The Best Case Scenario

Chapter 1

"The assignment is quite simple, perhaps even diverting," Captain Janeway explained with a smirk. Ensign Kim had made the mistake of complaining about free time and was summarily being issued a solution to his boredom. "There are a lot of programs crowding up the holodeck. A good deal of these are public. I need you to decide which holonovels are worth keeping and delete the rest. Don't touch anyone's personal programs."

"Yes, Captain," Harry nodded.

"This in no way excludes you from regular duties, of course," Janeway added. "You've got your free time cut out for you for the next while. Several weeks possibly. Any questions?"

Several weeks? How many holonovels could there possibly be?

"No, Captain," Harry said. "I'll get started at once."

"Good."

As Harry hurried to the holodeck he carefully considered his new task. The most obvious way to decide whether a program was worth saving or not was to experience it firsthand. But depending on the number of public programs, such an endeavor could take ages. There had to be a way to whittle the selection down to a handful of programs.

He decided that he'd start by talking to the authors if the information was given. There was a good chance that many of the authors would volunteer to delete the program themselves. Failing that, many programs had descriptions. But could he judge from a blurb like that?

Well, he'd just have to jump head first into this assignment. Once he reached his destination, he opened the control panel and pulled up all public programs. Two hundred and thirteen. Really? He ran a hand through his hair and let out a sigh. That was the last time he was ever complaining in front of Captain Janeway again.

Harry was able to cut out nearly half the programs after talking to Lieutenant Torres. It turned out a good number of the programs were simulations made by either B'Elanna or her team. All but a few of the engineering test programs could go.

Another chunk was voluntarily deleted by the authors after Harry made an announcement in the mess hall. Unfortunately, he received a handful of petitions arguing why certain programs should or shouldn't go as an unexpected result. It would've been helpful if there wasn't so much disagreement in the ranks. As it was, he felt his every move was being judged by his crewmates, at least as far as cleaning out the holodeck went.

Eventually, however, it got to the point when he had to just grit his teeth and test-drive the programs. Some of the programs were really quite enjoyable. Very developed and unpredictable holonovels ranging from Westerns to fantastical quests to mystery thrillers. But for every good holonovel he ran across, there were about four disasters of a program. Cheesy, huge plot holes, unimaginative, boring characters, totally unrealistic and often downright uncomfortable.

"If the authors actually enjoy this crap, they should keep it to themselves," Harry muttered to himself after a particularly garish and convoluted mystery-turned-romance-novel.

"Computer, what time is it?"

"1400 hours."

He still had more than an hour 'til his next shift. Reluctantly, he decided he could brave one more.

He flicked through the few dozen programs he had left, hoping a title would catch his eye.

"Strange," he frowned, falling upon a program with an apparently meaningless name. Just a random string of characters. "I thought I got rid of all the simulations." When he opened up the details, he realized why it hadn't been deleted.

There were no details. No author. No description of any kind. However, the apparently empty description box extended beyond the screen. He scrolled and scrolled until he finally reached the bottom of the entry. On the very last line, after lines and lines of nothing, there was simply " ;) ".

"What?"he asked the empty room. He glanced at the title again. Maybe he could make sense of it. "J-W-P-R-zero-N," he muttered aloud. It didn't make any sense.

In all the other programs, when the author was anonymous, he didn't go prying. But this was bizarre. With a few skilled maneuvers, he finagled the screen to where he should have been able to find a clue, a trail, something. But there was nothing. Whoever made this program really didn't want to be found out. And they were clever.

It could just be an empty program. Or a program that was deleted but that a glitch was determined to display. Or it could be a trap somehow. His mind reverted to the debacle with Seska on Tuvok's program.

But maybe, just maybe, it could be a stunning holonovel. Someone this clever surely wouldn't have constructed a bunch of nonsense. This would probably be a real treat.

"Computer," Harry commanded, "Initiate Program J-W-P-R-zero-N."