The Escape Room

Posted on Sat Sep 24th, 2022 @ 6:31pm by Petty Officer 2nd Class Henry Washington & Lieutenant Commander Michael Ki & Ensign Charlotte (Charlie) Washington

Mission: Character Development
Location: Holodeck 2
Timeline: [Back Post Before the Mission]
3210 words - 6.4 OF Standard Post Measure

A briefing had been given by a holographic Commander from the US Navy and then suddenly Charlie, Henry & Dr.Ki found themselves in a German bunker from world war two. The large room contained desks piled high with paperwork, a few typewriters, a phone, and clocks along the wall showing times for almost every time zone. In the center of the room stood a massive table with what looked like a tactical map and small militaristic figurines placed in strategic locations. Their mission was to find the code to the German nuclear facility, radio it in, and escape before the Allied bombers took out the airfield and bunkers at their location. They had one hour before the squadron was to arrive.

"I guess we'd better hurry," Charlie said as surveyed their surroundings. "Where do you think we should start?" She looked to Ki and Henry, both of which were more experienced with puzzles than she was.

"I think the best places to start would be a quick sift through the paperwork, and perhaps an examination of the maps." Ki began speaking as he approached the table with the maps and figurines. "You see here where there is an extra concentration of figurines. If I know my history these figurines represent armies. There is a large concentration of troops in this area which indicates a well defended place. This could be the nuclear facility we are looking for."

Henry started going through the papers that littered the desk. Some of them were blank, used mostly as props or decorations in the scenario, others just had the Nazi symbol on them, more props maybe. Henry eventually found a sheet of paper that had the alphabet running down one side and a table of lines and dots running down the other. "I have a morse code sheet," he said. "I already know morse code but this could be useful."

"Ooohhh, these ship carvings are pretty cool," Charlie held up one of the wooden British vessels that stood on the map and admired it using the light that hung from above. "Do you think the way these ships are lined up means anything?" She asked as she noticed that the order in which they were placed didn't really look right, not that she knew much about world war two or old naval strategic plans.

Ki walked over to Charlie animatedly and with excitement. "Yes, yes... Those ships represent a formation. Ships of the era would travel in a formation. Usually the weaker ships would be toward the center, and the stronger to the edges. But this formation seems to be the opposite and it is in the shape of an arrow. But I can't see where the arrow is pointing to."

Charlie squinted at the board. "It looks like they're pointing to something called...Midway? Does that make sense? Maybe it's a clue, like mid-way to something or between something?" She looked around the room trying to find something that matched that description until her eyes fell on one of the clocks. It was on the middle of the wall and the second hand wasn't moving. The hour hand indicated twelve o'clock. In the middle of the way and mid way through the day. Could that be it? Charlie wondered as she ran to it.

"Look, it's on the middle of the wall and it's broken. Stuck at twelve o'clock," she announced to the room as she gingerly took it off the wall. "Maybe 12 is part of the code?"

"It would seem so, and now to look for the next part of the code..." Michael's fascination with solving a mystery had taken over. In fact just working like this had seemed to loosen the usually tight lipped doctor up. At the moment he looked at the clocks. There were five of them and each of them had a name of a city underneath. The clock that Charlie pointed out said New York and was indeed stuck at 12. He wondered if the times on the other clock made up the rest of the code. He moved his eyes to the next clock which read London underneath and his brow instantly furrowed, the time was off. "London is five hours ahead of New York. So, if the New York clock reads 12 then the London clock should read 5 and yet here the London clock reads 8. We are in a military setting and on the 24 hour clock 8 is 20. So perhaps 20 is the next part of the sequence."

Henry moved over to the typewriter and noticed it was a standard QWERTY one, quite typical of the era, though it seemed more American or British in design than german. He wondered if this was a mistake by the person who had programmed this scenario or if this was a purposeful clue? "There are letters missing from this," he said to the others. "W-U-I-D-G-L." He rearranged the letters in his head and came to only one conclusion. "Ludwig," he announced as he turned to face his wife and the doctor. "Which is actually part of the german phonetic alphabet, L is the twelfth letter which means twelve may also be a clue."

Charlie ran to the desk and grabbed a pen and some paper. "We'd better write all of this down," she said knowing that she wouldn't remember everything they'd found when the bombs started falling. She then moved to search the room more. Everything seemed pretty ordinary for a battle-planning meeting space, but something wasn't making sense. Why would they hide the code to a nuclear facility in these random items? Just out in the open like this?

Her gaze fell upon the large painting of a submarine and Charlie walked up to it. She ran her hands along the frame until her finger stumbled upon a piece sticking out and when she pushed it in, the frame opened like a door. "Hey! Over here! I think this is a safe!"

