" Try one." "You'll like it." " Too early for me." " You sure?" " lt's so sweet." "It's a natural sweetness from the sap of the jumja tree." "It's full of vitamin C." "Since when were you such an expert?" " Neela told me." " Did she?" "So...is she working out any better than the last one?" "Who?" "Neela?" "She's terrific." "She's even taught me a thing or two." "I'm glad her expertise doesn't end with jumja sticks." "No." "She's a really good engi..." " Hold on." " What?" "Well...you're not thinking?" " Well, Keiko!" " Just keeping you on your toes, O'Brien." "Oh, very funny." "Be careful who you share your jumja with." "Now, as we discussed in yesterday's lesson the wormhole was found by Commander Sisko and Lieutenant Dax this year." "Does anyone know what makes this wormhole so unusual?" " Jake?" " lt's stable?" "It's stable." "That's right, Jake." "It's the first stable wormhole known to exist." "Please, continue." "A stable wormhole is very important because it allows us to travel knowing that neither end will shift locations." "Who knows why this wormhole is stable?" "Because it was artificially constructed." "Commander Sisko met the entities who created the wormhole when he..." "Excuse me." "By entities, do you not mean the Prophets?" "Yes, on Bajor, the entities are worshipped as prophets." "Our studies of the wormhole show that it was formed by particles, "verterons", that are apparently self-sustaining in nature." "This explains how a ship at impulse can safely pass through without..." "Ships are safely guided through the passage by the hands of the Prophets." "In a manner of speaking." "Not, apparently, in your manner of speaking." "Perhaps we could discuss this after class." "Do you believe the Celestial Temple of the Prophets exists within the passage?" "I respect that the Bajoran people believe that it does." "But that's not what you teach." "No, I don't teach Bajoran spiritual beliefs." "That's your job." "Mine is to open the children's minds to history, to literature, to mathematics, to science." "You are opening the children's minds - to blasphemy, and I cannot permit it to continue." "Sorry I took so long." "Another fusion reactor went down." "How's it going?" "Done." "Done?" "Did you re-initialise the coprocessor?" "I did exactly what you showed me." "Should I test it?" "Let me." "You know us old folks." "We like to feel useful." "Not bad." "Not bad at all." "You keep this up, I'll be out of a job." "I doubt that." "Let's close it up." "Not that one." "That's a security seal." "You need an EJ7 interlock to close it." "EJ7?" "It's OK, I have one here." "Bloody hell." "What's wrong?" "My EJ7 is missing." "It was here yesterday." "Maybe you left it in Ops." "No." "I..." "I don't misplace my tools." " l'm not surprised." " You knew this was going to happen?" "A confrontation like this was inevitable." "Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever find any common ground with Bajor." "Major, would you join us?" "We've been talking about an incident this morning at school." "I heard." "Vedek Winn's been meeting with some of the Bajoran civilians about it." " What do you know about her?" " She's from an orthodox order." "She has some support to become the next Kai - probably not enough." " How much support does she have here?" " She has mine." "You can't believe teaching the facts about the wormhole is blasphemy?" "Some revisions in the curriculum might be appropriate." "You teach lots of Bajorans." "I'm not going to let a Bajoran spiritual leader dictate what's taught in my class." "Then maybe we need two schools - one for Bajoran children, another for the Federation." "If we start separating Bajoran and Federation interests..." "A lot of Bajoran and Federation interests are separate." "I've been telling you that all along." "Nobody's saying there can't be spiritual teaching but can't it be in addition to what's taught in Mrs O'Brien's class?" "But if she's teaching a fundamentally different philosophy... I'm not teaching any "philosophy"." "What I'm trying to teach is pure science." "Pure science taught without a spiritual context is a philosophy, Mrs O'Brien." "My philosophy is that there is room for all philosophies on this station." "How do you suggest we deal with this?" "I'm not sure you can." "I can't tell you how much I've looked forward to this moment." "I'm honoured to meet the Emissary to the Prophets." "Had I known of your visit, Vedek Winn, I would have greeted you sooner." "I did not wish to bother you with my insignificant visit." " l'd hardly call it insignificant." " Thank you, Emissary." "I wish you wouldn't call me that." "I'm Commander Sisko, or Benjamin." "But you are the Emissary." "Don't you know the cherished place you have earned in Bajoran spiritual life?" "I'm not sure I'm comfortable in that role." "The course the Prophets choose for us may not always