The group followed Simon inside a very large room.  The room was completely empty.  There was a small screen near the door. On the ceiling and walls there were what seemed like thousands of tiny hexagons, all interlaced with each other.  On the floor were what seemed like thousands upon thousands of tiny circles.  The depth of the room was expansive.  The ceiling was approximately twenty feet in height, and the length was approximately the size of the depth.

Everyone walked about five feet into the room and stopped.

"Welcome to the holo-deck!" Simon announced.  The most advanced visual simulator to ever be created.  I know it doesn't look like much yet, but that will all change when you see what this amazing feat of technology can do."

"What are all these circles?" Lydia asked.

"Excellent question." Simon replied smiling.  "Each one of those circles are a cleverly designed omni-directional pad that allows you to walk, jog, or run essentially infinitely."

"What about all these hexagons on the walls?" Connor asked.

"Both the ceiling and walls are fixed with countless miniature projections.  Think of them like pixels on a TV.  The screen over here is pre-programmed with countless different games, and simulations, and countless variations that can be adjusted to fit almost any kind of scenario."  Simon approached the screen and tapped through different options. "Want a private concert?"  The room transformed into what visually looked like a concert venue and a rock band was on stage.  Sound and music could be heard from all directions as though they might as well have been seeing all of this live. Simon paused the simulation.  "State-of-the-art three-dimensional sound system as well.  How about the final moments of a football match between rivals?" The entire room transformed into a massive football stadium from the bleachers, the five of them were in a private box surrounded by screaming fans as the final game-winning touchdown was scored.  Simon paused the simulation. "Or maybe you just want to unwind on a beautiful private beach somewhere."  The room once again transformed into a very secluded beach paradise.  It was sunset, the whole beach was basked in an amber glow, and there were beach towels on the ground.  Jim noted that he could actually feel the gentle breeze, the mild scent of freshwater hitting his nose. "Paradise, isn't it?" Simon said with a satisfied smile.

Lydia formed a tear in her eye.

"This is beautiful." Lydia finally said.  "A nearly perfect representation of what used to be."  She looked over at Simon.  "Is this room another one of your inventions as well?"

Simon paused momentarily before speaking.

"You all helped invent this room."  I simply handled the nuts and bolts of it.  The simulations themselves are a large collection of ideas.  With the proper programming, all of yours, and others' ideas are brought to the best simulation of the outside world that you or anyone could possibly imagine.  It wasn't without its glitches and bugs at first, but I was able to mostly work them out.  To walk on this floor outside of the active simulation, you need to use a stiff flat foot so as to not engage the omni-directional portion.  It's awkward at first, but you'll get used to it." Simon took a moment.  "Does anyone have any suggestions, or requests?"

"You mentioned something about live sports?" Connor asked  

"Yes, we can watch any sport you'd like, as if you were there." Simon replied.

"No, I mean live sports." Connor reiterated.

"You mean... playable?" Simon asked

"Yeah, playable.  You know, exercise, fun." Connor asked, genuinely curious of this room’s limitations.

Simon stepped away toward the wall next to the screen.  He pressed his finger on a scanner next to the screen and a panel opened.  Simon grabbed five devices from the wall.  Simon handed each of the devices out.

"You're going to put these devices on the back of your neck." Simon instructed.  He then pointed at a particular part of his own device.  "This part should be placed near your cerebral cortex."

Everyone looked at him cautiously.

"Why's that, what's it going to do?" asked Jim

"This device is going to interact with your environment and send reactive signals to your brain.  Sure, you can currently engage most of your senses by the room alone, including but not limited to real smells, sounds, sights.  This device will allow you to feel your environment.  You can feel the sun's hot ray's on your skin, the feeling of an animal brushing against you, a baseball bat, or football in your hand as if you're the one catching that game winning touchdown you just saw.

Everyone stood there for a moment with the same semi-comprehensive wonder that they had all experienced.  Everyone began putting the device on their neck out of sheer curiosity.  Their memories may still be spotty, but they all knew they wanted to remember what it felt like to do something fun, something familiar. 

With  all of the devices in place, and secured on the backs of everyone's neck, Simon again asked.

"Well, ladies, gentleman, what would you like to experience first?"

"Let's start small." Jim broke the silence. "How about something simple like tennis?"

Simon, with a smile, pressed a couple of options on the screen.

"What kind of court?" Simon asked "Standard? Clay?"

"Standard." Connor interjected.

With a couple more presses of the screen, the entire room transformed into a large Tennis court.  There was a single, large net right down the center.  

Jim walked over to the Net and touched it expecting his hand to pass right through this hologrammed image, but no such thing happened.  The net felt as real as the real thing.  He could feel the fibers of the netting, the nylon perimeter of the net, and of course, the metal post that held up either side of the net.  He saw tennis rackets next to the metal post with a handful of tennis balls next to them.  He picked up both a ball and racket.  Lydia, Connor and Veronica all walked over to him and picked up their own rackets.  The fuzziness of the tennis ball was all too real.  Jim rubbed the ball against his cheek, and the soft fuzzy surface tickled his cheek.  Jim took a couple of steps back and threw the ball to the ground.  The bounce of the ball back toward him, the sound of the ball colliding with the tennis court was indiscernible from the real thing.  

