Chapter Seventeen

Wandering Trust

Whether it was because of something messing with their brains or not, it was a matter of the most basic simplicity that being away from the situation instead of being in the middle of it certainly had its advantages. Quark lived first-hand this fact of life. It was how he had been able to outwit a Vulcan with her own sense of logic and escape death by a Klingon on Kronos through appealing to the judge's sense of honor.

"How holy still," he muttered out loud, "is Rule of Acquisition Number 4 'Watch carefully before diving for profit in dangerous waters… and remember to jump back out before you drown,' which even according to the usual commentary, is to be seen as a warning not to allow oneself to be caught up in the middle of something but to always watch from the outside."

"How very true," remarked the voice just behind him.

"Still something's bothering me, Sharzee," said Quark as he was dragging his weary body into the bedroom.

He unbuckled his chest strap, and gently removed his lily-pad broach. He set the latter onto a low table near the closet, and adjusted it just a little.

"Besides your headache?" Sharzee asked innocently.

"Pfft!" Quark rolled his eyes. A two-year-old could have heard and understood him enough to sense his tenseness and compensation for pain towards the head, and he did not even have wearing an ob-lappet as an excuse.

"Quark, really, you should go to sleep," Sharzee insisted.

"They scanned out nothing."

"You'll be able to think better in the morning."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"Starfleet is helping." She was starting to sound like Leeta.

"I know. That's the problem."

But then she turned to him, her eyes as weary as his felt and she said, "You can't think unless you rest."

"Rule of Acquisition Number 103, 'Sleep can interfere with…'"

"That's not what that rule means. It means keeping vigilance," Sharzee interrupted, and she was not like Leeta anymore as she plopped promptly at the end of the round bed with an upturned wryness.

Quark smiled and snorted with amusement.

"I still don't like this," he said pulling off his coat.

"You can't control it. You have to let it go. Detach from it all."

"But what if you're wrong? What if tonight is the night? I just feel like I won't get any rest until I get out of here. I don't know what it is."

"You're not going to relax, are you?" said Sharzee looking him sparklingly in earnest.

"You're trying to seduce me," said Quark, but he said it with such devotion that Sharzee only smiled dangerously back the wider, leaning her elbows on her knees and dropped her chin into her hands.

"Does that mean you still regret that I came?"

"No."

Quark allowed her to pull him down to sit beside him. He slipped off his shoes and relaxed a little. Then at last he laid back upon the bed. Gently, Sharzee rested her head on his chest. Quark pressed her there and closed his eyes. They were silent for a moment or two.

"Sharzee. Be honest with me."

"Yes?"

"Do you think I was too hard on my mother?"

Sharzee paused a moment, listening to Quark with full seriousness. Then she said. "I think I'm too biased to answer that. Besides, I don't know enough about that to answer helpfully either way. Is she… really the Shadow Nagus?"

Without opening his eyes, Quark muttered, "What do you know about the Shadow Nagus?"

Sharzee shrugged. "Everybody knows about the Shadow Nagus."

"'Everybody knows about the Shadow Nagus,'" Quark breathed.

"I'm sorry," said Sharzee suddenly.

"My mother's gotten herself into trouble, and she's not letting me in. She's not as young as she used to be either, but even if she was in her prime, I'm sure this is something that's put her in over her head. She's so stubborn. She wants to prove that she can do everything herself. I think even Zek was warning me about her; though I don't think he knows everything either. He's not what he used to be even if he is still more observant than he looks. I almost wish I could pry it out of her with a Romulan mind probe."

"I mean, 'I'm sorry' I brought it up. You have to rest, Quark!" Sharzee insisted.

As though in an attempt to sleep, Quark squeezed his eyes shut harder, but he muttered with full conscious clarity, "I just feel like I'm wandering and wandering without getting anywhere."

"Well," muttered Sharzee back. "Like an old Earth poem says, 'Not all who wander are lost.'"

Quark opened one eye with amusement. "Since when do you read Earth poetry?"

Sharzee didn't answer, but he felt her smile rather than saw it as her unreleased laughter swelled in her a moment.

"What does that even mean, anyway?" Quark demanded with a small chuckle of his own.

