Holodeck

Posted on Wed Apr 29th, 2020 @ 11:58pm by

Mission: Cruel Meridian
Location: Holodeck
Timeline: A few hours before "Ring around the Roses"
3197 words - 6.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Herbert Barr stood outside the Princess quarters. He quickly brushed himself down and straightened his uniform. He was feeling refreshed and ready for the day ahead. He pressed the chime and waited for permission to enter.

Leyana's expression brightened as the door opened. "Mister Barr!" she exclaimed, enthusiastically pulling him inside. "What do I need for this... exercise?" She was still wearing her bathrobe, though her hair was scrunged up in a very messy wet bun. "What do I need to wear for this?"

“I’d recommend some comfortable clothes.” He said as he was dragged into the room. “Maybe keep your hair up and out of the way.” He suggested. He couldn’t help but find the Princess’s current attire very alluring but he quickly push those thoughts away and remained professional. “No need to rush, I’m sure I booked the holodeck for the entire morning and early afternoon for you.”

"Comfortable clothes...I'm not sure I have any... Do you think pants would be considered unbecoming? I'm to be a queen, queen's don't wear pants..." She turned and gestured towards her wardrobe, which seemed fairly extensive. "Anything in there that's suitable?"

“Pants are fine. However, I’m not at liberty to know what is in a Princess’s wardrobe, the ships replicator will be able to produce something suitable if you require.” Bert replied, his tone was respectful and pleasant.

"Right..." she seemed a little disappointed as she disappeared into her bedroom, dropping her robe just before the door closed behind her. A few minutes later she returned, having selected what the replicator had designated as 'running gear'. "How does this look?" she asked as she turned around the one time.

“Perfect. It my hast to report to you after breakfast I forgot my own comfortable clothes so need to swing by my quarters on the way.” Bert said. “If that’s ok with you, m’lady?”

"Why not use my replicator?" She gestured towards her bedroom. That they were private chambers was of no issue to her, especially if him using it saved on time.

“I didn’t want to assume I could.” Bert said with a smile. “Thank you. May I?” He asked gesturing towards her chambers.

Leyana nodded. "Of course. Would I offer if I didn't want you in there?" Still, she didn't follow him in, waiting patiently for him to return.

Bert smiled warmly at the Princess and gave her a polite nod before entering her chamber and replicated himself a T-Shirt and jogging pants, along with some comfortable trainers. A few minutes later and Bert reappeared and smiled. “Ready to go?” He said offering his arm to the Princess.

Smiling, she took the offered arm. "You look much better and more at ease out of that stiff uniform," she complimented him. "So tell me more about what you have planned for today?"

“I don’t know why I bother with the uniform seeing as I no longer have a rank. Habit I suppose.” He said as he shrugged his shoulders and lead the princess out of the door and along the corridor. “You wanted to try bike riding so I thought we’d try that, however, it’s a little tricky to get the hang of it so maybe we could go tandem which is just as fun. Then I was thinking some lunch, either in the ships lounge or in your quarters, whichever you’d prefer. Then I thought I might give you a tour of this fine vessel of your interested.” He explained as they walked along the corridor.

"Well you don't have to wear your uniform on my account, just be yourself and be comfortable," Leyana chided him as she held on to his arm. "I'd love a tour of this fine vessel, but first this bike thing. Is it really that hard?"

“It is tricky, it’s something that easier learnt as a child. Which is why I’m suggesting a tandem. All you have to do is peddle, I’ll do the rest.” Bert replied with a smile as he looked at the Princess. Her eyes were so big he could happily get lost in them.

"Aww I cant let you do all the work," she pouted at him, "surely you can teach me how to do it on my own? A queen must try it all right? If she's to rule, she must know what she rules, right?"

“Of course, I didn’t mean to imply that I wasn’t going to show you, m’lady, I will show you how to ride a bike but it’ll take time and practice. I didn’t want you to get frustrated and miss out the fun of cycling hence why I suggested a tandem bike.” Bert replied as they continued to walk.


[Holodeck 2]

The weather was beautiful. A balmy 22 degrees Celsius, only slight humidity, light wind, bright sun. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Perfect meteorological conditions. A road bike zoomed on the roads near the coast of Alpha Centauri City and its outskirts. Unlike the roads in the city center, these were perfect for competition road cycling. They were smooth, yet offered just enough traction to prevent major crashes and slides.

This particular road was over 500 kilometres long, but Cassie, in her black and purple cycling capri pants, matching sleeveless jersey and gloves, white helmet, cleated shoes, and polarized sunglasses, focused on a 100 kilometre stretch. Every time she cycled on this road, she chose a different stretch; built between a mountain range far to the west and the ocean, this one was particularly challenging with its twists, sharp turns, and hills.

As she rode on the empty pavement, she didn't think of anything. Nothing else existed aside from her, the bike, and the road. Even though she knew it like the back of her hand, she respected it. She could still slip, she could still crash, she could still injure herself. She hadn't recently, but she was still careful, even at high speeds. And with her torso practically parallel to the frame, she was going pretty fast. The computer had mentioned only three minutes ago that her average speed was almost 35 km/h, faster still when she went downhill.

