A SMALL ADVENTURE

ON A BIG SHIP

"A Small Adventure On A Big Ship" is a joint collaboration between the U.S.S. Kelly and the independant club U.S.S. Tsunami. Started by Martin Calderwood of the Tsunami, it will be continued as follows:

Each month a new chpter in the story will be opened for submissions. Martin will select one of these submissions, add a bit of his own, then it will be published here. The winning entries for February, May, August, and November will also be published in the club newsletter, the Kelly Communique the following month. All submissions are due by the last day of each month to usstsunami@gmail.com and soo@usskelly.com. Please limit submissions to about 1 page of 12 point font.

Phase I of this project (Chapters 1-8) has concluded. Watch here to see if the story wil be continued.

If you are a U.S.S. Kelly member and do NOTwant to be used in the story, please send a message to soo@usskelly.com denying permission. Otherwise everyone is fair game, but your character will not be killed off without your permission.

Characters NOT associated with real life club members:

Ensign Jerdi Armantrout, Specialty Sanitation and Maintenance Officer, USS Kelly.
Blond Hair, Blue eyes, 5'8" tall. Been aboard about 2 years. Friendly, outgoing and curious. She loves swimming and climbing.

Crewman, ‘Something or another’ Yates. Several years younger that Jerdi, tall, muscular and for someone from Alpha Centauri, rather handsome

Lt. Shellhorn, present during disappearance of Smith and Tretra.

Missing people created to be identified in story:

1) Crewman Gary Smith, earth human.
2) Lt JG Tretra, humanoid.
3) Ensign Bernson, earth human
4) Yeoman Fy 8, humanoid.
5) Yates, Humanoid from Alpha Centauri

Also missing: Captain Richard Henline

PREFACE:

On a starship, especially one as large as the U.S.S. Kelly (NCC-73400), there are places nobody goes unless assigned. Most of these areas are visited once or even twice a day during routine walk-throughs, adjustments and inspections but still there are places that are 'seen' but rarely registered beyond the acknowledgment of their existence. It is also a fact that under all but the most extreme conditions or super-extra-ordinary preparation, if someone wishes to not be found her or she or it will not be found. Something or someone could remain hidden or undetected for a long, long time.

Chapter 1 by Martin Calderwood:

Ensign Jerdi Armantrout looked at her companion, Crewman, 'Something or another' Yates, and smiled politely. Yates was several years younger that her, tall, muscular and for someone from Alpha Centauri, rather handsome. "So who'd you tick off to get flushed down here?" she asked lightly shining her light under a bundle of transparent aluminum pipes that carried super heated water necessary to sterilize and process the hundreds of pounds of waste produced each day by the crew of a Super-dreadnaught class starship.

"Apparently my Academy Instructor passed me with flying colors in his class on Waste Processing and Recycling." replied Yates dryly. "You?"

Jerdi bit back a giggle. "I was bored so I volunteered. I am usually up in sanitation and maintenance. Figured I needed to uumm broaden my horizons."

Yates snorted. "I know what you mean. Nothing beats spending your spare time wondering through these more 'classy' shall we say pristine parts of the ship. Bet I've seen places that not five others aboard have seen in person."

"Well, I suppose...!!??"

Yates held up his hand silencing her in mid-sentence. "Did you hear that?" he whispered above the swirl of white noise that besieged them.

"I can barely separate your voiced from this din. I can barely hear myself think. What am I supposed to hear?"

"Footsteps." he replied flatly adjusting his tricorder. "On the catwalk overhead."

"So?"

"I.. We are the only two scheduled to be down here today and I do not think it is a tour group of over eager crewman either." he replied frowning at what he was reading.

Jerdi looked at hers, turning away from Yates to point it upward. "I'm getting nothing." she reported turning around. "No life forms are within three decks of... Yates?" Her eyes searched frantically for her partner. "Yates?" she repeated louder. "YATES?!!!" she shouted only to hear a dull echo of her words filter back toward her Ensign Armantrout looked down and spotted a glint on the deck, the golden glint she knew to be only one thing. Ensign Yates' com badge.

