Post by magicmuggle01 on Mar 1, 2019 11:22:37 GMT
Experiencing a vision from the Prophets, Sisko sees himself as Benny Russell, a science-fiction writer in the 1950s, who struggles with civil rights and inequality when he writes the story of Captain Benjamin Sisko, a black commander of a futuristic space station.
Summary
Joseph Sisko, Captain Benjamin Sisko's father, has left Earth for the first time to visit his son on Deep Space 9, but his timing couldn't be worse. Although the Federation is in firm control of the station, the Cardassian border is still a risky place for Federation ships to patrol. In particular, the USS Cortez has recently been destroyed, and even a six-hour search by the USS Defiant failed to discover any survivors. That means Captain Quentin Swofford – a man Sisko knew well – is dead, and Sisko is distraught. He is beginning to despair of making any kind of difference in the war effort at all, and is seriously considering stepping down and letting someone else make the tough decisions. Joseph promises to support his son no matter what decision he makes, but warns him to think carefully before he does anything.
As he discusses the news with his father, Sisko is distracted and puzzled when he sees a strange man walk past his office dressed in 1950s Earth clothing. Dax, standing right outside in ops, insists she didn't see anyone, which only makes it a greater puzzle. Later, when walking down a corridor with Kasidy Yates, Sisko is again confused when a baseball player walks past and calls, "Hey, Benny! Catch the game?" Again, Yates is sure she didn't see anyone. When Sisko follows the man through a door, he finds himself suddenly in the middle of a busy New York street and is immediately hit by a taxi.
Doctor Bashir examines him and finds unusual synaptic potentials – his neural patterns look like they did when Sisko was having visions the year before. When Sisko takes a PADD to examine the data for himself, he finds himself instead looking at a copy of Galaxy at a New York newsstand. What's more, Sisko – or rather, Benny Russell – feels completely at home on this street, and when Albert Macklin comes around the corner they walk off together to the office.
Act One
The people Russell knows at the office and meets on the street are similar to the people Sisko knows on the station. They sound the same, and look at least somewhat similar, but they are not the same people. The news vendor is not Nog, Macklin is not Miles O'Brien, and Kay Eaton is not Kira Nerys. They are merely characters in a dream created from the likeness of his real-world friends. From this point until Sisko wakes up, the story is told from Benny Russell's perspective (as though the 1950s setting is the "real" world).
When Russell and Macklin arrive at Incredible Tales – the science fiction magazine for which they work – they find writer Herbert Rossoff (Quark) and editor Douglas Pabst (Odo) engaged in "The Battle of the Doughnuts, Round 28" (as Eaton describes it). Eaton herself has been experimenting with White Rose Redi-Tea ("A pitcher of plain water becomes a pitcher of iced tea") – a concept her husband, Julius (Julian Bashir), as a "self-respecting Englishman," finds appalling. Macklin is, as always, looking for matches to light his pipe. When the bickering and general bustle ebbs enough, Pabst calls the meeting to order.
The magazine's illustrator, Roy Ritterhouse (Martok) comes in bearing a stack of science fiction sketches to distribute to the pool of writers for the next month's stories. Russell is particularly taken with a drawing of a space station – basically a circle with pylons at 120 degree intervals, and "USAF DS/9" stenciled around the edge. He takes the sketch and offers to create an appropriate story to accompany it. Trouble starts, however, when Pabst announces that their publisher wants a group photo of the writing staff for the next issue, and Pabst "suggests" that Eaton and Russell "sleep late" the morning it is taken – the public needn't know that women and blacks are writing for Incredible Tales along with the white men. Rossoff sarcastically quips about the dangers of "a Negro with a typewriter" and Russell is angry, but Pabst holds firm. There will be no picture of Eaton and no picture of Russell.
That evening, as Russell leaves the office (Incredible Tales is located in the Arthur Trill Building), the space station sketch is caught in a breeze and lands under the shoe of Burt Ryan (Dukat) – an NYPD detective with an attitude. He and his partner, Kevin Mulkahey (Weyoun) are suspicious of a janitor (as they perceive Russell) dressed in a nice suit, but give back the drawing with "This time you're getting off with a warning. Next time you won't be so lucky."
