Holodeck Time

Posted on Friday, 10 April 2020 - 3:36pm by Emerick & Lieutenant Ryan Rose MD

Mission: Operation: Overdrive
Location: Holodeck
Timeline: en route to Camelot

ON:

Ryan had got moved into his new quarters, he was still settling in, but it was going better then expected. It was too early to turn in, and things were fine in sickbay. Ryan decided to enjoy some holodeck time. He had to fish around for the program, bur he eventually found it, loaded it into ship's memory, then headed to the holodeck.

He stepped in to a horse ranch. It was based off the one Amanda's parents lived by in Monterey. It wasn't large, but there was a moderate stable and outdoor training pen. Ryan led one of the Stallions out and began brushing him down. The large Belgian draft horse was a deep mahogany, and stood 17 hands high.

When Emerick had self-activated in Sickbay, he was expecting to find Doctor Rose was on duty, but Ryan was not and the nurse on duty had not seen him. She was more pleasant this time than usual, but still as useless as ever. She could not even tell Emerick where Ryan was. He had to use the ship's computer for that assistance, a task in of itself as the computer and Emerick had a rocky relationship. Though she was polite enough to inform Emerick that Ryan was in holodeck one.

It was easy to transfer himself from Sickbay to holodeck one, but what he was not expecting was the find himself appearing several feet in front of a beast. Emerick was startled and jumped back, his matrix flickered and the holographic horse was equally as startled. Falling onto his ass, Emerick saw beyond the horse was his friend. "That...beast nearly caused my program to fail" he said aloud, pulling himself off the simulated grass and brushing himself off. "What are you doing here, Ryan?"

"Shrrrhhh" Ryan soothed the horse. "Enjoying the holodeck." Ryan replied, peeking around the large frame of the horse. "What are you doing here?" Ryan asked. "Is everything alright?" He quickly checked. Surely he would be called if there was a medical issue, but just in case....

Emerick continued brushing the dirt and such off from his uniform. It was as photonic as he was. Technically, there was nothing even on the uniform as the environment was photonic. Nevertheless, it just seemed like the appropriate thing to do. If this is enjoying the holodeck, I'd hate to see you on Risa thought the emergency medical hologram. "Oh certainly. We just got sucked into the delta quadrant and the entire medical staff was killed, so I had to take over while you were in here playing with your horses" replied the EMH. He scoffed at the simulated horse which neighed at him. "Everyone is a critic" he said to the horse. His attention returned to Ryan "I got lonely and the nurse has the personality of a hypospray."

"Well you are welcome to help me." Ryan asked for another brush, and the holodeck provided. "He's a sweetheart, but he'll be calmer if he can see you." Ryan motioned for Emerick to come join him.

"I have never seen a horse before" Emerick said as he opted to join Ryan. "I did not know what the beast was until I accessed my zoological database per my veterinarian subroutines. Mind you those rarely get used and are severely limited compared to my standard medical programing. It's not every day anyone actually brings a real live horse aboard a starship. Thankfully, this is all on the holodeck. Chickens and sheep on the other hand, have actually been brought aboard a Federation starship before."

"We had a guy bring a goat onboard my last ship." Ryan commented. "It would eat anything." He chuckled briefly at the memory. "This is Axel." He introduced the horse. "Based off the actual Belgian draft horse Axel who has long since passed away." Ryan demonstrated the proper way to brush the horse down, and encouraged Emerick to try with a 'go ahead' motion.

Emerick was cautious about doing so, but he proceeded to give it a go and started to brush down the horse. "Axel looks like he could take down a patrol of Klingon warriors" commented Emerick. "What purpose does he serve? Do you ride him or is he simply here to be brushed down?" inquired Emerick. "Does doing this help you cope with stress at all?"

"I don't usually ride, I've always found it a bit uncomfortable. But horse therapy was one of the first forms of therapy I engaged in. It's a great stress reliever. I use to clean out his stall and feed him to. But since it's not needed in a holodeck setting, I skip the less fun parts. Sometimes I'll just walk him to El Estero, a local water area. It's not quite the same here. The holodeck can never quite get the air right. But it'll do."

