orders him to turn the ship around. Cutting off transmission,
O'Brien wonders if something has actually managed to
infiltrate all of Starfleet. He takes the runabout through the
wormhole, his only thought now to warn the Paradans.
O'Brien is now getting close to the Parada system, seven
minutes ahead of the other runabout. He sets course for Parada
IV, the biggest planet in the system, and drops to impulse.
The other runabout does as well, and O'Brien has the computer
adjust speed to let them catch up in thirty seconds. The
magnetic field of the planet's polar region causes sensors to
be nonfunctional briefly; he switches to manual navigation and
engages full impulse on the mark. He hides behind a moon and
watches as the other runabout hesitates for a moment and then
heads for Parada II; he monitors a transport signal to the
surface. O'Brien follows, and beams down as well, with two
phasers and a tricorder.
Inside an underground compound, he finds a door and rolls in,
phaser drawn. Sisko and Kira are there, meeting with a Paradan
rebel leader named Coutu, and an armed bodyguard. Sisko tells
O'Brien to put down his weapon and they'll explain, but
O'Brien orders them to put theirs down first. "Everything you
need to understand is behind this door," says Coutu,
indicating one. O'Brien isn't buying it.
"Listen to him," Kira urges. "He's not your enemy. We're not
your enemy." Coutu lunges for the door; his bodyguard fires on
O'Brien before O'Brien can shoot. He hits him, and O'Brien
goes down. Sisko calls for Bashir, who comes out from behind
the door, where he has been working on another patient. The
patient turns to see what's happening. It's O'Brien, looking a
bit battered.
The other O'Brien listens incredulously as he lays dying,
Bashir unable to help him. "He's perfect. He looks just like
me," the real one observes in wonder; Kira says, "Apparently
he thought he was you." Coutu adds that the rebels believe
there was a triggering mechanism programmed into the fake
O'Brien, who was a replicant created by the Paradan
government. They're not sure what he was programmed to do, but
they think possibly he would have assassinated someone,
perhaps the entire delegation.
The rebels were tipped off by an informant that O'Brien had
been abducted and replaced, and have been looking for him.
Bashir notes that the double passed a physical exam and knew
his way around the station. O'Brien now knows why he had so
many wires connected to his head. Kira adds, "We were trying
to shut him out of every sensitive security area while they
were searching for you. He must have wondered what the hell
was going on with all of us." By the time they learned that
the real O'Brien had been rescued, the replicant had escaped;
O'Brien guesses that he was trying to warn somebody here. It's
what he would have done. "Maybe in a strange sort of way, he
was trying to be a hero," Sisko notes.
"Keiko..." says the replicant weakly. "What about her?"
O'Brien asks.
"Tell her...I love..." And the replicant dies.
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