Buying Time

by Robert Greenberger

  Corsi sat on Lant’s back, collecting the spanner and keeping her hand phaser pressed to the base of the Ferengi’s enlarged skull. She was actually grinning when the others arrived. Carol crouched and collected the fifth node and stuffed it into the bulging bag.

  “All right, Commander,” Tev said, actually puffing a little from the exertion. “Can you program this to get us home?”

  Gomez had been pondering that very issue, especially considering the amount of time she had to just stand around. Still, she speculated there was a simple return button rather than actual time and date to input. She was examining the device carefully and was about to ask Lant to confirm her hypothesis but the siren sound grew, breaking her concentration. Like many things that were seemingly universal, police sirens were among them.

  “Everyone remain still. Let’s avoid adding to our problems,” Gomez said.

  Sure enough, five Ferengi security personnel arrived in a vehicle, purple lights strobing. Their reflections off the street hurt Gomez’s eyes, forcing her to squint. They each brandished hand weapons, although one had an energy whip out and ready. With a gesture, Gomez signaled for Corsi to get off Lant and let him stand. She nodded toward Tev, indicating he should resume a dominant role, and then prayed he could talk his way out of their predicament.

  “What’s all this then?” the lead officer asked, his voice deeper and rougher than any Ferengi voice she had ever heard.

  “Well, this man—” Tev began.

  “You be quiet. I’ll hear from my fellow countryman first. Speak.”

  Lant was wringing out his jacket and trying to tidy himself despite the rain, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. No doubt he would try to extricate himself from the police despite the lack of temporal node. Finally, he placed his hands on his lapels and cleared his voice. “I am Lant, perhaps you’ve heard of me.”

  “Can’t say as I have,” the officer answered.

  “Well, if you check the current accounts, you should see I am one of the Ferengi Top Fifty,” he said with confidence. Gomez could only imagine how much wealth he must have socked away to be able to make a boast like that.

  “And these…” he seemed at a loss for words to describe Tev and the women, so he took a different tack. “Any man of means, such as myself, is always vulnerable to common thieves, and worse, swindlers. I’ve used my fortune to tinker. I fancy myself quite the inventor and was attacked as I tried to bring my latest creation to the Commerce Council.” He gestured toward the bag on Carol’s shoulder.

  “What is it?”

  “What is it? What is it? Well, I’m not entirely sure you would understand something of such a complex scientific nature, Officer. In fact, I can scarcely describe it myself without all the schematics and technical specifications. Can’t even think up a short enough name for the functions it performs. Truth to tell, I was hoping to work with the Trademark Board on coming up with something catchy.” The Ferengi proceeded to spout double-talk for the next four minutes. All Gomez and the others could do was stand still, occasionally wiping rain from their eyes, and look as innocent as possible.

  Finally, as Lant wound down, Gomez watched him casually reach into his jacket and withdraw his padd. She surmised that his patter lulled the police enough that such a move would not arouse suspicion. Worse, she fully expected him to bribe the police with whatever it would take to get free, with the bag. Frantically, she tried to think of an explanation that would exonerate them, or forestall the bribe.

  “No doubt, your fine force is seeking additional funding to create better protections against Borg incursions,” Lant began, entering a number onto the padd. Gomez did a quick calculation and realized that the Ferengi, like all other races in the Alpha Quadrant, had had their first serious taste of the Borg three years earlier—ironically, only a month or so after the time period when they were on Ferenginar last. A Borg cube had made it all the way to Earth, wiping out two score ships at Wolf 359 along the way, before the Enterprise stopped it. With a pang, Sonya realized that, even as she walked the streets of Ferenginar now, she was on the Oberth, having transferred off the Enterprise and broken it off with Kieran, still on the latter ship.

  Kieran’s still alive right now.

  Lant’s patriotic blathering brought her back to the “present.” The Ferengi was offering the police a lump sum for them to do with as they pleased. She quickly turned toward Tev and widened her eyes, silently pleading with him to do something.

