§ § § - sometime in 2282
Lauren had been hoping for the experience of beaming down from the ship to the planet, but there were too many young people on board for that, as she discovered when she and her three roommates arrived in the shuttlecraft bay. Enterprise was transporting at least a hundred teenagers, and due to the sheer numbers, everyone was going down by shuttlecraft, in shifts.
She kept watching the entrance, till Kylie finally noticed. "Looking for somebody?"
Lauren felt as though Kylie had caught her trying to peek into someone's bedroom window. "I just thought we'd get to see Captain Kirk and the others," she said sheepishly.
Kylie grinned. "I think we're getting the big sendoff from the captain himself," she said. "And fifty credits says it'll be a standard little speech about what a big responsibility we're expected to meet and how we, being the cream of the proverbial crop, should be able to carry it off without having to even think about it. And then, when he thinks nobody's looking, he'll probably turn to Mr. Spock or Dr. McCoy and say something to them about how he can't stand the idea of being assigned to babysit a bunch of greenhorns who've barely made cadet—there's just no action in that."
Lauren giggled. "Sounds like a pretty accurate character assessment to me!"
"Disrespectful, but accurate," Kylie concurred, and both girls broke into laughter. Lauren was glad she and Kylie had gotten together; she wished there were some way she could remain friends with the Aussie when her fantasy was over. For the moment, she hoped she and Kylie could continue to work together after they'd gone down to the planet.
After another few moments, Lauren's wish was answered: Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy and Mr. Sulu all strode into the shuttlecraft bay, swiftly quieting the noisy chatter among the many teens in the group. Up till now, Lauren had tried to remind herself that, fantasy or not, these men were actually starship crew and not actors playing roles, no matter how much they might look like William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley and George Takei. Now, however, the appearance of four of the seven most celebrated science-fiction characters ever created, in the flesh, was enough to persuade her to suspend the mundanity of her own life and throw herself wholeheartedly into the reality of the moment.
"Good morning, all," Kirk said, sounding exactly the way Lauren recalled from the original TV series. "You are the last group of young people to arrive at the Spirit of Achievement, as our ground-breaking experiment has been dubbed. Dr. McCoy and Mr. Sulu will be going down with you and will remain through the week while you get acclimated and find out if you have the moxie to see it through for the full year. You'll all report to the community hall and receive information and instructions from Commander Karin DeVanay." Kirk cleared his throat. "It's a big responsibility you're taking on, but I have complete faith in your abilities, because you're the best of the best - chosen from all over the quadrant. Now...get down there and make us and your home planets proud."
"Standard speech delivered as promised," Kylie whispered deadpan into Lauren's ear, and Lauren was hard-pressed to choke back her snickering.
As luck would have it, the two girls were standing within earshot of the four officers, since they had been among the last to get to the shuttlebay. Due to their proximity, they both clearly overheard when Kirk turned to McCoy and complained, "I feel like a glorified babysitter, Bones. I don't know what to do with a pack of teenagers. This ferryboating's driving me crazy. I can't wait to get out there and see some real action."
"Count your blessings, Jim," McCoy suggested. "Once they're off the ship, that's the last you'll see of 'em. On the other hand, I have to hang out with them for the next week."
"It was my understanding," said Spock with his perpetual poker face, "that you have a daughter, Doctor. Was Joanna not an adolescent herself at one time?"
"Yeah," McCoy grumbled, "but I don't remember her being this...well, talkative."
Sulu smiled a little secretively. "Demora's the same way now," he commented to McCoy, startling Lauren. Did that mean Sulu had a daughter too? Why had it never been mentioned on the series? What if Roarke, and maybe Leslie as well, knew something nobody else did, including the people who were involved with "Star Trek"? Maybe she should ask Roarke, or Leslie, or whoever came around to check up on her in the course of her fantasy. She knew this would happen sooner or later; Leslie had told plenty of stories of her guardian's adventures with some of the fantasies he had brought to life.
"Let's load up the shuttles and get moving," Kirk called out just then, and the next hour or so was a controlled frenzy of departing and arriving shuttlecrafts as groups of teens were carried down to the planet. By dint of their position near the entry to the bay, Lauren and her three roommates were in one of the last three groups to be taken down to what proved to be a small but verdant planet.
Once on the surface, everyone made their way to a gymnasium-style building not too far from their landing site. Beyond this building stood row after featureless row of five-story buildings. "Blocks of flats, then?" Kylie asked dubiously, staring just as Lauren was doing.
