The Doctor at Play
Posted on August 7th, 2018 by Emilaina Acacia

Emily sat in her quarters, sipping from a cup of tea and finishing up her log for the day. The CMO and Captain had both told her that on her first full day off, she shouldn’t do anything resembling work. Neither of them had made it an order, but at this point, they didn’t have to. Emily could tell that her nerves were getting frayed, and she couldn’t treat herself like a student anymore. She had to act like an officer, and that meant keeping herself rested and healthy. So, she’d taken a break from her thesis, and Nurse Darcy was watching her ongoing experiments for her. Ensign Razyn had been kind enough to show her how the holodeck worked, and she’d spent the better part of the afternoon creating a few programs of her own. Razyn had even been kind enough to show her how to randomize program elements, so she could be surprised by events, to an extent.

“I think I’m starting to get along here. I’ll admit, I do miss Earth, but I’m finally getting comfortable. I look forward to going back to my quarters each night. The adventure of it is intoxicating, the science fascinating, and this ship is really something. I consider myself fortunate that I’ve had so much time to work on my experiments, and that I’ve had so few patients so far, but I know that can only be a temporary state of things. I’m… ready for, but not necessarily eager for, whatever’s to come. Acacia out,” the computer beeped once, shutting down the microphone. Emily pinched the bridge of her nose, already feeling stupid for getting so sappy, even in her personal log.

She stood, setting her tea aside an giving Apollo a nasty look for biting the corner of her bed. She grabbed the costume from her closet, examining it with a wry smile before donning the long tan trenchcoat, and colorful scarf.

—

Acacia found herself standing on a cliff, near an ocean. She inhaled deeply, her eyes darting to the glint of the sun off of the white rock making up the cliffs. She then turned her gaze back to the large, solid black starship entering the atmosphere at an alarming rate.

“Doctor,” Emily’s attention was drawn to a nearby middle-aged woman with a tight red ponytail, “They haven’t stopped, they haven’t answered our hails. We need to go up there! Board their ship, get their attention, stop them before they crash.”

“Ooh,” Emily couldn’t help but coo excitedly. She hadn’t even thought of that plan when she’d written the program. She had a gun in her coat, contrary to the character from ancient science fiction she’d drawn from, she had planned to have an all-out firefight on the surface for a little adrenaline, but she actually liked this better, “Good idea, let’s go.”

The two set off running towards their vessel, a nearby blue telephone box from ancient England. Emily leapt inside, wildly and randomly throwing levers at the console. She laughed madly, the flashing lights indicating that her exercise in nonsense was working. With a whoosh, they took off.

—

Emily awoke with a gasp, sitting up sharply. She groaned, holding her back, where she had been laying on a bent piece of rebar. The redheaded woman was nearby, laying limp, a sharp piece of metal sticking out of her chest. Emily shook her head, grunting, “Computer, end program.”

With a soft sigh, she looked around, re-acquainting herself with the empty holodeck, “Computer, how long was I unconscious?”

The computer bleeped itself to life, replying, “All holodeck safeties are operating normally. You did not lose consciousness. Twelve seconds have elapsed since the last scene change in program Acacia one.”

“Huh,” Emily rubbed her forehead, perturbed. She made a mental note to tweak her program to make it a little easier, and to not program a ship crash into any more of her stories. She laid back down slowly, “Computer, run program… Acacia two.”

A flash of light made her clench her eyes shut, and when she opened them, she was laying in white sand, a holographic sun beaming overhead. With a smile, she let her eyes shut once more, and let her tension melt away, her thoughts drifting occasionally to ways to improve her adventure program.