  Tev cleared his throat, attracting everyone’s attention. Once he had it, the Tellarite seemed uncertain and then finally plowed ahead. “Thank you,” he began. “I think it’s fair to note that we have yet to be given the opportunity to explain our side of the story. After all, I believe Ferengi justice acknowledges there are two sides to each negotiation. Before anything further transpires, perhaps our version of events will sway your thinking.” Tev continued soothingly, sounding absolutely confident that his story would be more favorable than Lant’s. As he chatted, Lant’s arm lowered, and the police officer continued to look directly at Tev, eyes seeking something. Finally, it became apparent that Tev would be allowed to move, slowly, and he did so, taking his own padd out of his pocket. Quickly he tapped in a number and prepared to transmit it to the officer’s unit.

  Gomez prayed Tev was not going to be cheap about the bribe.

  The officer thought for a moment and then signaled to one of his men to retrieve both padds. Once both were brought to him, he studied them thoughtfully and then handed them back to his colleague. A smile revealed well-filed teeth, and Gomez’s heart sank. If they got out of this, she was going to kill Tev.

  “I truly appreciate the fine contribution our otherworldly friend has offered our defense treasury,” the officer began. “Perhaps his version of events would be fascinating to hear. But right now, with this rain, we have other safety issues to explore. I’ll leave you to sort out your disagreement.” He bowed slightly and turned away, signaling the men to return to the vehicle.

  Lant stood in the rain, gape-jawed, while Gomez revised her plans toward the Tellarite. Quickly, she pointed at Corsi and the security chief once more stood intimidatingly close to Lant.

  “He took both bribes!” Lant squealed.

  “Can we go home now?” Tev asked.

  “Actually,” Carol interrupted, “we need to undo Lant’s actions. His manipulation of the markets created wealth that never should have existed. The adverse effect on the Ferengi economy may be severe. I didn’t have enough time to study things to make a determination, but we cannot take any chances.”

  “You mean we have to go back and lose all of Lant’s money?”

  “Exactly, Domenica. And we can’t do it quickly, otherwise we’d set off a financial panic.”

  “Can’t we just lose the latinum here and now, rather than three years ago? Could it have that much of an effect?”

  Tev had a point, and Gomez was wet and tired and grumpy enough to go with the simplest solution, rather than indulge in a discussion on the merits of temporal ethics. No doubt the away team would be sanctioned by the Department of Temporal Investigations—a debriefing she was not looking forward to—but right now, she didn’t care. It was going to be her call.

  “Lant, how much do we need to lose to return your accounts to what they were a month ago?”

  The Ferengi mentally did the math, fearfully eyeing Corsi, who stayed right beside him. “I’d say about eighty-seven percent of my present holdings.”

  “And, to follow Carol’s advice, how long do we need to properly lose the money without setting off a panic?”

  “Well, if I lose half of it immediately, that should reduce my holdings enough so the Dominion War panic in a few years should wipe the rest out,” he said wistfully.

  “How long?” Corsi demanded.

  “An hour, maybe two if I make lots of little buys.”

  “Let’s go to the Exchange,” Gomez said. She began leading the group toward the bright tower before them,
only a few scattered floors obvious through the rain and haze. “The next session should be starting in a little while. First thing we do, though, is get dry.”

  “Amen,” Carol said.

  Chapter

  7

  Pattie noticed the chamber had grown warmer as she struggled with the workstation that was directly tied to the power processing machinery. She had been working with it steadily for fifteen minutes, coaxing the computer commands to reroute some of the building energy. Right after speaking with Captain Gold, she set to work on recharging the batteries. Soloman helped her to reestablish the links and then the Bynar took over, coming up with the commands that would get the mainframe to respond to Pattie’s orders. It was tedious and slow, beyond what Pattie was used to, and she fretted over the time remaining. As it was, Fabian Stevens, back aboard the da Vinci, was monitoring the power outputs and had estimated that even with recharging the batteries, they had bought themselves maybe an extra hour.

