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

[magicsprice]

"Quite big. Henry told me it has forty-two decks. We're restricted from some of them, the ones dealing with the running of the ship I suspect." He considers where to start things off before speaking again.

"I can show you the guest quarters, and then the rather interesting thing known as the Holodeck."

[megabot]

"The Enterprise." She gets it right in one; it means nothing at all. And when she goes onto give him further detail, the very first thing Hiro wants to do is argue. Space travel isn't let's have a giant aquarium in our spaceship levels of advanced.

At least he doesn't have to worry about sounding crazy, anymore. "I'll take the computer. Think you could point it out for me?"

[kaylinneya]

She dropped to her knees without concern for injuries she could have done to herself. "Are you alright?" All concern in her tone now, her eyes looking him over for injuries. A hand reached for him, a gold bracelet with bright stones - very expensive - dangled from the wrist. the glint of it caught her eye and he saw the swift transformation from gentle concern to pure irritation as she glared at the bracelet as though it had offended her.

She shook her head and tore her eyes away from it, looking him over again.

[contocricket]

"A good assumption," Archie said, wondering just how big "forty-two decks" actually was. He then looked at Gold in surprise. "Henry's here?"

In response to the last part, he nodded, glancing down at his unfinished drink and looking for a waitress. "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with the rest of this..."

It wasn't as if he'd ordered a drink from the bar, after all.

[magicsprice]

"Yes, he is. Henry's the one who helped me with my questions about this place." He replied with a small smile. He was glad he had the boy here. He didn't like the thought of being here with just Emma and Hook, neither of whom seemed that fond of him thanks to the apparent actions of his counterpart.

"I'm sure you can leave it there and the tender of the bar will dispose of it if you don't want it anymore. Though I should warn you, the liquor you get from the bar...isn't exactly actual liquor, though it does taste the same. It just lacks the kick it's supposed to have."

[whereishe]

Yuna smiled and waved him over to a nearby panel. "They have access points everywhere." It wasn't everywhere but it was often enough that Yuna would stop and stare for a bit.

She stepped back wondering if he knew how it worked.

HIRO-MUN HAS GONE TO THE WORLD OF DREAMS and will tag more later c:

[akito]

"Spaceships were invented in like the 1960's of course there are spaceships. Not advanced like this one, but it's definitely plausible that in some spot on the time continuum they get to be as cool as this one. And- Copenhagen? I dunno what it's like where you're from, but nobody seems to know what the Copenhagen interpretation actually is as far as I've read. Everyone thinks it's something different and sometimes contradictory to each other and it's just... Weird. Quantum physics, you know? Ah.. I mean, obviously you know. Since you know about this stuff..."

So maybe Akito was pretty bored and also pretty curious about things when he was confined to bed rest. And physics really clicked with him the most - right after biology. With nothing else to do trying to teach himself knowledge he might have lost seemed like the best idea. "And I'm pretty sure it's more like space-time continuum than, um, Many Worlds interpretation? Since there are people here from the same worlds but different times within them. But then there are a lot of people from Earth, but from different versions of it... It's definitely like... Different worlds running parallel to each other. Super similar but not exactly the same? And then this Q guy can just pluck someone out of their strand of the universe and dump them into this one..."

Quantum physics is too weird. He rubs at his temples absently; a habit he's picked up from the chronic headaches he gets since waking. "I only read up on this stuff a couple of weeks ago, so I'm not an expert on it or anything, but obviously it's all at least plausible since we're here. In outer space? On a space ship with all kinds of weird stuff that I'm pretty sure doesn't follow the laws of conservation of mass."

It's frustrating. It's not something he thinks about often - in fact, he often tries not to think about it - but when he does it just feels like he's bashing his head against a brick wall. Akito lets out a frustrated exhalation as he brings his hand back down to stuff in his pocket, though he stiffens as he hears the tell-tale sound of water freezing over.

