Chapter 3: Just a Game
As the angry mob of men thrashed against the controls in the arch, one upon which they thrashed was the door controls. The controls were shorted by an angry boot which burst one of the bio-neural gel packs and sent its contents splattering over the isolinear circuitry below. The door shut hard behind them and remained closed fast until security was able to subdue them. Barclay tried fixing it himself, but all he had at his disposal was his tricorder which was hardly any use against burst gel packs and shattered isolinear chips. He got on the comm and requested that Obrien send someone with proper tools to fix the door.
It wasn't long before he heard a muffled clamor on the other side. Someone was attempting to pry the door, but to no avail. The tinkering on the other side soon subsided and the engineering team Obrien had dispatched materialized on their side of the door. He was mildly surprised to see Geordi leading the team, but none more than the newcomers who acted as though they had never seen a site to site transport before. They reacted with just as much shock when Dr. Crusher and her medical staff materialized to tend to Mr. Worf and the rest of the security team.
Barclay helped Geordi and his team fix the shattered door controls while Dr. Crusher tended to security. After she was done she moved to the newcomers and began examining them. Her brow furrowed and she focused intently on her tricorder, which was feeding her some interesting yet contradictory readings. She continued her work as the newcomers remained unusually sullen. Finally one of them, the skinny wisp of a man, took the tome he had been clutching to his chest and laid it on the bare ground. Then he loosed a clasp on the front and opened a small door set in its cover. Opening it wide an impossibly large space lay behind the door. He reached inside and pulled a most curious thing from within; as he reached his arm into the tome, up to his elbow, a tiny woman scrambled up his arm and sat perched on shoulder. A bizarre little thing, she couldn't have stood more than 10 inches tall from the tips of her toes to the top of her little, blond head. As she sat upon his shoulder she stared with focused intensity at Mr. Worf who was being treated by members of the medical team.
"Master Fractal, why does that mans head look like an angry bum," she asked after a good long stare. The man reached up and patted her on the shoulder, urging her to be silent as Worfs glower made his blood run as ice through his veins.
It took nearly 20 minutes, but eventually Geordi and Barclay managed to get the doors open again. Geordi informed the captain of their progress and shortly thereafter he passed through the arch to check their progress personally.
"Dr. Crusher, report," he said as he approached the doctor who was finishing her scans on the young woman.
"Mostly minor injuries, Captain," the doctor replied. "Cuts and scrapes on the security team but Mr. Worf took an arrow through the shoulder. I've removed the arrow and stabilized the wound but he's showing signs of shock. I should get him to sickbay as soon as possible. And, apart from some obvious signs of shock, there are no notable injuries on our guests."
"Our guests," the captains said, puzzled, as he looked past the doctor to the motley crew sitting on the dirt behind her. "They're holograms, doctor," he said impatiently as he turned to the door, preparing to check on Laforge's progress.
"I'm not so sure, Captain," the doctor called after him. Picard halted in his tracks and turned to meet her.
"Explain," he said.
Immediately Dr. Crusher opened her medical tricorder and called up the readings she had taken of their guests only moments before. She stood beside the captain as she explained her anomalous data.
"Given the bizarre behavior they exhibited, for holograms, I ran with a hunch and took some readings of them. A hologram should have no bio-neural signature to detect since they have no biological systems to generate them. But look here," she said, pointing to her display. She scrolled between each reading she took and each displayed its own very unique, very individual set of brain wave activity. "Each of these individuals is giving off their own bio-neural signature. They have no corporeal form but the holographic forms we see, yet somehow they are all showing distinct signs of brain wave activity. All but the little one," she said, pointing to the 10 inch tall woman on the slender mans shoulder. "She reads like a regular hologram."
"Do you have an explanation, Doctor?"
"I couldn't venture a guess at this point, Captain. I would suggest talking to them. But please be careful. It's difficult to tell with my equipment, I am getting some very contradictory readings from them, but they may be going into shock as well. Try not to press them too hard."
The captain nodded and straightened his uniform before walking over to the group. They still sat, under guard, on the soft earth of the forest floor.
"Who among you is in charge," the captain asked.