And just like that everything clicked in Michael's head. He snapped his fingers and shouted... "That's it!!!" A quick jog later and he found himself at Charlie's side. "Twelve, twenty, twelve... That is most likely the combination to this safe. Safes of this design usually have three numbers but they have to be set in a left to right combination. I would say try the combination in a left, right, left pattern."

Henry watched as Charlie tried left, right, left and then right, left, right, but still, nothing happened. They were missing something. He looked at the clocks and an idea occurred. "Maybe you were right the first time Doctor," he said. "The clock reads 0800 hours, and not 2000 hours. Try zero-eight instead of the twenty Char."

Michael was sure of it now. He was sure that the safe would hold what they looked for and that they now had the combination. The excitement built within him as he waited to see if they were correct.

Charlie crossed one set of fingers and hoped that the modified combo would work. "Twelve, zero eight, twel...." a nearby explosion shook the ground and she stumbled. "If they could just hold off on this bombing raid for 10 more seconds," Charlie bit her lip and tried the combination again. "Got it!" The safe opened with a satisfying click and Charlie grabbed the paper inside.

"Now we just have to get it to the resistance. Across the airfield and to the base of the mountains, before we get blasted to smithereens," she said with a smile. "Though it is the holodeck and I'm fairly sure the safeties are on so that bit should be easy."

"Even so, somehow I do not believe that it is going to be so easy for us. I mean do either of you know where we could go to find the resistance. We have a limited time and can't simply go searching everywhere." Michael looked toward Charlie as he spoke.

Another bomb dropped, this time closer. The entire building shook and dust floated down from the ceiling. "I recommend we cross the airfield to the base of the mountains like that hologram said earlier. We can search for them there. Staying here any longer is a death wish." Charlie stuffed the paper inside her shift and ran towards the door, not waiting for a reply.

Michael did not have to say he agreed with the Ensign, he simply followed her hot on her heels. Her idea was better than his lack of any ideas. The very notion that he had a hard time solving this puzzle buzzed in the back of Michael's head. He usually had a better handle on puzzles like this.

Henry followed his wife and doctor out of the bunker before he tested Charlie's theory with the holodeck safeties. "Maybe we don't need to find the resistance," he called out to pair in front of him, "maybe we just need to find a radio and give them the message that way. Why else would they give us a morse code list?"

Michael snapped his fingers. "That's it.... Was there a radio in the bunker? I don't remember seeing one..." Ki surveyed the area and his eyes widened as he smiled. "Look there..." He pointed at a grouping of tents that had been set up on a grassy area between two large buildings. "...That is a field hospital I would bet my life on that. Where there is a field hospital there is a radio. The question is how do we get in and get access to it. I doubt they will let us waltz in."

"Maybe they'll be distracted enough with casualties that they won't notice. At least we're dressed for the gig," Charlie shrugged. "Once we get inside you can send the message and we'll keep watch. If someone comes up we'll tell them you're sending a medical report. If they ask questions, you'll just have to wow them with your expertise." Charlie smirked, excited about the new plan, and made a dash for the tents.

Ki liked the plan and smiled as he nodded his agreement with it. He was Japanese and he knew his history well enough to know that his ancestors were allied with the Germans during this war. "Lead on..." He spoke calmly but could feel the excitement building within him.

Charlie strolled into the tent as if she owned the place. She walked around the back quadrant of the temporary structure looking for a typewriter, but had no luck. All she found was a lot of blood and body parts. "Did you find anything?" She asked as she passed Henry close to the center.

"Yes, no... maybe, I'm not sure," Henry said, his eyes fixated on a row of x-rays that were pinned to the wall of the tent. They looked off to him, as though they had been placed there purposefully as opposed to practically. One was definitely upside and Henry was sure that one of them was backwards, but what did it mean? "Doc, take a look at these. I think they may be a clue to the radio we need," he said.

Michael stepped over and looked at the x-rays he stroked his chin as he pondered what he saw. The images were set up in such a way that they appeared that they were being used for one of the horrible experiments the Germans performed during this war. "That first image is of a human sternum, and seems that there is nothing wrong with the person that is to say it looks healthy. The second image is of an upside down coccyx and the rear of the bone is being shown, as if they want to bring attention to the rear. The next x-ray is that of the right radius of a human. This one seems to be broken at the midline. The last one is an infant and that seems out of place..." For about the next minute Michael stood in silence and pondered the images. With a finger snap he had the answer. "The images represent and acronym. S-Sternum, C-Coccyx, R-radius, now the infant threw me off for a moment. A human baby has 300 bones in the body and as it grows some of the bones fuse. So that would be the SCR 300 a back mounted radio unit that was used in this time period."

"So we're looking for a back-mounted radio....wouldn't we be more likely to find one of those in the equipment storage depo or on a radioman?" Charlie asked, piecing together what little she knew of the history from the time period. "Those are the ones they wear in backpacks right?"

