Holographic Pancake

<snip>A second snake took a bite out of his body, pulling at it whilst another tugged from the other side. Eventually they ripped his body into two pieces, and stripped flesh from his bones until all that was left was a sad looking skeleton. 
A guilty looking skeleton. 
<end snip>

Who: Justin Pancake & Kara McGellan
Where: Holographic control centre
When: A day after Justin died

Kara's hardlight fingers whizzed over the buttons and switches of the computer in the Holographic control centre. A computer in the same room was responsible for her own holographic matrix, but that didn't concern her right now. The hologram she was creating was very different, in many different ways.

In front of her, the matrix started to assemble. Polygons and pixels started to cluster into the body of a man. Kara looked behind her, she was careful to avoid any of the crew. Especially as she was still wearing her Nazi-style JMC uniform, it was her sense of duty to the JMC that she never took it off.

Over 30 minutes ago she'd been talking with the JMC Board of Directors. They'd given her new orders to sabotage the Blue Dwarf. This wasn't exactly what she was doing right now, but she needed help. She lost concentration and Holly's face appeared on a screen in front of her.

“Whassup dude?” He asked, then his features changed as he realised something nefarious was going on. “Oh, Amber isn't going to like this-” The floating head said before Kara quickly switched him off, then cursed to herself for making such an obvious mistake.
“Bollocks, bollocks, bollocks, smeggy bollocks.” She said.

The hologram was complete. It opened his eyes and looked around.
“Welcome back Justin.” Kara said.

The hologram of Justin Pancake looked confused. “What happened to me?”
“You died.” She said. “Which was a shame, because I need your help to sabotage the ship. What's the last thing you remember?”
Justin's eyes moved side to side as he recalled his memory. “I was just about to go on an away mission to the planet Slithmorphin.”
Kara nodded. “That was the last time Holly backed up your brain. Yes.” She paused. “Justin, I have bad news...”
He hit his palm against his forehead and felt the 'H'. “I died? I really died?”
Kara nodded. “In quite a horrible way I hear. You were eaten by a snake. Well... a few snakes. Your body was ripped-”
“Okay okay geez, I don't need to know!” Justin said. “So I'm important enough to be brought back from the dead? Captain Febuggure must like me more than I thought.”
He tried to lean against the desk but fell through.
“Not... exactly.” Said Kara.
“What?” Justin said, then recalled something. It hit him like a bus. “Smeg! The bomb, I left the bomb in Amber's office! I have to tell her!”
“No!” Kara said. “The bomb already went off.”

Justin raised both hands to his mouth. “Smeg! Is she okay?”
Kara glared at him. “Yes she's fine” She said through gritted teeth. “You failed!”
“Oh I'm glad!” Justin said.
“But you did blow Seymour's legs off, so it was a partial success.”
“Oh shit, really?” Justin bit his holographic lip. “Damn, I've got to go and confess.”
“No way Justin!” Kara snapped. “The JMC needs us. We have to stop Amber and return this ship back to its rightful owners.”
Justin winced. “But... Look, I'm sick of all this! Nobody likes a traitor. Amber was finally starting to trust me. No way am I listening to you!”

His entire digital body convulsed with pain.
“You're going to do what I say.” Kara said.
Justin panted as he recovered from the shock. “No! I'm not helping you!” His body shook again, this time the pain was more severe. When the pain stopped he reached for the phone on the desk, but his hands went straight through. “Holly, Holly! I have to talk to the Captain!” He shouted.

Kara folded her arms. “Holly can't hear you.” She said simply.
Justin ran out into the corridor shouting “I need to talk to the Captain! I need to-” He saw Dr Keto walking to work and stepped in front of him. “Dr, I need you to help-” Keto walked straight through him without even noticing.

Behind him Kara smirked. “I've programmed it so that nobody can see you, or hear you apart from me. Just one hologram to another.”
Justin followed Keto and waved his hand through his head. “It's like I'm a ghost.” He said.
Justin took a deep breath, even though he didn't need to. “I'm still not helping you sabotage this ship.”

Kara's finger pressed down on the button again. “Yes you are. Even if I have to control your body for you.”

Justin screamed in pain. Somehow he had to get a message to Amber.

<TBC>