It took a moment for anyone to respond but eventually the young Vulcan woman stood to meet him. Her eyes were red from crying and her tears had cut deep channels in the dust caked on her cheeks. Apart from the rest of her hair, which was obsidian black, locks of blood red hair framed her face like a picture.
"My name is Captain Jean-Luc Picard," the captain said, eyeing her closely. "Are you V'tosh ka'tur?"
"What?"
"It means 'Vulcan without logic'."
"What's a Vulcan," she asked, her voice cracked slightly at the question.
The Captain decided not to press how she could possibly not know what a Vulcan was.
"What's your name," he asked.
"Rose," she said very absent mindedly. It was as though her mind was miles away from her body.
"And your companions," the captain pressed, though gently.
"The guy with the armor is Roth. The thin man is Fractal. The little woman on his shoulder is Genie. The kid in the camo cloak is my apprentice, Phoenix."
"Perhaps you could take your time and tell me what you're doing on my ship."
"Your ship," Rose said, meeting his gaze. "What do you mean 'your ship'? We're not on any ship. What are you doing in Caldera?"
"Caldera? Is that what you call this place?"
She said nothing but nodded, sullen and silent.
"What is this place?"
She said nothing at first, only staring into the distance.
"Miss," the captain pressed, leaning in.
"It's a game," she said at last, fresh tears welling up in her eyes. "It's just a game."
"A game? Like a computer simulation?"
She nodded silently.
"It's just a game," she repeated.
Picard pressed her for more information but she was less than forthcoming. The harder he pressed the more the vacant look grew on her face. Finally she grew numb and a catatonic expression enveloped her face and she stopped responding to any stimulus at all. Gently Dr. Crusher stepped between them and led the captain away by the arm.
"I would advise against any further questioning, Captain," she said. "She's clearly going into shock and needs immediate attention."
"Can you do anything for her, doctor?"
"Not much, Captain. I'm a physician and strictly speaking they are still holograms. They don't have a body for me to treat so my usefulness is pretty much at an end, here. I can keep them calm and administer some basic first aid for shock, but not much else."
"I need answers, Doctor."
"Then I suggest you contact counselor Troi. She will be of more use than me, at the moment."
"Very well," the captain said after a moments thought. "Have the counselor report here immediately and begin treating these people. Let me know as soon as you learn anything and we'll have a staff meeting in the observation lounge."
Deana arrived shortly thereafter. She immediately began counseling the newcomers. She spent most of her time with Rose, who seemed at times on the verge of passing out. The captain remained for a short while, conversing with Laforge over the extent of the damage and the state of repairs.
"It looks worse than it is, sir," Laforge said. "It's mostly superficial. We'll need to rebuild the primary interlinear chipset array, but we can replace most of the damaged components from storage. We're under crewed, but I estimate a little over an hour and a half to finish the repairs."
"Mr. Barclay, have you determined what this simulation is?"
"N-n-not quite, Captain," Barclay said as he drew near, clutching his tricorder tightly in his hands. "I know what it isn't. It isn't any program in our computer bank and it doesn't seem to be a beamed transmission of any sort."
"That's remarkably unhelpful, Mr. Barclay."
Reg closed his eyes and thought hard before responding.
"T-t-there also seems to be a c-c-cascading feedback loop in the p-p-primary buffer array, sir," he said at last. "There are also signs of quantum locking in the primary HUI processor, sir."
"Quantum locking," the captain asked, puzzled. "To what, Mr. Barclay?"
"Unknown, sir. I'm still working on it."
"Very well. Keep me appraised. Doctor, have you made any progress with our guests?"
"Not much, Captain," she said, joining the group. "We've administered basic first aid for shock and Deana has managed to keep them calm. I would let them rest, but it may be possible to question them again shortly. But beyond that there's nothing I can do. My instruments are wasted on holographic bodies, so unless you can find a way to materialize a body for me to examine I think I'm done here."
The captain nodded his acknowledgement before noticing Barclay out of the corner of his eye. It looked as though he was biting his tongue hard on something.
"What is it, Mr. Barclay?"
"Oh, uh… me, Sir? Well, I was just thinking… that is, that it may be possible to give Dr. Crusher what she wants."