"Ah" replied Emerick as he listened to his friend. Though Emerick did pick up on something. It was always 'I' with Ryan. He never made any mention of being with anyone else, his wife or otherwise. Emerick was starting to wonder if he was Ryan's only friend aboard. It had only been a short period of time, but humans from Emerick's experience were quick to latch onto others for socialization purposes. "Your wife does not share a similar interest in Axel or horses, Ryan?"

Ryan was clearly surprised by the question. "Umm, no. She's not fond of animals. We aren't living together anymore by the way. Why do you ask?" He asked out of curiosity.

Emerick cleared his throat. "Why yes, I know that you haven't been living together. You have been sleeping under your desk or on the sofa in Sickbay. Sometimes on a bio bed if the nurse promises not to say anything. Samantha has been sleeping much better in the bedroom of your quarters, but sometimes she reads at night and passes out on the sofa."

Ok, that was a little creepy. Not so much about himself. He was in sickbay most of the time, and the EMH already knew he tended to sleep in his office. "Have you been monitoring Sam?"

"Well, you had said there were martial issues and have suggested that I don't stay offline all the time unless needed, so I take a stroll" replied the emergency medical hologram. "Granted, I cannot actually stroll down the corridors like the rest of you. I could go to the holodeck, but where's the 'excitement' in that? You don't ask a chef to relax by making their own dinner" stated Emerick. "I also don't want to put too much drain on the ship's power, so I've used my programs ability to appear on various monitors around the ship. I may have wandered a bit onto the consoles in crew quarters."

"Emerick. That's not good." Ryan put a hand to his face, pushed his hair back then continued. "It's an invasion of privacy." He gave Emerick a moment to process that.

"Is it?" countered Emerick. "Aside from you and Eyelaya, most of the crew treats me not as an individual, but as part of the starship. Is it invasive when the ship's sensors keeps track of your movements, when it knows where your communicator is at all times, when it can track you based on your bio signatures?" said Emerick. "If I am just part of the ship then my presence in the crew quarters monitors should be bother them no less than the replicator units in the corner of their living quarters."

"But you can't have it both ways. You are either a machine, and getting walked through or ignored means nothing, and it's not an invasion of privacy since there is no sentience behind it, or you are treated like a true life form, and expected to act as such, which includes not spying on people."

Emerick nodded "I understand that. I was hoping that if enough people 'caught me' doing it that they would complain, and then they would be forced to acknowledge me as an actual individual rather than just some sort of technology. At least that was what I was thinking...but perhaps I should reconsider it? I feel like if the Chief Engineer caught me, that she'd ensure I was deactivated entirely."

"Yeah, I'd hate to see that happen. Just keep being patient with everybody. It's quite an adjustment for everyone. I'm sure they'll all come around. You're real to me, if that helps." Ryan offered.

"You are real to me as well," Emerick replied. He looked at the Doctor and nodded "Now, can you please make it a habit not to sleep in your office or Sickbay? It does not do any favors for your image. Not saying you aren't handsome for a Human, but more of a public image sense. You know those nurses are gossipers. The last thing you need is Soral hearing that you sleep in your office and not in your quarters."

Ryan chuckled. "I've actually got new temporary quarters. I can't promise never to fall asleep on my office couch, but I won't make a habit of it. "Now, did you want to try and ride Axel?"

Emerick looked at Ryan like a deer in headlights. "Oh hell no," he said crossing his arms. "I may be a hologram, but I'm programmed with common sense and logic. I haven't even met a horse before today, and you want me to ride one?" The hologram shook his head. "Horseback riding is not open-heart surgery. I am not ready for horseback riding."

Ryan just giggled. "Fair enough."

"Enjoy your horsing around, I am going to go see what the nurse is doing" he said. "Computer, transfer the emergency medical hologram to Sickbay."

OFF:

Dr. Ryan Rose
Chief Medical Officer

Emerick
Emergency Medical Hologram