Prophet Motive ( episode ) Grand Nagus Zek has become a philanthropist , and Quark worries that he may have gone insane ; Bashir is nominated for a prestigious medical award . Summary . Teaser . A young woman named Emi is grasping Quark ' s ears from behind , presumably giving him or leading up to oo - mox , as he is obviously enjoying the experience . She is attempting to get Quark to finalize a deal whereby she will purchase self - sealing stem bolt s from him , but he says it can wait since Emi ' s family will not return to Deep Space 9 for another week . Rom enters Quark ' s quarters and ruins the party , telling his brother that they need to leave . However , it is too late ; Grand Nagus Zek and his servant Maihar ' du enter behind Rom moments later . Although Zek ' s head is covered and Maihar ' du does not speak as usual , it seems the Nagus plans to move in with Quark . Act One . Elsewhere on Deep Space 9 , Doctor Bashir is called to the wardroom , where he learns from Sisko that he has been nominated for the Carrington Award , the Federation ' s most prestigious medical award , and finds the entire senior staff waiting for him to congratulate him on being the youngest nominee in the award ' s history . Despite the honor he seems less than enthusiastic , to everyone ' s surprise . He later confides in Dax ( who submitted his name for consideration ) that the Carrington Award honors a lifetime of achievement in the field of medicine and , as such , most people nominated are far older than he is . As a result , he knows he has no chance of winning due to his youth . Meanwhile , Quark has moved into Rom ' s untidy quarters and has found living with his brother unbearable . Nog is visiting Ferenginar , so the place is messier than usual . Quark is further angered that his Aldebaran whiskey and other items from the bar have been taken . He decides that the two of them – or rather , Rom – will confront the Nagus to find out what is going on . As soon as he observes that Zek is more than happy to see Rom , Quark comes out from his nearby hiding place and greets the Nagus . Quark and Rom find that Zek has composed his " crowning achievement " : " " . Zek gives them a copy and leaves them to read it ; Quark is excited , until he reads the first rule in it : " " If they want their money back , give it to them . " " The two then notice Maihar ' du crying in the corner . Act Two . Quark attempts to find some sort of master plan in the Nagus ' work , looking for a secret code hidden within the " new rules " – he and Rom attempt to " discover " the code by reading one word from each page ( which , naturally , translate as gibberish ) , but the two are hilariously unsuccessful . Still convinced the new rules are part of a scheme , he decides to go along with it for now . Later , Quark and Rom are in the bar when Zek arrives . Continuing to exhibit his vastly different new personality , Zek buys a round of drinks for everyone , since it will make them happy and , in turn , will make him happy . Quark goes along with it and offers Zek Hupyrian beetle snuff , however , he refuses , saying it ' s not fun for the beetles . Quark is then horrified to learn that Zek has told Emi where she could buy self - sealing stem bolts at wholesale ; much less than what he was offering . He said he was concerned she was taken advantage of . Quark walks off , and Rom expresses his surprise . Zek says it will take time to get used to the " new ways " and asks Rom to walk with him . Meanwhile , Bashir and O ' Brien are playing darts , as they have been playing much too many racquetball games . They ' re both rusty , but wanting to play some game . To throw Bashir off , O ' Brien starts talking about the Carrington competition . Bashir calmly says any of the others would make a fine recipient , and still doesn ' t assert his worthiness . O ' Brien continues his jabs , saying he would vote for Bashir , but that most other people would wonder who he is . Bashir then turns the tables , changing the conversation to Keiko ' s absence . Now , O ' Brien can ' t hit the board . Upon returning to his quarters that night , Quark finds Rom busy with several other Ferengi transforming the quarters . Rom explains that