~*~

ACT IV

(SPARAT's tower. Q, in his regular Starfleet outfit, sits across the viewing well from SPARAT.)

SPARAT: How did it go?

Q: I had a little trouble deciding whether to wear the Flemish beret or the Mandarin hat, but once I worked that out it was a breeze.

SPARAT: Were they terrified?

Q: Of course they were terrified. It doesn't take much to disturb you limited temporally-bound mini-brained linear-thinking type creatures. (Smiles) Besides, I was good. I gave a fabulous sentencing speech. Not
a dry eye in the house.

SPARAT: Excellent. Now go to them and--

Q: What, again? Aren't you tired of them yet? I am. Let them all starve to death, or die of exposure, or kill each other or something. They're very tiresome. Especially the shape-shifter with that stoic heroic posturing.

SPARAT: I'm not finished with them yet. Go and torment them further. (Q sighs and vanishes) Now to my prisoner--Dammit! I forgot about the Ferengi.  Ariel! (Q reappears)

Q: You know I hate that.

SPARAT: Cabalan and the Ferengi are plotting against me. Go and distract them.

Q: Distract them how?

SPARAT: However you want!

Q: However I want? Really?

SPARAT: Yes! (Q vanishes. SPARAT descends the steps into the dungeon, where BASHIR is still languishing.) Good morning, Doctor. I hope you slept well.

BASHIR: You're joking, of course.
SPARAT: Of course. My daughter tells me you and she have become quite friendly.

BASHIR: I assure you, whatever she told you, your daughter is perfectly safe from me.

SPARAT: I know that. For now. But eventually you'll come to love her, in time, when she's older.

BASHIR: I don't think it's very likely.

SPARAT: Constraint breeds love.

BASHIR: That's a novel theory.

SPARAT: It's a very old one. I know you think you'll never change, but it's hard to love what you can't see or touch. It may take you a month, or a year, or more than a year, but eventually you'll forget Garak. And at the
same time, as you come to know my daughter better...

BASHIR: Let me see if I understand this. You intend to keep me here until I...what, agree to marry your daughter? (SPARAT nods) Why?

SPARAT: It's a little experiment. I want to see if Garak's heart will break the same way mine did when I saw my wife in the crowd that had come to denounce me at my trial.

BASHIR: Yes, well, I hope you're planning to appoint a successor to continue your research, because you won't see the results in your lifetime. Don't let my easygoing charm and affable manner fool you. When I set my mind on something I am one stubborn bastard and you'll find that it will take more than a damp room, a precocious child, and a lunatic in a funny bathrobe to make me change it.

SPARAT: But we have more than that, Doctor. There's also time. Lots and lots of time. (Exits up the stairway.)

* * *

(QUARK, ROM and CABALAN are marching along toward the tower.)

QUARK: Are there others like you on the island?

CABALAN: I do not know. Sometimes I have heard creatures flying above me but I have never seen them; they're too fast.

ROM: Can you fly?

CABALAN: Not well. I can glide, downwards. But my wings are not strong enough to carry me up.

QUARK: It's a pity. (They stop, suddenly, and gape at the vision ahead of them. The camera switches to their point of view and we see that, inexplicably, they have suddenly arrived at the 24th Century version of the
Mall of America.)

ROM: Brother, what can it be?

QUARK: I don't know, let's find out! (He and ROM run toward it)

CABALAN: It's a trick! It's one of his sprites! Don't go in there! (They enter the mall. Inside, we see them running ecstatically through aisle after aisle of gleaming merchandise. Q's voice comes over the PA system)

Q: Attention Kmart Shoppers. Today, for one day only, our special promotional sale means that all items are 100% off! (ROM slowly does the math)

ROM: 100%! That means free! (He and QUARK charge the aisles, loading themselves up with goods at every turn. CABALAN follows them)

CABALAN: He's trying to distract us! (To no avail. He trails them as they run into a leather goods shop and start fondling the bags) What do you mean by doting on such luggage?