Oh, crap. Are the tanks temperature sensitive? He has absolutely no idea. And would rather not stick around to see if he gets in trouble for turning a good chunk of the water near the glass into ice. Akito's first instinct is to grab the other boy by his hand, which he does ("Just... Come with me and I'll show you!"), and then tug him out of the labyrinth of marine creatures until they exit into a more relatively-normal hallway.

Akito finds the nearest window and gestures for Hiro to take a look out of it.

"Space ship," he intones. Now much less anxious than he was when dragging them into the great, wonderful world of not-aquarium-ness. "And... Ah, actually before you get full access to the rest of the ship you've got to stop by the sickbay. They scan you for health issues, then will generally give you a hypospray - it's like a needle, but uses vaccines with a small enough molecular weight and size that it can be injected into your blood stream through your clothes via air pressure. It's like a pinch and then you're done! And protected against any strange space diseases that um, aliens... Might have that are transmissible."

[evolutionaryman]

Scott snorted. "Think what you want, say what you want. It doesn't make your science less faulty, and it doesn't make you any less what you are trying to paint me as, an unreasonable and unwilling to see other viewpoints ideologue." Scott smiled, angry, but amused, at the same time. If it wasn't for the seriousness of this, he would almost be having fun.

He walked away from her, and laughed as he did so, never losing his awareness of where she was, or what she was doing, and heading right for the door, to find someone to actually report her to. His eidetic memory would help ion recounting her words and her exact description, and he would be sure to describe her certainty that she must have death rays and be able to supply them to who she wished.

He shook his head. Wow.

[agathaheterodyne]

"I defy you to look at anything I've built" in the last several months "and find evidence that my science is faulty!" she snarled at him, stalking along after him. He wouldn't have to remember her appearance to anyone, she'd be right there ready to drop her roommate's name like a heavy cog.

"Insult me all you want, but leave SCIENCE out of it!"

[evolutionaryman]

Scott shook his head, spun, and headed on in a different direction. "Leave me alone. Inventing things doesn't mean you have any kind of sense of good science. It just means you have an ability to create."

He glared at her. "Go away. You are an unreasonable and dangerous person and I really want nothing to ever have to do with you again."

[agathaheterodyne]

....Not have.... How dare he.... She sputtered. Fire in her eyes. She wanted to throttle him. She wanted to scream and rant and rage at him. She wanted to shove a calming pie in his face.

"Well then fine, I hope we NEVER cross paths again, since you clearly wouldn't know good science from bad fiction!"

She tried to remind herself that it could have been worse, there were worse people out there. Othar. Her mother. That last made her shudder and her hand touched the necklace she wore reflexively. She didn't realize that the look on her face as she touched the locket made it look important, made it look like a point of weakness, a target. She was just thinking about how very very bad it would be for everyone... if her mother ever got loose.

the fear shook her away from the anger, and she even forgot he was there as she stared off at nothing, shuddering. She had to find a way to not just control her mother... but purge her. The question was could she keep herself intact when she did so?

[seekingcrocodile]

"A few weeks. I haven't quite adjusted to the change in location yet." Not just because of being in space. Also because of all of the strange technology. It's even fancier than what he's seen in Storybrooke.

[badassbird]

There was one good thing she was noticing out of this group: there were a lot of pretty people here, something Jett could definitely appreciate, and the guy who speaks up is no exception. What he asks, however, earns him a scoff matched with a smile that was almost a grimace. "Yeah, you could say that."

How much more rough did it get than getting split up from your group and then finding yourself lost in the middle of space on a spaceship straight out of sci-fi? Well, dying would probably be the icing on the cake for something like that, so it could be worse. She gave him a once over with her eyes, trying to get a feel for what kind of person he was. The type with all face and no brain or the type to actually make an impression.

"D'you work on this thing?" She gestured vaguely around them, indicating the ship as a whole.

