TEST DRIVE #3 - Alien Bazaar/Ten Forward

[tenforward_m]

#1

Option 001. Alien planet, marketplace: So you're new to this whole space travel thing. The ship is cool and all, but there are hundreds of alien worlds out there. You want to explore. To see what the universe REALLY looks like.

Well, here's your chance! Your first stop is this lovely indoor marketplace, which looks kind of like a mall. There are stalls one after the other as far as the eye can see, and they sell all kinds of things: food, clothes, trinkets, animals, fabrics, jewelry, perfumes, books, etc etc. Some things look human, easy to recognize; other things look very alien. There are two levels, and constant chatter as people hawk their wares and discuss prices.

Do you want to explore? Poke at the weird shops? Buy a gift for a new friend? Flirt with someone at the food court? Maybe you see a pickpocket, and must run to the aid of the victim. Maybe there's some other villainy afoot. After all, a crowded marketplace is a good place for villains to lurk, causing trouble. Whether you're a hero or just an unassuming traveler, there proves to be some adventure for you on this planet.


2

Option 002. Aboard the Enterprise, Ten Forward: You have no idea what just happened. One minute you were home, and now you're on a spaceship, in the middle of a crowded room. It looks like a bar. There are people eating and drinking, some in uniform, others not. Some are clearly aliens.

You've managed to land in Ten Forward a long bar with barstools and a bartender, tables sprinkled throughout, and the far wall is nothing but windows out to space. It looks like a nice lounge, low conversation making the room hum.

Better ask some questions and find out where you are, or just tap the closest person on the shoulder and try to make friends. The bar is open.

Comments

Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!

[heartofasun]

"Yes, there were. In order for our timeline to continue they had to die."

She gave him a slight smile. Not a happy smile, but a smile.

"But that's not the point. Dylan. Focus."

Trust Dylan to dwell on that. That was why he was Dylan, but, at the moment, it was hindering their conversation. He could yell at her later, once he understood all the components. But now was not that time.

"Remember where you are."

Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!

[dreams_dont_die]

"And I had to do it."

That day tore him apart.

He hates the Nietzscheans for what they did. Hates them for Gaheris Rhade. For the Commonwealth. For the enslaving of so many worlds in such brutality. Whatever Rev Bem might say about him being proof that there can be good in a race that brings so much evil.

But never. Never would he have committed that slaughter for anything less than the stakes that situation stuck him with. Hell, he didn't even do it when it would have saved the whole Commonwealth.

(Sometimes, something dark inside him regrets that.)

"And just what do you want me to focus on, Trance?"

Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!

[heartofasun]

"Think about it. That day we tore through reality and time itself. We need to do so again. However there are forces preventing me. Preventing us. In order to fix this, we need to make alliances. And these people, they've had their fare share of Nietzschens too, or something similar. I think you'll find their sentiments very familiar, on many levels. It's time to learn from them, and to hopefully have them learn from us. We have nearly three thousand years on them. Think of what that means. In a sense, their Federation is still in infancy. It hasn't stood for the thousands of years that the Commonwealth had."

Trance looked at him, hoping to see a glimpse that he was understanding what she was trying to tell him.

"Do you understand?"

Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!

[dreams_dont_die]

"I try not to," he says, his voice tetchy, because that was a day he'd rather not have to remember, even if remembering is what guides him into the future.

He's spent a lot of time since that day trying not to think about it. Trying to avoid the crushing feeling of knowing what he did, of standing on the Andromeda Ascendant's bridge as Harper's weapon tore through a thousand Nietzschean ships.

"So we have to be ambassadors for the Commonwealth." He gives her a half-smile, not entirely genuine. "It's not exactly like that's unfamiliar to me, Trance. I've lived and breathed the Commonwealth. I'm from Tarn-Vedra. I knew the history and the story of the Commonwealth from the time I was a child."