Dox Maturin

Great log! Well written.

Is it possible to record our own chat logs or retrieve them from our sessions in some way?

Okay here's one: The Sound Effect Drinking Game 1 shot every time you hear a starship sound effect in an episode.

I had not considered that. I like writing logs either the hour after or the day after a sim, so its nice to have a chat log immediately after its over. Thanks HD!

Indeed! If computer folks can get their hands on software that enables them to design products that can be created right in a persons home, made entirely of plastic, I couldn't imagine the creative products that might become available. I could also see 'freeware' repair parts becoming available where the manufacturer now does not bother to produce due to lack of interest/profitability. Of course the next step from the 3D printer is a 3D scanner. You make a very good point about the copyright/patent/license issue. In this litigious country I imagine an innovative tool like this would be to the manufacturing industry like the mp3 player is to the RIAA: a tool to steal and distribute their works (at least in their narrow, limited view).

11.) One shot whenever Data finds something curious about being human. 2 shots if he then immediately reminds everyone that he's a robot.

Amazing, and I think it would revolutionize how we use plastic products. Another project (maybe this is the same/similar) involved a plastic liquid "ink" injected into a container and lasers would solidify the plastic when they crossed paths. Then the objects came out the unsolidified goop would drain into the pan and you'd have a perfect plastic 3D object. The article references being able to print your own replacement products at home. I agree! I wonder however since this basically pushes the cost of building parts onto the consumer, will companies now charge us for the "data" to print, say, a new plastic wheel for our vacuum cleaner? Or will it become incorporated into the warranty of the product? Really, they could add a CD of all the replacement parts you could possibly need and incorporate it into the pricing of the product. Unlimited available parts! And when you think about that, will these companies be happy about losing revenue when people are fixing their own products with their own 3D printers rather than buying them from the company or buying a replacement product entirely? This technology brings up a whole host of questions.

This log is a recap of the previous sim from Dox's perspective. "Into the Dark" Duty Log 0705.07 Dox breathed in the icy air as flakes of snow trickled down and stuck to the skin on his face. He turned, looking back at the group as they mounted their horses, some less ceremoniously than others, and drew together. The breed they were given was quite agreeable, and even a novice rider could easily control the beast. That was fortunate, because Corizon appeared to be the only experienced rider among them. For a few seconds the scene was comical. A gush of cold wind brought Dox's attention back to the mountains in the distance. It was there that the signal had originated and that they had come to investigate. The minerals in the earth made transporting difficult, and even his tricorder at short range could not see clearly through the rock. But from the reports he had read earlier they had a specific location for them to look. "The signal is originating from those mountains," he said as he pointed with a shivering finger to one of the far cavern entrances. "We can enter there." The group trotted along the path, their horses kicking up powdery snow with every step and forming a billowing white cloud behind them. The cold was diminished only by the small Avalon sun that hung just above the horizon, peering through a pair of mountains and lighting the valley below them. As they winded around a curve they found themselves on a cliff with a wide precipice. Dox looked from the sun to the cavern. They were close now. A shiver ran up his back, but not from the cold. He turned his horse away from the group and stopped at the edge of the cliff, looking down at the steep drop to the patchy forest below. Something was not right. Was it the green trees, some capped with snow while others suspiciously were bare? Was it the way the sun shined in his eyes, reflecting off the mountainside? Or was it that the wind died on occasion, as if time had stopped to give spying eyes a good look at him. It was the same random feeling he always had, a feeling that something was going to happen. It was the same feeling that kept him awake at night, staring up at the ceiling from the hard floor as he lay next to his bed, a bed always untouched and unslept in, watching the tiny bits of dust on the walls as they danced in the shadows. Eyes were always on him, always watching. As he lay on the floor, as he did every night since his discharge from the war, he was reminded of the jagged rocks that he slept upon while on the planet Andaman. Cracks, pops and screams from the black dark in the distance, he would forever hear them, reminding him that he never left that ground. Even after rescue, he stayed there in his mind - stayed with her, laying on those cold rocks, gripping his fist on his ragged uniform that had been soaked in her blood. "Are you okay, Dox?" a voice called out behind him and shook him from his daze. He turned around and smiled at Pilot, nodding, and pulling his horse back around to meet up with the group. As they approached the mouth of the cave Dox continued to scan, trying to find a suitable - not to mention safe - path through the mountain tunnels. He dismounted his horse and approached the entrance. Again the feeling of being watched overwhelmed him. The wind turned direction, being slowly sucked into the cave and drawing Dox in with it. So subtle, unnoticeable, but it terrified him to his core. He dug into the snow until he reached the earth a few inches down, running his hand over the wet rock. His tricorder beeped as Corizon stormed ahead into the cave, prompting Dox to rise to his feet and follow the others in. He shined his small light around the walls, looking for...something. The walls were jagged, natural. But as they drew deeper into the cave they changed, becoming smoother. Not as if they were carved by water, but as if they were deliberately shaved. And then it all made sense, as they came to a dead end, a drop off. Dox shined his light down, but it was too deep for it to penetrate and the light vanished into nothing. Yet again he was faced with plunging into the dark. The whistling of the wind from the black hole; they sounded like distant screams. But it was another officers light that caught his interest, as well as the attention of the rest of the group; the perfectly carved staircase leading down into the abyss.

