Stardate not given: Following the loss of a friend in the Dominion War, Benjamin Sisko is plagued by visions of another life. In this life he is the science fiction author Benny Russell living in New York in 1953. His colleagues and other characters that appear in Sisko's vision look like his staff on Deep Space 9, the aliens being remodeled to humans. His editor Pabst is the human version of Odo. Benny is writing a story about a space station in the far future, commanded by Benjamin Sisko. But Pabst refuses to publish it as he anticipates that the readers wouldn't put up with a black commander. Encouraged by his girl-friend Cassie (Kasidy Yates) and a priest (Joseph Sisko) Benny carries on nonetheless. Albert (O'Brien) devises a twist that actually the story is supposed to be just a dream which would make it acceptable. But the situation aggravates when a black teenager named Jimmy (Jake Sisko) is killed by the police (Dukat and Weyoun) and Benny is about to lose his job. Benny collapses, is taken to a hospital and wakes up as Benjamin Sisko on Deep Space 9.

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