Post by magicmuggle01 on Mar 20, 2019 11:22:54 GMT
Doctor Lewis Zimmerman arrives on Deep Space 9 to use Bashir as the model for his new Long-term Medical Hologram, but his plans could unveil a dark secret that Bashir has carried since childhood.
Summary
One day in the bar, Rom is trying to work up the courage to finally ask Leeta on a date… however this is something Rom has been trying to do for weeks without any success, leaving Quark doubtful his brother will actually go through with it. Indeed, when Leeta (who herself has feelings for Rom and is simply waiting for him to ask her out) comes over from her stint at the dabo wheel, Rom instantly loses the little courage he had summoned and bolts. Leeta worries that there's something wrong with her, and Quark does little to reassure her before sending her back to work.
Meanwhile, over a game of darts, Doctor Bashir and Chief O'Brien discuss the latter's efforts to spend more time with his daughter Molly to ensure she doesn't feel left out due to the attention focused on her new baby brother. However the discussion is suddenly interrupted by Doctor Lewis Zimmerman, Director of Holographic Imaging and Programming at Jupiter Station, who is looking for Bashir. He tells Bashir that he intends to make him "immortal".
Act One
Later, Bashir and Zimmerman are in Captain Sisko's office discussing the reason for Zimmerman's visit to Deep Space 9. The engineer explains that he was the designer and template for the innovative Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH), which was designed to provide short-term medical care in an emergency, with the capability to substitute for an entire medical staff if needed (although Deep Space 9 doesn't have one due to it being incompatible with the station's Cardassian technology). Starfleet has decided it wants to expand the concept and create a program that can operate full-time in isolated outposts (such as subspace relay stations or research outposts) where living space is at a premium and the holographic doctor wouldn't be required to leave sickbay. Furthermore, Starfleet Medical has chosen Bashir to be the template for the new Long-term Medical Holographic program (LMH). Zimmerman requests a list of technical modifications to the station, which Captain Sisko approves before telling Bashir how proud he and everyone else is.
Later, Zimmerman has Bashir filling in an extremely long and detailed questionnaire which requests information on seemingly insignificant details of Julian's life. Zimmerman explains that the LMH will need to interact with people for long periods of time which may require funny stories or anecdotes from its life. Zimmerman also begins mapping Julian's body for the LMH's physical template.
Later, at Quark's bar, Zimmerman and Bashir watch over the dabo wheel where they see Leeta. Zimmerman is instantly drawn to her, and Bashir explains that she is his ex-girlfriend. Zimmerman decides to add her to his list of people to be interviewed, mentioning that he intends to interview Bashir's family and friends. Odo arrives and calls Bashir away in regards to quarantined cargo that is holding up a freighter's departure, however before he leaves Julian explicitly requests that Zimmerman not contact or interview his parents as they are currently estranged. Zimmerman tells Bashir he understands, however Julian's desire not to have his parents brought in has just made Zimmerman more eager to talk to them.
Act Two
In the infirmary, the LMH is activated. Bashir examines his holographic self and mostly compliments the replica (although notes that he doesn't like the eyes). Zimmerman then activates Deep Space 9's new EMH and copies its database to the LMH. Soon, the LMH is just like the EMH… disparaging and not very likeable. The EMH is quickly deactivated before he can complain too much about his replacement, then Zimmerman explains that while the LMH is currently simply the EMH with a new skin, he will write a completely new personality from scratch for it.
Zimmerman then begins his interviews with several of Bashir's colleagues, including Captain Sisko, Kira, Dax, Worf, Jake, and Morn (who just shrugs). During his interview, O'Brien admits that he considers his friend to be an extraordinary person with many great qualities (although he makes sure Julian won't find out what he said). After the interview with Leeta, Zimmerman asks the Bajoran out to dinner. That night, as the two share a meal, Rom is listening in from a distance, then finally interrupts the date to once again to ask Leeta out, but again can't bring himself to do it and instead makes up a lame excuse, leaving both frustrated.
The next morning, as Bashir and Captain Sisko discuss station business Dax arrives with a surprise for Bashir… his parents, Richard and Amsha. Julian is stunned (and can only just contain his horror) to see them, and sheepishly introduces them to Sisko.
