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

[smeg_off]

"Beggin' your pardon sir. In his case they're more likely to run rather than get their mouth on 'im." He turned around, ready to share their problem with the man that seemed to have a decent amount of displayed buttons.

But he seemed to already know about it, and Lister's brow tensed up, round nose wrinkling in confusion. "Say what? Smegging hell. Admittedly this isn't the first time something of this sort has happened to us, but-"

[arnold_j_rimmer]

Rimmer saw the many buttons on the stranger's collar. Going on Lister's guess that this meant the man was a high ranking officer, Rimmer circled his wrist, then his elbow, then snapped his hand right next to the "H" on his forehead in a sharp Space Corps salute. As far as Rimmer was concerned, it was never too early to start brown-nosing the people in charge.

"Second Technician Rimmer, sir. And Acting Captain of the mining ship Red Dwarf," he added. Even though he was only Acting Captain because, as Lister was the only other crew member on Red Dwarf, he, Rimmer, was technically the highest ranking person left. But Rimmer would take what he could get.

"And might I say that you have a lovely beard, sir. Just splendid. Very authoritative." He raised the hand that wasn't saluting in a tight fist to emphasize the authoritative part.

[liamjones]

He nodded. "I am glad you have her in your life, then," he said softly, honestly glad for his brother.

[1stmacleod]

"...Lots of places." The wariness is always there, lurking underneath, even if he is warming up to the strangers just a little. He seems to realize quickly how belligerent and answer that really is, and adds, "Scotland, originally, but I've traveled... a lot." If he were more savvy to just where he is and what variety of people there are, he probably could have gotten away with just saying 'Earth'.

Connor takes another swig that finishes off his glass, all without showing any apparent sign of being affected at all. If the wraith is taking notes, he should probably remember never to get into a drinking contest with this man.

[smeg_off]

"I think he called dibs on you, too," he informed Riker after Rimmer's very artfully articulated compliment there.

"So, if you don't mind the request, can you provide some sort of evidence that you're not some chimera organism attemptin' to keep us as pets or wax androids playin' out a program or part of a realistic holographic simulation to test our ingenuity. No offence intended, but I'd rather not be runnin' for me life in two seconds."

Again.

[arnold_j_rimmer]

Rimmer dropped his salute but remained at attention as he rebuffed Lister from the side of his mouth.

"There's nothing wrong with giving a superior a bit of respect. You should try it sometime, puff-cheeks."

And if the man wasn't an officer, but rather a cannibal mutant with a chameleon field, then maybe if Rimmer was polite then at least they'd cook him last, which would give him extra time to run away.

"But you are an officer, right, and not a cannibal mutant with a chameleon field, or the creation of a psychic planet that's bringing Lister's subconscious to life?" Although he couldn't imagine that Lister's subconscious was anywhere near as clean as this.

[midnighthour]

With each step she feels her wolf calm. It was a small gesture if anyone were to watch the pair move but to her it was far more. Her shoulders slowly relax as she takes the seat with her back against the wall. Her eyes dart around the room quickly before landing on her companion.

“Kitty Norville, and since we are sharing, I work for K-nob doing a late night radio show.” She smiled her head tilting to the side which was a very human gesture. Her hands remained in her lap and she self-consciously made sure not to break eye contact. It was nice meeting another wolf, comforting in a way, even though he smelled unfamiliar. She still had to be careful. She didn’t want what happened in her last pack to happen again.

“So, Doctor, do you mind if I ask you some questions?”

Prying was something that she did well and even if he were to refuse she would end up asking him anyway. How often did you meet a werewolf who was also a doctor? She wished that she could have gotten him on her show.

[warp_9]

Sorry, but the guy is still staring around. It's almost as if he hasn't noticed he's being talked to, never mind asked a question.

At least, until he speaks.

"Deck 10, Forward."

And then he turns to Meh Yewll, as if suddenly noticing she's there.

"Ah... My... Apologies. Yes. Yes, I am."

[seekingcrocodile]

"As am I. It took a lot of time and work to get to this point."

[thepowerofthor]

"Gloves? Those are easy enough to procure. Wait here one moment, good sir." Thor turned and gently u8shere all those near away as he made his way toward the replicator. There he asked for gloves, and briefly got into an argument with it when it asked him which kind, and he had to simply ask for gloves again, several times. Finally, with ten different sizes and kinds, he made his way back to the young man.

"Here. The computer apparently has many kinds of gloves, and did not have any that were simple." He placed the different ones in front of the man.

[dresdensluck]

"Hell's Bells, Murphy!" Harry sighed and closed his eyes, then spoke softly. "The last words we exchanged, in private, on the boat, after the mission down south, involved you planning on getting drunk, finding the next reasonably healthy male who walked by, and having mindless sex with them, and ... I actually asked if you wanted company..."

Harry swallowed, eyes still closed, remembering that. "And you said you'd pick me up in an hour."

He opened his eyes, not meeting hers, not quite, but looking at her, nonetheless. "For me, that was more than a year ago."

