Roman Korcek proudly presents:

Based upon Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry
Inspired by the Deep Space 9 episode "Inquisition"

Inside of a runabout shuttle. You can see the Earth through one of the windows. A bit to the right, there suddenly a strange phenomenon appears. It looks like a whirlwind. The crew is trying to avoid it.

Roman, "I am transferring energy to the pulse drive, engaging on full pulse."
Juro, "OK, let's hope that works... What the ?!?... NO, it's pulling us inside !"
Roman, "We cannot outmaneuver it with our current energy resources. I am transferring energy to the shields. There is a chance of 2.47:1 that we will survive."
Juro, "Oh no... I am initiating the automatic landing procedure... now. Prepare for an emergency landing... Hold on tight !"

The cockpit. Roman is kneeling by Juro's side. The seats are destroyed, wires hanging from inside the walls. Doesn't look good.

Roman, "Wake up, Juro. Computer, engage the holographic medical subroutine unit number one."
Computer voice, "Please enter security code 47."
Roman, "I got one hand in my pocket and the other one is hailing a taxi cab."
Computer voice, "Confirmed. Initiating the holographic medical subroutine number one."

A funny sound is heard and then a man appears out of nothing.

Doctor, "State the nature of the medical emergency."
Roman, "An emergency landing was performed. The Ferengi seems to be unconscious."
Doctor, "Hand me my first aid kit."

Roman reaches under a part of a destroyed seat, opens a small cover on the wall and pulls a F.A.K. out. He hands it to the Doctor.

Doctor, "Four units of Medicaine should help."

The Doctor uses his hypo-spray to apply the medicine. It doesn't help.

Doctor, "It seems like I will have to use more sophisticated bio-anatomical knowledge... let me think."

1 minute freeze-frame of the Doctor, thinking.

Doctor, "I might have found a solution. WAKE UP DAMMIT !!!"

Juro, "What... ahh... my EARS... oooooowwwwww... what... oh.... the crash... how are we doing ?"

Juro gets slowly onto his feet.

Roman, "To be precise, it's relative. On the positive side, we're still alive and the shuttle is partly functional. The negative thing is that I don't know where we landed yet. I wonder why no one has tried to rescue us yet. This whirl-phenomenon must have taken us through subspace somewhere absolutely unpredictable. We should find out where in the first place."
Juro, "I agree. Doctor, am I OK ?"
Doctor, "As far as I can see, you are. I need my tricorder."
Roman, "Computer, generate medical tricorder."
Computer voice, "Please specify the type of tricorder. There are currently 2209 medical tricorder modifications listed in the database."
Roman, "Which one should I let the computer generate, Doctor ?"
Doctor, "Number 74 of course."
Roman, "Computer, generate tricorder modification number 74."
Computer voice, "Establishing physical matrix... transferring data from database onto matrix... materializing... stabilizing electro-magnetic gravitational force fields... done."
Juro, "She doesn't usually say that much, does she ?"
Roman, "That is true, the computer does not. But that is irrelevant now. We must try to find out where we are. Computer, disengage the holographic medical subroutine unit number one."
Computer voice, "Enter secret password."
Roman, "Ange cinge bunge ba, recefire bum."
Computer voice, "Password confirmed. ... Malfunction. Cannot disengage the medical holographic subroutine unit number one."
Roman, "Identify cause."
Computer voice, "The crash, you idiot."

Juro laughs. Roman doesn't show any reaction.

Roman, "One thing is sure, there is a malfunction. Identify exact cause."
Computer voice, "The module 774 containing the drivers for the pulse and warp drives has been destroyed."
Roman, "Activate the backup module, 774-b."
Computer voice, "Not possible. The backup module number 774-b has been unmounted and kept for upgrades at the docking bay..."
Juro, "Oh DAMN."
Computer voice, "...please send any feedback, bug reports or suggestions to o.brien@deepspace9.starfleet.mil"
Juro, "What do the engines have to do with the holographic projection mechanism anyways ?"
Roman, "I do not know. Probably another malfunction. At least we know two things now: the engines don't work and we can't shut the Doctor down."

The Doctor raises his right hand index finger in disapproval. Doctor, "Ehhh -- If I might..."

Roman, "OK, let's find out how it looks like outside the shuttle. Computer, outer cameras on screen."
Computer voice, "Outer sensors unavailable."
Juro, "Not this too..."
Roman, "This means we have to go outside and see for ourselves."
Juro, "We could transfer the Doctor's holographic matrix outside using the portable holo-emitter and see what the outer environment specifications are first."
Doctor, "I don't think that's a good idea. It might be dangerous. It could destroy my..."
Roman, "Perfect idea."
Juro, "Computer, does the emergency transporter work ?"
Computer voice, "Positive."
Juro, "The com-system ?"
Computer voice, "Positive."
Juro, "OK, we will place the holo-emitter onto the transporter platform. We will beam it out into the atmosphere, 1.74 metres above ground. Immediately after rematerialization it will activate itself and materialize the Doctor outside."
Roman, "I agree. Doctor, you will use the com-system to describe us the outer environment. Use the portable holo-emitter to create a tricorder. Using the com-system we might be able to transmit the data directly to our screens."
Juro, "Great. Let's try it. Are you ready Doctor ?"

