| See the Prologue for comments.
ACT II (Closeup of a shuttlecraft computer console, upon which BASHIR's fists can be seen banging repeatedly. As the camera pulls back to reveal him sitting at it scowling in frustration, DAX breaks in) DAX: Julian, that's not helping the attitude control, and I don't think it's doing your hands much good either. (Reaches over from the next seat and starts playing with it) It's just a tolerance variation. BASHIR: It's just--he's so *stubborn!* (DAX blinks at him) And inconsistent. I mean, talk to me or don't talk to me but don't keep--ARGH!! (DAX sits back in her own seat and watches him go into a tizzy) I suppose it's just part of his being a Cardassian--I don't know, maybe we are too different. It's something I liked about him but it also drives me mad, how he can't just *sit down* and *tell* me whatever it is that's bothering him, or if he does decide to do it it has to be at the most inconvenient time, I mean I know he's jealous of my work, I understand that, I'm in my field and he's not, but why he should pick a fight with me over it now--I don't *understand* him sometimes, it's as if he's--well, alien. Ha ha. I mean maybe this *was* a mistake. We did go into it awfully fast. *Marriage,* after really only having known for twenty-four hours and just because I found him utterly compelling and irresistible from the beginning is that what really matters in a relationship, if he can't see what matters to me or doesn't speak the same language--maybe we're really not meant to be together. Maybe...(looks up at DAX, who is regarding him impassively) Maybe this isn't meant to last. DAX: Are you finished? BASHIR: I'm-- DAX: Because I'm done listening. I have just been abandoned by the one
great love of my eight lives, in a *beautiful* new host, because of a societal
taboo that has never made sense to me, and I've got eight hearts breaking
over her. I've spent the past two weeks being so jealous I could taste
it every time I saw you together. You have *nothing* to complain about.
You have the chance to spend the rest of your life with a man you love
and who loves you and here you are whining because you've discovered
that sometimes relationships are *hard* and take *work.* So don't sit there
and tell me that you're going to let a little thing like your *career*
or your communication styles stand in your way because let me tell you,
Julian, if you throw this away because you don't have the guts to deal
with
BASHIR: Yes. Yes, we can start deploying. (Starts working the console)
(GARAK is straightening up his shop, putting things back on racks and tidying shelves and so forth. We watch him do this from behind, and from his body language it's clear that he is not in a good mood. OPHIDIA, obliviously, wanders in and hails him) OPHIDIA: Hey, Garak, I need your--(GARAK turns around; OPHIDIA takes a startled look at his expression) Hello! I'll come back another time--(GARAK advances on her) GARAK: Oh, no you don't. Come back here. (OPHIDIA stops) Have I become *that* transparent? OPHIDIA: No, no, of course not, Garak, not to everyone. I just...you know, being in love myself, I know the cues. It's kind of a secret code. You'll find you can read all kinds of people now that you couldn't before. It'll be a great asset to you in your intelligence work. (GARAK laughs) What is it? I bet it's the career fight. You're stuck here doing alterations, he's all wrapped up in trying to get he Carrington before he's 60, he's getting satisfaction you aren't so he's not reading your needs properly-- GARAK: Close. Very close. But no havana. OPHIDIA: Banana. GARAK: Whatever. OPHIDIA: You don't want to talk about it, do you? GARAK: What did you say you came in here for? OPHIDIA: I would like your help in selecting, from your available stock, the most unflattering outfit you can possibly put together. GARAK: Because... OPHIDIA: Because I have a date with the Kai and I want to look as unattractive as possible. GARAK: I see. (Studies her for a moment) You want something that's not *so* intrinsically awful that she suspects your intention, but that makes you look just bad enough to put her off you forever. A delicate operation indeed. (Walks around her, amused) I have to hand it to you, Ophidia, this will be the greatest challenge I have yet faced as a tailor. OPHIDIA: I realize it will be difficult, even dangerous. We may not succeed. But if anyone can do it, Garak--you can. GARAK: We can but try. Step this way. (They exit to the fitting room)
