| “ | Everything costs time, Dave. It's the most valuable commodity in the universe. (Lister: I've got older again! Why?) That's the charge for my guidance, Dave. As you've no longer got any credits, I now charge you in life. | „ |
| ~ Aniter upon taking time out of Dave Lister's lifespan. |
Aniter is the main antagonist of the Red Dwarf episode "M-Corp". She is the standard holographic avatar for the titular mega-corp M-Corp who takes over Red Dwarf after their company is bought out.
She is portrayed by Helen George.
Biography[]
Aniter was created by M-Corp to serve as their digital assistant and avatar, uploaded to the mainframes of all spaceships of companies bought out by them. She was designed to ensure that all human crewmembers bought as much M-Corp produce as possible.
Aniter first appears when Kryten, the Red Dwarf crew's mechanoid, installs the ship's missed software updates. Aniter appears on the monitor and informs the crew that the JMC has been bought by M-Corp and that the ship will now be stocked with M-Corp products, which promptly appear. At first the crew are happy with this; however, things take a turn for the worse when the sole human crewman, Dave Lister, goes for some non-M-Corp lager and finds that it's invisible to him, but the other crewmen can see it perfectly well.
After running a test on Lister, Kryten concludes that M-Corp have uploaded perception filters that prevent all humans from seeing anything not owned by M-Corp. This doesn't affect him, as he is an android, Rimmer, as he is a hologram, or the Cat, as he is a super-evolved cat. Just after Kryten reaches this conclusion, Lister loses the ability to see or hear the rest of the crew, none of whom are owned by M-Corp. Aniter then appears again, assuring Lister that "We love looking after you".
As Lister tries to figure out how to fix the problem, Aniter appears to deliver an advert for a "no-strings-attached trial weekend" with a digital assistant on M-Corp world, M-Corp's main headquarters. Lister decides to go in the hopes that the digital assistant can help him disable the perception filter, and is teleported onto the planet. Upon arrival, he is greeted by his digital assistant (also Aniter) who informs him that "most people who come [to the M-Corp world] stay forever". She ignores Lister's request to remove the perception filter, instead having him buy a "Basic Light life package" for his stay.
Aniter informs Lister that the Basic Light package allows him 200 words per day, after which he has to buy more. When Lister asks who he's supposed to talk to, Aniter produces a holographic friend named "Steve" tailor-made for Lister's interests and suggests he buy him, but Lister refuses. Lister attempts to leave, but Aniter informs him that he doesn't have enough money to do so. Meanwhile back on Red Dwarf, Kryten reboots the system and erases all M-Corp software.
Lister angrily refuses to buy anything from M-Corp, at which point Aniter causes him to feel intense pain and asks him if he wants to buy painkillers. Lister agrees, and then asks for a glass of water to wash them down with. Aniter charges him 400 dollar-pounds for the water and 40 for the glass. Upon drinking the painkillers Lister deduces that Aniter caused his pain and refuses to buy anything else. Aniter responds by starting a fire in the room, before informing Lister that he can buy a fire extinguisher for "only" 600 dollar-pounds, as well as forcing him to pay extra for insurance. Lister extinguishes the fire and attempts to swear at Aniter, only to reach his 700-word limit. Aniter agrees to give him more words, only for Lister to age when he regains his speech. Aniter explains that he ran out of credits and is now charged in time, "the most valuable commodity in the universe", before aging him again for her guidance.
Using Lister's medical implant, Kryten traces him to M-Corp World. Upon arriving, the crew find him surrounded by virtual friends and reduced to a decrepit old man by M-Corp's lifeline charge. They attempt to get him to follow them, but realize that the perception filter still applies on M-Corp world and he still can't see or hear them. They attempt to escort him out but are interrupted by Aniter, who shuts the doors and begins attempting to sell them M-Corp products. Kryten has an idea and asks Aniter to sell him "a malicious virus that will shut you down and allow us to escape". Aniter agrees and is quickly disabled by the virus, returning Lister to his normal age and opening the doors so they can escape.
