Warning: This second part of this chapter is too funny. I dare you to try to read it without laughing out loud at least once.
Chapter 17 – Fun on the Holodeck
Star Trek Universe – Milky Way Galaxy – Destiny - Shuttlebay
After Tom Paris had managed to extract the DHD out of the ground using the phaser and tractor beam, they saw a tractor enter the paddock they were in being driven by a humanoid native of the planet. Instead of explaining themselves, they had decided to leave with great haste. Paris used the tractor beam to snag both the DHD and Stargate and hauled it up to Destiny. Half of the away team on the planet took a ride back in the Delta Flyer. The other half were beamed back. They decided since the Delta Flyer was inside the shuttlebay after delivering the Stargate and DHD, that they may as well park it there as well. The shuttlebay was slightly larger than the one on Voyager and it fit easily.
Back in the shuttlebay, several crewmembers were finishing up cleaning the Stargate, ramp and DHD of the dirt they had accumulated while being underground for almost a million years. The Stargate 2.0 stood upright near a wall. On the other side of the shuttlebay was where a dozen Stargate 1.0 models were stored. The DHD stood next to the Stargate 2.0. Several people were standing in front of it, admiring it.
"Hey, that Stargate is slightly bigger than all those Stargates." Chloe Armstrong noticed, comparing the Stargate 2.0 to the dozen Stargate 1.0s stored on the other side of the shuttlebay.
"It is." Morrison confirmed. "And the Stargate 3.0 in Atlantis is slightly bigger than the Stargate 2.0"
"Now that this Stargate has superseded Destiny's own Stargate, does that mean we'll be using this one for now on?" Chloe asked.
"That remains to be seen." Nicholas Rush replied. "There is a way to make Destiny's Stargate the dominant Stargate. We just need to find a way to connect that DHD to it." Nicolas was pointing to the large DHD standing next to the Stargate. "First, it would be a good idea to see if this Stargate works first. Right now would be a good time as any." Nicholas looked to Everett.
"Go ahead." Everett replied.
"Dial the next Stargate on our path." Nicholas told Morrison. Morrison pressed the large buttons on the large DHD that came with the Stargate 2.0. Within a moment the wormhole had activated, and the event horizon was shimmering within the Stargate. Nicholas grabbed a radio transmitter and turned it on. They could hear it beeping on the DHD tablet that Voyager had replicated. Nicholas threw the transmitter into the centre of the Stargate. They waited. The beeping did not start up again after 1.6 seconds. Nicholas grabbed another transmitter and turned it on. They heard it beeping again. Nicholas walked halfway up the ramp. He then threw the radio transmitter into the very top of the wormhole. They waited.
After 1.6 seconds the beeping started up again. It beeped for about five seconds before the beeping stopped.
"Yes!" Nicholas shouted.
"What does that mean?" Everett asked.
"My hunch is correct." Nicholas explained. "This Stargate is also buried. The reason why the first transmitter failed to transmit a beeping signal was just the same as what happened a week ago."
Morrison said, "The lava prevented it from forming." He was referring to the soil being superheated into lava by the kawoosh caused by the activating of the Stargate.
"Correct." Nicholas said. "The second transmitter did start beeping again, at least a for a few seconds. This was because some of the lava had seeped into the event horizon. This caused a gap between the top of the lava and the soil above it. The transmitter was thrown into this gap. Guess why the transmitter failed after a few seconds."
"Because it fell into the lava and was incinerated." Chloe answered.
"Correct." Nicholas said. "Now let's test the other 10 Stargates we're picking up."
Ten minutes later, they had repeated the procedure ten times.
"The results are conclusive, all the Stargates in this galaxy beside the ones in this room are buried." Finalized Nicholas Rush. The results were identical with all the Stargates.
"That is quite a mystery." Everett announced.
"It most certainly is." Nicholas agreed.
"Do you have any idea why they're all buried?" Everett asked.
"I do have a hunch, but a hunch is all I have at the moment." Nicholas replied.
"A penny for your thoughts?" Chloe asked.
"Any explanation I give now would be just a guess which could very well be wrong. I prefer to have more facts before I give my reasoning for what I think has happened."