[diamonds_are_forever]

"About a week. It's been rather dull, truthfully. No world threatening crises or racist bigots. Just boring bureaucracy and replicators." Emma shrugged, then brushed a hand over her ear, tucking her hair behind it. "Would you like me to show you to your temporary quarters?"

my apologies I couldn't find any info on the console panels so I winged it

[megabot]

He didn't, of course- but at the end of the day the system is mediocre enough to get a handle on quite quickly. His fingers fly across the screen, eyes flicking back and forth as he brings up more and more information, brows raising higher and higher with every line of text.

It reads like one of those old, corny sci-fi movies. But unless Hiro somehow teleported himself into the middle of a random convention, then...the computer was serious. And so was that girl.

"....Unbelievable."

oh my gosh this is!!!

[megabot]

Usually his sarcastic comments weren't registered to hold any value, so her enthusiasm actually takes Hiro aback for a moment, brow quirking in an unspoken 'are you for real'?

Apparently. Same as her tiny robot, though for the life of him Hiro's not sure how, exactly, it's functioning at all. Hamada Brother's rule 48: it's rude to pull people's inventions apart without asking.

"...Build them?" Oh. His mind clicks into gear at that, expression evening out into a slightly...knowing grin. Help. Yeah, he could help. "I guess I know a thing or two about that, yeah. If you don't mind me helping out."

A big place like this was bound to have endless resources. If no one was going to give him answers, then he'd take a new angle. And fly his way out.

Can she adopt him? x.x

[agathaheterodyne]

"DEAL!" she said, offering a hand. "Come on, I have a workshop set up in my room," she said happily.

He mind was already running through design ideas and possibilities. "What other features do you think they need to have?" she asked, starting to walk, whether or or not he took her hand, her other arm swinging as she walked.

And of course, to Aggie they could not SIMPLY be rocket skates for the talking cat, no, they needed added functionality!

He might get a bit reserved if she tries bad things happen to his family fkjskj BUT SURE

[megabot]

The hand is...eyed off, but not taken. He's fourteen, not five, and really, there's only so far Hiro can play the innocent and friendly card.

"Well first, we've got to look at materials. I mean, we can go with hydrogen-peroxide fuselage if we have to, but then it, y'know, won't fly for long. A turbojet, that- that would be awesome- if we've got what we need for it." If they had the money for it, too, he imagines. If they did, though; surely she wouldn't mind if he made off with a spare engine, or two.

"Balance and control, though, that'll be the key. And temperature control from the exhaust systems."

"Bad things happen because of family" Agatha calls that 2 pm. And 4 pm. And every other am and PM...

[agathaheterodyne]

(OOC: seriously, between the messes left over from her family, both messed up sides, Gil's family - mostly his dad, and Tarvek's family.... Family making things go boom... common occurrence for her. She's weirded out by how safe this place has been, lol.)

"If you use a steam based secondary engine, you sacrifice some lift and speed at maximum fuel, but it would get faster and stronger, a subtle indication to him that he needs to refuel soon. AND, if we calibrate it correctly, the water kept for the steam will act as the balance."

"Of course, we wont tell him we did anything for balance. He is a cat, after all." she led him to the turbo lift and once they were both in, said the proper deck for her floor.

"My roommate is almost never around, but if she is, don't mind if she seems a bit serious, she's really very nice. Not a Spark like us, and not a minion, but very nice. I consider her a friend."

Which to Agatha means that Tasha... is someone Agatha would go to war to protect. Not that she ever told Tasha this...

H H H H H HIT IT

[burntfingers]

Absolutely nothing makes sense right about now.

Tadashi knows the fire was real. There's still grit under his nails, ash on his clothes and the smell of it all sits heavy in his nose. But this place has to be real too. He can feel it when he pinches himself to check, and he can hear the burbling of the aquarium so clearly that it has to be right there in front of him. But how? How isn't he- he should be dead. He lifts a hand and holds it against his own chest, feeling for the unsteady heartbeat.

