Back down in the deep

Posted on Tue Jan 19th, 2021 @ 11:35pm by Lieutenant Commander Arianna Sky Kamar & Lieutenant JG Vespa Kale & Ensign Wulfgar Duergar

Mission: Survival of the fittest
Location: Holodeck two

[ON]



Jane squeezed through the tunnel to the smaller chamber beyond. Water continued to tumble past here through little cracks in the stone. It was as if the walls themselves were weeping. The sound of the waters gentle song was almost hypnotic in the near dark. The chamber branched here. A lazy wide slope to the left that followed the playful stream of water. and the next straight ahead it was a passage a bit tighter then the one they had just come through. She could not see more then a few feet in and then it seemed to turn or even perhaps dead end. There would be no knowing until they looked. She sat down and took a moment to hydrate and wait for the twins to catch up.

Each of the twin forms that comprised Vespa Kale made their way through, looking around at everything as each body made its way past. "Oh this is breathtaking." one said, as the pair joined up with Jane. "The sounds, the feel, and I'd say the sights but honestly it's hard to see and I don't..."

"... want to cheat by using the head lamp. I mean, I want to see where I'm going, but also this was a world born in darkness. Bringing light to it just seems..."

"... invasive, if that makes sense."

"Yes." Jane returned her voice low. "I think I do." She smiled as she drank in the moment closing her eyes she felt as though she could almost reach out and feel into the drumming harmony that echoed in the dark. You could almost feel a pulse as thought the very stone around them were some how alive. "So straight ahead? Or should we try the slope there?" Jane asked.

Vespa was silent as she let Jane 'commune' with the world around them, then at her question the pair smirked, "Well the slope was a lot of fun the last time, so why not again?" she inquired, but it was purely rhetorical. "I haven't had this much fun in too long." she offered with a pair of smiles, before she motioned towards the slope's direction.

"After you?" she offered.

Jane sat and slid carefully down feet first she braced her hands and feet to shuffle downward. serval feet down her foot struck something. like glass. No not glass it was force field. She could see beyond it to the chasm below. as she watched the ground on the other side of the glass like field shifted into a wide open maw where solid floor use to be. There was a soft chirp and the computers voice said in its female monotone.

"Safety protocols re setting, Error! 3102 safety protocols are off line. System reboot.."

"Computer end program!" Jane screamed managing to scramble backwards a few inches from the field.

"Error! 3102 Safety protocols have been deactivated. System reboot.."

The forcefield at Janes feet shimmered. Jane tried to brace her feet more firmly on the slope but felt herself inch closer to the shimmering field threat cut out then back on again. "Vespa!" She screamed when the danger finally sunk in of the position she was in. "

"Hang on!" Vespa called, as one of the physical forms of the Dalacari darted down to try to offer Jane a handhold. Panic in her voice as she slid down the slope to offer her friend a way out.

"Here, hold on I'll pull you up." she offered, then paused, "This is... very uncomfortable." peering up past the form on the slope, Jane would see that up on the previous landing, the form that was down the slope trying to save Jane was being held by the ankles... by the other form.

Neither of them looked thrilled about it. In fact, they almost looked ashamed or even disgusted. Like reaching deep into muck to fish out a personal belonging.

Jane grasp Vespas hands with both her own. The lazy steam of water they had been enjoying only moment s before had begun to grow from a light soft drip to a steady drizzle and it was beginning to pool at the forcefield. When it flickered the water would drop away into the blackness beyond.

"Computer! End program!!!" Jane called again desperately trying not to panic.

"Error!! s.. afe..ty pr..oh oh oh toe cah..ls ....are... Off..line.." The computer stuttered.

Then a chirp and more steadily. "System Error, Engineering code not recognized! Safety protocols are offline. System Error 3 1 0 2. 3 1 0 2 warning! Unable to compute command code 3 1 0 2. Safety protocols are offline, Scanning system, warning!! reading life forms on holodeck two a alarm could be heard from somewhere in the distance. Unable to compute, command codes not recognized. Over ride protocols inactive. Holodeck two shut down request denied. Error 3102. You do not have access. Unable to produce arch. ERROR 3102! Holodeck 2 in lockdown."