Bert walked into the holodeck with Princess Leyana on his arm frowning. “Who the hell is using this holodeck? I’d booked this for us yesterday. The time slot was free when I booked.”

Leyana yanked him aside as she saw something come at them at high speed. "Watch out!" she called out as the both of them tumbled into he grass.

Cassie made the fatal mistake of glancing back as she heard the unexpected yelp. She immediately felt her bike slide under her just as she entering a turn. She pressed on the brakes and and tried to correct her position by slightly turning her left knee towards the turn and straightening her body to adjust her center of gravity, but she was already too late: she had lost too much traction, and was losing control over her bike. The inertia from the turn and her brakes was pulling her the opposite way.

In another fraction of a second, she released the brakes slightly to regain some of that lost traction and give her some time to correct her front wheel, and find somewhere safe-ish to crash. The road was lined with a thin grassy patch and trees to her right; to her left was a guardrail, then a rather steep incline. In that split second, she decided where she was going for a slide, and hit the brakes, hard.

She quickly unclipped her right leg from the pedal, faced the direction she decided was going to slide in, and dropped her shoulders. A fraction of a second later, her bike slid roughly in the direction she was aiming for, but she would probably hit the pavement before she got to the grassy area. She let go of the handlebars as she slid down, and used her foot to slow her momentum once she was actually on the ground, her bike still attached to her left foot.

Even though she tried to minimize the amount of road rash she instinctively knew she was going to sustain, her whole right upper arm, thigh, outer knee, and part of her calf were burning as they slid on the asphalt. A tree finally stopped her in her tracks; the ht wasn't hard enough to break her arm, but it would certainly leave a nasty bruise if she didn't treat it right away.

She stayed prone for a few seconds, unclipped her left leg from the bicycle, and breathed very deeply. Adrenaline was coursing her body, and she needed to calm down before her next move.

“Hey, you ok?” Bert called out after watching what happened. He jogged over to the woman on the floor.

Cassie slowly pushed the bicycle away from her with her good arm and leg and sat up against the tree. She didn't even need to look at her right arm to know the skin was ripped to shreds, her full sleeve tattoo barely recognizable under the blood and dirt. Her cycling shorts had taken the brunt of the damage at thigh level, but her knee and calf were also bloody and dirty.

She wiggled her fingers and toes; no broken extremities, that was good. She cursed in several languages when she tried to rotate ankles and wrists. There was a sharp pain at the right wrist, possibly a sprain. Could be worse, she thought. Aside from the burn on the right side of her body and the painful throb on her wrist, she didn't seem to be more severely injured. It was only after she had assessed the damage that she acknowledged the presence of the newcomers.

"Your Highness, Mr. Barr, good morning. What, exactly, are you doing here? I locked the door," she said, carefully rolling her shoulders to relieve some of the tension. She took off her helmet and glasses, then gingerly checked her head for any signs of concussion.

“I could ask you the same thing.” Barr asked as he offered Cassie his hand to help her gently up. “I’d booked the holodeck for the Princess to experience riding a bike for herself.” He explained.

"I usually book it for early morning training," Cassie answered, running her good hand inside and outside the helmet for signs of impact. There were scratches on the outside of the helmet, enough to have to order a new one. "I must have overstayed my welcome."

She got on her knees to check her bicycle. At first sight, she could tell the front wheel was out of true. The brakes seemed fine, so did the frame, but she'd take it down to... where exactly?

"Are you sure you're alright?" Leyana asked, her face a mask of concern, "surely, we can share this space, it seems big enough?" She looked up at Herbert. "Can't we? We can do our own thing and Miss Cassandra can continue her exercise?"

The adrenaline now completely subsided, Cassie felt the burn from the road rash on the right side of body, and hissed in pain. Tears welled down her cheeks. She lay back down on the grass, but she knew she had to get to sickbay as soon as she possibly could. "With all due respect, your Highness, I'm in no shape to continue training today. I'm injured, and that bike," she said, nodding towards her white and silver bicycle, "needs repairs." She sat back up, careful to prop herself up with her good hand, but she hissed in pain while doing so. "I should get going, actually."

Leyana held out her hand. "Are you sure?" she asked, "is there anything we can do?" She looked up at Herbert. "I need your shirt," she said, "give it to me please." After all she wasn't going to rip up her own to bandage the injured woman.

“Of course.” He replied, feeling a little embarrassed he hadn’t offered it himself. He quickly whipped it off, revealing his slim but toned upper body, and passed it to the Princess.

Casting him a single admiring look, Leyana accepted the shirt and then proceeded to rip it to shreds. "This may hurt but it'll at least stem the bleeding. Herbert don't you have one of those medical kits I heard someone talk about? Can you use one of them?" She started to wrap the shreds around Cassie's bleeding leg. 'Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"I'll be fine, I promise. Please, there's a better way," she protested, waving the princess and the makeshift bandage away with her good hand and calling for a dermal regenerator. An instant later, the device appeared in her left hand. "This is better," she said, turning it on and directing the beam over her calf. Almost instantly, the bleeding stopped and new skin cells started to grow over her wound. It wasn't perfect, but it would serve until she got herself to sickbay.

