TEST DRIVE #16 - Turbolifts and Ten Forward

[ten_fwd_mods]

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.

Comments

[nosmallfry]

"That is very generous of them," he said with a small nod. "We must find some way to repay them, even if it is not required. But we can do that after we share a meal." He gave her a warm smile and tried to fight the urge to kiss her. It was one thing to say they no longer hand to hide it, and another to be so open so soon. And he wasn't sure she was willing to be kissed in public, even if he were willing to do the kissing.

[diplomaticsolutions]

"They are understanding. It isn't our choice to be here." But it was generous. Others could have simply sent them away, or deposited them on a planet, or sold them in to slavery... Instead, they gave them a room and access to food, and even allowed them to attend classes to learn more.

"Decide what it is you want, Ani. I'm fine with the tea." Hunger and thirst didn't bother her any more.

[nosmallfry]

"Sweet pairs?" he asked, a small teasing smile on his lips. "A fruit bowl? You should eat, you need to eat," he said smiling warmly, thinking of why she needed to be sure to eat.

Why he thought she needed to eat, still.

[diplomaticsolutions]

Padmé knew well enough what it was that he was getting at. It had been a nice memory, one she could cherish. But she gave a shake of her head. "I have been aboard for some time, Anakin. Go. Decide what it is you would like, and we'll sit down together."

[nosmallfry]

He stopped and took a step back so he could see her fully, looking at more than her face for the first time since she walked in. "How long?" he asked in a voice braced for an answer he knew he wouldn't like, that would make him angry. What had happened to her? If she had been aboard for sometime, she should look different, or should have had news for him that would have come far sooner.... if someone had hurt her... hurt them....

He wasn't even aware of reaching for his lightsaber, but it was a comforting to feel it in his hand. Still off, but ready.

[diplomaticsolutions]

"It's been over two months." In some ways, it seemed like forever, longer than that. Yet, it was two more months than what she otherwise would have gotten. Her own hand reached out, seeking to touch the arm that had started to move, to halt it. She hadn't been mistreated in anyway since arriving here.

[nosmallfry]

His arm did stop moving at her touch. He loved her, and he would stay his hand for her, for now. But he needed answers. "Two months," he repeated. "You don't look..." how to say it... he stepped closer, put his other hand on her stomach lightly. "How could it have been two months?"

[diplomaticsolutions]

"Time, Anakin, doesn't work as it should here. The last thing you might recall might not be the last thing I remember." Padmé already knew that that was true, as Anakin was not the man who had used the Force on her. "Master Yoda is from my future, and Master Kenobi is from my past, for for either of them, the others are from the past or from the future."

[nosmallfry]

"Then you're not, aren't yet...?" He really didn't know how to ask. He could chop up droids like they were firewood, he could cut down foes like they were so many banners. This mattered so much more, and was so much harder.

[diplomaticsolutions]

"Pregnant?" It was offered lightly, softly, although if that was what he was trying to get to, it seemed fairly clear that Padmé at least knew that she had been pregnant. "... it was twins, Anakin. A boy and a girl."

[nosmallfry]

"Twins..." That stumbled his brain for a moment. "Twins. We have twins...." he repeated, then his smiled the bright smile of a new father and kissed her, before swinging her around. "Twins? Where are they? Why didn't they come in with you? What are their names? They were born here? Does Master Obi Wan know? Master Yoda? How... you're okay. You're okay and we have Twins."

Had they Christmas, this wold be a life time of those, come early.

[diplomaticsolutions]

They had both been right in the end with the gender of the child. She watched as Anakin absorbed that information, from shock, to joy and excitement. Despite herself, she couldn't help but laugh, forgetting the circumstances for just this moment as his arms went around her. Of course there was that stillness, choosing to answer the questions truthfully, but not completely. "Luke and Leia, but they weren't born here, and they didn't come here with me."

[nosmallfry]

He smiled at their names, savoring them, then frowned at the rest as she said it. He shook his head. "If I am here, and you are here... they're alone? Without either of us?" Emotions were overruling his sense of what she had told him about time, about how this place worked.

Worry now, fear, concern.

[diplomaticsolutions]

"It doesn't work like that Anakin. It... it is as if time somehow freezes." Although for her, there was no time to go back to, unless it was the ground. "You are here now, but I have no recollection of you ever being missing."

[nosmallfry]

"Then... when we go back... We'll be together with them? With our children?" he asked, taking her hands. "Tell me about them? Tell me everything?" Food was forgotten. He was a father!

[diplomaticsolutions]

"There isn't much to tell... I had just given birth." And had passed moments later. There would be no first words, first steps, first many things. But she supposed there were a few things she could tell. "Luke came first, and then Leia."

[nosmallfry]

"And... when we leave here, we'll not remember having been gone? They'll not have noticed we weren't there?" he asked. He had no idea that he wasn't with her when the twins were born, because of course he would be. Right? "Even there, even back home... we won't be able to hide, once they're born. Especially not once they begin talking."

[diplomaticsolutions]

"As far as I can tell, no." Which she knew was strange to think about, but no stranger than being gone without anyone even realizing it. No stranger than showing up here... She glanced up though, wondering, wondering. What if things could change? A foolish hope, she knew. "But I don't know for certainty how everything works."

[nosmallfry]

"We can hope it works that way, then. There is no reason our children should grow up without us," he said softly. "And I don't want us to be apart."

[diplomaticsolutions]

Padmé knew that she would need to tell him, and sooner rather than later. It should be from her that the words came and not another. Then again, there had only been three there, and she knew Obi-Wan had no memory of it as it hadn't happened. Yoda? He knew, and more than anyone else.

Yet that that moment she rested her head against his chest, head nestled beneath his chin, as if to burrow herself snuggly against him. It was something that they had done time and time again back home, something she had wanted in those last minutes before he had used the Force. "I've missed you, Ani..."

[nosmallfry]

"I'm so sorry you had to," he whispered, resting his chin gently on her head, savoring the feel of her, the scent of her, the safety he felt in her arms, even while knowing he would protect her with all of his being. "But I'm here now, and as long as I have any power left to me, any ability to change thins, as long as you are here, so will I be."

[diplomaticsolutions]

She knew that had he known, he would have moved the very stars themselves to get to her, and it wasn't as if she held it against him. How could she? She also knew in that moment as she felt the warmth of his skin, that she would need to tell him everything, but not yet. "It's okay, Ani. You're here now."

Anakin, and not the one from Mustafar...

Pulling back slightly, she offered a smile. Perhaps he had been distracted, but Padmé did recall. "Come. You're hungry. We'll get you something to eat and sit down."

[nosmallfry]

He nodded, giving her a small smile. "I would like that." He moved to take her hand, linking his fingers with hers, feeling that nearness. He made a silent promise to himself in that moment, echoing the one he had made aloud to her. He would not be parted from her. Not again. Not ever.

[diplomaticsolutions]

It could be said that death made many things clear, but even before that, she had meant what she had said on Mustafar. All she wanted was him. They could have left there and gone to Coruscant, or Naboo, or any planet that Anakin had wanted...

Which was why her fingers twinned with his own, and she offered a smile. "You might want to ask the computer for something then..."

[nosmallfry]

"Why don't you choose something, and we'll share," he said, lifting their joined hands so he could kiss her fingertips lightly.