Star Trek: Starbase 777

The night sky drifted peacefully above, displaying far off planets and stars. The bookshelves climbed high, accompanied by ladders and small elevators to go from floor to floor to follow them. There were a few chairs and a table for stacking books and paper alike and a few desks squeezed into the corners of the room for a moment of quiet. The books seemed to be color coded, though a few along the lower shelves looked out of place. There was only one thing in the room labeled by a yellow evidence number, #7 discarded on a table on top of a fashion magazine and accompanied by a faint trill of a bell.

"Ooh, pretty..." Maggie instantly moved to climb up the ladders, despite there being nothing of much interest on the higher levels. "This place is gorgeous!" they gushed.

They snacked on some trail mix as they followed Maggie into the room. "It is beautiful! We had libraries like this on El-Auria, all over the place. We weren't just good listeners - we stored what we heard." There was a tinge of sadness in the way he spoke about it in past tense. All that knowledge was gone now. They approached the evidence to get a good look.

Maggie hummed in reply, hanging off the ladder before jumping off and back to the ground with a dramatic flourish. "That sounds really nice,"they mused, though tilted their head at the sound of the bell, turning towards the table. "Sorry, what is..?" They followed Zero to the fashion magazine, and gasped."Ooh, I love that issue!"

"Oh? What's within? Hot gossip? Styling tips?" Maybe he could use it. Wearing khakis ironically was still wearing khakis. "But what does it mean? What does it all mean?" They wrote down 'fashion magazine' in their notes.

Vialara had slipped in behind some folk, quietly observing the scene as she did so, not saying a word as to not draw attention to herself, Nobody knew who the murderer could be, and she wouldn't dare draw unnecessary attention or suspicion her way. She slowly made her way over to examine the clue.

"Hmm, maybe the murderer really likes to keep up with the latest trends," the Magician mused, offering Vialara a polite wave, though soon frowned. "Pretty as this place is, I wish they organized it better. The books are all in the wrong sections..."

"If this is like one of those 'escape rooms' where they leave little clues around as to hint towards a common goal, it might be worth investigating anything that seems out of the ordinary... At least, that's what I would do if I were designing a fun little team building game like this, I've done so before in the past." She said with a gentle smile as she moved over to the table where the chime was coming from. * "What's with the fashion magazine? What's 'evidence' about this?" She said, moving the small #7 marker off to the side, to look at the magazine.

"Maybe they wanted to be disguised as someone fashionable?" Zero said, shrugging, then going over to the bookshelf and pulling out all the out of place books all willy-nilly.

At least the bookshelf didn't look hideously mismatched anymore, just full of gaping holes...

They made a pile of the odd books, skimming over all the titles, looking for Cloos.

One of the books, not colored to go anywhere in the room, opened seemingly of its own accord and revealed a #2 tucked within its pages. Upon closer inspection, it looked to be a bloodied classic Sherlock Holmes novel with the title burnt off, and nestled neatly inside was a radio. It whirred to life and began to beep.. --- -. / - .... . / --- - .... . .-. / ... .. -.. . / --- ..-. / - .... . / .-.. --- --- -.- .. -. --. / --. .-.. .- ... … In the gap where the book used to be sat a small vase, currently empty, accompanied by two notes, singed at the edges. yldaed sa tsuj eb dluow eman rehto yna yb | htaed ot stnuoma ssik a neve. The vase rotated slowly in the base like a figure in a music box, playing an unfinished piano tune, stuttering in two places in the song.

"Even a kiss amounts to death | by any other name would be just as deadly. And the morse code says..." Zero closed their eyes for a second, trying to remember their Borg days. Morse code was something a few people had known, and knowledge he'd absorbed back then. They didn't remember all of it, much like skills and memories they'd acquired in their first century had faded by their second, but there were a few things that stuck around. Besides, morse code always reminded him of binary code, which was definitely something he knew. "On the other side of the looking glass. That's the morse code. Is there a mirror in here?"

No sign of a mirror, not at first glance, anyway.