"Okay then." Everett gave up. "You lot find a way to connect this DHD to Destiny's Stargate so we can start using that one. Do you think you can do that?"
"We've read the notes on how they managed to change which gate is active on the Midway Station between Earth and Atlantis." Morrison said. "We'll figure it out."
"Good." Everett said.
"Wait. There is one thing." Adam Brody interrupted. "We've discovered another function of the repair bay. I want to test it out."
"What other function?" Everett asked.
"We just discovered that as well as repairing mechanical items, it can replicate them as well." Adam answered.
"Really?" Everett asked. "You mean like copy things?"
"Yes. We've only copied a light bulb so far, but we want to see if we can replicate this DHD here." Adam suggested, pointing at the large DHD they brought up from the planet below.
"Replicate a DHD? I'll be really impressed if it can pull that off." Everett remarked.
"There is a catch. I need similar materials that the replicator can use to make the DHD out of. It can't make it out of thin air." Adam explained. "I'm assuming Tom Paris or Harry Kim might be able to beam up some rocks from the planet below. I'll find them and ask them for help."
"Do it." Everett ordered. "I believe they're still in the Delta Flyer. I'll be on the bridge. Radio the bridge as soon as you have beamed the raw materials onboard so we can go back into FTL. I believe the four hours are already up." They had agreed earlier to go into FTL as soon as the four hours were up so they could spend most of the afternoon at FTL before they came out of it at 6pm to have dinner with the Voyager crew.
"We will." Adam said. He looked around. Harry, Tom and B'Elanna had just exited the Delta Flyer and were heading toward them. Adam congratulated them. "Great job in getting the Stargate and DHD here. There's something I need your help with." Adam told them about the replicator feature he discovered in the repair bay, his desire to replicate the DHD and that it needs raw materials to transmute into a DHD. "I believe the easiest way to get the raw materials is to beam up rocks from the planet below. Scan the DHD and use the Delta Flyer to scan the planet. Have it find types of rocks made out of similar materials. It doesn't have to be an exact match on the periodic table. I think parts of the DHD is not on the periodic table anyway. Just find something which is the closest match you can find. The nanobots work on a molecular level, it should be able to transform it anyway."
"We'll give it a go." Harry agreed. He scanned the DHD with his tricorder. Then Harry, Tom, B'Elanna, Adam, Nicholas, Chloe and Morrison walked back into the Delta Flyer.
Harry tapped buttons on the tricorder. "Okay, I've fed the scans of the DHD from the tricorder into Delta Flyer's computer. "Let's see what we can find."
"I'll scan the planet below." B'Elanna said. She had sat down at the same console that she used to scan for the Stargate a few hours earlier. After about a minute she had come up with a target lock. "The rocks I've found isn't an exact match, but it is pretty close."
"It will do." Adam Brody said.
"Beaming them up now." B'Elanna announced. Several rocks, some looking metallic, appeared on the transporter pad. "You should be able to use this to make a DHD out of."
"Looks like we're carrying them." Adam realised. They all reached down and picked up a few rocks each. Within a minute they were all in the repair bay. Adam gestured to the tabletop to put them on. Within another two minutes they had found a trolley and wheeled the DHD in. Several of them all got together and lifted it onto another tabletop. Adam then operated the console at one end of it.
"This replicator table will scan the DHD on it and copy it onto the table with the rocks on it." Adam explained. "It will rearrange the molecular structure of the rocks and hopefully turn it into a duplicate of the DHD."
"Make sure you're sure which table is doing the copying and which table is doing the pasting." Chloe pointed out. "You don't want to turn the DHD into a pile of rocks." Everybody laughed except Adam, who stared at Chloe. "I'll leave you to it." Chloe then wisely left the room.
Adam did double-check the instructions he had programmed into the Replicator control pad before beginning the procedure. He pressed a few buttons. "I've started it."
"How long do you think it will take?" Asked Morrison.
"Well it copied the lightbulb in five minutes. This DHD? Maybe an hour or two." Adam answered.
A lightbulb went off in Nicholas's head. "Have we gone to FTL yet?"
"No, we haven't." Morrison answered.
