"Virtual Insanity"

[Archie Phoenix 0]

Archie wasn’t sure what he was doing in this somewhat dark, very enclosed cell of Aether’s Caress (whatever Aether’s Caress was). With each moment he spent in this facility, he became more and more confident that it had nothing to do with energy transfer. His group had been taken to this facility aboard one of the neural trams, even as they were determined to arrive at one of the planet’s energy substations. He couldn’t grasp the reason for this error (and nor could hostess Quintessa, assured as she was of the neural tram’s infallibility), but he guessed that it must have been a good one. While certainly not infallible, the technology on this world -was- incredibly advanced; there had to be a logic to its actions.

 

“Just focus your thoughts on whomever you wish to appear.” Quintessa instructed as she placed the hoop of materialized energy on Archie’s head.

 

Archie and the others had been taken to private rooms for a demonstration of the facility’s services. Archie was extremely uncomfortable in this room, alone with the Aetherian woman, so he wasn’t sure how well he could focus his thoughts. In fact, he wasn’t even sure who he wished to appear. If Archie understood correctly, this device on his head would gather his thoughts of any one person, and something akin to a holographic projection of that person (much more lifelike, of course) would be constructed in this room. As Archie was brought to this room, he hadn’t even given any thought to whom he’d construct.

 

One of his parents? His tutor on Renazia? One of his Academy instructors or fellow students? One of the other Arcadia crew? Archie had not gotten acquainted with very many people in his lifetime, and he had developed close relationships with even fewer. How about Jordan? Oh … but what would she say if she found out? Likely, whatever she would say if she found out about a crewmember using her image in the holodecks. That -was- his chief; he would not want to upset her.

 

“This is odd.” Quintessa suddenly broke the silence, her brow furrowed. “Are you hooked to another neural link, Mr. Phoenix?”

 

Archie gave Quintessa a look of utter bafflement. “I … I’m sorry?”

 

“You are an engineer, correct? The interface is picking up some interference. It happens sometimes, when one of our customers is still linked to a separate neural interface. I cannot localize the source, however … and I was not sure that Starfleet officers routinely utilized neural links. I can usually compensate for such interference; it will be more difficult in this case, since I cannot identify the source. … just keep thinking of your intended subject and I will get this sorted out. I am sorry.”

 

Archie had little idea of what Quintessa was talking about, but he’d finally decided on a subject -- Commander Alces. They’d worked together very recently on the New Atlantis mission, so Archie had a fairly vivid image of the Commander in his head. He’d seemed like the sort who would be very open to this kind of experimentation. And they didn’t have to work together on a daily basis, so there would be relatively little fallout if the Commander did find out and get angry. He did not know the Commander well enough for a very accurate construct, but well enough to simply see the technology work. He closed his eyes and tried to keep an image of Commander Alces in his mind.

 

“I’ve got it,” Quintessa announced. “Just keep concentrating a bit longer.”

 

Nervous as he was, the thought never occurred to Archie that he’d been through this before. Not even an hour ago, a device much like this energy ring had rested on his head, and his mind had tried to focus on a different objective. Aetherian technology, awesome though it had first appeared to Archie, failed him then; it brought him to this strange facility which had nothing to do with energy transfer, and left his mind even more achurn with confusion.

 

A sound like a gust of wind opened his eyes, and his jaw dropped at what he saw before him.

 

“Hello, Archie,” Samantha said with an impish smile.