Maggie clasped their hands together in a delighted little clap. "I never would've been able to figure that out," they mused, kneeling down beside Zero. "I recognize the book, too, but I don't know if it is important for anything.. Same with the fashion magazine. Maybe it's not important for the murder at all..?"

"Who knows? I've written everything down, so let's regroup with some of the others, see what they've found out. We can come back later if we're stuck." If Maggie agreed, they walked back into the hallway.

2

"Good move! Hey, doc, wanna come with?" They chirped, glancing back at Vialara on their way out. Not that Maggie themself had been much help, but it was fun to tag along!

She nodded and joined Zero and Maggie as the two made their way out into the hallway, convinced that they had found everything of note.

They popped back into the library, nyooming at top speed but slowing down as they entered, gasping a bit. After a quick rest on a sofa, they put the tulip into the vase in this room.

The song in the vase continued, faltering only once now.

"Hmmm... That certainly means... Something," he said to nobody particular, then left the room.

Zero entered the room again; he placed the second flower in the vase that was sheltering in the hole in the bookcase, where a book once was - the vase that sang its little music-box tune as it span.

"Your legs are too long," Maggie mumbled in a pout, quickening their pace so they didn't miss what happened. Joking, of course!

2

The vase stuttered to a stop for a moment, then continued its music uninterrupted, a light in the base now glowing. Something clicked in the wall of the bookshelf beside it -- and a tiny square slid open to reveal a tiny red key!

They picked the key up, and in their large hands, it looked like a key for ants. "Let's bring this back to the group!" And that they did, exiting to the hallway.

Library first, then! They took a second to sit down, rubbing their temples with a sigh. "That felt like it was starting to get genuinely hostile," Maggie mumbled, betazoid half thrumming near violently against their head. "I'm exhausted.."

"I wonder if we should have brought Lama," Zero said, sitting next to Maggie. "I was holding myself together pretty well, but, as an empath, the level of confusion in there was quite overwhelming. Lama is also an empath, so he can't be doing well either."

1

"I was mostly toying around, I didn't mean to push him away." They frowned, running a hand through their hair. "I feel bad..."

"Well, if that helps - we will be done rather soon, so you telepaguys just need to hold on a little longer," he tried to offer his most comforting smile, because Sy did know a thing or two about bad brain juice moments. "I could offer a hug, but I doubt that any of you would be too partial to that with the whole overwhelmed feeling and such..."

2

2

He visibly brightened. "Oh! I would love a hug, actually!" You fool! You've found the most enthusiastic hugger on the station! (edited)

2

2

They perked up. "A hug would be so nice, actually, if you don't mind," Their first hug on the station..!!

1

1

Oh-- he did not expect such vivid positive feedback to his suggestion. Okay. Damn. Without too much stalling, he just also sat down and opened his arms wide, allowing the two to choose the individual or group hug option for themselves.

2

He looked at Maggie. "So obviously we're going for the group hug, yes?" And if so, he waited until Maggie was in position (hugging one side of Syrax) and then squimshed the two of them gently in his arms.

2

Maggie, 5'6 and happily squished between two giants, visibly relaxed a little. Man, they needed that. "Coolest station ever," they mumbled from their puddle of warmth and good vibes. Hugs in the middle of an awesome murder mystery party. Much-needed brain reset.

He secured his arms around them, giving the two strangers he was suddenly comfortably holding all the time needed to relax and unwind a bit. Finally, something he was good at!

2

He was a near-seven foot tall meaty chunk of muscle overlaid with a soft layer of fat and even softer skin. His body temperature was warm, too. Absolute premium hugging material. He wondered if he should squeeze tighter, or if he'd accidentally go too tight and end up squeezing Maggie and Syrax like rubber duckies.

2

After a good minute, as much as they could've fallen asleep right there, they reluctantly unwound themself. "Right, then!" They scooted away to fish the book from the pile, stacking the others on their respective shelves, stacking the magazine on top in their arms. "Let's finish this, yeah?"