Hollow Pursuits ( episode ) Lieutenant Barclay , an introverted diagnostic engineer , is having difficulties dealing with his fantasies . Summary . Teaser . Lieutenant Reginald Barclay , a brilliant engineer , relaxes in Ten Forward when Counselor Troi enters . Guinan , tending bar , warns Barclay that she doesn ' t want trouble here . Barclay questions why there ' d be trouble , and she answers that wherever Barclay goes , trouble seems to follow . Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge enters and browbeats Barclay for being derelict ; he ' s supposed to be on duty . Barclay exhibits gross insubordination , tells La Forge to " " take himself and his holier - than - thou attitude and get out of his life " " , and shoves La Forge so hard he sprawls against a booth near the starboard wall . Commander Riker approaches from the other end of the bar , strangely not looking shocked or angered , and tells Barclay that what Barclay has just done is insubordination , to which Barclay toast s after glancing at Troi . Riker makes a grab for Barclay but Barclay reverses and suddenly has Riker in a choke hold . Barclay tells Riker that he ' s nothing more than " " a pretty mannequin in a fancy uniform " " , full of hot air . If Captain Picard has something to say to him , he should come and say it himself . Barclay releases Riker hard , slamming him on the bar . As this happens , La Forge finally recovers from his sprawl and runs out of Ten Forward . Troi , watching these events , seems worried over what she senses from Barclay . Indeed , as Barclay joins her , she says that she senses his confidence and arrogant resolve , and that it excites her . They ' re just about to kiss , when suddenly an unknown officer ' s voice pipes up on the intercom , and tells Barclay to report to Cargo Bay Five , " now " . Barclay tells Troi that it ( whatever they were going to do ) will have to wait until later , and annoyed , tells the voice he ' ll be right there . Then he stands near the entrance to Ten Forward , and says , " " Save program , " " and everything disappears , leaving the yellow hologrid of the holodeck . Barclay has been running a holodeck simulation of his delusions of grandeur , and his attitude as shown on his face indicates a far more timid , hesitant personality than the one we ' ve seen . In Cargo Bay 5 , the real La Forge and Riker are overseeing the beam - in of several containers on the cargo bay ' s transporter pad . La Forge tells Riker that he is basically at his wit ' s end when dealing with Barclay , that he is always late and never gives his best effort , and questions how someone like Barclay could have even made it through the Academy . Riker says he ' ll speak to the captain about Broccoli , the nickname Wesley has given Barclay , and tells La Forge to keep it to himself ; La Forge notes that the nickname is apt . The officer , , working with the canisters has now placed them on an anti - grav sled , and informs La Forge that one of the canisters has a broken seal ; indeed we see vapor pouring from the front middle canister . La Forge tells Duffy to destroy the broken canister , as the samples inside will be tainted . The cargo bay doors open and finally Barclay arrives . Upon spotting his two superiors he moves behind several red barrels to try to hide but they ' ve seen him , and La Forge asks him if it is a problem to report to duty on time . Barclay makes up some lame story about having received a communique that required his attention , but La Forge doesn ' t want to hear it . He cools off , though , and tells Barclay about the anti - grav platform ' s difficulty . Barclay moves to follow his orders , but Riker grabs his arm , and tells him he ' s tired of seeing him disciplined by his superiors ; he doesn ' t know how things were done on Barclay ' s last posting , but here , on the " Enterprise " , there is a different standard . Riker walks out , casting dark glances back towards Barclay . Act One . Despite Barclay ' s assurances that everything looks normal to him , the anti - grav platform falters after a few seconds and drops another canister . O ' Brien moves to clean it up ( it is spewing more vapor ) , and La Forge calls for more people from engineering . Barclay stammers that it shouldn ' t do that , and La Forge simply gestures , prompting Barclay to help with the cleanup . Barclay takes a panel off the unit and a chip out of the assembly , then