Lister lay on the medical bay table. His eyes were closed, and he had a wet washcloth on his forehead. He could hear Rimmer hovering somewhere nearby.

"I feel fine," Lister offered, hoping he could get off this table soon.

"Still tingly?" Rimmer asked.

"No," Lister said.

Cat was choosing an outfit. "Now what shirt should I wear? Hmm. Pink's too sassy for today. No pink. Maybe tomorrow. What is this, rayon? Please."

Lister sighed. "Cat, stop talking about your clothes."

Rimmer sounded puzzled. "Lister, Cat's not here."

Lister opened his eyes and looked around the medical bay, but Rimmer was right. Cat was nowhere to be seen. "Then he must be talking really loud."

"What's he saying?" Rimmer asked.

Lister concentrated and repeated what he heard Cat's voice saying in his head. "'Not blue…maybe the lime green. I look good in lime green. I look good in anything.' Must be looking through his closet."

"His closet's a kilometer away," Rimmer said, looking worried. "Holly? Have you found anything?"

Lister turned to look at the viewscreen, and instead of the familiar old Holly, a blonde woman identical to Hilly appeared.

"Yeah, I've got it," the woman said.

"Holly, what have you done?" Lister asked.

Holly looked pleased. "Do you like it? I think it's rather fetching myself."

Rimmer shook his head. "I don't even want to know why you look like that."

Holly apparently felt the need to explain anyway. "It's like this. I miss Hilly."

"Told you," Lister said to Rimmer.

"So, I decided that if I looked and sounded like Hilly, it would be like having her with me," Holly said.

"I hope you know you're completely daft, Holly," Rimmer said, not in the least convinced by Holly's tale of woe.

"I'm not daft. It's working so far. I feel better already," Holly said.

"What about me, Holly? Am I okay?" Lister asked.

"I've scanned you for diseases. You're all right," Holly said.

"Good," Lister said, relieved that nothing was wrong with him.

"Except," Holly said.

Lister felt a cold chill run down his back. "Except?"

Rimmer made a victorious gesture. "Aha! I was right!"

"The sphere, whatever it is, stimulated the bioelectrical receptors in your brain," Holly said.

Lister tried to make sense of that. "What does that mean?"

"Not only can you think more clearly, you can pick up thoughts from other sources," Holly said.

Rimmer frowned. "You mean he can hear what other people are thinking?"

Holly nodded. "People, cats. Anything with the proper electrical signature. No worries—it's only going to last a few days."

Lister liked the idea of having some kind of super power. "I'm a mind reader!"

Rimmer shook his head. "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad I'm a hologram."

Lister looked at Rimmer. "Why?"

"You can't hear what I'm thinking because I'm not really thinking, am I? It's simulated thinking along with simulated everything else," Rimmer said.

Lister closed his eyes, concentrating. There was a frenzied humming at the back of his brain, and Lister suspected he knew who was doing the humming.

"What are you doing?" Rimmer asked.

Lister began to recite Rimmer's thoughts. "Just my luck. The stupid gimboid didn't even hurt himself. What's he talking about? He's reading my mind. Smeg. I hope he doesn't find out about the—"

"Shut up!" Rimmer said.

Lister opened his eyes and grinned.

"How did you do that?" Rimmer asked.

"I guess you do something close enough to thinking for me to hear," Lister said.

Rimmer didn't look too pleased about that. "Can you hear it all the time?"

Lister shook his head. "It's like you're mumbling most of the time. If I concentrate, it clears up and I can understand it."

"And Cat's thoughts are clearer?" Rimmer asked.

Lister smiled. "Well, he's never exactly been quiet, has he?"

"What about me? Can you hear me?" Holly asked.

Lister turned to look at Holly. If Cat sounded like he was talking in Lister's head and Rimmer sounded like he was mumbling, Holly sounded like she was bouncing off walls. "Why are you thinking about the theme song from 'Love Story'?"

Holly got a deer-in-the-headlights look on her face. "I've got it stuck in my head."

Lister caught a stray thought from Rimmer and turned back to face him. "You got ducked in the swimming pool and almost drowned?"

Rimmer shrugged dismissively. "I was very young."

Lister squinted; there was something else. "Your swimming instructor did it?"

"Stop listening in!" Rimmer snapped. "I respect your privacy."

Lister raised his eyebrows. "When? When you're reading my diary or when you're looking up my confidential personnel files?"

Rimmer rose up and down uneasily on his toes. "I read your diary when I was alive, and your personnel file wasn't the only one I looked at."

"Is that supposed to make it better? It's still my privacy," Lister said.

Rimmer opened his mouth to speak. Yes, but my privacy's more important than your privacy.

Lister looked disgusted. "That is the stupidest thing you've ever said."

"I didn't say anything," Rimmer said.

"You were going to," Lister said.

"Maybe I was and maybe I would've changed my mind," Rimmer said.

Lister didn't find that likely. "Since when do you ever change your mind about insulting me?"

"Since…" Apparently Rimmer didn't find it all that likely either. "All right, never, but it is my prerogative."

Lister shook his head. "I'm going to find some smokes."

Rimmer looked horrified. "Haven't you given that up yet?"

"Actually, I have," Lister said.

"Then why are you looking for cigarettes?" Rimmer asked.

"I thought I'd have a bonfire in the officers' lounge. Wanna come?" Lister asked.

"You are the most juvenile person I've ever met," Rimmer said.

Lister caught another interesting stray thought. "What's this about you having to wear boxing gloves while you were asleep?"

Rimmer glared at Lister.