"How so," the captain asked and Barclay felt himself shrink under the groups gaze.
"Well, uh… current holographic t-t-technology is based on the manipulation of photons and magnetic fields to give the illusion of substance. But early holodecks made use of technology similar to our transporter or replicators."
The captain bore a perplexed gaze on his face, unsure of where Barclay was going with this. But Geordi's brow furrowed and he thought hard, nodding as he began to see where Barclay was coming from.
"Yeah, Reg, that's good," he said, putting a hand on Barclays shoulder. "Captain, early holodecks worked by creating actual matter just like our transporters and replicators. They were abandoned in favor of current models because of the extreme amounts of power needed to sustain the projection, not to mention the computational power. If we can connect the transporter array to the holodecks and use the replicator network to aid in processing, this would allow the doctor to perform her examinations. And they would even be able to leave the holodeck for short periods before losing cohesion, so she could take them to sickbay."
"That sounds like an extreme undertaking, Mr. Laforge," the captain said. "What work is required?"
"Not much, really. We already have all the systems we need installed on the ship. We will need to run a trinary adjunct relay between the holodeck, transporters and replicators but we should be able to do this virtually with the comm system acting as a vector. I will need to take the transporters offline and we will need to use replicator subroutines to aid in processing, so some of the replicator network will go down as well. I'll try to confine this to the quarters of crew on leave but you should tell Guinnen to prepare for a rush on ten forward."
"What will this do to the comm network? We can't lose communications, Mr. Laforge."
"Impact on the comms will be minimal, Captain. Chatter is already low since we're running a skeleton crew, anyway. The network can easily handle the extra load."
"You mentioned power requirements?"
"Substantial, Captain. We'll need to run the engines hot just to keep up. But, if Data's calculations are correct, increasing our power consumption should help close the rift that much faster."
"How much time do you need?"
"It's mostly soft work, Captain. Reg and Obrien should be able to do most of the work from engineering before my team and I finish repairing the arch."
"Doctor, will this suffice?"
"It's hard to say, Captain," Dr. Crusher replied. "It may give them mass, but that's not the same as giving them a body. It's like making a clay sculpture of a picture of a shuttlecraft and expecting it to fly. But, even so, if I had some mass to examine it might help me answer a few questions for you.
"Very well. Mr. Barclay, make it so," the captain ordered.
"Y-y-yes, sir," Barclay said and made his way to engineering.
True to Geordi's word, Obrien and Barclay finished their work just over an hour later. Geordi had left his team repairing the arch to help stabilize the engines for the increased strain they were about to be put under. In the end it was Barclay and Obrien who found themselves waiting on Geordi to finish his final checklist before they could proceed. With everything well in hand, Obrien sent Barclay to the holodeck to monitor the process from that end.
"Doctor, are you prepared to proceed," Obrien asked over the comm.
"I'm ready," she said. Most of her medical team had long gone with only nurse Ogawa staying behind. Deana had remained behind as well.
"Alright. Barclay, watch those power readings and keep them stable. The emitters can handle the extra power we'll be feeding them but only if we can increase the flow slowly and steadily. Any sudden spikes will overload the matrix."
"Understood, Obrien. I'm ready on my end."
"Copy that. Increasing power."
Barclay paid close attention on his tricorder as Obrien slowly increased the power. First to 60% of tolerance, then to 70%. Eventually it rose to 80% and then 90% before cresting 100% of tolerance, though it didn't stop there. Barclay maintained a watchful vigil on the rising power levels, making careful adjustments on his tricorder, as the power levels rose to 120%, 150% and 180% of maximum. Eventually the power levels plateaued at about 198% of maximum. Barclay kept a wary eye on the readings and, though the emitter array was now bearing almost twice its maximum intended load, the readings were stable.
"Power levels are stable," Barclay said after a moment to confirm his readings. "You may begin your transfer."
"Copy that. Transferring holodeck data to replicators and marrying holodeck emitters to transporters in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…"
The lights outside the holodeck fluttered gently as the transition was made and the engine groaned slightly under the added strain. But Barclay was unaware as the view in the holodeck remained the same.