inserts a testing device . In his ready room , Captain Picard is looking over the several reports made against Barclay and notes that he isn ' t used to seeing a man under his command on report . Riker questions whether Barclay is " Enterprise " material , and Picard infers from Riker ' s request for Barclay ' s transfer that the former thinks that the latter is not . La Forge is hesitant to add that he thought he could work with anyone , until " Broccoli , " who makes everyone nervous . Picard picks up on the nickname ; La Forge tells the truth , that it was an invention of Wesley ' s , and Picard orders that the nickname usage be stopped . Barclay has served competently in Starfleet for years ; Picard notes what he ' s heard from Captain of the " Zhukov " , that Barclay performed quite brilliantly as an engineer . Riker wonders if Gleason wasn ' t feathering the real truth of Barclay ' s performance , that Gleason knew that the " Enterprise " was in need of a diagnostic engineer , and was trying to rid himself of the neurotic officer . Barclay has a history of seclusive tendencies according to his psych profile . Picard notes that it is too easy to transfer a problem to someone else , and denies the transfer request ; instead , he assigns La Forge to work with Barclay and make him La Forge ' s pet project despite La Forge ' s protests that he can barely stand to be in the same room with Barclay . La Forge , looking like a cow being led to the slaughter , approaches Barclay , still examining the inner workings of the anti - grav unit in the cargo bay . La Forge does his level best to encourage Barclay and advises him to take his time with the unit ' s problems . La Forge tells Barclay that he would be a good addition to La Forge ' s senior staff meeting in the morning ; Barclay positively squeals and asks what he should talk about , but La Forge assures Barclay that there ' s no pressure , just to be there . Barclay says he ' ll be on time , at 08 : 00 . He looks a little stunned at La Forge ' s praise . In engineering as the meeting starts , La Forge encourages his staff ( including Costa , Myers , Duffy and Wesley ) to start their brains . The absence of Barclay is noted , however . He comes in just a hair too late , but La Forge doesn ' t call him on it . He immediately assigns engine work to Duffy and Costa , and assigns Wesley , on assignment to engineering as part of his training , to Myers , and jokingly instructs him to teach Wesley the difference between impulse and warp drive . La Forge next moves on to Barclay ' s preliminary report on the anti - grav failure , noting that there are some interesting theories he posited . Barclay is again somewhat lost , and La Forge has to prompt him to report to the staff . During his report , Duffy looks somewhat disdainful as Barclay stammers through some tech stuff on which Wesley immediately corrects him ; Barclay looks quite abashed as the engineering staff moves off to accomplish their duties , and follows at a distance . In counselling with Troi , Barclay has regained his confident tone and swagger despite what he ' s saying , and expresses his disgust with himself that he didn ' t know how to respond to Wesley at the meeting ; " " I should have told him to mind his own damn business . " " Troi notes that Barclay is letting this incident get him much too upset ; she asks why Barclay is so hard on himself ; to help him relax , she gives him a passionate kiss . Barclay calls for a change of program , and the scene shifts to a warm , arboreal paradise , with Troi in a toga . She identifies herself as the " Goddess of Empathy , " encouraging Barclay to cast off his inhibitions and embrace love , truth , and joy . Barclay approaches and again , they kiss passionately . In Ten Forward , the engineering staff is informally discussing the meeting of the previous morning . Wesley complains that La Forge criticized him for correcting Barclay , that the staff meeting is supposed to be about discussing different approaches . Again the nickname " Broccoli " comes up . Data expresses confusion – first that Lieutenant Barclay is being referred clandestinely to as a vegetable , then that the assignment of a nickname is usually between friends , not as a pejorative . Commander La Forge relays the message that the captain gave him : the nickname is not to be used any more . Suddenly Duffy discovers his glass is leaking ; the structure seems to have