The Doctor doesn't look convinced.

Doctor, "Oh well..."
Juro, "Fine."

Juro takes the portable holo-emitter and places it onto the transporter platform.

Roman, "Computer, energize."

The portable holo-emitter disappears.

Roman, "Doctor, can you hear us ?"
Doctor, "Yes, I can. Yuck, it looks like some kind of vegetation here. Generating the tricorder. Can you read the data ?"
Juro, "Yes, class M planet, atmosphere consisting mainly of nitrogen - 71%, oxygen - 21%, carbon dioxide - 7%, other gases - 1%. Commander, this looks exactly like the Earth !"
Roman, "Indeed. It is possible that the phenomenon didn't affect us in a bigger way than destroying parts of the shuttle. Doctor, is it safe to go outside ?"
Doctor, "The ground looks consistent, no wild animals on my tricorder either, radiation -- far below concern -- looks good to me."
Roman, "OK, let's try and open the door. Computer, equalize pressure and open the shuttle door."

The quiet sound of escaping air is heard and then the shuttle door opens. Outside it is dark with some silhouettes of what probably trees are.

Juro, "Sure looks scary. I suggest setting phasers to quarter."
Roman, "Done. Let's head outside."

Roman steps slowly out of the door, Juro right behind him.

Doctor, "Booo !"
Juro, "Yikes !  Do not ever dare to do that again !"
Roman, "I didn't know about that feature implemented in medical assistance programs."
Doctor, "I am programmed to enhance my program by learning in unexpected situations."
Roman, "What made you enhance your program by scaring people in the dark ?"
Doctor, "This is..."
Juro, "... the wrong time to discuss such matters. Let's head on. We will spread out commando-style. I'll go leftwards, while the Doctor and you will go with me."
Roman, "This doesn't sound any 'profitable', even you must realize that."
Doctor, "I see energy sources to the left."

Juro, though wanting to continue in the argument, checks his tricorder.

Juro, "That's true."
Roman, "You two go inspect the energy sources and I will go the opposite way. It seems there is a kind of structure there."

They split and go their ways.

Juro, "I wonder if this is really Earth. It doesn't look like any of its holoprojections I've seen."
Doctor, "I can't tell. My database doesn't contain any geographical data that could help."
Juro, "That's it !  Maybe not you, but the computer might have some data. Computer, compare tricorder geographical data with the geographical map of Earth."
Computer voice, "Comparison complete. No match found."
Juro, "If this is Earth, how can that be possible ?"
Computer voice, "Please respecify question."
Juro, "Transmission out."
Doctor, "I see lights !  And some sort of vehicles !  My God, where are we ?"

Juro looks astonished.

Juro, "I don't know... Juro to Roman, commander, have you found anything ?"
Roman, "Yes, a structure, but according to the tricorder it is very unstable and in a state of degeneration. However, it isn't made of any of the usual materials. What do you have ?"
Juro, "We sighted some lights, they are about 8 metres above ground, forming the edge of some kind of road, where unknown types of vehicles are traveling. Further, there are light-emitting sources in a rectangular structure. Wait, there are life signs on my tricorder, 50 metres northwards !"
Roman, "That is me."
Juro, "Oh... that's probably true. But -- no, there are more, in front of us, about 75 metres. They are concentrated around the light sources. Wait... this is impossible -- the light sources are emitting more heat than light !  What are they ?"
Roman, "All these facts are supporting my theory. From what we have seen so far, it is possible, that we haven't travelled in space, but in time. This place looks like Earth of the late 20^th century. Humans are destroying their home planet, they haven't learned how to convert energy efficiently and they are building structures which won't last any of the Major Earthquakes of 2047."
Doctor, "I am starting to dislike this place."
Juro, "That is -- wow... time travel..."
Roman, "Correct."
Juro, "What do we do now ?"
Roman, "Now that we have a theory about where we are, we might have the chance of repairing parts of our ship. In the late 20^th century humans invented primitive counting machines, daring to call them computers. We might use some parts to repair the damaged module."
Juro, "So we just find some of those early computers and get what we need ?"
Roman, "Roughly said, yes. But we must be cautious not to interfere with the timeline."
Juro, "That is true... how will we do it ?"
Roman, "We will have to wait until daylight and infiltrate the humans. They might lead us to some of the widespread calculating machines."
Juro, "Infiltrate ?  With our looks ?"
Roman, "Fortunately, we have the Doctor. Doctor, is it possible for you to modify our outer look to be human-compatible ?"
Doctor, "I think that is possible, but I am programmed only with one human face variation with all its details. And you two sure don't want to look the same."
Juro, "Just being curious -- whose face is it ?"
Doctor, "Mine."
Juro, "Commander, I think our next goal is to find suitable faces to imitate. We need to find some images of human faces."
Roman, "According to my tricorder, there are only three life forms in the structure I have inspected. They are situated in the lowest storey. They seem to be moving around in a limited amount of rooms. We should be able to check the other storeys safely."
Juro, "OK, let's try it there."