"I just thought of something else we should copy, and why stop with just one." Nicholas then radioed Everett on the bridge to tell him his plan. Everett thought it was a good idea but told him to hurry because he wants to take Destiny to FTL. Nicholas then turned to Tom, B'Elanna and Harry. "We need to beam up a lot more rocks."
Star Trek Universe – Milky Way Galaxy - Voyager – Shuttlebay
Eli Wallace, Tuvok, Marla Gilmore, Joe Carey, Dale Volker and Lisa Park had returned to Voyager in the two shuttlecraft. They were debriefed in the briefing room on Voyager over everything that had happened on their mission gating through the galaxies. Voyager had then travelled from Galaxy 40 in the Stargate Universe through the intergalactic wormhole to the Milky Way galaxy in the Star Trek universe.
At 6:00pm, the Stargate had activated as Destiny and Voyager updated each other on their status. Colonel Everett Young had also said over the radio that when the crewmembers come through for dinner in forty-five minutes, that they will also bring through two large gifts for Voyager. So, at 6:45pm, Captain Janeway, Chakotay, Tuvok, Joe, Eli, Dale and Lisa were waiting when the Stargate activated. First came Everett Young and Nicolas Rush. Then they turned back to the Stargate as Everett radioed to send the first gift through. They then saw what some of them recognised as a large DHD for a Stargate 2.0 come through the Stargate. It was on a trolley. As the trolley came through it was horizontal. When enough of the ramp came through, the forward end suddenly came down on the downward sloping ramp. Everett and Rush were ready for that, and they both grabbed the DHD to prevent it from tipping over onto the ramp. They led the DHD and trolley safely down the ramp and out of the way.
Everett radioed to Destiny. "Send the second gift through now." Everybody looked at the Stargate. Everett and Rush were ready as a second trolley came through. As before, when the trolley came down on the ramp, Everett and Rush were ready to catch the object on it. Everybody recognised it.
It was a fusion reactor. It looked just like the one Seven had created in her cargo bay.
Everybody looked shocked as they realised the implications. Janeway spoke first. "How can you possibly open a wormhole all the way here without the fusion reactor? Destiny is over 3,000 light years away now."
"The fusion reactor you gave us is currently connected to the Stargate." Everett answered as more crewmembers came walking through the Stargate.
"You…replicated it?" Janeway asked.
"Affirmative." Everett answered.
"I thought Destiny didn't have any replicators." Chakotay remarked.
"Neither did we." Rush answered. "But we found out the repair bay we discovered a week ago has an extra function besides just repairing machinery."
"It can also replicate them." Janeway figured out. "Now that will definitely come in handy."
"Don't we know it." Everett agreed. "The DHD is for the Stargate. We managed to connect the other one to our Stargate this afternoon. We'll explain what it can do at dinner."
"Yes, we will." Janeway agreed. "Now that our galaxy hopping crew are also back, it looks like we both have some stories to tell. We can connect the DHD to the Stargate after dinner. Let's head for the officer's mess now. Tonight, we have a 3-course meal!"
"I can hardly wait." Everett rejoiced. Everybody started heading for the turbolift. Nicholas caught up to Eli.
"Did you get the ages of all the 2.0 Stargates you passed through?" Nicholas asked.
"Yes, we did. Here it is." Eli pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to Nicholas.
"Now this is interesting." Nicholas remarked while looking at the numbers.
Voyager – Officer's Mess
There were laughs, jokes, and lots of food and alcohol going around as they feasted. Janeway had organised it so everyone who had been directly involved in the latest missions were all seated at the main table. This meant Tuvok, Eli, Marla, Joe, Dale and Lisa were seated on one side of the table. Adam, Nicholas, Harry, B'Elanna, Tom and Chloe were seated on the other side. Janeway was seated at the head of the table between the two rows and Everett was seated at the other end. Nicholas still had the paper out in front of him while he was eating dinner. The crew who went galaxy hopping told the others about their mission. The crew who retrieved the first Stargate 2.0 off the planet explained their adventures. Then they explained what they did after they managed to replicate the DHD and the fusion reactor.
"So, you connected the DHD to Destiny's Stargate and it increased the range. By how much?" Janeway asked.