"You mean apartment houses?" Lauren asked. "Looks like that to me too. This whole thing is starting to remind me of summer camp."
"I hate to think what kind of bunkmates we'll get," Kylie quipped.
"Now, now," said an avuncular voice, and they discovered Dr. McCoy strolling alongside them. "Don't forget, this is supposed to be an experiment in how to get along. You won't get too far in Starfleet if you can't handle dealing with folks from other worlds."
"I see your point, Doctor McCoy," Lauren said, "but we're teenagers. We can't help it."
McCoy loosed a hearty laugh. "So you are. I'll try to keep that in mind."
In a few more minutes all the new arrivals were standing inside the community hall, where there was a dais upon which stood a uniformed woman with short blonde hair. Once everyone was inside, she spoke. "Welcome, all. I'm Commander Karin DeVanay." The commander made a short speech about her role in this experiment, then began to announce names and room assignments. Lauren found she was to be in Building A, third floor, number 5. Kylie was in a completely different building.
Hovercars the size of school buses delivered the new arrivals to their destinations, and in another ten minutes Lauren found herself knocking on the door of her new home. There were to be five to an apartment, which would make for distinctly crowded conditions; but Lauren was very surprised and relieved to find familiar faces after all. Inriya na'Khotorin and T'Rala were two of her four roommates.
Inriya beamed at sight of Lauren. "Welcome to our humble abode! I am so pleased to see you here. Where is Kylie Garrison?"
"She's in Building D," Lauren said. "I guess we won't see her very often. Have our other roommates gotten here yet?"
Inriya's smile vanished instantly. "Oh yes, they are here," she said flatly and scowled. "They have already taken the larger bedroom, which leaves us crowded in the other smaller one. I do not mind sharing a room with you two, but there are more of us and therefore we three should have the larger room. Our roommates will not agree to an exchange, however."
"The purpose of this experiment is in part for us to learn to live with others," T'Rala reminded Inriya calmly. "It would be illogical to allow the issue of sleeping quarters to create discord within the first hour of our arrival."
Inriya rolled her eyes. "Only a Vulcan would try to get along with beings like that," she said sourly and headed for one end of the apartment. "Come along, Lauren, and see where we are to sleep."
Lauren hesitated. "T'Rala, just who are our roommates, anyway?"
T'Rala inclined her head slightly. "Perhaps it is best to let them introduce themselves. Follow me." Lauren trailed the black-eyed Vulcan girl in Inriya's wake and stopped beside her in the doorway of a fairly large room containing a thoroughly motley assortment of furniture. Dominating all else was a large, ornate bed; there were several trunks, all with their lids open, and something that looked to Lauren like a futuristic audio tape player on some sort of rolling cart. In contrast, huddled in one corner of the room was a small shabby cot and a shapeless linen sack. Most interesting of all, however, were the respective owners of these items. On the cot huddled an emaciated girl with long pure-white hair, dressed in a faded gray tunic and with no shoes. Her counterpart on the ornate bed was fussing with a heap of multicolored silks; she was noticeably overweight and wore layers of richly decorated clothing in bright colors. Her long hair—an astounding kelly green—was piled atop her head in an elaborate style and held in place by something that looked like a tiara.
"May I introduce our fifth roommate, Lauren McCormick," T'Rala said.
The thin white-haired girl flicked a furtive glance in their direction and then returned her gaze to the floor. The girl on the bed looked up and raked both Lauren and T'Rala with a disdainful glare. "And what planet do you come from?"
"Earth," Lauren replied. She couldn't shake the feeling that something here was way off-kilter.
"Oh, an Earther," the girl on the bed said dismissively. "Then you, too, shall serve me."
Lauren gaped at her, wondering if she'd heard right. "Run that by me again?"
"She expects us to serve her," spat Inriya from behind, where she had joined T'Rala and Lauren. "Our friend there playing with her toys has deigned to tell us that she is M'sis'tenk of Clanimid I, and the poor wretched being on the cot is Arzi of Clanimid II - her servant." Inriya's eyes sparked with rage. "The proper word, actually, is 'slave', and M'sis'tenk has announced that you and I and T'Rala, because we now live under the same roof with her, are also to be her slaves."
"You will address me as Enderren M'sis'tenk," their green-haired roommate barked at her and then looked at Lauren with marginally less disgust. "In your language, I am Princess M'sis'tenk."
"Oh, great," Lauren muttered. "I've walked into a fairy tale gone rotten."