[murph]

That was not a blush rising to her cheeks! It was appropriate irritation.

"You didn't have to quote it out loud, thank you very much." Her fist, to her credit, had curled but not flown. Truth be told when he confirmed it she was torn between throwing a punch and hugging the hell out of the big dork. She settled for easing back down in her stance and letting some of the tension roll out of her shoulders.

Wait..

"A year? You've been back a year? You weren't dead and you let me think you were dead?" Now she was working back up the roller coaster again. "I told them, I told them all you were too damned stubborn and stupid and bull headed to die."

[imaginary_wife]

She stared at him flatly for a bit. Nothing personal, really, as Meh Yewll was afflicted with a chronic case of unimpressed, one that she had carefully cultivated after years of not battling the symptoms.

"At least you're not lost." She commented of him specifically identifying the location.

"I'm Dr. Yewll. I work in the infirmary. If this is actually your first visit, then you'll eventually have to be cleared by medical. Because, as you well know, potentially contaminated individuals yanked out time and space are best placed in the location where people eat."

She lifted her cup. "In the meantime, want a cup of coffee? There are replicators over there."

[liamjones]

He nodded. "Tell me about her, Brother?"

[seekingcrocodile]

"She's the savior. She even saved me." It's not much, but it's the most important.

[southernreaper]

He doesn't understand what the bracelet means, but if it's anything like his gloves, then he understands.

Kevin sighs. Eating is just a hassle and a half. Sometimes, he doesn't do it, just because it's such a hassle.

"I can eat anything. I just... have to be careful how I eat."

[southernreaper]

"Please don't hug me." It's almost reflexive. He really doesn't like being hugged. He hasn't for a long time, but right now, he especially doesn't want it.

"No one else?" He's glad of that. He doesn't think he could contain himself if Cyclops or Moonstar were here. He's not sure he could handle any of the seniors, but at least he doesn't know Remy. He knows who he is, but nothing personal.

He takes a deep breath and leans his head back. "Can we get me some gloves?"

[southernreaper]

It takes three pairs, before Kevin actually gets to put a pair on. The others just disintegrate under his powers. He blinks his eyes hard, pulling on the pair that works.

"Thank you." He tries to be polite, he's just not always good at it. Sometimes, his mouth gets the best of him, especially in high stress situations.

"Now what's this about alternate universes?" He asks, dusting off his pants. The ashes fall to the floor. He's so used to it, it doesn't even phase him.

[always_a_gerbil]

A few years and a couple decades ago, that offer would have had him choking on his drink, sputtering and turning a brilliant shade of red. Now there was just a hint of that past shyness as Steve ducked his head, trying to decide if the offer of biting was a joke or if he was being propositioned. Then, he realized that the voice was familiar.

Steve should have realized it right away but he'd never thought he'd hear it again unless it was in the old newsreels. It was still sloppy for him to be that unobservant but at least he had an excuse. He can almost hear Peggy in the back of his mind chiding him for the lapse.

He should try to find a nice way to break it to Stark that he was alive since he probably was from a time after Steve had been lost, but how did you make something like that easier?

Looking up at Stark, he gives him a wry grin. "Sorry, but I'm one of the new guys too." Pausing a beat, he thought of Tony and his comments over Steve's unique fighting style. "Why are all Starks fixated on biting?"

[diamonds_are_forever]

When he looks away Emma knows she's lost. It's a bitter feeling, just as it was when Laura left their conversation. So many lost children and none of them can accept help from her. She cursed her other self for neither the first nor last time.

"There are. Mostly we seem to get along just fine. Mutants are likely not the strangest passengers on the ship. There are even native telepaths. It seems likely that my worried are simply paranoia, but-" she pauses, lifting her hands as she shrugs. "I have learned that discretion is better than discrimination. I think that you can get along well here, even with your powers. Almost everything is synthetic."

[electro_kinetic]

"I know, I won't," she says, shaking her head. "Nobody else that I've seen. And I've been here a while."

But at the request for gloves, Nori gladly nods. "Yeah, yeah I can get you gloves."

[liamjones]

"The... savior?" he asked, confused.

[kaylinneya]

She nodded and turned to the replicators. These things still amazed her. They weren't magic - she would know - but they just made food appear from nothing.

"A tray of meat buns, hot, beef," she told it, then took the tray and set it on a table somewhere between them. She claimed three buns, before stepping back.

[seekingcrocodile]

"There was a curse. She's the one who broke it."

[wolfmd]

Isaac can’t help the smile when she says her name. “Do you go by Kitty for the irony of it, or…? And of course you can ask. Just try not to pry to deeply into my private life just yet. We only just met!”

But while they’re talking, his meal is giving up a distracting aroma so Isaac carefully cuts the steak in half and pushes the plate between them before carefully cutting his half further into bite-sized pieces. The reason for his closed-mouth smiles is revealed when he takes the first bite; his canine teeth are more like a wolf’s than a human’s.

“At least it tastes as good as it smells.”