Jane kicked at the dirt and rock trying to help Vespa to pull her up, the increased water flow though had made it slippery and her feet could find purchase. The air too was starting to feel thicker, and the pressure in the room began to change.. The water pulling at the field flickered again and the water dropped as if to give those watching a reminder of what was waiting only a few feet away. Jane tried to wedge herself with her feet on the walls. With this they gained some leverage and Vespa was able to pull her back up to the ledge. The computers voice droned on echoing in the dark tunnles.

"Command code over ride unrecognized, Error! "Safety protocols re setting, Error! 3102 safety protocols are off line. System reboot.." Then a bleeeee bleeee bleeeee "Warning!!! Can not authorize access to control board 3 1 0 2, access code required! You do not have authorization to access safety protocols. WARNING Holo matrix Error, running scan, Error 3 1 0 2!! You do not have authorization to control board 2. Authorization code unrecognized. rebooting safety … ERROR 3102 safety protocols are offline..system unresponsive."

Clearly some one knew what was going on and was trying to help them from the outside. "Don't.. you wish.. that..computer would just shut...up." Jane tried to joke as she was hauled back up.

Vespa was just relieved that her friend was safe. These simulation rooms could be absolutely lethal without some degree of safety precautions! "I'm just.... relieved you're alright." she said, still astonished at how out of breath a good panic could make you. She still had an displeased look on her faces, though.

"Sorry, just, well... if I didn't then you'd be in serious danger. Or worse." a pause, "Dalacari, we... okay so, we don't like coming into contact with ourselves." she explained. "It's... uncomfortable."

"Not to mention unpleasant." the other twin piped up. "It's a tingle, and a sensation of a tingle, but out of sync. It's damn uncomfortable, and sometimes nauseating." she explained still. "But, I'd rather that then..."

"... risk someone getting hurt. Just, gimme a minute." and she looked up at the ceiling, and the implied computer beyond, "Or, at the least, maybe remind us of our doom a little softer."

Jane chuckled and nodded in full agreement. "Yeah no kidding. Still, I am sure we will be alright. " Remembering what Vespa had told her not to long ago about the touching stuff. "Are you alright?" She asked more serious now as worry for her friend settled in.

Vespa gave a pair of nods. One of her forms was focused on Jane. The other was just trying to get her bearings, it seemed. "I'll be alright. I can handle a little tactile feedback, as long as you're alright? You could have really gotten hurt there."

Her twin piped in, "I'll be alright, just a little half nauseous."

"I wonder whats going on." Jane said thinking about what Vespa had said and being relieved to hear both twins would be okay. Still she felt a bit guilty. The idea though of just how much danger they were in was looming. "We are trapped aren’t we?" She asked looking over at the twin whom seemed most focused on her. "What do you recommend we do?"

The pair seemed lost in thought for a moment, considering their options. "Well, we're safe here. If we don't do any more exploring, we'll be alright." she mused aloud. "So I think our best bet right now is to wait. We brought enough..."

"... snacks between us to last us a while. I mean, eventually someone is going to notice we're missing right?" she offered. "We can't end the simulation, we can't summon..."

"... the control section. I'd be tempted to say increase the complexity of the simulation to increase power draw to get someone's attention, but without access to the..."

"... controls, I think we're just stuck." a pause, "But, at least here... we're stuck and relatively safe." a pause, "Have you tried your comm badge? Mine doesn't seem..."

"... to be working." and one of the twins gave her badge a tap. It made the chirp, but little more, and no response when a request was made.

Jane reached up to touch hers and found it missing from her jumper. She glanced around a moment and then sighed as she saw it down at the bottom of the slope. "I ummm. If we have some rope I can go down and get it. That way we can check." Jane offered but the idea of going near that forcefield again frightened her more then a little. She knew though that she would need to be brave if they where going to get out of this situation alright. together some one should notice in engineering if there was a malfunction right?" She asked hopefully.

Vespa gave a pair of nods. "Certainly." she tried to sound reassuring. "Just to be safe, though, I'll keep trying the comm. If nothing else, maybe they'll notice the chirp and come in here just to tell us to stop?" she offered, with a pair of smirks.




=====Out side Holo deck 2 =====

Wulfgar stood at the main console outside of holodeck two. They had received a system error here and when it was discovered there were three life signs inside they had rushed to the holodeck only to find it had gone into lockdown. "Frak! It's not accepting any of my command codes Ma'am." He said to Arianna as he tried once more entering the system override codes only to get a repeat of the denied access.

