JMJ

Chapter Nineteen

Miles Ahead

"We've been friends for a long time…" said O'Brian gravely.

This was not the beginning of the conversation, though if it had been Bashir thought that he might have handled it better than with the long lead-up. It had been there all along. He had known that since the moment he had made eye-contact with O'Brian after Dr. Tenniel's medical examination. Bashir had known it before, actually. It had been something Bashir had been unwilling to face. He did not know why exactly, but it was O'Brian that he had feared facing more than anyone.

No, that was a lie. He did know why. There were several reasons why, and all of them together were as overwhelming as drowning.

"I know what you're going to say," said Bashir with the swift and tremulous vigor of a swirling autumn wind trying to nip the thing before it went further.

"Well, you're going to hear it." O'Brian's voice cut far firmer and cleaner in its resolve as from the air blown through an air gun.

O'Brian did not use this power against him except when it really mattered and when he felt most that Bashir's poetic thoughts were getting the better of him. The only problem was, that despite Bashir's own tone, he knew that he had felt for nothing more strongly than against what O'Brian was going to suggest— no, to appeal to his reason as a man of reason!

Bashir lowered his head in full acceptance.

"Why are you encouraging them?" asked O'Brian, his tone of beseeching more accusing than any tone of accusation might have been. "You'd be one of the last people I could have imagined telling a whole race that they should believe in ideas that have been cast out of Earth centuries ago for the cause of so many conflicts. A sort of sense of 'savior complex' worse in some ways than some of the beliefs many Ferengi still have, because of the very fact that it is more spiritual and less material in nature, and they've long outgrown that sort of thing as a race. It's as unnatural as recreating the dinosaurs for profit."

"Or as unnatural as my genetic enhancements?" suggested Bashir.

O'Brian glared, not at all appreciating the fight Bashir was putting against his bearing of his soul for his sake.

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"I'm not telling them anything," Bashir cut in before O'Brian could say more; he couldn't even make eye contact with him. "They can believe what they want."

"But you've gone to their services. You've been 'baptized' as a 'Hidden Profiter'. You've certainly convinced Quark of it all somehow, and now he's there causing division among his people worse than anything he's ever done in his bar."

"And you think he's a worse person?"

"No, not exactly. Maybe not in his learning a sense of sympathy, but perhaps psychologically. His change is only to please some imaginary higher power not for his own benefit or the universe around him. He's given over his whole will to something else so that he no longer has to be responsible for his actions. This 'hidden profit' is more dangerous than latinum, don't you see that? It can't be counted. It can't be touched. It can go off the charts in any direction that the whims of the faithful choose."

O'Brian had taken Rom under his wing as a mechanic and helped him to see the errors of Ferengi philosophy and religion as much as any modernist might have taken in a doubting Catholic when Ireland still had its political borders long ago and taught him the need for intellectual progress towards a better future in which medieval fantasies had no place; or indeed a convert by St. Patrick before that might have just as zealously convinced a disenchanted pagan of the hypocrisy and fallacy of belief in the power of the Druids. It was thicker than blood. It was in his very soul out of a deep love for people rather than hatred for them.

To have just so recently denied his good friend's advice and teachings which Bashir had originally agreed with and imparted to Rom as well, was it any wonder that Bashir would rather go face the council of Keeoopii-controlled Ferengi than this? It was his love for his dear friend most of all that made it hurt.

"The Federation's presence causing their reputation to flounder more than it was to make them lose their material profits into a recession already divided the people of Ferenginar," said Bashir quietly. "Most of the especially cruel abuses in their society were caused in part by this recession."

"It was all part of natural progression that the faults in their society would show eventually."

"Faults are not the same as abuses. Who can argue that any system is flawless against someone with the intent of abusing it, and as for it being imaginary, how do you know what Quark now follows is imaginary?"

O'Brian laughed, but it was not at all out of geniality. It was not even quite disgust. It was a most disheartening sound of disbelief at another's digression and a sense of pity as for a dying monster.

