- The red dwarf crew encounter the inquisitor, a mechanical lifeform who has made himself judge, jury and executioner of all of humanity throughout history. If he decides your life hasn't been worthy enough you are erased and replaced. Bad luck for the dwarfers.—Elliot Butler
- The Inquistor, a cybernetic judge, jury and executioner travels through time, erasing worthless losers who have wasted their lives out of existence. The Red Dwarf crew are the next to be judged and it doesn't sound good for Lister and Kryten.—Daniel Williamson
- The episode begins on an unnamed colony where a man is sleeping. He is woken up by the arrival of a caped figure, a cybernetic grim reaper, the figure accuses him of having wasted his life and erases him, leaving an alternate version in his place. The Starbug is in space which is automatically commandeered by an unseen force, a presence takes control of Lister and introduces itself as the Inquisitor, he is returning Starbug to Red Dwarf so the crew can face his judgement, justify their lives of be deleted.
Lister is released from the Inquisitor's control and is given a medical, Kryten knows the name Inquisitor, it was believed to be just a legend, the story goes that a self-repairing mechanical survives to the end of time itself, he concludes there are no gods or afterlives, and the purpose of existence is living a worthwhile life, he constructs a time machine in the form of a gauntlet and wanders all time, assessing every one who ever lived, all those who wasted their lives were erased and exchanged with those who never lived, the unfertilized eggs.
The crew worry as they have little to their name. Back on Red Dwarf they meet the Inquisitor, the mechanical reaper from the beginning. Rimmer is first to face trial, here the Inquisitor reveals under his mask each person is judged by themselves, Rimmer's case is he had no real advantage in life and so he never was given a chance to prosper. Cat is next, justifying his life by his looks. Kryten's good deeds were committed not out of kindness but out of his programming, and questions why the Inquisitor judges others. Lister merely scoffs at the process.
The Inquisitor declares two of them unworthy, Rimmer and Cat are seemingly removed, the Inquisitor just relocated them, Lister and Kryten are to be deleted. The Inquisitor creates a bubble around them which erases their actions from the destiny line, just as he's about erase their physical selves another Kryten teleports behind the Inquisitor and chainsaws of his gauntlet hand and kicks it toward the first Kryten. This second version came from the future to help their escape, the Inquisitor jumps the second Kryten and crushes his head against a wall, the second Kryten gives them a cryptic clue before he dies, "Eni." The Inquisitor spawns a new arm with a new gauntlet.
Lister and Kryten head to the door to the landing bay, but Holly refuses access as they are now non-existent, tear gas is deployed and they retreat back to the corridors. Cat and Rimmer appear and draw a gun on the now unknown duo. Another set of Lister and Kryten appear, they are the replacements for the originals, Rimmer orders the originals to be taken to the airlock for jettisoning. The Inquisitor appears and attacks them killing the alternate Lister and Kryten, the original Lister takes the severed hand of his counterpart to access a Starbug.
Kryten examines the Inquisitor's gauntlet, realizing his future self's clue was "Enigma", the keypad on the gauntlet is an enigma decoding design, Cat and Rimmer find them aboard Starbug offering an allegiance, Kryten deduces the final battle will occur in the cargo bay, Lister asks for the gauntlet as he has a plan. The crew are jumped in the cargo bay, Cat and Rimmer are killed. Lister is nearly erased until Kryten distracts the Inquisitor long enough for Lister to freeze him with the gauntlet, they have two gauntlets now.
Kryten goes back to sacrifice himself, Lister hangs the Inquisitor over a gantry in the engine room and nearly drops him, but saves him at the last second, his excuse is to let the Inquisitor erase him so he can't save him the second time, Inquisitor points out that if Lister doesn't exist, he can't endanger him in the first place. The Inquisitor goes to erase Lister and the latter's plan unfolds, he had Kryten rewire the gauntlet to backfire on the Inquisitor erasing himself and his work. Inquisitor is deleted and Kryten reappears along with Rimmer and Cat.
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