be comfortable." "But we must follow it." "May I?" "Still the disbeliever." "I once asked Kai Opaka why a disbeliever was destined to seek the Prophets and she told me that one must never look into the eyes of one's own gods." "I disagreed." "I told her I would do anything to look into their eyes." "She suggested that I sit in darkness for a day and quite properly so." "She cannot be replaced and I miss her deeply." "It's important we resolve your problems with the school." "The Prophets have spoken to me through the Orbs, Emissary." "I understand my duty to defend the Bajoran faith." "The teacher has dishonoured the Celestial Temple." "If she does not recant, I cannot be responsible for the consequences." "This seems a lot of trouble to go to to find one tool." "With that interlock, someone could access every critical system on the station." " Chief, have you seen Ensign Aquino?" " No, now that you mention it." "He didn't report for duty this morning." "The computer says he's not on the station but he didn't log out." " Did you talk to Odo?" " l guess I'd better." "Scanners are ready." "Computer, locate any independent tritanium sources." "Level three, section five." "Oh, that's the tool locker." "I've looked through there three times." "What's that?" "Looks like something in a power conduit on level 12, section eight." "What would tritanium be doing there?" "Computer, shut down that conduit." "Reroute power flow." " Conduit deactivated." " Come on." "Over here, Chief." "That's tritanium composite, all right." "Looks like our missing interlock." "Must have been melted by the conduit's plasma flow." "That still doesn't explain how it got here." "I'm picking up traces of organic material." "Whatever it was, it's been well cooked." "Let's take a sample to Dr Bashir, see what he thinks." "Ensign Aquino made a log entry the night he disappeared about a plasma flow irregularity in the conduit." "He indicated he was going to fix it..." " So it was an accident?" " l guess so." "Bashir confirmed that the remains were human." "I'm sure the DNA trace will confirm that it was Aquino." "I'll have one, please - unless you're feeling adventurous today." "Sorry." "We're all out." "What?" "What are all these?" "These aren't for sale." "Not for sale?" "How would you like a jumja stick up..." " ls there a problem?" " Damn right!" "I don't have to sell anything to them if I don't want to." "Why wouldn't you want to sell to them?" "Miles, can we go?" "Let's go." " Seek the Prophets." " l'll seek you..." "Seek them yourself." "Maybe you were right." "We've no business here." "I'll get a transfer." "No. I can't run away from this now." " What's this?" " lf we abandon the Prophets... then everything we have..." "Here's Mrs O'Brien now." "Good morning." " Are you Mr O'Brien?" " That's right." "A pleasure to meet you." "I've just been hearing wonderful things about your wife from the parents of these children." "She apparently is an excellent teacher." " Yes, she is." "She doesn't deserve what you're doing." "I feel your anger toward me and I forgive you." "Mrs O'Brien, if I've misjudged you, I am terribly sorry." "Have I?" "is there a place in your school for the Prophets?" "No." "I admire your loyalty to your convictions even though I disagree with them." "Believe me, I want to find a way to allow these children to stay in your school." "I'm sure the children and their parents are happy to hear that." "Let me be the one to make the first concession." "I will no longer request that you teach anything about the Celestial Temple." " Just don't mention the wormhole at all." " ignore it?" "Find other ways, other things to teach the children." "And when we get to theories of evolution or creation of the universe, what then?" " We'll face those issues at the time." " l'm a teacher." "My responsibility is to expose my students to knowledge, not hide it." "The answer is no." "I've tried to be reasonable." "If Aquino turned off the conduit to fix the relay, why did it reactivate?" "The Cardassians equipped those conduits with one flow regulator per level." "The computer could have realigned it." "When the power flow was rerouted back, it could have caught him inside." "You don't sound entirely convinced." "No, it all adds up, only..." " Well, I don't know." " Spit it out, Chief." "He took one of my tools without asking." "It was 4:00 am." "He wouldn't want to wake you." "The repairs could have waited." "He was a Starfleet engineer." "You don't take tools without asking." "Are you suggesting it might not have been an accident?" "I don't know what I'm suggesting." "I only know that he should have asked." "Constable, maybe you ought to look into this." "Dismissed." " Can I talk to you for a minute?" " Sure." "I heard about what happened at school." "Did Mrs O'Brien call classes off?" "No, there was only me and four other kids left but she