Afterlife Crisis

Who: 1st Technician Jackson & Lieutenant Marwood (Deceased)
Where: Blue Dwarf, Deck 592, Hologram Simulation Suite
When: As Blue Dwarf underwent repairs
Blue Dwarf was a Dwarfstar class ship and therefore the size of a
small city. But compared to the size of Mars Station. Transfer tubes,
a mile in length, were extended from the station to the dozen or so
airlocks that were scattered across the side of the ship. Blue Dwarf
spent precious little time at Earth, so the crew used it for shore
leave, stocking up on supplies and refuelling.
1st Technician Christopher Jackson was one of the 20,000 strong crew
aboard Mars Station. He'd served aboard the station for nearly seven
years, working as one of the 2000 technicians who took care of repair
work, cleaning and general dogsbody work considered too menial for
the mechanoids and skutters. He stepped into the mile length of metal
and began his walk towards the Dwarf he looked at the rusting walls
and handrails, years of neglect and lack of funds. As he walked,
Jackson took in some of the holo-posters that lined the tunnel. They
advertised some of Mars's more interesting sites - the artificial
beaches of Mars Bay, the sickly sweet looking Disney world Mars, and
a hundred other terraformed wonders.
He stepped out of the tunnel and looked around. The ship was
deserted, save for the few Skutters that were conducting repairs
inside. He made his way to an Xpress Lift and keyed in his
destination: Level 592. He sat on one of the metal benches and waited
until he arrived at his destination: The Hologram Simulation Suite.
He stepped out into the corridor, turned right and moved off through
the long corridors. Eventually, he reached the hologram simulation
suite, which consisted of several rows of computer banks, an open
round chamber, a row of filing cabinets and a locked cupboard.
Jackson removed a grubby piece of paper and a key from his pocket and
made his way over to the cupboard and unlocked it with the key.
Inside were rows and rows of Light Bees, the devices used to project
holograms. He picked one up and placed it in the chamber. Next, he
moved towards the filing cabinets; he looked at the piece of paper in
his hand.
"Madwood, Maewood, ah! Marwood" he exclaimed finding the correct
file. He reached in and pulled out a CD Case with a CD in it, written
on it's white surface was "Marwood, P". He moved towards the computer
console and booted it up. As soon as it was loaded, he opened the
disk drive and inserted the disk. He clicked the `load hologram' icon
on the desktop and initiated the download of memory, personality,
physical characteristics and skill points. A roughly human shape
began to form around the now hovering Light Bee. Several coloured
bars on the screen, representing different aspects of Marwood's
personality, began to download slowly on the screen. Seeing as this
was going to take some time, Jackson decided to go look for some
coffee.
---Half an Hour Later…---
//Where the Hell am I// Marwood thought to himself, as he slowly
gained consciousness. He looked around and saw that he was in what he
assumed was one of the science labs, with a short, grubby looking man
in stained khaki fatigues looking up at him with a plastic coffee cup
in his hand.
"Ah, so your online are you? Welcome back to the land of the living"
the man smiled at him, with a hint of an American accent.
"Online? What are you talking about? I'm a human! Not a machine" was
all Marwood could groggily say, feeling more than a little confused
and disorientated.
"Don't worry about the dizziness, it'll pass" said the Technician,
not entirely reassuring the young pilot "What's the last thing you
remember?"
"Well, All I remember is the last time I had a personality upload, to
keep my hologram disk up to file. Just before I went down to deliver
a cure for New France."
"Ah, well, you see the thing is - you sort of died" said the
Technician, not looking Marwood in the eye. "Your sort of a hologram
now."
"What?" Marwood all but whispered "he turned to face the computer
monitor, and saw the capital H on his dark reflection. He all but
collapsed onto the seat.
"Oh my God…I'm dead! I'm dead? Oh God" he wanted to be sick.
"Don't worry, your just having an afterlife crisis, it'll pass" said
the man, lighting up a cigarette.
"Hang on, how can I touch things? Like sitting on this chair?" asked
Marwood, noticing he could touch the keyboard to the computer.
"Ah, you're hardlight, means you don't burn up billions of dollar-
pounds by the second - you create your own energy by special solar
cells in your Light Bee. Ingenious really"
"Ingenious? I'm dead! In what way is that ingenious? Oh God, oh God,
oh God" all but shouted at the laid back man. "Why've I been brought
back anyway? I'm not a senior officer or anything, Heck, I'm not even
important!"
"Captain Jed wanted you to work the Drive Room - Navigation and
Stuff. You know? Flying the ship, plotting courses and routes etc"
answered the Technician, finishing his coffee. "If you want a change
of clothes, hairstyle or anything, just ask Holly. He can give you
access to your holo-wardrobe." and with that, he walked out the door,
leaving Marwood alone.