“Would you like me to escort you to sickbay, Cassie?” Bert offered, he could see she was in a fair amount of pain. Even with the holodeck safety protocols on, falling from a bike could be quite painful.

"No. I'm fine. Thank you," the young diplomat responded, determined to get out of the holodeck on her own. As she she rose, however, she felt a slight wave of dizziness. From the corner of her eye, she spotted something, and when she turned, she saw what looked like a spectre of herself, but with half her face stripped away, her mouth and nose all bloody. She widened her eyes in terror, suppressing the urgent need to scream in abject horror. After a moment, she managed to blink once or twice. She lightly shook her head, and when she looked across the road again, the spectre had vanished.

She gingerly touched her face, making sure once again that she hadn't injured her face, but it seemed fine. But maybe she had injured her head after all, despite all precautions. "On second thought, um. I'll just transport there." She then addressed the princess. "I'm so terribly sorry. Ruined the whole holodeck experience for you. For both of you." She quickly called for a site-to-site transport, and a moment later, vanished in a field of bright light.

“I hope she’s going to be ok.” Bert said with frown. “I’m sorry, m’lady, not the best start to your holodeck experience aboard the Majestic. Are you ok?”

"That was certainly different," Leyana mused as she crawled back to her feet, looking at her bloodied hands. "Not very royal like huh?" She smiled at him running her fingers across the frown on his face. "Don't do that..."

“Sorry, I frown when I’m concerned.” Bert said as his frown faded into a smile and he took the princess’s hand. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” He said softly. There was a fountain nearby to wash the blood from her hands.

"There that looks much better," she smiled though she didn't specify. "I hope this didn't deter our plans?"

Bert smiled, “I wasn’t sure if you’d like to continue the plans after seeing what could happen. It’s up to you, m’lady.” He said looking into the Princesses eyes.

"Everything is holographic right? Including our uhm bike? So it should be safe shouldn't it?" Leyana gave him a hopeful look. "I want to try."

“Alright.” Bert said with a smile. “Computer, could we have a bike suitable for Princess Leyana’s height.” A few moments later a bike materialised out of thin air. “M’lady.” He said gesturing to the bike with a smile.

"I thought you said we were going tandem?" Leyana ased as she held the bike. "How does this work?" She tried to get on but as soon as she lifted her feet, the bike fell over.

Bert smiled, “Perhaps tandem would be best.” He cleared his throat and glanced up. “Computer, remove the bike for Princess Leyana and provide us with a tandem bike suitable for both myself and the Princess.”

A few moments later the solo bike disappeared and was replaced by a tandem bike. Bert headed over and climbed onto the front of the bike and adjusted it for himself before looking at the Princess. “Would you like to climb aboard, m’lady?”

With a little effort, she climbed on, her hands tight around the handes. "And now?" she asked as she looked down at the sticking out things that presumably went round and round. "What are those things for?"

“They’re called pedals. You need to put your feet on them. I’ll get is going, all you need to do is pedal with me. I’ll steer and keep us balanced. Just try not to move from side to side or we could come off like Cassie did.” Bert explained. “Ready, M’lady?”

Obediently, Leyana placed her feet on the pedals. "Not too fast at first please, I've never done this before."

“Of course.” Bert said looking behind and giving the princess a reassuring smile. “Here we go.” He said facing front and gently pushing off with his right foot before placing it on the pedal and beginning to pedal the tandem slowly. “I should have got another shirt before we started.” He added with chuckle.

"Why?" Leyana asked innocently, tentatively letting go of her steering handles to lightly run her fingers across his bare back. "I quite like what i see."

“Thank you, m’lady.” Bert replied with a smile as he glanced back. “How are you doing? Not to much for you?”

"I'm fine..." She hesitated. "Much fun as this is, shouldn't we go check on your friend?"

“I shall check on her later. She wouldn’t want her accident to interfere with my duties.” Bert replied, as he steered the tandem around a bend in the path. “Perhaps we could stop for a drink shortly?”

"I think I'd rather retry this another day, and go for that drink now," the princess answered honestly, "and I may go see Miss Cassandra after that and see how she's doing."

“If that’s what you want to do then it shall be done.” Bert said as he began to the bring the bike to a haul. He then put both feet down to allow Princess Leyana to get off first.

"Yes please." She got off and rested her hand on his bare arm. "We can do this again another time," she promised, "let's go have a drink and then I'm going down to sickbay."

“I’m familiar with this program, there should be a nice bar up ahead for us to get a drink.” Bert replied as he too dismounted the bike and left it on its stand. He offered the Princess his arm, “Shall we?”

"We shall, and we shall get you a shirt too," Leyana smiled.

---

Cassandra Leblanc-Reed
Chief Diplomat

Princess Leyana
Alien Royal
npc Lhaes

Herbert Barr
Mission Advisor