"Ok, that's it for today!" the coach bellowed. Katharina's team had just been practicing volleyball, in preparation for the next match. The coach pressed a button on his remote and the team's playing field, including their opponents, vanished, to give way to a checkered pattern of blue lines on the black walls, ceiling and floor. Only a small door remained, behind the coach.

Yes, what people, especially those who loved Star Trek the Next Generation and its successors dreamed to be true one day, had become reality. Holodecks.

Everything one wanted could be created. And the holograms weren't just light, no, one could actually feel, taste and smell the surroundings, interact with holographic objects and even the holographic people. Soon, a lot of businesses, armies and, in Katharina's case, professional sports teams had their own holodecks installed for whatever goal they were needed. Like creating an entire team of opponents to play against.

As she and her teammates left for the showers, Katharina felt bad. Ever since she had moved to the city of Prague, Czech Republic, to play for her new team , she had been stalked. A man named Michal, being in his early thirties, had approached her after her second game and flat out told her he loved her, telling her she was the best and more such tripe. Katharina had made it clear she didn't want any contact with him, but the guy kept coming, sending her emails almost daily and once even waited in the city itself for her to leave a bar during a weekend off. Screaming at him didn't work, he just kept grinning and telling her he "just wanted to talk".

The police couldn't do much, and the team itself had nothing to say about the people waiting outside the sports hall, since the creep was so smart to stay outside her teams' playground territory. Not to mention he showed up at every away match as well.

Katharina wasn't afraid of the guy. She estimated his height around 5'7, he was relatively thin, and didn't look like a criminal, while she stood a proud 6'7, weighted 210 lbs and, because of her profession, had a nice set of muscles and stamina, though Katharina didn't look like a body builder at all. She was a stocky woman, all the more emphasized by her height. No, since she towered over the stalker as well as eclipsed him with her girth, the volleyball pro didn't fear him. But she was sick and tired of his perseverance and deafness for the word "no".

She knew such people had a mental problem. Katharina studied biology at the university of Prague, but even though this was a case of psychology rather than biology, she knew this man was not really in love with her, but just obsessed. Yet, she was tired of this and wanted it to stop.

She knew that for now, because of a championship that involved the national teams for which Katharina wasn't selected, the next match wasn't until ten days later, so Katharina had a weekend without a game, a weekend without Michal. But she was wary he stood there, behind the sport halls' metal fence, waiting for her because he couldn't stomach having to wait for two weeks since he could see her again.

"What's the matter?" Ilona, a teammate of her, asked after the girls left the sports hall. Ilona had seen Katharina looking around her, as if to expect danger striking. Katharina, having seen no Michal, told Ilona of her problem. Again. She and the rest of the team knew of the stalker, but they couldn't do much either. Even her coach, having taken the guy aside and warned him not to bother Katharina again, had just as well tell the stalker's bike to fly to the moon. It didn't help.

"Oh man," Ilona said after Katharina finished. "This is getting out of hand. If only...", she paused as if to contemplate something. "Well... maybe... no, that would be weird..." Ilona pondered.

"What?" Katharina inquired.

"I have a friend who might help you get rid of that moron. No, nothing illegal," she quickly added seeing Katharina's expression. "Someone who isn't afraid to take chances. His name is Pavel. If you want to, I can ask him to look into this." And she explained how Pavel may help her.

Katharina, after Ilona had finished, agreed to meet her teammate's friend.

Next day (Michal hadn't been there yesterday), Katharina answered the door as the bell rang, and a man about 25 years old stood there, smiling and looking up at her. Pavel.

After some chit-chat Katharina described her problem, how she felt and that she seriously contemplated to look for another team, far away from Prague, and changing her emailadress. She didn't know what to do. No, she didn't fear the guy, she was more than a head taller than him after all, but it drained her mentally to see this idiot pop up each and every time.

Pavel smiled devilishly. "I have an idea," he replied, "but I need your help. If it works, and I have a good mind it will, that guy will never approach you ever again."

"Tell me how," Katharina replied. And Pavel did.

When he finished, Katharina smiled devilishly as well.