"It increased the range from about 300 light years to 35,000 light years." Everett answered. "Roughly half of what the fusion reactor can do. Apparently, they're backwards compatible with the Stargate 1.0. We believe the DHD we brought with us will do the same thing to your Stargate. At the very least it should cut down on the number of fusion reactors you'll need."
"I hope so." Janeway agreed. "Seven will be happy."
"Really happy." Everett confirmed. "We'll replicate more fusion reactors."
"Back to the galaxy hoppers." Janeway gestured to the group who went jumping from galaxy to galaxy through the Stargates with the two shuttlecraft. "You lot made it to galaxy 12. You actually managed to open a wormhole to Earth. You had the chance to go home. Why didn't any of you take it?"
"If we go home now, the adventures will be over." Dale answered.
"There's a possibility they'll never let us travel through the Stargate again." Eli added.
"I wanted so much to go home myself." Lisa explained. "But now that the opportunity was there, it felt like all the fun would be over and I'd have to live in the real world again."
"I can actually see things from your point of view." Janeway pointed out. "If I never joined Starfleet, I believe I would be working in a 9 to 5 job right now. That doesn't quite compare to being on a starship. With the crime rate so low on Earth right now, I admit it can get mundane at times there. One of the reasons I joined Starfleet was I knew we'd have adventures now and then on a Starship."
Dale pitched in. "From what I've heard during these previous dinners here, it's usually only the ships called the Enterprise that has all the adventures. The Voyager crewmembers have told heaps of stories about the scrapes the Enterprise starships have gotten themselves into."
"You are half right." Chakotay told Dale. "All starships get into their own scrapes now and then. The Enterprises, with their mission of deep space exploration, just has the most adventures. There have only been two recent exceptions. The USS Defiant, because it's guarding a wormhole from one quadrant of the Milky Way galaxy to another quadrant. And Voyager itself. In Voyager's case it's because being in the Delta Quadrant, almost every race it comes across is a First Contact situation."
"What is it with that piece of paper, Nicholas?" Janeway asked Nicholas. "It's dinner time. You can work later."
"Just doing some calculating." Rush clarified. "I am enjoying dinner."
"Great. You got me intrigued now. What is so important with that paper?" Janeway asked.
"This will take some explaining." Nicholas pointed out.
"I'm all ears. It looks like you've figured something out." Janeway stated.
"You know where it is, don't you?" Eli asked.
"Kind of." Nicholas answered.
"Don't keep us in suspense." Janeway said.
"Well, put it this way. We have all been so invested, me included, about seeing what's in front of Destiny. What Destiny has been after, that it never occurred to anyone to see what was coming up behind us."
"Continue. Pease." Janeway insisted.
"This paper has the ages of all the 2.0 Stargates that the galaxy hopping team has passed through. Their ages differ wildly by millions of years. The Stargate 2.0 in galaxy 29 is 785,400 years old. The Stargate in galaxy 27 is 3,116,200 years old. The Stargate in galaxy 25 is 6,331,900 years old. Each Stargate 2.0 they came across were between two to three million years older than the previous one. By comparing their ages, I've been able to work out roughly where the 'object of my affection' is."
"What and where is this 'object of your affection'?" Asked Janeway.
Nicholas and Eli looked at each other for a couple of seconds, then they looked back at Janeway. Nicholas answered her. "There is a Seeder ship out there. This one constructs Stargates of the 2.0 variety and it is currently between galaxy 29 and galaxy 30."
Everybody looked at each other wide-eyed. They didn't say anything.
"Time for dessert!" Neelix called out. "Just like always, everyone is entitled to one serving of dessert of your choice. Please line up by the replicator."
"We'll continue this after dessert." Janeway said to Nicholas. They all got up, lined up at the replicator and started replicating their favourite dessert. About ten minutes later they had resumed their conversation.
"So why do you think there's a seeder ship between those two galaxies?" Janeway asked.
"The reasoning is very simple. The Seeder 1.0 ships were sent out first. They travelled further and further away from Earth through the galaxies constructing and depositing Stargates on every suitable planet that is habitable or could be habitable in the future. Destiny was sent out later chasing the origin of the signal hidden in the background radiation in the universe. It followed the course of the Seeder 1.0 ships. Next the Seeder 2.0 ships were sent out. They replaced every Stargate 1.0 they found with an improved Stargate 2.0. Considering how long ago the Seeder 2.0 ships were sent out, they should have overtaken the Destiny and replaced the Stargates by now. For some reason, at least one of them is seriously behind schedule. It's taking one of them a million years to upgrade each galaxy."