Then, as he's almost home, Russell hears a preacher (Joseph) on a street corner who seems to be speaking directly to Benny. "Write those words, Brother Benny!" the preacher advises – write the words of the "God of the spirits of the prophets."
"Captain Benjamin Sisko sat
looking out the window…"
With all these events fresh in his mind, Benny Russell sits down before his typewriter with the space station picture in front of him and begins to write. "Captain Benjamin Sisko sat looking out the window…" Even as he writes the words Benny sees his reflection in his own window – only he has on a curious uniform instead of a shirt and tie and his glasses are gone. He presses on with his story into the night.
Act Two
When the story is finally finished some days later he shows it to his fiancee, Cassie (Yates) at the diner where she waits tables. While he is sipping coffee at the counter, famous baseball player Willie Hawkins (Worf) comes in and flirts, only half-jokingly, with Cassie while saying hello to Russell. Russell also encounters Jimmy (Jake Sisko), a street kid. Fresh after hearing Hawkins tell how white people wouldn't want him living in their neighborhoods, Russell hears Jimmy's skepticism about the new story. What's more, Jimmy is trying to pawn a watch he "found" and Russell's cautions about him getting in trouble don't seem to do any good.
Kay Eaton appears as Major Kira
On the other hand, the entire writing staff of Incredible Tales loves the story, which Russell has titled "Deep Space Nine." In fact, it is the best thing Pabst's secretary Darlene Kursky (Jadzia Dax) has ever read. Russell, exhausted from lack of sleep, is worried that he's hallucinating – while Kay Eaton is complimenting the "strong female character" in his story, he takes off his glasses for a moment and sees her wearing a red uniform and strange ridges on her nose.
Unfortunately, Pabst himself is unwilling to print the story. "It's not believable," he insists, since it features a Negro space station captain for a hero. Pabst tells Russell to make the captain white, but he angrily tells him that's not what he wrote.
Act Three
Willie Hawkins appears as Worf
Russell is sitting at the restaurant telling about his story and Jimmy isn't remotely surprised, and Cassie suggests it may be a sign he should stop writing and go into the restaurant business with her – owning and running the diner. When Hawkins comes in and grabs Russell by the shoulder, he's surprised to see ridges on his forehead and strange clothing. He jumps off the stool in surprise, but when he looks up again it is just Hawkins, asking if Russell had seen the game. Russell leaves, troubled by the vision.
That evening, he encounters the same preacher again. "Walk with the prophets, brother Benny!" he insists. "Write the words that will lead us out of the darkness and onto the path of righteousness." Russell rushes home and sits down before his typewriter once again, concentrating so hard he even forgets about his date with Cassie. She finds him sleeping with a stack of pages in his hand – a new Ben Sisko story – and tries to get him to relax by taking a "spin around the dance floor" in the living room. He's startled once again when he instead sees himself dancing in a strange room and to hear "Cassie" talking about "the Dominion." He flashes back and forth between his living room and the space station – seeing things from his own story.
Act Four
As Russell questions his own sanity, Pabst insists he's certifiable – he's written six sequels to the "Deep Space Nine" story Pabst already refused to publish. Macklin makes a suggestion that could salvage everything though: make the story (at least the first story) a dream. If a poor Negro were dreaming of such a future, the story might work, Pabst grudgingly admits, and Russell agrees that anything would be better than not publishing the story at all.
Even as Russell and Cassie are celebrating getting the story published, however, another tragedy strikes. They encounter the preacher, who warns, "the path of the Prophets sometimes leads into darkness and pain", just as gunshots ring through the air. Russell rushes forward and finds that Ryan and Mulkahey have shot and killed Jimmy. When Russell tries to fight his way to him, the two cops begin to beat him up, and Russell sees ridges on Ryan's neck and long thin ears on Mulkahey's face.