  It would have to do, Pattie concluded.

  “Have your people ever done anything this reckless?” she asked Soloman. He looked surprised at the question, looking up from the master console. Unlike Pattie, he was looking uncomfortable. Bynars apparently didn’t sweat, a humanoid trait she was grateful he lacked, all things considered. Still, after their chat earlier, she felt more comfortable around him than ever before. Not bad for a couple of outcasts, she mused.

  “No,” he answered. “While my people have studied and grasped the basic concepts of time travel, it is not something that we have found appealing. I remain amazed that humans find tampering with the timestream of any interest. The repercussions are enormous and, as we have seen, have changed the core timeline on more than one occasion. We have even theorized that the constant use of time travel threatens the stability of this core timeline.”

  “I’ve read some of the research papers,” Pattie said, tapping a final set of commands. The holographic screens blinked with new data and everything matched Soloman’s instructions. “The original Temporal Accord was strictly intended for research. While there are those who have used time travel to find out information lost to the ages, it has also been used to save a planet. There was an alien probe that sought information from an extinct species of marine life on Earth and some captain went back hundreds of years to bring back samples to answer the probe. Not only was the planet saved, but an extinct species was revived. The argument can be made that time travel can be used effectively.”

  “But what of the Temporal Cold War?” Soloman asked. “Technology from the future was handed to a race ill-equipped to handle it and there were disastrous effects felt throughout the quadrant for decades. It can be equally said that time travel can be used recklessly. Better we stay in the here and now.”

  Pattie glanced at the readouts, watching the alien characters change, obviously counting down. “Well, the here and now isn’t looking that good to me.”

  * * *

  Little had changed in the Tower of Commerce, Tev observed, as the odd group reentered the trading floor. It being three years down the line and later in the day besides, he hoped there was a different floor manager on duty. The fewer who recognized him and the women, the better. The level of activity seemed as cacophonous as before, but there were definitely fewer stares. The Ferengi were an adaptable people, he knew, and the sight of Federation citizens—dressed or otherwise—was more commonplace. Good, he concluded. Keeping close to Lant, he guided the hapless trader to a thin spot in the action and gave him a slight push.

  “Okay, I just need something to lose on,” Lant muttered. “Oh the pain. We’re not supposed to try and lose our money, we’re not built that way.”

  Tev snarled. “You are today.”

  “Of course I am,” Lant said slowly, scanning the scrolling figures, catching on to the day’s rhythms. He withdrew his padd, checked the account balance and then beckoned to a mauve-jacketed trader. “Ten bars on the kanar crop yield,” he ordered.

  “I can’t stand that stuff,” Abramowitz offered.

  “Well, you’re in luck,” Lant said archly. “Blight decimated the annual crop on Cardassia and the reports should be coming through any minute. Prices went through the roof and I’ll lose. Okay, that’s one loss on the books; let’s see what else is a sure thing….”

  Tev refused to let Lant move more than a foot away from him, and they inched closer and closer to the trading pit. The Ferengi’s voice grew shriller as he placed order after order, ranging from octotriticale to trillium, as the greedy trader accepted them all without comment. As the first hour neared an end, it was obvious Lant was losing lots of money, but the traders said nothing. The pace was dizzying and Tev couldn’t keep track of all the activity, but he watched Lant’s padd and saw the numbers steadily decreasing. This time, no one was approaching them and offering a private room. Losers could remain in place, he concluded, and that was fine with him.

  Tev did notice that even though human women were less an object of curiosity, they were nevertheless an infrequent sight in the Tower. Quite a few businessmen and traders strolled back and forth, sneaking peeks at Tev and his “assistants.” The occasional expressions of disgust showed that social mores remained in place and most would prefer the women be kept at Tev’s hotel, naked but still out of sight. He could tell from their expressions that they too shared the sentiment—but they could not separate now. Timing would prove critical.

