ten_fwd_meme | TEST DRIVE #16 - Turbolifts and Ten Forward

Option 001. Trapped in a Turbolift: This space travel thing is new to you, and you're starting to think the ship is purposely out to get you. A turbolift is just a grandiose name for an elevator, which should be the safest way to travel after all! But someone out there is out to get you, you're sure of it. Because the next thing you know, the lights flicker and the lift grinds to a stop. You're trapped, with whomever was unlucky enough to be in the lift with you.

It could be hours before you're rescued. These turbolifts span the entire massive ship, and don't just travel straight up and down. No, they can travel horizontally, vertically, sometimes even diagonally. You could be stuck between any deck now. There is a small access panel on one of the smooth walls, but how good are you with getting these things to work? Let's not forget that sudden stop tossed everyone around a little, and people could be hurt. Time to put your emergency thinking cap on, and make friends with the people beside you fast. You could be the only way back to freedom.

Conversely, you could slide that pack of cards out of your pocket and start a rousing game of gin rummy. Really it's up to you.

Option 002. Ten Forward: You have no idea what just happened. One minute you were home, minding your own business, 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, and some of the food is looking rather strange too.

You've managed to land in Ten Forward. A long bar with barstools and a bartender span one side of the room, with a bank of strange computers on that same wall. It looks like people are ordering food and drinks from them. Tables are sprinkled throughout, and the far wall is nothing but floor to ceiling windows with a view 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Dear me," said Marley, arching her brows at his words. In some ways, she was surprised to find herself in this particular universe, yet in others, she was not. "It seems we're a bit out of our league, aren't we?"

Still, the lingering thrum of static that she'd felt running through her fingers when she'd clasped the young man's hand had given her something to think about. "I will say, though, being stuck here might be slightly better than being scorched to death by an angry mother dragon from Puget Sound."

"It does seem so, a little." Then he grinned at her, and waved a hand for a waiter. "But they haven't seen how we work, yet, now have they?" His smirk was full of challenge.

"Being burnt is generally seen as bad."

"No, they certainly haven't," Marley agreed, making herself comfortable. It seemed she'd found herself a bit of a spitfire, hadn't she? This was going to be an interesting conversation. "And, no, generally not. But my options were rather limited at the time. It seemed that it was either me, or the entirety of Seattle--including my only living nephew--and goodness knows where it might have gone after that."

"That's not a nice choice at all. But you protected them. That's pretty cool." He had no idea if he could do a thing like that.

"What do you do back there?"

"It seemed like the right thing to do." Marley didn't think of herself as particularly heroic. She was just trying to be a better person than she'd been at Harry's age, and maybe atone for some of her really and truly bad choices.

"I suppose you could say that I'm something of a philanthropist, and a patron of the arts," she said. Leaning forward, and lowering her voice, she watched Harry's reaction carefully as she added, "Others might use words like 'witch.' Incorrectly, I might add."

The correct term for what she did, well, that was something else entirely.

"That's pretty cool! " Harry chuckled. "I would think they might sling worse words, ma'am, and still be wrong." He held a hand next to the other, and silver fire lit, in a ball, then went out.

"Some call me wizard, or warden, or apostate. Most days, I don't care anymore, as long as I know where lunch is coming from." He paused and looked around. "Speaking of which... yeah!" He pointed to a computer terminal on the wall. "Want something to eat or drink?"

He was hungry okay?

Marley nodded. People would, and said all sorts of things about her. Once upon a time, they might have even been true. But that was once upon a time. Harry's magic was a great deal more overt than her own, which tempted her to accuse him of showing off, but she was old enough to wisely bite her tongue. The very young were rarely very subtle. Even Marley Jacobs.

"I'd love a cup of tea, if you don't mind," she said, "Perhaps some soup and sandwiches would be in order as well. It doesn't pay to go wizarding on an empty stomach."

"Very true!" Harry darted off to the replicators and made a huge plate of sandwiches, some cokes, a soup toureen and some silver and flatware, and a steaming set of tea.

Then he was back, setting it on the table to the side of them.

"There we go!" He took a sandwich and opened a bottle of coke, sighing in relief as he ate and drank.

"Where are you from? You look kind of familiar."

"Excellent!" Marley proclaimed as Harry set the table. She inhaled the steam from tea, and sighed contentedly. "Ah, Earl Grey. Try it with a touch of honey--it really enhances the bergamot."

She smiled. "I'm from Seattle, Washington. Twenty-first Century," she added, for reference. "And since we were discussing job titles, I suppose we might as well add warden to my list--though it seems dreadfully austere, don't you think?"

"Ooo, What's Bergamot?" But he still did so, putting some tea in and taking a sip. Ever since he had started training more with heat and fire, hot liquids didn't bother him as much. He had been training his mind and body against the possibility of ever getting burned again.

"Very cool. And yes, it is, a little, also less than fun, in most worlds." He made a face. He was Warden of Demonreach, which in and of itself was mostly boring.

"How's a beautiful woman like you end up a Warden?" Though to be fair, most Wardens he knew were pretty people.

"Bergamot? It's a small, citrus fruit that looks something like an under-ripe lemon. Inedible, but the oil from the peel is use as an aromatic addition to teas, and cosmetic products. The fragrance is said to have a calming effect, while boosting confidence, and aiding in the balance of female hormones. Earl Grey tea, however, is made exclusively with black tea, which is--of course--a mild stimulant. Lady Grey tea is similar, but with less bergamot, and the addition of orange and lemon peel, and dried cornflower or lavender petals."

And there is your potion-making lesson for the day.

Marley smiled, and shook her head in amusement at the compliment. "I made a lot of bad decisions when I was young, and took it upon myself to chart a new course. Isn't that how most people become Wardens?"

"Oh yes? Cool!" he committed that to memory.

Harry smiled as he ate and listened to her, bouncing a bit.

"Heh, I never had much chance to make bad life decisions, before all this started." Then he chuckled.

"In my world it's a job, like, handed down by the COuncil. Not my biggest fans." And that was saying something. Harry had a habit of making the right enemies, but a lot of them.

"And yet, you still got the job," Marley observed with a shrug of her shoulders. "So it's not all that different, in the end." She'd made plenty of enemies herself, but there wasn't much to be said about that. "In the end, all we can really do is keep moving forward, and trying to be better people every day." She smiled. "Seems like you're off to a good start."

"Well, more like made them give it to me." He smiled self-deprecatingly.

"Time travel, and overwhelming knowledge superiority, and a lot of good people on my side." He shrugged, then nodded.

"I'm not sure how better I am, but I try."

Again, Marley shrugged. Harry should see some of the things she'd made happen in Seattle. Some of the people she bossed around. "Believe me, I can be very persuasive for an old woman."

She'd been pretty persuasive as a young woman, too.

She smiled. "I don't care what that little, green man with the silly voice says. The whole point of being what we are is that we try, and keep trying."

Harry grinned. "I bet. Something tells me you could convince a lot of people of things they never dreamed. Makes me wish I could take you back to homeland. I have a feeling you and Ebenezer would get along." And he grinned wider.

"And the White Council wouldn't like you at all. Which is fine by me." Meant she was good people, really.

"Hmmm. Definitely a good point. That always was a better sound bite then sound advice. Even for people for whom doubt equals failure." Harry made a face.

TEST DRIVE #16 - Turbolifts and Ten Forward

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