Act Five
Russell has been badly beaten and is walking with a cane, but on the day his story is finally published he makes his way to the office anyway (with Cassie's encouragement). The staff are happy to see Russell for the first time since his beating. They also reveal that Macklin has sold a novel, and Russell is very happy for his friend. Then Pabst arrives… but with no magazine. Pabst explains that there's not going to be an edition of Incredible Tales that month; apparently the entire run was pulped because the publishers felt the issue didn't meet their "usual high standards". Russell, already knowing the truth, asks what the publishers didn't like. The artwork? The layout? But Russell, already starting to break down, answers his own question: the magazine was pulped because the hero of "Deep Space Nine" is a colored man. Pabst tells Russell that he knows it isn't right, but he furiously defends the decision, saying that "it's not about what's right, it's about what is." This leads into further bad news – the publishers have decided that Russell's services are no longer required. The rest of the staff recoil in shock, and even the normally unflappable Julius Eaton is horrified. Russell tells Pabst that he can't be fired, because he quits, before sweeping the contents of a nearby table on the floor in anger as he begins to have a nervous breakdown. He is devastated that everyone is attempting to deny both himself and Ben Sisko, that the publishers are attempting to destroy the story. But he says, sobbing, that they cannot destroy the idea. Ben Sisko, "Deep Space Nine", and all the people from the story, they exist inside his head, and in the heads of everyone who read it.
"You can pulp a story, but you cannot destroy an idea! Don't you understand, that's ancient knowledge. You cannot destroy an idea! That future, I created it, and it's real! Don't you understand? It is REAL! I created it and IT'S REAL!"
Russell finally collapses, sobbing and cradled by his former co-workers.
As he's carted away in an ambulance, Benny Russell finds the preacher sitting beside him and sees himself in a strange uniform. "Who am I?" he asks quietly. "You're the dreamer," the preacher answers him, "and the dream."
Captain Benjamin Sisko wakes up in the infirmary with Kasidy, Jake, Joseph, and Dr. Bashir standing over him, happy to see him awake. He was unconscious for only a few minutes, and Bashir reports that his neural patterns are returning to normal.
"You are the dreamer, and the dream."
As Joseph gets ready to leave, Sisko says that his dream has encouraged him to stay on DS9 and keep fighting "the good fight." He also confides to his father that he wonders whether their world really is "the real world," or just a vision, and somewhere far beyond the stars Benny Russell really exists. He stares out the window, and sees a reflection of himself wearing Benny's clothes.
Memorable quotes
"Wishing never changed a damn thing."
- Benny Russell (Benjamin Sisko)
"Oh! She's got a worm in her belly!… oh that's disgusting. It's interestin', but disgusting."
- Darlene (Jadzia Dax)
"Calm down, dear boy. We're writers, not Vikings."
- Julius Eaton (Julian Bashir; see also I'm a doctor, not a...)
"You are the dreamer, . . . and the dream."
- Preacher (Joseph Sisko)
"Hey! You gonna buy that or not?!"
- Newspaper vendor (Nog), to Benny Russell on an issue of Galaxy magazine he was reading
"All right, friends and neighbors, let's see what Uncle Roy brought you today."
- Roy (Martok)
"Well I got news for you… today or a hundred years from now don't make a bit of difference – as far as they're concerned, we'll always be niggers."
- Jimmy (Jake Sisko)
"If the world's not ready for a woman writer – imagine what would happen if it learned about a Negro with a typewriter – run for the hills! It's the end of civilization!"
- Herbert Rossoff (Quark)
"Herb's been angry ever since the day Joseph Stalin died…"
- Douglas Pabst (Odo)
"I like robots."
- Albert Macklin (Miles O'Brien)
"Call anybody you want, they can't do anything to me, not any more, and nor can any of you. I am a Human being, dammit! You can deny me all you want but you can't deny Ben Sisko – He exists! That future, that space station, all those people – they exist in here! (pointing to his head) In my mind. I created it. And everyone of you knew it, you read it. It's here. (pointing to his head again) Do you hear what I'm telling you? You can pulp a story but you cannot destroy an idea, don't you understand, that's ancient knowledge, you cannot destroy an idea. (becoming hysterical) That future – I created it, and it's real! Don't you understand? It is real. I created it. And it's real! It's REAL! Oh God!" (he collapses, sobbing hysterically)
- Benny Russell (Benjamin Sisko)
"I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith."