"Barclay, transfer complete. Can you confirm?"
"Copy that, Obrien. I read transfer complete. Thank you, Chief."
"Yeah. I'll keep someone on watch up here to ensure power levels remain stable. Call if you need anything else. Obrien out."
Barclay re-holstered his tricorder and gave a nod to the doctor. Together she and Alyssa began taking readings of their guests. The doctor smiled brightly as new readings flooded her tricorder.
"We have mass," she said happily. "Let's get you guys to sick bay and get some answers."
The doctor and nurse Ogawa performed an extremely thorough examination on their guests using the more advanced equipment in sickbay. When they were finished, Dr. Crusher called the captain who gathered his senior staff in the observation lounge for a meeting. In attendance were Barclay and Obrien with Laforge being absent, his shift having ended hours ago. Dr. Crusher and Deana were present as was Data who had new information on the nebula. Mr. Worf represented security and the newcomers were there as well, sitting opposite the senior staff. Commander Riker was present too, though his shift had also ended. He took his seat by the captain.
"Doctor, have you news," the captain asked as he slid into his seat at the head of the table.
"Yes, Captain and I think you're going to want to hear this," she said, turning to the counselor who had taken a seat beside Rose. "Deana."
"Rose," Deana said, leaning in toward the young girl. Though the doctor had been able to afford her better treatment after the procedure, Rose still seemed miles away as she stared out the window into the inky black of space. "Rose, can you hear me?"
"We really are on a space ship," Rose said absent mindedly, still staring out the window.
"Rose," Deana said again, taking the girls hand and squeezing it firmly. "Rose, I need you to concentrate."
"Right, sorry," she said, snapping back into the moment.
"Now, I know this is getting tedious, but I need to ask again. Can you please tell me the date?"
Rose breathed deeply and sighed. Deana was right. This was getting tedious as this was nearly the fourth time Rose had been asked that question in the last two hours.
"It is December 21, 2110," Rose said, an impatient bite to her tone.
"What date is it," the captain asked, leaning in with interest.
"December 21," Rose repeated cautiously, noting the gesture. "2110."
"There's more, Captain," Deana said, still squeezing the girls hand. "Rose, what planet are you from?"
"Earth," Rose said, still cautious. "Just like you."
Deana said nothing, but only smiled knowingly. She decided not to press the issue.
"If he's from Earth then Earth has problems," Genie said, her gaze still fixated by Worfs cranial ridges.
"Don't worry about her," Roth said, noting the deepening scowl growing on Worfs face. "She'll grow on you. Or you'll have a psychotic episode. Whichever comes first."
"Miss Rose," the captain said as he leaned on the table, clasping his hands in front of him. "I don't know of any gentle way to say this, so I'll put it bluntly. It is not the year 2110. We use a different system to tell time, but the actual year is closer to 2360. Somehow you have stepped nearly 250 years into the future."
Almost in one accord the newcomers slumped back in their chairs, the news hitting them like a ton of bricks. All but Fractal, who leaned in with great interest at the news. So much so that he nearly pitched Genie from his shoulder to the floor as he did.
"But how is that possible," Fractal asked with great interest.
"An excellent question," the captain replied, turning to the doctor. "Doctor, what did your examinations yield?"
"Apart from the mass, their bodies appear to be fully formed and functional, albeit on a more simplistic scale. I would say that they are excellently designed approximations of human and proto-vulcan physiology, though designed by someone who is not an expert in either. Furthermore, their bodies have a faint chronometric signature, Captain. A sure sign of temporal displacement."
"But if they have been temporally displaced from Earth then how is it possible that they could know nothing of Vulcans," the captain said, gesturing to Rose. "2110 is well after First Contact."
"I believe I have formed a hypothesis, Captain," Data said.
"Proceed, Mr. Data."
"As per your request, I have continued my scans of the nebula and the bizarre radiation. Upon further examination I have determined that the radiation bears a distinct chronometric signature. I would hypothesize that this radiation, which we now know to be chronometric in nature, is also wearing away at the fabric of time as well as space. My hypothesis is that this radiation has eaten away at space and time to such a degree that quantum realities are now essentially rubbing against each other. Not just in space, but time as well. As such, when the Enterprise became lodged in the quantum rift which now holds us, it allowed our reality to briefly come into contact with theirs."
