Body Parts (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
"Body Parts" is the 97th episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the 25th episode of the fourth season.
Plot
Main plot
Quark makes a trip to Ferenginar to get a physical, in order to get his life insurance renewed. The physical reveals that he will die from a rare disease. In the usual Ferengi manner, he auctions off his vacuum-desiccated remains on the Ferengi Futures Exchange, to raise money to pay off his debts.
After being on the market for a while, he gets a buyer at 500 bars of gold-pressed latinum, and sells them. A few hours later, he finds out that his medical exam was in error, and in fact he isn't going to die. He therefore cancels the arrangements he already made to pay his debts.
The next day the buyer comes to his quarters on the station: it is Quark's old adversary Brunt, from the Ferengi Commerce Authority. Brunt wants what he has already paid for: Quark's desiccated remains, no more, and no less. Quark explains that he isn't going to die, but Brunt already knows about the incorrect medical results. Brunt does not care: he still wants what he paid for. Quark thus faces the dilemma of either killing himself, or breaking a contract, thereby going against rule of acquisition No. 17: "A contract is a contract is a contract (but only between Ferengi)." Doing so would mean the end of Quark's business license and making him an outcast in Ferengi society.