History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E18DistantVoices

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: In Cardassian mystery novels, the suspects are always guilty. According to Garak, the challenge is determining who's guilty of what.

* TheHerosBirthday: It's Bashir's 30th, and he's not happy about it.

* PaperTiger: Altovar is an unstoppable juggernaut ripping apart the station and killing its crew at will. Real Altovar bumbles into an alarm and is caught within seconds.

Waking up, Bashir discovers that his whole office is on the fritz and his temples have suddenly started to grey. Venturing out into the promenade to see what's going on, the doctor finds the station void of life. He can't contact anyone, and the computer appears to be down. Wandering into Quarks, he discovers the barkeep cowering behind his counter. A mysterious figure in the shadows is trashing the place. Quark bolts from the scene, leaving Bashir alone again.

After getting some chairs thrown at him from the darkness, Bashir leaves the bar and heads for the security office. He finds Garak, who isn't able to provide much more information about what's going on. The Cardassian notices Bashir hair is even grayer than before. To top it off, Bashir is hearing faint voices in his head.

* TrashTheSet: Quark's Bar when Bashir first looks through the station to find out what's gone wrong. Later on, as Bashir finds out that the station is really his mind, the bar appears to be reset to its original appearance, though most of it is still unlit.

* BirthdayHater: Bashir doesn't mind birthdays in general, but he's not thrilled about reaching the big 3-0.

Bashir happens upon Sisko, who is treating injured patients, representing Bashir's professionalism. Sisko agrees to help Bashir, but barely takes a step before Altovar drags him away through a wall. Kira, Odo, O'Brien and Quark are all dispatched as well, leaving Bashir with no allies... except Garak. After breaking his hip, Bashir convinces the Cardassian to help him to Ops, where a surprise birthday awaits him.

Bashir brushes aside the festivities and tries to restart the computer, but the consoles are filled with tennis balls, much to Garak's amusement. At his wit's end, Bashir finally questions Garak on what he represents discovers that he's Altovar in disguise. Altovar confronts Bashir on his weakness, reminding him that he wanted to be a tennis player before putting it aside to appease his parents and has never been able to seal the deal with Dax. He also accuses Bashir of purposefully botching that one question on his final exam so that he wouldn't feel the pressure of being first in his class.

* DarkWorld: The entire space station during Bashir's coma is this. It's scarily similar to the ''Videogame/ChzoMythos.''

* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** Garak is the only "crewmember" to readily accept the idea that he isn't real and is just a representation of an aspect of Bashir's mind, and reminds him of this fact a few times. This is because he's not Garak, he's Altovar in disguise.

** BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: Bashir works out how to turn the situation against his enemy, by moving to Sickbay, which is his domain.

* SwissCheeseSecurity: Averted. Altovar was actually captured moments after he shocked Bashir.

Bashir and Garak are having their typical lunch together on the promenade. And Bashir is a tad grumpy. As Garak finds out, the good doctor is turning the dreaded 3-0. Garak doesn't see what the problem is, since Cardassian culture sees growing old as a sign of power. Bashir tells Garak that he simply doesn't like being reminded that he is getting older.

In the middle of their discussion, a clearly nervous Quark approaches with a menacing Lethean named Altovar. He's looking to purchase some bio-mimetic gel...which is a restricted substance that's banned from purchase. When Bashir informs him of this, Altovar storms off.

Returning to sick-bay, Bashir finds him rummaging through his stuff. When he tries to stop him, he gets a psychic shock to the noggin and passes out on the spot.

Waking up (and noticing his hair seems to have grayed slightly) Bashir finds the station void of life. He can't contact anyone and the computer appears to be down. Wandering the vacant station, he finds Quark cowering behind his bar. And some mysterious figure in the shadows trashing the place.

The Ferengi bolts from the scene, and Bashir is left alone again. Heading for the security office, he finds Garak hiding out as well. The suspicious Cardassian notices Bashir hair is even grayer than before. And now he's hearing faint voices in his head.

Heading down a random corridor, the lights begin to go out one by one. Heading for the nearest turbolift, Bashir just escapes from Altovar, courtesy of a swift kick to the face.

But things seem up as he finds Dax, Kira, O'Brien and Odo huddled in the wardroom...and they're all acting very out of character. O'Brien is cowardly, Odo is more paranoid than usual, etc. And Bashir appears to have aged 30 years.

Heading off to try at least to get communications up and running, it just gets weirder. The group hear Dax and Sisko discussing Bashir. One scan later, and the truth comes out. Altovar's attack put Bashir in a coma. And he's slowly dying.

