Eighteenth Hour
Kim Pine (Scott Pilgrim)
Kim Pine was not sure why she groped for her drumsticks as she woke
up. She never slept with them even when she was a child. As soon as
her hand curled around a pair she felt reassured. She sat up and
looked at the sticks. They looked brand new. She wondered why she had
fallen asleep all dressed up. She didn't drink anymore. She wondered
where she was. She stood up and looked both ways along the hallway.
'There's a Trek convention in town? But Neil and Scott together
aren't smart enough to drag me down to some lame replica as a joke,'
she thought.
She knew where to stick those new drumsticks if that was true though.
She walked down the corridor wondering where the 'lameos' were who
were supposed run around babbling in Klingon...
Kim rounded a corner and saw two schoolgirls coming towards her. She
saw that one of them was Japanese, wearing a sailor girl uniform. The
other was caucasian, with red hair a shade darker than hers and
glasses. The two were holding hands. The Japanese girl was happy,
with the other one seeming to be uncomfortable. She extended her
right hand. “Kim Pine. Where the **** are we anyway?” She then
stated her appreciation for the Caucasian girl's boots.
The Japanese girl grinned broadly and bowed before shaking Kim's
hand. “Oh, Kim, Pine-san. I am Tomoko Kuroki of Tokyo. And allow me
to introduce my friend: Commander Daria Morgendorffer, second in
Command of this ship,” she said in rather good French.
The other one scowled and added, also in French. “I'm Daria
Morgendorffer. And I'm not second in command of anything. The Captain
trusts me, is all. You're not halluncinating, Kim. You are on the
Federation starship Defiant about twenty light years from
Earth. Mokocchi, er, Tomoko here doesn't speak English and no
Japanese for me, so if you know it, let's stick to French. Doesn't
really matter here though.”
“Enchanted, I'm sure,” Kim answered. “Sorry, I'm not buying it.
Are people going to jump out of doors and shout, 'Happy Birthday'? No
one cared much before. Hey, if you wanted to do a theme birthday, I'm
more of an Orphan Black girl myself.”
Daria nodded. “Oh, it gets weirder and in light of a new occupant
of our fair ship, curiouser and curiouser. Come on, Kim, I bet you're
hungry. Tomoko and I were going to the replicators, before I go to
bed. It's been Eighteen hours.” Daria yawned.
Without hesitation, Kim placed her hand in Daria's and the three
young women walked along.
Elsewhere in the ship, River awoke. She remembered where she was.
“Don't panic!” the EMH said.
“Holo-Doctor appeared on Voyager, not DS9,” River
said.
“If you're referring to what the Captain said about Fictional
people appearing on ship, my program has been installed on all
Starfleet vessels, not just those in the Intrepid class,”
the EMH said.
“I understand,” River said.
“How much Star Trek is there?” Greg wondered from nearby,
in a tone, that implied that he was talking to himself.
River looked at him. “Greg Heffley. Wimpy Kid, early 2010s,” she
said.
“Hey!” Greg objected.
“Five vid-series,” River continued, ignoring Greg's objection.
“Right, bye!” Greg said. He then ran from the Sickbay.
While Greg was running from sickbay, Magneto entered the mess hall.
He approached Catwoman and Granny “Do you know where the one named,
Amanda Waller, the one also refered to as 'The Wall', is? He had
heard that she wanted to meet him.
“She's on the Bridge,” Granny answered.
“Thanks,” Magneto said.
“WHY DO YOU WANT WALLER?”
Papyrus asked.
“You won't need to know,” Magneto answered.
Granny decided to follow Magneto to the bridge...
Greg entered Engineering. He figured that he could talk to R2D2 about
things that the movies didn't cover. (He had heard about the Extended
Universe, but his school didn't have those books in the library.)
“R2?” he asked.
He saw the Droid there, but also Ashoka. She was working on something
next to the big pulsing tank in the middle of the room that he was
sure was a reactor of some sort. She stopped and came towards him.
“Greg, right?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Why are you here?”
“I thought I could talk to R2, about his adventures with Luke,”
Greg answered. “What were you doing?”
“You know how the engine works?” Ashoka asked.
“Not really,” Greg answered.
Ashoka pointed to the reactor. “This is a warp core. It uses
antimatter to produce the power required to bend space-time to allow
for Faster-Than-Light travel.”
That went over Greg's head. “Huh?”
“It's an inefficient mode of travel,” Ashoka said. “The
technology in our home universe, is much more efficient.”
Greg recalled some of Star Wars, specifically The Empire Strkes
Back. “You mean, what broke when the Falcon had to go to
Bespin?”
R2 beeped in the affirmative.
“We could get to Earth in minutes, rather than days,” Ashoka
added.
“Cool,” Greg said.
While Greg was talking to Ashoka and R2 in Engineering Magneto
arrived on the bridge. Sisko had already heard Daria's report about
Kim and had breathed a sigh of relief. “May I help you, Mr.
Lensherr?”
“I still prefer the name I have given myself, if you don't mind,
Captain.”
“Certainly,” the Captain said.
“Ms. Waller, I believe you wanted to speak with me?” the mutant
asked.
“Yes,” Waller said.
“You can speak here,” Sisko said.
And so the Mutant and the government agent began to talk, while the
Captain and witch listened.
Greg listened as Ashoka and R2 told them about their various
adventures.
As much as Daria wanted to go to bed, she was still up, Kim was still
complaining about her band...
Gyro was still wondering what Trump was up to.
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