"Any idea why it's so slow?" Janeway asked.
"I can only guess. I could be wrong, but I believe the FTL has failed. It's no longer able to repair itself. It's still following its program. So it continues on without FTL. It's travelling through space at 99% the speed of light. Considering the first Stargate 2.0 Eli and company found in Galaxy 29 is less than a million years old, the seeder ship has finished with galaxy 29 and is currently en route to galaxy 30."
"Hang on." Chloe interrupted. "Isn't there a really big gap between galaxy 29 and 30?"
"Yes, there most certainly is." Nicholas confirmed. "I have managed to narrow down the area of space that the seeder ship is currently drifting through to be as large as a galaxy."
"Gee, that helps." Harry remarked.
"I have a hunch on how to find it, but I have no idea if it will work." Nicholas surmised.
Later on, as everyone was leaving the Officer's Mess, Matthew Scott and Ronald Greer walked up beside Eli when he was in a corridor.
"Hey Eli." Ronald greeted Eli. "Did you have fun going all the way to galaxy 12 and back?"
"It had its moments." Eli answered.
"Great." Matthew said. "You know that thing we were talking about? We're going to do it tonight. Us, Darren and the other soldiers. We'll all be at your quarters tonight 10pm. Be ready."
"Tonight it is then." Eli responded.
Voyager – Eli's Quarters – 10pm
The door chimed.
"Come in." Eli called out. The door opened. Matthew Scott, Ronald Greer, Darren Becker and three other soldiers from Destiny walked in. The last soldier who walked in closed the door behind him.
"This is it. Tonight's the night." Ronald announced.
"It's happy time!" Matthew said.
"In case you haven't figured it out yet, this is the real reason we all chose to be on Voyager." Darren revealed.
"You know, this isn't really the smartest idea you've come up with." Eli remarked.
"No it's not. But it is the best." Ronald responded.
"Hell yeah!" Darren agreed.
"You do know if we get caught, we will be in so much trouble." Eli pointed out.
"Worrywart." Ronald said. "It's impossible for me to turn back now. Oh, yes. We're doing it."
"Risk is a part of life." Darren said.
"There is one problem. I checked just before you came in. Listen to this." Eli said. He then asked the computer. "Computer, are there any available holodecks?"
"Negative. All four holodecks are currently in use." The female computer voice answered.
"Yeah. They're always busy. But we've already thought of that." Matthew said. "Ask the computer which holodeck has the least number of people in it."
Eli did so. The computer answered. "Holodeck four has two crewmembers in it. Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres." This jogged Eli's memory of what he overheard during dinner. Although Tom and B'Elanna were currently assigned to Destiny, they had asked for one day on Voyager to use the holodeck. The advantages of having a Stargate on both Destiny and Voyager providing easy travel back and forth. Harry Kim was still on Destiny in case they needed to use the Delta Flyer.
Matthew then explained to Eli his plan on how to get around the problem of all the holodecks being occupied.
"That could work." Eli figured.
"Let's do it." Darren said eagerly.
"I believe this is the boldest thing I've ever done." Eli laughed.
"Then you have to get out more." Ronald said.
All six soldiers and Eli walked out of his quarters and made their way to holodeck four. When they arrived, they looked around, but the corridor was empty.
"Give my idea a go." Matthew reminded Eli. "The environment is usually a lot larger than what the size of the holodeck is. See if you can move where the holodeck door will appear so Tom and B'Elanna won't see it. We'll sneak in. We'll share the same holodeck program."
"I'm trying to do that right now." Eli responded. Eli was pressing buttons on the console beside the door to the holodeck. "I really hope this works. Keep quiet so they won't hear us." He pressed a few more buttons and the holodeck door opened. Eli and the soldiers quickly backed out of the way. Eli carefully peeked his head around the doorway on one side and Matthew did on the other side.
"I can't see them." Matthew said quietly.
"Neither can I." Eli confirmed quietly. "It worked. We're in another part of the environment. They all slowly walked in and found themselves on a beach. The sun was low in the sky signifying a sunset.