Bashir could not help but feel that even when Quark was wrong about what he said, how the Federation had seemed to him. How hypocritical everyone from the Federation had seemed to Quark was no secret even before Bashir had seen his life story, but to feel it in his own life was so much more different than he thought it would be. While the Bajorans simply distrusted Ferengi as a simple matter of course or even hated them and displayed how Ferengi were not welcome at times without being cruel about it per se, the Federation claimed equality and yet looked upon those who thought differently not only as wrong but so inferior and indeed "unevolved" in a sense that it was like looking upon a bratty child who was not worth being considered fully-matured and in fact less so than a bratty child.

The only time Bashir even felt similar to that was when people considered him evil in itself for what his parents had done to him genetically enhancing him. How was that any different then times' past when Humans of Earth blamed the child for being illegitimate when the parents of the child had done all the work? How had Humans changed for the better?

"I'm serious. Do you have any proof that what the Hidden Profiters believe is false?"

"Do we have any proof that what Klingons believe is false? They can't all be right."

"Of course, they can't. There can only be one truth in the end. But do we have any proof that bettering ourselves will make us the gods we've come to hate?"

"I don't pretend to know what you saw in the time/space continuum," said O'Brian with full sobriety now, "or experienced anything like what you've experienced but you can't truly look me in the face and tell me that the god of the Ferengi came to you and told you that the Ferengi, one of the least-taken seriously of all races in the universe, have the truth hidden behind their facades."

Bashir might have told him the fullness of it then. He might have told him of the Presence of good that was not just some god of the Ferengi, but a Goodness of Love incarnate that spread out to all the universe, but he knew that it would probably only make things worse.

"Who said the truth was always popular?" Bashir said instead. "Besides, as far as encouraging people goes, we certainly encouraged a lot of lies to keep the peace when we oversaw DS9."

"Keeping the peace is not the same as stirring up an ancient past. Besides, I looked to see what the Hidden Profiters are about. They're nothing like the peace that is sought at the root of Bajoran beliefs. The whole idea of the Hidden Profiters is about using pain like money, so that people don't fear pain and death. They're willing to die as martyrs for fictional causes like not eating one thing over another or believing that a couple can't end a marriage even if its toxic or pushing for false virtues like chastity and virginity or believing that some afterlife is more important than community and thinking and working together for the greater good. It turned people mad on Earth."

"Has getting rid of those things really advanced us?"

"Yes! We have no more strife on Earth."

"Because we're all taught to believe the same thing. It wouldn't matter what that was. The Ferengi did not fight one another for thousands of years because most everyone believed pretty much the same thing besides the Hidden Profiters."

"But fighting over money and power, and—"

He stopped suddenly. He knew he had caught himself in a bad argument suddenly, and he glared at Bashir.

But Bashir trying very hard to only state it simply, said the obvious anyway; though with the gentlest charity, "Earth may be peaceful, but there is still war with other planets, greed for the resources of other people in the universe, and power-lust out beyond the stars more than the Ferengi out after the ones made of latinum. It's all just pointed outwards instead of inwards. If the abusers of Earth had only Earth to deal with, they would be abusing the people of Earth as much as any reign of tyranny."

He went on, "We're not encouraged to think outside the system unless you learn to in Starfleet. Our lives on Earth are shallow. We don't create. In fact, I would have to say that most Humans of Earth are rather mentally lazy. Most of the new books we read are written by non-Humans. Most of the new thoughts and ideas we take from non-Humans. There are always exceptions of course, but the Humans I knew on Earth took the same vacations as everyone else. Play the same games as everyone else. Most don't know their own cultures anymore. We only knew Starfleet people after that. Aside from a few inventions made mostly through the innovation of Starfleet, there is nothing that Humanity contributes anymore to the universe but our ideology, and I don't know if we can even say anymore whether that is good or bad."

O'Brian remained silent for a moment. He mulled over what Bashir had said and Bashir let out a sigh of relief for the pause despite himself, but despite himself further, he could not stop himself from adding, "We've figured out how to survive, but have we forgotten how to live in the process?"

O'Brian rolled his eyes. "Seriously?"

