Merry Christmas to you all! Since this is the Christmas edition, also a legendary Christmas post . Actually this are two consecutive posts pasted together. In December 2003 Ben started off a Holodeck crisis on the Odyssey involving Santa Claus and Rudolph the Reindeer. Obviously the holoprogram could not simply be shut down...
Subject: CEO Paul Velden
(USS Odyssey - Corridor on deck 6 - 2391.03.03, 1859)
Paul had left the party to return to Engineering and try to repair some more systems. The less time they had to spend in a repair facility at a starbase, the better. ~First priority is sealing the hull breach. That will be hard while we are at warp, so that will have to be done at the starbase,~ he thought. ~Main systems are back on line, fortunately, so I can start to focus on the EPS manifolds...~ The reason for coming down to deck 6, thought , was to look at the Deuterium processors. There was some minor damage to the processors, and on his way to Engineering, Paul wanted to check it out.
When he walked past Holodeck 1, the computer console showed a program being run. ~What's this?~ he thought as he examined the readout. According to the computer, there was nobody inside the Holodeck. "Computer, identify lifesigns in the Holodeck," he asked, just to be sure.
<>There are no lifesigns in Holodeck 1.<>
"Then who's running the program?"
<>That information is not available.<>
~Must be a glitch in one of the computer's subroutines.~ Paul thought. ~I'll have to coordinate with Dacs to repair it.~ He tapped his comm badge. "Velden to Holodeck 1. Is anyone there?"
There came no response.
~Odd.~ "Computer, shut down the program that's running in Holodeck 1."
<>Unable to comply. Program is protected by a password.<>
~The Holodeck computer systems must really be damaged.~ Paul thought and sighed. ~More work for the Engineering crew.~ "Computer, identify program currently being run in Holodeck 1."
<>Unable to comply.<>
Paul shrugged. ~I might as well go in and see what kind of program is running,~ he thought. He was curious, but curiousity alone wasn't a good enough reason to enter someone else's holoprogram. Now he had an excuse to do so. To his surprise, the Holodeck doors didn't seem to be malfunctioning, and he entered without a problem. ~Finally, a system that isn't damaged.~
(USS Odyssey - Holodeck 1 - 2391.03.03, 1902)
Before him, Paul could see a city square, covered by white snow. It was cold, very cold, and snowflakes fell on his uniform. ~The lesson that I should learn from this: curiousity only gets you cold feet.~ He looked around the city square. There were lots of people walking around and having a good time. On the side of the square, there were some children singing songs... Christmas songs. In the middle of the square, Paul saw a very large Christmas tree, decorated with lights and other ornaments.
"A Christmas program?" he said to himself. "In March?"
"Ho ho ho ho!" A muffled voice suddenly said. Paul turned around to see a rather heavy-looking man in a red and white outfit and a white beard. He was carrying some sort of sack, and was walking around yelling "ho ho ho" to everybody. "And what do you want for Christmas, young fellow? Ho ho ho ho!" the man said to Paul.
~This is getting extremely annoying.~ the CEO thought. "Computer, delete Santa Claus."
<>Unable to comply.<> the computer replied. <>Holodeck program is protected by a password.<>
~I need backup to tackle this problem.~ Warp core breaches he could handle, but a holographic Santa Claus was too much.
"Velden to Lieutenant Helfrump," he said as he tapped his comm badge. "Would you please come to Holodeck 1? You might want to see this..."
(Reply Helfrump)
(USS Odyssey - Holodeck 1 - 2391.03.03, 1908)
Paul had just wished Dacs and Nerell a Merry Christmas. The Holodeck program was a Christmas program after all. One that they had to shut down as soon as possible, because it was really starting to get on Paul's nerves.
"Thank you, Paul and the same to you." Dacs said in response to Paul's 'Merry Christmas'. "I'm surprised to see you playing with Santa Claus though."
"What?" Paul hadn't anticipated this question. "No, I'm... this isn't... He's not..." he sighed. "I'm not playing with Santa Claus. This all just happened!"