* * *

(Meanwhile, by the stream bed, DUKAT, STEBAN, GARAK and ODO have sat down for an emergency strategy session. The ostracism attempt has now been completely abandoned and GARAK and DUKAT are sparring head to head.)

DUKAT: You're the one he really wants. He was convicted on the confession you got from him.

GARAK: You were the one who drew up the list of charges. I told you the last count was pushing it.

ODO: What last count?

GARAK: It was Dukat's idea to charge him with crimes against the family.

DUKAT: It was standard procedure for cases of that nature!

STEBAN: What does it matter? He's a traitor; he's being punished for it. I don't see what's wrong with that.

GARAK: He's being punished for the same reason everyone is punished, because he made enemies. All right, treason, fine, but why drag his family through the--

DUKAT: To cure treason it must be isolated and to isolate the traitor he must be alienated from his family. The family is the unit of the state.

GARAK: I can't believe that even then you took that seriously.

DUKAT: It's a foundational premise of Cardassian society.

GARAK: It's a crock of--

DUKAT: Well of course you don't understand it! You're a traitor and a heldek and you hate Cardassia and everything it stands for!

GARAK:  I hate Cardassia. I see. (Suddenly angry) What did I learn to lie for? Who taught me how to interrogate a prisoner? For whose sake did I painfully learn that there's no such thing as a wrongful accusation and that all confessions are true? (Laughs) Cardassia hates me, Dukat. It hates me because it made me. Give it time, Dukat, and do your job well enough, and it'll hate you too. And the funny thing is that when Cardassia
finally does turn on you, it'll be too late for you to start hating it. Because I've tried, and I can't.

DUKAT: What about Sparat?

ODO: Yes, what about him?

DUKAT: You say you still love Cardassia after...well, I don't know, Garak, how long has it been? (GARAK refuses to answer) No matter. I would never have believed it, but it seems that after everything that's happened, you still want to go home. Maybe he does too.

GARAK: Of course he does.

DUKAT: Maybe that's why we're here. (GARAK looks at him) How would he know you've been exiled? If your career hadn't been tragically cut short by your own perfidy, you'd probably outrank even me by now. He probably thinks you can pardon him.

ODO: This is all fascinating, but shouldn't our main objective be to figure out how Sparat is doing all this and see if we can use the source of his power to get ourselves off this planet?

GARAK: He's right. Sparat must have built near one of these rivers. You and Steban search this one and Odo and I will search along the other. We'll rendezvous back here at sundown and share our results. (DUKAT and STEBAN nod. They all gather their things and prepare to set off.)

* * *

(Back in the clearing with the bird woman, OPHIDIA has finished splinting the wing and they are sitting together talking.)

OPHIDIA: Are there others like you on the island?

BIRD WOMAN: Yes.

OPHIDIA: Do you want to go back to where they live? Are you lost?

BIRD WOMAN: Not...lost. (Searches for the words) Put...out. (It comes to her) Exiled.

OPHIDIA: What for?

BIRD WOMAN: I...A stranger came here. It was from him I...learned. To speak your language.

OPHIDIA: Oh, so this isn't your first language. I thought not.

BIRD WOMAN: We speak in...(Demonstrates a few bars of birdsong) To speak...this way...is hard.

OPHIDIA: They exiled you for learning another language? (BIRD WOMAN shakes her head)

BIRD WOMAN: The stranger...the stranger...(Looks at her) The stranger and I...were together. There was a child.

OPHIDIA: And your people thought--

BIRD WOMAN: (Nodding) They said I should not have...been with him.

OPHIDIA: What happened to the child?

BIRD WOMAN: He took the child. From me.

OPHIDIA: What for?

BIRD WOMAN: After the child...he hated me too. He said I was...not...(Can't find the word; OPHIDIA motions for her to go on and not worry about it) He wanted to teach the child. He keeps me away. But I watch. 

OPHIDIA: Who is this stranger?

BIRD WOMAN: Wingless. A cold man.

OPHIDIA: Do you have a name?

