The 217th Rule of Acquisition A Story in Ten Chapters
--- The 217th Rule of Acquisition A Story in Ten Chapters By a woman who lived it For Elizabeth. For David. For Oren. For everyone who has ever stood at the edge of the water and finally walked away. --- Chapter One: The Package Arrives on Ferenginar It arrived on a Tuesday. Not that days matter on Ferenginar. The rain never stops. The sky is the color of old latinum. And the air smells like opportunity—which is to say, like someone else's desperation. I have been living on Ferenginar for forty-three years. Not by choice. By birth. By blood. By the accident of being born into a family that worships at the altar of the Rules of Acquisition. My family are Ferengi. They don't look like Ferengi. They don't have lobes or teeth or shrill voices. But they have the Rules. They have the hierarchy. They have the contempt for anyone who isn't a male with profit on his mind. And they have the 94th Rule of Acquisition: Females and finances don't mix. They have the 111th Rule: Tr...