Act Three
Richard begins waxing lyrical to the captain about his newest project as a landscape architect as well as claiming to be the one who convinced his son (who he called "Jules") to study medicine. Amsha tells Richard they can talk to the captain later, while revealing they're here at Zimmerman's invitation. Bashir extricates himself and his parents from the office, promising to find them quarters. Afterwards, Bashir confronts Zimmerman and demands to know why they were summoned despite his request not to have them in any way involved in the LMH project. Zimmerman is completely unapologetic, explaining that they're an important part of Julian's background.
Zimmerman is also busy on another, more personal, project as he calls on Leeta as she gets out of the shower. He tells her that the manager of Jupiter Station's cafe has decided to quit, and he has put in a good word. As a result, Leeta has been offered the job. Leeta is so blown away she accidentally exposes herself to Zimmerman, as the doctor tells her that as well as coming to Jupiter Station he makes clear he has serious feelings for her. Leeta, unsure of what to do, tells him that she needs time to think.
Julian shares a very awkward dinner with his parents, as Richard talks about the rudeness of the transport captain that brought them to the station stating his own experience on shuttles. However, from the way Richard talks, its clear that he is remembering himself as being a shuttle captain when Julian points out he was a third-class steward for six months before he was dismissed (although Richard claims he resigned). Amsha tries to diffuse the situation by asking her son about his research, but Richard is dismissive as he feels Julian should have remained on Earth rather than wanting to practice 'frontier medicine'. Julian brings up Richard's new career as a landscape architect, as the elder Bashir has always had a distinct lack of focus and real ambition instead stumbling from one job to the next. The three start to discuss Zimmerman's upcoming interviews, and Julian tries to coach his parents to not give any answers that leave any opening for Zimmerman to explore. It is made clear from their conversation that there is a dark secret at the heart of the family which could destroy Julian's career and land all of them in a lot of trouble. Richard takes offense at what he sees as Julian's lack of respect or trust in them, causing Julian to angrily walk out, remarking this is why he never visits them.
Act Four
Leeta tells Rom about Zimmerman's offer, ostensibly asking his advice but she is clearly desperate for him to ask her to stay. Once again, Rom can't express himself clearly and ends up agreeing when Leeta says she should maybe take the job. Angry and upset with Rom, she leaves.
Remorseful for their earlier argument, Richard goes to the holographic lab to apologize. Richard pledges to Julian, standing in befuddled silence, that he will never reveal the big secret that he was genetically enhanced (complete with DNA re-sequencing) and that they are proud of their son and what he has become. Julian appears to accept the apology, and his parents leave… at which point, O'Brien and Zimmerman appear. It is revealed that "Julian" was actually the LMH (who did not recognize Julian's parent) and the two have just overheard the entire conversation.
O'Brien immediately tells Bashir what has happened, leading to the latter being furious with the chief for setting up his parents. O'Brien explains that they were just testing the LMH's ability to deal with an unexpected situation, but that's not important anymore, as now instead Zimmerman is now most likely going to report to Starfleet that Bashir is unsuitable to be the LMH model due to his "suspected" genetically enhanced background. Bashir knows immediately what this means for him… once Starfleet Medical is informed, he will be discharged from the service and his license to practice medicine will be revoked as according to Federation law DNA re-sequencing is illegal for anything other than repairing serious birth defects.
O'Brien is surprised to realize that what Bashir's parents said is true, and the doctor tells him the full story; when he was a small child, Julian was having trouble keeping up with the other children his age and may even have had a learning or mental disability. He wasn't as physically able as he should have been, and while children around him were starting to learn to read Julian barely understood the world around him. Just after he turned seven, his parents took him to Adigeon Prime where he was given several illegal treatments over a number of months to enhance his mental and neurological abilities. Eventually, the only part of the original Bashir that was left was his name and when he returned to Earth his parents moved to a different city and enrolled their son in a new school using false records where he no longer struggled but instead was a star pupil. No one has ever suspected anything, however as far as Julian is concerned, he's a fraud. O'Brien tries to convince his friend that his genetic enhancements aren't what gave him his compassion, ambition or personality. He also points out that there hasn't been a case like this is over a century, so there's no way to know how Starfleet will react. Bashir, however, is convinced he will be quickly drummed out of Starfleet, and intends to resign his commission before Zimmerman files his report. O'Brien isn't ready to give up, but Julian has already accepted that this could happen and asks to be left alone.