Turns out the foursome are representations of various aspects of his personality. And just like that, Altovar appears out of nowhere and drags Dax off. Bashir goes to bang on the door...

And finds himself playing tennis on the promenade with Garak. In his 80's by now, Bashir heads off with Garak to try and fix his brain by fixing the station. Stumbling into a random corridor, Bashir finds a throng of injured people...and Sisko. Who represents his professionalism.

Not 10 seconds later, Altovar literally drags Sisko away through the wall. And a quick search finds Kira and Odo dead as well. Though Odo advises him to head for ops to fix this before he croaks.

After a bizarre scene at Quark's (who is quickly dispatched by Altovar) Bashir fills out the stereotypical old man injury. A broken hip. Garak helps him up and heads for ops...where Bashir finds a surprise birthday party waiting for him.

And tennis balls in the computer. Through all this, Bashir finally questions Garak on what he represents...turns out he doesn't represent anything. He's Altovar in disguise. After getting a talking-to from him, Bashir heads for sick-bay. Ops may be the center of the station, but sick-bay is where Bashir's world is.

One quick computer fix up later and Altovar is gone and Bashir awakens no worse for the wear. He learns from his experience of aging so rapidly in his mind that turning 30 is not so bad after all.

* PaperTiger: Mental!Altovar is an unstoppable juggernaut ripping apart the station and killing its crew at will. Real Altovar bumbles into an alarm and is caught within seconds.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Mental!Altovar gives one to Bashir at the climax, accusing him of giving up every shot he's had at getting what he wants, namely his chance to be a pro tennis player, his chance to be valedictorian of his class, and his chance at a relationship with Jadzia.
** ShutUpHannibal: However, Bashir rallies and responds that while he ''did'' want those things, he doesn't regret getting what he got instead of them (his career as a doctor, the [=DS9=] posting, Jadzia's friendship) and he's entirely happy with his life as it is.
* {{Sadist}}: Mental!Altovar takes obvious pleasure in telling Bashir he's going to make him watch as he slowly destroys him from the inside, only allowing him to die when there's nothing left of him but a withered shell. And considering he did all this to Bashir on purpose, presumably the real Altovar is one as well.

** Though not written at the time, this episode ties into nicely to Bashir's secret genetic engineering (it even makes sense that this is what allowed him to survive a usually-fatal telepathic attack) and his fear of being discovered. This episode is also the first mention that the medical school exam question that Bashir got wrong that prevented him from becoming valedictorian was answered wrong deliberately (since it is the equivalent of an engineering major confusing a wrench with a screwdriver).

and finds himself playing tennis on the promenade with Garak. In his 80's by now, Bashir heads off with Garak to try and fix his brain by fixing the station. Stumbling into a random corridor, Bashir finds a throng of injured people...and Sisko. Who represents his professionalism.

After a bizarre scene at Quark's(Who is quickly dispatched by Altovar) Bashir fills out the stereotypical old man injury. A broken hip. Garak helps him up and heads for ops...where Bashir finds a surprise birthday party waiting for him.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Though not written at the time, this episode ties into nicely to Bashir's secret genetic engineering (it even makes sense that this is what allowed him to survive a usually-fatal telepathic attack) and his fear of being discovered. This episode is also the first mention that the medical school exam question that Bashir got wrong that prevented him from becoming valedictorian was answered wrong deliberately (since it is the equivalent of an engineering major confusing a wrench with a screwdriver).

Waking up (and noticing his hair seems to have grayed slightly) Bashir finds the station void of life. He can't contact anyone and the computer appears to be down. Wondering the vacant station, he finds Quark cowering behind his bar. And some mysterious figure in the shadows trashing the place.

* ContinuityNod: Altovar accuses Bashir of intentionally making up the whole 'confused the preganglionic fiber for a postganglionic nerve' so he would be second rather than first in his class.
** Writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe included this line because his wife, who was studying to become a vet, had repeatedly pointed out that no one in the medical field would mix them up.

* TheBet: Quark inside Bashir's mind puts up bets to see which of Bashir's organs will fail first.

* ContinuityNod: Altovar accuses Bashir of intentionally making up the whole 'confused the preganglionic fiber for a postganglionic nerve' so he would be second rather than first in his class

But things seem up as he finds Dax, Kira, O'Brien and Odo huddled in the war-room...and they're all acting very out of character. O'Brien is cowardly, Odo is more paranoid than usual, etc. And Bashir appears to have aged 30 years.

* ContinuityNod: Altovar accused Bashir that he intentionally made up the whole 'confused the preganglionic fiber for a postganglionic nerve' so he would be second rather than first in his class