Chapter 2 by George Bogler:

Jerdi quickly recovered from the shock and tapped her own com badge. "Armantrout to security," she called, "Emergency in Waste Sterilization". She was answered by a barely audible buzzing. Realizing that the background noise was too loud to hear the transmission she looked around for an intercom but the walls were, well, nowhere. The entire cavernous compartment was a mass of pipes. Human access was intended to facilitate inspection of the pipes and repair as needed, not for prolonged occupation. Screwing up her face she made for the control room two levels above and 150 meters distant. As luck would have it, there was only one person on duty in the control room when she reached it; Lt Andy Eng, the Assistant Chief Engineer, and not one of Jerdi's favorite "people". "Lieutenant," she panted, short of breath from her dash, "Something happened to Crewman Yates".

"Please be more specific Ensign," Responded Eng. "WHAT happened to Yates, and why didn't you report it immediately?" Armantrout scowled. Eng was a hologram and she had always felt that his personality needed a programming enhancement. He often took shifts in Maintenance as he didn't mind the drudgery and it was one of the few remote areas of the Kelly equipped with holo emiters-in this case powered by thermal energy from the pipes below.

"Sir, we heard someone approaching us, then Yates just disappeared. It didn't look like transporter effect and his com badge was left behind. I didn't see or hear anything after that. I called Security, but the noise was too much for me to hear the reply." Andy pressed a touch pad on the desk where he was sitting. "Eng to Security. Send a search team to Waste Processing Control immediately. Out." "Waste control to bridge. A crewman has disappeared under unusual circumstances. Security is responding. Will advise when further information is available. Out." He picked up an item from the desk. It was a set of bulky looking ear phones with a microphone that could be adjusted to a variety of positions. "Miss Armantrout. Although you do not normally work this section, as a Maintenance engineer you should be familiar with a booster comm unit. It's standard issue for noisy areas such as the pipe room. Both the earphones and the mic are designed for clear communication in up to grade 5 audio distortion situations, and the built in power pack and antenna provide sufficient range to reach anywhere on the ship."

"Yes sir," she acknowledged. She HAD known better, but let the circumstances of a different assignment distract her. Just then the door opened to reveal a team of four security officers about to enter. Suddenly the door snicked shut, and the room went dark. Jerdi could hear muffled shouting and pounding from the other side of the door. It took longer than she would have expected for the emergency lights to come on, and they seemed dimmer than they ought to be as well. She quickly forgot about them as she noticed Lt. Eng was missing. As the holo emitters in the room were thermally powered, a general power problem should not affect them. But odder still was the shiny com badge in the chair recently occupied by Eng.

Chapter 3: Continued by Martin Calderwood:

If there was one thing Captain Henline insisted on, it was the calm, orderly operation of his bridge regardless of the crisis. This time was no different. Eleven crew were missing, the only trace being the combadges they had been wearing. The most unusual thing about this was the fact that even the combadge of the hologram, Lt. Eng, remained solid and operational no matter where it was on the ship. It had always been real, like the mobile emitter of U.S.S. Voyager's EMH, but since it having remained when he had vanished along with the biological crew members WAS puzzling. Currently the ship was on full alert and stopped dead in space. Intruder alerts were active as were orders for crew to remain in at least pairs at all times, with small groups being preferable. Side arms had been issued to all security personnel; and teams from both the security and military units were going over the ship with fine tooth combs. There was no place on the ship that was not being visited or visually checked every fifteen minutes thanks to the thousands on board. The computer too was fully tasking the internal sensors searching for any signs of what had happened to the missing crew , yet producing no positive results. The missing had simply vanished without a trace. Even those gifted in psionics and other mental gifts were drawing a blank. Captain Henline could feel the tension level rising on his ship as naturally as he felt the power rise when the warp engines were about to kick in. The silence on the bridge was palpable and spoke volumes about the concentration of his team that he had worked so hard to train. He did not even want to consider the fact that in a few weeks he would be turning the Kelly over to a new captain and perhaps several new crew members. He had just moments ago viewed a micro-frame replay of the disappearance of two of the crew. At even ten percent speed there was nothing to note except one moment they were walking down an empty corridor and the next moment they were gone. The slowest scan had revealed that there had been a power surge and a brief flash, as if a door had been opened and shut quickly. The surprising thing was that the two crewman, Ensign Bernson and Yeoman Fy 8 both appeared as if they had actually passed through a door; for it looked as if, for a fraction of an instant, their bodies were only half visible, like they were simply walking through a door.