Act Five
Meanwhile, Rom is pouring over his own woes with Quark as he laments that he didn't tell Leeta how he felt. Quark has little sympathy, instead reminding his brother of what happened with Prinadora when he entered a five-year marriage contract so he could have a son, and how he instead fell in love with her and requested an extension. As a result of Rom not reading the fine print, Prinadora's father swindled him out of all his money and Prinadora abandoned her husband and son for a richer man. Rom insists that Leeta is not Prinadora, but as far as Quark is concerned all females are exactly the same. Instead, he offers Rom use of one of his racier holosuite programs to take his mind off Leeta.
Richard is determined to fight to save Julian's career, but Julian has already resigned himself to his fate. This leads into another argument between the two, as Julian thinks of himself like one of Richard's jobs; he didn't like the one he had, so he substituted for something he wanted more. He especially snaps at being called 'Jules', telling Richard that he stopped using that name when he turned fifteen and found out what had been done to him and as far as he's concerned 'Jules' died in the hospital after his parents were too ashamed when he couldn't keep up. Amsha argues back against the accusation that they did what they did because of shame, speaking of the heartbreak she felt when she saw her young son trying his best but falling a little further behind each day while wondering if they'd done anything wrong. She convinces Julian that they did it out of love, not shame. Julian, accepting this, hugs his mother then tells both his parents that in the morning he is going to talk with Captain Sisko, resign his commission and then leave the station quietly.
The next morning, Bashir enters Captain Sisko's office to find his parents already there having told him everything. Also present is Rear Admiral Bennett, Judge Advocate General of Starfleet, presiding over the matter via holoprojector. At this point, Bashir's parents both call their son "Julian" out of respect for who he is now, not who he was as a child. They explain that a deal has been reached; Richard has taken full responsibility for everything, pleading guilty to genetic engineering and will be serving two years in a minimum-security prison (no mention of Julian's mother facing any criminal charges). In exchange, Julian can keep his commission and medical license. Julian starts to protest, but Bennett explains exactly why genetic engineering is outlawed within the Federation; because "for every Julian Bashir that can be created, there's a Khan Singh waiting in the wings". Julian accepts his father's sacrifice, and Bennett tells Richard to report immediately to him upon his return to Earth. Sisko decides to leave the family alone.
At the airlock, Bashir says goodbye to his parents and promises to visit more often. It is also time for Zimmerman and Leeta to leave, when they suddenly hear a strange noise in the distance which is growing closer. They soon find it is Rom, screaming for Leeta to stay. The Ferengi declares his love for Leeta and asks her to stay, and this is all Leeta needs as she returns his feelings and the two share their first kiss. Leeta then apologizes to Zimmerman, but he accepts that he cannot stand in the way of true love and decides to accept his life is one of solitude… until another attractive alien walks by. Zimmerman bids Leeta and Rom a very quick goodbye before leaving to catch up with the new apple of his eye.
Back at Quark's, Bashir and O'Brien engage in yet another darts match. Bashir tries to thank O'Brien for what he said earlier, but O'Brien (as always) shrugs off the kind words before suddenly realizing that as Bashir's hand-eye coordination was also enhanced then he should be easily winning. Bashir admits to lowering his game a little to make it fair, and O'Brien demands that he instead play to his full ability. Bashir obliges and quickly throws three consecutive bulls-eyes. O'Brien responds by doubling the distance from which Bashir must throw the darts in the future, promising further measures if that doesn't work.
Memorable quotes
"He needs a woman with body and brains".
"I have brains."
"Sure you do, honey. That's why I hired you. Now eat up and then take those brains back to the dabo wheel where the customers can get a good long look at them."
- Quark and Leeta
"She's a female, Rom, and the one constant in the universe is: females are trouble."
- Quark, to Rom (about his former wife Prinadora)
"Why is everyone so worried about holograms taking over the universe?"
- Lewis Zimmerman
"Note, contact subject's parents immediately."
- Lewis Zimmerman, just after Bashir asks him to not contact his parents
"Wow, think of it, Julian. If this thing works you will be able to irritate hundreds of people you never even met."
- O'Brien, about the creation of the Long-term Medical Holographic program
"What do you want me to do?"
"Just stand there and look like a doctor… if you can."
- Bashir and Lewis Zimmerman, when Zimmerman is about to download the optical parameters for the program
"Beginning data transferral."
"Data transferral?! Am I being replaced?"
