The following was displayed on all consoles.

“Come one, come all, tot he annual Wolverine Christmas Party. Bring a big appetite and lots of good cheer. Warning, the punch may be spiked. The theme this year is silver and gold, uniforms not required.”

On the holodeck Alita had dove headlong into this project. It meant she didn’t have to think about all the strangeness and sadness she had experienced lately. It was hard to figure out a theme. Christmas in New Orleans was out without a lot more research to do it justice. She had thought about just taking them to the California house. Christmases there were always magical and sweet. Unfortunately the program wasn’t finished and her last memory of it was private and special. It could have been more special if she had just taken some initiative.

‘Oh but enough of that!’ she thought.

The event space was a large rectangle with a door down the middle of one of the sides. Directly across from it was a large Christmas tree laden with garlands and lights. As before, she had boxes of decorations for the crew to choose from. She wondered if Remy would remember the star she had given him last year but tried to move her thoughts on from that as well.

On the left end of the rectangular space was a large fireplace that crackled with life and, on the opposite end, was the buffet. The open space of the room was filled with groups of tables and places for dancing.

One of the people working on decor with her, probably Mimi, had hung an obscene amount of mistletoe. For the life of her, Alita couldn’t understand why. As Alita looked at it with a critical eye, she thought it might be a bit garish until she dimmed the lights and lit the candles which gave the whole place a twinkling effect.

• Alita