The Observation Dome was a nice place on top of Red Dwarf where you could go to look at the stars. It usually required reservations and fifty credits to gain access, but Rimmer was able to get in with no trouble. One nice thing about the crew being dead except for him was that there were no lines. He sat down on the bench and leaned back against the railing, staring out at the stars that no man before had ever seen.

He was feeling empty again. It had been three days since they had discovered the cat city, but the sole survivor of the race was a self-centered, materialistic creature with large fangs, nice clothes and next to no intelligence. Rimmer had tried to make friends, but the only time the feline ever listened to him was when he was teaching him to use the food dispensers. After that, there was no need for Rimmer. The Cat simply resumed playing with string, collecting shiny things, eating and sleeping, not to mention taking six showers a day.

Holly wasn't much better company. He had tried to strike up a conversation with the computer, but it was no good. Holly had gone peculiar from being on his own for three million years. It was too depressing. To make it worse, Rimmer couldn't think of any credible orders for the super computer to do. He was technically by default second in command aboard this ship. He should have some sort of authority. Unfortunately, he couldn't think of anything.

That just left Kochanski.

Well, not quite. There were the Skutters as well. They apparently had names like 'Bob' and 'Madge', but he couldn't be bothered with memorizing the names of two animated shoeboxes, so he simply referred to them as 'Pinky' and 'Perky'. Skutters weren't like service droids. They were just a bunch of tiny little robotic giraffes that somehow managed to get a better union than the technicians.

It had been over a week since his release from stasis, and the novelty was wearing off. There was no one to boss around. Even if he was second-in-command, it was meaningless without someone to give orders to. He sat on the bench and observed his reflection in the plexiglass dome. He hadn't shaved in two days, and he had some stubble growing on him. Normally, he would've gone mad and shaved straight away, but he just couldn't be bothered. It felt so pointless.

He noticed some movement in the reflection, and he craned his head around to see Kochanski coming up the steps. She made no noise in her hologrammatic state. She awkwardly walked up in her khaki uniform with green cargo trousers and a green cap that was at an awkward angle. She had her hands in her pockets – which made sense, as she couldn't really do anything else with them besides gesture.

"So, here you are," she said quietly.

"So…," Rimmer replied flatly. "Here I am."

She scowled at him. "Does everything you say have to be a sarcastic retort?"

"Couldn't think of a good comeback, eh?"

Avoiding the fact that he was right, she focused on the view instead. "See anything interesting up here?"

Rimmer shrugged. "Just the stars. If you've seen one great big ball of gas suspended in space, you've seen 'em all."

"How poetic."

"Did you want something?"

"… Rimmer, we can't float through space doing nothing. We need to start making plans. We need to figure out where we're going or what we're going to do."

"Oh, well, we could just kick back, have the odd drink, eat for a while, take a nap, die in about fifty to sixty years unless I kill myself, but I haven't set anything in stone."

"Rimmer…"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but what the hell is the bloody point anymore? The crew's dead, you're dead and composed entirely of light, and we're stuck with a senile computer and a self-centered nimrod with a nice suit. Where's the point?"

Kochanski finally snapped. "Rimmer, a hologram I may be, but I am the senior officer on this ship! I am ordering you to get off your backside and help me figure out a course of action!"

Rimmer blinked, startled as he felt some ingrained belief that he should follow all officers and take orders without question. Uncertain of himself, he got to his feet and stood at attention. "Er… yes, ma'am?"

"Good! Now then! Help me figure out a plan of action!"

Rimmer just stared blankly for a few seconds before he realized she was serious. He floundered for a few seconds – he couldn't half-arse this. "Uh… Well, we could… do inventory?"

Kochanski rolled her eyes. "That's just an activity. We need a long-term goal."

Rimmer struggled to think of something else. "We could… We could… Well, there isn't a lot to do! Ma'am! I mean, what's the point? The human race is dead! Everyone we ever knew is dead!"

"There's got to be something, dammit!" Kochanski snapped. "I refuse to believe that we're destined to sit around on this floating red trashcan for the rest of your life! I need some sort of direction in my life! Why do you think I became a navigation officer?! I need somewhere to go! I need something to fight towards! And I'll be damned if I let a smart-mouthed, snively, cowardly little ratbag like you get in my way!"

She was so close to him now that she was almost walking through him. Rimmer was surprised to find he could see his reflection in her 'H'.

Where could they go? What was there to see? Who would be waiting for them? What did they have…?

Then, something occurred to him that hadn't before.

"Let's go home," he said out loud.

She looked momentarily thrown by his response. "What?" she asked.

Rimmer shrugged helplessly. "I don't know! You started it!"

"What's 'home', Rimmer?"

"… I don't know. Where else is there, though? Let's turn the ship around and go back. There must be a way of doing that."

Kochanski immediately felt her navigator gene kick in to high drive, and she started thinking, doing the calculations necessary for such a feat. "… It'll take four thousand years just to turn around…"

Rimmer nodded. "Well… there must be another way."

Kochanski looked at him for a long moment. Then she turned and looked outside into deep space. She did what you were supposed to do in the Observation Dome – she observed. She took in all the stars, looking at them carefully. She looked at an asteroid storm off in the distance. She looked at a couple of stray planets that were drifting around with a couple of moons in orbit around them…

Wait… She could feel the beginnings of a plan forming…

Orbit… Planet… She smiled.

"Holly!" she yelled.

There was no response.

"Holly!" she yelled louder.

Finally, a projector on the platform in the middle of the dome flickered into being, and Holly's 3D projection appeared before them like Princess Leia. He was wearing a darling sleeping cap like Ebenezer Scrooge.

"What do you want?" he asked, looking as if he had just woken up. "It's late. I'm jiggered, man."

"You're a computer," Kochanski reminded him. "You don't sleep."

"I can't keep up my full tilt, full power, red hot, maximum pace all the time. I've got to take the odd breather, haven't I?"

"Holly, I have a plan for how to get us back to the Solar System," she said urgently. "That planet over there? Can you navigate us into orbit around it?"

Holly glanced over at the planet in question. "I can give it a go," he said slowly. Then his eyes widened as he realized what she was getting at. "Ohhh… you're suggesting that we go into orbit around the planet to slingshot us back around in the opposite direction."

"Exactly," she said triumphantly. "Will it work?"

Holly tilted his head in shrug. "I'll give it a go," he said. "We can be all the way around the planet in a day or two."

"Thank you, Holly. Get to it," she said firmly.

Holly's projection blinked off, and he vanished, leaving them alone again.

Rimmer broke his silence. "So… we're going back to the Solar System?"

"Correct, Rimmer," Kochanski said smartly, as if her previous outburst had never happened. "Excellent plan. Keep up the good work."

Rimmer's heart soared at the realization that his plan had been approved. He quickly saluted in his own flamboyant style and stood proudly to attention. "Why, thank you, ma'am!" he said eagerly. "Always happy to serve, ma'am."

Kochanski rolled her eyes. "Nobody likes a kiss-arse, Rimmer," she admonished.

Rimmer's smug expression faltered momentarily, and he was about to say something in response when she smirked and winked playfully at him, saluting back normally before turning and walking soundlessly out of the room.

He didn't come down from the dome for a long time, but he continued to stare out at the planet ahead of him. He felt a warm feeling deep inside of him that he hadn't experienced before. Someone was proud of him. He couldn't help but smile slightly.

Then he caught sight of his reflection again and noted his stubble. He had to admit, it made him look rather rugged.