"Is there a danger that we will be lodged in their reality permanently?"
"No, Captain. The barriers between quantum realities have become weakened and thin, but they are holding. What we are experiencing is akin to staying in a hotel room with extremely thin walls and hearing the conversations going on in the next room. In our case it also allows us to tap in to whatever simulation they are running and display the information on our holodeck. It also explains how they could not know about Vulcans. In their reality First Contact simply hasn't happened yet."
The other newcomers were lost and confused as soon as Data started talking. All but two, that is. Fractal and Genie listened intently as the conversation continued around them.
"B-b-but how could that be, D-D-Data," Barclay asked. "I detected no transmissions from any source?"
"I b-b-believe I may have an answer," Fractal added excitedly. "I'm s-s-sorry C-C-Captain, I hope I'm not breaking any type of p-p-protocol…"
"Not at all," Picard said. "If you have something to contribute, please do so."
"Thank you, C-c-captain," Fractal said, turning to Reg. "Mr. Barclay, do your sensors have the ability to perceive quantum signatures in the range of 2.238 Petaherz?"
"I'm u-u-unfamiliar with the measurement you're using," Barclay said after a moment of thought. "But yes, we can detect quantum signatures in a wide range of frequencies."
"I see. Mr. Barclay, I am unfamiliar with your computer system. But please think of whatever resembles a graphics processor in your computer. Have you noticed any strange looping or buffering? Perhaps any kind of freezing? Or quantum locking?"
"Why, yes! There is a cascading feedback loop in the primary buffer array. I also detected some quantum locking in our HUI."
"Fascinating. And what does the HUI do?"
"It's our Holographic User Interface. It performs a similar function to the GUI on some of the older digital computers."
"I see. Captain, I believe I know what has happened," Fractal said, turning again to the captain. "In our reality we abandoned digital computing about three quarters through the 21st century in favor of quantum computing. This discovery allowed us to dramatically increase our storage capacity, processing power and data recall speeds over digital media by many factors of magnitude. Instead of storing our data on circuit boards and memory devices, like you, we store our data by imprinting it on a quantum substrate. And, depending on the frequencies we use during the imprinting process, we can imprint multiple forms of data over the same quantum substrate almost ad infinitum. It also means that, by making use of quantum entanglement, this data can be read no matter where you are from any point in the known universe."
"Fascinating," Mr. Data said as he began to see the point.
"Yes, quite so," Fractal agreed. "In effect, what has happened is that, as the barriers between realities have broken down, it has allowed your reality to come into contact with ours, though indirectly. You have not passed into ours and, strictly speaking, we haven't passed in to yours. Strictly speaking, we are still in our own reality and 250 years in the past. But when your sensor sweep broke through to our reality it allowed your sensors to read the game data stored on our quantum substrate. When it did, recognizing it as simulation data, it fed this data to your holodecks; being the most compatible system. And there the data has become quantum locked. Our servers are connected to yours and I can't see any method of disconnecting them, I'm afraid."
A moment of silence passed while the staff considered this new hypothesis, though the other newcomers heads were noticeably spinning.
"Mr. Data, what do you make of this," the captain said.
"A fascinating hypothesis, Captain. And it certainly does explain much."
"Solutions, Mr. Data," Riker asked.
"Under the circumstances we are unable to cut power to our holodeck, sir, owing to the cascading feedback loop in our primary buffer array. Otherwise I would suggest we cut power and perform a reboot of the whole system. But the problem seems to be connected to the quantum locking with their servers on the other side of the rift. As such, I think the best course of action is to wait for the rift to close. When it does the connection will be severed and we will be able to perform a reboot of the system."
"What effect have our modified power consumption rates had on mending the rift?"
"Negligible, sir. I estimate we have managed to increase the rate of the rifts collapse by approximately 6 hours, 17 minutes and 32 seconds."
"Approximately, Mr. Data," Obrien said, a cheeky gleam in his eye.