(Down on Bajor the Federation team has set up a makeshift field hospital which is filled with fever patients in various stages of debilitation. BASHIR is moving from bed to bed treating people while DAX is at the entrance doing triage. The rest of the response team is handling supplies, taking data, setting up charts, and doing emergency-medical type things. All are wearing anti-biocontaminant suits and gloves. BASHIR is trying to hydrate an elderly patient. While he does this, there is a commotion at one of the entrances and we hear the voice of one of the nurses) JARELLE: Ma'am, you can't come in here, it's a quarantined area. WOMAN: He's dying, I know he's dying, I have to be with him. JARELLE: I understand, but we can't allow people to carry the infection back to the village, it would spread like brushfire-- WOMAN: In my village hundreds are already sick, what can it hurt, it's my husband! (There is a scuffle and BASHIR looks up as a Bajoran woman breaks the quarantine barrier and comes running up to the patient he's working on) WOMAN: Entric! Entric, I'm here! (Despite BASHIR's attempts to prevent her from touching him, she takes one of his hands. He turns his head to look at her, but it is unclear whether he knows who it is) Don't be afraid. We'll go together. (To BASHIR) Leave me with him. BASHIR: His condition-- WOMAN: I know he is dying, there is nothing you can do. I know this. I will die too now that I have caught it from him. It is all I want, to go with him. Since he must go. (JARELLE has come up to them) JARELLE: I'm sorry, Doctor, she got past us. (Quietly to him) She's been exposed now, there's no point in removing her. BASHIR: Get another bed ready and bring it over here. (While they have
been talking, Entric has passed on. His wife sets up a loud wail and begins
keening over him. BASHIR turns around and stands for several seconds staring
at the two of them, the husband stretched on the bed and the wife
(She watches him as he walks quickly out of the hospital, through the
decontaminant booth during which lights flash as he is sterilized, and
into a forcefield-protected area between the hospital and the shuttlecraft.
He pulls his head covering off and charges into the shuttlecraft, where
he flips on the communications array and punches in a code. He waits)
BASHIR: Come on, Garak, answer the hail. (He waits. Nothing.) Just turn it on, you don't have to talk to me, just listen. (Still nothing.) DAMMIT! (Pounds on the console to discontinue the message and gets up, almost bumping into DAX, who has come up behind him.) DAX: He's probably just not in your quarters. (BASHIR sits down again heavily at the console) BASHIR: And why should he be. DAX: He's probably feeling like a jerk too right now. Let's go finish
up for tonight and hopefully by tomorrow we'll be able to turn it over
to the Bajoran health authorities. (She pats him on the shoulder) It'll
be all right.
(Ops. KIRA and O'BRIEN are hanging out and look up as OPHIDIA comes
off the turbolift in a skintight aquamarine scoop-necked sheath dress that
makes her look pallid, stocky and about 10 years older than she really
is. The ensemble is rounded off with a pair of thick, clunky high-heeled
boots and a lot of heavy lipstick and eyeshadow.)
OPHIDIA: Well? How do I look? O'BRIEN: Uh... KIRA: Hideous. OPHIDIA: (pumps the air) Yes! (Gets on the transporter pad) OK, Chief,
send me to my fate and may the Prophets have mercy on my soul. (O'BRIEN
laughs and energizes; she disappears.)
(Cut to Bashir and Garak's quarters. GARAK is in bed with the lights
off, but his eyes are wide open and he is staring up at the ceiling. After
a moment he sits bolt upright. GARAK looks across the room and addresses
someone behind the camera)
GARAK: No. Don't you even think it. (Pause) Oh, you sit there,
staring at me with those big brown eyes, thinking it'll make a difference,
you fuzzy-eared smug little...
(Cut to GARAK's pov and we see that he is addresing a teddy bear, which
sits sad and alone on a shelf on the opposite wall. We cut back to GARAK)
GARAK: Not this time, my friend.
(He lies down and rolls over. After a shot of the teddy bear sitting
motionless, we return to GARAK, who sits up and looks at it again. Finally,
greatly exasperated with himself, he gets up out of bed and walks over
to the bear)
GARAK: All right, you talked me into it, but I'm warning you it's the
last time.
(As he picks it up, he hears a muffled sound from the living area. Instantly
on alert, as if he was expecting this, he turns to face the door to the
bedroom. One hand reaches for the shelf and grasps the glass ball. Two
figures in black come charging through the door.)
(Cut to the interior of the Kai's quarters, where KAI WYNN and OPHIDIA
are seated opposite each other at a small dining table. OPHIDIA is in the
middle of a long and involved story to which the Kai is not paying extremely
close attention.)
OPHIDIA: So then Altaria--she's my partner, have I mentioned her before?