"Bloody hell, "Computer execute security command shutdown Arianna Delta 5, Beta 8, Zulu 951", she said. It was her backdoor security code that would completely shutdown the holodeck locking it into a continuous diagnostic loop. Now if that didn't work, they would have to literally have to pull the main panel off and go inside and go through each chip to find the bad one.

"Command code over ride unrecognized, Error! "Safety protocols re setting, Error! 3102 safety protocols are off line. System reboot.. Reboot failure. Holodeck lockdown in progress." The computer stated as there was a sound of maglocks activating on the doors as they sealed themselves.

Wulfgar growled out a few curse words as he dropped to the deck below the console and removed the access panel. "I'll try to get inside from down here. You keep trying out here ma'am." He said as he stared into the tight passage that was the jeoffreys tube access to the holodecks. He took a deep breath as he started to crawl inside. It was a tight fit as he moved in. He could feel the tightness in his chest that he felt every time he went into tight spaces. He was able to control his reaction better here than he did in other places as he knew he could fit in the jeoffreys tubes even if they were a tight fit for his large frame.

"Fek'lar!! Bloody computer," she muttered, beginning to work on the panel on the wall. Using her tools, she began to go through each chip checking each one carefully

The section Wulfgar transverse through changed at the next juncture into a gaping black tunnel of stone. Water could be heard in the distance and a soft glow would light up about ten yards at the end of the tunnel. It was a wide as the jeoffry tube but the ground was rough and stones dung into hands and knees. He had reached the area where the girls had begun their trek about an hour ago. The tunnel opening into a small chamber about 10x12 feet there were a couple openings. The one he had just come from and a slope downward to his left and another wider standing passage going the other way.

Wulfgar looked around and shuddered. His feet felt like they had been encased in lead as he squatted just outside what should be the jeoffreys tube entrance. It was dark but there seemed to be light coming from somewhere so that it wasn't pure blackness. He pulled a tricorder from his belt with trembling hands and opened it. He scanned first one way then the other. He tapped his comm badge. "Ma'am, I... I don't think I can do this. The... The program is a c... Cave. I... I can't move." His voice echoed through the cave from all directions and his head swam while his heart threatened to burst from his chest. His breathing was starting to come faster and faster while his hair and the neck of his shirt were soon damp with perspiration, and not just from the heat.

Furious at the fact she couldn't get the controls unlocked, she quite literally pulled out half of the optical fibers to get in behind to the back of the panel where she could get to the the control mechanism. Beginning to work, she sensed Wulfgar's emotions and worked even more feverishly on the controls. "Wulfgar, I can sense your emotions, relax and breathe, close your eyes and focus on your breathing beginning to come slower and more relaxed. Listen to my voice and you will make it through that cave. Breathe one, two, three, four, in and out 2, 3, 4, and in again....slowly inch forward little by little, think of a cool river of water, giving you a cool refreshing wash, and continue your forward movement," Arianna said as she managed to get the control some what active. "How you doing Wulfgar? Still moving forward slowly. I got some power to the controls, hopefully I can get the safeties back online soon," she added.

=^= "Not g... Good Ma'am. They are coming to me." Came Wulfgar's voice through the comms

=/\= Good, I am almost there myself, just breathe Wulfgar=/\= Arianna said struggling to get the safeties back online.


========= Back in the tunnels ============

There came a noise echoing from seemingly above. Jane sat up a little straighter. Looking to the twins her eyes wide. "Did... Did you hear that?" Jane asked her voice trembled slightly.

The computer had not yet stopped its ceaseless reminders of their impending doom. Periodically now throwing in the occasional message now about the isolinear chips number blah blah blah has been removed, please return isolinear chip blah blah blah to the appropriate slot...

Her ears perked up, something had certainly caught the Dalacari's attention. "I ... I think I did, but then I just lost it. Thank you computer." she replied, sarcasm in her tone. Now she was listening. "H... Hello?" one of her forms called out into the dark, echoing all around.

They could hear the echo of Vespa's call and as it died down there actually came an echoed reply of "V... Vespa?" The voice sounded familiar to them but was oddly filled with a trembling fear.

Janes heart leaped into her throat. "Thats Wolfy! Thats... WOLFY!! WOLFY, VESPA AND I ARE STUCK DOWN HERE! WHAT'S HAPPENING?" Jane called out in her excitement.

