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.


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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

[eternallyhazel]

The girl and cat didn't seem to pose a threat but he saw she'd been crying and it made him think of Holly. When he spoke, his vague Irish accent seemed more pronounced than usual. "I wouldn't say lost, per se. But perhaps you could be useful in another fashion." Useful in another fashion? What sort of language was this? He thought. Then tried again. "What I mean is, could you tell me where I am, exactly?"

[primeverdeen]

He wasn't lost but wanted to know where he was.... and... she could be useful? Something about him made her take a half step back. She wanted to run, felt like she should run. But she did her best to hold her ground. Besides... if Katniss wasn't here... what did it matter if she got hurt?

Yes, depression was making her into a defeatist little thing. She set down Buttercup, so that if she got hurt, at least the cat would be safe.

"You're in the lounge," she said. "They have food."

[eternallyhazel]

"So I have been told. Is food a commodity here?" He didn't quite understand it. "And I see that it's a lounge. But where is the lounge situated?" He seemed almost testy now. Would he have to start again to educate those around him?

[primeverdeen]

Another half step back. "They call it the Enterprise. They claim it's a ship in space. And food is always important," she said sharply. A kid who had an attitude like that and didn't care about food... every nerve in her was poised to run. He was clearly Capitol-born, or something similar.

[eternallyhazel]

The Enterprise. Now they were getting somewhere. There had been several Enterprises throughout history. Both in fiction and non-fiction. He'd have to dig deeper to find out which. "Of course food is important. But never have I met so many people who mention it in the same sentence as their greeting. Hello. There is food here. Are you alright?" He spoke in a mocking tone, clearly annoyed.

[primeverdeen]

"Well some of us grew up hungry," she snapped, a little defensive. "If someone had told me there was food first thing, maybe I would have had an easier time starting out here!"

And lost less of her time with her sister to fear.

[eternallyhazel]

Artemis sighed. She was right. Not everyone could be born into a family with billionaire status. But he wasn't going to apologise. Artemis Fowl did not apologise to strange people. He barely apologised to his friends. But her words did spring something on him which intrigued him.

"So you don't live here. You arrived. Kidnapped?" Was that what had happened to him? And how?

[primeverdeen]

She almost said "Rescued" but the word died on her lips without a sound. She had firmly believed that... until Katniss was taken away.

"I arrived," she finally said, a bit stiffly. "A lot of us did."

[eternallyhazel]

A lot of us did. This was turning out to be just another adventure but he was without his usual allies. Where was Holly or Butler or even Mulch when you needed them? He'd even accept Foaly at this rate. Another mind to bounce ideas off of.

"How many is a lot? And how did you arrive? Ordinarily I would assume you used another ship as this is apparently in space but you seem as clueless as I am."

[primeverdeen]

"His name is Q, apparently, and he brings us," she said, crossing her arms. "And I don't know how many a lot is. Pretty much everyone I've spoken to here, I think."

Well, there was that odd woman in the capitol looking hat, she seemed more familiar with this place...but also said she was from elsewhere, so Prim wasn't sure about her.

[eternallyhazel]

"Q?" It was certainly an alias. A good one at that. His face contorted into his more thoughtful of expressions, not that Prim would know that. "This Q brings us from our home to his star ship. But to what end? Who controls this ship? Who pilots it? What is it's destination?" So many questions. Never enough answers. D'Arvit.

[primeverdeen]

"I'm a kid," she said flatly. "Just like you. Who is going to tell us stuff like that?" she asked bitterly.

[eternallyhazel]

She had a point. One of Artemis' great qualities was that he was still a child and to those who didn't know him, most unassuming.

"I will have to find that information out for myself." As well as everything else, he figured.

[primeverdeen]

"Fine. You do that," she said snappishly. "Good day."

She turned, and if he doesn't stop her, she will leave.

[eternallyhazel]

Good day? What sort of person said that any more?

Artemis didn't stop her. She was obviously too emotional and did not have the information he needed, so why waste his time? He didn't know how much of it he held after all.