"You're being supplemented by a new long term program."
"By him!?"
"There, transfer complete."
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency."
"Oh, that's original! He doesn't even look old enough to be a doctor!"
"If you want my advice, you should delete this program. Now that I'm here, why would you want an archaic piece of software like him?"
"Archaic?!"
"We can discuss this at another time."
- Lewis Zimmerman, EMH, and Long-term Medical Holographic program.
"Waaaiiit…"
- Rom, about not wanting Leeta to leave the station.
"I'm still your father, Jules, and I will not have you talk to me like that."
"No. You used to be my father. Now you're my architect, a man who designed a better son, to replace the defective one he was given. Well, your design has a built-in flaw. It's illegal."
- Richard Bashir and Julian Bashir, arguing about Julian's genetic enhancements
"You decided I was a failure in the first grade."
"Jules, you don't understand. You never did… "
"No, you don't understand! I stopped calling myself Jules when I was fifteen and I'd found out what you'd done to me! I'm Julian!"
"What difference does that make?"
"It makes every difference! Because I'm different, can't you see? Jules Bashir died in that hospital, because you couldn't live with the shame of having a son who didn't measure up!"
- Julian and Richard Bashir
"You've never had a child. You don't know what it's like to watch your son… to watch him fall a little further behind every day. You know he's trying, but something's holding him back. You don't know what it's like to stay up every night worrying that maybe it's your fault; maybe you did something wrong during the pregnancy, and maybe you weren't careful enough. Or maybe there's something wrong with you; maybe you passed on a genetic defect without even knowing it."
"Amsha…"
"No, this is important. You can condemn us for what we did; you can say it's illegal or immoral or whatever you want to say. But you have to understand that we didn't do it because we were ashamed. But because you were our son. And we loved you."
- Amsha and Richard Bashir, explaining to Julian why they had him genetically enhanced
"Two hundred years ago, we tried to improve the species through DNA resequencing. And what did we get for our troubles? The Eugenics Wars. For every Julian Bashir that can be created, there's a Khan Singh waiting in the wings – a superhuman whose ambition and thirst for power have been enhanced along with his intellect. The law against genetic engineering provided a firewall against such men. And it's my job to keep that firewall intact."
- Rear Admiral Bennett, explaining to the Bashirs why there's a ban on genetic engineering.
Summary
One day in the bar, Rom is trying to work up the courage to finally ask Leeta on a date… however this is something Rom has been trying to do for weeks without any success, leaving Quark doubtful his brother will actually go through with it. Indeed, when Leeta (who herself has feelings for Rom and is simply waiting for him to ask her out) comes over from her stint at the dabo wheel, Rom instantly loses the little courage he had summoned and bolts. Leeta worries that there's something wrong with her, and Quark does little to reassure her before sending her back to work.
Meanwhile, over a game of darts, Doctor Bashir and Chief O'Brien discuss the latter's efforts to spend more time with his daughter Molly to ensure she doesn't feel left out due to the attention focused on her new baby brother. However the discussion is suddenly interrupted by Doctor Lewis Zimmerman, Director of Holographic Imaging and Programming at Jupiter Station, who is looking for Bashir. He tells Bashir that he intends to make him "immortal".
Act One
Later, Bashir and Zimmerman are in Captain Sisko's office discussing the reason for Zimmerman's visit to Deep Space 9. The engineer explains that he was the designer and template for the innovative Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH), which was designed to provide short-term medical care in an emergency, with the capability to substitute for an entire medical staff if needed (although Deep Space 9 doesn't have one due to it being incompatible with the station's Cardassian technology). Starfleet has decided it wants to expand the concept and create a program that can operate full-time in isolated outposts (such as subspace relay stations or research outposts) where living space is at a premium and the holographic doctor wouldn't be required to leave sickbay. Furthermore, Starfleet Medical has chosen Bashir to be the template for the new Long-term Medical Holographic program (LMH). Zimmerman requests a list of technical modifications to the station, which Captain Sisko approves before telling Bashir how proud he and everyone else is.
Later, Zimmerman has Bashir filling in an extremely long and detailed questionnaire which requests information on seemingly insignificant details of Julian's life. Zimmerman explains that the LMH will need to interact with people for long periods of time which may require funny stories or anecdotes from its life. Zimmerman also begins mapping Julian's body for the LMH's physical template.
