Hard Time ( episode ) Convicted of espionage , Miles O ' Brien is given the memories of twenty years in prison in a matter of hours . Returning to Deep Space 9 , O ' Brien finds he cannot shrug the memory of his awful experience or rid himself of the guilt he feels over the death of his cellmate . Summary . Teaser . An elderly Miles O ' Brien sits in an Argrathi jail cell , drawing patterns in the sand . Two Argrathi enter and tell him that he is now free to go . He claims that he has nowhere to go , but is thrown out of the cell anyway . He suddenly awakens to find Major Kira looking over him . Kira explains that the Argathi have implanted a twenty - year prison sentence in his head , and that only a few hours have passed since his conviction . Act One . Captain Sisko explains to Keiko that while on a mission to Argratha , O ' Brien was falsely accused of espionage and sentenced to twenty years in prison . However , the Argrathi are experts at mind - controlling and mind - altering technologies , and their criminal system was able to administer him the experience of twenty years of prison in just a few hours of treatment , without physically harming him . By the time the details of the events had been received by Deep Space 9 , the " sentence " had already been completed , and he was free to return home . O ' Brien and Kira arrive at the station , and Doctor Bashir meets them at the airlock . He promises to do his best to remove the memory implants . He asks O ' Brien a bit about the experience , such as if he was alone in his cell . O ' Brien says yes , but from a flashback to his incarceration it becomes clear that he had a cell mate named Ee ' char . O ' Brien remembers the time he met Ee ' char in his cell , who helped him by giving him a fruit called " chee ' lash " . They exchange their names , " crimes " and sentences . Act Two . Bashir soon discovers that the memories of his imprisonment were not simply implanted : he really experienced living in a cell for twenty years , though in his mind at an accelerated rate . Thus , eradication of these memories is out of the question , and he has to accept them . He tells Keiko and she understands . They go in to see O ' Brien in the infirmary , who had tried to order the " chee ' lash " fruit from the replicator . When Keiko enters the room , he first sees Ee ' char in her place , but that fades as he holds her and remembers she is pregnant . O ' Brien soon finds he has trouble undoing the habits he had taken up during his incarceration , including saving scraps of food " for later " during dinner with his family . A flashback shows Ee ' char doing the same thing . O ' Brien questions Ee ' char on how to cope , and he shows O ' Brien how to draw complex patterns in the sand called " eseeka s " to pass the time . They are told it ' s time to go to sleep , and then Keiko awakens in the middle of the night to find O ' Brien sleeping on the floor . Act Three . O ' Brien ' s memories come back to haunt him and he begins seeing his former simulated cellmate Ee ' char walking around the station . He plays darts with Worf for a bit in Quark ' s , but leaves when he sees Ee ' char out on the Promenade . < nowiki > < / nowiki > He also finds it very difficult to readjust to life back on the station . Later , Jake helps him remember the names of the various tools . O ' Brien is determined to get back up to speed immediately and dive into work . He makes some repairs with the crew , and Muniz briefly checks him and has a friendly exchange . O ' Brien is friendly , too , but hiding his stress when Muniz leaves for lunch . O ' Brien hangs back , only to be confronted by Bashir about not having been to the psychologist Counselor Telnorri for the past ten days . O ' Brien says he does not want to talk about his life in prison , only to forget it and be left alone . Bashir keeps pushing , and O ' Brien snaps at him , storming off . O ' Brien then remembers a time when he reached his limit on staying calm in the cell . He made noise when he banged on the door , objecting to his incarceration but also inviting a threat of retaliation from the guards for the disturbance . Ee ' char finally held him down to prevent any actions taken . Later on , he goes to Quark ' s again and lashes out at him for taking his time to serve him a drink , pinning him by the arm . O ' Brien leaves with his drink to a table to be alone , where Ee ' char continues to reappear , claiming that in O ' Brien ' s eyes , he was real and always will be . During , Odo is alerted to the incident , both Quark and Odo observing O ' Brien . Act Four . O ' Brien continues seeing Ee ' char , now on his way to work . He says he ' s worried about O ' Brien , but O ' Brien insists he is OK , but Ee ' char makes the point that O ' Brien keeps seeing him . Soon , Sisko calls O ' Brien to his office . Hearing about O ' Brien ' s behavior , Sisko relieves him of duty , and orders him to report