it will be the new headquarters of the Ferengi Benevolent Association . Act Three . Quark takes Rom into the other room by the ear , having enough of what ' s going on with Zek . Contrary to normal Ferengi values , the association seems to have been created for the same purpose its name implies : helping other people , free of charge . Rom insists Zek is a visionary and that the both of them are going to be central to his plan . Rom is excited about becoming a " new kind " of Ferengi , though he is not sure what that means at the moment . He continues to repeat concepts incomprehensible to Quark , then tells him they are both co - chairmen of the Association and will accompany Zek back to Ferenginar when he announces to the whole Ferengi Alliance . Now , Quark is alarmed as this will undoubtedly result in the three of them being killed for the ideas . Finally , Quark takes Zek to Dr . Bashir , who examines the older Ferengi thoroughly but finds nothing wrong . Quark cannot believe it , and insists on more tests , even insulting him and bringing up the Carrington competition . He eventually relents , and Zek expresses his appreciation with a bar of latinum , suggesting to donate it to charity if Bashir does not want to accept it . Interestingly , Zek mentions that he will be giving a gift to the Bajoran people that night at the Bajoran shrine as a ceremony , and hopes Bashir attends . He leaves , telling Quark there ' s a lot of needy people out there . Quark and Rom sneak onto the Nagus ' Zek ' s shuttle to find what the " gift " is . They ' re interrupted by Maihar ' du , but , instead , he brings them into the shuttle . He reveals that the gift is a Bajoran Orb . Act Four . Quark tries to get some answers , but Maihar ' du cannot say . Rom tries to look inside the Orb box , but Quark tries to wrestle it from him instead . It comes open in Quark ' s direction , and he has an odd orb experience in which he is taunted by Zek ' s figure about not understanding and being fearful . Afterwards , Quark learns that the new rules were a " gift " from the Bajoran Prophets to Zek . He and Rom discover , through Zek ' s personal log s , that , as soon as he received the Orb from his contact on Cardassia III , Zek headed for the Bajoran wormhole , apparently intent on using the Prophets ' ability to see the future for financial gain . Quark determines to go in himself and find out what happened . Meanwhile , at the Replimat , Bashir is busy on a PADD . Even Odo is caught up in the craze about the Carrington , and so comes to offer a " revelation " from a distant contact that Wade will not win the award , increasing the odds for the rest . Despite the fact he is apparently certain he is not going to win , Odo manages get Bashir to accidentally admit he ' s been working on an acceptance speech . Zek is at a terminal talking to a party who needs Kohlanese barley , and is going out of his way to acquire some . He cuts off the transmission when Maihar ' du , Quark and Rom come in , quickly kidnapping Zek and take him into the wormhole aboard his ship . Throughout the ordeal , oddly , he remains extremely pleasant and not disturbed at all . Act Five . Once inside the wormhole , Quark opens the Orb of Wisdom ( as Zek reveals it is called ) , instantly gaining the wormhole aliens ' attention . The aliens inform Quark that they found Zek ' s goals to be " adversarial " and " aggressive . " As a result , they " restored " Zek to a more peaceful state . Quark demands that they change Zek back , but the aliens decide to change him as well . However , Quark manages to convince them that doing so will only bring more Ferengi who will want to know what happened . He proposes that if they change Zek back , they will never have to speak with his people again . The Prophets agree and set Zek back to normal . Quark is very pleased when states that he plans to sell the Orb of Wisdom to the Bajorans , and intends to make them pay a lot for it . In the wardroom , people have gathered for the announcement of the Carrington Award recipient and everyone is disappointed to find that it has gone to Henri Roget , someone who was never considered a serious contender . Although Bashir acts like he ' s not surprised , he