Part Five

Josiah Sanchez was very confused.

The last thing he remembered was trying to deal with Lieutenant Anderson's issues with insecurity, particularly her concerns about not being able to draw the attention of those who mattered to her work. Josiah grimaced at how her therapist disappearing before her eyes while she was unburdening herself to him was going to play with her treatment. When he appeared in the walls of the church that was the natural environment of the preacher he played in the Magnificent Seven program, Josiah had thought that this was someone's idea of a joke. Although he loved spontaneity like the next man, the Counselor did not appreciate it when he was in session with a patient.

He had materialized before the pulpit and stood there for a few moments, trying to come to grips with the change in his situation, not at all happy by the fact that he had been removed from his patient and placed in this holodeck simulation without consent. At first Josiah had to admit that he attributed this bout of mischief making to the first office, since practical jokes seemed his habit. However, Josiah knew that despite the considered opinions of most, Buck did have limits and spiriting someone away without their consent would seem to fall under that category. Josiah had elected to postpone the debate at who had been responsible for his presence here for the moment, since he was eager to get back to Lieutenant Anderson who was probably deciding never to trust a Counselor again.

Unfortunately, when he asked the computer to produce the door way that would allow him escape from this world of shadow and light, held together by magnetic containment, nothing had happened. Outside he could still hear hoofs against gravel surfaces, people talking and going about their business and all the sounds and smells that cam with existence in a town in the Old West. Josiah tried several times to coax the uncooperative computer into letting him out of here before he realized that he was going nowhere. For a few minutes, he sat down on one of the pews inside the holy sanctuary to consider his thoughts.

There was no way he was getting out of here on his own. He was a Counselor and the science behind holographic projections was so beyond him that Josiah could not even put it into words. Yet, he was painfully aware that if he did not understand it, he would be going nowhere. He also considered whether he was alone here because if he was sent to the place occupied by the character he played in the simulation it would be logical to assume the others would have been subject to the same placements. If that were the case, then Julia Pemberton would also be here because she was also played one of the characters in the Magnificent Seven myth. Josiah knew if anyone could themselves from this fantasy world, it was the Chief Engineer of the Maverick and decided that he ought to go find her.

The Emporium her character owned was not far from his church and Josiah knew that Julia was probably as disorientated as he was and looking to find her way out of this simulated world, so he had better find her quickly. He did not want her to leave without him. Josiah stood up to leave when suddenly he saw a man standing at the main doors of the church. The man's sudden appearance made him jump a little and Josiah wondered how long he had been standing there.

"May I help you?" Josiah asked, wishing that the computer was recognizing commands, so he could make the character disappear without his requiring to interact with hit.

"Mr. Sanchez." The man said slowly. He was a young man, not much older than Vin Josiah estimated. He was handsome but there was something in his face that was inherently unappealing to look at for any length of time. His eyes, which were the most telling thing about him, were uncertain, yet calculating. Josiah knew that he was only a holographic recreation but whoever had designed the character had been a genius for Josiah could see a dozen neuroses simmering under those watery colored eyes.

"Yes." Josiah nodded, studying him closely now, tendrils of caution sneaking up his spine.

His visitor was dressed in a suit that was tweed and cut in the style of the day. He appeared neatly dressed despite the dust that seemed to coat everything in this place with a perennial layer of dust. He watched Josiah closely; placing him under almost as deep scrutiny as Josiah was observing him. For a moment, they appeared like two lions circling each other, waiting for the optimum moment to attack. "My name is Silas Poplar. I am a Pinkerton detective."

Josiah thought quickly, trying to remember what that name was supposed to mean. "What can I do for a Pinkerton detective?" Josiah answered evasively, hiding the fact that he had no idea what Poplar meant by that introduction.

"You travel to Vesta City two days ago." Poplar responded smoothly, his voice syrupy and yet seemed to drag across the ground like glass when he spoke.

Josiah supposed that Poplar must have been referring to the exploits of his character. "I did."

"May I inquire what you were doing there?" Poplar asked once again and suddenly a flash of insight told Josiah that he was being interrogated. He took on the tone that Ezra Standish did when the good-natured personality of the happy go lucky gambler was wiped away with the needed point acuity of his security officer mindset.

"Nothing that is any of your concern unless you wish to tell me what this is all about." Josiah countered, suddenly realizing that he ought to be careful of what he said around this man. Until he could escape the program, Josiah was at the mercy of the scenario and the characters within it.

