"Chakotay looked at me with the greatest amount of doubt in my mental coherence I have ever seen anyone express. His words were to that point."

"Tuvok, even Tom regrets bringing that holo-program on-line, and his tastes are quite eclectic. When I disregarded his advice, and used it....I regretted it. Use of this program is not, shall we say, advisable."

"I dismissed his words and bade him give me the lock-out module. After all, if the emotions involved were as visceral as they said, then what better way to control my own emotions than to view such dark matter?"

"But you now feel that you were wrong?"

"My error...was a massive one. I entered the holodeck, and it began. The scene was at first merely---I believe it was what humans call 'titillating'. A late 20th-Century Terran couple had hired a 'nanny' to look over their newborn, for their careers would not allow them to do so. Wearing a facade of perfection, she moved to seduce both the husband and the older son. When ultimately spurned, she became vengeful. The scenario ended with the couple opening a roasting pan and finding the newborn roasted alive."

"With no punishment for the murderer? How odd for Terran literature."

"Indeed. I became somewhat disturbed and yet intrigued with this approach. In the next one, the murderer was punished. A young man became psychotically obsessed with a young woman, and so kidnapped her. Forcing a marriage and murdering an older couple who owned a remote cabin, he raped her until she became pregnant. Captured and brought to trial, the murderer, with the aid of his attorney/lover, turned the trial around and publically destroyed the young woman on the basis of her choice to end the pregnancy. When it was done, a juror-- a female juror - wished him well, and bade that he enjoy fatherhood. A campaign of harassment of the young woman followed,  especially when she decided to keep the child. Again, a 'nanny' figure was involved, allowing the man free access to the child. Ultimately, the abused woman threw a doll out the window, and her rapist fell to his death, thinking it the child. The scenario ended there."

"Again, odd. The attorney who aided him was not punished? Also, given other examples of Terran literature, one would think that the foolish juror would have been forced to see the 'hero' in a new light. This subgenre sounds highly misogynistic."

"Make no mistake, it is also misanthropic. One tale showed a 'pool-cleaner' seducing the widow of a wealthy man. The scenario ended with him in charge of her company, and her homeless on the streets. A still more disturbing one had a woman with two thugs who worked with her to kill couples and sell their houses. As it all went on, I could not turn away. Even when justice found the wrongdoers, it rarely fit the harm they inflicted. Law enforcement was often inept or corrupt. A favored scene, repeated many times, was that of the victim holding the victimizer at gunpoint, only to have the law, absent until then, make an appearance, shouting only that the victim put their gun away, paying no attention to the other. Often as not, this resulted in their deaths, or the arrest of the victim, or the victim being accused of murdering a law professional. Many times, there was no development which did not accrue to the wrongdoer's advantage."

"Illogical. Added to that, you would never allow a member of your security staff to ignore anything or anyone. Tell me, did you achieve the desired emotional control?"

 "No. Like impure water, its taste lingered with me, disrupting what control I had. I found myself going back, hoping to find that satisfactory scenario. It was not to be found. I was only able to turn away through the intervention of Ensign Paris and Commander Chakotay. For once, Paris made no jokes. His words to me were cold, harsh, and almost Vulcan in their sheer logic. I resented him for it. But in short order, I was free."

"Fascinating. But my own emotional development is truncated, and any such turmoil can only be to my benefit. I thank you for the lock-out module."

"Seven, I fear your thanks will be short-lived."

Two weeks later, Captain Janeway recieved and approved a request  from twenty different officers for final purge of a program based on a certain subgenre of Terran literature. But she stared first at the lock-out module.

"Before I give the final order....Kathy, let's just see what the fuss is all about."