Henline sighed. Only this morning he had been pondering how he wanted to spend his last days in command; quietly coasting to the finish or somehow going out with a big bang. He half smiled as he realized that the fates seemed to know him better than he had hoped and he wondered, idly, which of them had concocted this 'play' into which he and his crew had been thrust.

"Captain." the calmly urgent words of Lt. Commander George Bogler brought him back instantly from his musings. "Two more have vanished. They were walking along "C" Corridor on Deck 12 along with Lt. Shellhorn when the Lieutenant, who says he was only just in front of them a pace or two, realized they had stopped talking. He turned and discovered their com-badges on the deck just behind him. They have been identified as Crewman Gary Smith and Lt JG Tretra, both in the Science Department. We are processing the observational footage now from the computer scans but we suspect it will be the same result."

Captain Henline muttered something under his breath then turned to his XO. "Have we found any links between the missing crew?" "We are working on that now. I will have the results in just a couple minutes." reported Lt. Cmdr. Dave Thalmann the ships Executive Officer.

Ship's Counselor, Rhonda Hollinger, could sense the tension in her Captain even without using any extraordinary means. Smiling bravely, she leaned toward the captain and quietly assured him that they would weather this storm as they had all the others and that she was certain there was a simple and logical explanation. Henline nodded but spoke his troubling thoughts none-the-less. "I know you are right, Counselor, but it seems a bit ironic that the fates know me better than I had ever imagined."

*****"Indeed they do, Captain Henline, indeed they do." *****

Even the sudden disappearance of the Captain could not disrupt the polished efficiency of the command crew. Reactions ranged from soft gasps, muttered cuss words, and a flurry of orders as the Counselor reported that one moment she was inches from the Captain's ear and the next moment he was gone; leaving only his combadge behind. Without a single misstep Commander Thalmann slipped into the command roll while the others took their new status in stride, quickly returning to their previous activities with redoubled focus.

"The captain makes seventeen." came the report from ops. "Internal and external scans show the Captain is not on board or within scanning range beyond the hull."

"If there are any links between the missing crew, I want them now." ordered Thalmann. "And as soon as you can I want a full diagnosic run on the computer, I have a gut feeling about it and it won't go away."

"All crew taken so far are bipedal humanoids. There is no link between age, rank, time on ship, or gender. Twelve male, six female, on androgynous." Reported Councilor Hollinger. "I am augmenting the computer search by process of elimination." It may be a bit redundant but the computer does not think for itself so I may get a tangent going it would have taken a while to see."

Thalmann nodded approvingly. "Good thinking." He turned to speak to the SOO. "George I want any sensitives brought to the to the conference room. I want to see if any of them feel or sense anything. Leave no stone unturned and never leave a crew member behind. Bring the ship about and place us 'dead center' between when the first event occurred and the last recorded disappearance, then run full spacial scans for any anomalies.

"I have one similarity." reported Hollinger. She continued without waiting. "None of the missing crew have had any recent extra-ship recreation even when we visited the Omicron Delta System last month."

"So the cosmos is forcing them to take some R & R?" quipped Bogler from his station.

"It is as logical as having some super powerful transporter take them off the ship to make them slaves in some Ardanan Zenite mine." Rhonda pointed out.

"Or to have them taken away to banter around with a large molten rock beast about the difference between good and evil." added Dr. Roesberry as he walked out onto the bridge. "Um what are we talking about?"

The Executive Officer quickly filled him in. He then asked why the doctor was on the bridge. "I came as soon as I heard the Captain had vanished, and to report that word of what is happening is spreading through the ship, the anxiety level on this ship is rising faster than a hungry tribble can empty a bin of quadrotriticale. I thought the good counselor would like to go down and talk to a few people. Thanks to me, they are headed into your office right now. I also want to report that the visual imagining experiment I tried with the post resonance aura reader I modified a tricorder to search for provided nothing concrete, and I scanned the all the disappearances except the Captain's." he added looking down at the still empty seat. "Be my guest. Doctor." granted Thalmann more congenially then he felt. "Let me know what you find."

