Amnesia
By Janine Morris
PG-13 (sexual references)
A/N: Yes, I know, Tacky romances seem to be my specialty. Hopefully this won't be just like all the other character insertion pieces. It may seem like it in the beginning, but I hope to make it stand out. By the way, I know this is cheating, but Rimmer is alive in this one. Lets just say in Timeslides he never died, please?!?
Disclaimer: blah blah blah. Like a bunch of Grant Naylor lawyers really have time to surf through FanFiction searching for fics that havn't been disclaimed properly. Just incase they are, I have a few words for them, GET A HOBBY!!!
Dedication: This is dedicated to Starfruit, and Chris Barrie, THE MAN himself!
Chapter 1
Olivia opened her eyes. She wasn't exactly sure where she was. In fact, she couldn't remember much of anything. She rubbed her eyes. It felt like she had just woken up from a deep sleep. She noticed someone's face about a foot away from her own. It startled her a little bit.
"Hi" He said with a chirpy smile.
Olivia attempted to speak, but nothing came out.
"Sir, I couldn't find any information about her in the stasis pod." Came another voice. This voice was very peculiar. Olivia felt as if she were in a dream. Slowly she sat up. Her mouth dropped open a little bit. She still couldn't speak. Someone handed her a glass of water, and she chugged it down. She looked around at the strangers that surrounded her and felt the urge to scream in fear. She contained herself, and kept quiet.
"Sir, I believe she is going into shock mode." Said the peculiar voice. The voice belonged to… well, Olivia wasn't sure what it was. She just knew it wasn't human.
"Hey, don't be scared." Said the sympathetic voice.
Olivia sighed. "Hi" She said softly. The robot dude was kind of right about the shock mode.
"Hey! I'm Dave Lister, this is Cat," He pointed to a very fit looking guy with long hair in a ponytail. What was this guy doing with a name like Cat? He smiled, and Olivia noticed his fangs. They startled her. That was probably why. "Kryten," Now he pointed at the robot. "And Rimmer." He pointed towards a taller man with dark brown hair. His voice suddenly didn't sound so sympathetic.
"Arnold J Rimmer, Bsc Ssc." He reached a hand out, and she shook it nervously. Olivia noticed his strong accept. She wasn't used to them like that.
"So who are you?" Asked Dave.
Olivia wasn't sure if she should tell these strangers her name. Then she decided she probably should. "Olivia Angeledis" She said softly again. She looked down at what she was wearing. Her T-shirt was stained and ripped, and Her jeans were almost completely ripped up. Her hair was ok, though.
"So what are you doing in a stasis pod, Olivia?" Asked Dave.
Olivia thought for a moment, but drew a blank. "I really don't know. What's a stasis pod?"
The guys looked at each other in confusion. "Maybe She has amnesia." Suggested Arnold. The others agreed.
"Miss Angeledis, can you remember when and where you were born?" Asked Kryten.
That was something Olivia could remember. "May 17, 1988. In America" She said.
Everyone accept the Cat gasped. Rimmer most of all. "Could she be serious?" He asked Kryten.
"Lets find out." He said to Arnold. "Ma'am, who was the president when you were born?"
"George Bush… the first one." She replied, still a bit confused.
"Extraordinary." Said Kryten, speeding up the 5 syllable word into about 3.
"Ask her another." Said Arnold.
"Alright then, what was attacked by terrorists on September 11th, 2001?"
"That was I day I could never forget." Said Olivia. "The world trade centers in New York, and part of the Pentagon. Lots of people dies." Why were they asking her these questions? "What's the year now?"
"Um, that's a really long story." Said Lister.
"I've got time." She said. Olivia was beginning to lighten up.
The four of them explained everything to her. The radiation leek, and now they were 3 million years into the future. Olivia was shocked beyond belief. "You **cannot** be serious!" She shouted.
"Um, we are." Said Dave.
Olivia began to feel lightheaded. How the hell did she get here? She knew she was in her twenties, but could barley remember anything past high school. Even that was fuzzy. "So, I have amnesia? I can't remember anything!"
"I'll go make up the spare quarters for you, ma'am." Said Kryten, as he walked off.
"So where exactly am I now?" Olivia asked.
"This is Starbug. We lost track of Red Dwarf awhile back, someone stole it."