"And even now," Bashir went, unable to help himself. "Humans are quite known for hurting each other in relationships even though we're supposed to believe in free sex as a simple act of socializing— most people still don't even if they want to. Why do you think so many people envy you and Keiko, and even with the two of you how often you seem to fear the idea of losing each other in a universe where unity in marriage means so little and getting worried about someone parting from you for a trifle complaint?"

"So you'll trade for the misogynic, patriarchal ideas of the Ferengi over people hurting each other in relationships by giving the man authority over it so that there is no choice in the matter for the woman?"

Oh, why did I have to bring up relationships, Bashir thought. For a genius you sure don't know when to stop!

But he had to go on with it now.

"The Hidden Profiters do not believe in misogamy even if they believe— both men and women believe— often the women more strongly than the men— that men and women have different roles. A good portion of even the followers of the Rules of Acquisition don't really believe that women are inferior. I've seen it myself. Even most of what Quark said to us all was just to make fun of us, and he didn't really believe in treating women that way when he was in love."

"But the man always has the upper hand in Ferengi society. That is no exaggeration."

"One could argue," said Bashir weakly, "that in our society the woman has the upper hand in a romantic relationship, so what's the difference? And in fact in our society that's the only thing to aim for anyway considering the fact that unless you join Starfleet the living conditions on Earth are so stagnant and shallow that I don't think we're evolving anywhere but in danger of doing nothing but digressing culturally and artistically, and if something bad happened on Earth—"

"I'm not going to argue about that. You sound more like Quark all the time. I wouldn't be surprised if your 'time' experience for some reason latched onto Ferenginar specifically, and you only saw the universe from the point of view of the Ferengi. Then to justify it psychologically in your mind you latched on what seemed like the nicest philosophy they've come up with, which you chose to be the Hidden Profiters. Anything bad that happens on Ferenginar is their own fault for their own denials in disregarding the plot holes of believing in such things as they have in the past, and they've just barely scraped the surface of freeing themselves of it all, and you're helping those who are trying to reverse their evolution into a better society.

"And you know nothing about marriage. You know nothing about women, and you stand there and act like a resurgence of the dark ages of Humanity would mean the glory of God."

"And what would you do if there were suddenly a resurgence of Catholics in Ireland?" demanded Bashir.

"Humanity all agreed together that all religion was morally wrong."

"Did we? I saw no proof of that."

"Then where did they go?"

"'Where' is the question!?" He was starting to sound like Quark— almost. He felt sick.

O'Brian had never had a good relationship with Quark. In fact, he probably had a worse relationship with him and opinion of him than Sisko had, and with very good reason, since Quark during his time of running his bar under Federation guidance had probably been ruder to O'Brian and his wife than anyone else on the whole station. Why them specifically, Bashir had always assumed was envy, mostly, long before Bashir admitted his own envy about Miles and Keiko's relationship. It was one of the few things Bashir and Quark had had in common in those days. Quark also just liked ruffling the Irishman up, even if it did get him a well-deserved sock in the face.

"You can't seriously think that they were killed off without anyone knowing?"

"The ones that did not manage to escape to Free Cloud later? Why not? Other secrets have been kept."

"But someone would know about that."

"I saw it."

"How do you know? How do you know that what you saw was really what you think you saw?"

"So I'm just supposed to trust in our history books written with the bias of the victors more than what I actually saw? That's just being exactly the same way as what we accuse our past of being. We've been in time ourselves. It's always different than what's recorded."

"Yes, and remember how you thought you were destined to be your own great grandfather? This could be the same thing! You must see that, at least. A few years ago, you would have—!"

"—believed the Julian speaking now was a duplicate of me rather than believe I was capable of saying such things."

"Exactly! And even though we've proven well enough you are physically who you are, that experience has done something to you. At least think about what you're doing clearly. At least do that! For your own sake, man!"

"I already did that," Julian told him with full honesty, with full beseeching misery; he knew it was his own fault that the conversation had gotten this bad. "Many times over."

"It's still against Federation code to interfere."

"I haven't interfered except maybe by my example. I stay out of their politics as much as I can, but what I chose to do in my private affairs as long as they are not illegal is of no concern of yours and unless it is illegal for a citizen of Earth to have a belief in something contrary to the dictates of our benevolent leaders…."

