( sighs )
How long was I asleep?
Almost two hours.
You dropped out of warp.
Must be close to home.
We entered the Bajoran system a few minutes ago.
What's that?
The shopkeeper I bought it from called it a "knickknack."
I didn't know you collected knickknacks.
It's a present for Kira.
Oh...
You, you don't think she'll like it?
Oh, I'm sure she'll like it.
It's just that I didn't get anything for Keiko.
Ah.
Well, the conference kept you pretty busy.
Well, you found time to get something.
Not chocolates as well.
Hmm. Rigelian chocolates— her favorite.
I'll buy them from you.
I beg your pardon?
I'll buy them from you.
Come on, Odo.
You don't have to give her two presents.
You've only been gone a day.
I'm sorry, Miles, but the answer is no.
( alarm blaring )
There's something behind us.
It's gaining on us fast.
You think it's friendly?
I hope so.
It's certainly taken an interest in us.
Uh-oh.
It's gone.
What? According to the sensors
there's nothing out there.
Well, where'd it go?
( deep rumbling )
( thumping )
( rumbling and thumping continue )
It's a changeling.
Captioning sponsored by PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Stay where you are, or I'll fire.
You. You are a Metamorph.
I'm a changeling, yes.
Tell the mono-form to put down its weapon.
Why did you board our ship?
Because I sensed you were here.
I had to see if it were true—
if I'd finally found another Metamorph.
You've never met another shape-shifter?
I've been trying to find others of my kind for a long time.
I told you to stay where you are.
How do we know he's not a Founder?
He's not.
He's one of the hundred.
The hundred?
Over the centuries, our people sent out
100 infant changelings into the galaxy.
We were to learn about other species
and eventually return home to share what we'd experienced.
That would explain why I was alone on Varala.
I didn't even know what I was at first
or that I could assume other forms.
I was the same way.
I hate to interrupt, but shouldn't we get him
into a containment field until we're sure
he's telling the truth?
SHAPE-SHIFTER: I will allow myself
to be taken prisoner to show my good faith
but only if you vouch for my safety.
I do not trust...
humanoids.
So, where is he now?
In a holding cell.
Captain, he's not a threat to us.
He's just a changeling who's traveled a long way
to find out where he came from.
You believe his story?
Yes, sir, I do.
If he were a Founder, he'd be infected
with the same disease that's afflicting the entire Link.
I asked Dr. Bashir to scan him.
His morphogenic matrix is as stable as mine.
Sir, with your permission, I'd like to release him.
Well, Constable, I'm sure you can appreciate
why I'd have reservations about that.
We're still at war with your people.
The Founders have deceived us before.
I realize that, sir, but he is not a Founder.
He's one of the hundred.
I'm sure of it.
Sir... I'm asking you to trust me on this.
All right, Constable.
I'll release him into your custody.
Thank you, sir.
When I found out our people were
the leaders of the Dominion
I realized I had no place with them.
This war they're fighting is wrong.
I can understand their distrust of humanoids
but why try to conquer them?
Better to avoid them altogether.
You don't much care for humanoids.
I know from experience
they don't much care for changelings.
I think you'll find
the people here are different.
Oh?
They accepted me.
Have they?
Is that why you stayed?
I told you I want no part of the Founders.
But what about the hundred that were sent out?
Haven't you tried to find any of them?
No.
It's a huge galaxy.
They could be anywhere.
Hmm. I found you.
I have a life here.
I have... friends.
Constable.
When did you first assume humanoid form?
A little over 30 years ago.
So that's it.
It's all still so new to you.
I spent the first part of my life
living among humanoids as well.
How long ago was that?
Over 200 years.
Oh...
I must have been sent out earlier than you.
Or it could be that I was adrift
for a long time before I was found.
Either way, it would explain
why you've chosen to stay here.
I, too, was fascinated by humanoid life
in the beginning.
But, uh, you lost interest.
I found it limiting.
The Varalans never accepted me as one of them
and I was never really able to fully mimic
their appearance.
Faces aren't easy.
No, and humanoids are not very tolerant of difference.
Some of them are.