Roman touches his tricorder several times.

Roman, "Computer, beam us and transfer the Doctor to the designated coordinates."
Doctor, "Is it safe ?..."

The three disappear.

They appear in a dark hallway, only illuminated by light coming from the outside.

Juro, "Booo !"
Doctor, "Yikes !"
Roman, "I think that's enough. Let us inspect the walls. At that time, they were sometimes decorated with 2D-pictures of humans."

They move around the hallway.

Juro, "HEEELLLLP !!!!"

Roman runs towards the voice.

Roman, "What happened ?!?!?"
Juro, "Nothing, just wanted to see you running."
Roman, "Let that be next time. It is contraproductive. Someone might have heard you."
Juro, "Nobody did. The three humans below us have concentrated around some kind of receiver emitting audio and video signals. They aren't moving... and all the other energy sources are either switched off or reduced to minimum. I wonder if this is some kind of a ritual ?"

Roman doesn't seem to be likely to respond. He is inspecting the images on the wall he found.

Roman, "Come here, Juro, this looks just like what we need. Doctor, can you accept these images as your source of output ?"
Doctor, "What ?"
Roman, "Can you make us look like them ?"
Doctor, "Well, do you really want your faces to be gray -- or, actually, orangescale ?"
Roman, "Can you change the color ?... and also make them 3D ?"
Doctor, "I can try."
Juro, "Try ?!?"
Doctor, "I am your only chance, you have no choice anyways."
Roman, "He is right. Let's get into the shuttle. Computer, beam us and transfer the Doctor into the shuttle. Energize."

In the shuttle.

Roman, "OK, Doctor, do your best."

Juro, "But wait, I have one more question - can he revert the chan..."

Juro falls asleep as predicted according to the dose of Anestheticaine he got.

The Doctor generates some medical holo-tools.

He raises one of them. Music from Psycho and fade to black.

5 hours later.

Roman, "Congratulations Doctor. Outstanding work."
Doctor, "Of course."
Juro, "What ?  Fur on my face ?  What is that ?"
Doctor, "I don't know. It was in the picture."
Roman, "The humans used to call it a beard. You will get used to it."

Juro tries to tear it off.

Doctor, "The more you pull, the more it hurts."
Juro, "Damm... seems like you are right. Wait... what did the humans do if they wanted to remove it ?"
Roman, "There is a ceremonial ritual called 'The Shaving' in which a person can remove the hair by using a sophisticated tool, if my memory is right. This is, however, very tricky and can lead to skin-damage. I recommend not trying it."
Juro, "But there must be a way..."
Roman, "Maybe -- a long time ago a tool for cutting was used. It was called 'The Scissors'. We can try to generate it. Computer, generate scissors."
Computer voice, "Unable to comply."
Roman, "Reason ?"
Computer voice, "Unknown."
Roman, "At least it's a better answer than last time. I will try to use an old Volcanian trick. Computer, open holomatrix database properties."
Computer voice, "Confirmed."
Roman, "Go into 'Objects'."
Computer voice, "Confirmed."
Roman, "Go into 'Properties'."
Computer voice, "Confirmed."
Roman, "Go into 'Tools'."
Computer voice, "Confirmed."
Roman, "Go into 'Scissors'."
Computer voice, "Confirmed."
Roman, "Go into 'Specific properties'."
Computer voice, "Confirmed."
Roman, "Go into 'Customize'."
Computer voice, "Confirmed."
Roman, "Go into 'Specific customization'."
Computer voice, "Confirmed."
Roman, "Enter value 'ATX3'."
Computer voice, "Confirmed."
Roman, "Generate scissors."

Scissors appear. Juro looks really astonished.

Juro, "Where have you learned that ?"
Roman, "Experience."

Roman takes the scissors and cuts Juro's beard off.

Juro, "Much better."

Roman, "Soon it will be morning. We must get ready. Computer, generate random clothing from the end of the 20^th century for two persons. Also apply to the holographic medical subroutine unit number one."

A couple of jeans and T-shirts appear. The Doctor has something similar already on. Roman and Juro dress into that clothing.

Doctor, "Awful. I forgot how primitive they were at that time. Not even a sense of aesthetics."
Juro, "You got that right."
Roman, "Let's go."

Outside the shuttle.

Juro, "I just hope nobody finds the shuttle."
Roman, "It should be hidden sufficiently behind these trees. ... We have to find the main entrance to this building. We should go around it and see if someone enters."
Juro, "OK."

The three of them are going along the building, looking for humans. They get to the other side of that building.

