The Cat is the descendant of Frankenstein, the black cat that Lister smuggled aboard Red Dwarf before the radiation leak. If Lister no longer existed in history, the cat might not have been smuggled on board, and the Cat race would not exist. However, it could be assumed that the "replacement" Lister smuggled Frankenstein on board in the new reality.
Rimmer tells Kryten he is reading a comic book version of Vergil's Aenead but the description he gives is of the Greek siege of Troy which is the subject of Homer's Iliad. The Aenead tells the story of what happened next, to Aeneas, ultimately leading to the founding of Rome.
Just before the Inquisitor controls Starbug the ship jolts. Lister moves as if the ship has been jolted, but he does so too early.