Who would be left at the office to fill out the holiday pay sheets?

6.) When the show uses the same stock footage twice or more in the same episode, chug the beer.

A wonderful log! How long ago was it supposed to be posted?

"Something is Coming" 0704.29 Duty Log Dox stood in the transporter room in Camelot Station's command center, waiting patiently for the others to arrive while Corizon and Joy spoke to one another. He was nervous, and rightfully so. For one, he did not know how to ride a horse. One would think it would be something taught to him early on, and certainly a must for an English gentleman. Perhaps if his father has bothered to teach him something instead of…well, that was ancient history thankfully forgotten. Corizon and Joy both agreed that the mysterious signal emanating from the surface of Avalon was somehow Scorpiad related. Dox wasn't sure. If it was a listening sensor then either the Scorpiads didn't care that we knew it was there or there had been a malfunction. Dox hoped for the latter. If they were not concerned with Starfleet tracking their little device then more questions emerged. Either they wanted them to investigate it, and it's a decoy, or there is not enough time for them to do anything about it. That sent a shiver down his spine. An attack could be imminent. Dox has spoken only moments ago with Joy about the possible driving force behind the Scorpiad's society. She suggested fear, as was common in the gamma quadrant. But Dox knew that no culture was as homogenous as their enemies would like to believe. With some small exceptions, most wars ended by appealing to the other side of a culture, the side that did not crave war. This often happened when the military had been so defeated that the passive population could rise and effect change. Perhaps fear is yet another motivator there; simply the fear of death. When you have sustained so much loss for so long, people eventually just want the violence to end no matter the cost. The Scorpiads had been at war for centuries. Their species was so different than the others they encountered. And here was the crux; they lived for thousands of years. With a lifespan so great, any social change would be painfully slow. Their children were far and between, and often nearly independent as soon as they were born. Without an emotional attachment to their children what would they care of the future beyond their years? Without a clearly defined series of generations how could a radical revolution change their society? Dox wasn't sure. He knew there had to be more to the Scorpiads than the database was telling him, but they were so different it was difficult for him to take their perspective. What he did know however was that this particular mission would likely end in bloodshed. Either they were being led into a trap…or something was coming.

Thanks! I didn't get a gift box or a raise or anything :)

What good news. I never know Beam me up, Scotty was never spoken in the series.

::gets out the paddle:: Hold still, Fred.

Happy Birthday, Fred!

We use Dells at my office. They are nice.

Laptops are overrated anyway. Gigabytes, RAM, XP, Vista, Celeron, warranties...its all so confusing and after all your hard work, you get home and find a brick in the box. Get this instead: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacus It's not Internet ready, but it won't crash.

That was a great log!

Call Comcast and get your IP settings, user name/password, etc...then uninstall anything and everything to do with AOL and Comcast. Both of them install junk on your computer that you don't want or need, and setting up the connection manually is a simple process. Check Google and you'll probably find a step-by-step tutorial for Comcast in your area. Then do a minimal install of AIM. I don't use that software so I don't know what it puts on your computer, but I've dealt with AOL and those broadband Internet provider CDs and they can be a real pain.