Wulfgar's voice could be heard echoing back to them. "I... I came... Came to find... Find who was.. Was in here and... And... And try to... To fix it. My... My boss is outside." The voice was filled with fear as it spoke then a deep breath could be heard. "I... I... I'll try to find y.. You ladies!"

"No! Wolfy stay where you are you don't know the cave system you might get lost. " Jane called out quickly. She knew that the echoing chambers could easily disoriented the untrained spelunker and get them turned around and lost. She looked to the closer twin and asked. "Should we try to make our way to him? We are more familiar with the lay out and he got in so logically he must have secured a way out of this mess."

"Let's find him. I think you're right, in that he might know a way out of here. Okay, so how to find him... how to find him..." she thought aloud, "Let's see..."

"... if I can track him down." she said, lifting her head slightly to sniff at the air. Her ears twitched to try to filter out the echoes from the source. She closed all of her eyes, to allow her other senses a little more neural processing power. Turn off one sense to amplified the others, or so the old wives tale went.

"Wolf? Keep talking." she offered out to the voice in the dark, before one of her forms opened its eyes to look at Jane, "My people evolved from predators. I'm going to try to stalk him." it sounded better in her head than it did when she verbally said it.

Jane felt herself relax and she nodded, "Thats good.. Yes. He sounds uncomfortable I hope he doesnt get stuck trying to find us." Jane said her voice still edged in worry. "I should try to get my comm badge and maybe they can beam us out?" She thought suddenly.

"Leave it. Dalacari transmat systems can beam out a target without a badge, and I have to believe Federation systems aren't that far behind us." she said, a little pride in her voice. With that, Vespa started to walk. A sniff of the air, a twitch of her ear, the entire biology of the Dalacari form in motion. It was hard to imagine Vespa as something predatory, something sinister. Sure, she had a mouth full of pointy teeth, sure had vestigial claws but those claws were painted. Those teeth hidden behind a smile. She talked about her home, and all the cushy comforts, all the servant drones and all the food and shows and relaxation. All the comfort, none of the conflict.

"I... I think I have something." one of her forms mentioned, "Mister Wolf, keep talking."

"I... I can't move. Why... Why does it have to be caves?!" The reply came from the tunnels. He sat just outside the passage out of the caves and rocked with his arms wrapped around his knees. His eyes were huge with the overwhelming fear that permeated his being.

He sounded so scared. Jane looked over at Vespa with a barely contained urge to run down the tunnels to find him. No she needed to trust Vespa and needed to stay silent so the twins could hear him and find him. It was hard though when every part of her wanted to call out to him that it was going to be okay. That it wasn't real. But with the safety protocols off it was as real as it could get. "It's going to be okay." She said silently to herself. They would find him and then yes everything was going to be okay.

"Close your eyes. Deep breaths. Keep talking. I've almost found you." Vespa said, her senses slowly zeroing in on him. In truth it was more her nose doing the seeking than her ears, but talking could keep him from really panicking. She stalked back through the caves, climbing up slopes and helping Jane up along the same, ducking under low tunnels, slowly closing in on her quarry.

Closer... closer... Vespa drew upon every fiber of her predatory ancestry, her stalking instincts. One of her forms even snarled, trying to get into character. Become the predator. Become the Narada Vash. Become the Fog of Teeth.

Wulfgar could be heard chuckling though it did nothing to hide the fear he felt. "No... No worries on the eyes closed p... Part. I... I've had them closed since you said you would get to me." There comes a sound of someone shifting against the stone from somewhere up ahead. "I... I'm sorry J... Jane. I... I have a deathly f... Fear of c... Caves."

Jane wanted to talk to him and sooth his fear. Yet she also did not want to make things harder for Vespa as she stalked him. The idea made the hairs on her neck rise a little. It gave a stark reminder of the Dalacarli's ancestry. They would reach him soon. He sounded so much closer. Her heart was beating frantically in her chest as they slowly picked their way back through the familiar tunnels.

In the end, it was the fear that really lead her to Wulfgar. She'd never say it, but the scent of a scared person was vastly different than that of a calm or collected person. In the end, Wulfgar being afraid was the best thing in the world for him. "Found you." Vespa said, triumphant, as the group rounded around a bend and found who they were looking for.

Pleased with herself, Vespa actually made a trilling type of noise. Not a purr. Not by a long shot, but it certainly was a happy noise. She even looked surprised that she made it.