Juro, "Children ???  What are they doing here ?"
Roman, "Hmmm, according to their number this must be a building built specifically for them. It might be used for education. Such institutions were called schools. This might be one of them."
Doctor, "What device are they carrying on their back ?  It looks like a sort of subspace beacon."
Roman, "Or, which is more probable, a bag. They probably can't replicate the necessary accessoires in school, so they are carrying them with them."
Juro, "Could be. ... wait -- do you hear that ?  What is that sound ?"
Roman, "I don't know."
Juro, "It certainly is unpleasant."
Doctor, "The entrance is opening."
Roman, "The sound might have been some kind of signal for the doors to open and the children to enter."
Juro, "I can see some adults, too. Look how much hair one of them has on his face. How disgusting."
Roman, "Indeed."
Juro, "If there are adults, then it should be safe for us to enter without drawing unnecessary attention."
Roman, "Sounds logical. I'll lead the way. The Doctor will be last."
Doctor, "Let's wait until the children get inside. It is safer not to touch them. Who knows what diseases they might be carrying."
Roman, "OK then, Doctor. Still, it seems truly irrational to open only one door for so many children. Even these mentally undeveloped humans should be able to realize that if they would open two doors, the children would get inside in half the time."
Juro, "I wonder how they could invent space travel with such limited knowledge."
Doctor, "Now it should be safe to go."
Juro, "Our turn."

They head towards the entrance.

As they enter the building the Doorman goes on interception course with them.

Doorman, "Prepacte, rodicia nesmu ist dnu."
Doctor, "This human seems like wanting to communicate with us."
Juro, "Strange, I don't understand what he is trying to say."
Roman, "This must be an ancient Earth language. That's probably why our universal translator doesn't work properly. It isn't programmed with this extinct language. The translator should adapt to it after gathering enough information."
Doorman, "Aha, prepacte, vy ste asi ti novi anglicki lektori -- teda -- please, go -- erm -- riaditelka... err..."

The Doorman waves his hand back and forth as if trying to show them the sign for 'follow me'.

Juro, "He seems like he wants us to follow him."
Doctor, "This might be dangerous. I don't think we should go with him."
Juro, "The Doctor is right, we do not know what he wants."
Roman, "That is true, but remember, we must draw as few attention as possible. Let's follow him."

The Doorman leads the way and looks proud of his English. They turn left and the Doorman knocks on a door.

A woman opens. The Doorman talks to her for a moment.

Doctor, "This must be their leader."
Juro, "Seems so. Look, behind her -- there is this furry human again."
Roman, "Don't get too close."

The Woman, "You are -- late. Are you ready ?  Go to class."

All three of them look perplexed. The Woman talks to the Doorman for a short while.

Doorman, "Phalloo mee."

Juro, "What happens now ?"
Roman, "I do not know. For now, we must 'play their game'."

They go upstairs and stop in front of a door. The Doorman looks at them with a questioning look.

Doorman, "Physics ?"
Doctor, "What does he want ?"
Roman, "I am not sure. But if this is a 'school', then it probably has to do with education. He probably thinks we are some sort of educators. If that is the case, then I will go. I know most about physics, so that is the most logical choice. You two try not to interfere with the timeline and keep -- like the humans call it -- a 'low profile'. We will meet here as soon as possible."
Juro, "We will do our best."

Roman stands in front of the door. The door does not open. The Doorman puts an 'oh man -- these spoiled Americans...' look on his face and opens the door. Roman observes carefully. So does Juro.

Roman enters the door. 'This does not look unusual. Children sitting in standardized rows behind rectangular wooden structures. They look like they are waiting for education. Hence, the conclusion must be that I am the supposed educator. But how should I communicate ?  I do not possess enough information about this language. However, it seems that the Woman knew that we only communicate in English. She wouldn't send us to educate these children if we weren't supposed to do it in our language. I'll try to establish contact,' he thinks.

Roman, "Greetings, children."
Children voices, "... hi... hello !... good morning..."

And quiet laughter. 'It works. Now what to do. The educational process should be split into smaller parts so that the children do not have to concentrate for too long. I must pretend to be one of their educators. This should not take long. But how to behave ?  How to teach ?  It would be logical just to stand in front of them and try to talk to them. But what might their technical knowledge be ?' Roman moves to the front of the classroom.

Roman, "What were you learning about last time ?"
Children voices, "... Gravity..."

'This should not be difficult.'

Roman, "OK. I will talk about gravity. ... Is there a possibility to create an image to make this explanation more visual ?"
Child, "The blackboard behind you."

Roman looks behind himself.

Roman, "What can I do with it ?"
Child, "Draw on it with the chalk."
Roman, "Chalk ?"
Child, "You don't know what chalk is ?  The white thing used to write onto the blackboard."

Roman steps closer, examines the surroundings of the blackboard and finds something looking like a short white stick. He picks it up.

Roman, "This ?"
Child, "Yes."

Roman looks content. He tries to touch the blackboard with the chalk. No reaction. He pushes it harder. It breaks. Laughter from the class. He picks the pieces up and tries to move it around while pressed onto the blackboard. It works. He looks even more content.

Roman, "Let's start with something easy. Gravity's impact on space and time..."

Roman continues talking and starts drawing.

