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

[makesbettermouth]

"I could drink a gallon," she admits. And she really could - she does enjoy the stuff.

The gentlemanliness is noted and appreciated, and she slides ahead of him to head to the bar.

[likesfondue]

Howard shook his head. "Now now, holographic technology, if it is what I think it is, is surreal. You wouldn't even know. You'd be living, breathing, touching in an atmosphere. You could pick it up. It would taste real. Trust me." Really, had he ever led the good butler astray, he thought to himself.

[likesfondue]

"You sound a lot like me." He laughed and moved over to sit down beside Alec, glancing around the bar briefly before back at the young man in front of him. He sighed, looking as if he was hurt, only teasing the man.

He chuckled, giving the young man a look. "How about this? We start with the important ones. Where am I? Who are you? And how do I get a drink in this place?"

[element_wizard]

"Is this a good or bad thing?" Alec asked. "As for your questions, you are on the Enterprise - a space ship in the... I think twenty-fourth century. But don't quote me on that one. Dates and I are a little bit on the wobbly side. I'm trouble... or Alec. And that depends. What sort of drink would you like."

[inbedbynine]

"And I could go anywhere I wanted this way," Jarvis asked curiously, "and it would feel as real as if I was there? What about people could this holodeck be programmed with certain people?"

[inbedbynine]

"I was a solider before I was a husband Miss Carter," Jarvis says softly, "and the thing that solider values above everything is loyalty. My loyalty is to Mr. Stark and by extension you. This is something Anna always understood and while I miss her and will always love her I know I am where I am meant to be."

[peggy_carter]

She hadn't given him the respect due a soldier, she'd joked about it but when she had needed him he had always been there. "You're right, and I would be lying if I said that knowing you were here was not a comfort." She raised her tea cup in salute to him and sipped. "You don't speak often of the war, is it a part of your life that you would rather have done with?"

[inbedbynine]

Jarvis sips his tea and smiles. "I think every soldier wishes that Miss Carter. Even though I wasn't on the front lines all the time I saw the fall out Saw my fellow soldiers mourn their brothers and cousins." He watches his tea swirl in the mug. "Not only that I saw what war do to innocent people and that I never wish to see again."

[peggy_carter]

"I think I rather find it a comfort, not the ravages of war but the work. It gave me such a sense of purpose and direction that I haven't found match elsewhere. There have been losses, and those are never acceptable. But it is to stave off those losses for others that I will continue to fight." They might have seen different sides of the war, but she valued his view as much as her own. "I think if I do this than maybe others won't have to; wouldn't it be a lovely thought?"

[inbedbynine]

"It is my hope that the future does not find war such a necessity. I know that complete peace is not possible but it is a lovely thought to wonder if some day it might be," Edwin says,

[peggy_carter]

"I agree, hope for the best but prepare for the worst. I would very much like to be pleasantly surprised for once." Actually, she had been once. "Or rather again. It is something to hope for the future and your children."

[inbedbynine]

Edwin smiles sadly. "Children are not a possibility now that I have chosen to join you and Mr. Stark here," he says, "Anna and I weren't sure we could even have children."

[peggy_carter]

"We must do all we can to get you home then." As for herself, well there might be more good she could do here than back home. Maybe, at least it was an easy distraction.

[inbedbynine]

Edwin chuckles. "I don't plan on going home until you or Howard do," he says firmly, "you need me."

[peggy_carter]

"I would say Howard needs to, his mind is something the world needs if we are eve3r to make it this far." She gestured at the ship around them. "As for myself, I'm not so sure home offers me anything more than this can. I may have a chance here, at a new life."

[inbedbynine]

"And if a change of scene would make you happy Miss Carter I see no reason why you shouldn't stay. You are a good soul," he replies with another sip of tea.

[peggy_carter]

"I won't wager how good my soul is Mr Jarvis. I've killed, and without hesitation. I've done things in the service of my cause that might not make the gates of heave smile on me." She did smile though, and laid a gentle hand to his forearm in a gesture of trust. "I don't know where my home is anymore, but where ever it is if I have friends like you it will be a better place."

[inbedbynine]

He looks up and smiles warmly at her. "Miss Carter, killing for the sport of doing so and killing for the sake of saving millions of lives are two different things. And I believe that if a loving God does exist he would understand and open the gates of Heaven wide for you."

[peggy_carter]

"Your endless optimism is an inspiration." She smiled and laughed, it was light and happy and something she hadn't done in a long time. It felt damned good. "We should all be so lucky when our time comes."

[inbedbynine]

"One can either be positive or negative and I chose to try to be positive. Life then chooses the obstacles it places in my path," he replies, "and may I say Miss Carter you have a lovely laugh."

[peggy_carter]

"It's a commendable trait." She agreed and found herself wishing she was a bit more like this man she was so proud to call friend. "You may, and I take that as quite a compliment coming from a man as discerning as yourself."

[inbedbynine]

He chuckles. "You can call me what I am Miss Carter. I am a picky British man sometimes far too picky for my own good."

[peggy_carter]

"That sort of particular nature has saved my backside on more than one occasion, I think I can give it leeway enough to shade it in more complimentary terms." She was fond of him, and he had certainly earned the respect.