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Paradise

SISKO: Station Log, Stardate 47573.1.

To respond to questions about setting up colonies near the wormhole,

Chief O'Brien and I have set out

to survey nearby star systems.

If it's an imposition...

No, sir, it's fine.

You're sure?

I'm sure, Commander.

Jake's a good fellow.

I'll enjoy working with him.

I don't want you to make it easy for him, Chief.

He has to know what it takes to make it in Starfleet.

I'll have him up to his elbows in thorium grease, sir.

It's not going to be easy for him.

He placed in the lower third of his age group in mechanical aptitude.

Oh, good for him. So did I.

You? Come on. No, it's true.

It wasn't until I got to the Cardassian front

I found out I had talents I never knew I had.

At the front?

It was a matter of figuring out how to get a field transporter operational in ten minutes or wind up being a Cardassian prisoner of war.

Now, I didn't know a transporter from a turbolift in those days, but somehow, in nine minutes, 53 seconds,

I got that thing to work.

I got 13 men safely off the surface of Setlik III.

Next thing I know

I'm the tactical officer on the Rutledge.

That's how I got the gold suit.

Well, Jake is ready for a new suit, too.

The boy seems to grow a centimeter each week.

You know, he struck me out with a curve ball the other day.

First time.

They grow up in a hurry, don't they, sir?

That they do.

I think I've got one.

Computer, set a new heading.

41 mark 301.

COMPUTER: Confirmed.

It's an M-Class, all right.

160 million kilometers from Orellius Minor.

Should be a perfect place to set up a colony. Mm-hmm,

But it looks like someone's beaten us to it.

You're reading life-forms?

Human life-forms.

I don't see anything on the books about a colony in the Orellius system.

Trying all hailing frequencies.

Moving into synchronous orbit.

No response.

I'm picking up some kind of low-level duonetic field down there.

It may be blocking communications.

Let's introduce ourselves to our neighbors.

( tricorders buzzing )

Yours, too?

Even the self-diagnostics aren't working.

Just plain dead.

Sisko to Rio Grande.

Computer, respond.

( buzzing )

I'd say there's no EM activity at all around here.

Any idea why?

I'm not sure.

But it might have something to do with that duonetic field our sensors picked up.

Well, I hope you find a few more of those talents you never knew you had because, if you don't, we're going to have a hard time getting off this...

MAN: Don't move!

And put your hands up!

Turn around... slowly.

They're from Starfleet.

That's right.

Mind if we put our hands down?

Well, the uniforms have changed... or have I just forgotten what they look like?

My name is Joseph.

Vinod's the one playing with the sharp object.

I'm Benjamin Sisko and this is Miles O'Brien.

How did you get here?

We were going to ask you the same thing.

We were surveying for habitable planets when our sensors picked up your life signs.

There was no record of a human colony here.

Well, our group was on its way to settle on Gemulon V over ten years ago when our ship developed life-support problems and we had to land here for repairs.

Once we got here, all our systems failed.

Nothing worked anymore.

So we've seen.

JOSEPH: We've been stuck here ever since.

And I guess you are, too, now.

We have a ship in orbit.

It won't take our people long to find us.

We'll be able to get you all out of here.

Well, after ten years, this is our home.

But you just said it yourself-- nothing works.

Well, we still do.

Well, come, we'll show you.

Vinod, run ahead and tell your mother, uh... we have guests.

Come.

Erewon-class personnel transport.

Commissioned the Santa Maria.

Now we just call it "the cabin."

After all this time-- visitors!

JOSEPH: Alixus, meet Ben and Miles.

ALIXUS: Welcome to our community.

Miles.

Are there others?

Just an empty runabout in orbit.

Hopefully, it will attract some attention.

A runabout-- is that some kind of new Starfleet vessel?

Yeah, they commissioned the first ones two years ago.

They're a short-range interstellar craft about a quarter the size of your "cabin" there.

I was the engineer aboard the Santa Maria.

You and Miles will have a lot to talk about, Joseph.

I'm sure all of us have questions for our guests.

Who won the soccer matches this year?

Is Golanga still playing?

No, he hurt his knee four years ago.

They replaced it with a bio-implant but he wasn't the same after that.

Who was it that won last year, anyway?

I can never remember.

What are women's fashions like back home now?

Oh, well...

Chief, you're the married one.

Oh, Keiko, my wife she's been replicating longer dresses lately.

Oh, no, that means

I'll have to alter everything I own.