Did you get your laptop yet? I recently bought a laptop and spent $400. It was a refurbished older one from Fry's electronics and on sale. For what you describe, it doesn't sound like you need a top of the line unit. I agree that you should wait on Vista. XP works great, and regardless of what Microsoft would like I doubt it is going anywhere soon (online support for XP will probably be better than MS tech support anyway B) ). A Vista-capable laptop, especially one that could run Aero without being significantly slow would be pricey, I think.

"Meeting a Rumor" 0704.20 Duty Log Maturin inched up on his toes, peering into the glossy black eyes of the tall figure in his path. It bobbed its head up and down, its four legs twitching as it idly flexed its four arms. The human moved a bit to one side, and the creature's eyes followed him. He could see his reflection in those lifeless eyes. The quiet was broken only by the creaking of the black Scorpiad's exoskeleton and the tinkling of the ice in Maturin's lowball glass. He brought the rim of the glass up to his lips, inhaling the spicy aroma of the scotch, ice cold sweat dripping down the clear sides. He tilted the glass up and took a slow sip, closing his eyes as the liquid washed into his mouth. His cheeks and tongue tingled from the liquor. Around them a sea of data was displayed on the walls, scrolling slowly by. Dox looked back at it, ignoring the lumbering giant in the middle of the room. A heavy sigh from the corner of the room caught his attention. He turned, looking at the other officer in a gold uniform staring boredly at the ceiling of the holodeck. "Never seen one before, eh?" the officer asked him, shifting his balance away from the wall and approaching Dox with a smirk. "You understand," Dox continued to stare at the data, a jumble of numbers and symbols with brief sections of text. "Until two days ago, I had thought these things were only a rumor." "You're uninformed. Why am I not surprised." The two stood in silence for a moment, interrupted by an annoyed huff by the security officer who had, much to his disappointment, been assigned to give Dox whatever he needed to update himself on the situation. "Can you read any of this?" he looked at the walls with a curled lip. "Yes." Dox replied, sighing. After another silence he turned to him, "Lieutenant Grady, is there something you wish to say?" "Well, honestly, I've had a chance to look at your public record. I'd be real interested in knowing how one of the worst graduates, and a lousy soldier I hear, managed to get their first posting on a ship like this. Let me guess, daddy an admiral?" Dox cleared his throat and took another sip of his scotch. "No, not quite." "Many of the best want to be here, and they don't make it. And you sure aren't here on your own merit." "They live over a thousand years." Dox said randomly, obviously ignoring Grady's prying. "What?" "The Scorpiads. A thousand years. But their casts are so violent, some so self-absorbed. How did they develop all of this technology?" "Well, when you meet one, why don't you ask it." An alarm sounded in the room and the data froze. A line of red appeared at the bottom, "Classified." "Look like you've hit a brick wall, ensign." "Indeed," Dox smiled slightly as he finished off his drink. "Anything else you'd like to look at?" "Yes," Dox turned to him, "tell me about the weapons."

The whole "why can't they just flicker shields" debate, I always thought of the first/second movie where we see the shields 'raise' slowly on the screen (represented by dots). I go by the rule that the shields don't just pop on, they need to be charged and take a bit to raise to full strength. So really if you shut them off to transport, then pulled them up, it would take a bit to regain full strength. It would also explain why the captain always yells "raise shields!" when an enemy is about to attack, and even though it appears the TAC does, there is still a violent shutter. I think the shields take a bit to charge to full strength. Beaming through shields, or not being able to, has been more or less a plot device...so use it as you need B)

Poor Garigio! Very exciting log B)