  The second hour passed and Tev grew impatient with Lant’s rate of loss. It should have been over by now, but even a time traveler can be surprised. There was a forgotten rally in kevas that handsomely profited the group. Lant would have to make more transactions to dump the profit and each action seemed to take greater consideration or, perhaps, there was greater reluctance. Tev loomed over Lant and asked about the timetable.

  “I’m going as fast as I can to avoid detection,” he explained.

  “Now, why would a fine businessman such as yourself want to avoid detection?”

  The group turned to see the approach of a familiar-looking Ferengi who seemed to have a perpetual sneer on his face. “My name is Brunt, and I am with the Ferengi Commerce Authority. Have we met?”

  “My name is Tev, and I am working with Mr. Lant here to make some investments to improve my portfolio.”

  A look of recognition crossed Brunt’s face and he smiled wickedly. “If I recall, we met a few years back and you were quite successful. Has fortune abandoned you?”

  “My business is my business,” Lant snapped.

  “Losses of your magnitude might become my business,” Brunt responded. “You’ve lost quite a bit in several major markets. I’ve been dispatched to look into this in case this is a scheme of some kind. While it defies conventional theory, new ideas always seem to arrive that make us rethink economics, eh? Now, can you explain your goal here today?”

  Tev anxiously looked at Corsi and nodded briefly. He wanted to avoid a scene at all costs, but an investigation by the officials would slow them down and possibly ruin their return. The security chief returned the nod, took a deep breath and sidled toward Brunt. She laced her fingers between those in Brunt’s right hand and stroked his ear ridge. He tried to stifle a shiver and his eyes rapidly darted between Lant and Corsi, much to Tev’s amusement. Corsi leaned into Brunt, whispered something into his ear, and squeezed his hand tight. Brunt let out a small yelp and looked at her with a touch of fright. She returned it with her Core-Breach stare that no one had managed to withstand, Brunt included. He withdrew his hand and stepped back.

  “I’ll ask you to leave the Tower in the next five minutes,” he stammered and turned on his heel and moved quickly out of the area.

  Tev looked at Corsi with a grin, but her stare remained.

  “Don’t ask,” she said, and stepped back to the protective huddle of Abramowitz and Gomez.

  “Have you lost enough, Lant?”

  Glancing at his padd, Lant’s shoulders sagged, which told Tev that enough damage wa
s done to the fortune. While he excelled at most things, he was not an accountant and would have to trust that the plan would work. He’d have Wong do a more detailed analysis later.

  “Win or lose,” Lant said to himself, “there’s always Huyprian beetle snuff.”

  “Personal credo?” Tev asked.

  He shook his head. “Rule of Acquisition number sixty-five.”

  “Stupid rule,” Gomez offered.

  “Maybe,” Tev said. “But our work here is done. Can you get us home?”

  “Sure, just get me someplace private.” She smiled at her colleagues and Tev knew they were all ready for this particular mission to be over. He led the group, with Lant tucked between himself and Corsi, out of the Tower and down the block. It was dark, and there was a chill in the air. Rain threatened, as usual. At the first alley, he gestured for them to step in. Abramowitz pulled out a light and Gomez quickly worked through all five nodes, inputting the return commands to make certain everyone would properly return. She checked them a second time and then handed them out.

  “Say good-bye to Ferenginar, Lant,” she said as she leaned over and activated his node. A moment later, she thumbed her own amid the lights blaring from the temporal ripples already being formed. The light show looked right to him as his surroundings shimmered, blurred, and finally winked from the cool street to the too-hot chamber.

  Chapter

  8

  Soloman was bent over the master console, using his tricorder to trace an unusual circuit that captured his interest. He had done what he could and it would be a matter of, well, time, before the asteroid imploded or the da Vinci was able to leave. Rather than waste time, he wanted to learn as much as he could from the unusual computer before it was vaporized. He felt triumphant having gotten it to do as much as it had, given how long it took to crack the computer language. That in itself was worthy of study after the mission was over. Something about the computer code thwarted him, and he discovered he disliked being stumped by machine language. It felt…wrong.