Kryten returned 15 minutes later, and lead Olivia to her new quarters. She needed time alone to think. She politely asked for a moment to herself, and the others left.
Olivia was so confused and mixed up. She had no idea of how she could have ended up here. She had just been a B average high school student, last she could remember. Were those guys lying to her? It was like part of her memory was locked up in a box, and she couldn't figure out the combination to the lock. It was just so annoying, she searched through her mind for anything, but there wasn't a single hint! She could have sat there and thought about that all day, and it wouldn't have made anymore sense to her at all, so she decided to think of something else. The crew. Lister had been pretty nice to her. There was something about him a little familiar. Not like she knew him, but he looked like someone she knew… or didn't know. She couldn't think straight. The others really hadn't said much of anything.
"Ma'am. Can I come in? I've brought you a tray of food." It was Kryten.
"Sure" She said, trying to be polite.
The odd looking robot waddled into the room holding the tray with a small vase of flowers on it. It also had some toast, cereal, and juice. Olivia gave a small smile and thanked him, and he left the room. She began to eat. She hadn't realized how hungry she was. She ate everything on her plate.
What she was younger, probably late middle school or early high school, she liked to think. She was even considering being a research scientist. By the looks of things now, it didn't look she became one. One of the things she liked to wonder about was the future. Well if she was 3,000,000 years into the future, all those questions she had been wondering could all be answered. Well, some of them at least. Were the others going to think she was really uncool and out of date? Probably. Olivia didn't like the thought of that. Their technology was far above her time. She would just have to get used to that somehow.
Olivia walked out of her quarters about an hour later. She was ready to face them. She wanted to become friends. Build some trust. It was essential since they were probably the only other humans, and robots, and cats…? She looked around for them, but there was no one around. It wasn't that big of a ship, she could find them. She began to search around until she could faintly hear their voices. She walked closer to the closed door and listened.
"Lister, I don't think you're being fair!" that was Arnold's voice. He sounded angry.
"Yeah? Who said life had to be fair? And besides, why would she ever even consider you?" that was Dave. Consider you? What did he mean? Did they just want her because she was the last female? Probably. And that was understandable, but it still upset her a little. Dave seemed kind of selfish. He was kind if implying that she would defiantly choose him. She didn't know them yet. They were all pretty good looking, well, accept for Kryten.
"Hey Baby!"
Olivia turned around. There was the Cat dressed in a really georgous looking blue suit. Her eyes widened. She was speechless for a few moments. She studied him up and down. "I'm The Cat!" He introduced himself to her again.
"Um, hi" She said nervously.
"So, would you like to have sex now, or should we eat dinner first?" He smiled, showing his odd looking fangs.
Olivia laughed, thinking it was a joke. She really didn't know how to respond.
The cat kept smiling like he expected an answer. There was a very awkward silence. Fortunately Arnold and Dave saved her. They both walked out of their quarters after hearing her voice outside.
"So how are you settling in?" Dave asked her.
"Just fine" She replied. She kind of wished she could talk to one of them alone. She always did much better in a one-on-one conversation.
Olivia had tracked down some nicer cloths. She was now wearing black trousers and a red V-neck shirt. She had found them in the back of one of the closets.
Olivia wished she wasn't so quiet around them. She wanted them to get to know her. There was just something about her that would not allow that to happen. She wanted to say something, but it was like she had a filter in her mind holding everything back accept a few words. Once she got to know people the filter would ware out, but not break. There were still so many things that were left unsaid.
"Olivia, I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with us all tonight. We can celebrate." Said Dave. He sounded hopeful.
"Celebrate what?" She asked, not quite understanding.
"You being here, of course." Se replied,
Being here didn't seem like much to celebrate, but she couldn't refuse.
Three hours later, Olivia was sitting uncomfortably at a table with the others. Arnold, Dave and the Cat were all drunk. Even Kryten himself was a bit unstable after the mechanoid beer. Olivia had sipped at a can of Lager and spat it out. It tasted awful to her. Pretty much all drugs did. She wondered if she had ever been drunk in her life. As far as she knew she never had more then a half class of whine, but anything could have happened between high school and now. She watched as the others started to act obscure and spill out stories of their lives. Dave explained how he had lived on Mimas and lived in a luggage locker. The word Mimas seemed to ring a bell in Olivia's mind, but it didn't bring back any memories. It just seemed like a familiar word.