- Joseph Sisko, quoting from the Bible (2 Timothy 4:7)
"For all we know, at this very moment, somewhere far beyond all those distant stars, Benny Russell is dreaming of us."
- Benjamin Sisko
Summary
Joseph Sisko, Captain Benjamin Sisko's father, has left Earth for the first time to visit his son on Deep Space 9, but his timing couldn't be worse. Although the Federation is in firm control of the station, the Cardassian border is still a risky place for Federation ships to patrol. In particular, the USS Cortez has recently been destroyed, and even a six-hour search by the USS Defiant failed to discover any survivors. That means Captain Quentin Swofford – a man Sisko knew well – is dead, and Sisko is distraught. He is beginning to despair of making any kind of difference in the war effort at all, and is seriously considering stepping down and letting someone else make the tough decisions. Joseph promises to support his son no matter what decision he makes, but warns him to think carefully before he does anything.
As he discusses the news with his father, Sisko is distracted and puzzled when he sees a strange man walk past his office dressed in 1950s Earth clothing. Dax, standing right outside in ops, insists she didn't see anyone, which only makes it a greater puzzle. Later, when walking down a corridor with Kasidy Yates, Sisko is again confused when a baseball player walks past and calls, "Hey, Benny! Catch the game?" Again, Yates is sure she didn't see anyone. When Sisko follows the man through a door, he finds himself suddenly in the middle of a busy New York street and is immediately hit by a taxi.
Doctor Bashir examines him and finds unusual synaptic potentials – his neural patterns look like they did when Sisko was having visions the year before. When Sisko takes a PADD to examine the data for himself, he finds himself instead looking at a copy of Galaxy at a New York newsstand. What's more, Sisko – or rather, Benny Russell – feels completely at home on this street, and when Albert Macklin comes around the corner they walk off together to the office.
Act One
The people Russell knows at the office and meets on the street are similar to the people Sisko knows on the station. They sound the same, and look at least somewhat similar, but they are not the same people. The news vendor is not Nog, Macklin is not Miles O'Brien, and Kay Eaton is not Kira Nerys. They are merely characters in a dream created from the likeness of his real-world friends. From this point until Sisko wakes up, the story is told from Benny Russell's perspective (as though the 1950s setting is the "real" world).
When Russell and Macklin arrive at Incredible Tales – the science fiction magazine for which they work – they find writer Herbert Rossoff (Quark) and editor Douglas Pabst (Odo) engaged in "The Battle of the Doughnuts, Round 28" (as Eaton describes it). Eaton herself has been experimenting with White Rose Redi-Tea ("A pitcher of plain water becomes a pitcher of iced tea") – a concept her husband, Julius (Julian Bashir), as a "self-respecting Englishman," finds appalling. Macklin is, as always, looking for matches to light his pipe. When the bickering and general bustle ebbs enough, Pabst calls the meeting to order.
The magazine's illustrator, Roy Ritterhouse (Martok) comes in bearing a stack of science fiction sketches to distribute to the pool of writers for the next month's stories. Russell is particularly taken with a drawing of a space station – basically a circle with pylons at 120 degree intervals, and "USAF DS/9" stenciled around the edge. He takes the sketch and offers to create an appropriate story to accompany it. Trouble starts, however, when Pabst announces that their publisher wants a group photo of the writing staff for the next issue, and Pabst "suggests" that Eaton and Russell "sleep late" the morning it is taken – the public needn't know that women and blacks are writing for Incredible Tales along with the white men. Rossoff sarcastically quips about the dangers of "a Negro with a typewriter" and Russell is angry, but Pabst holds firm. There will be no picture of Eaton and no picture of Russell.
That evening, as Russell leaves the office (Incredible Tales is located in the Arthur Trill Building), the space station sketch is caught in a breeze and lands under the shoe of Burt Ryan (Dukat) – an NYPD detective with an attitude. He and his partner, Kevin Mulkahey (Weyoun) are suspicious of a janitor (as they perceive Russell) dressed in a nice suit, but give back the drawing with "This time you're getting off with a warning. Next time you won't be so lucky."
Then, as he's almost home, Russell hears a preacher (Joseph) on a street corner who seems to be speaking directly to Benny. "Write those words, Brother Benny!" the preacher advises – write the words of the "God of the spirits of the prophets."