"Just because you don't know what you're doing at the present, it doesn't mean that you don't know where you're going, and if you remember that, eventually the path will show itself again. We're in a dark forest, but we must trust that we will find the path and… you will."

"Sounds more like wishful thinking to me."

"Or faith," said Sharzee. "Aren't you a Hidden Profiter? Even the hardest true Acquisitioner must believe in their Great Material Continuum anyway for all that. Or are you a Federation philosopher who believes in only physical power, after all?"

She was teasing, but a nerve was slightly strummed by that and not in a good way.

"But if that's a saying you got from Earth," he tried to tease back as the reverberations echoed and settled, "about that wandering and not being lost, then that is an Earth saying."

"It's a Ferengi saying found on Earth," retorted Sharzee. "And I said nothing about Earth, I said the Federation."

"Same thing, as far as I'm concerned," said Quark. "Now days, especially, but you mean a 'Hidden Profiter' saying found on Earth. Not a Ferengi saying."

"'Deep down, everyone's a Ferengi.'"

"For some people it's pretty deep down," remarked Quark.

"But like you said already, just because you're called a 'Hidden Profiter', doesn't mean you are one."

Quark grinned snidely, opening his eyes at her despite himself. "What does that mean?"

Sharzee sat up. "Originally Hidden Profiters weren't called Hidden Profiters at all, you know."

"Yeah, and what were they called?"

Sharzee looked at him again with those knowing twinkling eyes. "You never asked?"

"No. I didn't think it mattered what I was called."

"They were called 'Ferengi', of course."

Quark laughed. "You mean they didn't have a name?"

"No, I mean the pirates had a different name. They were the Strivers of the DaiMon. I'm sure you know that from history. Those who followed along the Hidden River rather than the Great Material Continuum, which the Strivers eventually melded into one, but the original Hidden Profiters were called Ferengi. The Rule of Acquisition that states that 'deep down everyone is a Ferengi,' means that everyone comes from the same source— the same franchise, I guess. The same Dayitela. Whether they believe it or not. It's the same as saying that just because you don't believe you have a heart to beat doesn't mean you don't have one."

"Ferengi means 'free', doesn't it?"

"It means 'free will offering' in that we are free to do with our wills as we choose, but that power beyond all power, which no creature has a right nor indeed truly can take from you unless you sell what was free, you are answerable for."

"I know, and that's why I'm trying to fight to make up for lost profit as I bought what was free back that I sold."

"But your instructions on how you work are still given to you by the Dayitela, and you can't read them when you're trying to write your own. The universe is not confusing. People try to make it so, but the universe is very simple, and if you are riding along the Hidden River, along the current of the Divine, you will find the way even if it's not the way you think it should be, because as that Earth saying goes, 'You can't see the forest for the trees', but the Dayitela can."

"So everyone's a Ferengi trying to write their own instructions and every once in a while they get it right?" Quark teased.

Sharzee laughed. "Now you're making fun of me."

Quark sighed and closed his eyes a third time. Sharzee laid her head upon him again, and he held her close, firmer this time, but not nearly as tense.

"Well, you win. I'm relaxed now."

"Good, don't jinx it."

"Hidden Profiters believe in jinxing now too?"

Sharzee laughed again. "I'm sure some Ferengi do."

#

Just as he was drifting off to sleep, for he was very tired, a sudden thought occurred to him. Quark opened his eyes, but when he did he realized that he had been quite asleep, and for some time. According to the clock it was near dawn. The sound of rain permeated all along with the soft breaths of sleep coming from Sharlezeed pressed against his side.

They had been awake together for a while before Quark lost consciousness, but as he woke now, it was almost as if, he had been cleared of concern as the thought that had roused him turned into the burning light of an idea.

Maybe it was caused by this strange and foggy miasma of the Tower, but he did not feel that to be so.

"Deep down, everyone's a Ferengi," he breathed out to himself.

It used to be the very last rule before Rule Number 285 was tacked onto the end. Sometimes people still said 284 was the last rule, only because it was the ancient saying to do so. Not because Acquisitioners did not believe in 285, but simply because it was a backdoor way of saying 284 was in some sense the most important even if the thought process to the writing of them was that the first was the most important, but that had always been somewhat in philosophical debate.

