Topsy-Turvy

Written for The Rooms 2016 PROMPTAPALOOZA. Challenge 2: Through A Looking Glass

Waking up from falling out of bed for Lister was not a strange occurrence, he had woken up after falling out of bed many times after a night drinking or something like a piece of derby hitting the ship and knocking him out of his bunk. What was strange on this occasion was he had woken up hitting the roof instead of the floor and had remained on the roof.

He looked at the mess littered over the roof, which was now the floor. His laundry pile, the broken fish tank with water and glass everywhere and his two robot gold his failing about, Rimmer's books, last night's dinner and the rubbish bin all a mess and spread out everywhere. Looking up at what was now the ceiling, he could see the table, the sink, and the fridge hanging in the air, he was glad they were bolted down; he did not fancy having either of those land on him. Glancing at his roommate's bunk could see that Rimmer had not been affected despite his mattress and blanket being flung around the room; in fact, floating just below the point his mattress would have been. It seemed a little bit surreal seeing Rimmer floating in the air. Something he'd never seen of the hologram before.

"Rimmer, "he called as he stood to his feet. His bunkmate did not stir for a few moments, he was a heavy sleeper, and since he no longer had a physical form, he could not even shake or splash him awake. If he did have a physical form, Lister was assuming that Rimmer would have landed on top of him.

"Rimmer," he shouted as loud as he could. He watched in amusement as Rimmer jumped out of bed and landed on the floor, the regular floor and began doing his morning exercise routine.

"I'm awake, I've been awake for hours," Rimmer shouted in reply, before actually waking up and noticing the lack of mess on the floor. He was even more amused as Rimmer looked in his direction and then to the ceiling, looking horrified at the mess. "Why are you on the ceiling? Why is everything on the ceiling? What have you done this time?"

"I didn't do anything, I woke up on the roof," Lister replied. He'd never seen Rimmer's belongings this messy before, it was rather amusing seeing the possessions he tried to hide spread out everywhere, the most notable was Rachael whom Rimmer pretend he hadn't noticed.

"Holly, what is going on?" Rimmer asked. The computer popping up on the screen, the correct way up, for Rimmer anyway. To Lister, he was upside down.

"What is going on with what?" Holly asked.

"Why is Lister and everything on the ceiling?" Rimmer pointed to the roof.

"We're flying upside down at the moment," Holly replied. "I don't like it, everything feels topsy-turvy."

"Then why is Rimmer not on the roof?" Lister asked.

"The holographic projection system is not affected by being upside down, that is why he is still projecting like normal," Holly told the two men like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Holly, we are in space, there is no upside down or right side up in space." Rimmer pointed out the obvious. "No matter what direction the ship is facing, we on the inside of the ship should not be affected as long as the machinery maintaining the gravity is working correctly. If the ship is moving slowly enough when changing the direction, it is facing no one should notice. Even if moving too fast, everything should be thrown around and then correct itself after a few moments, not end up on the ceiling, permanently. Is everywhere like this, or just our room?"

"The whole ship is upside down," Holly replied. "I'm getting dizzy."

"You're getting dizzy?" Rimmer raised his voice. "How do you think I feel, looking up at the roof and seeing all that mess?"

Lister looked up as Rimmer sat down on the bed, looking close to a panic attack. "He's killed us, that senile computer has doomed up. Everything is broken and a messy, we will never be able to clean everything up. We won't be able to leave because the Blue Midgets and Starbugs will be destroyed as well. He's probably destroyed the last of the scutters and the medical gear, you better hope you never get sick again milado, if you don't starve first. No getting anything out of the vending machines at the moment."

"Holly, can you just fix this?" Lister begged the computer. "Standing on the roof was interesting at first; I almost fell into a service duct just then."

"I can't," Holly replied. "We're still upside down."

Rimmer was getting frustrated and let off steam at the computer and ranted for several long minutes, getting nowhere since Holly still insisted he was upside down.

"Can't you just turn the ship, so you are whatever direction you think up is?" Lister suggested, interrupting Rimmer's rant. It was worth a shot since nothing else was working, and Rimmer could rant for hours if no one interrupted him.

"I suppose I could do that," Holly replied after much thinking.

"Make sure you give us a warning before you switch gravity," Rimmer ordered the computer.

- Red Dwarf -

Lister remained in his room where he knew that the drop wouldn't kill him if Holly corrected the gravity without warning. Some of the area's had large spaces like the cargo bay and the hangers. He wondered if the Cat had survived the switch-a-roo. He hadn't seen the feline since the mess had begun, and if he had survived, Lister assumed he wouldn't see him for several more days since he'd need to re-organise his suit collection. Rimmer was currently inspecting the damage in the rest of the ship.

Holly was not gentle with his switch and gave no warning at all. Lister found himself falling to the floor, all the belongings of his room trying to kill him. Thankfully, his guitar survived.

"We are now right ways up again," Holly reported happily. "I feel much better now. Best of all, no one got hurt."

Lister rolled his eyes at the computer; it was going to take months, possibly even years or decades to clean up from this mess.

Updated 1 May 2017