Personal Log - LtCmdr Waterhouse - Shave and a haircut

Posted on Wed Aug 27th, 2014 @ 6:13am by Commander Amelia Waterhouse & Danielle Atarah

3,121 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: In the Dark

Action Comics #38. Amelia was kind of amazed that Dani had managed to find a copy, let alone one that was in readable condition. She was actually afraid to pull it out of its polybag, despite being told specifically by Dani she needed to read it. Despite having already read the Wonder Woman comic also in the collection without any harm coming to it, she was still a little intimidated to handle something so valuable.

Slowly, carefully, she slid the comic out of the bag, holding her breath as she did so. When something dropped out of the comic and landed in her lap, she just about jumped out of her skin and the comic dropped into her lap covering up whatever it was. Thankful she'd only been holding the comic by one hand, and therefore hadn't torn it when she started, she picked it up to see what had fallen. She spotted the data chip as she slid the comic back into the bag, and picked it up after setting the bagged comic back with the others.

"You tricksy little wabbit," Amelia muttered with a head shake and smirk. She stood up, turning the chip over in her hand as she crossed to her computer terminal. Sitting down, she slid it in place and quickly pulled up the file browser to see what was on it. Just a holodeck program titled Grand Canyon. Amelia scratched her head, glancing back towards the stack of comics in confusion, and spotted a little piece of white paper sitting on the couch where she'd been a moment before. Upon inspection, it was shaped like a comic dialog bubble and said on it in Dani's neat but hurried handwriting: Look for the barman.

=/\= Holodeck =/\=

Amelia strode into the holodeck, Stetson on her head, single braid down her back, long sleeve buffalo plaid shirt in white and light green half-buttoned over a white wife beater tank, and skinny jeans tucked into her boots. She considered the view of the Grand Canyon that lay in front of her, and whistled appreciatively at the quality of holoscan Dani had gotten her hands on for the program. The view certainly looked legit, and the dust had already started to blow up onto Amelia's boots. She smiled softly and spun in place to look at the rest of the view.

There was a sizable hotel lingering near the rim of the canyon, which Amelia didn't remember being there the one time she visited with her parents. It was an odd mix of modern Fed architecture and old west, but it looked like something that would be legitimately targeted at tourists and it certainly would have a bar. With a shrug she headed in.

"Good afternoon, ma'am. Love your hat, way to get all local, good for you." A young man greeted and gestured at the check in counter. "Are you here for a room, a guest, or a taste of our world famous rattlesnake stuffed jalapenios poppers Mm mm-mouth watering," He grinned. "It's now available at the bar. Bull-riding Karaoki is optional," he smiled, "but recommended."

Amelia grinned, plucking the hat off her head as she passed through the door and tucking it under her arm. "Rattlesnake stuffed jalapeños poppers sound amazing, you said I can find that in the bar?" The karaoke was tempting too, but that could wait until she could figure out what Dani had her in the program for.

"The bar is right over that way," he pointed to the left with a bow. "Enjoy your stay, and remember to duck when appropriate!" And then he turned back to the entrance, waiting for new arrivals.

She headed in the direction indicated, murmuring a thanks to the holocharacter out of habit. As she approached the door, she looked at it a moment, it looked to be normal height, but did that knot in the wall above the door wink at her? She shook her head as she kept walking, and suddenly found the top of the doorframe lowering as she was almost too close to duck. She leaned backwards, stumbling a little at her unexpected limbo.

Scooping her hat off the floor, she straightened up and looked around once she was finally inside.

The pub was dimly lit, with the exception of a large door at the far side that opened to a vast seemingly unending drawn desert, but that wasn't the special thing in the bar. It seemed Dani modeled the place after her most treasured love, as the entire array of characters, from guests playing poker, to a lone drinker at the bar, to the barman and waiting staff, was completely taken from famous 20th century cartoons.

Jessica Rabbit, with her long red drawing of hair flowing on her shoulders, picked up an impossibly tall tray of glasses and sashayed towards the tables.

"Nnnnn... Hello," true to form, Bugs Bunny slid across the isle and stopped close to Amelia, cleaning the wooden bar with a drawing of a towel. "Congratulations on not walking into a bar! Nnnn... What can I get you? We have carrot juice and carrot ale and carrot cocktail specialty," he offered, plucking a huge orange carrot from nowhere and biting into its tip.

Amelia grinned wide, her eyes following the well drawn curves of Jessica Rabbit before being drawn to Bugs Bunny behind the bar. Of course it was the wise cracking rabbit tending bar. She strolled up and plunked herself down on a stool next to Daffy Duck.

"Carrot cocktail, and those Rattlesnake stuffed jalapeños poppers the guy out front was bragging on, please," she asked, settling in with one elbow on the bar, bracing her chin with her hand.

"Nnnn wise choice," Bugs Bunny approved, and then his eyes slitted suspiciously. "Heyyyyy...." he tilted his head curiously. "I know you..."

"Yesshh," Daffy Duck lifted his head from his drink and rotated his head to look, "She'sss famous. Whatshh your name, wait! no, don't tell me."

