Arjin, a Trill initiate trying to
qualify for joining with a symbiont, is nervous that he must
study under Dax, having heard horror stories about the
tough-as-nails Curzon and other hard-to-impress Dax hosts.
However, when he meets Jadzia Dax in Quark's, it is he who is
taken aback by her casual, lighthearted demeanor. Later, Dax and
Arjin take a Runabout into the Gamma Quadrant, and she explains
that he doesn't have to worry about impressing her. Suddenly,
the Runabout gets snagged on a small mass of protoplasm in a
subspace pocket — an unidentifiable mass.
The crippled Runabout returns to the station with the matter
still attached. While O'Brien prepares a containment chamber for
the mass in the Science Lab, Dax takes Arjin to dinner, where
she expresses worry that he only seems concerned with meeting
other people's expectations, and observes that Arjin has few
aspirations or goals beyond being joined. She later reveals to
Sisko her reluctance in confronting Arjin about her impressions
because Curzon Dax, who trained Jadzia, was hard on her — to the
point of giving her an unfavorable recommendation. Sisko insists
that it is her job to be honest with Arjin in order to help him
learn.
O'Brien discovers that Cardassian voles — small, rodent-like
creatures that have infested the station — shorted out the
containment field that held Dax's protoplasm, which is now
glowing. While she and Arjin study it, Dax finally tells him her
concerns, which causes Arjin to angrily leave the room, thinking
the worst. Later, Dax reports that the matter is actually a
rapidly-expanding proto-universe, which, as it grows, is
displacing universe. Sisko reluctantly decides that their only
option is to destroy it, until Dax finds indications of life
within it.
Sisko is left with a tough dilemma — deciding how to protect the
station without destroying the matter and possibly murdering an
entire civilization. While he ponders his choices, Dax locates
Arjin and explains how the shy Jadzia made it through the
program despite Curzon — and finding a newfound inner strength
in the process. As she urges Arjin to do the same, Sisko arrives
with his decision — he has opted to try and take the matter back
through the wormhole. Dax invites Arjin to pilot the Runabout
with her, and he agrees.
O'Brien creates the strongest containment field he can for the
matter, but it begins to collapse once the Runabout encounters
vertiron nodes in the wormhole. Dax orders Arjin — an expert
pilot — to navigate through the veritable minefield of nodes,
despite his reluctance. The field then collapses, leaving no
margin for error, but Arjin succeeds in getting through the
wormhole, returning the developing universe to its subspace
pocket, and finally winning Dax's respect. |