Now, like everything that had to do with the Hidden Profiters, it had a very eye-opening meaning that made so much more sense than it had as a rule to tease outsiders or to mean that deep down everyone was a greedy, selfish uncontrollable maniac that needed to be tamed by some benevolent government or whatever Humans thought it meant. Quark never thought it meant either of those things really. In fact, he always believed it to mean that deep down everyone was the same and wished to be free like a Ferengi was, but it was so much more than even that, and as he thought about what Sharzee had told him before bed, his idea became a plan.

A plan that was risky but a plan that would take action, but then again one of his favorite rules had always been 62, "The riskier the road, the greater the profit." Quark was willing.

Had his zephyr come at last?

He had nothing else to go on, except mind probing his mother, and that was going to go nowhere. He had nothing to lose, and as he said himself, he had to get out of here. He felt more confirmed in his plan by the advertisement he had seen yesterday in passing for an old ship that was out of date for sale but had not been in need of repair. Just old and ugly, and obviously so unwanted by the owner, that it was cheaper than it normally would be…

Slowly, he slipped out of bed so as not to wake his wife. She shifted once and made a slight sound but otherwise she remained in slumber. With the slightest sigh of relief, then checked his PADD.

The ship was still for sale.

Could he afford it? Just barely, especially with the tax on it.

He rolled his eyes, but moved past that. He took the virtual tour. It looked intact. It looked like it was space-worthy with its credentials and all. Everything was in order. He put it on hold. No one else had bought it yet. That was not exactly a good sign normally, but this time he took it as a sign of the Hidden River's current. Now he just had to get there.

He put on his coat and his shoes and hurried for the door.

"Quark?" Sharzee whispered.

Quark jolted and spun around.

"Where are you going?" she demanded seated in the bed.

"I—" he started and cleared his throat. "I'm going to make a purchase."

Sharzee made a face.

"I'm going to Freecloud to get Belongo."

"But I thought you said that wasn't a good idea," said Sharzee.

"My mother and I may not see eye to eye about some things— a lot of things—, but there's one thing I can trust her about, and it is that this will not send me to my death. She knows what's going on more than she wants us to know. That's a given. But—"

"Hmm, maybe she does want you to know…"

"What?"

Sharzee shrugged. "I just had a thought after you were sound asleep again, that maybe… maybe she's afraid to tell you because someone might know if she does."

Quark stared at her a moment gaping in that stereotypical Ferengi way, and he blinked stupidly as the simple statement registered. That headache from yesterday evening seemed to be returning somewhat. He shook his head.

"Nah!" he said with a wave of his hand, but he paused a second time more thoughtfully. "Well… maybe."

Strolling back over to the bed, he leaned down without hesitation to kiss her.

"I'm glad you showed up."

Sharzee smiled, but then her brow knitted. "But then who will take care of the Tower?"

"At the moment, I think I'm going to have to trust my mother on that one," said Quark. "If we're lucky we can set out tonight, but I'm thinking it's more likely that we won't be off until tomorrow, but no later. No matter what."

"So then what are you acquiring?"

"A ship."

"Doesn't being First Clerk or proxy or whatever else you are give you access to a ship already?"

"I don't want a Tower transport or a ship of any kind like that. I want my own, and…"

"You mean in case it's sabotaged."

Quark cocked his head and shrugged.

"Then… why don't you let me buy it? It's so hard to be anonymous these days, and I won't be recognized immediately by the seller as anyone important like you might be."

"You can't afford it, can you?" Quark demanded.

"You can pay me back."

Quark made a face. "I'll come too and let you do the buying while I wait for you."

Sharzee smiled. "Maybe you should tell your mother what's going on while I buy it. Save time."

Suspicion surged through him, but he nodded. He would allow himself to trust her for now. For now, at least.

Thus, once Sharzee was also ready, they agreed to meet back later that morning at the apartment once things were settled. After a quick bite to eat they parted. Quark watched her figure leave at the lift after her sweet kiss goodbye in which she held her head against his for a moment afterwards. Then she did not look back. She did not even know the whole plan yet, and he still did not one hundred percent trust her with everything. Somehow, something was still strange about her, but he could think of no reason not to trust her to buy a ship.

Quickly he went for his Ishka and Zek's apartment.

He knew he should not have been, but seeing Zek up in his walking chair surprised Quark enough to gasp as the door was opened for him.

