TEST DRIVE #2 - The Holodeck/Ten Forward

[tenforward_m]

Where were you a minute ago? Well, you aren't there anymore. Instead, you're standing in a very large, dark room lined with yellow. There are doors at either end of it.

Here's where things get a little choose your own adventure-y. You could:



1: Approach a console filled with buttons, located a few feet away. Press one, and it'll let you out of the room. Travel down a long hallway and you'll be in Ten Forward, the Enterprises' entertainment lounge. Have a drink, mingle and try to figure out why you're here.

OR

2: Maybe you just muttered some vague request under your breath. Maybe you wished aloud you were somewhere else. Or for help? If you did, might be in a fire station. Muttered something about killing whoever dumped you here? Surprise - you're in a slasher movie!

Though they're confusing, these visions feel about as real as they can be. And guess what - other people can experience those fantasies with you, as if they too were really there. How ever will you escape? Or do you want to?

[OOC: Welcome to the Holodeck! If you choose this option, whatever your character chooses to say out loud will cause a virtual reality program to load and play. While your character feels as if what they're experiencing and seeing is quite real, they're purely living through the latest and best in what he Enterprise has to offer in entertainment. Make sure to detail what your character's fantasy is, so that those threading with them will know how to react.

Open til next month's test drive!]

Comments

[a_quick_study]

Spatial anomaly.

A spatial anomaly that can make a person -- and not just one person, but apparently lots of people -- just appear on a spaceship? That doesn't sound right. Does it?

No, he decides. It doesn't. Not from anything he's read or anything he's seen.

Of course, he hasn't been in the Stargate Program long, but he's read the reports. Surely if he'd read something like that, he'd remember. Wouldn't he? He always remembers things like that.

His head tilts a little to one side.

"Wow. That's quite an anomaly."

[she_listens]

"You could say that."

There's dryness to her tone, and maybe a hint of bitterness to go along with it.

"You never know what's going to come around to ruin your day, whether you want it to or not."

Yep. A hint of bitterness.

"You don't seem particularly worried."

[a_quick_study]

He gives a half-laugh, tossing an ironic sort of look around the bar.

"Yeah, I'm used to not knowing what to expect when I get up in the morning," he says, "but this is a new one on me."

Even with all the mission reports he's read, it's not like the Stargate Program knows everything that's out there. That's the point, after all. If they knew everything, they wouldn't need to keep exploring. And Jonas is so far coming up with no theories.

And nobody else from the SGC is here.

"Well," he says, with a concessive little tilt of his head to one side, "I don't know that I'd say that. But worrying isn't going to do a lot about it, is it?"

Better to spend his energy trying to find things out.

"Besides, there'll be people looking for me."

If there's a way to get him out of here, SG-1 will find it if he doesn't. He wouldn't have been so sure of that until recently, but he's part of the team now. And that means, he doesn't get left behind.

Or disappear without anyone noticing.

[she_listens]

She smiles slowly, nodding.

No, worrying won't change the situation, but people like to pretend it will anyway. Guinan already likes this one.

There's just something about him.

"Oh, who?"

[a_quick_study]

Sometimes, people make fun of Jonas's attitude to things going wrong, but he stands by what he said, and the bartender's nod says that she agrees, too. Whatever the others might say, he'll take whatever enjoyment or interest he can in the situation.

And this is his first time suddenly appearing on a strange spaceship.

"My team," he says, and there's a hint of fondness in his smile. "We're ... explorers. And we look out for our people."

SG-1 doesn't leave its people behind, and a disappearing team member would surely count.

He takes another sip of the drink, savoring the tang of the ginger.

"I'm sorry," he says, suddenly, putting the glass down and wiping his hand on his shirt to clean off the condensation. "I never introduced myself. I'm Jonas."

[she_listens]

She arches her eyebrows just slightly. It sounds like he'll fit in just fine aboard the Enterprise.

"Don't worry about it. It's nice to meet you, Jonas."

She takes his hand, condensation or no.

"I'm Guinan. And this—"

She gestures around the room.

"Is the Enterprise. A ship dedicated to exploration."

[a_quick_study]

It's a genuine smile as he shakes her hand, always a genuine smile in a new world for a new person. Sometimes, O'Neill says he smiles too much, but from Jonas' perspective, there's no such thing.

Not when they're the first alien faces so many people they meet see. And if not the first alien faces, the first friendly ones. So why not be as friendly as possible?

"Exploration? Really?"

The smile turns into a grin. "That's ... amazing. The only ships I've ever seen have been warships or transports."

[she_listens]

She likes his genuineness. She gets a good feeling from this one, when so many other visitors need to be handled carefully, diplomacy on the outside and caution on the inside. She needs no special gifts to tell when a smile is real.

"That's right. The Enterprise is equipped to defend herself, and sometimes the crew is called upon to help in skirmishes, but her primary function is to explore new life and new civilizations. Half the complement are civilians, most of whom work in the sciences."

She folds her arms on the bar, resting easily against it.

"I think you'll blend in just fine."

[a_quick_study]

His eyebrows lift in surprise at her description of the role and crew of the Enterprise, because it sounds very familiar.

Yes, Stargate Command is an operational command of the United States Air Force, and they do aim to take the fight to the Goa'uld for the sake of the people of the galaxy, but the chance to expand their knowledge informs so much of what they do.

"That sounds like what we do. Our organization's technically military, but I'm a civilian and we've got a lot of civilian scientists working with us, too. We've got warriors on my team, but we've also got an astrophysicist and a social scientist."

And between the four of them, they make a pretty good team. Or, he'd like to think so.

"I guess I will," he says, his grin flashing at her before he takes another sip of his drink. "I would never have thought there'd be something like this out there."

[she_listens]

"Is that right?"

She sounds less surprised than she does amused. Giving him her full attention, she presses him to go on. It's obviously something he enjoys talking about.

"So the way you go exploring is different from this?"