In the Cards

Originally Appeared Here

If starfleet doesn't act soon, there won't be any ships left
While Odo sees an increase in small crime and petty theft
I hit upon an idea, man, I gotta get that card
Just cast my bid at the auction, can't be that hard
Drink at the bar, play dom jot or we wait
'Til Quark is crying out our Lot Forty-Eight(1)
Nog's instincts kick in as bidding goes higher
All instilled in youth, "Acquire, Brak, acquire!"(2)
Giger's won and babbling 'bout some orthodoxy jargon
Finally hears us out and for the box, we bargain
Says his clarion call of destiny was muted like a post horn(3)
By a bunch of soulless minions, to secrecy we're both sworn
Explains it some, like Jameson, he tries to fight his aging(4)
Items he requires, against the dying light he's raging(5)
Great material continuum runs like a river through the station(6)
Shoot the rapids like O'Brien, or try some water reclamation
Do it for my dad because we care, Nog's retrievin' Kukalaka(7)
While I crack jokes like Fozzie Bear for Kira, goin' Wocka wocka(8)
But I gotta bear in mind that the soul of wit is brevity(9)
Make like your species is an Elysian(10) and try to bring some levity
Giger's underneath Weyoun, he gives his new machine a try
That guy is one unlucky loonie(11), and I blame it on the Kai
So an emcee, son of emissary, harasses her eminence
Flings wild accusations without any evidence
Under dad's orders, we're confined to our quarters
Now we're getting picked up by the vorta's transporters
Nog says I need perspective, get my eye on the ball
But maybe this will be our chance to get away from it all(12)
Tell Weyoun the truth, he doesn't believe our situation
Until he sees it's not just an excuse for a lack of imagination(13)
Something happened in background in the midst of all our schemin'
Managed to decrease disorder on the station like a Maxwell's demon(14)
Cummulative effect of setting a lot of small things right
Find a something that'll make you smile even in the darkest night

1. The velvet painting introduced by Quark immediately after auctioning he box containing the Willie Mays baseball card was numbered Lot Forty-Nine, in reference to Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49.
2. Ferengi character in stories similar to Dick and Jane, Quark used to read Brak stories to Nog as a young child.
3. A second reference to The Crying of Lot 49, the muted post horn was a symbol of a secret, underground postal service.
4. From TNG's "Too Short a Season", Admiral Mark Jameson self-administered an unstable age-reversing medicine.
5. From Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night", a villanelle containing the repeated line, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
6. Ferengi spiritual concept, of binding force of life that flows like a river through everything.
7. Julian Bashir's teddy bear, introduced in "The Quickening".
8. Fozzie Bear is a muppet character who tells (often painfully bad) jokes, followed by his catchphrase "Wocka wocka wocka!"
9. From Hamlet, Act II, Scene 4, Polonius tells Gertrude that "brevity is the soul of wit".
10. Elysia was an alternate universe introduced in TAS's "The Time Trap". However, it may be more likely a typo of Elaysian, the low-gravity race introduced in DS9's "Melora", which would fit with the use of levity as the opposite of gravity.
11. In "Blaze of Glory", Michael Eddington asked Captain Sisko about his "lucky looney", an antique coin he had left behind with his other belongings when he defected to the Maquis.
12. From Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, when Kirk and McCoy use the last coordinates in the Regula One transporters to find Dr. Marcus.
13. Quote from Elim Garak in "Improbable Cause", that "The truth is usually just an excuse for a lack of imagination."
14. Thought experiment from physicist James Clerk Maxwell, the demon is an entity that preferentially allows fast molecules to pass in one direction, lowering entropy. Here it parallels Jake and Nog's efforts to increase happiness by redistributing items on the station. It also figures in the previously referenced The Crying of Lot 49.