Later, at Quark's bar, Zimmerman and Bashir watch over the dabo wheel where they see Leeta. Zimmerman is instantly drawn to her, and Bashir explains that she is his ex-girlfriend. Zimmerman decides to add her to his list of people to be interviewed, mentioning that he intends to interview Bashir's family and friends. Odo arrives and calls Bashir away in regards to quarantined cargo that is holding up a freighter's departure, however before he leaves Julian explicitly requests that Zimmerman not contact or interview his parents as they are currently estranged. Zimmerman tells Bashir he understands, however Julian's desire not to have his parents brought in has just made Zimmerman more eager to talk to them.
Act Two
In the infirmary, the LMH is activated. Bashir examines his holographic self and mostly compliments the replica (although notes that he doesn't like the eyes). Zimmerman then activates Deep Space 9's new EMH and copies its database to the LMH. Soon, the LMH is just like the EMH… disparaging and not very likeable. The EMH is quickly deactivated before he can complain too much about his replacement, then Zimmerman explains that while the LMH is currently simply the EMH with a new skin, he will write a completely new personality from scratch for it.
Zimmerman then begins his interviews with several of Bashir's colleagues, including Captain Sisko, Kira, Dax, Worf, Jake, and Morn (who just shrugs). During his interview, O'Brien admits that he considers his friend to be an extraordinary person with many great qualities (although he makes sure Julian won't find out what he said). After the interview with Leeta, Zimmerman asks the Bajoran out to dinner. That night, as the two share a meal, Rom is listening in from a distance, then finally interrupts the date to once again to ask Leeta out, but again can't bring himself to do it and instead makes up a lame excuse, leaving both frustrated.
The next morning, as Bashir and Captain Sisko discuss station business Dax arrives with a surprise for Bashir… his parents, Richard and Amsha. Julian is stunned (and can only just contain his horror) to see them, and sheepishly introduces them to Sisko.
Act Three
Richard begins waxing lyrical to the captain about his newest project as a landscape architect as well as claiming to be the one who convinced his son (who he called "Jules") to study medicine. Amsha tells Richard they can talk to the captain later, while revealing they're here at Zimmerman's invitation. Bashir extricates himself and his parents from the office, promising to find them quarters. Afterwards, Bashir confronts Zimmerman and demands to know why they were summoned despite his request not to have them in any way involved in the LMH project. Zimmerman is completely unapologetic, explaining that they're an important part of Julian's background.
Zimmerman is also busy on another, more personal, project as he calls on Leeta as she gets out of the shower. He tells her that the manager of Jupiter Station's cafe has decided to quit, and he has put in a good word. As a result, Leeta has been offered the job. Leeta is so blown away she accidentally exposes herself to Zimmerman, as the doctor tells her that as well as coming to Jupiter Station he makes clear he has serious feelings for her. Leeta, unsure of what to do, tells him that she needs time to think.
Julian shares a very awkward dinner with his parents, as Richard talks about the rudeness of the transport captain that brought them to the station stating his own experience on shuttles. However, from the way Richard talks, its clear that he is remembering himself as being a shuttle captain when Julian points out he was a third-class steward for six months before he was dismissed (although Richard claims he resigned). Amsha tries to diffuse the situation by asking her son about his research, but Richard is dismissive as he feels Julian should have remained on Earth rather than wanting to practice 'frontier medicine'. Julian brings up Richard's new career as a landscape architect, as the elder Bashir has always had a distinct lack of focus and real ambition instead stumbling from one job to the next. The three start to discuss Zimmerman's upcoming interviews, and Julian tries to coach his parents to not give any answers that leave any opening for Zimmerman to explore. It is made clear from their conversation that there is a dark secret at the heart of the family which could destroy Julian's career and land all of them in a lot of trouble. Richard takes offense at what he sees as Julian's lack of respect or trust in them, causing Julian to angrily walk out, remarking this is why he never visits them.
Act Four
Leeta tells Rom about Zimmerman's offer, ostensibly asking his advice but she is clearly desperate for him to ask her to stay. Once again, Rom can't express himself clearly and ends up agreeing when Leeta says she should maybe take the job. Angry and upset with Rom, she leaves.
