Catching up

[Travis Kroells 0]

“Catching up”…Kroells’s logs (log 66)

 

 

 

Gloved fingers tapped across a panel on the wall. Several beeps from the computer were given. Several more moments past until a feminine voice finally responded. “Program is loaded, you may enter when ready.” The man smiled, and quickly checked his military fatigues again, to make sure they were proper.

 

The groan of the holodeck doors gave way, and the man inside slowly spun around, to see who had barged in on him. The sight of Travis Kroells, all dressed up for the occasion brought a smile to his face. The scientist looked awkward in the military dress; the man scratched his beard, trying to resist laughter. He finally let a chuckle lose once Travis smiled back at him.

 

“Dave…”

 

“Travis…Nice to see you finally got dressed for the occasion.”

 

Travis joined in with the laughter of the man, and pulled him into a strong embrace, both patting each other on the back before letting go. Travis looked into the mans eyes again, and smiled. “I figured it was necessary after neglecting you and the others for so long.”

 

Dave smiled again, and turned around, back towards where he first was. He slowly looked around, looking at his familiar settings. The world was obviously artificial, a slight hue of yellow projected off all the surfaces. A primitive form of Virtual Reality for sure. He was dressed in the same fatigues as Travis, or rather. However, they looked more natural on him; Travis just looked awkward, out of place with them on…

 

“I would think you would have put a suitable apology together. It’s been nearly six months you know.”

 

Travis slowly sighed, “I know, and I’m sorry. I was considering removing the real-time aspect of the program.”

 

Even though Travis couldn’t see Dave’s face, he had a good idea the face that he made at that idea… “Humph. You made that aspect, to keep this as realistic as possible. That, and the fact that myself, Hal, and Jack know of this, this façade.”

 

Travis slowly sighed, “You guys are more of a family to me then anything else in the galaxy. I didn’t feel right not letting you guys know the truth. I didn’t feel right stringing you along, playing God on this holodeck program.”

 

Dave chuckled again, “Well, seeing you with that uniform and the hair cut is apology enough.”

 

Travis slowly chuckled as he ran his hand hair. The pace on the ship over the last couple of days had been slower, then they had been in some months, finally allowing Travis to cut his hair to its short, and natural length.

 

“So then…what’s been up out side of this room that nobody but you can leave?”

 

Travis shook his head again, “If your going to be lazy I’m not going to help you! You damn well know I keep the program up linked to my station, which is constantly updated with mission reports, and sensor readings. If you don’t have the time to access it, and look for your self, then you can keep on guessing! Besides, I don’t come here to chat about giant space probes; I came to forget about that for a short time! So toss me that M4, and let’s start up a program!”

 

Dave smiled, glad that he had gotten Travis this riled up already. He looked up towards the “sky” of the virtual world, and decided to let Tactics vent his pent up emotions. “Hal! Load assault weapon level five, and begin.”

 

Travis smiled, as an ominous voice replied. “Alright, programs loaded, you two have fun.”

 

The world quickly changed, still keeping its yellow hue, but the surroundings, and layout drastically changed. Travis looked down, for a moment, as the place was being reconstructed to notice himself standing on nothing. However, the place was rebuilt rather quickly, as a 300 yard course lay ahead of him, littered with pitfalls, and other hazards. Soon after, dozens of square targets began to litter the area. Dave and Travis quickly raised their weapons, and waited for the count down.

 

“3...2...1...Begin!”

 

Travis and Dave ran side by side, opening fire on the targets a head of them. Soon coming up to a set of yellow stair cases, they ran up, and the floor quickly divided into two sides. Travis quickly rolled to the left, Dave to the right. They quickly began to fire on the targets a head of them again, until they needed to reload. They quickly ran forward as quickly as possible while doing so. It was quite obvious; the obstacle course had changed into a race course.

 

Travis slammed in a clip soon after Dave, and they both ran forward shooting out every thing in the way. The two came up to a square hole in the ground, leading to god knows where. Instinctively, both tossed their weapons into the air, landing on the other side, and jumped. Dave landed with his elbows above the edge, easily climbing up, while Travis grabbed onto the edge with his fingers, wasting precious time pulling himself up that much farther. The race continued, Dave ahead by nearly twenty feet. Pillars began to shoot up from the ground, attempting to impede their progress. Travis skillfully jumped onto one, and across another pitfall, to make up time.

 

By now, Travis and Dave were neck and neck. Both skillfully shooting out the targets, as if they had a hundred times before. However, Dave proved to be a better, shot, taking out all his targets, and having a clear shot to the goal. Travis had just run empty on his clip, and still had one target left. Dave ran forward at full steam, Travis knew he couldn’t stop to reload. In a split second, he tossed the M4 into the air, and quickly grabbed another clip. He quickly caught the weapon, ejecting the spent clip, and slammed the new one in, opening fire on the target, effectively destroying it. However, despite his valiant efforts, Dave now had a sizeable lead again, and passed the finish line with little effort. Travis sighed, and walked up to him, tossing the M4 on the ground.

 

“Every time…”

 

Dave chuckled and set his weapon on the floor as well, more graciously however. “Humph. Don’t worry about it; you really gave me a run for the money this time. Nice to see your at least keeping in shape.”

 

“Don’t test me old man, I’ll best you yet. Set up another program, PSG-1 perhaps?”

 

Dave turned his attention to him now. “Got something to get off your chest eh?”

 

Travis slowly nodded as the world fell apart, and was rebuilt again, both he and Dave taking sniping positions right next to each other. “Yeah…The last six months have been….Complicated.”