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

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..."

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."

isn't it though? even if Gohan and Bulma suddenly have super generic voices

[masenko]

If possible, Gohan's eyes get a little wider. Kami's Namekian ship was utterly utilitarian-- even with the alien aesthetic, what did what was pretty easy to piece together-- and since none of those things were "synthesize food," Gohan didn't even have a reference point for where to begin.

The doctor, who'd been kind, was now, officially, the closest thing Gohan had to an ally, and if someone didn't teach him how to use the thing-- his tummy growled a little, just as a quick reminder it'd been denied fresh fish, and Gohan was suddenly glad he'd not tried to catch the navigators before asking about food.

Suddenly a little shy, he asked, with a slight catch of hesitance, "Um, how does the replicator work, exactly? And, um... it needs ingredients to put together, right?"

He was working up to asking about rations. Bulma and Krillin assumed he'd eat as much as dad and packed accordingly, but...

aww, their voices got changed for Kai? :< not surprised by Gohan, but Bulma?

[asklepian]

And being utterly utilitarian by the standards of a race that didn't eat solid food, it must not have had much by way of a galley of any sort, much less something as elaborate as a social lounge.

"You ask the computer for what you want, and the computer matches it against its database. You can ask for either a recipe, or components of a meal."

He leads Gohan over to the wall, where the replicators are--they're slots built into the bulkhead, with a computer interface beside them.

"Like this. Computer, eggplant parmesan and iced Tarkalian tea, extra sweet please."

The 'please' is unnecessary, but habitual, and he doesn't even think about it. The requested dishes materialize into existence on the tray, and Julian takes them out.

"You can use the computer interface on the wall as well, if you like. That will show you what's available, by category generally. Fish, meat, vegetarian, and so on."

yup. :/ i think it's Monica Rial whom I love but she does not sound like Bulma

[masenko]

Vegetarian he probably wasn't going to try. Hm.

And vocal commands were what powered the Namekian ship, so that, at least, was familiar... and he didn't even have to wrap his head around the different pronunciations. Even so, Bulma taught him a few of the simple commands and he'd been trying to memorize the sounds the way Dende spoke them...

"Um." He cleared his throat. "Computer, may I please have a tyrannosaurus steak? Flame grilled, if possible, but that's not necessary. Neither is seasoning."

He paused.

"And an orange soda, too, please."

He'd have said please anyway, considering his parents raised him on a strict "do as I say" basis, but Dr. Bashir's politeness made him pour it on a little thick. After all, the doctor was acquainted with the machine, but Gohan was a stranger.

[asklepian]

But it's so tasty. Sad face.

The computer beeps in a...rather confused manner actually, which mirrors the look of bafflement on Julian's face, because tyrannosaurus? Like the dinosaur? That had been extinct for thousands of years?

The computer's voice is inflectionless, but female: "Unknown specifications. Please restate your request."

Julian shakes his head slightly. "That may be one we have to ask the engineers for." If they could do that...

[masenko]

"Oh," he said, puzzled. "I guess it's not popular anymore... megafauna meat is expensive to buy, but it's not so bad to hunt yourself."

He doesn't add "if you have ki control," because anyone can learn that, right?

[asklepian]

"Tyrannosaurus has been extinct for over 65 million years." He sounds...kind of weak when he says it. "That will be...something of an entirely different conversation."

Also, you...apparently hunt them. Not that he's judging (despite the fact that humans have largely stopped utilizing animal sources for food, it's unnecessary with the replicators) but that's insane. You're like five.

"Probably the closest analogue from Earth would be alligator." He thinks. What do you even compare tyrannosaurus to?

[masenko]

"Extinct?" he repeats. Now he's confused, too. "I've really only heard of alien races going extinct... I wonder who killed all the dinosaurs you're thinking of?"

Natural extinction? What's that?

"I've seen alligators in my books... My dad says they taste really good, but he says that about practically everything."

[asklepian]

"A meteor," Julian says, which...is something of a flat explanation. "And the subsequent global climate change induced by the debris in the atmosphere, that made food sources scarce both for herbivorous and carnivorous dinosaurs."

That would be natural extinction. Of course, that's all rather theoretical since modern humans came well after dinosaurs and all known information is pieced together from the fossil record.

"I wouldn't know, I've never had it personally."

[masenko]

"Really?" He grinned. "If I was you, and I had one of these, I'd try everything I could think of!"

[asklepian]

"I don't eat meat at all, generally speaking--I'm a vegetarian," Julian explains. Replicators might neatly avoid the ethical and environmental problems of harvesting animals for food, but there are health benefits to keep in mind.

That said, he has eaten meat before, mostly in survival situations, because at that point there's no being picky.