still kept the school open." "She changed the lesson to teach us about Galileo." "Did you know he was tried for teaching that the earth moved around the sun?" "Tried and convicted." "His books were burned." "How could anyone be so stupid?" "It's easy to look back and judge what was right and wrong." "The same is happening now with all this stuff about the Celestial Temple. lt's dumb." "No, it's not." "You've got to realise something, Jake." "The Bajorans survived the Cardassian occupation because of their faith." "The Prophets were their only source of hope and courage." "There were no Prophets." "They were just aliens in the wormhole." "To those aliens, the future is no harder to see than the past." "Why shouldn't they be seen as Prophets?" " Are you serious?" " My point is it's a matter of interpretation." "It may not be your belief but that doesn't make it wrong." "If you start to think that way, you'll be acting just like Vedek Winn." "Only from the other side." "We can't afford to think that way, Jake." "We'd lose everything we've worked for." "You're worried, aren't you?" "What are you going to do?" "I'm not sure but I think I've got to find some help." "I'm sorry to keep you waiting, Commander." "Vedek Bareil?" "No need to pay tribute to me." "Pay tribute?" "I was just..." "Usually, the first thing Bajor's spiritual leaders do is grab my..." "Ear?" " lt's unpleasant, isn't it?" " l've been too polite to admit it." "I was five the first time one of the monks grabbed my ear." "He was a stern old crow who could virtually squeeze the pagh out of you." "As a chronic misbehaver, I was his favourite victim." "I made it one of my life's goals to do away with that archaic ritual." "You have the Federation's support." "I hope you don't mind if I do a little planting while we talk." "All those hours of listening to 112 vedeks talking at once made me yearn for my arboretum." "is this yours?" "I began my service at the monastery as the gardener." "I had no other ambition but to grow the planet's loveliest Felaran bromeliads." "Unfortunately, the Prophets did not allow me that peaceful life." "I understand my friend Vedek Winn has brought her blessings to your station." "I hoped you could arrange an audience with the Assembly so I could discuss our school." " Why me?" " You're tipped to become the next Kai." "Your ideology differs from Vedek Winn's." "You have been correctly informed." "I'm sorry, Commander." "The Vedek Assembly will not see you." "Why not?" "Some fear you as the symbol of a Federation they view as godless." "Some fear you as the Emissary who walked with the Prophets." "And some fear you because Vedek Winn told them to." "We're all good at conjuring up enough fear to justify whatever we want to do." "Today, I am only a Vedek." "If the Prophets will it, someday I may be Kai and I can be a better friend to you then." "In other words, being my friend now might hurt your chances." "The Prophets teach us patience." "It appears they also teach you politics." "I'm sorry you made this long trip for nothing, Commander." "Please stay and enjoy the gardens as long as you like." "is it my imagination or are we a little short-handed today?" "Three Bajoran crew didn't report for duty." "They said they weren't feeling well." "Do you think it's contagious, Major?" "It's too early to tell." "Are your people willing to throw away everything we've accomplished?" "They all know if you leave the Cardassians will be back." "Protecting your borders is not the primary reason the Federation is here, and it's not why I'm here." "I'm here to build trust with your people and I'd like to feel that somebody on your side is giving something back." " l've given you all the support I can..." " lt's not enough!" "I thought there was room for all philosophies on this station." "You tell our sick Bajoran crewmen they better get well immediately or they'll recover on their next assignment." "Yes, sir." "Commander, Dr Bashir has found some new evidence about Ensign Aquino." "I've reconstructed the victim's DNA." "It's Aquino, but the power flow in the conduit didn't kill him." "The plasma disruption suggests he was exposed to a directed energy discharge before he was placed in the conduit." "A directed energy discharge?" "From a phaser?" "Set to kill." "Could this murder be related in any way to the school issue?" "If you're suggesting a Bajoran killed him for his Federation ties..." "The analysis proves he was killed the night before Vedek Winn arrived." " There was no school issue yet." " Any ideas about motive?" "All right, then let's start at the beginning." "Ensign Aquino goes to repair a power conduit." "Commander, I'm not convinced of that." " But the log..." " lt could have been altered by our killer." "I've checked the turbolift records." "Aquino did take a turbolift to level three but not to the power conduit." " Where did