Meanwhile...
Juro and the Doctor are lead to a second door, where they already suspect another classroom.

Doorman, "Economics ?"
Juro, "I guess that's my specialty."
Doctor, "No, don't leave me !!!"
Juro, "Don't worry, you'll do fine."
Doctor, "No..."

Juro enters the classroom, already knowing how to open the primitive door. 'Why are they all looking at me ?'

Juro, "Hello..."
Children voices, "Hello... hi !..."

'Cool... so I just talk to them and that's it ?'

Juro, "OK, now we will learn about the basics of economics. The Fer... The Rules Of Acquisition are the main principles..."

Juro goes on talking and looks excited as the children listen to him with interest written on their faces.

Meanwhile II...
The Doctor is lead to another door.

Doorman, "Biology."

The Doctor smiles and enters the room.

30 minutes later.
The same terrible sound is heard across the hallways of the school. Children in every class stop paying attention to the teacher if they did before and start talking happily.

'This is probably the end of the educationary time interval. It would be probably best if I would leave now,' thinks Roman and heads to the meeting point.

Juro, "Hey, we're only at the 47^th rule, why are you talking ?"
Child's voice, "The bell rang."
Juro, "So what ?"
Child, "It is break now."

'Oh man... so now the lesson is over.' Juro goes to the arranged meeting point.

'Finally. This must be the end of this lesson,' thinks the Doctor. He leaves, moving quickly to meet the others.

They meet in front of the physics lab.

A tall, thin human with a slight mustache enters the room. He suddenly stops and points to the blackboard, full of some strange mathematical and physical formulae. Strange Man, "To je co ?"

Neither Roman nor Juro nor the Doctor pay attention to him.

Roman, "What happened after I left ?"
Juro, "We were lead to another room and I wasn't sure what to do, but then I found out I was expected to teach economics. I tried not to draw too much attention."
Doctor, "Yes !  The same with me, except I was teaching biology !"
Roman, "It seems that my theory is correct. The humans in this 'school' think that we are some new educators. That should give us the chance to go probably almost anywhere in this building. But we must find one of those counting machines. That is our primary goal."
Juro, "True."
Roman, "We must find a secluded place to use our tricorders."
Juro, "Or I'll just turn around to face the wall."

Juro turns around and takes his tricorder out of his pocket.

Juro, "I am locating heavy electromagnetic radiation from approximately north."

Juro closes his tricorder, puts it into his pocket and looks the way he mentioned. Roman and the Doctor look in the same direction.

Doctor, "That must be it !  The one with the semitransparent walls."
Juro, "Semitransparent... they must be using some kind of graviton-modified force field to achieve this blurry effect... But I didn't see any graviton emissions on my tricorder... how come ?"
Roman, "In my opinion it might be glass."
Juro, "Glass ?  For walls ?  No way. That would be too dangerous and really impractical."
Roman, "Humans did not behave logical in most ways at that time."

They go towards what looks like the door to that room.

When they arrive, they try to open it.

Juro, "It doesn't want to open the usual way. This must be a very special door. Maybe you have to identify yourself somehow. What will we do ?  We certainly aren't authorized."
Roman, "Or it might be locked. A primitive way to restrict access to special rooms, when needed. We should be able just to beam inside."
Doctor, "No... not that sound again... I hate it."
Roman, "According to my observations the sound is a way to signalize the start or the end of an education interval. Look, all the people go inside the rooms."
Juro, "Yeah, in a moment we won't have company and we can safely beam inside."

The people finished hurrying somewhere because they're already there. Roman, Juro and the Doctor are alone.

Roman, "Computer, beam us and transfer the Doctor into the adjactent room, 2 metres northwards from here."

They disappear and reappear in the computer lab.

Juro, "Wow... looks like... well -- I haven't seen anything like that ever before I guess."
Roman, "Indeed."
Doctor, "How about doing the work and chatting later ?"
Roman, "You are right. We should try to open one of these boxes with the hardware parts."
Juro, "I wonder how."
Roman, "These metal objects look like they are holding the cover. I think humans used to call them 'screws'. If I am right, then we need a 'screwdriver'. Doctor, please, let the portable holo-emitter generate a screwdriver."

The Doctor suddenly has a screwdriver holding in his hand.

Roman, "Thank you. I'll try to open it."

Roman tries to open one of the cases, but it is very difficult.

Roman, "These are special screws, incompatible with this screwdriver. We need a special screwdriver. It should be called a 'Phillips screwdriver'. Doctor ?"

The Doctor already has a new screwdriver holding in his hand. A Phillips screwdriver.

Doctor, "Already done."
Roman, "Thank you again."

Roman takes the Phillips screwdriver and after removing the screws he removes the cover.

Juro, "This looks like Cardassian technology. Incompatible, unstable and unreliable."
Roman, "It has to suffice. We must repair the shuttle as soon as possible. I will scan the hardware components."

Roman takes his tricorder out and directs it towards the open case.