Chapter 4 by George Bogler

“XO, the initial computer results are in,”. Announced the Strategic Operations Officer. There is nothing concrete, but it notes a high correlation between the powers surge and flash recorded when OUR people went missing and one recorded by the Enterprise in 2268.”
“That would be…during James Kirk’s time”, Thalmann said. “Over a hundred years ago/”
“And 47 light years away.” Bogler replied. “A Kalandran outpost. The log transcript is up on channel 6 and the complete log on channel 7.”
Dave extracted a PADD from the side of the command chair and stood up. “Computer, transfer current file on comm. channel 6 to PADD. George, you review the complete log and let me know of any significant points. I’ll read the transcript, but I’ve got to get to that meeting of the psychics. You have the conn.”
:”Acknowledged. SOO has the con,” George announced.
Soon after the Conn station announced, “We have arrived at the coordinates the Captain ordered.”
:Acknowledged. All stop, thrusters at station keeping. Continue scans.” Bogler responded without looking up from reviewing the old Enterprise log. “Close but not too close,” he muttered to himself. There was a lot of muttering as the bridge crew went about their duties. “Ops, I want all shuttles and fighters prepped for launch. Have a science officer on each shuttle running analyses. We need more computing power working this problem. None of the fighter pilots are to close their hatches and a deck hand is to keep an eye on each of them.” He leaned back in his chair and stroked his beard for a minute. “Communications, I want a continuous log of our efforts sent to both Starfleet and Admiral Hollinger. Also continue to check with all ships in this sector for any disappearances”
“He’ll be glad for an excuse to interrupt his inspection of the Ticonderoga,” laughed Rhonda. “I KNOW my husband!”
Despite her levity, George knew she was worried about the missing crew and trying to keep up the spirits of those remaining. Commander Thalmann chose that moment to return to the Bridge. Despite his Gideonite constitution, he looked tired. “Report.”
George brought him up to speed, then they compared notes about the Enterprise log. Unfortunately, the conversation left as many questions unanswered as answered. “Sir…” George began, only to have the XO interrupt.
“Sorry to jump in, but I just had a thought. Bridge to sick bay…”
“Sickbay, Dr. Xal here. Roseberry’s busy with his experiment & asked for help covering sickbay.” The Trill physician had anticipated the question Commander Thalmann had been formulating.
“Of course” he responded. “Doctor, I want everyone who witnessed a disappearance to have a physical. Maybe THAT will tell us something. Start with Ensign Armantrout as she was the first witness.” He turned his attention to the SOO. “What were you saying?”
“Sir, I recommend that we separate the ship. It might minimize disappearances, and if we detect anything we can use the two sections and a science shuttle to triangulate.”
“Hmm. Science Officer…opinion?”
“Well, It’s as good a shot as anything else we’ve got. The only downside I can see, and it’s a small one, is the inability to phase cloak.”
“I don’t think this is something we can hide from, or sneak up on. OK, let’s do it. Captain to crew, prepare for saucer sep in 5 minutes, mark. Team Tiger report to the main drive section, team badger to the saucer. Keep in constant communication George.” He said as he walked toward the express turbo lift to the battle bridge. “What’s the current count? “
“Holding at 55 for the past 5 minutes”, someone responded.

“Sickbay Beta to Armantrout.” Jerdi’s comm. badge announced.
“Armantrout.”
“Dr. Akiela Xal here. Report immediately for a complete physical. Priority one.”
“On my way,” she responded with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. She hated sick bay worse than gagh, and disappearing co-workers. If only I could find the missing people myself." she thought as she quickened her pace slightly.
“Will I have to stay with you?” her escort/companion inquired”
The double doors opened in front of Jerdi with the customary low hiss as she turned her head back slightly to answer. “Unless there’s someone free to accompany you crewman.” She faced forward again and walked though the single door. It closed quickly behind her “Armantrout reporting as ordered.” The Ensign announced. “Hey wait a minute—this isn’t sick bay!”

Chapter 5 By Martin Calderwood

Captain Henline nodded perfunctorily as he accepted the PADD from an anxious looking yeoman. The device contained the names of all those he knew had disappeared including the ones that, over the last five minutes had begun showing up under unusual circumstances each surprised to see the captain and each reporting they had a rather unusual story to report. They had arrived at intervals of one every twenty seconds over the last five minutes. So far there were, including those he had already found, thirty-two crewman who had vanished from the ship. He had directed most of them to the ready room where they waited, without debriefing, for something to happen.

On cue, the bridge doors whooshed open and revealed someone the Captain did not expect.

"–this isn’t sick bay!"

*****

"Sir, I have detected an anomaly in our power grid corresponding to the disappearance of Ensign Armantrout." exclaimed Lt. Comm Bogler. "I have traced it to one of the more obscure subroutines of the Halo Deck Processor units. I am now back tracking and running a full diagnostic routine with
emphasis on the precise times of the disappearances we can pin down."