"Captain Benjamin Sisko sat
looking out the window…"
With all these events fresh in his mind, Benny Russell sits down before his typewriter with the space station picture in front of him and begins to write. "Captain Benjamin Sisko sat looking out the window…" Even as he writes the words Benny sees his reflection in his own window – only he has on a curious uniform instead of a shirt and tie and his glasses are gone. He presses on with his story into the night.
Act Two
When the story is finally finished some days later he shows it to his fiancee, Cassie (Yates) at the diner where she waits tables. While he is sipping coffee at the counter, famous baseball player Willie Hawkins (Worf) comes in and flirts, only half-jokingly, with Cassie while saying hello to Russell. Russell also encounters Jimmy (Jake Sisko), a street kid. Fresh after hearing Hawkins tell how white people wouldn't want him living in their neighborhoods, Russell hears Jimmy's skepticism about the new story. What's more, Jimmy is trying to pawn a watch he "found" and Russell's cautions about him getting in trouble don't seem to do any good.
Kay Eaton appears as Major Kira
On the other hand, the entire writing staff of Incredible Tales loves the story, which Russell has titled "Deep Space Nine." In fact, it is the best thing Pabst's secretary Darlene Kursky (Jadzia Dax) has ever read. Russell, exhausted from lack of sleep, is worried that he's hallucinating – while Kay Eaton is complimenting the "strong female character" in his story, he takes off his glasses for a moment and sees her wearing a red uniform and strange ridges on her nose.
Unfortunately, Pabst himself is unwilling to print the story. "It's not believable," he insists, since it features a Negro space station captain for a hero. Pabst tells Russell to make the captain white, but he angrily tells him that's not what he wrote.
Act Three
Willie Hawkins appears as Worf
Russell is sitting at the restaurant telling about his story and Jimmy isn't remotely surprised, and Cassie suggests it may be a sign he should stop writing and go into the restaurant business with her – owning and running the diner. When Hawkins comes in and grabs Russell by the shoulder, he's surprised to see ridges on his forehead and strange clothing. He jumps off the stool in surprise, but when he looks up again it is just Hawkins, asking if Russell had seen the game. Russell leaves, troubled by the vision.
That evening, he encounters the same preacher again. "Walk with the prophets, brother Benny!" he insists. "Write the words that will lead us out of the darkness and onto the path of righteousness." Russell rushes home and sits down before his typewriter once again, concentrating so hard he even forgets about his date with Cassie. She finds him sleeping with a stack of pages in his hand – a new Ben Sisko story – and tries to get him to relax by taking a "spin around the dance floor" in the living room. He's startled once again when he instead sees himself dancing in a strange room and to hear "Cassie" talking about "the Dominion." He flashes back and forth between his living room and the space station – seeing things from his own story.
Act Four
As Russell questions his own sanity, Pabst insists he's certifiable – he's written six sequels to the "Deep Space Nine" story Pabst already refused to publish. Macklin makes a suggestion that could salvage everything though: make the story (at least the first story) a dream. If a poor Negro were dreaming of such a future, the story might work, Pabst grudgingly admits, and Russell agrees that anything would be better than not publishing the story at all.
Even as Russell and Cassie are celebrating getting the story published, however, another tragedy strikes. They encounter the preacher, who warns, "the path of the Prophets sometimes leads into darkness and pain", just as gunshots ring through the air. Russell rushes forward and finds that Ryan and Mulkahey have shot and killed Jimmy. When Russell tries to fight his way to him, the two cops begin to beat him up, and Russell sees ridges on Ryan's neck and long thin ears on Mulkahey's face.