Roman, "Neither storage nor processing capacity. That is impossible. I will try to increase the scanning resolution. Using maximum resolution. Yes, there is an almost unnoticeable amount of processing and storage capacity on the lowest range of the spectrum."
Juro, "If the capacity is limited that much, can we use it ?"
Roman, "I think we can. We must take one of these memory chips into the shuttle, scan it using the tricorder coupled to the inner sensors. Then we must use the remaining capacity of the portable holo-emitter to create as many holoprojections of it as possible. After that we can link them together and use the combined storage capacity to load the pulse and warp drive drivers. However, we can not load them both at the same time. They are too complex. We need to switch between loading and using one or the other as necessary. Despite these hurdles, it should work."
Juro, "That's going to be difficult."
Roman, "Yes, but it is possible."

Roman touches his tricorder several times, closes the computer cover and lets the Doctor dematerialize the Phillips screwdriver.

Roman, "Finished, let us go. Computer, beam us and tranfer the Doctor to the previous destination."

They disappear and reappear in front of the locked computer lab door.

Roman, "Now we need to go to ask for permission to borrow the memory chip. Their leader should be able to help us."
Juro, "OK."

They go to the place where they met the Woman for the first time.

Juro, "The Doorman knocked on the door when he wanted the Woman to open it. We should do it like he did it."
Roman, "I agree."

Roman knocks onto the door.

After some seconds the Woman opens. She looks surprised.

The Woman, "Yes ?"
Roman, "We would like to borrow a memory chip out of one of your computers."
The Woman, "Why ?"
Roman, "We need it for examination purposes."
The Woman, "Do you not have chips in America ?"
Roman, "No, there are no chips like that where I come from."
The Woman, "Good, but go to him."

The Woman walks towards the computer lab. Then, again, the unpleasant sound is heard.

The Woman, "He is there."
Doctor, "Who ?"
Juro, "I have no idea."

They arrive. The door to the computer lab is unlocked and the Woman goes inside. Roman, Juro and the Doctor follow her. Inside they see another human.

Juro, "Who is that and what is wrong with his nose ?"
Doctor, "Must be a genetic defect."
Roman, "He seems to have access to this computer room. That he is alone here indicates that he needs no one else to operate them. According to that, he should be in charge of these computers. Maybe the Woman needs to get his approval before she can lend us the memory chip."

The Woman talks to the Man. He looks nervous. He shakes his head in disapproval. She looks at him in an angry way and he comes closer to Roman.

The Man, "Excuse me, but I don't think it will be possible. I think you don't even know how to operate a computer."

Juro smiles. The Man doesn't seem like noticing it.

Roman, "If we can prove that we know how to operate one of these computers, will you let us borrow one of the memory chips ?"
The Man, "Maybe, but you will have to prove your abilities first."

Roman sits down in front of one computer.

Roman, "How does one turn this computer on ?"

The Man smiles and presses a button on the front side of the computer case.

Roman, "Thank you. What now ?"

The Man laughs.

The Man, "Wait until it boots up."
Roman, "I am sorry. I forgot how primitive these machines are."

The Man doesn't know what to think - if to laugh or to be angry. After several seconds the computer requires a password.

The Man, "OK, now if you can get the computer to continue, I'll lend you that chip."
Juro, "That's impossible, it requires a secret password together with a username. We don't have that much time to guess all of the combinations. What will we do ?"
Roman, "Observe."

Roman reaches out to the keyboard and presses the Escape key. The computer continues the booting process. The Man's mouth hangs open.

Roman, "So ?"
The Man, "... OK..."

Juro looks very happy. The Man turns the computer off, takes a Phillips screwdriver out of a drawer and removes the case of one computer.

He takes the memory chip out and hands it to Roman with a resigned look on his face.

Roman, "Thank you. We will bring it back and mount it in soon. Do not worry."

The Man looks worried. Roman, Juro and the Doctor turn around and leave the room. The Man turns to the Woman.

The Man, "Have you noticed ?  One of them looks exactly like Stur."

The three didn't even notice that their universal translators had adapted to the ancient language used by the humans around them. They suddenly hear a strange sound, but not the one they heard before. This one is much quieter and almost melodic. They turn to where they suspect the sound to come from.

Doctor, "What is that ?"
Roman, "I do not know."
Juro, "Look !"

Juro points at a man with a big mustache and a briefcase. The man opens his briefcase and takes something out. He seems to unfold it and put it to his ear. He says something.

Juro, "This looks interesting."

Juro takes his tricorder out of his pocket and points it at the man surreptitiously.

Doctor, "It looks so small, tasteful and intelligent."
Roman, "It seems like a form of a communication device."
Juro, "My tricorder says the same. It is a transceiver, but there is something strange about it... This can't be !  It is a cybernetic life form !  It is very small, but intelligent. It is definitely a life form. I can't believe it."
Doctor, "But why would the small, intelligent one be holding the big dumb one ?"
Roman, "I do not know. We should scan it thoroughly and I will send the results to the Temporal Commission. Maybe someone was playing with the timeline."
Juro, "Done, we can go."

They go out of school, to their shuttle.

