Chapter Text
The holodeck was between programs: the deck plates buzzing low and even, warmed past idle but not yet pitched to anything. Underneath, the faint synthetic-popcorn note that had drifted in through the vents between there and here.
Cat stood in the center of the empty grid floor with three PADDs in her left hand, a fourth tucked under her arm, and a mug balanced on top of a control pedestal. The rest of them were arranged in a loose arc: Miles on the bench along the wall with a pouch of popcorn open on his lap, Julian standing close enough to the pedestal to read whatever was on it, Ezri beside him with her arms folded. Velik stood with his hands clasped behind his back at parade rest. Torren peered past Cat at the setup screen, looked away when she glanced over, peered again. Lannia held a PADD.
CAT: Okay. Cheesy Sci-Fi Night. Interactive.
MILES: (mid-popcorn) That phrase is doing a lot of work.
CAT: Because it's a good phrase. Source material... (she gestured grandly at the empty room) ...is a 1950s Earth film. Things From Below: The Return. Which means yes, there was a first one.
JULIAN: There's a first one.
CAT: The first one is... (she paused, calibrating) ...the androids took over the world.
JULIAN: The androids took over the world.
CAT: Took. Over. The world. Period. Roll credits.
JULIAN: Cat.
CAT: This is the sequel. The androids have been banned. We... meaning the characters we're about to play... are scientists living and working under the ban. In a remote lab. The plot is: someone is a saboteur.
EZRI: Who?
CAT: That's the point. (she turned to face the group fully) In the movie, it's a specific character. In our version, it could be anyone. The computer doesn't pre-assign that. The computer doesn't pre-assign anything about us. (she held up the cards: small, deliberately tactile, designed to feel like props from the period) Each card gives you a character role, a name, and... privately, below the fold... your motivations, your quirks, your suspicions. If you're the saboteur, your card says so. Nobody else's card says who is. Play toward your card. The holo adapts.
TORREN: So the plot...
CAT: Is based on the movie, but doesn't follow it. The film's saboteur was the guy in the second act with the unconvincing mustache. Our saboteur is whoever drew that card. The holo will generate around what we do.
VELIK: And the engine resolves contradiction between player improvisation and source-material continuity by...
CAT: By favoring us. Source material is texture. We are the plot.
Velik tilted his head one degree.
JULIAN: (brightening) How long has this been running on your prototype?
CAT: Since before we launched for the anomaly. Six test runs. The first two with the cats, which doesn't count, but the system handled it gracefully.
MILES: You ran this with Widget and Gizmo?
CAT: Widget got a card. He played it beautifully.
MILES: Of course he did.
Cat held the cards out, fanned in her hand.
CAT: Take one. Don't show anyone. Read it. Then you can tell us your character name and role... scientist, lead scientist, junior researcher, lab assistant, whatever... That part's public. Everything else is private.
She moved through the arc.
Julian took his and was already opening it before he'd finished thanking her. Ezri took hers, weighed it in her palm for a second, and only then turned it over. Miles accepted his slowly, folded it open against his knee where the popcorn pouch wasn't, and read. Velik took his with one precise motion and angled it away from the rest of the room. Torren grabbed his with both hands. Lannia took hers with her fingertips.
Cat stepped back and watched them read.
Ezri laughed first: a single small surprised sound, hand coming up to her mouth, eyes finding Julian's for one half-second before going back to her card.
JULIAN: Oookay.
He said it slowly, the o extended, eyebrows just raised. He folded the card very precisely and tucked it into his sleeve.
EZRI: Oh, you got a good one.
JULIAN: I have a card.
EZRI: That's a yes.
JULIAN: That's a yes I have a card.
Miles read his with both hands flat on his knees, the popcorn temporarily forgotten. He read it through. He read it again. He made a sound that was approximately hm. Then he folded it back along its existing crease, tucked it into his shirt pocket, and reached for the popcorn pouch again without comment.
CAT: Miles?
MILES: Reading.
CAT: You've read it twice.
MILES: I'm thinking.
JULIAN: About what?
MILES: About whether I'm going to enjoy this or whether I'm going to make you enjoy it less.
JULIAN: (delighted) Excellent.
Velik finished reading at his own pace. He did not change expression. His left eyebrow lifted, a measured, deliberate amount. He closed the card with two fingers.
VELIK: Mm.
CAT: That's all I get?
VELIK: That is what is appropriate to share.
CAT: Velik.
VELIK: I am observing the spirit of the game.
Torren was last. He'd been reading his for longer than the others, head tilted, lips moving. He looked up.
TORREN: Oh, this is...
CAT: No.
TORREN: I wasn't going to...
CAT: You were going to.
TORREN: I was going to say it's interesting.
CAT: Interesting is fine. Anything past interesting is the game.
TORREN: It's interesting.
Lannia had been quiet through all of this. She was on her third pass through her card, brow furrowed.
LANNIA: Cat...
CAT: Read it. Trust it.
LANNIA: I have authority.
CAT: Yes.
LANNIA: Over.
CAT: Documentation. Compliance. Lab safety. You're the safety officer. In the fiction, you can shut things down, demand reports, override seniority on procedural grounds. The engine wanted to give you something smaller. I overrode it.
Lannia stared at the card. Then at Cat. Then at the card.
LANNIA: Okay.
She held the card a beat longer before she moved. Then she tucked it into the inside of her PADD case, two-handed, and snapped the case shut.
CAT: Right. Public information only. Names and roles. Go.
She pointed at Julian.
JULIAN: (with a small flourish) Doctor Strange. Lead scientist. (a beat) I'm aware. I assume the engine pulled the name from the period.
CAT: It thought it was funny.
JULIAN: It's correct to think it's funny.
Cat pointed at Miles.
MILES: Doctor O'Brien. Scientist. Colleague. (he looked at Julian flatly) Apparently I work with him.
JULIAN: Excellent.
MILES: That's my problem.
Cat pointed at Ezri.
EZRI: (smiling) Doctor Quinn. Visiting researcher. From... (she glanced at the card) ...out of town.
Cat pointed at Velik.
VELIK: Senior researcher.
CAT: And your name.
VELIK: Doctor Veil. (a pause) The engine has, I assume, also pulled from the period.
CAT: The engine likes you.
VELIK: The engine has demonstrated taste.
Torren actually raised his hand.
CAT: You don't need to raise your... Torren.
TORREN: Junior researcher. Doctor... (he squinted at the card) ...Whitfield.
CAT: Good name.
TORREN: It's a great name. I want to keep it after.
CAT: You can't keep it after.
TORREN: I'm going to try.
Cat turned to Lannia.
LANNIA: (quietly, like she was reporting in) Lab Safety Officer Brennan.
CAT: Brennan.
LANNIA: Brennan.
CAT: Welcome to Lab Six. (she stepped back, surveyed them all, and clapped her hands once) Computer. Period costume on entry. Lights to half. Things From Below: The Return, custom variant, begin program.
The grid lines bloomed. The walls thickened into laboratory cinderblock, painted institutional green. The air pressure changed, the holo dialing in a faint, period-correct humidity. Somewhere out of sight, a heavy metal door clanged shut with the specific reverb of a 1950s sound stage.
Miles, still on the bench, was wearing a tweed jacket and a tie before he'd fully finished standing.
MILES: Oh. That's fast.
Cat's lab coat hung loose at the shoulders, the cuffs rolled twice.
CAT: (grinning) Welcome to Lab Six.