"Quark!" he demanded. "What time do you think this is!? Bothering people who don't get up at the crack of dawn!"

"Well, you obviously were up," remarked Quark.

"Quark?" came Ishka's voice from beyond; she appeared in some lounging robe obviously having been in bed, though obviously not asleep; she squinted. "What are you so excited about?"

"Well, come in! Don't just stand there, boy!" Zek said moving his chair back and ushering Quark inwards.

Quark obeyed and as soon as the door shut behind him, he said, "Moogee, I decided to go."

"Go where?" demanded Ishka.

"To get Belongo, what else?"

"What made you change your mind?" asked Zek casually.

His servant and bodyguard was pouring him some very strongly brewed coffee from Risa, the smell of which pervaded the room like an over abundance of earthy perfume.

Quark shrugged. "I guess, I just slept on it and decided that—"

"Have some Risan coffee. It'll clear the morning smog," Zek grinned toothily and rather impatiently despite his amiability.

"Uh, no thanks," said Quark, but Zek had already indicated to Maihar'du to pour him some anyway.

"Okay, thanks," said Quark lifting his cup to Maihar'du with a nod.

Maihar'du smiled back in his falsely innocent way that may hide to those who did not know him how much he actually perceived.

And with a cup in his hand Quark was forced to sit down on the sofa.

"Yes, well, there's really nothing more to say," he said. "I'm setting out. I'm going to get a small crew, and we're off the sooner the better."

"Make sure to take only trustworthy people," remarked Ishka leaving the room for a moment, though her voice carried well enough as she went about morning readiness, putting on her earlaces and cleaning her face.

"Well, yes," said Quark unused to his mother being so agreeable.

Of course, he was doing what she wanted, but he was not exactly doing things the way he imagined she would expect of him. Not that she would care how he planned on going about this.

"Are you taking your wife?" asked Ishka's voice between sharpening her teeth.

"I didn't think about it," said Quark, "but now that you mention it, I think it would be safer to bring her than not to."

"I'm glad you think so."

"Hmm… why?"

Zek motioned Quark to sip his coffee. With a sigh, Quark obeyed. It had a little too much sweetener for his taste, but otherwise it was an excellent brew as always from Risa.

"Because she's your wife, and getting her involved in your life now was a bad idea. I'm sure Zekkie told you how dangerous you are right now."

"Yeah, but by whom?" Quark demanded.

Zek poked him in the elbow.

"What?" Quark demanded.

"That'll be three slivers, Quark," the ex-Nagus whispered gravely. "That coffee isn't cheap, y'know."

Quark made a face.

"Just kidding," Zek chuckled patting his shoulder. "Ah, the Keldar sons… so clever but yet so gullible."

Quark's frown deepened, but just before he took another sip he stared at it as though afraid it might be poisoned.

"It's not two or one sliver is it?" he asked.

"Nah! You paid your service with the admission offering, right?" Zek teased.

That was a trick question, of course, since Rom and Leeta had removed door admission boxes from all the Tower's apartments, but as Quark relented and took his sip of coffee yet again, he felt a shiver rather than the comfort of a warm drink.

Was it a warning just like his meal with Zek yesterday?

He stared at the grisly old figure through the steam of his cup like he was a mirage from his nightmares rather than a living person. Maybe it was Zek's beetle-snuff lingering under the smell of coffee, but the more he knew Zek the less and less real he seemed to Quark, anyway, as though he was some program from the holosuites back on DS9. It brought back an unrealistic fear that he had had on and off lately, that he was just trapped in his holosuites at the old bar, and that none of the events that had happened since he thought he had met with Bashir and Pel trying to get a parasite out of his head had never happened. It was enough to make a man question reality itself. It just was not natural.

Just like everything else in this—

"That's what we all want to find out for sure, isn't it?" demanded Ishka, returning him to the conversation on hand.

Quark jumped again, almost spilling his coffee as she seemed to have beamed right behind the sofa. She was all dressed and primed for the day including with that horrible makeup line being pushed on all the women lately. It made her look more like some frightful clown than added any amount of beauty to her aging face. He had to compliment the maniac who was able to advertise well enough to convince even Ishka of the necessity of it.

"Right," said Quark and hid his stare in his cup.