been twisted from within . Act Two . Data , scanning the twisted glass in engineering with a tricorder , determines that its atomic structure has been abnormally altered . It is not a problem with the replicator , as that would affect the liquid in the glass as well as the glass itself . Data surmises that the glass had been struck with electricity somehow , which means a complete workup of the power systems on the " Enterprise " – all 4 , 000 of them . Barclay is assigned to the project , but he awkwardly states he was already going to look at the power systems to find out what went wrong with the anti - grav unit . La Forge shows the glass to Riker on the bridge , who asks if the ship may need to go to a starbase , something that will not be known until the power systems are examined . Data points out that it was Barclay who first said that there could be a correlation between the glass and the anti - grav unit failure . Barclay exhibits his usual self - effacing mannerism , as Picard approaches the science stations around which they are all crowded . Picard asks Barclay if power should be affected during the tests ; Barclay stammers his way toward saying he doesn ' t think so . Picard gives an encouraging smile , and tells " Mr . Broccoli " to carry on . The crew ( except for Barclay , of course ) looks very amused in Picard ' s direction ; Picard is shocked and appalled at his mistake , and corrects himself quickly . It doesn ' t help Barclay ' s demeanor , and he takes his leave , looking mortified . Data chalks Picard ' s mistake up to metathesis , somewhat encouragingly ; the others turn away , as Picard continued to look shocked and appalled , Riker quietly amused , and La Forge somewhat shaken . Guinan , in talking to La Forge about Barclay , doesn ' t see anything out of the ordinary with him ; he just comes in , never talks to anyone , just orders warm milk , to help him sleep . La Forge is just trying to figure Barclay out , as he doesn ' t have the luxury of letting him be , as Guinan does . Guinan confides that her special cosmic sense informs her that Barclay is imaginative , and La Forge expresses doubt in an imaginative person ' s value as an engineer , or rather just Barclay ' s place on the ship ; he just doesn ' t fit in . Guinan remembers the story of her uncle Terkim , the " black sheep " of her family ; she had grown very close to him when no one else did . She had picked up her fear of fitting in from Terkim . She says that if everyone felt uncomfortable around her , she ' d probably be as late and nervous as Barclay is . Guinan then moves off to serve another customer , leaving La Forge to his thoughts . Finally he calls from his combadge for the location of Barclay ; he ' s in the holodeck , as seems the norm these days . La Forge opens the holodeck doors onto the idyllic arboreal paradise we saw before ; he calls for Barclay , to no avail . He comes across Doctor Crusher and Wesley as holograms , only they are in very odd 17th century clothing , and enjoying a picnic . Dr . Crusher chides her son , saying that " Master Barclay " will spank him if he misbehaves . Dr . Crusher notes that " the boys " got into a bit of a scrap , but that boys will be boys . Suddenly , a great shout draws La Forge ' s attention , and he sees Barclay involved in a fierce fencing match with holographic duplicates of La Forge , Picard and Data , all in period dress . Data offers Barclay the chance to yield since he is outnumbered , even though Barclay is winning ; Barclay responds , " " I shall speak with my sword , sir ! " " and continues the battle with two swords . Finally , left alone against Picard , Barclay responds admirably , and Picard is perplexed as to how Barclay learned to fight the way he does . Barclay claims he is self - taught , sardonically offers to teach Picard , and defeats him with his swords against Picard ' s throat . Picard notices the real La Forge behind Barclay , who disbelieves Picard at first , but La Forge clears his throat . . . Barclay looks back and blanches ; he ' s been found out . Back in Ten Forward , Barclay offers to be reassigned , but La Forge won ' t hear of it . He ' s spent a few hours on the holodeck too , and feels what Barclay does there is his own business , but La Forge doesn ' t understand why he ' s making copies of the ship ' s crew instead of original characters ; Barclay claims it is to blow off steam , especially against one