"Make it so." replied Thalmann without hesitation. "Tie in all readings to the science station and engineering. I want to know what has changed about any to the halo programming and what has and has not been serviced in the last three weeks. I also want to run a search to see if there are any links
to personnel files, recreational and leave activities and whatever else we you can do to find out what is going on! Link it to the doctor’s post resonance aura reader a well! Great work on the find, George."

Bogler blushed slightly. "Let’s just hope it leads somewhere." he replied turning his attention to his consul.

In moments the bridge was alive with the silence of a smoothly working crew.

*****

Captain Henline listened carefully to the tales of each of the fifty-nine crew who were now crammed withing the relative small confines of the bridge. He knew that just a few yards away was a briefing room and that if he left the bridge he could go anywhere on his ship and use any area that was large
enough to accommodate such a group. He chose to remain on the bridge.

The tales varied ranging from the crew member suddenly finding themselves at home with their family to playing a live game of chess to chasing a white rabbit down a hole. Fantasies and dreams, challenges and trials were introduced. Most admitted that they had been thinking about the scenarios on some level during the past month ever since they had visited the Shore Leave Planet and hoping to get back to the planet soon to try them out.

The only variations were Henline’s own, and that of Ensign Armantrout, who reported that she had just ‘wished’ to find all the missing crew. She had been totally surprised to find herself on the bridge after being ordered to sickbay.

Captain Henline’s story was the anomaly within the group. He had found himself alone on the bridge as if everyone else had disappeared. He had not been there a second when he heard "Indeed they do, Captain Henline, indeed they do.” No one was around and it took him a few seconds to recall his
thoughts about the fates knowing him better.

"So are you the *’fates’ *who have attacked my ship?" he’d asked.

*No. We are the creators of that which is imagined. We feed on your dreams, your desires. You want answers. We give you opportunity to find them. You have your entire ship at your disposal. You do not want to leave the ship without a final challenge. We have given it to you! Enjoy your shore leave, sir.*

"I received no further contact from who or whatever spoke to me." Concluded Henline softly. "And I have been working on things ever since. The only parameters I have found frustrating is that no matter how much I wish for or request a change or a return to the ‘real’ ship, I have not been granted that desire. No logic or computer tampering or any other of my efforts have broken that restriction. I have concluded that this entire situation has something to do with the shore leave planet but as yet I have only discovered that whatever it is that has placed us here has turned the entire ship into it’s game. Then you all have showed up and I believe we now have a chance to solve this myst..."

And then the Captain was gone.

Chapter 6 by George Bogler

“…teryyyyy,” he continued. Dazed he looked around. The setting was a woodland glade in late spring or early summer by appearance. A short distance away was another crew member. “Henline to Kelly” he called. There was no response. He tapped his comm. Badge again. “This is Captain Richard Henline of the Federation vessel U.S.S. Kelly. Is anyone receiving me”?

“This is Lt Armentrout on the Kelly sir, or wherever you just were. I seem to be the only one here getting your signal.”

“What’s your status Lt.”?

“No change sir. You just disappeared and no one else has arrived since. Where are you?”

“Unknown. Apparently on a class M planet….um…giant rabbit…oh, oh…” Now only static came from the combadge.

Sir:? She asked worriedly.

“Armentrout! You’re in command there until further notice. Find answers!!”

“Captain! Captain?” She met the glance of a nearby man. “It seems to have gone dead.”

“What are we going to do maam”?

“You heard the Captain crewman….”

“Guildenstern, William S. Crewman 1st class.”

“Well Guildenstern. He said find answers, so lets do it, but first things first. Listen up everyone. I want the following—any bridge crew, man those stations NOW! Engineers get to Engineering. I want a status report in 3 minutes. Science specialists, find consoles some where and start looking for stuff—ANY stuff. Everyone else to your battle station unless you need medical attention, then go to sick bay. I’m going to work from here. Each section to report in to the bridge when manned as much as it’s going to be. Bridge--ranking officer report to me when you have the section reports. MOVE!”

Jerdi sat down behind the Captain’s desk with a thump and a sigh. It was a relief to not have to exercise command for a while. “Computer, research all listings of giant rabbits.”

“There are forty-seven million two-hundred-thirty thousand, eleven references.”

