Clues and Footage Part 1

Posted on Wed Sep 1st, 2021 @ 5:02pm by Commander Kaleetha Sloan (*)

Mission: Mission 14: Holoworld
Location: SS Holoworld
Timeline: MD02 05:00
554 words - 1.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Barry Jones looked at hypospray in his hands that he was calibrating and felt concerned. He walked over to the window and reflected on his noisy surroundings. He had always loved ships especially commercial one with their lively, loud population. It was a place that encouraged his tendency to feel concerned and his need to fix things like that night, he had already had several drunk passengers needing assistance. It was why he was still in the sickbay of SS Holoworld when he could be out mingling among the passengers or chilling in crew areas.

Then he saw something in the distance, or rather someone. It was the figure of Nadine. Nadine was a grateful doctor with grubby fingers and pretty eyes. Barry gulped. He glanced at his own reflection. He was a stable, hopeful, cocoa drinker with wide fingers and a charming smile. His friends saw him as a violet, vacant volcano thanks to his short temper. Once, he had even revived a dying, owl.

But not even a stable person who had once revived a dying, owl, was prepared for what Nadine had in-store today or the indication that she wanted him to come outside.
As Barry stepped outside the office and Nadine came closer, he could see the bitter smile on her face.

Nadine gazed with affection at the man. She said, in hushed tones, "I love you and I want peace."

Barry looked back, even more, lonely and still fingering the stripy hawk. "Nadine, you must think I was born yesterday," he replied.

They looked at each other for a long time before Barry looked away and then back. Barry studied Nadine. They had been over this for many months, they had been fun at first but now it was just too much. Eventually, he took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," began Barry in apologetic tones, "but I don't feel the same way anymore, and I never will. I just don't love you Nadine but can we talk when we are not on duty. Later… tomorrow?"

“No… I get it.” Nadine looked stressed, her emotions raw and all over her face. Barry could actually hear Nadine's emotions shatter into 6262 pieces. The other doctor hurried away into the distance. Not even a mug of cocoa would calm Barry's nerves tonight.

“WHAT! Barry! How little did you know!” Kaleetha yelled at the screen from her makeshift home as the feed cut away to the chaos that engulfed the holoship seconds after Nadine left. She had been going through the final hour in different locations for the last day trying to piece together what had happened to the ship and what had happened to her.

The science officer felt like she was observing far too intimate of details from the crew and fellow passengers. She had not been able to find anyone when she had woken up, no bodies, nothing other than holograms that would not even acknowledge she was there. It was like she was a ghost but she knew she was not, she had checked her stats and she was 100% alive with high adrenaline levels and a lack of patience.

She was going to work it all out and work out how to get off the ship but she just needed to find where it had all gone wrong.