"Yes, chief," Data said, clearly not getting the joke. "Give or take a nanosecond. I am sorry, but I can not refine my calculations any closer than that."
"What does that mean," Rose asked, clearly perplexed.
"It means you'll be fine," Deana reassured her. "The rift will close and you will be able to go home in about 10 days."
"Ten days," Rose cried, aghast. Her companions shared her dread as waves of horror washed over their faces. "We can't wait ten days!"
"This does present a serious problem, Captain," Dr. Crusher said.
"What's the problem, doctor," the captain asked. "They can't leave our holodeck, but surely they can leave their own."
"We're not on a holodeck," Rose said, a rising panic in her voice.
"Captain, their world of Caldera is an interactive neural simulation," Dr. Crusher added. "They don't access it by holodeck, but by direct neural stimulation of the brain. They are quantum locked into the simulation just as we are."
"You mean they can't log out," he said before turning to Rose. "How long have you been locked in the simulation?"
"About 13 hours," Rose said. She had calmed down somewhat under Deana's gentle persuasions. "Captain, please, you need to help us! We should have logged out hours ago."
"We will do everything we can, Miss Rose. Please stay calm. Doctor, what would this wait mean for them?"
"The human body can go for several weeks without food, that's not the problem. The real problem is water. The human body can't go for more than two or three days without water. They should be perfectly sedentary, which will help, but there's also the matter of waste excretion. Their bodies are still processing whatever they last ate back in the real world. If they have no one to attend to them and excrete their waste wherever they lay then it will remain, pressed against the skin, causing bedsores, blisters and eventual infection. If they don't excrete then it will remain in their systems and build up leading to diarrhea and dysentery. This will further dehydration and the risk of infection due to bedsores and skin lesions when they do excrete."
"You said 'if they had no one to attend them'. Would you care to explain?"
"If someone close to them can get them to the hospital then their doctors should be able to stabilize them until the rift closes. I can't say much, due to doctor/patient privilege, but I know that Roth is already under professional care, so he should be fine. But the others are another matter."
"I see," the captain said thoughtfully. "Fractal, is it," he asked, looking to the far end of the table. "Do you have anyone to attend to your body back home?"
"I should be alright, sir," Fractal said with a nod. "I'm a university freshman and I have several classmates due to meet with me to discuss a paper we are to co-author. I'm certain they will find me soon, if they haven't already. And Genie doesn't need to log out. She's actually an artificial intelligence program designed to help me."
"Genie is invincible," Genie crowed at the top of her lungs. Though her impish wail caught the others off guard, the captain remained stoic as he moved to Phoenix.
"And you, Phoenix?"
"Dunno," Phoenix replied with a shrug. "My parents are… relaxed when it comes to me. Let's just say they aren't too involved. Maybe they'll find me, maybe they won't."
"I see," the captain said knowingly, reading between the lines. "And you, Rose?"
"My parents are on vacation," she said, a look of despair across her face. "They're touring Europe on their second honeymoon. They won't be back for another three weeks."
"What about school? Surely someone from school will notice you are missing?"
"We're on break for Christmas, Captain. No one is coming for me."
"I see. Perhaps it would help if I know a little more about your world. The simulation, that is. Let's start with those men in black. Are they a regular part of the simulation?"
"What do you mean?"
"Are they players or non player characters?"
"Oh, they're players like us. They call themselves the Minion."
"So why were they attacking you? And if they are players, like yourself, then why did you invite them into your game?"
"What are you talking about? We didn't invite them. Caldera's an MMO. They're free to come and go as they please."
"An MMO?"
"It's short for MMORPG. Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game."
"And how many people play this game," the captain asked, a new dread building in his mind.
"It's hard to say. Lots of people subscribe to it but as for how many people are actually online right now, I don't know."
"Please try."
She closed her eyes and thought for a moment, biting her lip.
"Well, it's pretty popular. I read that at any given time there are about three hundred million people logged in worldwide."
The staff was aghast at the news and the captain stiffened in his chair. But it was Will who leaned forward to look the girl in the eyes.
"Do you mean to tell us that right now there are more than a quarter billion people quantum locked on our holodeck?"