to the infirmary , and to continue his counseling sessions . O ' Brien storms out of Ops , snapping at Dax and throws his combadge at the floor of a turbolift . Then he goes to the infirmary , and tells Bashir to leave him alone . Interestingly , Ee ' char appears just behind Bashir , and O ' Brien snaps directly at the both of them . O ' Brien returns to his quarters , but , on the way , Ee ' char continues to confront him , saying he can ' t run from him forever . Furthermore , there ' s a reason O ' Brien can ' t get rid of him . He returns to his quarters eventually to a worried Keiko . Unfortunately , when Molly pesters him for attention at this moment , he becomes so angry that he gets up and nearly hits her . Horrified by what he nearly did , Miles then goes to a cargo bay and vents his frustration by smashing a number of storage containers in a rage with a pole . Finally he spots weapons locker 47 and pulls a phaser out , deciding to commit suicide . Setting the phaser to maximum , he aims it at himself . Act Five . Bashir arrives and tries to talk O ' Brien out of killing himself . O ' Brien says he cannot go on living when he is a threat to his family and all his friends . The man he was is gone , and all that ' s left is a dangerous monster . He confesses his worst crime : after almost twenty years , he found that Ee ' char had been hoarding food without telling him , and killed him in a rage – before he realized that the food was for both of them . O ' Brien , an " evolved " Human of the 24th century , gave into bestial rage and murder ed his best friend , for nothing . Bashir tells him he ' s wrong ; the fact that he feels remorse over killing Ee ' char proves that he is still a decent Human being , not a monster . His captors tried to strip away his Humanity ; they may have succeeded for a moment , but if O ' Brien takes his own life , the Agrathi will have succeeded in destroying a good man . Over Bashir ' s shoulder , O ' Brien is surprised to see Ee ' char , smiling at him , without reproach . Ee ' char tells his friend to " be well , " and walks away , disappearing . O ' Brien lowers the phaser , and Bashir takes it away . Walking O ' Brien back to his quarters , Bashir prescribes a medication that will take the edge off his depression and stop him from having any more hallucinations . However , the false memories cannot be removed , and O ' Brien will have to come to terms with them on his own . Bashir convinces him to resume counseling sessions , and O ' Brien thanks his best friend for all his help . When he enters his quarters , O ' Brien is gratified when Molly runs into his arms , glad to have him back . Memorable quotes . " " The crime of espionage requires a minimum of fifteen cycles of correction ; you ' ve been here for twenty . It ' s time for you to go . " " " " Go ? I can ' t leave . Where would I go " to " ? " " " " Let me guess — sedition ? " " " " Espionage . " " " " Oh . . . it looks like we ' re going to be in here together for a long time . My name is Ee ' Char . " " " " Miles , Miles O ' Brien . " " " " Hello , Miles . Welcome to hell . " " " " After six years in a place like this , you either learn to laugh or you ' ll go insane . I prefer to laugh . . . " " " " I ' m not your friend ! The O ' Brien that was your friend died in that cell ! " " " " When we were growing up , they used to tell us . . . Humanity had evolved , that mankind had outgrown hate and rage . But when it came down to it , when I had the chance to show , that no matter what anybody did to me , that I was still an evolved Human being . . . I failed . I repaid kindness with blood . I was no better than an animal . " " " " No . No , no , no . An animal would ' ve killed Ee ' Char and never had a second thought , never shed a tear . . . But not you . You hate yourself . You hate yourself so much you think you deserve to die . The Argrathi did everything they could to strip you of your Humanity and in the end , for one brief moment they succeeded . But you can ' t let that brief moment define your entire life . If you do , if you pull that trigger . . then the Argrathi will have won . They will have destroyed a good man . You cannot let that happen , my friend . " " " " Daddy ' s home ! Daddy ' s home ! " " " " That ' s right . Daddy ' s home . " " Links and references . References . Argratha ; Argrathi ; Argrathi Authority ; Argrathi prison ; Argrathi Security ; Bajoran wormhole ; ; bread ; Cardassia Prime ; chee ' lash fruit ; Constable ; cycle ; darts ; decontamination ; depression ; dormancy period ; eseekas ; espionage ; Federation - Cardassian War ; habitat ring ; holding cell ; holosuite ; interphasic coil spanner ; kayaking ; magnetic wave guide ; milligram ; napkin ; ODN recoupler ; quantum flux regulator ; Paradan ; phaser ; pregnancy ; Promenade ; Quark ' s ; reeta - hawk ; runabout ; sedition ; Setlik III ; suicide ; synthale ; Telnorri ; toilet facility ; tricorder