There are dozens
of species on this station
and they tolerate
each other's differences very well.
Hmm. He has bumps on his forehead.
She has a wrinkled nose, but basically they're alike.
They are bipeds that eat, sleep, breathe.
You and I are nothing like them.
We're changelings.
We can be like them when we choose.
I choose to be like them as little as possible.
That's where we differ.
Let me show you where you'll be staying.
You haven't told me your name.
The Varalans called me Laas.
In their language it means "changeable."
Not very imaginative, is it?
At least it's appropriate.
Mine means "unknown sample."
The scientist who found me didn't know what I was.
These are my quarters.
I'll be staying... somewhere else.
Feel free to shape-shift as you please.
Some of these forms are quite interesting.
This hasn't been used in some time.
I've... been busy.
Who is this?
Her name is Kira.
Ah, I had a mate once.
Oh?
On Varala.
Not long after I first assumed humanoid form.
And... what happened?
We couldn't have children.
Uh, that was important to her.
Is it something that matters to this Kira?
We've never discussed it.
Neither did we... at first.
Do our people reproduce?
It's more complicated than that.
In our natural state
we don't exist as separate entities.
I don't understand.
Our people spend most of their time in the Link.
The Link?
It involves a melding into one—
a merging of thought and form, idea...
and sensation.
You're speaking in riddles.
It's difficult to explain.
Then don't.
Show me.
Of course.
Take it.
For the first time in my life
I understand...
how I was meant to exist.
You've given up a great deal to remain here.
Yes.
Yes, I have.
But I won't have anything to do with the Founders and their war.
Odo...
we linked.
I know the truth.
You stayed here because of Kira.
you would be with our people, war or no war.
You would be...
a Founder.
( door opening )
Hi.
Hello, Nerys.
I can't believe it.
Another changeling.
What's he like?
( sighs )
He's...
complicated.
Like you.
( chuckling )
You all right?
I'm fine.
You seem far away.
We linked.
I see.
There's nothing to worry about.
He's not a Founder.
He's not trying to lure me to the Dominion.
The Link is part of what we are.
It comes as naturally to us as talking does to humanoids.
It's a little more personal than-than talking, isn't it?
I suppose.
So...
do I get to meet him?
If you like.
I would.
Then I'll arrange it.
( chuckling )
Here they are.
This is Laas.
Nerys. Julian.
Ezri. Miles.
We've met.
Look, I'm sorry.
We didn't know who you were at first.
You gave us quite a scare when you rammed the runabout.
I've always wondered how it would feel
to be able to fly through space like that.
It's a shame you're incapable of ever experiencing it.
Guess so.
Tell us about Varala.
No Federation ship's ever been there.
It's just the same as any other planet—
overrun with humanoids
cities and farms everywhere
other life-forms
displaced from their habitats.
Once I migrated to the southern continent
with a herd of volg.
When we returned to our breeding grounds
the following summer, they had been fenced off.
The herd died out within two generations.
It's always that way where humanoids thrive.
They disrupt the natural balance.
Who ordered the vilm-steak?
Uh, um, you better keep that warm.
Whatever you say.
The truth is I prefer
the so-called primitive life-forms.
They exist as they were meant to—
by following...
their instincts.
No words get in the way, no lies, no deceptions.
We're not the ones who can disguise ourselves
as anything we want.
Meaning...?
Meaning shape-shifters are not to be trusted.
I trust Odo.
Of course, you trust Odo.
Look at him.
You've convinced him that he is as limited
as you are.
Laas...
You've seen through our evil plan.
Oop. Foiled again.
It's not funny.
No.
I'm very worried for him.
Odo can take care of himself.
Thank you, Colonel.
Well...
( chuckles uneasily ): this has been...
interesting.
If you'll excuse us, Colonel
Counselor, Doctor
Chief?
Laas?
Nice to see you again.
This way.
Was it really necessary to insult my friends?
I was merely speaking my mind.
Well, you could call it that.
Humanoids are such tragic creatures.
They've lost the ability
to take joy in simply existing
and yet they haven't evolved to the next level
where consciousness exists independent of form.