Arnold told her about his parents. He spilled many heart breaking stories about his childhood. Well, at least they were heartbreaking to Olivia, the others just laughed at him, which got him incredibly pissed off. His cheek bones even jiggled when he was angry. Olivia really didn't know what to do about this. While the others told many things to Olivia, Olivia told them close to nothing about herself. She may have told them something if she could even remember anything, but the truth was, she didn't know who she was. She was a stranger to herself.
By the end of the night, she admitted to having a nice time. She had, she had gotten to know the other members of the crew better, and became pretty friendly with them. She just wished she could have let them get to know her. She sighed. That would just take time.
Olivia retired to her quarters, but had a lot of trouble getting to sleep. There was too much to think about. She wanted to know what she had forgotten. She could only remember large details. She could remember basic things like where she used to live, and who her family was, but she didn't remember anything that she had done, or who she really was. It bothered her so much. She was 3 million years into the future, how come there was no cure for amnesia? The only cure was time, which she would have a lot of.
Olivia got out of bed. She was tired, but her mind was very awake, and would not allow her eyes to shut. She looked around the dark halls of Starbug. She walked back to the table she had been sitting at earlier. Dave, Cat, and Kryten were gone, but there was Arnold. He was sitting alone in a chair. He looked quite deep in his thoughts, and Olivia wondered if she should interrupt him. She silently walked in the room. She was lonely.
"Hi" She said.
His head instantly jerked up and he gazed at her. "Hi" He said. He sounded a little bit drunk, but the way he said 'Hi' made her feel like she was meant to be there, like he was happy to see her. She couldn't help smiling at him. In her opinion, he was attractive. He could see why in most peoples mind he wouldn't be, but Olivia didn't look at people the way most people did. She looked behind someone's facial features to see their character. He was very attractive, especially looking sad and lonely the way he had been. His hair was quite messed up, but Olivia liked it that way.
Olivia sat down across from him. They stared at each other. Olivia was looking into his brown eyes. She looked down at the table. Silence. The silence bothered her a bit. Arnold wasn't much of a talker, but that was ok.
"couldn't sleep either?" She asked him. She just didn't like the silence.
"No" He said
"Oh" She wanted to talk to him. Maybe talk about his childhood some more. There were so many things she wanted to say to him. She wanted to comfort him, hug him. He was adorable. He was also quite annoying. It wasn't anything that couldn't be fixed with a little bit of talk, but he seemed to be very angry at his parents. In everything he had told her earlier. He had blamed his problems on his parents. He had told her about his brothers who were perfect. Olivia couldn't exactly relate, from what she could remember, she had a pretty nice family.
Arnold seemed to be avoiding eye contact now. Olivia thought of what to say. She needed something, anything. 'The weather? What am I, an idiot? Were out in the middle of deep space' She thought to herself. "So, do you like it here?" She asked him. That seemed like a pretty good thing to ask.
He thought for a moment. "Its not being here that bothers me, its who I'm here with." He replied. Olivia could totally tell that he and the others did not get along. They were completely wrong for each other! Who's cruel idea was it to put them on a little ship like this alone?
"Yeah, I can understand that." She said. "So who would you rather be here with?"
"Well…" he posed like he was thinking very hard. "Well, anybody but Lister."
Olivia smiled again. "Hate him that much?" he nodded "Well, I'm here now, and I count as anybody but Lister, right?"
"Yes, I suppose you do…" He suddenly became silent as he realized he was talking to a woman.
There was a long silence again where neither of them looked at each other. Olivia didn't know what to say. He was obviously shy. Olivia liked shy people. Sure, it was nice when people were talkative, but shy people intrigued her. They had mystery. They didn't show you their entire personality at once. She knew she would eventually solve Arnold Rimmer's mystery, but like many other things, that would take time.
"so… you're a girl then?" he asked. That one just seemed to come completely out of no where.
"yeah." She said. Her voice sounded so American and boring compared to his. His was very cool in her mind. She loved the way it sounded. It made it fun to hear him talk. Too bad he didn't talk much.
