Htrae

Htrae is situated in one of the six main Universes Holly had discovered whilst on his own for three million years. Here, time has gone in reverse possibly due to the fact it is situated at a time where the Universe has begun to shrink (The Big Crunch). Also known as Backworld. The book doesn't call this planet Htrae, usually referring it to as Backwards Earth or Reverse Earth.

The Red Dwarf crew travel to this version of Earth to bury Lister, who has died in his sixties due to time dilation here so he can come to life and de-aged to 25. They also brought Kristine Konchanski's ashes and resurrected her so they could have a relationship backwards. The crew arrive on Htrae in the newly built Starbug. They go to the sovenir shop in Niagra Falls to meet up with Lister. Kryten watches the news and discovers that Lister and the Cat are involved in a murder. Lister misses the rendez-vous point. They leave the shop and see Lister being chased backwards by policemen and suffering a savage backwards kick to his groin. Lister immediately recovers and gives chase. Kryten convinces Rimmer that no harm can befall them as they are in a backwards universe. They catch up with Lister and are being chased backwards by police then are 'un-shot' at by a hillbilly. They see this hillbilly 'unweeping' earlier on that day.

The crew discover Starbug and find that it is destroyed. Rimmer and Kryten start looking for the landing jets. Kryten discovers the corpse of the hillbilly, with a pick axe in his chest. Kryten is confused as he was seen alive later that day. It is the twin of the hillbilly that was unshooting at them. Rimmer reassures Kryten that the man will come to life. The corpse comes to life and starts fighting Kryten backwards. He pulls the pick axe out of his chest, fights then the man leaves. Kryten realised that he had killed someone, which he cannot do, and switches off. Lister repairs him and finds out about the fight. He now realises that he didn't commit the crime that he was sent to prison for.

Kryten is now working and all agree that they all should start talking forwards (as the Cat can't understand back-talk). They miss the flight window and realised that they have to spend the next ten years living backwards.

Ten years have passed and the Cat and Lister are now 15. The Cat becomes a virgin after a bizarre sexual encounter with a beautiful cousin of the mountain men. Lister and Kryen re-bury the landing jets they find as they work out that Starbug is badly damaged by something. Lister and the Cat fly Starbug backwards, scraping against the cave it is hidden in, over the treetops, re-attaching the landing jets and are unshot down by a missile which undamages the ship. They arrive in their universe in under three weeks later.

On this planet, people don't die and diseases make you better. The downside is that toilet arrangement can be extremely disturbing for someone who was born in a forwards Universe (the Cat was too shocked to speak) and sex isn't as fun as it is in a normal Universe. Rimmer commented that people would consider St Francis of Assisi a petty minded sadist who went around maiming small animals and Santa Claus would be an evil old bastard who went down people's chimneys and stole all the childrens favourtite toys. Journalists however would be classed as heroes as they collect all the newspapers and convert them into trees.

In the episode Backwards, they spend only three weeks here in Nodnol in the year 3991 (London, 1993). Rimmer and Kryten get jobs as "The Sensational Reverse Brothers" as the backwards people would consider their forwards actions as 'backwards', but Lister and the Cat believe that they are in Bulgaria.