admits to Dax even though he felt he wasn ' t going to win he ' s still disappointed he didn ' t . Zek leaves the station , making sure that Quark and Rom have destroyed every last copy of the new Rules of Acquisition and will tell no - one that he donated to charity . Quark laments that despite going through a lot , he didn ' t manage to make some kind of profit . Rom admits to having made enough of a profit from both of them by embezzling from the Nagus . Quark congratulates him and says that this piece of theft would make their father proud . Memorable quotes . " " Are you accusing my son of being a thief ? " " " " No . I ' m accusing " you " of being a thief ! " " " " I can take it . Tell me . " " " " Rule number two hundred and eighty five . A good deed is its own reward . . . . . . . Brother , are you all right ? " " " " I just have to sit down . " " " " It must be some kind of code . Read me the first word of every Rule . " " " " If . . . never . . . keep . . . profit . . . a . . . good . . . smile . . . honesty . . . " " " " Aha ! If never keep profit a good smile honesty . " " " " What does it mean ? " " " " It means . . . absolutely nothing . " " " " Actually , I ' ve lost my taste for beetle snuff . It might be fun for you and me , but " it ' s no fun for the beetles ! " " " There ' s nothing " beyond " greed ! Greed is the purest and most noble of emotions ! " " " " ' Greed is Dead ' , that ' s the tenth Rule of Acquisition . " " . " " No , it isn ' t ! The tenth Rule of Acquisition is ' Greed is Eternal ' ! " " " " Not anymore . " " " " Zek said the new rules were a gift . " " " " A gift from Zek to the Ferengi people . " " " No . A gift from " ( looking up ) " them . Don ' t you see ? They did it . They put the idea for the new rules into Zek ' s head . They changed him somehow . " " " " They did ? How dare they . . . who are we talking about , brother ? " " " " I have a friend at Starfleet Intelligence . And she has a friend who has a cousin who ' s married to the assistant of one of the members of the Federation Medical Council . " " " " Really ? " " " " And according to my friend , her friend heard something from his cousin that his wife heard from this council member that I thought you might find interesting . " " " " Which is ? " " " " Doctor Wade is not going to win the Carrington . " " " " Yes , the Zek explained the value of gain . How more is preferable to less . " " " " He taught you about profit . " " " " We found the concept . . . aggressive . Adversarial . Dangerous . We could not comprehend how any species could lead such a barren existence . " " " " It has its advantages . " " " " Your argument is specious ; changing you will not result in the termination of all corporeal existence . " " " " Rom ! I have got a plan . " " " " Does it involve me , brother ? " " " " Not really . " " " " Ah . . . I like it . " " Links and references . References . acceptance speech ; Aldebaran whiskey ; Alpha Quadrant ; Andoria ; Bajor ; Bajoran s ; Bajoran sector ; Bajoran Shrine ; Bajoran wormhole ; bar tab ; biomolecular replication ; Cardassia III ; cargo bay ; Carrington Award ; central nervous system ; chirurgeon ; Central Hospital of Altair IV ( Altair IV ) ; champagne ; contract ; courier ; Curzon ' s old friend ; dabo ; darts ; ; discount ; embezzlement ; Emi ' s species ; endocrine system ; exploratory surgery ; Federation ; Federation Medical Council ; Ferengi ; Ferengi Alliance ; Ferengi Benevolent Association ; Ferengi shuttle ; Ferenginar ; gerontology ; Grand Nagus ; healer ; Hupyrian beetle snuff ; Hupyrian s ; insanity ; Ishka ; Keldar ; Kohlanese barley ; latinum ; Milky Way Galaxy ; millipede juice ; mucus membrane ; Nog ; ; Orb of Wisdom ; ; Pakled ; Promenade ; Prophet s ; quack ; Quark ' s ; racquetball ; refuse merchant ; replicator ; Replimat ; reverse - ratcheting routing planer s ; ; Rules of Acquisition ; " " ; Sacred Marketplace ; Saurian brandy ; self - sealing stem bolt s ; Senva ; solar flare ; spire ; Starfleet Intelligence ; thief ; ton ; Tower of Commerce ; Trixian bubble juice ; University of Nairobi ( Nairobi ) ; vascular damage ; vow of silence ; Vulcan ( planet ) ; Vulcan Medical Institute ; ; wholesale ; wrinkle ; Zek ' s shuttle