"This is all going to end badly. That's all know, and I know you know it too."

The rogue Humans of Federation history always were trouble, and although neither Bashir nor O'Brian said anything about that, both were thinking very gravely of it…

#

That was pretty much how it all ended. Bashir felt that O'Brian really had the stronger wording in the argument. He was more experienced with his own convictions than Bashir was. Hearing it all so plain and simple from O'Brian made his own arguments feel so frail. Forced to speak what he now believed to someone he knew would not believe him was far different than speaking about it with Rom. It was an unsettling feeling and yet it was settling in the sense that it forced him to rethink from an outside perspective what he really did believe, and truly how he would be seen if he was not careful. He could not help but recall Sisko's old friend Calvin Hudson, leader of the Maquis resistance, and how mad he went before the end. He knew that O'Brian feared the same might happen to Bashir.

Bashir knew what he had experienced, and he knew the good he had done with those experiences. He had already saved the Ferengi from the Keeoopii once because of it. He would give up his life to do it again. He felt for that ship turned upside down in the fog and knew that in a universe that was upside down the ship would be right-side up when the tide came in, so to speak.

That did not change his mood, though. He may not know the experience of marriage and having a family of one's own like O'Brian did, but he had experienced a woman leaving him. He felt more heartbroken than being rejected by a romantic lover, and he had experienced that enough times to know that feeling with intimate experience beyond what he cared to recall.

Though, contrary to popular thought, he had witnessed the love of husbands and wives of Ferenginar with deeper intimacy than perhaps the love between his own parents, and he could not deny that that love or that devotion, perhaps made stronger still in the times of depression and oppression. That did not legitimize the abuses of the liquidators, but it did prove something in his mind— that a man and woman could be equal partners without having the same exact jobs just as much as the different jobs divvied out to a crew on a ship.

He was looking now at an invitation as he had gone through his things in his office. On his computer, he had received a cordial message from Noi on behalf of his family to come to dinner on the third day of Arka.

He smiled.

He had already bought trinkets for his children. Now he would actually be watching them open them in person. Holiday presents were not exactly a common thing on Ferenginar as presents were seen more as a way to get into someone's good graces or to woo a lover or repair damage to a contact that one could not afford to lose. Only those Ferengi who had spent a long time among the stars and among people who viewed present-giving as a fun experience did they begin to do so on their own, and even then, of course, on their own terms and was at the same time a very serious business decision more than anything to advertise themselves in some fashion. Here on Ferenginar even the Hidden Profiters might not understand the gesture in the same way as a Human would. He hoped it would not seem rude of him as some of the more honest Ferengi might as a way of implying that the present-giver wanted something from them in return that he had not bothered to just ask about, but he doubted Noi and Roreli would see it that way.

He hoped they wouldn't, anyway.

He was sure the children would be pleased to receive them, but after talking with O'Brian another thing he was reminded of was how culturally different Ferengi were from Humans despite the similarities deep down.

He sighed. Maybe he should consult with Leeta first, and if worse came to worse, he supposed some of the trinkets could go to Leeta's children instead, even though that would only account for two.

Well, either way he wasted no time in responding that if duties did not keep him he would be honored to come to dinner. There was still a pricking doubt in his mind that things would be smooth by then enough to have a party. O'Brian was right in the fact that all the tension on Ferenginar would release like a spring wound too tightly if things did not change, and on a planet that had experienced zero conflict of this kind for thousands of years, Bashir feared what that would mean, especially in the highly sprung nature of Ferengi naturally anyway.

There came a request sound at the door.

Bashir sighed. He would like very much to be able to relax at the home of the Noi family.

"Come in," said Bashir.

The door's computer recognized the voice command and opened for the visitor.

He was surprised that it was Dr. Tal.

"Excuse me, Dr. Bashir," said Tal rather frazzled more than dry in comparison to the last time he saw him.

"What is it?"

"I wanted to speak with you quickly about something that we've just discovered at the Residence," said Tal uneasily.

Bashir had no doubt that Tal came in person because of the delicate nature of it having to do with the Grand Nagus' condition.

He nodded gravely. "Yes? Is the Nagus getting worse?"