particular officer , and La Forge knows Barclay ' s referring to him . Barclay couldn ' t , of course , tell La Forge off to his face , so he made the holographic La Forge and the others as a catharsis when he ' s fencing against them . La Forge strongly recommends Barclay talk to Troi about his holo - addiction , but Barclay ' s against it ; he is far too nervous and afraid of forgetting little details that may turn others against him , but La Forge pulls rank on Barclay and orders him to counseling . O ' Brien calls La Forge to the transporter room , and reports that there ' s a major problem ; O ' Brien shows La Forge how he transports a pure duranium test cylinder from one pad , into the buffer , and onto another pad ; no problem , but when he beams the canister back , it ' s broken and steaming . La Forge , in a bit of gallows humor , expresses his relief at the fact that he has no place to go at the moment . Act Three . Picard examines the remains of the duranium canister on the transporter pad that fell apart during transport , along with Riker and La Forge ; it ' s strange that no other transporter rooms are malfunctioning . . . yet . They will reach Nahmi IV in 22 hours , and Picard wants all transporters working by then . He orders a level - 1 diagnostic across the board . Riker orders La Forge to summon Barclay to the bridge , but La Forge advises Riker to hold off until 14 : 00 hours ; La Forge has Barclay working on something . Riker agrees , and on his way out orders O ' Brien to cease maintenance on the transporters until further notice . Barclay is in counseling with Troi – it is obvious now that it is the real Troi , as she ' s not acting amorous at all , purely as a counselor – and Barclay is as nervous as ever . He declines Troi ' s offer to help him feel more comfortable ; he talks about his former counselor , who wasn ' t really a counselor . After turning the lights down , Troi leads Barclay in some relaxation exercises , and tells him to breathe in through his nose and out through his mouth . Troi places a comforting hand on Barclay ' s arm . Barclay embraces the technique rapidly , and practices it while making his way quickly and nervously from Troi ' s office . We can only imagine the horrible mixed messages that go through Barclay ' s mind and are picked up by Troi . Troi goes up to the bridge and talks to La Forge at the science station ; she describes her visit from Barclay as " very strange " – she ' s not sure what happened , as he left so suddenly . Riker leaves the ready room and asks Worf where Barclay is ; La Forge calls for Barclay , to no avail ; Riker learns from the computer that Barclay is in the holodeck again . He ' s fed up , and goes with Troi and La Forge to get Barclay out of there . La Forge informs Riker as to the nature of Barclay ' s " unique " programs , but Riker doesn ' t care what he ' s been running ; he just ran out of patience with Barclay . Again the holodeck opens onto the arboreal paradise of Barclay ' s fantasies ; hearing raised voices somewhere the three head off to find them . Troi is amused to find Data , Picard , and La Forge dressed as the Three Musketeers , but Riker is not . Act Four . Riker , in an agitated voice , declares that crewmembers should not be simulated in the holodeck as a matter of protocol . The Musketeers look up and notice Riker , but they don ' t respond . Riker calls to erase the program instantly , but Troi belays the order , theorizing that if the means by which Barclay responds to reality is removed suddenly , the psychological damage could be quite severe . Musketeer Picard opines on the disagreeable nature of the real crew ; the three stand up and have at the real La Forge , Troi and Riker . Riker doesn ' t want to fight them , so the Musketeers summon the holographic Number One , a bumbling fool much shorter than his actual self , who stumbles over to the crew and screams in a squeaky voice , " " EN GARDE ! " " Riker asks his double where Barclay is ; the hologram Riker assumes it is a personal grudge ; he advises Riker to prepare for death , as Barclay is the greatest sword – " in all the holodeck , " grumbles Riker , to Troi ' s amusement . Troi remarks that Riker ' s height might threaten some people , which may be why Barclay designed Number One like this ; Riker is terminally disgusted with Number One and erases him from the program . The Musketeers are in turn disgusted at Riker ' s