ten_fwd_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME #4 - The Arboretum/Ten Forward

Entry tags:

test drives

TEST DRIVE MEME #4 - The Arboretum/Ten Forward

Option 01: Aboard the Enterprise, The Arboretum: In exploring the Enterprise, you end up on Deck 17, section 21 alpha: the arboretum. Instantly upon entering you can tell this room is different from all the others. For one thing, you're now standing on grass. It's no illusion, no simulation; it's real grass, leading up to a small pond in the center of the room. All around you grows a variety of plant life, trees and bushes and hanging plants, flowers and herbs and even what one might consider weeds. The arboretum is, for all intents and purposes, a botanic garden, used both recreationally for passengers to relax and enjoy, and scientifically for research and study. After all, the scope of alien plant life is impressive, from the Cyprion cacti down to the Earth variety roses.

The room is well lit and large, with benches to rest on and small walking paths. Children are grouped off in one corner working on botany projects, while some passengers are seen kneeling in the dirt carefully tending to their garden patches. There are even windows along one wall, allowing for a view of space while the room itself gives the illusion of daylight. It's the perfect spot to relax, read a book, or grab a spare spade and dig in the dirt. Or perhaps you've been looking for the right moment to say hello to the passenger standing off by the venus flytraps.

Option 02: Aboard the Enterprise, Ten Forward: Or maybe not. You've just arrived, and you have no idea what just happened. One minute you were somewhere else, and now you're in what looks like a spacious, well-appointed bar. The hum of the crowd is inviting, and the drinks look invigorating. There are people eating and drinking, some in uniform, others not. Some are clearly aliens.

Try to find out why you're here, or catch a drink at the bar; there's always something happening here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This was.....not what she was expecting. One minute Abby was trying to contain a Thylacosmilus who had appeared in the middle of someone's house, the next she was falling through an Anomaly and she was pretty certain this wasn't Pliocene. For one, they didn't have walls. And climate control. The Anomaly the Thylacosmilus came through must have closed, and a different one opened. But where was she now?

Abby looked up at a branch of some kind of flowering tree she didn't recognize to see Rex, chittering away. At least someone was happy to be here.

"Rex you get down from there right now. We're not supposed to be here. We have to get back before it closes--" Abby's blond hair moved from side to side as she looked this way and that. No Anomaly. Well, that was bad.

Edited 2014-08-23 22:45 (UTC)

Julian hadn't been in an arboretum like this in quite a long time--since he'd been back on Earth, really. Deep Space 9 didn't have anything like this--it had been built solely for one task, refining mined ore. That might not be its purpose now, and thank God for that, but it didn't leave much space for a room full of trees perfect for reading under and air perfumed by flowers.

Julian was taking an afternoon to reread one of his favorite novels, not that he didn't recall what happened, but even he could get something new from a fresh reading.

He glances up into the branches of the tree when he notes movement in his peripheral vision, a small, blue-green scaled creature, making happy sounds of discovery and wonder.

"Hello, there."

That was a very familiar voice. A voice Abby hadn't expected to hear ever again. Taking a final glance up at Rex to make sure he was alright, she raised the arm holding her EMD and aimed it at who appeared to be a younger version of Philip Burton.

"How did you get here?" Was this some kind of weird alternate universe? Was this Philip before he started creating New Dawn? What would happen if she just ....ended this entire thing, right now? What would change?

Of all the people to bump into, why did it have to be him?

"And stay away from Rex."

Edited 2014-08-23 23:21 (UTC)

Julian blinks, setting his book down and holding his hands up in the universal sign of 'I mean no harm.'

"I beg your pardon?"

He doesn't recognize this woman, not enough for the tone of familiarity--and anger--in her voice. He looks just as bemused as he feels--because even with his gifted memory he's coming up completely short.

Abby's not usually a violent person. But Philip did threaten to kill every one of the creatures under her supervision because they were 'inconvenient'. And then there was the whole accidentally almost destroying the world thing.So, call her crazy, but she was ready to say that 'i mean no harm' sign was just an easier way of fixing a problem.

Although maybe she should set the EMD down a level or two. Since the man in front of her wasn't a Thylacosmilus.

"How. Did. You. Get. Here? The question's simple enough. Wait, what year is it?"

After a few moments she lowered the EMD. A little. "You have no idea who I am, do you?"

Edited 2014-08-23 23:46 (UTC)

"I got here rather the same as you, I imagine, but it...sounds rather far-fetched, so I must ask you to keep an open mind. As for the year, it's 2366."

Julian is just going to remain seated, calculating that as the lowest possibility of being perceived as aggressive. He'd rather not provoke the person holding him at gunpoint, especially when he has no idea what the gun does.

"None whatsoever. And I suspect you may be taking me for someone else as well."

Bashir would be relieved to know that the EMD was a sort of taser. Of course, it was a taser that could take down a T Rex...and at the moment she didn't really feel like sharing.

"Yes, well I figured it wasn't the Cretaceous on account of the air conditioning." Honestly, she wasn't being funny. Having had to survive there a year, she knew it rather well.

