<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Windows-1252">
<style type="text/css" style="display:none;"> P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;} </style>
</head>
<body dir="ltr">
<div style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof">
<b style="font-weight:normal">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">Mission: Prelude</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">Day: </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">Stardate: 2446.03.24</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">(USS Illuminar - Deck 4 - Explorer’s Lounge - SecO - Ensign Larry ‘Lucky’ Day- 0550)</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">Larry had recovered from the previous day’s experience with the turbo lift. The shift went well, and true to
Ned’s word, Dusty was starting to warm up to the idea of the three of them being friends again. He felt he needed to thank T’Mur for continually teaming them all together so that he had a chance to re-earn that friendship. He still wasn’t sure what had happened
to him, or what happened to Lt. Lee. But at least Larry came back. Nobody seemed to recall Lee, and Larry stopped trying to figure it all out.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">He was ready for the day to start, but need his morning cup of coffee. He walked up to the replicator. “One
coffee, hot and black.”</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">The replicator hummed and a coffee cup appeared. With a satisfied smile he picked up the cup and turned away.
As he brought the cup to his lips he noted something was a little off. Perhaps it was the fact that it wasn’t as hot as he usually noticed. Perhaps it was the color of the coffee. Perhaps it was the smell, which was clearly not a coffee smell. But it was
too late. His body was already locked into auto pilot and the cup touched his lips. </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">The liquid poured into his mouth and he immediately spat it out. “What in God’s name is the foul liquid?”</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">Another crewman came over to look at Larry, and then down at the cup. He offered his hand and Larry put the cup
in it. The crewman looked at it carefully, then smelled it. Finally he took a sip, and began to chuckle.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">“Well, I’ll be,” he said, “prune juice.”</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">“What?” Larry said in disbelief. </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">“It’s prune juice,” the man said. “Hey, it’s supposed to be good for you.”</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">“Maybe,” Larry said, “but I need my morning cup of coffee to get me going.”</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">The crewman turned to the replicator and ordered, “Coffee, black.”</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">After the hum he picked up the cup with the same result, “Yep, prune juice.”</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">Larry went over to another replicator and tried again with the same result. With a sigh he shook his head, “Why
do these things keep happening to me?”</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">He tapped his comm badge, “Ensign Day to Engineering, there’s a problem with the replicators.”</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">=^=What’s the problem Ensign Day?=^=</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">“Apparently they are producing prune juice instead of coffee,” he said sadly.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">=^=What?=^=</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">“You heard me,” Day said, “prune juice instead of coffee. There’s going to be a lot of unhappy people round here
if it isn’t fixed, starting with me.”</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">=^=Roger that, we’ll look into it.=^=</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">Back in the corner of the lounge Wednesday Adams suppressed a giggle and headed for the door. As she left she
tapped her comm badge.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">“Mark me down for item 9.”</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">(reply none)</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400">(posted by Al Muir)</span></p>
<br>
</b><br>
</div>
</body>
</html>