he go?" " Runabout pad C." "What was he doing in a runabout at 4:00 in the morning?" "Apparently, he was getting murdered." "Everything in the runabout seems normal." "The airlock systems weren't touched." "Let's run a diagnostic on the runabout's computer interface." "I already have." "Everything's normal." "I don't even know what we're looking for." "If something happened here, it's been well covered up." "Did you know him well?" "Aquino?" "Barely at all." "Just the "welcome aboard" speech." " You?" " Not really." "Bajoran and Starfleet officers don't socialise that much." "How come?" "I don't know." "I guess we just keep to ourselves." "You're not like that with me." "You're not like the others." "You know..." "You don't put on any airs." "You're just... nicer." "Look... I'll close up here." " Why don't you take off?" " You sure?" "Yeah, I'm sure." "Good night." "On your toes, O'Brien." "You were looking for me?" "Don't tell me..." "There's a Bajoran convention I didn't know about?" "Thanks, Odo." " l need to call in more dabo girls." " lt's not a convention." "They're from an orthodox spiritual order coming to support Vedek Winn." "Orthodox?" "In that case, I'll need twice as many dabo girls." "These spiritual types love those dabo girls." "This is not what I wanted to talk about." "What do you know about the murder of Ensign Aquino?" "You wound me." "All these years together, I thought you knew me." "Odo, I am not a killer." "No, but most of your friends are." "True, and I would gladly sell one to you but none of them have taken credit for the death of the Starfleet officer." " Sorry." " Odo." " Keep your ears open." " Are you kidding?" "That's the seventh Rule of Acquisition." "This is a security bypass module." " You found it at runabout pad C?" " No, that's just it. lt wasn't at pad C." "That was as clean as a whistle." "Just to be safe, I ran a diagnostic across the board." "This showed up at runabout pad A." " Pad A..." " Aquino went nowhere near pad A." "It doesn't make sense." "On the contrary, it makes perfect sense." "Ensign Aquino goes to runabout C because some sensor shows an anomaly in the security." "He interrupts whoever is tampering with it and is killed." "The killer puts the body in the conduit and instead of going back to pad C, which Aquino's turbolift log might trace, he changes his plan and moves to pad A." "What was the plan?" "Everything else seems normal." " Somebody wanted to steal a runabout." " We're not missing one." "It's curious." "He goes to a lot of trouble to bypass security and then doesn't go through with..." "The school!" "Keiko!" "Miles!" "Stand back, please!" "Clear the way!" " What have you got?" " Traces of cabrodine and infernite - common explosives, easily obtainable." "Then it's a simple, homemade bomb." "Where is Mrs O'Brien?" " Her husband took her home." " Was anyone hurt?" "No." "The Prophets have been kind today." "The Prophets had nothing to do with what happened." "This was the work of a disturbed and violent mind who listened to you, not the Prophets." "is the Emissary holding me responsible for this act of terrorism?" "The Commander of this station is." "May the Prophets forgive you for abandoning them." "You claim the Prophets as your personal constituency, Vedek Winn." "I'm not convinced that's justified." "Who do you speak for?" "An order your Assembly barely listens to." "So you come here for a more receptive audience." "is that what your friend Vedek Bareil told you?" "He's as misguided as you are." "No, that's not fair." "You are not simply misguided, as I once thought." "Now I see you want nothing less than to destroy us." " Destroy you?" " You live without a soul, Commander." "You and your Federation exist in a universe of darkness and you would drag us in there with you." "But we will not go." "You have just made your first mistake, Vedek." "Have I?" "The Bajorans who have lived with us on this station, who have worked with us for months," "who helped us move this station to protect the wormhole, who joined us to explore the Gamma Quadrant, who have begun to build the future of Bajor with us, these people know that we are neither the enemy nor the devil!" "We don't always agree." "We have some damn good fights, in fact, but we always come away from them with a better understanding of each other." "You won't succeed here." "The school will reopen." "And when your rhetoric gets old the Bajoran parents will bring their children back." "We'll see." "How is she, Chief?" "She's pretty shaken up, sir, but she's planning to hold classes tomorrow in a cargo bay, if that's OK." "You tell her Jake'll be there on time." "She'll feel a lot better for hearing that, sir." " Anything new on Aquino?" " Yes, sir." "I found a security bypass module at runabout pad A." "Somebody might have wanted to steal a runabout." "That's probably why Aquino went there." "I've