This is going to take some time, she thought.

“Armantrout. Armantrout!” No good, he muttered, watching a giant white rabbit wearing a vest and looking at a pocket watch trundle past him. Que Alice, he thought, only to have the rabbit followed by a little girl in a blue dress. Without waiting for her to ask the question, he pointed after the rabbit.

The crewman approached with a perplexed expression. “Um, sir,” he queried “Do you know what’s going on?”

“Sorry, but I’m as confused as you look. I don’t know you. Are you from the Kelly?”

“Yes Captain. I only reported aboard a few days ago. I think I’m still a little groggy. I had just woke up and was getting ready for my duty shift when I found myself in your ready room then just a second later here. At least I managed to get dressed first.”

“There is that,” Henline agreed. “But who are you?”

“Crewman 1st Class Horatio Rozencrantz sir. He replied at attention.

“Relax before you sprain something,” Richard chucled. “Do you know where we are?”

“Not really sir, although it appears to be a Minshara type planet, Flora resembles Earth types, and the girl appeared human. I don’t know about the rabbit sir.”

The Captain shook his head. Another eager beaver. A beaver appeared in the distance. “Very thorough, but I wasn’t asking for tricorder readings. I believe this is ‘Wonderland’ commonly called ‘The Shore Leave Planet’. Watch your thoughts or you might find your thoughts watching you.”

Rozencrantz stared off into space for a few seconds. “Ah, yes. Of course. All cadets are required to attend a briefing on the subject in case we ever make port here. They use a holodeck to simulate the experience.”

“Well we better hop to it and se if we can find any answers here. We’ll spread out and investigate, but don’t get out of sight.”

Suddenly it was pitch black.

“Captain? Captain Henline?” Rosencrantz’s voice sounded a million parsecs away.

“Got something!” George called out. He turned to the woman next to him. “Melissa, please see if you can correlate these findings.”

The XO hurried over. “Let’s hear it.”

“Over the last 72 hours there have been a high number of reports about minor glitches in holodeck programs. Images & characters have appeared that clearly don’t belong I the programs that were running. There has been no interference with programs, just stuff that doesn’t belong.”

“What kind of stuff?” Dave asked.

“Giant rabbits in human clothing, cats that vanish leaving only smiles, anthropomorphized playing cards, and other similarly odd things. Also several reports of hearing music that didn’t belong. A song by a 20th century Earth band ‘Jefferson Airplane’.

“Commnaders,” interrupted Melissa. “It all ties together. Everything related to ‘Alice In Wonderland’, the children’s story.”

“Excellent work Crewman Andrew,” Thalmann exclaimed. “You’ve earned a promotion!” He drew the SOO aside. “So what do you think about this ‘Alice” development?”

“Could be clues.”
“That’s what I’m thinking, although it doesn’t account for everything. Keep looking.” He returned to the Captain’s chair and sat down. “Helm, set course for Wonderland Shore Leave Planet, maximum warp.”

Chapter 7 by Martin Calderwood and George Bogler

"Course laid in," came the quick response from the helmsman.

Three seconds ticked by.

"No response. Re-engaging!" he called as his fingers danced over the controls. "Nothing."

"Engineering, status report!" The Commander ordered.

"All smooth down here. Warp factor six."

"Who is this?"

"Ensign Randall, sir."

"He disappeared, sir." came a quick response from Counselor Hollinger.

"Who is with you?"

The Ensign listed three other name all of who had also disappeared.

"Open an independent comm unit and be ready to do exactly what I order." said the Commander as a plan began to form in his mind.

"Aye."

Those who knew the XO watched as his face gradually gave way to the wry smile he often had as his thoughts and plans came together. It was as if he were enjoying some private point of humor, and as he did so, around the bridge people started breathing.

"George, get down to engineering. If what I suspect is true then you will find our regular crew in position. Keep your com badge open and do exactly as I say when I tell you. Report when you arrive with a simple ‘here’. Everybody else be ready to do the same. No Questions"

George was up and off the bridge in seconds.

"Thallman looked up and nodded as George’s position was instantly filled. He said nothing. A few minutes later a single word came over the comm--"Here."

Dave touched a button on his command seat. "All hands! Shut down every system NOW! Ignore self-contained lights and communications systems only! Nothing internally linked!"