BIRD WOMAN: Name?

OPHIDIA: We, those of us who speak my language, we have names for ourselves. My name is Ophidia. No one else has it so if anyone says it they know they mean me. Do you have a name?

BIRD WOMAN: Yes. (She makes a short bird call. OPHIDIA realizes there is no way for her to imitate it)

OPHIDIA: I can't pronounce that. I'm sorry.

BIRD WOMAN: No matter.

OPHIDIA: Can I give you another name? Just for me to use?

BIRD WOMAN: Yes. What name? (OPHIDIA thinks; then it comes to her)

OPHIDIA: Sycorax.

* * *

(ODO and GARAK are following the river. As they round a bend of it they see two figures in the distance, through the trees, standing very close together. ODO motions to GARAK to sneak up on them quietly. They do so. When they get close enough for a good view, they stop suddenly and gape, because the two figures are BASHIR and OPHIDIA locked in a hot 'n' heavy clinch. GARAK is understandably upset. ODO restrains him)

ODO: Keep quiet! Let's see what they do.

GARAK: Easy for you to say. (There is a noise behind them and the real OPHIDIA appears, blundering through bushes and cracking twigs right and left. She spots them and runs up to them)

OPHIDIA: Oh, my God am I glad to see you. I've been going out of my mind with boredom. I met this--(notices that they are staring at her) What? Is it my hair? (They look back at the couple in the clinch. OPHIDIA follows
their sight line and nearly gags.)

GARAK: Well. I suppose the first question is, if you're you, then what's that?

OPHIDIA: (viscerally disturbed by all this) Yes, and I suppose the next question would be what does your fool husband think he's doing with his tongue down my throat?

GARAK: Succinctly put. (Before they can stop her, OPHIDIA goes charging up to them in full cry)

OPHIDIA: Get away from that! What do you think you're doing? (Both figures stare at OPHIDIA with that deer-in-the-headlights expression of terror and paralysis) You want to grope him, get your own body! I've never, in all my life, been so humiliated--(Back in the trees, ODO turns to GARAK)

ODO: For what it's worth, I think ours is the real one.

GARAK: I concur. (They run toward them)

OPHIDIA: And you! If you are a two-timing no-good spouse-cheater who has no shame, don't you at least have better taste? Or sense? (GARAK and ODO have now come up behind her. She turns to him) I'm so sorry, Garak, I had no idea--(BASHIR and "OPHIDIA" now fix their eyes on GARAK)

"OPHIDIA": Garak. (As ODO, GARAK, and OPHIDIA look on, both figures meld into one large blob, then morph into a bird, which flies away. The three ponder this for a moment.)

OPHIDIA: Changeling autoeroticism. Weird.

GARAK: (whistles) Odo, Odo, Odo. Imagine the possibilities.

ODO: Don't even think it. I find this deeply disturbing.

OPHIDIA: You find it disturbing. (Shudders) All right, what have we learned from this experience? (ODO and GARAK look at her) One: there is a changeling on this island. Where it came from, who knows.

ODO: It came from the gamma quadrant. How it got here...

OPHIDIA: Two: this changeling has seen me. It has also evidently seen our friend the Doctor. From this we may draw the inference--

GARAK: That Julian is still alive.

ODO: Or that at least he made it to the island intact.

OPHIDIA: Ignore him, he's still in shock. He must still be alive because three: this changeling has the serious hots for him.

ODO: Or you.

OPHIDIA: Please, my stomach is upset as it is. Anyway, it's probably keeping him alive somewhere. (GARAK is beginning to believe this and is already feeling better) Find it, and we find him. I bet I know someone who
can help us.

GARAK: Who?

OPHIDIA: Sycorax. Come with me. (They start walking back) We better find him soon, too, because I never want to see that again. Bleagh. (Pats GARAK on the shoulder) I don't suppose you do either. Is it any consolation to you to know that I'd rather eat a cold Spam sandwich? (GARAK laughs and they walk into the distance)

*End Act IV*