"I know," Bugs Bunny chimed in, "Something with 'Carrot'."

"No, sshmthing with water. I know what it is--"

"Carrotwater!" Bugs Bunny declared.

"Eeee.... Carrotjuice!"

"Waterbridge"

"Carrotbridge!"

"There's no water in carrot bridge!"

"There is underneaaaath the Carrotbridge."

"I say it's Waterbridge and I say—"

"Waterhouse," Amelia said with a laugh. Dani had certainly gone over the top with the program, but it was a riot.

Both character stopped their bickering and returned their attention to Amelia. Bugs Bunny shook its head. "That's right, eeeee-yes! We have something for you, Watercarrot. Wait right here."

He slid to the side quickly, leaving a drawn clowd of dust behind. Road runner whooshed by, stopped by Amelia, meeped twice, picked up a package marked "Delivery" and whooshed out the open door.

Bugs Bunny returned with a box in his hands. "There it is, eeee yes. Here, see?" He showed Amelia the side, where a huge "ACME" logo was crossed out with what appeared to be a black marker and replaced with "Waterhouse" only 'house' was half scratched out as well; instead, there seemed to be an array of alternative endings to Amelia's name, "Carrot" being the top one, written in orange ink.

"Watercarrot." Bugs Bunny approved and Daffy Duck nodded sagely. "You ssshouldh open it over there," he pointed towards the billiards room. "It's PWIIIIVATE."

She grinned, dropping her hat on her head again. The box didn't look big, but given how this program had been working already, Amelia suspected a two handed hold would be the best bet. "Thank you kindly, gentlemen," Amelia said with a nod of her head as she picked up the box. "If you could send the red-head in with my drink and appetizer, that would be mighty kind of you." She couldn't help getting a little silly and cliché with how she spoke, given how over the top it was.

When she pulled the door shut behind her, Amelia glanced around the billiards room. There were so many tempting things to explore, and she couldn't help but be curious what wild things would happen if she tried to use the billiards tables... but the box called to her. She set it down in the middle of the table, taking time to look over the various abuses her name had been put through. She slid one of her knifes out of her pocket, and quickly cut the tape to open the box.

And then the box opened suddenly onto the table and flattened completely, like reverse origami art. It folded in and out of itself until all that was left was a big square white piece in the middle of the table, only traces of black marker peppered its surface. Then, those traces coalesced, grouped together into a circle, and started to draw themselves, as if a hidden pencil worked on the paper.

At first, there were eyes, then a mouth, a nose, a pair of big brown eyes, then ears and hair, and -- quickly -- the image of Dani Atarah appeared, two-dimensionally on the piece of paper, and before Amelia could inspect it properly, the drawing winked.

"How's it hanging, Waterboat? You found the secret message. At this point, I thought I'd increase your overall score." Colorful stars exploded above Amelia's head, accompanied with sing-song chimes and a "+5000 !!" floated for a moment nearby, and then disappeared.

"You can use them for things regular money can't buy here," Dani-painting smirked. "But enough with the fun. If you found this, then you should probably already know I'm gone. This is as good a place as any to explain. If you want to hear it, that is. If you don't, turn around and leave. This piece of paper will burn itself, and no one will ever know I contacted you, or that you had anything to do with me. If you do, though, all you have to do is touch the paper and say your name." The drawing smirked, winked, and froze back into a simple pencil picture.

Amelia reached out, touched the drawing of Dani on the nose. "Amelia Waterhouse, or is it Watercarrot now?" She smirked, and crossed her arms to see what happened next.

"-100 Points" flashed in above the table, followed by "+500 Points!" and the drawing moved again, filled with color and Dani's drawn image turned to look at Amelia with a smirk.

"So, you're here. That's gotta mean you're not that angry at me, or at least I hope that's what it means. You're all XO'ey now, you have responsibilities and all that other stuff people in the academy kept trying to hammer into our heads -- your priorities are different now, and they should be. People are counting on you. But I have different people who are counting on me, Pond."

Dani-drawing smiled and reached a drawn hand to erase the drawn pips off her drawn collar.

"When I joined starfleet, they told us we will be serving the people. Our whole purpose was to protect the weak and defenseless. As much as I didn't like being forced into a system with ranks and hierarchy -- that was the only thing that I could agree with it on, and stand for. And now they messed this up too. Federation, Fleet, whatever the problems are between these two systems, whoever's right or wrong -- I am not going to just forget about the people we said we're supposed to protect."

"Which is why I let you go when I caught you rabbitin'," Amelia mused softly to herself, a half smile on her lips.

"It's what we're meant to do," Drawing-Dani continued. "If we don't do that, what the hell are we for?" She took a breath, the drawing mimicking what the real person was doing at the time of the recording, and collected her thoughts for a brief moment. Then, the smile came back, shining through the white page.

