Extreme Measures (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

Plot

Sloan shows up in Julian Bashir's quarters, baited by the fake announcement of a cure to the changelings' plague. When Sloan sees no way to get out of Bashir's interrogation, he kills himself. Bashir, with Miles O'Brien, use a multitronic engrammatic interpreter to infiltrate Sloan's mind, but Bashir is quick to warn O'Brien that they only have a short time to find the information they seek – when Sloan's brain shuts down, they'll die with him if they're still connected. Upon entering Sloan's mind, they are immediately greeted by his subconscious, which is more than willing to help them, but is prevented by Sloan's higher brain functions from speaking it out loud. After a meeting with his 'family', in which Sloan apologizes to his family for not being there when they needed him most, a different version of Sloan enters the room, destroys it, and informs Bashir and O'Brien that they can't have the information. Sloan has created a scenario that leads the two to believe that they are forced to exit Sloan's mind. The scenario includes their believing that Sloan has died. When Bashir sits down in his quarters to read, he discovers that his book ends exactly where he stopped reading the previous night – and then starts over from the beginning on the next page. Deducing that they're still in Sloan's mind and fell for a stalling tactic, the two return to Sloan's mind and eventually find him in his office, which is filled with secret data about Section 31. Sloan baits Bashir with the information in his mind – information that would allow Bashir to dismantle Section 31 once and for all. With seconds left before Sloan's brain shuts down, O'Brien recognizes the trap and tells Bashir to get them out of Sloan's mind. Having obtained the chemical formula for the cure, Bashir administers the drug to Odo. Aside from some brief discomfort, Odo is completely cured.