"Logic and Emotion" Initial Log 0704.15 The following log takes place just prior to the sim on 0704.15. He touched his hand to the glass, so transparent that it could have easily fooled his mind into believing there was nothing there at all. Goosebumps pricked up along his forearm as the shivering cold ran through his fingertips. The solid windows of the docking hatch were always ice cold, exposed to the vacuum of space and absent of the heating elements embedded in all of the other exterior view ports. The cold felt so real and he believed for a moment that he could reach out and touch the scarred surfaces of the ships drifting by; ships so ravaged by war that aesthetic repairs were the farthest priority. So they decayed, running in top shape but looking pathetic with an antique quality. It was far different from the gleaming surfaces and clean floors of the starship he was in. As a science ship, one that he had served on for many years in a sort of - probationary - tour of duty, it had laid low in the fighting and kept far out of harms way. Only when the wormhole was forcibly taken and they were stranded in the Gamma did the feeling of danger befall them. "Penny for your thoughts, ensign?" the young quartermaster smiled, flashing a glimpse of her perfect white teeth and offering a genuine interest in the quiet man who she had been assigned to escort onto the Camelot station. "What?" Dox Maturin turned, as if he had forgotten she was there and was awaking from a sleep. "I'm asking what's on your mind. You're awfully quiet for someone who's about to begin their first real Starfleet assignment. This is what you've been here for isn't it? To prove yourself?" "Is nothing on this ship a secret?" he sighed, tugging down on his tunic. She suppressed a giggle and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "It's a small ship, sir. And when you're assigned for five years on a ship with a mentor who is, shall I say, so unique, it's expected that people are going to be a little more curious." "I was just thinking to myself, that I never seem to be able to escape this quadrant. I served on this ship as a civilian, and before that so long as something else." "The war?" He nodded silently. "I cannot even remember England, it has been so long." The room lurched a bit and the walls reverberated from a loud metal clang as the starship tucked itself into the docking arm of the station. An indistinct voice made several comments about the docking, the orders throughout the ship, the leave scheduled and the return time; things heard so commonly at a docking that no one bothered to listen to it anymore, just another noise that followed the hissing of the power conduits latching together. "Is that an emotion I detect?" a computer generated voice called out from behind them, and the young quartermaster jumped unnoticeably. Her body stiffened to attention as the retired Starfleet officer, their lead scientist and Maturin's mentor, drifted into the docking room with only the faintest hum of an anti-gravity generator. "Only the smallest trace, Mr. Xiang," Dox assured him, turning with a faint smile. "I had thought perhaps," Xiang acknowledged the young woman and rolled slightly towards Dox, "you intended to leave without a word." Xiang was a large non-humanoid alien that looked quite similar to the Earth bottlenose dolphin. He hovered in the air, as if he were swimming in water, with the aid of an anti-grav and water-filled field system. Dox smiled, gripping his carry pack. It was a small pack, containing nothing but a few credits, an extra uniform, and a few duty supplies (a tricorder, PADD, and other miscellaneous tools that no officer could do without). Indeed, Dox appeared just as he had when he first came on board. He owned nothing, aspired to own nothing, and carried not a trace of any family or friends he may or may not have. He was a curiously troubled soul, and perhaps that was why Xiang offered to take him under his, well, flipper so to speak and prepare him for a career in Starfleet. A career he had abandoned in his youth to defend the Federation. It was a decision that ultimately destroyed his faith in life. But Xiang had prepared him well. Dox had grown, enough so that he could be sponsored to rejoin Starfleet and be assigned to a starship. A real duty; without the protection of a mentor. "It is the Excalibur," Dox reminded him as he had a dozen times before, "are you sure you will not come with me if only for a while, to see it again?" "Some things you cannot return to, Mr. Maturin. And our ship has other obligations. We will see each other again soon. I may take you up on that offer when you have settled in, and when there is more time. You will be on your own. Remember what you have been taught." "Logic and emotion are stronger together than apart," Dox quoted the first delpin rule of conduct. "I will miss you, sir. I cannot thank you enough for the opportunity you have given me." The hatch slid open and only now did they again acknowledge the quartermaster, who had been forgotten and was trying to make herself invisible. "You will make a fine science officer," Xiang assured him as Dox bowed, swiveled around on his heel and marched out of the ship with the quartermaster by his side. "Give the Admiral my regards," he requested as the two turned the corner and vanished from sight. "Is that it?" Dox asked his companion moments later as they passed a huge set of view ports. Outside they could see the distinct glowing nacelles of a Sovereign Class starship. "Yep, that's her. Isn't she a beauty?" she exhaled with a hint of jealousy. How lucky she thought he was to be serving on such a large starship. Dox Maturin breathed in the station air. "Absolutely," he said with his eyes fixed on Excalibur's silver hull. He had been through so much in his youth but this, this was new. He told himself silently, tuning out the noise of the crowds and listening to the clicking of their boots as he and the quartermaster made their way to the security office for check-in, this was going to be different. He had a fresh start. And, he knew, the real adventure was just beginning.