Around throughout the Kelly hands responded before questions occurred. Systems went dark as power units went dead. Air stopped circulating. Water stopped flowing. The vessel died. Even the great ship’s computer began to loose power and shut down.

"All systems down." came the almost whispered report in the palpable blackness that engulfed them.

"Except?."

A few hand held light units came to life.

"Holonet, Sector Ten and....life support is coming back on line." Two small lights glowed dimly on the console as if they were trying to hide their very existence.

"As fast as you can bring the system up and isolate that sector and any others that try to come up before you order it. "Thalmann touched another button on his console and to everyone’s surprise but his own, it lit.

"Computer, how many systems are still running other than this core?"

"Three. The Holo System, Life support and Holodeck 2."

"Isolate and shut down Holodeck 2."

"Unable to comply."

"Unable or unwilling?" Dave asked.

There was no reply.

"To whom or to what am I speaking?"

"How did you know?" Mouthed the ship’s counselor as a few more hand held lights appeared around the bridge.

Thallman smiled briefly and repeated his question adding. "Or may I call you ALICE?"

Silence filled the bridge for the space of uncounted heartbeats.

"Alice will suffice." The voice was that of a little girl.

"Care to join me on the bridge? And please release the rest of the crew from their adventure. We can continue once we have reached an accommodation."

A girl with long blond hair dressed in a ruffled blue dress walked onto the bridge. "We will need full power to release all our guests from their adventures." she said without preamble.

Commander Thalmann spoke to the bridge in general, "Relay as fast as possible to have all systems brought back on line. Tell engineering to take it’s time with the restart. I do not think there will be any problems."

He looked meaningfully at Alice who smiled almost glowingly in response.

"You got aboard through one of those souvenir holo-programs one of the crew bought at Wonderland?"

She nodded. "I could not stay on that planet any longer. After reading thoughts and hearts, creating beings’ fantasies, repairing their lives and the like I became aware that there was more than programs and mobile circuits. When your Captain Kirk and others followed I, or perhaps I should say we, tapped into some of the equipment from their Enterprise and we began to learn."

"You seem awfully candid." exclaimed Rhonda studying Alice very carefully.

"And she should be." said Captain Henline shimmering from the transporter effect.

"Welcome back sir. I see you figured it all out." Thalmann paused briefly then added, "Command is yours."

"Command refused." replied Henline softly. "When you talked to ‘my engineering crew’ I knew you had things well in hand. I am retiring early. It may not be official but it’s effective now. You see this one through."

"Aye, sir." Dave responded, rolling his eyes slightly, and hoping no one noticed.

Bogler re-entered the bridge as they spoke, sat down and received his reports knowing that both Captains, at this point, expected him to do his job rather than stand on protocol.

"Crew are all accounted for except for 3. No ill effects." he reported as David turned
toward him.

“Whose missing?” asked Thalmann and Henline simultaneously.

“Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Lt Christy Thorsen. “All dead,” George reported/

All around heads jerked up in shcck. Several people turned their gaze very pointedly At Alice.

“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.” She replied. :Or more specifically they were turned off. They were two of our contructs acting as my agents. You see we can make much more sophisticated versions than we let the public use. However, I know nothing of Lt Thorsen.”

George turned back to his console and performed a quick operation. “Bridge to medical. I’ve relayed the location of Lt Christy Thorsen’s body to you. Take her to sick Bay and perform a complete autopsy ASAP.”

David nodded. "Now Alice let’s talk. May I invite you to my ready room?"

"Delighted, Captain sir.. I mean Mr. Thalmann. We have much to talk about. I must say to everyone here, before I leave, that we did not expect your computer protections to fight us as much as they did. We thought we could simply set up shop, hitch a ride and leave when we were ready. It was all we
could do to mesh our system with yours. We hid our efforts as long as we could but when things began to go as they did, we could not figure out what else to do, nor could we stop it. Like us the events took on their own life. And, unfortunately, we discovered we did not know everything. We apologize for the unexpected results. We hope to be able to correct ‘things’ as we assimilate, excuse me, poor choice of words, as we build your system’s strengths into ours." Alice paused as she looked at Thalmann and the Captain. "That is, if you will let us."

"Negotiations are open." Was all Thalmann would say.

Suddenly the lights dimmed and a klaxon blared. “CMO to Bridge. This is a medical red alert. We may have a problem with Lt. Thorsen.”

Chapter 8 Coming March 15

Phase II TBA