poor sense of fair play ; they simply turn their backs when La Forge asks again where Barclay is . Riker is doubtful as to the need to search through what could be a gigantic program , but Troi sees the opportunity to get valuable information about what troubles Barclay . " " There ' s nothing wrong with a healthy fantasy life , as long as you don ' t let it take over , " " are the famous last words before Troi sets eyes on her counterpart , the Goddess of Empathy . Troi ' s jaw drops and steam nearly pours from her ears , so red is her face . The Goddess continues to spew soothing rhetoric , and Troi starts to erase the Goddess , but Riker stops her , turning her own words back on her . Troi seems fit to slap both Riker and La Forge when they agree that Barclay has a healthy fantasy life after seeing the Goddess . Back on the bridge , the ship suddenly speeds up to warp 7 . 25 , with no explanation but that the engines have malfunctioned . It is a mystery , and Picard calls on La Forge to solve it . La Forge , of course , isn ' t in engineering , but promises to return as soon as he finds Barclay . La Forge tells the Goddess of Empathy that they need to find Barclay " now " , but she is now hitting on all of them , including Troi , who advises a shocked Goddess to " muzzle it . " Then they start off again in search of Barclay . They find him , being tended by Doctor Crusher while he sleeps . Doctor Crusher shushes them , but they wake Barclay up and hurry out of the holodeck . Troi looks like she ' s going to pummel Barclay , but La Forge rescues him by dragging him off to engineering as requested by the Captain . La Forge and Barclay discuss the nature of his holo - addiction ; La Forge relates his experiences with the holographic Dr . Brahms ( ) as a way of saying he fell in love in the holodeck once , but he knew when to turn it off . Barclay confides that the people he creates in the holodeck are more real to him than those he meets in real life , except maybe La Forge . La Forge reiterates his sincere need to have Barclay out in the real world , giving him a clap on the shoulder . Barclay suggests dropping out of warp to cure the nonresponsive diagnostic systems , but the engines will not respond . The injectors are physically jammed . Then the ship accelerates , right up to warp 9 . Act Five . Picard calls for red alert as the ship threatens to tear itself apart in about sixteen minutes ; La Forge doesn ' t know what to do but he ' ll notify the bridge as soon as he does . La Forge calls for every idea to be thrown down on the master situations table ; several technically - obscure solutions are offered , all shot down instantly as already tried . La Forge shouts that he needs to find a connection to the anti - grav unit failure , the twisted glass , the transporter malfunction , and now the jammed matter / antimatter injectors , just as the ship starts to tear ; on the bridge , preparation for emergency saucer separation is made , but due to uneven plasma flow in the nacelles , Data announces to Picard that a saucer separation could rupture the warp field , which has now propelled them to warp 9 . 4 . Barclay finally hits on an idea ; what if one or more of the engineering crew is the connection to all the malfunctions ? Someone could ' ve picked up an untraceable substance and carried it around the ship . The common link is that both Duffy and O ' Brien were in the cargo bay with the failed anti - grav , and one of them was present at each of the other malfunctioning equipment ; they could be carriers . La Forge , with the help of the computer , narrows the list of suspected reactants – those that would not be picked up by a standard scan ( 15 , 525 ) , exist in an oxygen atmosphere ( 532 ) , and can modify the molecular structure of glass ( five ) . He and the others then begin evaluating the five remaining substances one by one . Barclay eliminates jakmanite ; it has too short a half - life ( fifteen seconds ) to be spread around the ship . Wesley eliminates selgninaem and lucovexitrin ; both are too toxic for a person to carry around . Saltzgadum and invidium are the only ones left ; and since virtually all of the affected technology was invented after both substances were phased out of use , the chance exists of one of them creating unexpected reactions . La Forge then remembers that invidium was once used in medical containment fields . Although Wesley replies that the