"Well, I should go back to my quarters. You probably don't want to talk to me. I'll leave you alone." He got up to leave.
"Wait." Said Olivia. Arnold looked over his shoulder. "I… I don't want you to go. I was kind of hoping we could talk some more… if you want." Olivia wanted to hit herself for how tacky that sounded.
"Oh" That seemed to take him by surprise. He didn't move for a few moments. "Maybe some other time." He mumbled as he quickly dashed out of the room.
Olivia giggled to herself. That made her feel a little better. She walked back to her own quarters and finally got to sleep. She had a dream that night. A little fragment of her memory. It wasn't anything interesting. In her dream she was in her early twenties. She was sitting in an extremely crowded café with some friends. The moment she saw their faces she knew they looked familiar. They had to be her friends. She watched herself as she sipped café and laughed.
The dream comforted her a little bit. It seemed so familiar that she knew it had to have happened to her, or something much like it must of. It wasn't much, but at least it was a tiny hint. Maybe it would lead to her remembering more. Where could she have been? She couldn't remember a café like that when she was younger, but that didn't mean that there was no café.
Olivia wasn't normally an early riser, but after her dream she couldn't sleep anymore, so she got out of bed. It was six o'clock. The ship was completely silent. Olivia looked into Arnold and Dave's quarters. They were both sleeping like babies. She smiled to herself.
"Excuse me ma'am, can I get you some breakfast?"
Olivia was startled. She turned around and there was Kryten. "um, sure."
By Janine Morris
PG-13 (sexual references)
A/N: Yes, I know, Tacky romances seem to be my specialty. Hopefully this won't be just like all the other character insertion pieces. It may seem like it in the beginning, but I hope to make it stand out. By the way, I know this is cheating, but Rimmer is alive in this one. Lets just say in Timeslides he never died, please?!?
Disclaimer: blah blah blah. Like a bunch of Grant Naylor lawyers really have time to surf through FanFiction searching for fics that havn't been disclaimed properly. Just incase they are, I have a few words for them, GET A HOBBY!!!
Dedication: This is dedicated to Starfruit, and Chris Barrie, THE MAN himself!
Chapter 1
Olivia opened her eyes. She wasn't exactly sure where she was. In fact, she couldn't remember much of anything. She rubbed her eyes. It felt like she had just woken up from a deep sleep. She noticed someone's face about a foot away from her own. It startled her a little bit.
"Hi" He said with a chirpy smile.
Olivia attempted to speak, but nothing came out.
"Sir, I couldn't find any information about her in the stasis pod." Came another voice. This voice was very peculiar. Olivia felt as if she were in a dream. Slowly she sat up. Her mouth dropped open a little bit. She still couldn't speak. Someone handed her a glass of water, and she chugged it down. She looked around at the strangers that surrounded her and felt the urge to scream in fear. She contained herself, and kept quiet.
"Sir, I believe she is going into shock mode." Said the peculiar voice. The voice belonged to… well, Olivia wasn't sure what it was. She just knew it wasn't human.
"Hey, don't be scared." Said the sympathetic voice.
Olivia sighed. "Hi" She said softly. The robot dude was kind of right about the shock mode.
"Hey! I'm Dave Lister, this is Cat," He pointed to a very fit looking guy with long hair in a ponytail. What was this guy doing with a name like Cat? He smiled, and Olivia noticed his fangs. They startled her. That was probably why. "Kryten," Now he pointed at the robot. "And Rimmer." He pointed towards a taller man with dark brown hair. His voice suddenly didn't sound so sympathetic.
"Arnold J Rimmer, Bsc Ssc." He reached a hand out, and she shook it nervously. Olivia noticed his strong accept. She wasn't used to them like that.
"So who are you?" Asked Dave.
Olivia wasn't sure if she should tell these strangers her name. Then she decided she probably should. "Olivia Angeledis" She said softly again. She looked down at what she was wearing. Her T-shirt was stained and ripped, and Her jeans were almost completely ripped up. Her hair was ok, though.
"So what are you doing in a stasis pod, Olivia?" Asked Dave.
Olivia thought for a moment, but drew a blank. "I really don't know. What's a stasis pod?"
The guys looked at each other in confusion. "Maybe She has amnesia." Suggested Arnold. The others agreed.
