<USS Avalon> "Solution by Distraction - Part 1"

 
 
 
 
 

"Solution by Distraction - Part 1"
By Lieutenant First  Class Melanie Redgrave and Ensign Elijah Dareth 

"Good. Come with me?" he asked with hope in his eyes. 
She sat there for a long moment just looking at Elijah before finally  
nodding. Melanie stood slowly and walked over to the other side of the table.  
"So 
where are you taking me?"  
"To the holodeck. You won't get dirty or anything," he said, gesturing to her 
 uniform. "But we can stop and change first if you want."  
"That’s ok. In my line of work I’m surprised it isn’t already covered 
in...  
stuff." Melanie said with a slight chuckle. She followed Elijah to the 
holodeck,  wondering the whole time what he had in mind. It felt good to have 
something  else on her mind, and to look forward to something she hoped would 
be 
enjoyable.  
Dareth was glad that Melanie wanted to go with him. He hoped she wouldn't be  
disappointed. He just wanted to distract her with a little fun. Once they  
reached the holodeck, he told the computer, "Program A.P. 1998, Authorization  
Dareth - Lambda Lambda Four." 
"Program loaded," the computer responded. 
"Ready?" he asked Melanie. She took a deep breath and followed him through  
the doors. 
It was sunshiny and bright, but not hot. It seemed like perhaps a nice spring 
 day. And it was loud. She heard people laughing and screaming. She could 
smell  food vendors and see lots and lots of people milling about.  
"Look," Dareth said, pointing. Off to Melanie's right was a huge wooden  
roller-coaster. The screams and laughter had come from those aboard. "What do  
you 
think?" he asked, "You game?" 
It had been ages since Melanie had set foot in an amusement park. They didn’t 
 have too many of them in England, but she could recall her father and mother 
 taking her to one when they’d visit North America. "It’s wooden," she said 
as  she watched the cars clang along the tracks. "Those are the best. I love 
the way  they creak as the cars hurl along like that."  
Melanie wasn’t sure which way to go to get to the ride but she moved forward  
to let her companion know she was game if he was. The smells that wafted 
around  her made her smile. Cotton candy, corn dogs, those huge deep fried 
onions 
- she  was going to have to spend extra time in the gym just from walking 
through the  aromas.  
Elijah was happy that she seemed pleased. He noticed her eyeing the food  
vendors, but told her, "We'll eat after the coaster," and winked at her again.  
"This way." He reached for her hand and pulled her through the crowd. "I've  
tried a lot of programs, but this coaster is the scariest. It really knocks you 
 
around and the creaks are extra creaky." They entered the queue. He shifted 
from  foot to foot in anticipation as he always did. 
"Where are we?" Melanie asked as they moved through the line. She kept  
looking around trying to place the park but nothing was clicking. As they moved 
 
closer to the front of the line, the yells from the riders above them became  
louder and Melanie could feel the nervous knot forming in her stomach and her  
skin tingle. The only thing on her mind now was the big wooden beast before  
them.  
"A small town in northern Pennsylvania in the year 1998. There wasn't  
anything else really holding the town together and when they outlawed wooden  
roller-coasters in 2020, this whole park collapsed. Pretty sad, huh?" They were 
 now 
at the front of the line. "I can't believe that the nerves start way back  
there," he pointed to where they joined the queue. "You nervous too?"  
Melanie nodded as she tried to swallow down the lump in her throat, but the  
smile on her face said it was a good nervous. She and Elijah made their way to 
 the front car and buckled in. Melanie could feel her pulse quicken as the 
safety  bar came down over her head. Slowly the cars made their way up the 
track 
and  Melanie could feel the breath caught in her lungs at the clanging sound 
of the  car catching on the chains below.  
The nervousness built in their bellies and began clawing its way up to their  
throats. And so far it was only the slow tick...tick...tick... as the car  
inched its way to the top of the first drop. It held there in suspended  
animation before slowly teetering over the edge giving Elijah and Melanie a 
nice  
view of the huge drop they were about to make. Then, without warning, the 
sudden  
rush had them both screaming those nerves right out of their blood. The 
coaster  never slowed after that. It knocked the two of them into each other 
and 
the  sides of the car. They alternated between laughter and screams. 
The ride chugged to a halt faster than either of them wanted and they stood  
with wobbly legs, carefully making their way down the stairs. Elijah offered 
his  arm to Melanie to help steady her.  
Without thinking, and while still laughing, Melanie accepted the offered arm. 
 She was still waiting for her stomach and heart to catch up to her as they  
walked down the fairway, but Melanie didn’t care. She was feeling really 
good. 
 Nothing like a rush of adrenaline and making a new friend to chase away the  
world for a little while. "That was bloody brilliant!"  
To be continued...

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