[Pop Rocks] 1984 - Comic Age!

Posted on Monday, 4 January 2021 - 3:01pm by Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt & Lieutenant Ryan Rose MD

Mission: Operation: Ouroboros

Ryan hadn't had a moment to himself since getting back. It seemed the ship decided to go crazy while he was gone. It was time to get a meal though, and a quick check showed that Scarlet was still doing some work on the station. He opened a video call to her.

Scarlet glitched to focus, well, part of her did. She had her head in some sort of device, looking a bit sooty, "hi Ryan!"

"Hello there." He smiled. "You look like you're having fun."

Scarlet looked up and to the screen finally, "hi, I am indeed. Though if you're calling, I'm assuming I've missed lunch."

"And, almost dinner." Ryan replied. "Can I interest you in a little holodeck dinner? I have a program for a lovely Greek restaurant, overlooking the Mediterranean."

Scarlet's eyes lit up, "give me fifteen minutes to clean up and I'll meet you there." they said their Goodbyes and soon she was there in a cute skater styled summer dress. The ginger beamed when she saw Ryan. She ran over and kissed him, "hi! And welcome back."

"That is the best welcome back I've gotten." He smiled. "It's good to be back. The conference was boring." He looked her over with a smile. "You look great. I feel like a slob." He'd only put on simple grey slacks with a lighter gray shirt that snapped at the shoulder. He stepped into the holodeck with her and started the program. They were surrounded with the smells and sounds of Greece.

"I'll promise to always greet you like that," Scarlet giggled and blushed," you look fine!" She looked around and took in the surroundings. The woman took a long inhale and smiled, "Oh, now that's good." Her stomach soon made an angry sound, demanding food.

Ryan chuckled. "I know that sound. Let's eat." They were seated at an outside table overlooking the water. "Wow." Ryan commented.

"I always wanted to go to Greece, well, the Mediterranean in general," she commented, "this is one of the reasons why. I mean, look at it, smell it!"

"Yeah, and this is just the holodeck. I definitely want to get here in person sometime." He looked over the menu. "Any ideas? I'm not very familiar with greek outside a gyro at the food court." He admitted.

"Well, if we have a mezze, we can have a little bit of everything. It's the Greek's answer to tapas," she offered, "a local restaurant used to offer it as an option."

"Sounds good to me." Ryan easily agreed to the suggestion. "So, how have you been?" He asked. "I missed you."

"I missed you too. It was busy, to say the least," she replied, "also, being out in space isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I thought it would be a bit more claustrophobic, but it's OK." She smiled, seemingly proud of herself, "what about you, how was your conference."

"It really was boring. A whole section on bone replacement with reinforced silicone vs replicated osteoids that I'm pretty sure I only got an invite to, in order to be the visual guinea pig. And a section on colon replacement I will not talk about over dinner." He smiled. "Any new projects?"

Scarlet chuckled, "better you than me. As for new projects, we're working on some alternative options to try and make prosthetics, where required, a bit more--" she paused as the scene flickered, "did you see that?"

He'd been too focussed on her to notice. But he followed her gaze, and it flickered again. Then the whole scene changed. They were in the same restaurant, having the same food, with the same view. But everybody around them was suddenly dressed very differently.

Scarlet looked confused. Her eyes wandered round the other guests and then looked back to Ryan, "what on earth?"

"When on Earth." Ryan called out "Freeze Program" but nothing happened. "Computer, end holodeck program." Again, nothing. "Take a look?" He asked Scarlet, seeing as of the two of them, she was the engineer.

"Computer, indicate panel," The pixels faded a little near her and she opened it. A few minutes past and she looked to Ryan, "firstly we're stuck in the greatest era of human history for you and I, secondly, I can't manually end the programme as it's glitched. I don't have the authority to fix it, it's ignoring my codes. I've sent an urgent fix request though, so someone should be here soon."

Ryan took a closer look around. "Oh my god!" He exclaimed with a smile. "It's comic book nirvana!"

Scarlet nodded enthusiastically as she closed the panel, "1984 to be exact."

"I need a members only jacket, stat." He was having too much fun to be concerned about a malfunctioning holodeck.

Scarlet sat back, glad she'd word a skater dress now. "Dork," she commented, teasing him, but it was evident she was excited too.

He smiled back. "What should we do?"

"I mean, it would be kind of rude to not go to a comic book store, right?" she toyed the idea.

Ryan agreed. "Absolutely." He racked his brain. "Did Superman have the horrid long hair yet?" His ancient comic book knowledge was a bit rusty.

Scarlet thought about it, "I think so. I mean, I was more the better comic books... So I don't know."

Ryan just chuckled. He hoped they could continue the Marvel vs DC battle from rocking chairs in their 90s, then paused. That thought had come out of nowhere, and far too quickly. "Let's go find out."

Scarlet stood up and took his arm, "do you think we'll ever work out our differences?"

"About that, I hope not." He smiled. They found their way to the nearest comic book shop.

"Me either."