|
Frustrated by the mechanical
problems on the space station, O'Brien attempts to fix the food
replicators. Little does he know, an alien device has found a
way into the station circuitry.
For some unknown reason,
O'Brien speaks to Kira in gibberish when she approaches him in
the Ops center. Bashir examines him and finds no physiological
damage, and diagnoses him with an unusual form of aphasia — a
dysfunction in the brain that renders him incapable of
expressing himself to others. Soon, Dax also falls victim to the
mysterious ailment.
Suspicious of the nature of this aphasia, Bashir runs a neuro-synaptic
comparison of Dax and O'Brien and finds that they share a common
virus. Sisko and Bashir encounter two more afflicted
crewmembers, and Sisko establishes a quarantine on Deep Space
Nine.
Odo discovers that Quark has illegally accessed crew replicators
to fulfill his orders, inadvertently contaminating all of his
customers with the strange virus in the command level
replicators. On a hunch, Bashir tests an air sample and learns
the virus has mutated to an airborne form — meaning the station
population may get infected.
Upon close inspection of an access tunnel, Kira encounters the
alien device that O'Brien unknowingly triggered to unleash the
virus. Kira suspects Cardassian sabotage. All crewmembers agree
something must be done soon, due to the epidemic proportions the
virus has reached. Not even Dax and Jake could escape
contamination.
Bashir then informs Sisko that the virus was probably created by
Bajorans, and Sisko assigns Kira the task of investigating this
theory. Meanwhile, O'Brien has contracted a high fever and may
die if Kira does not quickly find an antidote. Kira manages to
locate Surmak Ren, an underground Bajoran scientist who seems to
know something about the virus.
Meanwhile Sisko and Odo attempt to prevent Jaheel from breaking
quarantine by leaving Deep Space Nine. Jaheel doesn't comply
with Sisko's order, and his efforts in breaking away put the
docking ring in jeopardy. While trying to rectify the situation,
Sisko comes down with the virus, rendering his commands
incomprehensible. Odo and Quark take control, and are able to
push Jaheel's ship free of the docking port.
At the same time, Kira, determined to find the antidote, orbits
Bajor in a runabout and transports Surmak aboard against his
will. Surmak eventually agrees to help develop an antidote, and
follows Kira to Deep Space Nine. Fortunately for all, Surmak is
successful and life on the station resumes a normal pace. |
