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Miles OBrien (replicant)

A replicant of Miles O'Brien

A replicant was a biological duplicate of a real person that could be programmed to complete specific tasks. Androids might also be skinned with replicant DNA to appear Human, even to scanners. (DS9: "Whispers"; ST: "The Escape Artist")

The Paradan government once created a replicant of Miles O'Brien in an attempt to assassinate the leaders of the Parada rebels. The replicant was programmed to think and act like the real O'Brien, even believing it was him. However, it was believed to have a trigger inside it that would cause its true programming to surface during peace talks between the government and the rebels. An informant in the government tipped the rebels off and the replicant was eventually killed, but in the meantime, as Kira Nerys put it, "he must have wondered what the hell was going on with all of us." (DS9: "Whispers")

The decision to use the word "replicant" when referring to the fake O'Brien was motivated by the desire to use something other than "android", which was deemed to be too familiar with the character of Data, or the term "clone" which didn't seem to fit in this instance. Writer Paul Robert Coyle ultimately chose replicant as an homage to the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner and the fact that the term hadn't already been used in Star Trek. Coyle commented; "Obviously, this guy wasn't a clone or an android or a robot. So what's left? I used replicant and nobody objected." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 118)

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