( laughter )

Well, that may just be the Bajoran styles she sees on Deep Space 9.

On Deep Space 9?

I'm sure Ben and Miles will be happy to tell us everything we want to know.

There will be plenty of time for that later.

Actually, the first thing I'd like to do is try and get some response from the EM systems.

We gave up any hope of that years ago.

Yes, we noticed a low-level duonetic field in the area before we transported down.

Yes, the same thing appeared on our sensors when we were landing.

Our engines failed almost the instant we hit the surface.

Without a functional tricorder it was virtually impossible to track down the source.

We do know that the marshes all around us are filled with astatine deposits.

That's the only explanation we have.

But we've done pretty well without our tricorders

EM converters and com links, haven't we?

After all, the human body is a powerful tool.

We can plow the crops, harvest the fields construct the walls that we need for protection against the wilderness.

Weave the clothes that we need to stay warm.

In a way, we've rediscovered what man is capable of without technology.

It hasn't been easy.

We've had some bitter winters and... we've lost some dear friends.

But we're very proud of what we've accomplished here.

You have every right to be.

Are we all going to leave when the others come to rescue them?

That's something each of us is going to have to think about, isn't it?

Are you going to leave, Alixus?

Speaking for myself, no.

No, I'll never leave.

And I'll never want what we have in our community to change.

It means too much to me.

But while you are here, you are welcome to everything our community has to offer.

The only thing we ask is that you contribute.

We all work for our supper.

You'd be surprised how much sweeter it tastes when you do.

We'll be happy to do our part.

Joseph, would you find them some bunks, please?

Two more strong, healthy men, Vinod.

That could mean an awful lot to this community.

Do you know an Admiral Mitsuya?

Best poker player in the fleet, next to me.

Well, he's diverting the Crockett to stop at DS9 day after tomorrow to talk about Cardassian foreign policy?

That's just an excuse to get Benjamin in a game.

Mitsuya cleaned him out last year.

We better hail the Rio Grande and get them headed back this way.

I've worked two lifetimes on Benjamin's poker.

He just can't learn how to bluff.

That's odd.

I know, you'd think a man like Benjamin...

No, the Rio Grande... it's not responding to our hails.

O'BRIEN: Commander?

Oh, come in, Chief.

I was just reading one of the books our host has written.

Alixus is quite a prolific author.

Yeah, a bunch of these were left in my room, too.

I haven't had a chance to look at them.

What does she write about?

She seems to have something to say on just about everything.

Yeah?

Economic analysis, political commentaries, literary critiques.

She says she's spent her life examining the human condition.

And what's her prognosis?

Not very good.

She says we have become fat and lazy and dull.

My wife told me something along those lines just last week.

"The common conceit that the human species has evolved

"over the last several centuries is ludicrous.

"What gains we have made

"have come at the cost of our own core identities.

Man has lost touch with his true power."

Sounds like it took a crash landing for her to find her paradise.

SISKO: Have you found anything in their ship that can help us restore contact with the runabout?

There's nothing to find.

Wave guides, conduits, baffle plates-- you name it, it's gone.

The ship looks like it's been through a Ferengi junkyard.

What happened to it all?

We threw it away.

Well, since, uh, none of it worked to us, it was merely useless junk taking up space.

Alixus felt its presence was a constant reminder of who you used to be.

Well, we all had to abandon our dependence upon technology.

Removing every trace of it-- well, that made the transition easier.

As an engineer, you must have had some problems with that.

Well, I was the last convert.

But, as time passed, I realized Alixus was right.

She was helping us discover a new philosophy of life together because we needed one to survive.

And I'll tell you, every one of us is better for it.

We are more committed to each other.

We are truly a part of each other's lives.

We've renewed a sense of community that man left behind centuries ago.

Joseph, Meg's fever is getting worse.

The new herb doesn't seem to be helping at all.

May I see? Please.

We have an insect here that transmits a disease we haven't found a cure for.

We've lost three to it already.

Have you found anything in the forest like the sleeper fungi?

We've searched everywhere for the right fungus or root that would draw out the infection.

SISKO: If it keeps spreading, she'll die before the rescue team finds us.

O'BRIEN: The medical kit in the runabout could probably take care of this in a second.

We have got to find a way to restore the com link to the transporter.

That would only be a waste of time.

This duonetic field inhibits energy flow, but a duonetic field is a form of energy, too.

Maybe we could modify our communicators to run on the field itself.