"Abby Maitland. And I think I know you pretty well. It's hard to mistake a face." She held out her hand, lowering the EMD after a little bit, realizing she wouldn't want to shake her hand at gunpoint either.

"You got here through an Anomaly?" Abby looked him over. No suit. Instead, he was wearing some weird jumpsuit. And...."Did you color your hair?"

Which would still be extremely unpleasant.

"Well, that and the stars out the viewing screen behind you," Julian points out, because no--they were rather far away, temporally speaking, from the Cretaceous.

"A pleasure, Miss Maitland. I'm Doctor Julian Bashir." Because despite her assurance that she does know him, he'd prefer to keep the record set straight.

"No, I was brought here by a being called Q, who--what do you mean, did I color my hair?"

He's not that old, he's only 32!

Abby turned around to see the stars flying past her on the viewing screen indicated. "Oh. That's different. That's....never happened before." Sure she'd be to the future. And it had been entirely unpleasant. None of this indoor climate control and flying space ship stuff.

"Your name is Doctor Julian Bashir?" They did say everyone has a double. But this was uncanny. "You don't happen to have any identification on you?" Holding an EMD at a Doctor. That was embarrassing. But, for the record, completely understandable. Was this the same thing that Cutter was going on about? Did someone change something and people became, well...different.

"Last time I saw you your name was Philip Burton and you were a bit.." Abby paused. "Grey."

Edited 2014-08-24 00:21 (UTC)

She's taking it rather well, all things considered.

"Julian Subatoi Bashir, yes. And I don't--we've long since stopped using physical identification, we mainly use voice recognition and retinal scans." Besides, he didn't have pockets. Where in the world would he be carrying physical identification?

"Grey? I'm only 32, it's not as if I'm ancient." He is, however, rather vain and somewhat neurotic about the idea of aging.

He was focusing on the grey bit a lot wasn't he? "I think you were around fourty."

Okay, obviously something had changed. Philip was now Julian and he was younger. Which was...odd. How did people get younger? Unless he just wandered through an Anomaly 8 years before they knew they existed? Except, this guy thought he was from the future.

"Alright, something's changed. Don't look at me like I'm a lunatic, but I think the we're in some kind of alternate reality." She knew the look he was probably going to be giving her. It was the same look she had given to Cutter when he started talking about how Jenny was really supposed to be a completely different person and none of us knew it.

"So, you're from this time? 2366." She looked up at Rex, who was thoroughly enjoying himself.

It makes him sad, okay?

"Why would I do that, I've been in an alternate reality before," he says, without even a hint of jest in his voice, because he had, and it was awful. But this isn't it.

"I'm from this time, and this reality, however. Well. Granted, I'm about eight years in the past from my perspective, but that doesn't make too much difference, all things considered."

"You have." Abby stares at him for a bit. This version of Philip seems a lot, well, nicer.

"And you have no desire to kill Rex?" That was the last straw. She'd forgive a lot of things. Second chances and all that. But no one tried to harm the creatures under her care.

So was she really stuck here? At least this time she didn't have to sleep in any trees. "And you were saying you didn't come via an anomaly. You came by a Q." Was that a different name for an anomaly?

"It was a terrible time all around, but yes." Because he is very nice, thank you, and also not Philip.

At the insinuation that she thought he might kill the little creature she'd been so protective of, Julian looks, well, shocked and appalled. "What? No, of course I don't!" He's a doctor. Granted, he's no great lover of animals, but he's generally in the habit of not taking any sort of life unless it's someone trying to take his, and that little thing doesn't look like it would come anywhere near to hurting him.

"A Q, Q singular, whichever you prefer. He's...complicated to explain, but more or less he's a being that transcends our understanding of time and space--you could say he's omnipotent, he certainly does."

"At least we have that in common. I wasn't found of it either." It might have been the sterile earth, the Predators and the toxic fog that did it. And the complete lack of people and animals and insects.

Really, this Julian Bashir seemed like a completely different person than Philip Burton, but just in case, Abby felt she needed to go on. "Let me be clear. Rex is under my protection. He's not familiar with this environment and you will not hurt him. Under any circumstances." Because she was still the one holding the EMD and he wasn't protesting.

But then Bashir mentioned Q. And now she was looking at him like he was completely out of his mind.

"I'm a doctor, not a dinosaur hunter." But he realizes this situation doesn't necessarily call for sarcasm, and his expression softens. "You have my word, I'm not going to do anything to him."

The only thing he shares with this Burton fellow is a last initial. And apparently a face.

"I know, it sounds utterly mad. He's quite a well-known person to Starfleet officers, however. You may even see him around yourself, he's likely still around here somewhere, watching the chaos."

"Well where I'm coming from you were kind of a dinosaur hunter. Or rather, a bureaucrat who thankfully left the dinosaur problems to people who could actually handle them." Clearly she had a high opinion of him. Philip had been brilliant. It was the ego that came along with the brilliance that she had a problem with. And his attitude toward other life forms that weren't his own.

