Everything felt real. She was able to produce a very real sensation of pain when a splinter from the wood of windowsill pricked her finger and drew a drop of equally real green blood.
Therefore, if she were to become injured in this holographic simulation, she would really be injured. Providing this was her real body and not some virtual reality being fed directly to her senses.
She remembered the Vulcan philosopher D'arc. D'arc, like her terrestrial counterpart Descartes, had asked how do we know that the evidence of our senses is real. How can we prove the nature of reality? The human Descartes had argued 'cogito ergo sum' that if something was there to do the thinking - then he did indeed exist. D'arc, being a Vulcan, hadn't settled for such vagueness and had pursued more proof - shutting off her senses as she pursued universal truth.
D'arc had apparently determined that the universe didn't exist, and had walked in front of a speeding shuttle.
The lesson of this historical footnote - in the absence of any evidence otherwise - treat a situation as real and worry about the philosophical ramifications later.
So while she absolutely could not be back on Earth, much less in a relationship with a human, until she figured a way out she would have to treat this situation as if it actually existed.
"Whatever your silly game is, it will not prove anything," said T'pol to the room. The room did not answer back.
The boy sleeping in the bedroll stirred slightly, which was impressive considering the strength of the nerve pinch she had used. Clearly this simulated human had a higher than normal recovery rate.
The door to the dwelling place opened. T'pol looked over this new person.
Human, apparently of the phenotype "Asian" which corresponded to the Vulcans of the V'quahr Steppes. Clothing consisted of a simple dress with slippers of some kind on her feet. Appearance indicated age of approximately midway through the developmental phase known as "teenager" - perhaps the mid-later period of 16-18. The human was holding a large bucket of water in her hands.
"This simulation has interesting, if nonsensical, details," remarked T'pol.
"Nani? Anata dare? Ranma?" said the girl.
"Terrestrial Japanese?" T'pol frowned ever so slightly. "Have encountered but not is best at. Limited exposure language. (Do you speak English?)"
"RANMAAAA!?" Akane yelled at the unconscious boy, following with a string of unpleasant sounding comments.
"I not speak Japanese well very," emphasized T'pol. "I suppose Galacc or Vulcan out of question is also?"
Akane continued to glare at the unconscious boy. "(I speak English. Bestest student in Furinkan High School is me.)"
T'pol didn't wince but apparently accepted that at face value. "(My name is T'pol. I am in this simulation against my will. The male has been nerve-pinched but should recover soon.)"
Akane blinked. "(What am word 'simulation'?)"
T'pol considered that the simulated character was likely not programmed to accept that her simulation was anything but real. "(It means that I appeared here due to my angering of someone with more power than maturity.)"
"(Sounds like Happosai,)" said Akane with another glare at Ranma though the thought was occuring to her that it might not be Ranma's fault this time. "(Well, come on, you can have breakfast while we get details, I have to go to school soon. So does that idiot.)"
"(I see,)" said T'pol, wondering about the possibility of a static exit. If this was some sort of holographic projection - there should be a static method of exiting such a thing as a failsafe.
(Posted Sat, 28 Jun 2003 16:27)
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