Shadowplay (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
| "Shadowplay" | |
|---|---|
| Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 16 |
| Directed by | Robert Scheerer |
| Written by | Robert Hewitt Wolfe |
| Featured music | Jay Chattaway |
| Production code | 436 |
| Original air date | February 20, 1994 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Shadowplay" is the 36th episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It is the 16th episode of the second season.
Odo and Dax investigate why a village's residents are disappearing; Major Kira and Vedek Bareil become personally involved.
Dax and Odo detect an unusual particle field emanating from a planet in the Gamma Quadrant, so they beam down to investigate. They discover the field is coming from a small village's power generator, but when a villager named Colyus discovers them, he is suspicious of them. Once Odo convinces Colyus of their intentions, Colyus explains that the village is a Yaderan colony and 22 people have disappeared in the past few days without a trace. Odo and Dax offer to help investigate the disappearances, but the village leader, Rurigan, seems unconvinced that the villagers will ever be found.
The next day, Odo talks with a shy child named Taya whose mother disappeared recently. The two find a common ground in that they are both orphans now – Taya has lost both her parents, while Odo never knew his – and during the course of their conversation, Taya reveals that the Yaderans never leave their valley. Rurigan, who was one of the village's founders and is the oldest living member, assures Odo that searching beyond the valley would be pointless. Apparently no one, including Rurigan and Colyus, has thought about searching beyond the valley or ever considered leaving it. In addition to this curious behavior, Rurigan does not seem intent on finding the villagers despite the fact that his own daughter is among the missing.
Odo and Dax take Taya to the edge of the valley, where Taya points out a tree and tells them she has never been beyond that point. When Dax passes that point, a Yaderan device vanishes from her hand. Taya reaches past the tree and her arm begins to disappear until she brings it closer to her. The three return to the village to share their findings with Colyus. Dax uses the reactor to make Colyus' cloak disappear and rematerialize, demonstrating that the entire village, including its citizens, is a holographic projection created by the reactor's particle field.
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