"Thank you.I guess I have to trust you. Even if you don't have any ID." Really, what place didn't have ID? Or pockets?

"Starfleet." Abby repeated. "You have a fleet of space ships and by some gift of the imagination, all you can come up with for a name is 'Starfleet'. Original."

And yet she's still insisting on 'you'. Julian lets it go for now, it's not important so long as she's not about to shoot him.

"I could ask the computer to identify my current location, as it does track my life-sign and combadge, but I'm not sure that would pass your test. Otherwise, as I said, we use other forms of identification that are harder to forge. Fingerprints, retinal scans, and voice imprints are sufficient for most purposes."

Honestly, it's probably a reaction to the fact that everyone had needed to carry papers from the Eugenics Wars on--bad associations. He'd never really thought about it.

"I wasn't around to be consulted on the name."

Well, from her perspective, Julian was Philip, just...different. The same way Claudia Brown was Jenny Miller. The same but not. Abby really wished she could talk to Cutter just one more time, and tell him that she realized he wasn't absolutely nuts. Or having some kind of mental breakdown brought on by stress.

"Voiceprints, retinal scans and fingerprints are easy to forge." The amount of times she'd seen Connor or Jess hack into a place as easy as pie, well, she trusted DNA.

"DNA didn't lie. People do." Abby replied.

Rex made more chittering sounds from the tree, and suddenly took off, having a grand old time dive bombing them and retreating to the tree.

"In some cases, I agree." Julian had been replaced by a Changeling impostor for five weeks, after all, with none the wiser. None of the usual security measures had even given it pause. "But DNA is considered too invasive of privacy--then there's the fact that not all of the species within the Federation are carbon-based."

Julian leans back against the tree, looking up into it's branches as Rex swoops down, buzzing his head. He simply laughs, not at all annoyed, it seems, with his antics.

"Alright, fine. Until otherwise decided, you are Doctor Julian Bashir." Abby just didn't like Philip Burton, and this Bashir looked too much like him for comfort.Philip was the type of man who had decided to kill all the creatures the ARC had been caring for, having been left behind and out of their time. What would that say about them? About the ARC and humans in general? That we kill anything that doesn't directly help us? Anything even remotely inconvenient? It just wasn't right. That day, Philip had earned Abby's wrath.

Abby really didn't believe him...up until he laughed as Rex skimmed the top of his head. Philip Burton would have never laughed. At least not at that.

"You really are....nice." Abby glanced up at Rex, flying up and down, climbing trees before swooping again. "Look at you, enjoying yourself. You have more room here than my apartment and it's much better furnished than your space at the ARC isn't it?" She laughed at the little creature.

(no subject)

asklepian - 2014-09-02 18:51 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

kidnaps_dinosaurs - 2014-09-02 19:12 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

asklepian - 2014-09-02 20:45 (UTC) - Expand

That's a dinosaur.

That can't be a dinosaur.

But it is. It's a dinosaur on the Enterprise. And it's just climbed a tree.

"Hey there," she says to it, eyes alight with utter delight, and it's a moment before a woman wanders up and starts scolding it, like it was a wayward dog.

"Do you know this little guy?"

That was a dinosaur. A Coelurosauravus to be exact. Rex made happy noises as he climbed and flitted from tree to tree.

"This is Rex. Rex, come and say hi." Rex, like he was back in 21st century London, was completely unafraid of the modern lighting and the humans. He glided down for a moment, settling on a low standing branch near the two.

"I'm Abby."

"Oh wow."

Sometimes, there's not much more she can say. Even after travelling with the Doctor. Even after walking the whole world. Sometimes, things are just too amazing to really say much more about than that.

But it gets the message across, and the little creature glides down out of his tree to rest on a branch. Martha can't help grinning, she really can't.

"Martha," she replies."Good to meet you." She glances back at Rex. "Both of you. Hi, Rex."

She pauses, for a moment, then a curious little frown creases her forehead, though her smile remains unabated.

"Is he really a dinosaur?"

That is something he hasn't seen on the Enterprise.

Hasn't really seen anywhere outside of things that have fallen through the Rift and one or two rather exciting adventures. Actually, he's never even seen anything like it in Cardiff.

Myfanwy's bigger, of course, but pterosaur or ... whatever those little ones are called, he knows a prehistoric flying reptile when he sees it.

"Huh. Now that is something you don't see every day. Even here."

And even in Cardiff.

Looks like Q is expanding his repertoire. Like they needed that.

The little creature seems happy enough up his tree, but the blonde woman who starts talking to it doesn't sound too pleased.

"He with you?" Jack asks, his eyebrows arching.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

TEST DRIVE MEME #4 - The Arboretum/Ten Forward

Abby Maitland | Primeval | Option 1

no subject

This is so wrong :D

then why does it feel so right?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

Re: Abby Maitland | Primeval | Option 1

Re: Abby Maitland | Primeval | Option 1

Re: Abby Maitland | Primeval | Option 1

Re: Abby Maitland | Primeval | Option 1