Act Five
Russell has been badly beaten and is walking with a cane, but on the day his story is finally published he makes his way to the office anyway (with Cassie's encouragement). The staff are happy to see Russell for the first time since his beating. They also reveal that Macklin has sold a novel, and Russell is very happy for his friend. Then Pabst arrives… but with no magazine. Pabst explains that there's not going to be an edition of Incredible Tales that month; apparently the entire run was pulped because the publishers felt the issue didn't meet their "usual high standards". Russell, already knowing the truth, asks what the publishers didn't like. The artwork? The layout? But Russell, already starting to break down, answers his own question: the magazine was pulped because the hero of "Deep Space Nine" is a colored man. Pabst tells Russell that he knows it isn't right, but he furiously defends the decision, saying that "it's not about what's right, it's about what is." This leads into further bad news – the publishers have decided that Russell's services are no longer required. The rest of the staff recoil in shock, and even the normally unflappable Julius Eaton is horrified. Russell tells Pabst that he can't be fired, because he quits, before sweeping the contents of a nearby table on the floor in anger as he begins to have a nervous breakdown. He is devastated that everyone is attempting to deny both himself and Ben Sisko, that the publishers are attempting to destroy the story. But he says, sobbing, that they cannot destroy the idea. Ben Sisko, "Deep Space Nine", and all the people from the story, they exist inside his head, and in the heads of everyone who read it.
"You can pulp a story, but you cannot destroy an idea! Don't you understand, that's ancient knowledge. You cannot destroy an idea! That future, I created it, and it's real! Don't you understand? It is REAL! I created it and IT'S REAL!"
Russell finally collapses, sobbing and cradled by his former co-workers.
As he's carted away in an ambulance, Benny Russell finds the preacher sitting beside him and sees himself in a strange uniform. "Who am I?" he asks quietly. "You're the dreamer," the preacher answers him, "and the dream."
Captain Benjamin Sisko wakes up in the infirmary with Kasidy, Jake, Joseph, and Dr. Bashir standing over him, happy to see him awake. He was unconscious for only a few minutes, and Bashir reports that his neural patterns are returning to normal.
"You are the dreamer, and the dream."
As Joseph gets ready to leave, Sisko says that his dream has encouraged him to stay on DS9 and keep fighting "the good fight." He also confides to his father that he wonders whether their world really is "the real world," or just a vision, and somewhere far beyond the stars Benny Russell really exists. He stares out the window, and sees a reflection of himself wearing Benny's clothes.
Memorable quotes
"Wishing never changed a damn thing."
- Benny Russell (Benjamin Sisko)
"Oh! She's got a worm in her belly!… oh that's disgusting. It's interestin', but disgusting."
- Darlene (Jadzia Dax)
"Calm down, dear boy. We're writers, not Vikings."
- Julius Eaton (Julian Bashir; see also I'm a doctor, not a...)
"You are the dreamer, . . . and the dream."
- Preacher (Joseph Sisko)
"Hey! You gonna buy that or not?!"
- Newspaper vendor (Nog), to Benny Russell on an issue of Galaxy magazine he was reading
"All right, friends and neighbors, let's see what Uncle Roy brought you today."
- Roy (Martok)
"Well I got news for you… today or a hundred years from now don't make a bit of difference – as far as they're concerned, we'll always be niggers."
- Jimmy (Jake Sisko)
"If the world's not ready for a woman writer – imagine what would happen if it learned about a Negro with a typewriter – run for the hills! It's the end of civilization!"
- Herbert Rossoff (Quark)
"Herb's been angry ever since the day Joseph Stalin died…"
- Douglas Pabst (Odo)
"I like robots."
- Albert Macklin (Miles O'Brien)
"Call anybody you want, they can't do anything to me, not any more, and nor can any of you. I am a Human being, dammit! You can deny me all you want but you can't deny Ben Sisko – He exists! That future, that space station, all those people – they exist in here! (pointing to his head) In my mind. I created it. And everyone of you knew it, you read it. It's here. (pointing to his head again) Do you hear what I'm telling you? You can pulp a story but you cannot destroy an idea, don't you understand, that's ancient knowledge, you cannot destroy an idea. (becoming hysterical) That future – I created it, and it's real! Don't you understand? It is real. I created it. And it's real! It's REAL! Oh God!" (he collapses, sobbing hysterically)
- Benny Russell (Benjamin Sisko)
"I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith."
- Joseph Sisko, quoting from the Bible (2 Timothy 4:7)
"For all we know, at this very moment, somewhere far beyond all those distant stars, Benny Russell is dreaming of us."
- Benjamin Sisko