Wulfgar's head shot up from being buried in his knees. There was a hollow sounding thump as he hit the wall but for some reason the stone wall 'flexed around him a moment before returning to its original solid state. He leaped up and pulled Jane and the nearest form of Vespa into a tight bear hug. "Thank God you ladies are safe. I... I'm sorry I froze and you had to save me."

Vespa's hugged form returned the gesture with a wide smile on both forms. "Nonsense, helping a friend is what friends do." she offered with that smile. "Fear is only natural. If you weren't afraid of anything, then there'd really be..."

"... something to worry about."

"It's the fact that I came in to help you but it was you ladies whom saved me." Wulfgar chuckled.

Jane simply hugged him close as relief rushed through her. She was just so happy and grateful to Vespa that they had found him.

"Augusfratt! Come on work faster hands" Arianna said as she continued to replace isolinear chips. Fifteen minutes later, with the final chip in place, she rebooted the system. "Computer put safeties back online immediately" Arianna barked. Praying that they would come online and end this disaster.

Both inside the caves and out in the hall the group heard what they had all been praying to hear. "Safety protocol back online, unstable program active, auto shutdown of program commencing." Came the female computers voice as inside, the caves shimmered then disappeared leaving Jane, Vespa and Wulfgar standing in a large blank room. The door slid open to reveal Arianna still on her knees at the panel.

"I think that's enough adventure for one day, don't you think ladies?" Wulfgar asked with a chuckle though there was still the faint edge of fear in it.

"Oh thank Kahless!" Arianna said falling to her backside exhausted and greatly relieved. Pulling the main control chip out, it completely shutdown the holodeck and offline. "Are all of you alright? What the hell happened in there anyhow?" Arianna asked.

Vespa was relieved when the simulation ended. "I couldn't agree more. I think we all earned ourselves a vacation *FROM* our vacation." the pair giggled. "Maybe lunch at the lounge?" she offered before one of her forms turned to Arianna.

"I have no idea. The whole simulation room just glitched out, and the safeties cut out." a pause, "Speaking of, why is that a thing they can do? You know..."

"... we can discuss that over lunch." she offered. Lunch must have been one of her three favorite meals.

Jane was still clinging to Wolfy a bit to much. She made herself let go and move a step back and ask him, "Are you feeling better now? Do you feel up to eating something maybe? If not maybe we could go some place and just talk maybe?" She offered. She was worried about him. Sure nothing too bad had come to pass, Yet she worried about how the experience might effect him if left unaddressed. It was really up to him though. Plus she was still a bit shaken herself and stealing an hour away to cling to her boyfriend sounded like it might just be something worth going for at the moment. Then again it wasn't just Wolfy or herself she had to consider. Jane turned her eyes to the chief engineer her eyes brimming with grateful tears. "You seem to have a talent for getting me out of bad situations. I can't even begin to thank you enough. Or you." She said her eyes going to the twins then.

Vespa's forms moved over, to include Jane in the group discussion now as well, "You don't need to think of a way to thank me enough. You just did." a pause, "And, sorry if I was a bit presumptuous about suggesting food as a coping mechanism." she offered with a bashful smile.

"It's my go-to. I remember back home, whenever I had a really bad day, I'd comm ahead and have our house drone start a dish up. Fabricate a pre-marinade and..."

"... all the fatty trim. Maybe if I was feeling in the mood, MAYBE, there'd be sagal greens on the side." a pause, "But we're talking a big maybe." she admitted. "But whatever we do..."

"... I think we should do it together."

"No, you go ahead, I'm gonna find out what the bloody hell happened to this damn thing," Arianna said, getting back to her knees once again and buried her head into her work. Having a holodeck offline and behave like this is not good!

Wulfgar smiled at both forms of Vespa and laid a hand on their shoulders. "Thanks again. For the save in there. But caves?! Why did it have fo be caves." He let out a chuckle and shook his head. "Jane, take Vespa and get a drink. Ill meet up with you in an hour or so. I'll give the Lieutenant Commander a hand and swing by for dinner."

OFF:

Lt. Cmdr. Arianna Sky-Kamar
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Pennsylvania

Lt. JG Vespa Kale
Science Officer
USS Pennsylvania

Ens. Jane Doe
Chief Counselor
USS Pennsylvania

Ens Wulfgar Duergar
Assist. Chief Engineering Officer
USS Pennsylvania