"Pretty!" Came a female voice from behind them. They all looked around and saw Lisa Park standing at the entrance to the holodeck. "What's going on here, guys? You having fun without me?" They all looked at Lisa like deers caught in headlights. After a few seconds Matthew grabbed Lisa and pulled her into the holodeck. "What are you lot up to?"
"We are…umm…I mean…" Matthew struggled to think of something to say.
"Hang on! You guys are just here to have…" Lisa started.
Ronald interrupted. "We're just minding our own business. And keep your voice down. Tom Paris and B'Elanna are also in here and they don't know we're here."
Lisa laughed. "You snuck into someone else's holodeck program? You got to be kidding me."
"Just don't dob us in and we won't dob you in for hacking Voyager and making yourself a Lieutenant." Matthew pointed out.
"Whatever." Lisa agreed.
"It looks like Tom and B'Elanna are fifty metres to the right." Eli advised them. They all looked to the right, but palm trees blocked the view in that direction. "Which means we'll go that way." Eli pointed to the left. They all started walking left along the sandy beach, including Lisa. As they walked, they looked around. On the left, palm trees and bushes dotted the tops of sandy hills. On the right, waves about one metre high came down on foaming ocean water. Seagulls were flying around. With the sun fairly low on the horizon, the sky was tinged with yellow and red.
"Awesome view." Darren admitted.
"Whoever created this program is a true artist." Ronald agreed. He accentuated the word 'artist'.
It wasn't just the view. They could smell the sand and the ocean. The sea breeze completed the experience. It also brought back memories of previous times when they were on a real beach.
"Wow." Matthew exclaimed.
"You're not kidding." Lisa agreed.
After they had walked fifty metres and walked around a thick collection of bushes and palm trees, Matthew decided. "This should be far enough. We won't have to worry about Tom and B'Elanna bumping into us."
"I don't want to see what happens next." Lisa said. "I'll just continue walking and admire the sunset. I'm outta' here boys." Lisa left the group and walked further along the beach, heading closer to the water.
"Okay then. What happens next?" Matthew asked Eli.
"Well, here goes." Eli announced. "Computer, create seven really good-looking woman, 21 years old, with supermodel curvy figures in tiny string bikinis." Seven woman matching Eli's description then appeared out of thin air standing in front of them."
"Whoa!" Ronald exclaimed. They all noticed that their string bikinis were about three sizes too small for them. Lisa turned around, laughed when she saw the girls in bikinis, then turned around and continued walking toward the water. The girls in bikinis just stood there, not saying anything.
"Please specify behavioural parameters." The female computer voice announced. The soldiers wondered how to respond to that.
"Relax. I've got this. I prepared this earlier." Eli said. "Computer, access program 'Supermodel' that I designed in my quarters one hour ago and install them in these girls."
"Program 'Supermodel' has been installed in the female characters." The computer announced. The females suddenly started moving.
"Hello." One of the young women said.
"Is that it? Are they ready?" Ronald asked.
"I believe so. I've kept them simple and happy. They should be game for anything." Eli answered.
"Let's find out." Matthew pondered. He turned to one of the girls. "Hello. What is your name?"
"I'm bikini girl number one." She answered.
"Ahem, shouldn't we have some privacy here?" Darren realised.
"You're right. Let's see." Eli responded. He looked around. They were standing near the edge of the beach. Sand was on one side. Grass was on the other. The grass stretched away into the distance. "Let's see. I know. Computer, make all the grass two metres tall." They all watched as all the grass all along the edge of the beach grew to two metres tall in just a few seconds. They now had a wall of grass in front of them.
"There's your privacy." Eli said. "The grass stretches away a fair bit. Heaps of room for all of you to grab your own private spot."
"Okay. Here goes nothing." Matthew said. "Hey, bikini girl number one. Let's go for a walk into the long grass, okay?" Matthew held out a hand to bikini girl number one.
"Okey dokey." She replied. She took his hand and together they walked and approached the long grass. Matthew pushed some of the grass out of the way and they walked into it. The grass moved back into place behind them, hiding them from view.
"My turn. Are you bikini girl number two?" Darren asked a girl.