"No. He's getting better," said Tal. "The more he's there he's better."

Bashir frowned. "Then… what's wrong?"

"I've just heard from other medical sources that, though the Grand Nagus is the only one that has experienced the condition to this extent to my knowledge, cases of minor pyrocyte deficiency is popping up all over the city."

Bashir bolted upright in his chair. All personal problems and social norms forgotten for any race, his doctor's instincts kicked in like Toby picking up the scent for Sherlock Holmes.

"What do you mean?" Bashir demanded. "Pyrocyte deficiency is so rare that the only causes of it are from off-planet sources and even then it can take months to years to take effect."

"Of course, I know that," Tal hissed scurrying up to the desk, more rat-like than usual. "That's why I'm telling you. We're in this medical side to the investigation as partners."

That was certainly a different tone than yesterday.

"And Rom is getting better? Do you know why?"

"I have a theory."

"Wait!" said Bashir; his mind had been working simultaneously with the conversation as he danced through the facts. "The Nagal Residence has one of the first scanners."

"What?" demanded Tal most suspiciously.

Evidently, Bashir's comment had nothing to do with his hypothesis.

"The scanners!" Bashir repeated despite himself as he paced about the room and then took his own from a drawer. This was one of the first ones too, but Keeoopii scanners had been replicated many times now. "I want to see one of the more recent ones. Give one to Rom too, but deactivate it first."

"You mean you believe that a sabotaged scanner could possibly have something to do with lower levels of pyrocyte?"

"I don't know for sure, but I am almost positive that it has something to do with the cloud that has been hovering over the Tower and growing worse all the time, especially for the natives. The ones with pyrocyte in their blood. It hasn't seemed to have affected the Pelipans or me or any of the other Alliance races. Only the Ferengi. Lack of pyrocyte even if just by a margin can hinder the mental capacity and bring a weariness to the mind that any heart problem can render to a body making them more susceptible to suggestion and artificial mental blocking."

Quark's ship had Quark's own scanner from the beginning, so it was probably safe, but he had to pause to think on that for a few seconds nervously.

The Keeoopii were experts at blocking signals. They were skilled at being under the radar, and perhaps this was all a scheme to weaken the Ferengi through the very thing that the Ferengi were using to prevent invasion. All it took was one person still infected with a parasite. One weak link of one Ferengi could have managed to slip by perhaps with some invention that they already had to overcome the scanner's ability to detect them easily.

Or like the Keeoopii said themselves, there were Ferengi who were teaming up with Keeoopii of their own free will. Their evasion from the scanners could have been something as simple as a Keeoopii being carried past the sensors in one of their pods hidden in one of those numerous Ferengi pockets rather than being in the brain of the person being scanned. And at this point it was too late to begin checking every Ferengi pocket.

"I don't feel any different," Tal suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

"Perhaps," mused Bashir worriedly, "but perhaps aside from whatever advanced method that was used on Rom, which is obviously no coincidence, that it is not a guarantee to affect everyone the same way or as quickly, but that does not mean it is not affecting you."

Tal snorted. "I know that, I'm just stating a fact. I have checked myself. My pyrocyte levels are just a smidge under normal. I'll get a scanner right away, but I don't think it wise to bring one to the Grand Nagus even with his skill in mechanics."

"Right," said Bashir slowing his mind down. "I'll send schematics to him anyway, once we have the scanner scanned, and I'll look at it myself. We can't let this information leak out until we know for sure we have proof and answers that can be shown quickly. I'm even reluctant to send it to the Defiant."

Tal bristled in the thick collar of his disheveled short-sleeved half-jacket over his otherwise slim-fitted undershirt. "You suspect treachery from your own people?"

"Not on purpose, not of the crew of the Defiant," Bashir said, "but although the focus of the Keeoopii are on the Ferengi, the Keeoopii have proven themselves quite capable of overcoming any person who has let his or her emotions get the better of them. To send this information anywhere we don't have to, is a risk I don't want to take. We want to stay ahead of what our enemies believe we know."

"Well, of course!" retorted Tal as though offended that someone would have to explain such an elementary concept.