You're certainly not afraid to make grand generalizations.
Well, I've been many things in my time, Odo.
I speak from experience.
Enough talk. Link with me.
Here?
Why not?
I don't think that's a good idea.
Are you embarrassed?
No.
You don't want to do anything to remind them
that you're not truly a humanoid.
I don't go out of my way to point it out, no.
Why not?
Are you afraid they will reject you?
I don't like to confront people with something
that might make them uncomfortable.
So, you deny your true nature in order to fit in?
You're reading too much into it.
Before I came here
when was the last time you assumed another form?
You can't even remember.
You've been pretending to be a humanoid for so long
it doesn't even occur to you that you can be anything else.
That's not true.
I've just been involved with...
other things lately.
Like what, courting Kira?
She can't even link with you.
Leave her out of this.
It won't last.
The fact that your relationship failed
doesn't mean that mine will.
True.
And, if you're very lucky
you can watch her grow old and die.
I think you should stay out of my affairs.
I don't want to see you make the same mistakes I made.
You're wasting your time
trying to be a humanoid.
You're limiting yourself.
Let's leave here, Odo.
Let's find the others.
100 were sent away
and they're out there...
somewhere.
If we can find even a few of them, we can form a new Link.
Think of it, Odo.
We can exist the way we were meant to.
As changelings.
I can't believe he actually thought
you'd just drop everything and leave with him.
He just can't understand why I want to stay here.
How did he take it when you said no?
You did say no, didn't you?
I told him I'd think about it.
I didn't want to dismiss it out of hand.
He would have taken offense.
Why do you look at me like that?
It just... bothers me
that he thinks that you're not happy here.
Makes me think he knows something that I don't.
What makes you say that?
He linked with you.
Ah.
Something about that
gave him the impression that...
you might want to leave here.
It's just wishful thinking on his part.
The thought of the two of us going off together
looking for the others
exploring the galaxy as changelings...
it's very alluring.
To him.
I'm... happy...
here.
I'm sorry I can't link with you.
( sighs )
It doesn't matter, Nerys.
I love you.
Computer, activate fire suppression sys...
Laas?
I need to talk to you.
You didn't realize it was me.
Did you even know we could exist as fire?
I didn't think so.
No matter.
Once we're away from here
I'll teach you to become things
you've never even dreamed of.
I'm not leaving.
I'm staying here.
Why?
So you can keep on pretending
to be one of them?
I'm sorry if you're disappointed.
I'll survive.
And when I find some of the others...
I'll send for you.
You'll change your mind.
You'll join us.
It could take a long time for you to find another changeling.
Is that supposed to discourage me?
All I'm saying is you don't have to leave right away.
I wouldn't mind the company of another changeling.
I'm sure you wouldn't mind either.
All right, Odo.
I won't abandon you to these mono-forms.
As a favor to you...
I'll stay a while.
Well, you might as well.
If you can't get along with me
what makes you think you can get along with any other changeling?
Just remember, I have no interest in mono-forms
even if they are your... friends.
After what happened at Quark's, I don't think
you have to worry about an overcrowded social schedule.
Good.
( excited voices outside )
( children laughing )
Children, children.
What?
Great. The environmental system's out again.
There goes our holosuite reservation.
I better go see what the problem is.
Don't bother, Chief.
There's nothing wrong with the environmental system.
Then where's all this fog coming from?
It's not fog.
It's Laas.
Laas?
What's he doing?
Being fog.
What's it look like?
Can't he be fog somewhere else?
Or at night when nobody's around?
He's not hurting anyone.
Still...
it's kind of creepy.
Careful, Miles.
He might hear you.
( loudly ): Good.
Laas?
Laas.
Well... congratulations.
You've managed to disrupt the entire Promenade.
I was just relaxing.
If you want to relax, do it in private.
Did I embarrass you?
Ka'vek!
What is this Founder doing here?
He's not a Founder.
Now, move along.
Don't change form in my presence again.
I will change form where I please.
Look at him.
Look at the hate in his eyes.
Laas.
Your hands are stained with the blood of Klingon warriors.
