Viviana Morgante, praised creator of holographic roleplay games and old friend of Riker, arrives on the Enterprise and introduces him, Deanna and Data to her latest fantasy creation. Unfortunately, the computer apparently goes nuts, cutting off the...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
[Original story formerly published in paper by the Star Trek Italian Club, which graciously granted permission to publish it digitally. Cover and drawings by Chiara Falchini.]
Chapter VII
In the imaginary world, it was dawning. Data watched the eastern horizon becoming pink before the rising of the sun and checked his internal clock: nine hours and twelve minutes had passed since the sunset, a time interval adequate to the reproduced season.
The first beam of the rising sun hit Deanna's face, and she stirred and awakened; yawning, she got up sitting, feeling perfectly rested.
Watching the surroundings, for a moment she felt lost, before remembering the events of the previous day; with a start, she searched for her companions, and spotted Riker and Viviana, still sleeping in each other's arms. For a moment, she was puzzled: was it possible that, after so many years, friends had become lovers? Then she shook her head, laughing at herself: no, impossible for an empath like her to mistake the nature of the bond between the two of them; furthermore, it was quite unlikely they would choose such an inopportune moment, they were both persons used to think about the consequences of their conducts.
"Good morning, Counsellor", Data greeted her, drawing near, "Did you sleep well?"
"Yes, thanks", she answered, "and I'm quite amazed, given the everything-but-rosy situation we are in", she pushed away her cloak, which had acted as a coverlet for the night, and stood up, stretching her stiffened limbs.
At that moment, Viviana opened her eyes, sat up and yawned, her hand in front of her mouth. She saw Deanna and nodded toward her, then she watched Riker, still peacefully sleeping. She elbowed him quite roughly:
"Stand up, cadet!", she barked, in a voice worth their old Sergeant Instructor of the first Academy year. Riker sprang up in a sitting position like stung by a hornet, then he caught sight of Viviana laughing at him and brought his hand over his chest:
"Hey, are you insane, I almost got a heart attack!"
Deanna laughed hard at the two old friends' jokes, funny demonstration of the understanding between them.
While his human companions ate, Data reported the night had been totally quiet, then they prepared to leave.
*****
Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge woke up with a start. After a moment of confusion, he realised he hadn't been awakened by the alarm clock; hurriedly, he groped around for his VISOR and put it on, then he checked the clock quadrant. What he saw made him hiss a curse not much in style with his character and leap to his feet: he had overslept a good deal, but why didn't he hear the alarm? Thinking again of the moment he had thrown himself on the bed, La Forge realised he was the only one to blame, because he completely forgot to order the computer to wake him up after a given time. Shaking his head to drive away the remnants of sleepiness, the chief engineer of the Enterprise headed quickly to the engine room, where he found Barclay and Saunders already at work.
