| It was a quiet evening on the Promenade, and even in Quark’s. Kira was about to admit her love for Odo, Dax was about to break up with Worf once and for all, and Bashir had finally realised that Garak had admitted his feelings several years ago, though naturally couched in suitable Cardassian rhetoric.
But before anyone could do any of these things, a shout came up from somewhere in the anonymous crowd. "You are all INSANE!!!!!!!!!!! Deep Space Nine is just a space station! Get over it!"
"Is that so?" Odo called back. "And I thought it was a planet. Thank you so much for enlightening us; now we all know the truth."
Morn sat at the bar, speechless.
"I don’t recall anyone saying it *wasn’t* a space station," Sisko said.
"As if I didn’t know myself about the station," O’Brien called, "seeing as I work here every day trying to repair this blasted Cardie technology."
Kira was starting to get annoyed. If this kept going on, the mood between her and Odo would be lost and she’d *never* get around to telling him she loved him. "And why should we care about your opinion anyway?" she shouted. "If you don’t want to live here then don’t, but you can let the rest of us enjoy our dinners."
"Clinically I don’t think I’d classify anyone here as insane," Bashir said, adding with a glance at Garak, "although I don’t know everyone well enough to be completely certain of that. As for ‘getting over’ Deep Space Nine… That could be difficult, considering that it’s floating in space where there *isn’t* any ‘over’ or ‘under’. Besides, I’ve never been particularly good at getting over things." He watched Garak carefully.
Garak smiled. "My dear doctor, it is of course a matter of perspective. It is quite likely that we are indeed all insane, or that none of us are; how would we tell the difference? And there are, after all, many different forms of madness…" His voice lowered then, so that it wasn’t audible over the general murmur of the crowd.
"You’re all wrong, *wrong* I tell you!" Dax shouted suddenly, leaning over the railing of the upper storey of Quark’s as Worf looked on in alarm. "It *is* a planet. A beautiful planet. See, it’s round, isn’t it? And it’s got air on it? And we live in it?" she demanded, her voice rising to a hysterical pitch. "So it *has* to be a planet, and you can’t tell me it’s not!" She sank back into her chair with a grin at Worf, forgetting for the moment that their marriage really wasn’t working out. He, on the other hand, was beginning to have second thoughts.
"So," Quark called into the sudden silence, "what kind of drink do you like?"
There was silence.
"Hey, where’d he go?" Kira demanded.
Bashir scanned the Promenade, one hand hovering near his commbadge. It was just conceivable that the man might have suffered some form of heart attack and be in need of medical assistance… but no-one was to be found. "It looks like he left," he concluded.
"And probably quite some time ago," Odo added sourly.
"You mean it was just a troll?" Worf demanded.
"It looks like it was," Sisko said. "Constable, find out who that man was and--"
"Wait a minute, Benjamin," Dax said. "It’s not like he did anything *illegal*." She added under her breath, "Apart from nearly inciting a riot." She continued with a grin, "Besides, it was quite fun."
"You have a strange idea of fun, Old Man," Sisko said.
"I think she’s right," Jake said, speaking for the first time. "And I’ve got a great story idea from it…" |
