- Starbug is attacked by a Simulant battleship and infected with a virus which overrides it's navicomp. Lister, Rimmer and Cat use the AR machine to enter Kryten's mind, which has taken the form of the Wild West, in order to fight the virus.
- Starbug stumbles upon a battleship carrying on-board murderous cyborgs called "Simulants". When the "Simulants" infect Starbug with a virus and Starbug heads on a collision course with a volcanic planet. Lister, Cat and Rimmer connect Kryten to a Artifical Reality game set and Lister, Cat and Rimmer enter Kryten's dream of the wild-west, as they set out to help Kryten to fight the virus.—Daniel Williamson
- Lister has been spending at lot of time in an artificial reality gaming system, Kryten visits him in one game requesting him to leave, Starbug has entered simulant territory and the ship has to shut down and go into silent running. A simulant cruiser intercepts them and the captain wishes to speak to them, simulants are misanthropic so speaking directly could be problematic, Lister and Cat communicate in disguise as aliens, Kryten filming their mouths upside down with his false eyes on stuck to their chins. The simulant captain teleports onto Starbug and is disappointed with the crew, two humans, a humanoid and a mechanical servant, he shoots them all.
The crew wake up on Starbug all having been put under for three weeks, the simulants upgraded their ship, even adding weapons. This was to challenge them in a fair fight. The battle begins and the Dwarfers score a lucky shot on the cruiser starting a meltdown, the second-in-command infects Starbug's navigation computer with the Armageddon virus before the cruiser is destroyed. Starbug's controls are unresponsive and their locked on a collision course with a lava moon due in half an hour. Kryten uploads the virus to his CPU to study it and create an antidote named a Dove program.
Kryten is wired up to a life monitor where he's losing to the virus, the others view the battle on a screen, it takes the form of a Wild-West story with Kryten playing the role of a failing Sheriff, he's confronted by an outlaw gang known as the Apocalypse boys, Death, resembling the simulant captain, War, Famine and Pestilence. Kryten has only one hour to leave town.
The others hook up into the dream via the artificial reality machine, they take the role of Western heroes, Rimmer as Dangerous Dan McGrew, a bare-handed fighting specialist, Cat as Riviera Kid, ace gunslinger and Lister as Brett Riverboat, knife thrower. The enter the simulation and head to the local saloon, they order some drinks which Rimmer can't keep down and he vomits into the hat of a burly customer, Lister offers money as compensation. Kryten walks in and hands his belongings to the barmaid for a bottle of Whiskey. The others speak with him but he has no memory of them, a customer steals Kryten's bottle with a whip which Lister retrieves with his knives, and then pins said customer to the wall with the knives. Two gunmen fire at them and Cat shoots their bullets out of the air, Kryten makes to leave and the others pursue, Rimmer holds off an attack by himself with his combat skills. Cat stops Kryten's escape with a trick shot making a sign fall on him.
Kryten is taken back to the saloon and fed bowls of raw coffee until sober, Cat has retrieved Kryten's guns, a pair of revolvers with doves carved on the handles and no bullet chambers, Kryten begins to remember a few things, such as minor details of his crew mates, the Apocalypse boys arrive and the Dwarfers go out face them, Death spreads the virus into the A.R. machine removing the Dwarfers abilities. They have to get out, the emergency exit, a button in the palm of the A.R. glove doesn't work, so they get their real world selves to force off the helmets. Once out Kryten has enough time to finish the antidote, drawing his guns which turn into doves that erase the Apocalypse boys.
Kryten is awake in the real world with the antidote, there's only two minutes to impact, Kryten uploads the antidote, Starbug goes into the lava for a few seconds and then reemerges, the Dwarfers give a triumphant rebel yell and fly off into the sunset.
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