Roman, "Computer, open the shuttle door."
Computer voice, "Authorization ?"
Roman, "Roman, alpha-4-delta-7-gamma."
Computer voice, "Secret password ?"
Roman, "Space. The final frontier."
Computer voice, "Authorization approved."

The shuttle door opens. They step inside.

Roman, "Computer, close the shuttle door."

The shuttle door closes.

Roman, "Computer, link the tricorder with the inner sensors."
Computer voice, "Complete."

Roman takes the memory chip out of his pocket and puts it to the tricorder, which is already lying on a computer panel.

Roman, "Perform scan of the memory chip next to the tricorder."
Computer voice, "Complete."
Roman, "Can we create holoprojections of it ?"
Computer voice, "Positive."
Roman, "Can we link them together and use them as an enhancement to our computer ?"
Computer voice, "Negative."
Roman, "Reason ?"
Computer voice, "Incompatibility."
Juro, "Oh NO... we went through all this and now it's incompatible !"
Roman, "Is there any possibility to make the chips compatible ?"
Computer voice, "Negative."
Roman, "Modify the phase variance."
Computer voice, "Completed."
Roman, "Is it possible to use the chips now ?"
Computer voice, "Positive. The chips are fully compatible."

Juro is speechless.

Roman, "Computer, create as many holoprojections of the memory chip as possible using the portable holo-emitter, link them and load the pulse drive driver from the basic safety backup database into them."
Computer voice, "Completed."
Roman, "Computer, beam the original memory chip to the location specified in the tricorder. Energize."

The memory chip disappears.

Computer voice, "Transport complete."
Roman, "The chip is back in the counting machine. We should be able to leave now."
Juro, "Are you sure ?  You know, there was a malfunction with the computer, the chip was incompatible, who knows what will happen... How can you know if it's safe ?"
Roman, "I do not know that. It is our only chance. We must try."

The Doctor smiles.

Doctor, "No, we do not."
Juro, "How do you mean that ?"
Roman, "Yes, what do you mean by that ?"
Doctor, "Computer, terminate program."

The shuttle disappears. Instead, they see a black room with yellow horizontal and vertical stripes placed in regular intervals on the walls. Juro looks absolutely shocked. Roman is not far from that.

Juro, "A HOLODECK ?!?!?"
Roman, "What does this mean ?"

The Doctor takes the holo-emitter from his shoulder.

Doctor, "I don't need this anymore. Welcome to the recruitment center of Section 31."
Roman, "Section 31 ?"
Doctor, "Yes. We are a secret, unofficial organisation, protecting the Federation from the scum of the universe."
Roman, "I have never heard of anything like that."
Doctor, "Nobody knows about us, not even the Secret Service."
Roman, "And what do we have to do with all that ?"
Doctor, "You were chosen to be our members. My job was to find out if you are capable of working for us. You passed the test."
Roman, "What will happen now ?  And how did you manage to put us onto a holodeck without our knowing ?"

The Doctor smiles.

Doctor, "You were unconscious. We just needed to trick your outer sensors and create a holoprojection of a whirlwind from a cloaked ship orbiting the Earth. Then we played a bit with your shuttle's inertial dampers and flooded the cockpit with anesthizine gas some seconds later. Afterwards all we needed to do was to beam you here. You know the rest."
Roman, "I assume that when I let the computer create the holographic doctor you just beamed inside."
Doctor, "That is correct."
Roman, "Where do you have the cloaking technology from ?  I thought only the Defiant possesses it."
Doctor, "The Federation invented the cloaking technology a long time ago. Actually, we did. The Federation doesn't even know about it."
Roman, "Fascinating. Once again, what will happen now ?"
Doctor, "You two have a choice. You can join Section 31 or just leave. If you decide to work for us, you will experience adventures beyond imagination. Something you have never dreamt of before. You will be spies, agents, secret heroes, you will know things nobody else does. You decide what way mankind will go !  The fate of the Alpha quadrant will lie entirely in your hands !  You will be the ones who change the whole future !!!  So, do you accept ?"

The Doctor smiles selfconsciously. Juro and Roman look at each other.

Juro, Roman, "No."

The Doctor doesn't seem to believe it. His mouth hangs open as Juro and Roman turn around and head into the sunset, leaving the Doctor standing in the dust.

THE END

Behind The Scenes

Baptism By Fire

The name for this story was known before the story itself - I found it in a dictionary when looking for "baptism". I was curious about why those things in the game Populous 2 were called "baptism fonts". So I looked up "baptism" and among phrases containing the word was also "baptism of fire". Later my English teacher told me Baptism By Fire would make more sense, so I changed it.

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Cast

The characters are actually based on real Star Trek characters. Roman is based on Tuvok from Voyager, Juro on Nog from DS9 and the Doctor on the Holodoc from the Voyager. Juro and Michal are my two best friends, by the way.

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Hand In My Pocket

Anyone know Alanis Morissette ?  (Hmm... why did I actually need a password to activate the Doctor ?... On the other hand, since when are runabout shuttles equipped with Holodoctors?)

