The Simple Pleasures Of Life...?

by Matthew Dean

Image actually living on the USS Enterprise for real. It seems like an exiting prospect.

Imagine all day being able to mess around in the holodeck - the gymnasium, or walk in the arboretum, able to forget the rigours of everyday life. This is what it seems like, doesn't it?

Think again.

Life on the Enterprise in actual fact doesn't really seem that great when you examine things more closely. Liken it to being stuck in a luscious hotel for years on end - having to work seven days of the week, and being in constant danger of death or bereavement.

When you examine the facts, to a passenger, the Enterprise does seem nothing but a fully functional hotel. It has a gymnasium, and a garden, and a school - and most other things, too - courtesy of the holodecks scattered throughout the ship - and you can't get into these half the time, because of training exercises. Now imagine the thought of being a young child, growing up on the Enterprise. Never would you have breathed in fresh air, or seen a sunset on native Earth, or indeed been among many others your own age and species. It seems a very selfish, and terrible way of life.

We can all accept that motivation is a prime aspect of Starfleet life. What really possesses people to get out of bed each morning, and work their guts out striving for promotion - and get repayed with... what? As yet, I can see absolutely no reason for Starfleet members to stay with Starfleet. They don't have any form of income (at least Quark has the right idea here), or any real incentive to work. It is hard to believe that millions of people work for nothing - and risk their lives each day, for the sake of companionship, and relative comfort.

So next time you wish you could live on the Enterprise, consider this; It's not all plush uniforms and surroundings. Starfleet officers put an awful lot in - and seem to get nothing very much out. And on Earth so far, a system like that has never worked.

Perhaps the beauty of Star Trek is its ability to make the unfeasible seem enjoyable. The illusion works well.