placed security seals at all three pads and I'm checking for any other anomalies." "Incoming transmission from Vedek Bareil on board a Bajoran transport." "On screen." "Commander, I've decided to accept your gracious invitation." "Invitation?" "You did invite me to tour your facility." "Yes, of course, Vedek." "We'd be honoured." "There's some damage on our Promenade." "We won't have time to clean up." "Yes, I heard about it." "Perhaps I can help you clean it up." "That would be very much appreciated." "It's the least a friend could do." "I look forward to seeing you again." "My dear, you should not be here." "Vedek, they found out about the runabout." "I see." "I have no way to escape." "We must accept that as the will of the Prophets." "But if I go through with this now, I will be caught and executed." "The sacrifices the Prophets call on us to make are great sometimes, but the rewards they give will last through eternity." "What the hell..." "Computer, identify sub-programme labelled 'ANA'." "File protected by a personal security access code." " On whose authority?" " Chief of Operations, Miles O'Brien." "Me?" "I never saw this file before." " Override." " Unable to comply." "State security code to release protection." "Lieutenant, I've got to do a manual isolation of an anomalous file." "It's in the security field subsystem, labelled 'ANA'." "That file will be protected by encryption sequences." "I'll run an adaptive programme." "We're lucky it's a Cardassian computer." " lt'll have seven sequences at most." " Beginning decryption." "Online." "Patched to sub-programme ANA." "Clear the way, please." "That's it." "Computer, access sub-programme ANA." "Code 4100RLX." " Accessing." " ldentify commands within the file." "Commands are overrides of security fields approaching runabout pad A." "The forcefields." "Display sequences on screen." "Right to the Promenade." "Computer, run a level-3 sensor sweep of the Promenade." "Report any anomalous reading." "Working." "An escape route." " Escape from what?" " You got me." " One anomalous reading." " ldentify." "A subspace relay was activated in the security office nine minutes ago." " Activated to do what?" " Unknown. insufficient data." " l'm going down there." " l'll check other security systems and call you as soon as I have anything." "Promenade." "I expected you sooner, Bareil." "It seems our paths have grown apart." "Perhaps we can bring them together." " l would like nothing better." " Come with me to the school." "Let us both show our commitment to a peaceful resolution to these events." "Of course." "Computer, is the subspace device integrated into the isolinear coprocessor?" "Confirmed." " O'Brien to Dax." " Go ahead." "It's in the isolinear coprocessor." "Didn't you repair that unit two days ago?" "Yes, I did..." "With Neela." "Looking around at your faces, I believe you feel the shame I feel at this sight." "No, it's got to be the weapon detectors in the Promenade." "That's all the coprocessors could affect." "All weapon detectors appear functional." "That's got to be it." "She's good, real good." "She could make them look normal." "But it's got to be the weapon detectors." "O'Brien to Sisko." "Once, our world was a centre of learning." " lt attracted travellers from other worlds..." " Go ahead, Chief." "I'm not sure, but the weapon detectors on the Promenade may be disabled." " What do you mean, you're not sure?" " l mean Neela may have disabled them." " Your assistant?" " Yes, sir." "To reject violence as a solution, to join hands with all peoples and begin to trust again." "No!" "The Prophets spoke." "I answered their call." "The Prophets spoke!" "I answered their call!" "It was all to get him here, wasn't it?" "The school bombing - you knew that would get him out of the monastery." "You did it all to kill him, to stop him from becoming Kai." "Neela insists she acted alone, unless you regard the Prophets as co-conspirators." "She'll never tell us the truth." "We'll never be able to prove that Winn was involved." " You OK?" " OK... I've forgotten "OK"." "It seems like years since I've seen "OK"." "I was sitting here thinking, last year at this time, I was fighting the Cardassians in some nameless swamp." "And if you'd told me that just one year later, they'd be gone, I'd be wearing this uniform, up here in charge of protecting some wormhole..." "Protecting your Celestial Temple." "I envied Vedek Winn because she was a true believer." "I wanted my faith to be as strong as hers." "Maybe it is." "I've got a report to compile for Starfleet." " You should get some rest." " l'd rather help you." "Commander... I heard what you said to Vedek Winn at the school." "I just wanted you to know... you were right in what you said about the Bajorans - at least about me." "I don't think that you're...the devil." "Maybe we have made some progress after all."