TEST DRIVE MEME #4 - The Arboretum/Ten Forward

[ten_fwd_mods]

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.

Comments

[natural_claydoll]

This was all the stuff of movies. But she was actually here. "Eeeeh? Hard light?" But she was sure she was about to find out. She took one last drink from her tea and hopped off the stool to follow Raito. She wrapped her arm around his again.

[decideformyself]

The grin didn't leave his face as he led her out of the lounge and toward the lift. He and Shotaro had been just fine when they got their sickbay checkups, so Wakana was probably fine too.

[natural_claydoll]

Absolutely fine. Aside from the Gaia Memory fused to her DNA, anyway. The Enterprise might want to know about that. Once they were in the lift, she seemed ready to ask a question that she was waiting until they were alone for. "Hey, Raito. If people on this ship were to look up our names, would they know who we are?"

[decideformyself]

He told the computer where to take them, then shook his head. "There is no record of Fuuto in the computer's database, and certain things I have read about Earth's history conflict with that of our world." At least, he was pretty sure there hadn't been any Eugenics Wars in the 1990s.

[natural_claydoll]

She smiled still, and nodded. Then there was no way of anything following them here. "Hard light..." She murmured to herself. She thought she had a minute or two before they arrived on the deck they were headed to. She closed her eyes and went off to the Gaia Library to find this answer for herself.

[decideformyself]

The lift actually reached their destination as soon as she closed her eyes. Philip wasn't going to pull her back out, though. He took her hand and tugged her out of the lift, then closed his eyes and joined her in the Gaia Library.

"You won't find anything," he said. Around them the bookshelves shifted about until only one shelf remained. Philip plucked out a book titled Photography techniques. "Hard light as referred to in this time period is something we have not yet discovered in ours."

[natural_claydoll]

She frowned and turned toward him when he joined her. "This has got to be frustrating for you. Since you've been using it for so long..." She came up beside him at the shelves. Her hand was drawn to one titled 'Prism'. But instead, she just peered around Philip's shoulder at the one in his hands. "Ah! Cat facial recognition!"

[decideformyself]

"Oh, have you not heard of that? There are cameras that can recognize when a cat's face is in range and automatically take a photograph. It's very handy." He'd been thinking of modifying the Bat Shot to recognize Mick.

[natural_claydoll]

She sighed a little. "Aaah~ I miss Mick. He's so cute. His little face!" She giggled a bit at the memory. Unfortunately one had to be corporeal in order to rescue a cat from a burning mansion.

[decideformyself]

"So do I," Philip said with a frown. He replaced the book on the shelf. "I have reason to suspect that our absences will not be missed, but even if that turns out to be wrong then I am sure Aki-chan is taking good care of him."

[natural_claydoll]

Aki-chan? "You mean, that girl with the slipper? She works at your agency, right? Then he wasn't stuck in the mansion?" Cats are smart creatures, so she had hope, but she didn't know if it was true.

[decideformyself]

"That's right." Surprise flashed across his face as he realized that she didn't know. "After the mansion burned down, Shotaro scoured the city looking for him." He smiled fondly. "He's very good at finding lost pets."

[natural_claydoll]

She laughed. "I'm glad he is. You know, he didn't even purr for me?" So rude, cat.

[decideformyself]

"He didn't? How odd. He's very happy these days, so perhaps if I were to reintroduce you--"

And then he remembered that Wakana was gone in his time. His face fell, his good mood quashed.

[natural_claydoll]

She reached up and patted his cheek. "Now that he has you back, I'm sure he's quite happy." And maybe, whoever brought her here would be capable of sending her back home in one piece too, right?

[decideformyself]

"Once I finished regenerating, he sat on my lap for a full day and won't let me stand up." The smile that returned to his face then was tinged with sadness. Despite all the sins the Sonozaki family had committed, they were still his family. Well-- one of his families.

[natural_claydoll]

She laughed. "Aww, Mick... Well I would do the same thing, so I don't think I blame him."

[decideformyself]

"That might be a bit uncomfortable since you're much larger than him," Philip pointed out.

[natural_claydoll]

She put a scandalized look on her face. "Did you just call your sister big?" She took a random book off the shelf and whacked him lightly on the arm with it.

[decideformyself]

"Hey!" He smirked fondly at Wakana. "Wakana, we should keep going. The holodeck is not far from our present location."

[natural_claydoll]

"Ah, right." She put the book back on the shelf so she didn't end up bringing it with her when she left the Library. She hoped no one had passed by and saw them just spacing out like that. She linked her arm around Raito's again and let him lead the way.

[decideformyself]

He led her into the holodeck. "Computer, load a simulation of modern-day Tokyo," he instructed it. And then they were no longer on the Enterprise, but in a somewhat futuristic-looking city -- for a definition of "futuristic" that somebody in the early 1990s would have come up with. But it was unmistakeably Tokyo.

[natural_claydoll]

When everything began to appear, she shrank a bit against Raito. But when it became clear it wasn't going to hurt her, she stepped away from him. "Tokyo? This is amazing... Ah! Is that Tokyo Tower?" It somewhat resembled it, but it had had further upgrades over the last few centuries.

[decideformyself]

The people passing by them, dressed for the most part in those silly 25th-century Star Trek tunics that everyone on Earth seems to wear, paid no notice to them. Philip nodded. "I only wish that Fuuto existed in this universe," he said a bit wistfully. "Although with enough time, I'm sure I could extrapolate how it would have evolved in the intervening four hundred years."

[natural_claydoll]

She sighed wistfully. "I would have expected cuter clothes in the future..." she pouted. "Honestly, these are terrible!" but then she laughed. "Fuuto doesn't exist? What a shame. I want to see what Fuuto Tower might have looked like.."