"I'm afraid it's worse than that, Commander," Fractal added gravely. "That's only how many people are logged in at any given moment. Caldera has a worldwide subscriber base of nearly nine hundred million."
Every mouth in the room dropped in slack jawed horror as the gravity of the situation was made apparent to them.
"And these people are going to keep logging in," Rose pleaded, the urgency begging in her eyes. "They're going to keep logging in and they won't be able to log out. Before the end of the week you could have almost a billion people starving to death on your holodeck."
A moment of dreadful silence followed as the staff processed what they had heard.
"But how can that be possible," Obrien asked, setting his revulsion aside for the moment. "The holodeck can barely handle 50 people. How can three hundred million people even fit on the holodeck? Let alone a billion? We don't have the processing power to handle that much load!"
"That won't be a problem," Barclay answered confidently. "Their servers are doing all the processing. Our holodeck is simply acting as a monitor."
"Sir, this raises serious security issues that must be addressed," Worf added boldly.
"Agreed, Mr. Worf," the captain acknowledged. "If we can't resolve this then we may have a billion desperate souls clamoring on our doorstep. I want round the clock security. Weld the doors shut and place guards at every entrance save one. Leave one door open and that will be our point of ingress into Caldera if we need it. Place a security checkpoint at that entrance and let nothing pass but for my direct authorization. Understood?"
"I don't think we have the manpower for that, Captain."
"Then cancel leave for any of your security who are still on the ship," the captain replied sternly. "Take non essential personnel from other departments if you need to. Put a phaser in every hand large enough to hold one. I want this ship secured, Mr. Worf!"
"Understood, sir!"
"Rose, these Minion. What kind of a threat do they pose?"
"It's hard to say, Captain. They're what we call griefers. They like to ruin other peoples game by going into PvP servers and pubstomping noobs."
There was no recognition on the captains face. Only a void disconnect showing that he clearly didn't understand. He glanced briefly at Data for clarity, but Data only echoed his expression.
"I have no data, sir," Data said apologetically.
Rose rolled her eyes and sighed, being forced to whip out her old man dictionary.
"It means that they're generally bad guys," she said at last. "They like to pick on people for fun. Normally I would say they are a huge security risk. But today they are just one of us. Lost, scared and desperate to get home."
"Do you know why they attacked you?"
"They're just scared, Captain. Like the rest of us."
"Very well. Mr. Barclay, how long can they stay outside the holodeck before they begin losing cohesion?"
"If we can maintain our current power levels and the connection remains good in the trinary adjunct relay Chief Obrien and I established then… indefinitely, sir."
"Very well. Mr. Worf, please escort these Minion to our brig and hold them there until this issue is resolved. Then bring their leader to my ready room for a meeting. Rose, I would like you there, as well."
"Me, Captain?"
"Yes. Since you are the self professed leader of your party I would like to discuss certain expectations I have with regard to your conduct. We should also establish certain ground rules if you are going to be staying with us for a while."
"Oh, uh… okay. That's fair."
"And as for the rest of you, as of now our current mission is cancelled. Our top priority is closing this rift as soon as we can. Leave is cancelled and any remaining personnel onboard are expected to report to their posts for their regular shifts. Mr. Obrien, when Mr. Laforge comes back on shift I expect you to appraise him of the situation and have him do whatever it takes to close this rift, by any means necessary."
"Understood, sir."
"Mr. Data, I want you to put our new equipment to work in conjunction with Astrometrics. I also want you to contact Alpha Sigma and appraise them of our situation. You are to coordinate together and search for anything that may help us close this rift that much sooner. You are free to commandeer any non essential ship personnel you require toward this end."
"Yes, sir."
Then the captain turned to his guests. When he did his eyes, both stern and stoic, softened and became strangely comforting. His voice, at once commanding and imposing, belied a kindness which put them at ease.
"And none of you worry," he reassured them. "As of now you have the best minds in Starfleet working to get you home. And we are not accustomed to failure."
Three and four at a time the Minion were escorted, under heavy guard, to holding cells in the ships brig. The last group to be brought was short one member as the commander was separated from them and taken straight away to the Captain Picard's ready room. Rose was already there waiting for him.
