Harry Kim has already left the room and does not hear any of that. 

"So wow, you're from the 18th century? That's amazing! How did you wind up here?"

Harry has decided that he's pretty happy with this situation. His current theory is that something crazy is going to happen about once per week and this one seems very unlikely to kill anybody.

Laurence is a little confused by Ensign Kim's word choices, but he can make it out more or less. He's vaguely embarrassed that he doesn't know the answer.

"The details of the matter are unclear to me, though Captain Janeway mentioned it involved an entity named Q. As for my own perspective, I was on the dock, on the point of assisting passengers in boarding my ship Reliant, when I suddenly appeared in a black room with orange lines, along with one of said passengers, who told me her name was Captain Janeway of the USS Voyager. I am at a loss for explanations, but since it seems the alteration in my circumstances is irreversible, my course must be to adapt as well as I can."

He's reminded once more that in all likelihood, he'll never again see his parents, his friends, Edith Galman-- he pushes such thoughts out of his mind. It's more important now to learn what he can from Ensign Kim.

"Huh. So the black and orange room is the holodeck. The holodeck can ... uhhhh ... create illusions of basically anything. We use it for training and entertainment."

Harry figures out the implication immediately but decides to talk through it for Laurence's benefit.

"What you're describing sounds like what happens when the holodeck turns off. Everything but the actual people vanish instantly."

"But from your perspective, you never entered the holodeck, and instead remember an entire life in the 18th century. Which really sounds like you used to be a holodeck character and Q just somehow... turned you into a real person."

It's kind of weird that Janeway didn't spell this out to him. Probably she trusted him to figure it out himself.

"A... character?" He pauses. "Actual people?"

Oh no.

"I'm sorry. That was tactless of me."

Kim thinks back to his Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence class at Starfleet Academy.

"The holodeck can create what appear to be people. But they're not, actually, people- they don't experience things."

"I think what must have happened is that, when Janeway shut down the program, Q created you from scratch, patterned after one of the holodeck characters. You have memories of a life in the 18th century, but I don't think any of it actually happened."

"I'm really sorry."

On the one hand... everything he has ever known or believed in is false, his family and friends are not only gone but they never existed in the first place, and his every past achievement or future hope is meaningless and gone.

On the other hand... what does it change, really?

"You and Captain Janeway both referred to my time as 'the 18th century.'" Strictly speaking, 1804 is the 19th century, but Laurence lived most of his life so far in the 18th -- or believed he did -- and isn't inclined to quibble. "Were the things that I remember real, in your past? England? Napoleon?"

He doesn't dare to ask about himself personally, nor his family and friends. Surely history wouldn't remember him this far into the future, even if he were anything more than a character in a novel. It doesn't matter, really. At least that's what he tells himself.

"England was real. Is real, rather. Napoleon was real."

"What became of him?" No reason not to ask now. "Is England part of your Federation? Who rules it?"

Laurence briefly considers that Ensign Kim could be wrong about his origins. But in his heart, he believes it. It explains all too clearly why Captain Janeway avoided the subject.

History test?

"Hmm. Napoleon was defeated eventually. I don't think he managed to expand France in the long term."

Civics is much easier.

"England is part of the European Alliance, which is itself part of United Earth, which is in turn part of the Federation. I don't know much offhead about the European Alliance government but it's presumably some form of republic. United Earth has an elected president, as does the Federation. Certain powers fall to the Federation, others to United Earth."

"If you want, you can ask the computer questions. It knows a lot more history then I do."

Didn't expand France in the long term. It's hard to process that. Much of his life's work was a small fraction of the effort required to defeat Napoleon, and with the march of centuries, the battles, the plans, the great men who worked and died to accomplish it, have all been reduced to that one footnote. It gives a new sense of perspective to five hundred years.

And England merely one part of a Republic. A Jacobin one? "Is there no more gentry, then?" It occurs to him to ask about the other historical development he hoped to see in his lifetime. "And the slave trade, what became of it?"

He realizes that he'll finally have to ask more questions. "Computer" was the word Janeway used when asking... someone... about the eradication of the common cold (and just how could an entire disease be eradicated? Not important). For that matter, he doesn't understand how people's voices seemed to be coming out of nowhere when Janeway tapped the badge on her chest. He'll start with the first question he can think of.

"But perhaps those questions are better asked of ... the computer," he adds belatedly. "Who or what is the 'computer'?"

Harry's face hardens when he realizes that this man might be a slaver.

"Slavery was abolished globally well before the unification of Earth. I hope that's not a problem for you."

A grin breaks out on his face. "Good Lord, no! My father is--"

He realizes abruptly that not only is Lord Allendale surely unknown to Ensign Kim, he is also, in all likelihood, fictional.

In more subdued tones, he finishes, "No. I am truly glad to hear it. I have always considered the trade the most vile and un-Christian practice devised by man."

They reach a turbolift. 

"Deck 7."

"I'm glad to hear you say that."

"As for the computer, it's a machine that you can talk to. It can answer purely factual questions. Very good at math, not so good at writing a novel."

The turbolift doors open, revealing deck 7.

"It also manages many of the ship's systems. For example, turning the ship requires firing dozens of thrusters in exactly at exactly the right time, with exactly the right thrust. We tell the computer where we want to point the ship and the computer determines exactly how to make that happen."

"You can ask it a question by addressing it as 'Computer'."

Addressing it... "But... where is it?"

This time Laurence pays more attention to the fact that he was in a small, accelerating room and now is in a different location. "Does it control the ship's 'decks' as well?"

(So far Laurence has not heard anyone say the word "turbolift.")

"Control the... decks?"

"Oh you do you mean when we stepped into the turbolift back there, I said 'deck 7', and it took us to deck 7? Yeah that's the computer."

"The computer is on decks 10 through 12, but it can hear you anywhere on the ship."

"I... see."

It seems rude to have a conversation with the 'Computer' while Ensign Kim is still here, so Laurence will try to think of something else to ask about.

"You said slavery was abolished on Earth. What of the other planets?"

"Slavery is illegal across the entire Federation. Outside it... Cardassia enslaved Bejorans during the occupation, although most of them are free now. The Romulans enslave the Remans. The Klingons... might? I'm not actually sure. The Dominion certainly practices slavery."

"So, uh, most of the major powers outside of the Federation."

Kim makes it sound as though there has been no moral progress since Laurence's time. Yet... 150 planets the size of Earth, all without the scourge of slavery, is no mean feat.

Laurence nods. "Most unfortunate," he says, unable to find adequate words, "that it should persist."

He's gone too far afield. Perhaps a lighter subject; after all, he may be shipmates with Ensign Kim for a long time.

"How long have you served with Voyager?"

"Oh, 2 weeks, same as everybody else. The Caretaker took Voyager on its first mission, less than a day out of Deep Space Nine."

He looks sheepish.

"Actually, this is my first post out of the academy."

"Your first post! Congratulations. Did you always want to join... er. What is the name of your service?"