... Is he dead?

Tadashi doesn't really get a lot of time to think about that. His train of thought is pretty firmly derailed when he hears an unmistakeably familiar voice and spins around to confirm who it is.

"Hiro?"

There's an element of confusion to his voice, and a whole lot of fear. If he's dead, then-?

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON. YO' ALWAYS NUMBAH ONE!

[megabot]

His heart stops.

He remembers the first time he smelt smoke after Tadashi died; Aunt Cass had gotten a phone call and left some eggs in the pan just a little too long, acrid scent creeping up the stairs and slowly filling his room. That's what he'd woken to, yelling out Tadashi's name in a panic and falling right off the bed before reality stuck and--

And he was gone again. Just gone.


Hearing something Tadashi's said in his head isn't that odd. Bayax has hundreds of recordings of him, and Hiro's seen them all. He'll never forget the way he sounds, or the way he looked. How dorky his hat was and all the stupid cardigans he refused to stop wearing. It's never been outside of his head, though, and when Hiro turns he--

Of course.

Of course, it's a dream. Just a dream. Hiro manages to crack a smile after several long moments of staring like he's seen a ghost, voice wobbling but light spirited. Meant to be light spirited.

"H-hey, bro. Didn't see you there." Haven't seen you anywhere, actually.

At all.

BEST BUDDIES, BEST PALS, YEA!

[burntfingers]

The mystery of what kind of reality this is doesn't seem to matter nearly as much to Tadashi when his kid brother is standing in front him, looking like he's about to cry. Super weird magically appearing aquarium be damned, protective Dashi mode has been activated.

"Hey. Hey, woah." He takes long, quick strides to Hiro's side and crouches over him, then places his hands reassuringly on the boy's shoulders. "Everything's alright. I don't know where we are, but- at least we're both here. It's okay."

Everything else takes a backseat for the moment, Tadashi's attention focused on calm, breathe, fix, heal. He smiles encouragingly at Hiro, and keeps his grip tight, mistakenly of the opinion that reaffirming his presence here will actually help rather than maybe, well. Cause panic.

YOU ALWAYS SEEM TO WORK THINGS OUT

[megabot]

Don't touch me. Hiro flinches, but hands still connect with his shoulders all the same, a solid, steady weight that he can't-- he can't.

He can't comprehend that, right now.

Slowly, he slumps forwards, Tadashi's chest cushioning his forehead as he closes his eyes. He can smell smoke and ash and his brother, mingling into some horrible, irrational fantasy that smells and speaks and touches just like the real thing.

Hiro's been fine. He's been fine, he's finally getting over this. Today was a good day, so why now? Why?

"Yeah." He croaks out. "Yeah. It's fine."

It's fine.

CANT YOU SEE YOURE TWO OF A KIND???

[burntfingers]

Something is very much not right. It still feels like Hiro isn't really speaking to him, even as he mumbles a reply that honestly sounds less convincing than the time a fur covered, scratched up Hiro once told him, "No, I haven't seen Mochi."

He really does want to let Hiro stay where he is. But Tadashi feels like maybe right now, it's a little more important he can see the kid's face. He squeezes him just once, arm secure around Hiro's back in a show of support. Then he ducks down to lean on one knee and look up at his expression. Okay. Not great. And definitely not 'fine'.

"What's happened? Talk to me."

[evolutionaryman]

"I'm sorry you're bored. Could be worse?" Scott felt a little dizzy, from arrival, information lack and overload both, and the surprise of her, and the child, which was not his, but was the child of a version of his, if he was reading this right. Oi. What even was his life? When had it become this confusing? Oh, wait, right. When Henry McCoy the elder had brought them to the future. Damn him any way.

With a sigh, Scott nodded. "Yes, please. And if you could tell me a bit more about this place? Whatever you know might be helpful." Because of course, his mind was already working on the angles, and a plan. No information yet,but a plan nonetheless.