Jim gave Connor a look to go to one side of the court, Connor did so and Jim took the other side, standing in one of the squares, he looked over to Connor as if to say, get ready.   Connor acknowledged the look and raised his own racket in a defensive stance.  Jim looked over at Veronica and Lydia who were standing off to the side, with their own rackets.  They were standing there with their arms folded, anticipating an incoming competition between him and Connor, both smiling competitively, with an 'impress me' look on their faces.  Simon stood over by the wall panel, smiling from ear to ear.

"Well, go on then." Simon egged on, moderately yet humblingly taunting.

Jim looked back over at Connor who was standing there with a smile of his own, still holding his racket, still in his defensive stance.  Jim closed his eyes momentarily, took a deep breath and reopened his eyes.  He threw the ball and it's lightweight into the air with his left hand.  With his right hand, muscle memory must have taken over, because his arm instinctively began to twist in such a way that the racket came through and the audible smack of the racket and the ball colliding, echoed through the chamber.

The ball sailed over the central net and toward Connor who was also preparing his racket to return the ball back to Jim's side of the court.  Connor connected his racket to the ball and the tennis ball started coming back toward Jim.

Game on! Jim thought to himself with a big grin on his face.

After a handful of tossing the ball back and forth, Lydia and Veronica decided to join in and were very much welcomed by the boys.  All four of them stood playing the match, neither team had scored yet.

"How about a little assistance in the cheering department?" Simon rhetorically asked.

Simon pressed a couple more buttons and their surroundings altered to a live cheering audience.  All Jim could think to himself was how unreal this whole thing seemed.  After a couple more back and forths, Jim caught the ball with his hand.

"Hey! that's not how you play the game, man!" Connor protested.

Ignoring this Jim looked over at Simon, who in turn looked at him quizzically.

"Let's play some baseball."

Simon pressed a couple more buttons and the tennis court, rackets and ball disappeared.  In its place a full hologrammed image of a baseball diamond appeared.  On the ground next to Jim was a pitcher's glove. He picked it up and could feel the soft leather on his hand as he slid it on.  In turn, Connor turned and saw a few bats on a rack, he walked over and picked one up, feeling the smooth wood of the shaft.  The lettering on the bat read Louisville Slugger.  Connor smiled at this.  Lydia picked up an umpire mask and put it on.  Veronica stood behind Jim.

Connor approached home plate and tapped his bat off the ground a couple of times.  He took a couple of practice swings and excitedly awaited Jim's pitch.  Jim pulled himself back in pitching stance, and lobbed the base ball in his hand with his fingers covering the laces, rapidly like a bullet toward Connor.  Connor swung with all his might and missed.

"Strike one!" screamed Lydia.

Connor looked back and gave Lydia a 'are you kidding me?' look.

"Whose side are you on anyway?" protested Connor toward Lydia.

"Right now, mine, and I'm enjoying every second of it!"  Lydia tossed the ball back to Jim at the pitcher's mound.

Jim caught the ball,  and rolled it over in his hands a few times.  Lydia was making a motion with her hand, calling for a fast ball.  Jim acknowledged and nodded.  Connor, realizing there was communication happening between Jim and Lydia, looked back at her, but she was laser focused, not even acknowledging Connor.  Connor turned back to look at Jim and the ball had already left Jim's hand, just as quickly as he turned his head, the ball was already back in Lydia's glove.

"Strike Two!" Lydia screamed with excitement

"Hey! I wasn't even ready for that one!" Connor protested.

"So, pay attention!" Veronica screamed from behind Jim.

"Okay, okay." Connor said confidently, competitively.

Connor was now laser focused on Jim and the ball.  Jim wound up his arm and prepared for the pitch.  Connor looked at Jim, just waiting.  Jim released the pitch again, like a bullet, it drove straight down the center.  Connor wound his own bat up and swung like his life depended on it.  The bat connected with the ball.  The sound of the crack from the collision filled the air.  A holographic crowd appeared and cheered wildly as the ball went sailing into the distance.  Veronica could only watch as the ball sailed over the field and landed in the holographic crowd.

"Home-Run!" screamed Connor as he jogged along the bases before making it back home. "And the crowd goes wild! The World Series has been won!"

Jim, Veronica, and Lydia all started clapping as Connor continued his celebration.  Even Simon was clapping by the input screen.  Everyone was all smiles, and truly, purely happy.

An alarm began to sound, unlike any they'd heard yet.  Simon's attention was immediately diverted and became alert.  Looking back at everyone, he pressed a few buttons and the whole simulation ended.  They all stood back in the room as it looked before.  They all stood there unsure of what to do.  The room suddenly darkened.

"Over here! remove your devices." Simon instructed.

Everyone rushed over to Simon while removing their devices and handing them to him.

"What's that alarm?!" asked Lydia and Veronica 

"We need to go back to the main computer room." was all Simon said.  

Without thinking too much about what any of this meant, they all began funneling out of the holo-deck.  They all made their way in a hurry down to the main computer room.  This room was also quite darkened, and a single, but bright red flashed appeared above them at the ceiling, it was enough to light up the entire room.

"What is that alarm?!" asked Jim in a very insistent manner.

"That's the external alarm."  Simon tapped on the computer terminal.  "Someone or... something is outside."