"Yes they are the backpack radios and were the origins of the name walkie talkie. I would agree I think that they would be found in the storage depot... There is that shed off to the right. It has no markings and is guarded. That seems to be the logical place for a storage depot. Thoughts?" Michael looked about and found the shed. He knew that they had to move fast as they did not have much time.

"We don't have much time," Henry said, unknowingly echoing the Doctor's thoughts. He turned to his wife, that look on his face he was sure that she would recognize meaning he was plotting something. "The safeties are on, right?" After receiving a nod, he turned to face the doctor. "I'll distract them, when I do move."

Without waiting for confirmation Henry made his way to the shed that Ki mentioned and walked right up to the two armed guards waiting outside. He took a deep breath and summoned his best old-time British accent. "Al'right ah Gov'na... I'm from the moon aye am. Bet ya can't catch me." Before they could register what was happening he ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction. As he had hoped, the soldiers chased after him, leaving the coast open for his wife and the doctor to end this game.

"I think that is the window..." Michael said with a smirk and headed for the depot with Charlotte in tow. When they arrived they found that the guards were not the only protection the building had. It had one door, and the door is locked. "You good a picking locks?"

"Good? I'm an expert," Charlie smirked before pulling a pin from her hair. She twisted it into the right configuration before slipping it into the key slot. A few twists a turns reveal that this lock was easier than most to pick. "After you," she looked to Ki and motioned towards the door.

As he slipped in with Charlie in tow Michael took a quick look around. Their gamble that this was a depot paid off as it was indeed a storage facility. Within no time he noticed the backpack radios in the far corner of the shed. "This way if we get one of them hooked up to its portable battery supply we will be able to transmit." He already began to open the radio's battery box and hook up the wires. "And here we are. Got it on and working and now I must confess that I am not sure how to use it."

"I got this," Charlie said with a smirk. Being an operations officer and having picked up tidbits from the historical ramblings of her husband, she felt she had a fairly good idea of how the contraption worked. She adjusted a dial and then picked up an oddly shaped handheld portion that looked slightly like a banana with circles on both ends. "I think we just speak into this part....hello?" Charlie spoke into the device but heard nothing back. "Hello?" Still nothing. She inspected it further and noticed a button. Depressing it, she tried again. "Hello?!"

"Hello!" A charmingly British-sounding voice rang through the radio. "Have you looked outside? The moon is full."

"And the tide is high," she responded, realizing they were using the challenge phrase discussed at the beginning of the program.

"It's a great night for a swim," the countersign came back.

"It's even better since we have that special code for you," Charlie spoke through the strange banana once more. She pulled the paper from her shirt and listed off the numbers to the man on the other end.

"Fantastic job! Now get out of there before those bombs start dropping!" The mysterious voice came through and just after the program disappeared, replaced with a congratulatory banner. Charlie spotted Henry across the room and smiled. "We did it! And I had a blast. I hope you two had a good time?" She looked from Henry to Ki.

Henry was bent over slightly, red in the face and clearly out of breath. He preferred exercising his mind rather than his actual body and the run had taken it out of him. "Good work you two," he said through heavy pants. "We should do this again, maybe something more challenging. I get the feeling we barely scratched the surface of your talents Doctor," he said to Ki with a sweaty smile.

"This was a new and dare I say fun experience for me. I would very much enjoy doing this again. However, I do believe this was a team effort. You kept them busy long enough. But judging by your appearance perhaps a new fitness regimen." The last part was said in jest, a genuine joke was something that rarely came from Michael.

Henry nodded towards Charlie as he replied, "she's my fitness routine." The words were out of his mouth before he could catch himself and he felt his cheeks growing hotter than they already were. "I'm so sorry Doctor, that was crass."

Charlie stood somewhat surprised and possibly a bit proud that Henry had let out such a comment. "I guess I'll have to make your routine a bit more challenging then," she smirked before breaking into a laugh.

"Now now Henry no need for an apology. An active sex life is just as good for your health as anything else. So I would suggest you listen to your wife and make it a tad more rigorous." Michael laughed he had rather enjoyed getting to know some of the crew and allowing them to see who he really was.

Henry blushed brighter than ever before, in fact, if anyone saw him they might think the ship was at red alert.

"And on that note," Charlie grinned. "I guess we'd better be going, it is getting late." She turned towards the CMO, happy to have made yet another friend in their short time aboard the Athena and perhaps even more excited that it was someone that could share in a hobby that also interested Henry. "It was an absolute blast Doctor, thank you so much for joining us."

"The pleasure was all mine. Thank you for inviting me and I look forward to the next one." Michael left the holodeck with a broad smile on his face. It was exceptionally hard for someone like Ki to make friends and yet he just made two. What made matters better is that he actually felt happy about the prospect.