TEST DRIVE #10 - Cetacean Pool and Ten Forward

[tenforward_m]

#1

Option 001. Cetacean Pool/Aquatics Lab: Of all the places in the world, you open your eyes and you find yourself in a medium-sized aquatics laboratory, filled with various living specimens along with various science officers bustling about trying to maintain order. There's much to explore here (and hopefully, in the crew's opinion, not break), but the main attraction is the large pool at the far end of the lab; enormous but tanklike in appearance, it contains several dolphins happily swimming about, seemingly without a care in the world.


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

[goldencobra]

"I only met her once, when she turned up here. And it didn't end well. She's...er...dead...back home." Yup, not looking at you for that part.

He nods at the answer, wanting a change of subject but not able to find one.

Son Gohan | Dragonball Z

[masenko]

[opt 1]

"I have a question."

He'd repeated it a few times now, successively more audible, but now hunger was putting some force behind it.

"I don't want to disrupt anyone's work but I'm starving and fresh fish is one of my favorites. It's kind of a genius way to solve the problem of fresh food on a spacecraft."

He'd thought about this extensively. Their space food was good, but heavily preserved.

"I don't know much about salt water fish, but the bottle-nosed ones would probably be enough... For a while..."

[asklepian]

The dolphins begin whistling and clicking--as if they're gossiping. As crewmembers, they're aware of the ongoing situation--all the strange new arrivals--but no one had ever floated (pardoning the pun) the idea of eating them before. That's what replicators were for!

Julian isn't normally in the aquatics lab--he's not one of the researchers assigned to it. But they can provide insight on more than just navigation, so here he was.

"That's...erm. These are members of our crew. Navigational specialists," Julian explains.

Which means eating them is not even close to being on the table. Sorry, Gohan.

"If you're hungry, there's replicators in Ten Forward."

[masenko]

"Oh!" Gohan looks down, briefly, before turning back to the tanks. "I'm sorry for my presumption," he called, assuming they could understand him, because navigation requires communication. "I hope you won't be too troubled and I didn't mean to disrupt your work!"

It sounded like fun work, too. He knew how to use the stars to orient himself back home, but they probably used them more like landmarks!

Back to the guy answering him, though.

"Is the replicated food tasty?" he asked, trying not to sound suspicious.

[asklepian]

Julian smiles--that was a quick recovery Gohan, good job. The head dolphin, so to speak, drifts over to the tank wall and bobs its head up and down in acknowledgement. Apology accepted, it seems.

"I certainly think so." Not that he knows much different, neither his mother nor his father are particularly skilled at cooking food that didn't come from a wall slot. Despite his father's short lived aspirations to be a chef when he was 12.

[masenko]

"It's a good idea," Gohan allowed. "Although my mom would hate it, I guess it's easier than cooking for so many people."

More people than he'd ever known before, anyway.

"What all can it replicate?"

[asklepian]

"Basically anything. If it's not in the system already, it can be programmed in." Sometimes people did replicate raw ingredients and cook food for themselves--Captain Sisko did sometimes. It wasn't unheard of, though Julian himself preferred the convenience of the replicator.

"That includes dishes from Earth and other planets as well." He tilts his head toward the door, smiling. "Come on, we can go get some lunch."

[masenko]

Dim sum might be good...

"How much information has to be programmed in? I'm guessing it would need directions and cook times..."

Most of which he couldn't speak to, without a campfire involved.

"I'm not so good at coding -- mom says maybe after pre-calculus -- but I could look at whatever's already there. Um, thank you for showing me. Sorry again about the, um, navigational specialists..."

[asklepian]

"Chemical composition, mostly. If you ask one of the engineers, they can do it for you. But you might be surprised by what's there already to choose from." Considering there was probably every dish conceivable from Earth, and dozens of other worlds aside.

He's used to accompanying transplants around now--it's rather obvious that Julian fits in well, considering he's from this reality. He's having trouble placing how old Gohan is, though--despite being small, he's talking about pre-calculus. It's rather surprising, really.

