December 2007 - Post Selection

ON : Festivities Amok

Day: 98 - Time: 16.00 - Scene : Deck 3 and Lounge

After a few hours spent watching the main news network, to catch up on what was literally five years' worth of events, June had decided to do something more productive with her afternoon. She needed something that would take her mind away from her impatience at reaching Dyerma IV. Some real work in the lounge should do the trick.

It worked immediately. As she approached the lounge's doors, her state of excitation literally flew out through the airlock. Klam (npc) was guarding the entrance. Behind him, across the door, she could read a banner stating that the lounge was closed for maintenance.

She looked at the Bolian with a frown that she hoped conveyed the question that now prevailed in her mind: 'What now?!'

"You won't like it one bit, June," he began shaking his head from right to left.

By peering through the see-through doors, June saw a view that belonged to a fantasy land. One where Santa Claus himself would have appreciated living. The floor was covered with a thick layer of artificial snow. In the far corner, a large tree was barely recognizable under the weight of its decorations and snow. Pete Smith and Maria Chivez (npcs) offered a touch of blue at the bar, where they were performing some tests on various scientific instruments. Trok (npc) was in the middle of it all, a yellow stain with a large shovel. He was using this tool with a desperate energy, trying to fill a large black container with the snow.

"Is Trok responsible for all this?" She asked, turning back to Klam; gathering that no Ferengi would work like a demented fool without feeling terribly guilty.

Klam nodded. "He is, and so am I, I guess... When he asked earlier today if he could decorate the lounge for the Terran festive season, going on about the importance of attracting patrons etc, I gave him the green light to do it. Sadly, when I returned for my shift at 14.00, the idiot had managed to transform the lounge into a place fit for polar bears! I told him to clean up his act..." Klam peeked through the doors. "But it looks like whatever progress there is, is particularly slow."

"What about informing me of the frigging situation, Klam? I manage the damn place. It's the second time that you keep me in the dark. Have you decided to replace me, sort of out of the blue, by any chance!?"

Klam shrugged the comment on his skin colour away. "We hoped to clear up this mess before you could see it, Ms Craig," he replied with a small voice. "Frankly there is nothing you could have done, except kicking our collective ass, of course. But I thought you had better do that after the crisis... As you can see, we have two scientists on our side.

"They have discovered that the artificial snow that Trok used has been contaminated with a potent fertilizer. They will be able to give you all the details, but to cut it short, the snow mutated. Instead of just remaining white and crisp, it spread like a nasty plague."

I will so kill them, June thought to herself. She then tapped her commbadge. "Maria, tell me you have a solution to end this nightmare?"

The science officer smiled at her from the bar. +"We are getting there, June. I think that just like with the space rift, light is the key element here. The modified snow that you can see used the energy available from the light to multiply. Basically, plants do the same, at a more modest rate, obviously."+

+"What Maria is trying to say," Pete continued, +"is that our best option is to shift this snow into space, where the absence of atmosphere will eradicate it. The case is in the bag, so to speak. All we need now is to pack the offending snow, which Mister Trok is doing with a passion."+

"It rather looks to me like he isn't going anywhere, fast." June complained. "Besides, if the damn stuff feeds on the light, surely, it's speading out as we speak?!"

+"You are underestimating me," Maria replied, sounding annoyingly amused. "Once I had the chemical contents of the fertilizer, it was easy to conteract its action."+

"Fine." June told her. Turning to Klam, she added: "You had better fetch a shovel, and help the weasel, Klam. At the rate he is going, it will take days to clear this mess. The lougne can't afford to wait that long."

"Me? I'm not the one who turned the lounge into an artic circle."

"You told Trok to go ahead. You know he can't do one single thing right. Once you've joined him, tell him that as soon as the lounge is back to its normal self, I want to see him in my quarters. Make sure he knows that I'll be doing some Ferengi roasting tonight."

"Right..."

"You go get the tool you need," June insisted, "I'll take care of the doors." Without further ado, she flicked open the security padd by the door. As soon as Klam was in, she would be able to lock the lounge, if she remembered her security code, that is...

OFF:

June Craig
Lounge Manager
USS Dark Matter