(WYNN nods wearily) Anyway, Altaria goes right up to this heavily armed
and extremely hostile man and says, "Excuse me, but I believe you'll find
that the *correct* translation of that passage is 'a woman shall not lie
*to* a
WYNN: Excuse me a moment, my child. Official business. OPHIDIA: But of course. (WYNN exits; OPHIDIA slumps back in her chair with a sigh of relief. After a moment or two WYNN re-enters. She suddenly seems animated and in much better spirits.) I'm sorry; I'm boring you. WYNN: Oh, no! No, not at all. Please, do continue with your most interesting
account. I am very interested in the history of other religions and their
responses to heldek stor. It has lately become
OPHIDIA: (forgetting her plan in her surprise) I thought it was accepted here. WYNN: Oh, it is. By most Bajorans. But there is always an element, you understand, who will insist on it as unnatural. Of course before the occupation ended that position was very unpopular here. Now, unfortunately, since people no longer expose themselves to the charge of collabortaion by espousing it... OPHIDIA: But surely several hundred years of tolerance ought to outweigh-- WYNN: I must admit I have found it very troubling. It has caused me to reexamine my reading of the sacred texts. I find many of the passages that were clear to me before have now become...ambiguous. (OPHIDIA stands up) OPHIDIA: Eminence, I have certainly enjoyed my stay here, and I will take back most glowing reports of Bajoran hospitality to Caledonia, but I am afraid that I really must go now. By the station chronometer it's way past my bedtime. Thanks for a lovely evening. WYNN: The pleasure is mine, my child. (Extends her hand; OHPIDIA takes
it with extreme reluctance and exits.)
(A corridor on the station the next morning. OPHIDIA is bustling down
it, preoccupied with something. BASHIR and DAX come out of an airlock together
and separate, DAX moving toward OPHIDIA and BASHIR hustling as fast as
his legs will take him in the other direction. OPHIDIA looks after him)
OPHIDIA: Where's he off to? DAX: Apologize. OPHIDIA: Ah. DAX: So how was your date with the Kai? (They move off together) OPHIDIA: It was *bizarre!* Listen, have you heard anything about anti-heldek agitation on Bajor? It was news to me. DAX: Something. I didn't think it was a real problem.
(The camera moves to follow BASHIR, who barrels toward the entrance
to his quarters but pulls himself up short as he spots ODO outside pressing
the door pad.)
BASHIR: Good morning, Constable. ODO: Doctor. Back already? BASHIR: It was less severe than it could have been. We were lucky. ODO: I'm glad to hear it. (Presses the pad again) I just came by to collect him for breakfast, but I don't suppose he'll want to go now you're back. (The door still hasn't opened.) Curious. BASHIR: Yes.
(Punches the door open himself and they enter. The living room is empty
and still in good order.)
BASHIR: Garak? (Nothing.) Elim? I'm back...(ODO sees something that catches his attention and moves into the bedroom. BASHIR looks around disconsolate) Computer, locate Elim Garak. COMPUTER: Elim Garak is not aboard this station. (BASHIR registers the shock) BASHIR: He's left me. (Stands still, repeating it) I can't believe it. We've had one fight, and he's left me. (ODO emerges) ODO: Come take a look at this, Doctor.
(BASHIR follows him into the bedroom and stops on the threshold, aghast.
The room is in disarray and shows clear signs of a struggle--the sheets
have been pulled off the bed, the teddy bear is lying on the floor, furniture
is overturned, and the glass ball is on the floor near the doorway. It
is smeared with blood. BASHIR kneels down to look at it)
ODO: He didn't leave you. Somebody came and took him.
(Cut to a poorly lit office with grey walls, no windows, and a gunmetal-colored desk behind which PILTAR, a Cardassian male, sits studying something on a Cardassian PADD. Another Cardassian, ORANZ, enters and stops before the desk, waiting for him to look up. He finally does) PILTAR: You have him. ORANZ: He was delivered a few minutes ago. PILTAR: Where is he? ORANZ: In the chair. (PILTAR nods) He's still unconscious but we expect him to come out of it soon. PILTAR: Well. (Looks up at him) Better get started, then.
(ORANZ nods, turns, and exits the room. He walks down a corridor painted
the same gray, with doors along it marked with Cardassian characters. He
stops outside one and punches it open. Through the doorway we can see a
small room, about 15 x 15, with a lamp hanging from the center of the
*end Act II* |
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