"It's fine. You didn't know, that's all. And now you do."

They have to take the turbolift up to Ten Forward, where most people took meals aside from their quarters. Julian leads him down the hall, to the doors.

"I'm Doctor Bashir, by the way."

Lol Kai was on TV just now, right as they're leaving for Namek

[masenko]

Oh. Manners. If his mom could see him now-- but she couldn't, so he just affected a quick bow.

"My name is Gohan," he said, "it's very nice to meet you."

After that, it's a bit before he speaks again, taking in all the sights. The lift is both like and unlike the one in Kami's ship. Chemically constituting food is kind of fascinating. Did that mean people added sauce and spices to it as they ate, or could you preprogram the condiment level?

Following him to the doors, Gohan couldn't help asking, "What kind of doctor are you? I guess most people would assume medical but I bet doctors from all sciences want to be on a spaceship..."

[magnetic_magpie]

Well, you're in a bar called Ten Forward but I doubt you mean that.

[ Magneto's voice is well worn, in that 'vaguely European but damned if I can place it' way. He's relaxed his iron grip on his accent as he relaxes, even if there's enough traces to suggest English isn't his first language. ]

Otherwise there's a plate of something sticky about three inches away from your hand, at your seven o'clock on that table top, I don't suggest touching it. And you're...on a ship, it's a bit difficult to explain.

[ Magneto's moving closer - his voice is getting closer - but he's walking silently. He's not trying to, it's just habit. ]

I can explain it, at least some of it, if you'd like.

[1st_starfighter]

Alex's face was still flushed, but he nodded, grinning. "Yes, sir. Not of anything so grand as the Enterprise, but still, yes. And I've been studying."

He eyed the officer, wondering if the man had been around when Alex had been revived. He had been foggy for days, and slowly come out of it. By then, far fewer people than the group he hazily remembered being around had been there in the Sickbay. "Alex Rogan sir. Former Starfighter pilot."

The rank pins marked this man as a Commander, and that meant he was one of few on the ship. "Do you do any piloting, sir?"

[fuckingblind]

"Oh," he says. "Well, they're not bad places to go to if you don't mind a crowd." Not that he's really comfortable in places like that. He likes a quiet dinner or a movie. Though that quiet dinner is really only something he gets when he's not with his family for it.

You can't separate loud from his family. It's impossible. Especially not with his brother Larry.

"Yeah, I can hear that. Sounds like a crowded night at this place I like to visit."

[fuckingblind]

[he looks towards the voice, brow furrowing at the information. there's nothing like that where he lives.]

No, that's not what I meant. I don't think this is funny.

[cause it has to be a prank, right? then he's mentioning that his hand is near something that he definitely doesn't want to put it in and he pulls it back to his side. his mouth turns down into a slight frown.

he takes a slight step back as the man's voice gets closer, but he can't hear his steps.]

Yeah, an explanation would be good.

[fuckingblind]

"Yeah, good idea," he says, voice terse. It usually takes a bit more to ruffle his feathers, but he's in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people with absolutely no clue how he got there.

"It's okay, I mean. I suppose rude is the least of our problems if we've both ended up in some weird place all of a sudden." He gives a slight, nervous chuckle at his own failed attempt at humor. "Commanding officer? Uh, no. I'm---I'm Danny. Danny Valdessecchi."

A beat. "What's your name? I mean, if we're gonna be stuck here and all. It'd be nice to know."

He gives a slight shrug. "I don't know. My brother Larry is pretty good at pranks. Like, scary good. I think making a bar and complete strangers appear out of thin air is a little beyond him though."

[magnetic_magpie]

It's not funny, no.

[ He stops when he's close enough for a conversation, but not crowding the other man. And silently nudging a chair back under the table. ]

You're in a bar called Ten Forward, on a ship called Enterprise. If either of those names are familiar to you, that shortens the explanation a great deal. If not, what's your science background and we'll go from there?