But then the stench would still be on them.
P'tak!
Mine's bigger.
Ke'chaw!
No.
( groans )
No!
Dr. Bashir wasn't able to save the Klingon's life.
General Martok
has asked that Laas be detained
until the magistrate can determine jurisdiction.
Jurisdiction?
The Klingons
want to extradite him.
That's ridiculous.
He killed that Klingon in self-defense.
That is in dispute.
He was about to draw his disrupter.
According to the other Klingon
he was reaching for his dagger.
Are you saying that's not true?
It all happened too fast, but their intentions were obvious.
One of them put a knife in his chest.
The Klingons are arguing
that since Laas knew he couldn't be harmed by a knife
that he wasn't justified in responding with deadly force.
Since when do the Klingons resort to legal quibbling?
They get involved in fights all the time.
They never file charges.
It isn't honorable.
In this case, the Klingons
are exercising their rights under the law.
Sir, they are only doing this
because they distrust changelings.
He should not have provoked them.
Provoked them?
They attacked Laas.
They claim he surrounded them menacingly.
They felt menaced by fog.
They weren't the only ones.
There are 12 other people who filed complaints.
Is it a crime to shape-shift on the Promenade?
It's not a crime, but it's obviously not a good idea.
You're going to allow the Klingons to extradite him
knowing they won't give him a fair trial.
That's not my decision.
It's up to the magistrate.
But you'd just as soon be rid of him.
You never wanted him on the station in the first place.
I practically had to beg you
to let him out of that holding cell.
Now, Martok has expressed some concerns
about our security arrangements.
Meaning?
He's not sure it's appropriate
that you should be in charge of the prisoner.
May I ask why?
Because you were a witness to the alleged crime.
Well, that's a relief.
For a moment, I thought you were going to say it's because...
I'm a changeling.
Odo.
I heard about your friend.
Rumor has it the Klingons want to put him on trial.
They're the ones who should be put on trial.
If they'd attacked anyone other than a changeling
they would be.
You're probably right.
That fog episode certainly didn't help matters.
Laas was only doing what comes naturally to us.
You never pulled a stunt like that.
You're smart enough to know that people don't want
to be reminded that you're different.
Who wants to see somebody turn into goo?
I hope you don't do that around Kira.
Why shouldn't I?
Well, if she's anything like me, she'd rather you didn't.
Don't you get it, Odo?
We humanoids are a product
of millions of years of evolution.
Our ancestors learned the hard way
that what you don't know might kill you.
They wouldn't have survived if they hadn't have jumped back
when they encountered a snake coiled in the muck.
And, now, millions of years later
that instinct is still there.
It's genetic.
Our tolerance to other life-forms doesn't extend
beyond the two-arm, two-leg variety.
I hate to break this to you...
but when you're in your natural state...
you're more than our poor old genes can handle.
So what are you saying, Quark?
That the Klingons couldn't help what they did
because of their genes?
I'm not trying to excuse what they did.
I'm only telling you
why it happened.
Watch your step, Odo.
We're at war with your people.
This is no time
for a changeling pride demonstration on the Promenade.
Constable.
I'd like to have
a few minutes alone with the prisoner.
Sorry, sir.
I have my orders.
I don't know what to say.
You could say you were wrong.
You could say the people here
are no different than any other humanoids.
Hopefully, this will all
get straightened out at your hearing.
I am sure it will be fair and impartial.
Just tell them exactly what happened.
My word against a humanoid's.
Whom do you think this magistrate
is going to believe?
I shouldn't have convinced you to stay.
If I had just... let you go
none of this would have happened.
My only consolation
is that this may finally make you understand
that you don't belong here.
You saw the hatred in that Klingon's eyes.
Perhaps now you'll recognize it
when you see it hiding in the faces
of your so-called friends.
They tolerate you, Odo...
because you emulate them.
What higher flattery is there?
"I, who can be anything, choose to be like you."
But even when you make yourself in their image
they know you are not truly one of them.
They know that what you appear to be does not reflect
what you really are.
It's only a mask.
What lies underneath
is alien to them
and so they fear it.