Do you really think you could?

No!

If you want to put your efforts to good use, search the forest for something else we might use.

This is primitive medicine.

You can't expect to save her...

Ben! May I see you outside, please?

Talk like that isn't constructive.

I'm talking about saving the life of one of your followers.

You don't understand this yet.

No one follows me.

They follow their own hearts.

My heart tells me to try to get back to my ship.

I'm sure it does, but if we'd had that attitude for the last ten years we wouldn't have been doing what was necessary to survive here.

To find the plants, herbs, molds that cure disease.

We've conquered 17 illnesses with the most powerful resource man has-- his ingenuity.

An interesting philosophy.

And while we're debating it, a woman is dying.

We're doing everything we can for her.

No, we're not.

I won't have you disrupting everything this community has worked for, Ben.

I don't intend to stay here any longer than necessary.

And that's another thing.

Let's not bring up the Starfleet rescue party again.

Until they come-- if they come-- you'll have to do things our way.

I'd strongly advise you get rid of that uniform.

By mid-afternoon, it gets hot in the fields.

The Rio Grande's been spotted.

Where?

Details are coming in from Starfleet.

The Romulan vessel Gasko reported seeing an abandoned runabout.

Markings NCC-72452.

That's our ship, all right.

Traveling at warp 2 through sector 401.

At warp, with no one on board?

Command wants to know if we can send someone to investigate.

Signal them affirmative.

I already have.

Runabout Pad C.

You've got a real talent for this, Ben.

Well, my father was a chef.

He grew all his own vegetables.

My brothers and I were sent out to the gardens every day.

Most of the others-- they'd only eaten replicated food before they got here.

The flavor of the foods we prepare was quite a surprise to them.

But not you?

My mother would never let me eat replicated food.

( chuckling )

What?

I can't help thinking what my wife would say if she saw me doing this.

Why?

Well, around my house I'm known as "the black thumb."

I'm just one of those people, you know.

The only way I could get anything to grow was to marry a botanist.

Oh, a botanist, really?

Yeah.

You should have seen the arboretum she grew on the Enterprise.

That's where I asked her to marry me.

Oh, she'd love it here.

Maybe you'll bring her someday.

Trouble is, she wouldn't want to leave.

That's okay, too.

( metal clanking )

Come on.

Reach in.

Get my hand.

Here we go.

Good.

Easy now.

( panting )

Get him into the shade.

All right, sit him down there.

Easy, easy.

All right, here. All right, here.

Here, Stephan, if you chew these, they will help you regain your strength.

What did he do to deserve this?

He stole a candle.

One candle?

How long was he in there?

Since yesterday.

In that hell box?

Is this part of your philosophy of life, too?

You're a Starfleet Commander.

I'm sure you've had to discipline members of your crew.

Discipline is one thing.

Torture is another.

The first thing this community accepted was the need to establish rules of conduct.

All of us, including Stephan, approved this form of punishment as necessary and fair.

How are you, Stephan?

( coughing )

I'll be all right.

I'm sorry, Alixus, that I let down the community.

The matter is closed.

Go inside.

Get some rest now.

Thank you, Alixus.

Come on, easy.

Easy.

Stephan will never steal another candle and neither will anyone else who saw him here today.

In time, you'll understand that this is a simple and effective way to maintain law and order in our community.

I get the distinct impression she expects us to be here for a while.

If there is a way to adapt the energy in the duonetic field to get us back to the runabout

I want you to find it, Chief.

Yes, sir.

Is there anything you need?

No, I don't think so.

I'm sorry, Alixus doesn't believe in doors.

We all take it for granted now.

You'll get used to it.

Hopefully, I won't be here long enough to get used to it.

You don't like it here, do you?

It's not what I'm used to.

Alixus has reminded us all that it wasn't easy for us at first either.

She's told us to be patient with you.

Has she?

Your muscles must be sore from all the work today.

This is an oil extract from the Xupta tree.

It's wonderfully soothing.

Thanks, I'll try some.

Would you like me to massage you with it?

I don't think so.

Thanks anyway.

It'll make you feel a lot better.

Here, let me show you.

Did she send you here?

Did she send you here to make love to me?

Ben, come in.

I was just writing about you and Miles in my journal.

I understand you're quite a chef.

That's the first core behavior

I've seen from you since you arrived.

Core behavior.

Does that chapter come before or after sexual procurement?

I assume you're talking about Cassandra?

Did you send her to my room?