Re: William Riker | Star Trek TNG

[reincarnshaman]

"Well, no, I don't think that they're going to let you go ahead and do that one," Trever says in an Irish - Cork - accent as he leans over the tank talking to one of the dolphins. He's got a black cat sitting on his shoulder looking very displeased, but all his attention is currently on one of the dolphins.

"Why not? Well, for starters you can't get up onto the bridge as far as I know."

There's a pause as the dolphin swims around and makes noises at him. "Yeees... I suppose if they could make a suit designed to go out into space they could make one for a dolphin to get up onto the bridge, but I dinnae think the captain would appreciate that."

Another pause as he listens to the dolphin before glancing over at Riker. Recognizing the man as someone In Charge he waves a hand to the dolphin. "You talk some sense into her. She's nae listening to me because I'm not in the command structure."

[reincarnshaman]

A black cat appears next to Kurt and starts chasing after his tail in the way that cats do when something moving catches their attention. She hasn't tackled it yet, she's just stalking and batting at it.

what timing!

[asklepian]

"Medical," Julian answers easily. His status regarding rank is a little foggy right now--he's certainly not Chief Medical Officer, but he might be acting when Doctor Crusher is off-duty? Perhaps? It hasn't come up and it's not really a concern of his.

Ten Forward, when they arrive, isn't particularly busy. Most of the crew is on duty or still sleeping from gamma shift.

"And here were are."

[quiteafew]

It would have to be one interesting shaving accident to leave scars like those. The whorls carved into his skin have been done with an artist's hand and carefully treated to heal cleanly and in relief to the skin. The scars twist as Kurt makes a face, thinking of how much the process of shedding must itch. And all the little hairs everywhere!

"It means an apology," he murmurs, leaning closer to look at the little screen. His eyebrows raise when the picture comes up, his tail swishing behind him. "He's younger," the words blurted out as Kurt himself bends to peer more closely. The fur he can see, and the eyes that are almost nothing like his own. The tail looks different, mostly that the spade appears to be smaller than his own and he can't see the bone ridge (but that could be the angle). And it could be that the wrinkles that he himself is developing around the eyes and mouth are hidden by fur, but this other Kurt's cheeks are a little plumper, his body a little leaner. He looks very much like himself, not so many years ago.

You're fine. Sorry for the delay, Easter and work ate my time

[quiteafew]

His head is beginning to hurt--or spin, Kurt's not quite certain which. His tail winds around his own ankle before he forces it to fall slack.

"I have noticed that I draw little attention here." Which is why the concept of being in space isn't one he automatically rejects out of hand; it isn't his preferred genre, but he's read enough science fiction to wager that in a different world his appearance would be quite unremarkable. "Forgive me if I assume wrongly, but you speak like a scientist--or an engineer, perhaps?"

[quiteafew]

The movement of shadow catches his eye and Kurt half-turns, just in time to feel the swat of a little paw against the spade of his tail. He grins, a warm expression that brightens his face, and begins to dart his tail to and fro, more like a mouse or rabbit (probably a lot more like a rabbit, as Kurt has hunted them enough to know how they move.)

[reincarnshaman]

This is fantastic, in the cat's opinion, at least. She continues to try and pounce on the tail, occasionally vanishing and reappearing in an attempt to get ahead of it. The strange tail thing must be conquered!

[quiteafew]

The first time the cat vanishes Kurt freezes, stunned. He just barely manages to yank his tail out of the way in time, eyes still wide.

"What in the world are you," he murmurs, obviously not expecting any kind of answer because this is a cat. Which teleports, and gives him a wicked idea. The next time the feline lunges Kurt teleports himself a foot away, vanishing and reappearing in puffs of smoke.

[reincarnshaman]

And now the cat is miffed. HOW DARE YOU STEAL HER TRICK. She starts stalking and circling him, tail twitching.

"She's an ordinary house cat," a red haired man with an Irish accent says walking up to the two of them. "Well an ordinary house cat that teleports." He scratches the back of his head some what sheepishly.

"Every test we've run on her, blood work to magery, says she's a domestic short haired house cat. But that's familiars for you. Perfectly normal except some weird little thing."