Remorseful for their earlier argument, Richard goes to the holographic lab to apologize. Richard pledges to Julian, standing in befuddled silence, that he will never reveal the big secret that he was genetically enhanced (complete with DNA re-sequencing) and that they are proud of their son and what he has become. Julian appears to accept the apology, and his parents leave… at which point, O'Brien and Zimmerman appear. It is revealed that "Julian" was actually the LMH (who did not recognize Julian's parent) and the two have just overheard the entire conversation.
O'Brien immediately tells Bashir what has happened, leading to the latter being furious with the chief for setting up his parents. O'Brien explains that they were just testing the LMH's ability to deal with an unexpected situation, but that's not important anymore, as now instead Zimmerman is now most likely going to report to Starfleet that Bashir is unsuitable to be the LMH model due to his "suspected" genetically enhanced background. Bashir knows immediately what this means for him… once Starfleet Medical is informed, he will be discharged from the service and his license to practice medicine will be revoked as according to Federation law DNA re-sequencing is illegal for anything other than repairing serious birth defects.
O'Brien is surprised to realize that what Bashir's parents said is true, and the doctor tells him the full story; when he was a small child, Julian was having trouble keeping up with the other children his age and may even have had a learning or mental disability. He wasn't as physically able as he should have been, and while children around him were starting to learn to read Julian barely understood the world around him. Just after he turned seven, his parents took him to Adigeon Prime where he was given several illegal treatments over a number of months to enhance his mental and neurological abilities. Eventually, the only part of the original Bashir that was left was his name and when he returned to Earth his parents moved to a different city and enrolled their son in a new school using false records where he no longer struggled but instead was a star pupil. No one has ever suspected anything, however as far as Julian is concerned, he's a fraud. O'Brien tries to convince his friend that his genetic enhancements aren't what gave him his compassion, ambition or personality. He also points out that there hasn't been a case like this is over a century, so there's no way to know how Starfleet will react. Bashir, however, is convinced he will be quickly drummed out of Starfleet, and intends to resign his commission before Zimmerman files his report. O'Brien isn't ready to give up, but Julian has already accepted that this could happen and asks to be left alone.
Act Five
Meanwhile, Rom is pouring over his own woes with Quark as he laments that he didn't tell Leeta how he felt. Quark has little sympathy, instead reminding his brother of what happened with Prinadora when he entered a five-year marriage contract so he could have a son, and how he instead fell in love with her and requested an extension. As a result of Rom not reading the fine print, Prinadora's father swindled him out of all his money and Prinadora abandoned her husband and son for a richer man. Rom insists that Leeta is not Prinadora, but as far as Quark is concerned all females are exactly the same. Instead, he offers Rom use of one of his racier holosuite programs to take his mind off Leeta.
Richard is determined to fight to save Julian's career, but Julian has already resigned himself to his fate. This leads into another argument between the two, as Julian thinks of himself like one of Richard's jobs; he didn't like the one he had, so he substituted for something he wanted more. He especially snaps at being called 'Jules', telling Richard that he stopped using that name when he turned fifteen and found out what had been done to him and as far as he's concerned 'Jules' died in the hospital after his parents were too ashamed when he couldn't keep up. Amsha argues back against the accusation that they did what they did because of shame, speaking of the heartbreak she felt when she saw her young son trying his best but falling a little further behind each day while wondering if they'd done anything wrong. She convinces Julian that they did it out of love, not shame. Julian, accepting this, hugs his mother then tells both his parents that in the morning he is going to talk with Captain Sisko, resign his commission and then leave the station quietly.
The next morning, Bashir enters Captain Sisko's office to find his parents already there having told him everything. Also present is Rear Admiral Bennett, Judge Advocate General of Starfleet, presiding over the matter via holoprojector. At this point, Bashir's parents both call their son "Julian" out of respect for who he is now, not who he was as a child. They explain that a deal has been reached; Richard has taken full responsibility for everything, pleading guilty to genetic engineering and will be serving two years in a minimum-security prison (no mention of Julian's mother facing any criminal charges). In exchange, Julian can keep his commission and medical license. Julian starts to protest, but Bennett explains exactly why genetic engineering is outlawed within the Federation; because "for every Julian Bashir that can be created, there's a Khan Singh waiting in the wings". Julian accepts his father's sacrifice, and Bennett tells Richard to report immediately to him upon his return to Earth. Sisko decides to leave the family alone.