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Ange cinge bunge ba

"Ange cinge bunge ba, recefire bum" is the refrain of a slovak folk-song.

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Miles O'Brien

Has anyone actually noticed that CNN's main NASA and space stuff coresspondent's name is Miles O'Brien ?

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Portable holo-emitter

As I first wrote this I didn't know the emitter was 29^th century technology. I saw it sometime on Voyager being in use actively, so I thought B'Elanna invented it someday... well I was corrected later, but that was too late for the story to be corrected...

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Spread out commando-style

This phrase is taken from the good old adventure game "Maniac Mansion 2: Day Of The Tentacle". At the end of the intro the three main characters enter the mysterious mansion and one of them suggests to spread out "commando-style".

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Juro behind the notice-board

As you can see, Juro materialized behind the notice-board. This has a reason. We didn't know how we possibly would create his Ferengi ears.

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Beard

I had the idea that nobody in Star Trek wears a beard anymore. I forgot about Riker.

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ATX3

This has to do with one of my experiences. One of my friends once installed a modem but it didn't want to work, so he called me and asked if I could assist him. I personally have had a modem for about a week a long time ago and it also didn't want to work, since it wasn't able to detect the "ready" signal on the phone line. I solved this by sending an "ATX3" command to the modem, which instructed it not to check for the ready signal. I suspected that my friend might have the same problem, as the quality of the phone lines here still isn't very good. Therefore I tried sending the ATX3 signal to his modem, too. However, I have never tried that under Windows before, so it was a pain. I managed to do it, but the real problem wa to make it permanent - to make Windows send that signal to the modem everytime it uses the modem. There is a command, called the "init string", which windows sends to the modem with every new access, I just needed to find it. So I searched through the whole windows registry twice, to no avail. After two hours of searching, I finally found it. It wasn't hidden at all, it was visible at the first sight. I just had to click onto Start - Settings - Control Panel - System - Device Manager - Modem properties - Connection - Advanced - Extra Settings, enter it there and... it worked. :-)

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Disgusting hair on his face

And this is to tease our deputy headmaster, whose most significant distinguishing feature is his beard.

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Open only one door

This is a direct criticism of our school opening only one door in the morning, when it could actually open two. However, as the lessons in our school term don't start at the same time as the ones in the other semesters, I don't care too much about it anymore... :-)

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The Doorman

This actually isn't the real doorman. The real one threatened to smash the camera if I pointed it at him. So I persuaded the former doorman to take his role. My thanks to him.

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Prepacte, rodicia nesmu ist dnu

This is Slovak. Translation: "I am sorry, but parents aren't allowed to go inside".

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Aha, prepacte, vy ste asi ti novi anglicki lektori

Again. Translation: "Ahh, I am sorry, you are probably the new native speakers".

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Riaditelka

(Woman) Headmaster.

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A woman

Our headmaster.

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Furry human

;-)

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A tall, thin human

This is our physics teacher in the picture.

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To je co ?

Slovak for "What's that ?".

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"Humans did not behave logical in most ways at that time."

That's taken from Star Trek IV, said by the woman from SeaWorld. (It probably is not exact, since it's my translation from German.)

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Cardassian technology - incompatible, unstable and unreliable

Anyone been watching DS9 ?  ;-)

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Nose

This man was in charge of our school's computer lab that year. He had a funny nose and this is my tribute to it. ;-) And I also express my thanks to him for being so cooperative.

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The Escape key

When I tried to use one of the school computers for the first time I did not have an account, so I couldn't log in. I was shown that you can simply bypass the authorization dialog by pressing the Escape key. Well and since then my friends and I make jokes about the security precautions made to prevent unauthorized access to our computers at school. We usually include the word "Pentagon" in these jokes. ;-)

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Memory chip

This is actually an 8 MB 72-pin DIMM from my own old 486. I don't have the 486 anymore, but I still have the chip and the graphics card lying around in a drawer. ;-)
BTW: My hand doesn't usually look that red... I don't know why it looks so red here.

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Stur

Ludovit Stur, one of our national heroes. He codified the slovak language (made it legal) in 1843. You can see his picture among the ones on the wall in the hallway. I am looking directly at his picture.

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Man with a big mustache

He was our former history and IT teacher, now teaching economics.

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Small, tasteful and intelligent

This is a parody of the slovak TV ad for the Ericsson T28s cell-phone.

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Modify the phase variance

This is the ultimate cure to all technical problems in Star Trek.
And it is a cheat for the great game Starcraft which lets you build all buildings.

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47

Have you noticed all the 47s in this story ?  All the numbers which I could make up and they didn't have to be facts or actual real numbers were somehow related to the number 47. The only one that could seem unreal was the number of the medical tricorder modifications in the computer's database. I didn't want the number to be 47 or 74 or anything that obvious, so I made it the square of 47.
If you do not know anything about the number 47 appearing in Star Trek, go to The 47 Society.

I hope you enjoyed the story. If yes, tell others about it. If not, tell me.