Poplar smiled but it was not one that indicated any humor or pleasure but rather the expression of an animal bearing its teeth before it lunged in for the kill. "Of course." Poplar replied politely. "There were two murders in Vesta City at the time of your stay, I believe you were involved."

Josiah showed no reaction. "Really?"

"You seemed unsurprised by that accusation," Poplar declared, his eyes narrowing in calculation. "How is that Mr. Sanchez? Most men would react on some level."

"Are you a student of psycho analytical behavior?" Josiah looked at him with equal intensity.

"I cannot say that I am." The man gave him a look that showed his surprise that Josiah would even know what field of study meant to be able to ask him such a question.

"Than you are in no position to interpret human response, are you?" The counselor returned. "I fortunately am an interested observer of human responses and my reaction is usually indicative of someone who has not committed the crime or on any level attached to him. That would explain my detachment would it not."

"It could mean that you could also be a good actor." Poplar returned, unprepared to be outdone by this preacher in this forgotten town, collecting dust with each breath of wind that happened by.

"And the same could be said of you." Josiah answered, in perfect control of the game they were playing, and it was a game that they were currently engaged in, there was no doubt in his mind of that. Poplar was man who got by on intimidation and Josiah had been in the business of psychoanalysis far too long to not recognize the classic pattern of behavior the man was displaying.

"You've played a lot of games in your life have you not Mr. Poplar?" The counselor asked softly, using the voice that lulled many patients into complacency. He began to circle Poplar as the man held still, somewhat trapped by the consistency of his words like all those who were supremely arrogant and felt some insular need to hear themselves spoken about as an object under glass. "I wager that you are very good at games that involved power and subjugation. You enjoy using your authority as a way to keep those you wish to dominate pinned down and unable to fight, perhaps fulfilling some inner need to be strong when once you were once not so and were the one trapped in amber, unable to move or scream."

Poplar's eyes flew open and he glared at Josiah with nothing less than hatred as the words bounced off his skin like rain. His breathing had become shallow and when he finally spoke, it was soft and uncertain, not at all like the strong, clear voice that had accused Josiah of murder a few minutes ago. "You're very good at fabrication Mr. Sanchez," Poplar replied. "Perhaps that is how you lured your victims to you."

"Do you have any proof that I killed those women?" Josiah stared at him pointedly.

Poplar's bobbing Adam's apple answered for him before the words escaped his lips. "I will find some."

"Then until you do," the counselor started walking towards the door, "I'll be on my way."

He left Poplar in his church without waiting for a response. The man said nothing as Josiah made his departure even though the Counselor was certain that as long as he remained in this simulation in its present scenario with no means to alter its programming, his troubles with Mr. Poplar was just beginning.

Josiah did not get very far towards the Emporium when he found himself pausing to join a crowd of people who were gathered in a side alley, rumbling with discontent as they stared at something he could not see. Although he knew he had no time for such lingering, Josiah could not keep himself from investigating. Whatever was happening, this fantasy world seemed to be the epicenter of it and he ought to be aware of everything if he was to navigate it safely. His approach immediately caused a swell of relief from the townsfolk who saw him not as the counselor he was but rather as one of the seven peacekeepers charged to protect their community.

He was met part way by Mr. Wallis, owner of the hardware store and one of Four Corner's town leaders. The man's expression was grim and appeared as if his last meal had left a bad taste in his mouth. As Josiah and Wallis approached the thick of the crowd, they stepped away for him. Josiah knew immediately that whatever they saw had left its mark upon them and braced himself for the worst. Unfortunately, as they parted away and revealed what it was they had been gawking at so intensely, Josiah realized that he was wise to take such precautions.

Nathan Jackson was leaning over her and when Nathan looked over his shoulder at his fellow crew mate, Josiah knew immediately it did not matter whether the creature before him was a hologram or flesh and blood, the doctor felt the death just as deeply. The woman over whom Nathan was kneeling was young and pretty, with light strands of blond hair that were splayed gently around her head as if the killer who had placed her in this resting place, had not wished her to appear disheveled.

She was no more than thirty, Josiah estimated, wearing a red dress with dainty white flowers printed upon its crimson backdrop. There were ribbons in her hair and Josiah ached wondering if they were holding those lovely locks in place for expediency or because she wanted to look becoming for someone. However, his observation of her appearance was soon forgotten when he saw how she had been placed in the middle of the street. Laid to rest by someone, who seemed almost reverent in his actions, she looked more like she was sleeping rather than dead. Where her eyes should have been staring lifelessly back at him, were two silver dollars, gleaming under the sun. Josiah swallowed thickly and searched for the cause of death.