Yes.

I think you're contemptible.

Interesting.

Contemptible.

Try and see it through our eyes just for a moment, Ben.

Cassandra came to me; she was worried.

She sensed that you weren't happy.

She was right about that.

She was concerned that all you see here is work and hardship, and she wanted you to share in our joy as well.

So you sent her to me to win my devotion to your cause.

I suggested she might make it easier for you to become a member of our community.

The choice was hers.

Cassandra really likes you, Ben.

It's fortunate that all these books of yours aren't on padds like the other materials the colonists brought.

I used to print them myself.

I'm not surprised.

Vinod tells me that you never ate replicated food before you came here.

I'm not sure I see the connection.

It's just that you never had much use for technology, did you?

It's interesting how you happened to crash on a planet that fit your philosophy of life so well.

I agree.

In fact, I've started writing a book about our experiences.

I've been wondering if, in the ancient religions of man there aren't some new truths to be found-- something to explain how sometimes fate delivers us exactly where we need to be.

Perhaps one day, you'll even feel the hand of God on your shoulder.

You won't give a millimeter, will you?

Look at you, still in your uniform wanting so badly to get back to your station with its artificial gravity and its sterilized air.

You are so disconnected from your core identity, Ben.

There is a better way.

How can we help you see it?

Perhaps good hard work is the answer.

Vinod.

Yes, Mother?

Ben will be standing watch tonight.

Are you all right, Commander?

I'm a little tired, but I'll be fine.

Any luck on your end?

This duonetic field is still a mystery, sir.

I can't believe it's being generated by the astatine deposits in the stream bed.

ALIXUS: Good morning, Ben.

Ready for some breakfast?

We have some lovely fruit.

Try this.

We found it growing along the riverbank a few years ago.

It's some kind of native pear.

Oh, Ben, will you be able to work your regular shift in the field today?

What are you talking about?

You just had him up all night, standing watch.

Of course, if you'd like to be relieved of your duties all you have to do is ask.

I'll work my shift.

Good. We're so shorthanded out there.

But you really should do yourself a favor and change into some more comfortable clothes.

Oh, by the way, you'll be pleased to know

Meg seems better this morning.

Joseph is very optimistic about a new combination of herbs he's trying.

We're picking up a ship ahead.

It's the Rio Grande, moving at warp 1.3.

Plotting an intercept course.

Once we're abeam, match our speeds exactly and I'll transport over.

Like hell you will.

Sorry, I'm the ranking officer here.

At warp, I wouldn't be in such a hurry to volunteer.

You got a better idea?

I'm the science officer.

It's my job to have a better idea.

( sighs )

What are you doing?

I'm trying an old rope trick

I learned on Earth once.

A rope trick?

A very talented Hopi I knew did things with a rope you wouldn't believe.

It's an Old West American artform.

You're suggesting we try to rope the Rio Grande at warp.

With a tractor beam.

Once we pull it back to impulse, isn't there a risk that the strain will rip both hulls apart?

If the ship assembly teams back at the yards did their jobs really well, we'll probably make it.

If they had an off day, we're going to have a problem, but it's our best shot.

Unless, as a ranking officer, you have a better idea.

We're within tractor range.

Locking on.

Engaging impulse engines.

( metal straining and creaking)

( sighs )

Remind me to send a thank-you note to the assembly teams.

All stop.

Computer, ready transporter.

( clanging )

Meg has died.

Suddenly, quietly.

No one was prouder of what we've accomplished here than Meg was.

Her dedication to this community and to us, was an inspiration which is why I find myself so troubled today by an act that by its very nature defiles her memory.

Vinod.

All of us have welcomed our new arrivals with open arms but they continue to reject us.

Despite their agreement to respect our fundamental way of life, this man has committed the worst offense that can be committed against this community.

He has selfishly wasted precious time that could have been put to productive use.

Miles was discovered trying to activate his technological devices so he could return to his ship.

Alixus, I'm sure he only wanted to get to the medical equipment which might have saved Meg's life.

Thank you, Joseph.

I knew you would feel that way and I'm glad you said it, so that all of us could see the true danger these two represent.

Our very own Joseph defending what he knows is wrong.

He knows that if we had spent our energy all these years, trying to escape we'd all be dead today.

This is good.

This is a test of our convictions and we will survive.

( metal clanking )

You're not going to put him in there.

No, Ben, I'm not.

You are his commanding officer.

I hold you responsible for his actions.

