- The Red Dwarf crew pick up an escape pod containing either prison guard Barbra Bellini or a dangerous Simulant convict. They transport the pod back to Justice World where Rimmer finds himself put on trial for past crimes long forgotten.
- The Red Dwarf crew transport a defrosting stasis capsule to 'Justice World', a remote penal space station, where they believe the person in the capsule may be one of the convicts or one of the guards. And Rimmer is convicted of the radioactive disaster that wiped out the entire crew of Red Dwarf.—Daniel Williamson
- Lister is sick with space mumps for three weeks and Kryten has been nursing him, Kryten lets slip of the retrieval of an escape pod, Lister goes to see it in the sleeping quarters, the pod is labelled to its owner, Barbara Bellini. Cat walks in and activates the defrost process, Rimmer and Kryten walk in and Rimmer sees Cat has begun the release, he explains to them that the pod came from a prison ship in which there was a riot leaving two survivors, a prisoner and a guard, Bellini was one of these people. The other was a prisoner, the inmates of the ship were a mechanical race known as simulants, a notoriously misanthropic synthetic creation. It's likely the simulant is in the pod. A black box search unveils coordinates for a prison station the ship was set for, if it is a prisoner in the pod, they'll leave him at the station.
They travel to the prison colony station the inmates were headed for via Starbug, en route Lister's space mumps are healed, upon arrival the crew are escorted through the complex via robotic boots and taken through a scanning device known as Mind Probe. It's designed to scan a brain for evidence of unpunished criminal activities, Lister worries because of petty crimes committed in his youth, the station's computer declares Kryten, Cat and Lister cleared to travel the station, Rimmer however is accused of second-degree murder of 1,167 people, caused by the accident aboard Red Dwarf, he is sentenced to exactly 9,328 years, all to be served consecutively due to his hologrammic status.
Lister visits him in his cell, Lister notes the absence of prison security, they're not required on the station as it's covered by a "Justice field" a measure against crime, when a crime is committed it's reflected back on the perpetrator, when Rimmer suggests Lister set fire to the bed sheets Lister's jacket catches fire.
Kryten and Cat enter with news that the computer has permitted Rimmer a retrial, what the mind probe detects is the individual's feeling of guilt, in Rimmer's case it was because of guilt he felt for an accident he caused. Kryten's case is built on Rimmer's ineptitude, stating he couldn't have done such an act intentionally, Rimmer is released.
Back on Starbug they discover the stasis pod open and the simulant inside has taken one of their guns, they flee back on to the station, Kryten and Cat, go one route, Lister and Rimmer go another, the simulant follows the latter. Lister has a vantage point over the simulant, the simulant offers to negotiate for the start-up code to their craft, he drops his weapon and Lister hesitates to shoot an unarmed foe. He instead goes to face the simulant, both sides reveal they had a back-up weapon, and the simulant has a second back-up, a gun. He shoots at Lister, but the Justice field deflects the bullets back at him, Lister hits him over the head with a pipe and falls over in pain, the simulant throws a knife which lands in his own stomach, he tries again and the knife lands in his face.
Lister now understanding lets the simulant attack him until it's wounded, Cat appears with a shovel and hits the simulant with it, knocking himself out.
The crew head back to Red Dwarf where Lister converses about the universe having no natural justice, and too much can lead to an absence of free will.
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