Phantom Grove
Posted on 10 Oct 2023 @ 6:48am by Brek - Timeless Treasures Art Gallery
Edited on on 06 Feb 2024 @ 10:15pm
Mission:
M4 - Falling Out
Location: O.C. Station - Holodeck
Timeline: M4 D2 Afternoon
1658 words - 3.3 OF Standard Post Measure
“And you have designed all this by yourself?” Brek asked, a little concerned. He and the young Terran artist called Kyrill were in front of a dark forest path, filled with gnarly trees and large mossy rocks. There is no sun in the scene, just a bluish mist, which incidentally, looks very much like a sorry landscape from the Ferengi planet where Brek spent a year, a long time ago. More alarming still, Kyrill is an expert in all things dark and gloomy. He loves ghosts and witches, not to mention heads on spikes and guts splashed on walls, producing their own horrid graffitis.
“Mostly,” Kyrill said. Today he had kept to his usual grimdark style, by wearing a white T-shirt with the words ‘Let The Galaxy Burn’ printed on it. “I asked your friend Glutik to help me a little by providing a few details about you. It wasn’t meant to be intrusive, Mr Brek. It’s just that this holo project of mine is adaptive. And since you are a Ferengi, at first I had next to no clue what sort of environment would have an effect on you. The forest is designed to create spooky situations according to the person who explores it. It’s the only way to produce a unique experience. Even the name of the forest is meant to generate an exclusive atmosphere.”
“Yeah... You told me it was called Phantom Grove.”
“The forest might be haunted.”
“No kidding. A good thing, then, that I don’t believe in such nonsense. And you told me that if I played your ridiculous little game, you'd paint that dog portrait which I need so badly?”
“I will paint Igor the dog, to the best of my abilities. But you need to stay in the forest for at least twenty minutes.”
“It should be easy enough...”
Kyrill smiled. “In case you are too frightened, just say the word ‘Jack-o’-lantern’ and this forest scenario will stop.”
Brek grinned to hide his growing apprehension. By all that was precious, what had the young hewmon put in his forest? “You look too confident for my liking. You haven’t tweaked the holodeck’s safety protocols, have you? I’d rather know it beforehand if there is a chance I might end up in sickbay because I’ve fallen onto a chainsaw or some cannibals have managed to throw me into their hot cauldron.”
The young man shook his head. “There will be nothing of the sort, Mr Brek. I’m, I believe, more creative.”
“Yeah, sadly I believe that too.”
“Oh, one last thing, Mr Brek,” Kyrill said, dead serious, not to say lugubrious. “You might need this.”
The young man produced, not a phaser or a knife or a shovel which might be used for protection, but a candy bar. The wrapping was green and there was a poorly made drawing of an impossible animal, a cross between a bear and a wolf, with red eyes, sharp teeth and long claws. The sort of things that might scare little kiddies.
“What’s that for?”
“It’s a snack. In case you need the energy.”
Brek sighed. “You hewmons are truly weird.”
He nonetheless pocketed the chocolate bar and on his way he went, into the forest, with its big rocks, twisted roots and branches that looked like hands trying to grab him. As he took one path and then another, the cold dampness of the forest started to get on his nerves. This was such a childish game. Such a waste of time too. He could be in his warm office right now, checking his investments, distributing false truths and true facts to increase his profits.
A few minutes later, he came across a clearing, lit by the obligatory full moon. In the middle of it there was a white pentacle decorated with obscure symbols. Hewmons and their weird mythologies... A wizard, he gathered, would appear and proffer menaces. When nothing happened, the Ferengi got the notion that he needed to place himself in the middle of the pentacle to trigger something. So he went there and he waited. When even then nothing happened, boredom, creeping in, convinced him that he ought to eat the chocolate bar. Why not? Get rid of the temptation right away. Then he should wait here another twenty minutes, for good measure, and return to the path that led out of this tedious forest. An easy victory.
However, no sooner had he eaten the candy bar that he felt a little funny and the atmosphere around him changed. The mist rose, too white to be natural, and before long he couldn’t tell which direction to take. All he could see, in that fog, were fugitive silhouettes that seemed to drag their bodies here and there, without purpose.
