Boogeymen - Mel Gilden [37]
“So,” said Dr. Crusher, “did you find out what you wanted to know?”
“What do you mean?”
“You went to the holodeck to test yourself in a command situation. How did you do?”
“Mom, I got snookered by my own program.”
“This time.”
That stopped Wesley. He’d gotten so bound up in feeling sorry for himself, because of the trouble caused by his Boogeyman program, because he’d lost his ship during the Kobayashi Maru incident, that it hadn’t occurred to him that he might get a second chance.
Speaking out loud but to himself, Wesley said, “I’ll write a new, improved Boogeyman program, one without the bugs.”
“Experience is a great teacher,” Troi said.
Wesley’s head exploded with theories, equations, possibilities. He found it difficult to stay in his chair. He needed to talk with Data and Geordi right now.
“You did good, kid,” Dr. Crusher said and poked him in the shoulder.
“Yeah,” said Wesley and smiled.
Picard visited the bridge and discovered to his relief that the computer malfunction was limited to the holodeck. Riker said, “Still cruising at warp five. All readings nominal.”
“Anything from Starfleet on Commander Mont?”
“Evidently Commander Mont visited Axer a year ago on a diplomatic mission. Starfleet security suspects that the man who came back was this assassin.”
“But certainly, keeping up the charade would have been difficult. He would have needed to submit to computer verification occasionally.”
“Evidently,” Riker said, “he was clever enough to maneuver others to be verified. He got in on their say-so.”
Picard nodded. “Other moles?”
“None have turned up yet, sir.”
“Unfortunately, a negative result, though possibly correct, is never satisfying.”
“You always wonder what you missed.”
“Indeed.” The captain wondered if more of Professor Baldwin’s enemies awaited him. A negative result would certainly not be satisfying to him. Paranoia thrived on negative results. Picard said, “Very well, Number One. I’ll be with Shubunkin and Baldwin in the exobiology lab on deck five.” He made as if to leave.
“Oh, and Captain, good to have you back.”
“That’s what was odd about my little adventure. I was never actually away.” Picard shook his head. The Enterprise was his home. Having it turn against him was not something he would care to experience again.
“I’d be interested in hearing about it, if you’d like to talk.”
Would I? Picard wondered. He was generally a very private person, but the impulse to share one’s experiences was strong in humans, as it was in many races; the feeling was working hard in Picard at the moment. Troi would probably say that he needed to talk out his ambivalent feelings about the holodeck, but as far as Picard was concerned, he was just telling a good story.
“Indeed I would, Number One.” He sat down in the command chair and ruminated while Riker sat down next to him. Except for the normal twitters and chirps—the sound of the ship talking to itself—the bridge was silent. Ensign Winston-Smyth was at the conn and Ensign Perry was at Ops, standing by in the unlikely event the main computer needed a human backup. Stars—their appearance having been corrected by the viewscreen—looked normal as they poured toward the Enterprise, despite the ship’s warp speed.
As Picard spoke in his clear, clipped voice, he noticed Winston-Smyth and Perry cocking their heads a little, listening without being obvious about it. The captain didn’t mind. What had happened on the holodeck was not a secret and, in fact, might prove instructive to others. Word would get around the ship. Of course, word would get around anyway. Scuttlebutt was still the fastest thing in Starfleet, not excepting galaxy-class starships.
Wesley finally escaped from Counselor Troi and his mom and went down to Engineering. He found Geordi and Data at a work station watching the readout screen flash as the holodeck satellite of the main computer ran a processor diagnostic on itself.
“Anything?” said Wesley.
While still watching the screen, Data said, “The Boogeyman program is gone, overwritten