"I've been in contact with Earth for the past several weeks, under the radar, using people I know from all over the planet. I made sure the people we know in Starfleet are as safe as they can be, and someone is watching our families, making sure they don't get into silly trouble. The ones who are in danger are our friends in Starfleet, and for the most part, I managed to find some temporary protection for most of them, but not all. I spoke to my connections on Earth, and I've arranged for a way there. A safe way," Drawing-Dani smiled, and moved a little to expose a corner of the page to more drawings.

A drawing of a shuttle appeared near her head, lines of movement and slight vibrations indicated it was flying in space. "I borrowed a shuttle from the Vindicator stock. I had to turn off its beacons, but by now it is already safely locked and left behind at my rendezvous point. It's not very far from where you are right now, you should be able to get it back." The drawing of the shuttle vanished, and in its place a circle appeared, filling up with blue paint, then green, then taking the 2-dimensional shape of the Earth.

"If all goes well, I should arrive on Earth in about a week. I don't know what the Federation or the Fleet are planning, but I don't care. My contacts are outside the scope of both, and I trust them, so you don't need to worry. And in here," the drawing pointed around, the background of the image changing to reflect the scenery of the billiards room, "you can send me messages."

"This program is encrypted and hidden, it uses three layers of demodulation to send short bursts of long-range beams to a set of relays. If anyone intercepts it, it will sound like noise. If anyone knows what to look for, they'll have to decrypt it, a feat almost impossible for a holographic program. So this," the drawing gestured again, "is safe. And I can use the same method to send short messages back to you. When you want to send anything, go to the bar," the drawing smirked for a moment in amusement, "and ask Bugs if he has messages for you. If anything came from me, he'll hand it to you. Otherwise, you can ask him to write a note. He'll know what to do." The drawing grinned again, "I have to warn you, though, you might get some unexpected results each time you interact with the characters. The computer did an impeccable job integrating my most favorite cartoons, and you know what happens in those..."

The drawing grinned, chuckled, and then grew back to full size and started losing its color. "What I did was my own choice, Pond. In a time of war, going AWOL will probably count as treason, especially for someone with my past. I know it, and I made that choice for myself. Don't be a jerk and put yourself in the middle of my choice, though. Don't you dare go ruining your own future in the fleet because of some feeling of family and honor. If you love me at all, take care of your own goddamn ass. I'm a civilian now, which means I should be outranking you. So consider this an order." The painting grinned again, then waved.

"See you around, Waterbucket. Stay safe, and keep your Captain safe. Maybe we'll still see each other again at the end of all this mess."

The picture started to fade, and then, suddenly, grew back up. "One more thing," paper-Dani blurted. "Tell Ivanova I'm sorry, and that the characters in here will know her if she ever wants to come here. I've left her a message too. A private message, untraceable. If I didn't piss her off too much, she might want to come see it." The image paused for a moment, as if thinking, then, as if thinking against something, shrugged. "I'll see you when I see you, Waterhouse. Say hello to your parents from me."

And the picture faded, the lines grouping together again into a stain, and then evaporated into a thin cloud, following the crumbling paper. In a few minutes, all that was left were small white crumbs on the edge of the billiards table and a barely noticeable stream of dark smoke.

"Hello, beautiful," Jessica Rabbit entered, carrying a tray, "Rattlesnake stuffed jalapeños poppers and a carrot cocktail special. It's on the house," she batted her eyelashes, turned dramatically, and sashayed out.

Amelia had stayed mostly quiet, watching Dani's theatrics. She still worried about her friend, but at least she had a way to keep in touch now. Jessica Rabbit's appearance in the room broke a silence that had fallen when Dani's self destruct had run its course and Amelia had stood in her own head considering it. The buxom red-head was in and out before the willowy red-head could react. Amelia balanced the cocktail on the plate with the poppers, and headed back to the bar.

It was a quick conversation with the cartoon rabbit -- well quick considering his perchance to meander -- to leave a message for Dani to let her know she'd found the program, and that Ivanova was aware where she'd gone. Amelia spent a little time after that watching the cartoons in the program, marveling at the care put into the program. It was only when she finished the drink and poppers that Amelia stood to leave... But first there was one more thing.

She stepped in the path of Jessica Rabbit on her way to fill a drink order at the bar and grinned. The stacked toon vixen stopped in surprise.

"Can I help you?" she asked with hand on her hip, and an empty tray balanced on the other. Amelia grinned, slipping an arm around the tiny animated waist, and a hand at the back of her neck, and laid a kiss on her dramatically pouty lips. The drink tray clattered to the floor, and when Amelia pulled back she didn't have time to blink before she was seeing stars. Literal stars orbited around her head.

Amelia held a hand to her cheek that now bore a red hand print as she watched the toon sashay away in a huff. Dani had dialed back the safeties just enough in the program for that to leave a mark, and Amelia wouldn't have wanted it any other way. She whistled a tune to herself and called for the arch. She'd be back again, and not just to contact Dani.

=/\= END LOG =/\=

Lt Commander Amelia Waterhouse
Executive Officer
USS Vindicator

Holocharacters (apb moo)
Grand Canyon Program
USS Vindicator

 

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