“The lad said the forest was haunted... Can’t fault him there.” Brek mumbled. “I expected better of him though. This is plain ridiculous.”
After some hesitation the Ferengi selected a path, and there he noticed that those silhouettes in the distance were skeletons of his own species. Big heads, rather small bodies. “A nice touch, I suppose,” he added to himself. “Better than corny vampires or howling werewolves...”
“You have always had a tendency to speak to yourself, as soon as you were left alone for more than five minutes, young master Brek.”
The voice, soft and yet chilly, was old. A sharp memory from the past, and, being so personal, it had nothing to do here. It belonged to Orloff, a Bolian man and a friend from his days on planet Volchok. Slowly, Brek turned round. The tall Bolian was there, his skin an unhealthy pale blue shade. His clothes, a grey servant costume he often wore. An unpleasant smell emanated from the figure. A sickening sweetness mixed with a musty scent. Orloff had perished in ‘79 during a fateful feud between two prominent Ferengi families.
“Or...loff?” Brek muttered with difficulty. The old Bolian had been stabbed multiple times and there were ignominious dark marks on his belly and his arms. Brek had not seen the man’s body back in ‘79. He had fled Volchok like a coward; too scared to face his new reality. The house of his employers had fallen and few staff members had survived the massacre.
“My dear Brek, I dare say that you look better than I do. I trust you have fared well since those old days when you toiled as a bookkeeper?”
Brek rubbed his eyes. Not because of a silly hope that the apparition would vanish, but because Kyrill, the little creep, had discovered one of the rare things from his past that could truly affect him. He must have consulted the Ferengi press from those bygone days.
“I’m so sorry,” Brek managed to say. His eyes were burning, and he sniffed a couple of times. So many friends, and regrets, had been buried on Volchok. This is why, although he knew he was in a holodeck, the apparition proved too powerful to renounce. “I never said goodbye. I couldn’t...”
“I’m not here to extract an apology from you, Brek. None of us, even in our wildest nightmares, could have fathomed this outcome. It was swift...”
“But why?” Brek asked, his voice barely a whisper. “Why did it have to happen that way?”
“Money owed, promises broken, young master Brek. Those, in certain circles, are never forgiven. We all paid the price. You too, in your own way. This said, you did save the day, by rescuing Desha. I knew we could count on you.” [ooc: Desha: the daughter of the Ferengi man for whom Brek used to work for.]
Brek fell to his knees. “You should have allowed me to stay with you, Orloff. I’d have found a way to save you.”
“One ghost is better than two, Brek.”
“It’s all wrong and you know it. There should have been no ghosts.”
“If the past could be changed, it would not exist. We spoke about that once, do you remember?”
Brek shook his head. This was the whole point. He didn’t want to remember. As a heavy silence settled between the two figures, the huge Bolian vanished gradually. Given time, the forest also lost its substance, allowing the holodeck to revert to its natural grid pattern and more convenient temperature.
“Are you okay, Mr Brek?” Kyrill asked, his voice hesitant.
Brek remained as he was, lost in the past, with all its bad choices and shameful moments. Why was it always so easy to blunder and clear off and say the wrong things at the worst moments?
“Mr Brek? Please, say something. You’ve been in the forest for nearly an hour. Do you feel unwell? Should I call sickbay?”
The Ferengi finally got to his feet and he stared at the teenager. “What the hell did you do to me? I’m never emotional. Ever. I was trained that way. That’s the only positive thing I got out of Ferenginar. And look at me now. I have important things to do today, and I’m a wreck!”
Kyrill stepped back, a sensible action because Brek was that close to punching him in the face. Another bad decision wanting, quite desperately, to happen. “Nothing... I just... There was a mild substance in the candy bar. To make the holo forest look more credible to you. It was only meant to affect you for a few minutes.”
“I knew it! You little piece of... No more nice Brek for you, that’s for sure. You’ll pay and pay again for what you did to me.”
Those words said, the Ferengi stormed off the holodeck. Reality was now back where it belonged and he was late to greet his wealthy grandmother, mighty holder of his inheritance, who had just arrived on the Station.