"What do you mean, it just happened?" Dacs asked.
"The Holodeck was running a program while the computer said nobody was inside. I couldn't shut it off either. So I went inside to investigate." Paul paused, to make sure the others knew that what he said next was important. "I was not playing with Santa Claus. This annoying hologram just followed me, and I can't get rid of him." He sighed. "Could be a computer glitch as well."
"Maybe the computers were affected by the probe and this is a residual mind control program. After all..." Dacs said as he turned to face Nerell, "some of us are still singing."
(Reply Nerell)
Paul laughed. "I suppose it could be possible that another probe has attached itself to the hull... one that takes over all Operations personnel and makes them sing Christmas songs," he said laughing. "You'd better watch out, Dacs."
(Reply Helfrump?, Nerell?)
"What's the plan sirs..." Nerell asked.
"I don't know, actually," Paul said. "The program is either malfunctioning and refuses to be turned off, or someone left it running, and didn't get back to shut it down. It's protected by a password, though, so we might have to bypass some systems."
"Hohohoho!" the Santa Claus interrupted the conversation again.
"Oh shut up." Dacs said looking at the hologram over his shoulder.
"First thing we should do is switch off this annoying character," Paul sighed. "or maybe the snow. It is quite cold in here."
"Okay," Dacs agreed. "Computer Arch!" They looked around to see where the arch would appear, but no arch appeared anywhere. "Who started this program anyway?"
Paul didn't know. He hoped Ensign Nerell would be able to find out, and looked hopefully to the AOPS.
(Reply Nerell)
Paul looked at Dacs. "Or we could try to use our computer override codes as Chiefs of our departments to shut this program down. Should save us a lot of work."
"We've got to find a control panel or something." Dacs replied. He walked around trying to find one, but was interrupted by a singing snowman.
"Silver and Gold, Silver and Gold" it sang.
~What is that supposed to mean?~ Paul thought. He didn't know a lot of Christmas stories, after which this program was clearly modeled. He tried not to pay too much attention to these weird holographic characters, but it wasn't easy; the Santa Claus followed him wherever Paul went.
"Why isn't the computer responding?" Dacs asked.
"I have no idea." Paul replied. "There must be something wrong with the voice command pathways in this Holodeck..." then, suddenly, he realized what that meant. "Computer..." he began. "Exit."
There came no response. "Computer, shut down program." Nothing. "Freeze program." Again, no response. "Computer?"
The computer stayed quiet. Only the howling of the wind, the hohoho-ing of Santa Claus and the humming of Nerell's Christmas songs could be heard.
(Reply Nerell)
To make matters worse, the Santa Claus hologram still wouldn't get away from Paul. "Could you please leave me alone?" Paul asked the hologram, as he was rubbing the bridge of his nose. He felt a headache coming up.
"Hohohoho! Merry Christmas." came the annoying reply.
"Have you found a control panel yet, Mr. Nerell?" Paul said desperately.
(Reply Nerell)
"There has to be one somewhere..." Paul stopped mid-sentence as he noticed a large building just ahead. They had to plow to the snow to get there, but it would be much easier to find a control panel in a warm building, than to search for it in the cold snow.
"Tell me," Paul said to the Santa Claus. "What is that building over there?"
"Why, that is my Elves toy factory of course. We make all the presents there, for under the Christmas trees of all the children in the world." the hologram replied. "Well, not all children of course. Only those that have been nice this year. I keep a list, you know. It's hard work. I have to check it twice too. But it's my duty; I got to find out who's been naughty or nice."
Paul sighed. "Enough already." He turned to Helfrump and Nerell. "I bet we can find a control panel of some sort in that 'Elves factory' over there." He pointed at the building. "Besides, it's probably a lot warmer in there than it is out here in the snow..."
(Reply Helfrump, Nerell)
~Remind me never to go to Earth's North pole again...~
(Reply Nerell, Helfrump, any)
(Posted by Ben Versteegt)