And that fear can turn to hate
in the blink of an eye.
They're going to extradite him.
You don't know that.
Yes, I do, and no one is going to do anything to stop it.
There's not much anyone can do.
If he weren't a changeling
the Captain would find a way to intervene.
Oh, no, that's unfair.
Is it?
You're starting to sound like Laas.
Well, maybe that's because I'm starting
to see things more clearly now.
What is that supposed to mean?
Look at me, Nerys. What do you see?
I see you.
No. No, this is just a form I borrowed.
I could just as easily be someone or something else.
I know that
but this...
is what you have always chosen to be.
A man...
a good and honest man...
a man I fell in love with.
Are you trying to tell me that he never really existed?
I don't know.
I care for you
more than anyone I've ever known.
These last few months have been the happiest of my life.
But even so...
part of me wishes that Laas and I were out there right now
searching for the others
existing as changelings.
Because that's what I am.
Not a humanoid.
I'm a changeling.
Well, then maybe you're right.
Maybe you do belong out there.
Can I help you, Colonel?
Uh... I need to talk to the prisoner.
Alone.
Aye, sir.
Go to the third planet in the Koralis system.
You'll find an orbital tether
running down to an abandoned mining complex.
I'll tell Odo to meet you there.
Is this some kind of a trick?
Do you want to get out of here or not?
That vent will lead you through some conduits to an airlock.
Why?
I love him.
Escaped?
How did he get through the containment field?
KIRA: I can't explain it.
All I can tell you is what I saw.
He turned into some kind of plasma energy
and forced his way through.
Before I could stop him, he had disappeared
into the air vent.
According to the operations log
one of the airlocks was activated shortly after that.
If he left the station
why didn't our sensors detect him?
A Corvallen freighter was leaving about the same time.
He must have shadowed it to keep from being spotted.
He could be anywhere by now.
General Martok is not going to be happy about this.
By fleeing, the changeling has demonstrated his guilt.
Either that, or his lack of faith in our justice system.
He must be apprehended and brought to trial.
Mr. Worf, have all available runabouts
begin a sector-wide search.
Aye, sir.
Good luck.
Constable, I know it's a long shot
but I'm sure you can agree
we should do everything we can to find him.
Of course.
Dismissed.
Level 9.
You didn't hide it very well...
that you're glad he escaped.
I should have known he'd be able to escape.
What's a force field
to a changeling with his abilities?
You said you wished you were out there with him.
Well, it's not too late.
I don't understand.
He's waiting for you at an abandoned mine on Koralis III.
You... helped him escape?
I don't want you to stay here under some...
sense of obligation.
Good luck.
I hope you find what you're looking for.
Laas?
I knew you would come.
This is a new beginning for us, Odo
a new beginning for our people.
You and I are about to embark
on the adventure of our lives.
What's wrong?
I'm not going with you.
Why are you here?
I've come to say good-bye.
Don't be a fool.
What are you holding on to?
Kira?
Even she knows that this is what's best for you.
Why else would she have helped me to escape?
You really don't know, do you?
You've no idea what it means
to love someone enough to let them go.
She let you go
so that you could find out where you belong.
I know where I belong.
Laas...
humanoids are not the petty, limited creatures
you perceive them to be.
What Nerys did should prove that, even to you.
Love conquers all. Is that it?
I'm sorry you can't understand.
You've done many things
been many things...
but you've never known love.
Compared to the Link
it is a pale shadow
a feeble attempt to compensate for the isolation
that mono-forms feel
because they are trapped within themselves.
Perhaps the fact that it's not easy
is what makes it worthwhile.
Odo...
the Founders are dying.
This could be your last chance
to exist the way you were meant to.
Don't throw it away.
You'd better go.
They're looking for you.
Good luck.
And to you, Odo.
You'll need it more than I.
KIRA: Watch over him.
Help him find his way.
( door chimes )
Yes.
I didn't think I'd see you again.
I couldn't go.
If I ever made you feel that you couldn't be yourself with me...
I'm sorry.
I want to know you...
the way you really are.
( sighs )
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