At the airlock, Bashir says goodbye to his parents and promises to visit more often. It is also time for Zimmerman and Leeta to leave, when they suddenly hear a strange noise in the distance which is growing closer. They soon find it is Rom, screaming for Leeta to stay. The Ferengi declares his love for Leeta and asks her to stay, and this is all Leeta needs as she returns his feelings and the two share their first kiss. Leeta then apologizes to Zimmerman, but he accepts that he cannot stand in the way of true love and decides to accept his life is one of solitude… until another attractive alien walks by. Zimmerman bids Leeta and Rom a very quick goodbye before leaving to catch up with the new apple of his eye.
Back at Quark's, Bashir and O'Brien engage in yet another darts match. Bashir tries to thank O'Brien for what he said earlier, but O'Brien (as always) shrugs off the kind words before suddenly realizing that as Bashir's hand-eye coordination was also enhanced then he should be easily winning. Bashir admits to lowering his game a little to make it fair, and O'Brien demands that he instead play to his full ability. Bashir obliges and quickly throws three consecutive bulls-eyes. O'Brien responds by doubling the distance from which Bashir must throw the darts in the future, promising further measures if that doesn't work.
Memorable quotes
"He needs a woman with body and brains".
"I have brains."
"Sure you do, honey. That's why I hired you. Now eat up and then take those brains back to the dabo wheel where the customers can get a good long look at them."
- Quark and Leeta
"She's a female, Rom, and the one constant in the universe is: females are trouble."
- Quark, to Rom (about his former wife Prinadora)
"Why is everyone so worried about holograms taking over the universe?"
- Lewis Zimmerman
"Note, contact subject's parents immediately."
- Lewis Zimmerman, just after Bashir asks him to not contact his parents
"Wow, think of it, Julian. If this thing works you will be able to irritate hundreds of people you never even met."
- O'Brien, about the creation of the Long-term Medical Holographic program
"What do you want me to do?"
"Just stand there and look like a doctor… if you can."
- Bashir and Lewis Zimmerman, when Zimmerman is about to download the optical parameters for the program
"Beginning data transferral."
"Data transferral?! Am I being replaced?"
"You're being supplemented by a new long term program."
"By him!?"
"There, transfer complete."
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency."
"Oh, that's original! He doesn't even look old enough to be a doctor!"
"If you want my advice, you should delete this program. Now that I'm here, why would you want an archaic piece of software like him?"
"Archaic?!"
"We can discuss this at another time."
- Lewis Zimmerman, EMH, and Long-term Medical Holographic program.
"Waaaiiit…"
- Rom, about not wanting Leeta to leave the station.
"I'm still your father, Jules, and I will not have you talk to me like that."
"No. You used to be my father. Now you're my architect, a man who designed a better son, to replace the defective one he was given. Well, your design has a built-in flaw. It's illegal."
- Richard Bashir and Julian Bashir, arguing about Julian's genetic enhancements
"You decided I was a failure in the first grade."
"Jules, you don't understand. You never did… "
"No, you don't understand! I stopped calling myself Jules when I was fifteen and I'd found out what you'd done to me! I'm Julian!"
"What difference does that make?"
"It makes every difference! Because I'm different, can't you see? Jules Bashir died in that hospital, because you couldn't live with the shame of having a son who didn't measure up!"
- Julian and Richard Bashir
"You've never had a child. You don't know what it's like to watch your son… to watch him fall a little further behind every day. You know he's trying, but something's holding him back. You don't know what it's like to stay up every night worrying that maybe it's your fault; maybe you did something wrong during the pregnancy, and maybe you weren't careful enough. Or maybe there's something wrong with you; maybe you passed on a genetic defect without even knowing it."
"Amsha…"
"No, this is important. You can condemn us for what we did; you can say it's illegal or immoral or whatever you want to say. But you have to understand that we didn't do it because we were ashamed. But because you were our son. And we loved you."
- Amsha and Richard Bashir, explaining to Julian why they had him genetically enhanced
"Two hundred years ago, we tried to improve the species through DNA resequencing. And what did we get for our troubles? The Eugenics Wars. For every Julian Bashir that can be created, there's a Khan Singh waiting in the wings – a superhuman whose ambition and thirst for power have been enhanced along with his intellect. The law against genetic engineering provided a firewall against such men. And it's my job to keep that firewall intact."
- Rear Admiral Bennett, explaining to the Bashirs why there's a ban on genetic engineering.