I'm putting you in there.

Wait a minute.

No signs of resistance.

None of the on-board weapons has been fired.

But the logs have been erased.

Someone else must have been here.

Maybe Sisko and O'Brien beamed off before the ship was boarded.

But then why would somebody send the runabout off at warp?

Why wouldn't they just keep it or destroy it?

I think they were trying to destroy it.

How can you tell?

The hull's been exposed to high temperatures and intense gamma radiation.

If we retrace the Rio Grande's course it takes us right back to...

An F-type star.

Orellius Minor.

There's only one way the ship could only be coming straight from Orellius Minor, and that's if someone tried to destroy the ship by flying it into the star.

And missed.

If the trajectory were slightly off the star's gravity flux would have deflected it in a new direction.

Computer, send a tractor beam to the Orinoco.

Prepare for a warp tow.

With a little luck we'll be able to find the warp signature the engines left when they were fired up.

Tractor beam in place.

Course laid in for the Orellius system.

Engaging warp engines.

Please.

This is painful for me, too.

I want so much to give you water to let you lie down to sleep, but I can't.

Not without your help.

I know it's too difficult to speak right now.

Just rest.

Change doesn't come easy to you, Ben.

I realize it.

Believe me, I'm not expecting some sudden, miraculous conversion.

Change will come by itself, if you're open to it.

But you do have to show us that you're open to it.

A good start would be to get rid of the uniform.

I'll leave you these clothes.

Once you've changed, you can have this water.

Join us, Ben.

Miles.

What are you doing here?

I need your help, Joseph.

With what?

( sighs )

There's nothing I can do, so please, don't ask me.

I've got to try to track down where that duonetic field is coming from.

We told you, there are astatine deposits.

That's not what's causing it.

If it were, I'd have that transmitter running and we'd all be out of here already.

It's got to be something else.

And I think I figured a way to get me to the source of it.

And you want me to look the other way while you leave.

She'd put you in the box, wouldn't she?

Then do me a favor.

Look down at that hematite deposit I just discovered.

Miles...

I can do it so it won't hurt at all.

( thud )

I owe you one, my friend.

( whoosh )

( grunts )

Well, you finally got one of us out of our uniform.

O'BRIEN: Come on, move it.

Where's Alixus?

Get her out here.

( coughing )

Get him some water!

( coughing harder )

Do you know why this phaser is working now?

Because I shut down the duonetic field that was stopping it from working.

An artificially created duonetic field.

Sisko to Rio Grande.

Computer, respond.

Your ship is no longer in orbit, Ben.

I destroyed it.

I assume that means you control the duonetic field.

I helped invent it.

You'd be surprised how many scientists are sympathetic to my philosophies.

Then it was no accident we developed life-support problems near this planet.

No, we were always on our way here, Joseph.

I chose it months in advance.

It was far away from any trade route, completely isolated.

It was perfect for our... ideal community.

I hoped when we landed we would never leave here.

CASSANDRA: You lied to us.

You've been lying to us for ten years.

Yes, but perhaps a lie can lead to a more important truth.

Would any of you have learned who you really are at the core if you hadn't have come here?

Joseph, you would have been a repairman all of your life.

Cassandra, you would have been a technical clerk in some closed-in room.

And, Stephan, my friend you probably would have been in prison by now.

Look at yourselves!

Look at what you've become!

What you've achieved here has redefined your potential-- the potential of man-- just as I knew it would.

You are the living proof.

What of the dead?

What of Meg and the others?

Only my son knows how I have suffered as I watched each of them die.

You were willing to let them die for your theories.

You're going to have to answer for what you've done.

I'm prepared to go with you.

Casualties were inevitable.

I had to accept that from the start.

What if it were your son who had been sick?

Would you let him die, too?

Yes.

For the sake of the community.

I did it all for the community.

Kira to Sisko. Are you all right, Commander?

Everything is... under control, Major.

Stand by to begin multiple transports.

Acknowledged.

We have room for all of you on the runabout.

If you have anything you want to bring with you you ought to get it now.

JOSEPH: Miles... this is our home.

Whatever Alixus may be ]guilty of she did give us our community.

I'm not sure if we'll leave the device on or off, now that we know it's there.

And we'll have to decide if we want to establish contact with the outside world.

But Alixus is right.

We have found something here that none of us is willing to give up.

It's time for those of us who don't belong here to leave, Ben.

Four to beam up, Major.

Come, come.