It was soon made obvious by the ligature marks he spied around her throat.

"How long Nathan?" Josiah asked maintaining the charade before the onlookers, to whom she was someone they knew, someone they saw everyday. Holograms or not, their grief deserved to be respected.

"I can't say," Nathan shook his head. "A few hours."

The doctor made a few more quick examinations of the young woman before pushing himself to his feet. His postures were hunched and disturbed. It was the same manner he had when he had to inform someone that a loved one had died in his Sick Bay. The undertaker and his assistance soon arrived on the scene to take the body away for preparation and eventually burial.

"You've got to catch this man." Wallis turned to Josiah. "You've got to catch him! Our women won't feel safe until you do!"

Josiah cast a gaze at the ladies in the crowd who had seen the body, who knew the girl by the sorrow and fear in their eyes. Yes, they would indeed feel that way and rightly so. Everything Josiah could see about this crime indicated that this was not the action of someone who had just learnt to murder but rather someone that had honed his craft, probably through a process of trial and error and would hunt his fellow man like a hunter on safari. This would happen again and again until the perpetrator was stopped. For it was an obsession that could end no other way.

"We'll do what we can." Josiah assured him and then cast his gaze to the people around them. "Come on now, you've all seen enough. Let these good men here do what's proper for her." He gestured towards the undertaken who were trying to make their way through the bystanders to take the young woman away.

The crowd withdrew further as the undertaker prepared to remove the body. Some stayed a little longer, wishing to see the entire drama of the body being placed on the stretcher and being removed while others started to go shortly after Josiah had finished his speech, realizing that he was right. The sideshow was over. Josiah and Nathan looked at each other and waited until Wallis and everyone else had gone from the street before they would discuss the other matter at hand. Wallis returned to his hardware store while the undertakers, solemn in their duty and practiced after so many years of doing the same task repeatedly, ferried the young woman away from the street where she had been left so heedlessly cast after her premature death.

Nathan's expression was particularly grey, and Josiah wondered what reason was there for such hollowness in the man's eyes. As much as he hated seeing that girl dead, the truth of the matter was simply that she was not alive to begin with. She was a creation of the holodeck and if she died here, there would be no soul lost, just the termination of one character from the program.

"What the hell is going on here?" Nathan asked venomously once they were completely alone and could not be heard. "Who thinks it funny to drag me out of a delivery to be placed here, looking over that poor child."

"I don't know," Josiah retorted. "I had the same problem. One minute I was talking to Lieutenant Anderson, the next minute I'm here and the holodeck controls aren't working. I was on my way to find Julia when I saw you."

"Yeah," Nathan nodded having the same idea himself although he had not managed to act on his desire since he had materialized in front of a dead body. "Josiah," Nathan paused a moment trying to speak of something that had bothered him every since he examined the dead girl. "Do you remember much about the Magnificent Seven legend?"

"No," Josiah shook his head and answered. "Not really. I knew that they were seven gunfighters protecting a small frontier town and that there were varying characters, you know obligatory love interests of the day, that sort of thing but not the specifics."

"Oh." Nathan frowned as they resumed walking towards the Emporium since there was nothing to be done now that the young lady had been removed. "Its just that I do know something of the legend and I don't remember this story being apart of it."

"What about a Pinkerton detective named Poplar?" Josiah inquired, remembering his encounter with the odious man a short time ago that had given him some form of warnings about these murders. Josiah supposed that the discovery of a body in Four Corners would give fuel to the fire of Poplar's belief that he was somehow responsible for the deaths. The counselor sighed upon realizing he would soon get another visit from Poplar making more wild accusations.

Nathan thought for a moment, seeking for the name in his memory and shook his head when he could not. "I've never heard of him, why?"

"Well," Josiah frowned as he let his gaze sweep across the town. He noticed that the summer's day had disappeared behind thick grey clouds and in the distance, the wind was being stirred into frenzy as a dust storm appeared on the horizon preparing to put Four Corners in its path. "I had a visit from him when I showed up here and let me tell you he thinks I did the murders."

"What?" Nathan looked at him with astonishment, unable to even imagine such a thing. Josiah was one of the kindest men he knew, not only in deeds but also in nature. Even though Josiah appeared burly and rather formidable if taken at face value, the truth was, the counselor was a gentle giant who only engendered trust and respect from every person he had ever met. "That's crazy!" Nathan exclaimed in nothing less than outrage and disgust.