Federation hadn ' t used it in over a century , Barclay counters that the Mikulaks who gave the " Enterprise " the samples in the cargo bay might still use it – and one of their canisters was broken . La Forge tells the bridge that the problem might be invidium contamination ; they ' re off to the cargo bay to confirm the hypothesis . Barclay opens one of the medical containers ; wearing gloves , he now dips his hand into the material in the canister , and La Forge scans it with a colored beam ; switching colors , La Forge finally finds it when the beam is purple ; swirly bits brighter than the glove material . Barclay states that if the invidium is cooled to −200 ° Celsius it will become inert . La Forge orders gas eous cryonetrium to be flooded through the antimatter injectors to cool and neutralize the invidium . The engine is pulsing rapidly as the injection of the cold gas commences ; the injectors get steadily cooler and cooler , until finally the invidium goes inert . The matter injector responds immediately , while the antimatter injector responds after a power cycle . The warp engines are shut down , and the " Enterprise " safely drops out of warp . The immediate danger past , Picard cancels red alert ; Riker congratulates La Forge and Barclay on their great work , but La Forge recommends putting in to Starbase 121 for removal of all the invidium remaining on the ship . Picard agrees . La Forge is glad Barclay was out in the real world . A few smacks on the back later , and Barclay seems to have come to a decision . Barclay arrives on the bridge and stands between Conn and Ops ; he announces that he ' s leaving the crew ; it is for the best , he says . La Forge assures Barclay he ' ll always be welcome on the " Enterprise " ; Picard tells Barclay it was a pleasure to serve with him ; Troi wishes him good luck . Barclay says it has been fun . . . and then ends the program ; he was announcing his goodbye to his holo - addiction . Barclay then deletes all of his programs except one , Program Nine ; whatever it is , Barclay likes it a lot . Then he leaves the holodeck , for hopefully a more balanced lifestyle from now on . Memorable quotes . " " Good , I ' ll look forward to your report , Mr . Broccoli . . . Barclay . " " " " I ' m just not accustomed to seeing an unsatisfactory rating on a member of my crew . " " " " I mean I am the guy who writes down things to remember to say when there is a party . And then when he finally gets there he winds up alone , in the corner , trying to look . . . comfortable examining a potted plant . " " " " You ' re just shy , Barclay . " " " " Just shy . . . sounds like nothing serious , doesn ' t it ? You can ' t know . " " " " The idea of fitting in just . . . repels me . " " " " If Barclay ' s having difficulty facing reality , to suddenly destroy his only means of escape would be brutal and could do considerable damage . " " " " Computer , discontinue . . . " " " " Computer , belay that order ! We want to get more insight into what ' s been troubling this poor man , remember ? " " ( looks at La Forge ) " " Quite a healthy fantasy life , wouldn ' t you say ? " " " " Hmm . " " " " Cast aside your masks , and let me slip into your mind . " " " " Muzzle it ! " " " " Sir ! You have no sense of fair play ! " " " " Glad you were with us out here in the real world today , Mr . Barclay . " " " " It ' s been fun . Computer – end program . Erase all programs filed under ' Reginald Barclay ' . ( Pause ) Except program 9 . " " Links and references . References . Barclay Program 9 ; Barclay Program 15 ; Barclay Program 15 holograms ; Beta Tottoro IV ; Celsius ; Central Plains Area ; commanding officer ; consonant ; Correllium fever ; cryonetrium ; Earth ; fuel inlet servo s ; fusion pre - burner s ; glass ; ; holo - addiction ; holodeck ; imagination ; industrial biochemical system ; insubordination ; invidium ; jakmanite ; KDA ; kelp ; kelp farm ; kiss ; Klingon ; lucovexitrin ; magnetic quench ; mannequin ; metathesis ; Mikulak s ; milk ; Nahmi IV ; nitrogen ; nucleosynthesis ; phase transition coil ; polarity ; polarity scanner ; pronunciation ; Qo ' noS ; radioisotope ; rapier ; red alert ; Rigellian colonies ; saltzgadum ; selgninaem ; sheep ; spanking ; swirl damper ; Starbase 121 ; Starfleet Academy ; swirl damper s ; Terkim ; tissue sample ; " The Three Musketeers " ; toast ; transporter test article ; tricorder ; virus culture ; vowel ; yurium ;