"Thank you, Lieutenant," the captain said as they entered. "That will be all."
"Captain, I must object," Worf protested. "This man…"
"This man," the captain interrupted, "knows that, should he try anything, an angry Klingon will be on the other side of that door prepared to visit his full wrath upon any transgression. Isn't that right, Mr. …"
"Grimward," the man in black said, stealing an uneasy glance at Worf. "Grimward Allsbane. And yes, sir. I think I understand the situation completely."
"Excellent! You see that, Lieutenant, we can be civil. Dismissed."
Worf turned and left without a word, but not before eviscerating the young Mr. Allsbane with an icy stare that made even Rose's blood run cold in her veins. When Worf had gone, a fact for which Grimward was exceedingly thankful, the captain turned to address his guests.
"Mr. Allsbane, I should like to begin with you…"
"Grim," the young man interrupted. "Since we're being civil, call me Grim."
"Very well, Grim, what do you know of the situation so far?"
"I have the gist of it."
"Which is?"
"That somehow we've been transported to another dimension and about 250 years in the future. And Caldera is quantum locked into your computer so that's why we can't log out. I'm not sure of the particulars, but that's what I've picked up."
"Yes, that certainly is the gist of it," the captain agreed. "But you should also know that my crew is working with all speed to get you home and resolve this matter as quickly as possible. As of now, we are your best shot at getting home alive. Is there any doubt in your mind on that point?"
"No, sir. That seems fairly obvious."
"Excellent. Now, I need to devote every possible resource to this task but I can't do that if I need to have my men keep watch over yours. It would greatly expedite matters if I could trust your men to act with a certain level of decorum while here. As such, this is what I'm willing to propose; your men are currently being held in the brig. Their weapons have been confiscated, as have those of the other party, now…"
"Uh, excuse me, Captain," Rose interrupted with raised hand.
"Yes?"
"Were we supposed to turn over all of our weapons? Because I wasn't even asked."
"Are you armed?"
Slowly Rose removed the black and gold obsidian cross from beneath her belt. She held it out to her side and a five foot obsidian staff thrust from the bottom. The sound of its emergence was as a sword being released from its sheath.
"A little bit, yeah," she said sheepishly.
"Very well. Leave it on my desk and I'll have Mr. Worf return it to you when return to Caldera."
Obediently she re-sheathed her staff and set it carefully on the captains desk.
"It's that level of cooperation that has earned her and her team a spot in my good graces," the captain said, pointing to Rose. "As of now they are not under guard and are free to wander the ship as they see fit. There are many amenities on this ship that they may enjoy, aside from the holodecks, and they are free to do so. They have also been issued temporary quarters which, I assure you, are more comfortable than the brig. I am willing to extend the same courtesy to you and your men, but I need certain assurances."
"Such as," Grim asked.
"First and foremost, I need your cooperation. I can't be worrying about where you are and what you're doing. If we are going to resolve this issue then we must be allowed to work uninterrupted and free from distraction. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir. I think so."
"Good. Second, and this applies to both of you; as of now, the simulation is over. Whatever rivalries you had in the game are officially finished until this issue is resolved. I will not have brawls on my ship. Your ability to roam this ship freely is a privilege, not a right. Now, it is a privilege that I am happy to extend, but if I sense that it is being abused I will not hesitate to throw you all back into the holodeck and have Chief Obrien and Lieutenant Barclay deactivate their trinary relay and trap you there. Then you can brawl to your hearts content while we resolve this situation. Clear?"
"Crystal," Grim replied.
"Of course, Captain," Rose agreed.
"Good. Then, Mr. Allsbane, I will have your people moved to more comfortable quarters immediately. And I will have security issue each of you a comm badge which will help us contact you, if need be. It will also help us track your location so we don't need to worry about you. I expect these badges to be worn at all times. Is that clear?"
"Clear," Grim replied.
"Yes, Captain," Rose replied.
"Good. Then go inform your people and I will make preparations accordingly. If you have concerns feel free to bring them to our attention but I will not always be able to deal with your concerns directly. You may take these up with Counselor Troi when you have them. Dismissed."