"I know that, but I also think that he is something to be worried about." Josiah commented recalling quite clearly what he had seen in Poplar's eyes. Josiah had been a counselor for a long time and he had seen enough patients in his career to recognize the seeds or aberrant behavior. Poplar had all the symptoms of such dangerous "He thinks he's on a crusade and such men have to be watched carefully. No doubt Torquemada probably thought that he was really acting on god's word when he tortured all those people, interpreting the voices in his head which were probably his neuroses as the Almighty speaking to him.

"You think he'll come after you even if he can't prove it?" Nathan looked at Josiah with growing concern.

"He looks like the kind that's about to slip over the edge. I believe that he has sociopath tendencies and if we are trapped in this simulation with no way out, then we have to deal with him in this environment."

"God." The doctor groaned realizing at that point how people of his racial distinction were regarded in this day and age. The idea of a doctor being black was almost unheard of and there were people and factions who were prepared to kill to make that a reality. "We better find Julia, quickly."

No sooner than Nathan had made that statement; Julia Pemberton appeared out of the front door of the Pemberton Emporium. The lady was dressed in lavender and looked every much the beauty that she was meant to be. Wearing the most expensive clothes in the fashion of the day, Julia breezed down the door and widened her emerald colored eyes with relief when she saw the two men before her. Raising her skirts to descend the steps, Julia took dainty steps down the painted wooden steps before stepping onto the street with them. She was clearly glad to see them by the smile on her face.

"Thank god, you guys are here!" Julia gushed. "I thought I was going crazy!"

"You got taken from where you were too?" Josiah asked, his theory that all the members of the bridge crew undergoing this same experience having been confirmed even more assuredly by the presence of Julia as well.

"Yes," she nodded. "I was in a maintenance shaft fixing a relay when I came here!"

"Have you also noticed that we can't access the holodeck controls?" Nathan remarked, hoping that the reason for her concern and relief at seeing them did not mean it was because she could find no way to escape their prison.

"Yes," Julia nodded with a frown. "I can't get anything to work. The computer won't accept any kind of voice command at all."
"So how do we get out?" Josiah asked gingerly, suddenly having this very bad feeling that the reason for Julia's anxiety was because she had not found the solution to the predicament and was just as hopelessly caught in this simulation as they were.

"If I can't access the computer to give me manual control, we'll have to rely on the outside getting us out." Julia gave them both an apologetic expression, wishing she could offer them better news.

"You mean we're stuck here until someone from the outside discovers we're stuck in here!" Nathan cried out with annoyance. "I can't be trapped in here indefinitely! I've got people to tend to! An entire ship who needs my help!"

"Hey," Julia retorted just as sharply, disliking the fact that she was as helpless as he was in this situation. Understanding the technology of this place was something she was a master at and, yet she could do nothing to aid their situation. "I am not thrilled about this either. The Maverick is as much your ship as it is mind and while you save guard the crew, I do the same for the ship and I'm telling you we can't leave. The holodeck is a matter of perception and now for me to find the manual control panel is impossible if the computer is compensating for my visual perception of the simulation. We could be standing right next to the thing, but the computer will never let us near it because as far as its concerned, it has to maintain the illusion of Four Corners for us!"

"You know," Nathan threw his hand up in exasperation. "You hear about this stupid holodeck accidents and you think that its exaggeration but its not! This is dangerous! Do we even know that the safety protocols are on?"

Julia shrugged her shoulders in an answer and shook her head.

"Oh great!" The healer swore. "We could die in here!"

"Alright," Josiah spoke up before tempers became any more frayed. "Let's just calm down. Nathan, Julia," he gave them both the 'Josiah Sanchez special' coined by Chris Larabee to be the expression of disapproval that made even the captain embarrassed when he was being a pain in the ass to those around him. "You're friends. We need to work together to get out of here and we are not going to do this by climbing up the walls, am I right?"

"Yes Josiah." They both said in unison.

"Alright," Josiah sighed, using the same voice he used to use on his children when they were misbehaving. "Now, let's think about how we're going to get out of here."

From a distance, Silas Poplar watched.

He did not know the content of Josiah's conversation with the tall, black man and in truth he really did not care however; he did pay attention when she arrived. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen but then all the women he had ever graced with his touch were spectacular in their own way. Poplar watched the lovely woman with the fiery colored hair and the glittering emerald eyes with growing certainty that he simply had to have her. And it made it even more convenient that Josiah knew her too for when the deed was done, Poplar would be able to make use of the relationship to his own ends.

He turned away, not wishing to be seen by them and slipped his hand into his pocket, where he felt the comforting cool sensation against his fingertips of a shiny, silver dollar.