"Yeah." Bikini girl number two replied.
"Want to walk into this tall grass here?" Darren asked her.
Bikini girl giggled, ran into the long grass and said. "Catch me if you can!" She disappeared into the long grass, closely followed by Darren. Three more soldiers walked into the long grass with bikini girls three, four and five. Ronald and Eli were left with two girls.
"This might be too much for you to handle so you might want to stay out here." Ronald Greer said to Eli. "We're just all playing chasings in there."
"Oh, yeah. Sure." Eli replied sarcastically.
"Let's walk with me into the grass." Ronald said to bikini girl number six. He held out a hand to her. She took it. Together they walked into the long grass. Right before they disappeared from sight, Ronald turned back to Eli and bikini girl number seven. "Computer, delete computer bikini girl number seven." Eli watched as she disappeared into thin air. Ronald snickered and continued into the long grass, disappearing from sight as the grass moved back into place behind him.
"That's Ronald for you." Eli said to no-one. "Computer, recreate bikini girl number seven." The girl materialised again in front of him.
"Hello." Bikini girl number seven said. "What's your name?"
"Eli."
"Are we going to go in there too and play?" She asked.
Eli thought about it for a few seconds. "Well, it's not like I'll ever get another chance. Let's go." She held out her hand and Eli took it. She started walking toward the long grass, followed by Eli. She walked into the long grass. Eli started to follow but then heard…
"Eli!" The voice called out to him. It was a male voice and it came from behind him. Eli turned around…and saw Tom and B'Elanna in the distance walking toward him! They had walked around some palm trees and bushes and had come into plain site of Eli. Eli gasped. He had let go of bikini girl number seven. He quickly pushed the grass back upright to hide her.
"Of course. Now they show up." Eli said softly to himself out of earshot. As they approached, Eli struggled to think of something to say. "Umm, hi…Tom!"
"Eli. What are you doing here?" Tom asked.
"I…uhh, got lost!" Eli answered. "Somehow I took a wrong turn and ended up in the holodeck. I've been trying to find my way out."
"Who was that with you?" B'Elanna asked.
"Who? Oh, that girl? Apparently, there are some holographic characters in this program. I bumped into one."
"I don't remember any characters in this beach program." Tom pondered.
"How did you find me?" Eli asked.
"How? B'Elanna and I were all cosied up to each other and suddenly the grass around us suddenly grew to two metres! Did you have something to do with that?"
"Oh, crap!" Eli hit the palm of his hand to his forehead. "I didn't think of that!"
Suddenly bikini girl number seven came walking back out of the long grass. In her tiny string bikini.
"Hey, Eli. Why aren't you playing with me?" She asked him. Eli looked at bikini girl number seven, then back at Tom and B'Elanna. Eli was at a loss for words.
"Eli, what's going on here?" B'Elanna asked him.
"Umm, err, I mean, you know…" Eli tried to think of something to say. They started hearing other sounds coming from the long grass. Giggling. Moaning.
"Who else is here?" B'Elanna asked.
"I don't see anybody." Eli quickly answered.
"Computer, remove grass." B'Elanna ordered.
"Nooo!" Eli shouted. It was too late. Suddenly all the long grass disappeared. Eli saw Tom and B'Elanna's jaws drop. Eli turned around to see what they saw and immediately regretted that decision. The guys freaked out when they realised they were now exposed. The bikini girls all saw Eli, Tom and B'Elanna. The girls all waved happily and said simultaneously,
"Hello!"
B'Elanna did something she thought she would never do. She screamed.
Eli, Tom and B'Elanna quickly all turned around to face away from them.
"Computer, replace grass!" Tom ordered. The tall grass immediately reappeared.
Eli said ashen faced. "I am never going to be able to get that sight out of my head for as long as I live."
Bikini girl number seven looked at Eli, Tom and B'Elanna, then looked at the long grass, wondering what was going on. She looked back at Eli, Tom and B'Elanna, then turned back to the long grass. She pointed to the people that she could hear in there and said. "Oooo, you boys are in trubboooll!"
I can hear you laughing from here. This story is currently rated K. In order to avoid an M rating, there will be no description for what actually happened in 'The Long Grass'. As for next chapter, Yes, they are in trouble.