Vectors Read Free

self. You have to watch everything you do."
    "Yes, brother," Rom said, meekly. Then he added, "And here I thought you were just mad at all the glasses I broke."
    "That too," Quark said. "I'm going to start deducting the price of everything you break from your salary."
    "But brother"
    Quark held up a hand. "I'm doing you a lot of favors, Rom. I didn't have to give you a home and a job when Prindora's father swindled you out of all your money."
    "You weren't going to bring that up again," Rom said, glancing over his shoulder for Nog. The boy was still wiping the floor. Those Cardassians had poured a lot of liquid on Rom.
    "It's kind of hard to forget, Rom. What kind of idiot fails to read the fine print in a contract?" "It was a marriage contract," Rom said.
    "So?" Quark asked. "How is that different from a regular contract?"
    "It was even an extension of the marriage contract. I read the first one."
    "Twelve years ago," Quark said. "And I'll bet you forgot the terms, didn't you?"
    Rom swallowed and looked down. "You loved Prindora, so you trusted her."
    Rom nodded. "She's a female, Rom." "She was my wife," Rom said miserably.
    "At least she remembered the Sixth Rule of Acquisition." "That's not fair," Rom said. "What is it?" Quark asked. "Do you even know?"
    Rom straightened his shoulders. "'Never allow family to stand in the way of opportunity.'"
    "Good," Quark said. "Then you should understand why I let the Cardassians pour drinks on you. I made money, and that's more than I've done since you showed up."
    "I'm sorry, brother," Rom said.
    "You should be. Now go put on some clean clothes and get back out here. There's a lot of work to do." Quark glanced over at Nog. "And your son isn't a very good substitute."
    "He's just a boy," Rom said.
    "Go," Quark said, and Rom ran for their quarters. Quark shook his head and returned to the bar. Sometimes even he forgot the Sixth Rule of Acquisition. If he had remembered it, he wouldn't have allowed Rom here in the first place. But Rom had looked so pathetic when he arrived, dragging Nog behind him. Quark had actually felt sorry for them, although that emotion was quickly fading now~ Every time he heard the sound of shattering glass.
    "Nog!" he yelled. "When you finish that, I have some other things for you to clean."
    The boy looked at him for a long moment. There was something in Nog's eyes, something a bit too rebellious for Quark, but then it disappeared as if it had never been.
    "Yes, uncle," Nog said.
    Quark nodded curtly, then leaned back and surveyed the bar. The Cardassian freighter crews were thinning. Drink had forced some of them to leave. The remaining ones weren't as rowdy as they had been earlier. The muttering pilot at the far end of the bar was still staring at his Gamzian wine. The glass was as full as it had been before the trouble started, but the Cardassian was an odd shade of green.
    "And I thought the gray looked bad," Quark murmured. He frowned. A few of the Cardassians around the Dabo table were also faintly greenish. He had seen a lot of drunk Cardassians in his day, but he had never seen them turn vaguely green before. He had always thought that a hu-man trait.
    Maybe they were all from the same ship. Or maybe the greenish tinge was being caused by something they'd eaten. Or maybe they were from a part of Cardassia Prime that made them look that way naturally.
    "Or maybe that's how Cardassians look when they tan." "What, uncle?"
    Quark jumped. He hadn't realized Nog was beside him. "Do those Cardassians look strange to you?" Nog peered at them. "They all look strange to me." Quark nodded. Nog had a point. Maybe Quark had been here so long that everything abnormal was beginning to look normal.
    What a frightening thought. He shuddered one more time, and then went back to work.
    Chapter Three THE LIGHTS IN THE MEDICAL LAB seemed dimmer than usual. Gul Dukat stepped inside, hands clasped behind his back. He was used to being here when colleagues and subordinates