Transmission times can be cut from years to days, although Voyager won't be able to respond. Harkins says that they have been working with the Vulcans on the deployment of the MIDAS array, which can send signals at hyper-subspace speeds.

A range of likely trajectories has been extrapolated, and Voyager is now assumed to be in one of three sectors. The next morning at the briefing, Commander Harkins tells Admiral Paris that when The Doctor's program was transferred to Starfleet two years ago, Voyager's position was Delta Quadrant sector 41751, grid 9. When he leaves The Doctor, he goes to sleep in his holographic quarters, saying in voiceover that he felt more at home there than his own apartment. Barclay tells him that when he tries to sleep his mind races and he worries about the project, and whether he's doing all he can. The Doctor tells Barclay that to cure his insomnia, the root cause of his sleeplessness needs to be found. He heads back to the holodeck for a massage from The Doctor. In this world of his own creation, Barclay is an expert poker player.īarclay had hoped that the poker game would calm his nerves, but when he gets home he can't sleep. He sits down to play poker with Chakotay, B'Elanna Torres, Harry Kim, and Tom Paris, calling them his best friends. Here, everyone aboard Voyager knows and likes him. He activates the holodeck program of Voyager's mess hall, and enters the holodeck. With Admiral Paris' visit just fourteen hours away, he hadn't come up with anything, so he decided he needed some inspiration. Barclay declines, and after Harkins leaves, he says in voiceover that he couldn't leave until he had strengthened his case for accessing the MIDAS array. Harkins invites Barclay over to his house for coffee, and to meet his sister-in-law from Boston. However, Barclay says he has something to clear up first. Harkins knows this, expresses satisfaction with the work, but suggests that Barclay call it a day. Barclay tells him he's finished the diagnostics.

Harkins comes into the lab late at night and finds Barclay working. In a voiceover, Barclay says he was so sure his plan would work, he couldn't give it up. He tells Barclay that while the admiral is visiting, he'll do the talking. Harkins rejects the idea, recalling that six months were wasted on trying to develop a transwarp probe based on Barclay's simulations. Barclay wants to brief Admiral Paris on his theory about using a pulsar passing within four billion kilometers to create an artificial wormhole and then using it to communicate with Voyager. Harkins reminds him that Admiral Owen Paris is coming first thing in the morning, a fact Barclay had also forgotten. Barclay claims that he's almost finished them. Harkins reminds him about some transmitter diagnostics that he has forgotten to do. Barclay says he's just running a simulation. Commander Pete Harkins enters, and asks him what he's doing.

The scene flashes back to Barclay in the holodeck, running simulations on the bridge of Voyager, trying to establish a method of communications. He reveals that the real beginning was in the holodeck. Troi is lost by all this, and tells him to go back to the beginning. However, his superiors thought it would be an abuse of the MIDAS array. He tells her that he had the idea of directing a tachyon beam at a class B itinerant pulsar, with enough gravimetric energy to create an artificial wormhole. She dismisses his concerns, and asks him to start from the beginning. His cat, Neelix, jumps up on the table, as he tells Troi that the real reason he asked her there: he has become obsessed with Voyager.īarclay apologizes to Troi for having lured her into a counseling session. The project involves trying to establish communication with the stranded USS Voyager. He's been working on the Pathfinder Project until recently, and he was under a lot of pressure. Barclay assures her he's fine, and that since the Enterprise is in orbit, he just wants to spend some time with her. Troi asks if he's okay – he seems a little on edge. When she comments on the mess in the apartment, he tells her that, although he moved in two years previously, he hasn't had a chance to unpack yet. Barclay is delighted to see her and offers her some chocolate ice cream, which she accepts. When he opens the door, Deanna Troi is standing there. In an apartment on Earth, there's a knock at the door and Lieutenant Reginald Barclay gets up from a couch to answer it.