"Miss Angeledis, can you remember when and where you were born?" Asked Kryten.
That was something Olivia could remember. "May 17, 1988. In America" She said.
Everyone accept the Cat gasped. Rimmer most of all. "Could she be serious?" He asked Kryten.
"Lets find out." He said to Arnold. "Ma'am, who was the president when you were born?"
"George Bush… the first one." She replied, still a bit confused.
"Extraordinary." Said Kryten, speeding up the 5 syllable word into about 3.
"Ask her another." Said Arnold.
"Alright then, what was attacked by terrorists on September 11th, 2001?"
"That was I day I could never forget." Said Olivia. "The world trade centers in New York, and part of the Pentagon. Lots of people dies." Why were they asking her these questions? "What's the year now?"
"Um, that's a really long story." Said Lister.
"I've got time." She said. Olivia was beginning to lighten up.
The four of them explained everything to her. The radiation leek, and now they were 3 million years into the future. Olivia was shocked beyond belief. "You **cannot** be serious!" She shouted.
"Um, we are." Said Dave.
Olivia began to feel lightheaded. How the hell did she get here? She knew she was in her twenties, but could barley remember anything past high school. Even that was fuzzy. "So, I have amnesia? I can't remember anything!"
"I'll go make up the spare quarters for you, ma'am." Said Kryten, as he walked off.
"So where exactly am I now?" Olivia asked.
"This is Starbug. We lost track of Red Dwarf awhile back, someone stole it."
Kryten returned 15 minutes later, and lead Olivia to her new quarters. She needed time alone to think. She politely asked for a moment to herself, and the others left.
Olivia was so confused and mixed up. She had no idea of how she could have ended up here. She had just been a B average high school student, last she could remember. Were those guys lying to her? It was like part of her memory was locked up in a box, and she couldn't figure out the combination to the lock. It was just so annoying, she searched through her mind for anything, but there wasn't a single hint! She could have sat there and thought about that all day, and it wouldn't have made anymore sense to her at all, so she decided to think of something else. The crew. Lister had been pretty nice to her. There was something about him a little familiar. Not like she knew him, but he looked like someone she knew… or didn't know. She couldn't think straight. The others really hadn't said much of anything.
"Ma'am. Can I come in? I've brought you a tray of food." It was Kryten.
"Sure" She said, trying to be polite.
The odd looking robot waddled into the room holding the tray with a small vase of flowers on it. It also had some toast, cereal, and juice. Olivia gave a small smile and thanked him, and he left the room. She began to eat. She hadn't realized how hungry she was. She ate everything on her plate.
What she was younger, probably late middle school or early high school, she liked to think. She was even considering being a research scientist. By the looks of things now, it didn't look she became one. One of the things she liked to wonder about was the future. Well if she was 3,000,000 years into the future, all those questions she had been wondering could all be answered. Well, some of them at least. Were the others going to think she was really uncool and out of date? Probably. Olivia didn't like the thought of that. Their technology was far above her time. She would just have to get used to that somehow.
Olivia walked out of her quarters about an hour later. She was ready to face them. She wanted to become friends. Build some trust. It was essential since they were probably the only other humans, and robots, and cats…? She looked around for them, but there was no one around. It wasn't that big of a ship, she could find them. She began to search around until she could faintly hear their voices. She walked closer to the closed door and listened.
"Lister, I don't think you're being fair!" that was Arnold's voice. He sounded angry.
"Yeah? Who said life had to be fair? And besides, why would she ever even consider you?" that was Dave. Consider you? What did he mean? Did they just want her because she was the last female? Probably. And that was understandable, but it still upset her a little. Dave seemed kind of selfish. He was kind if implying that she would defiantly choose him. She didn't know them yet. They were all pretty good looking, well, accept for Kryten.
"Hey Baby!"
Olivia turned around. There was the Cat dressed in a really georgous looking blue suit. Her eyes widened. She was speechless for a few moments. She studied him up and down. "I'm The Cat!" He introduced himself to her again.
"Um, hi" She said nervously.
"So, would you like to have sex now, or should we eat dinner first?" He smiled, showing his odd looking fangs.
Olivia laughed, thinking it was a joke. She really didn't know how to respond.
The cat kept smiling like he expected an answer. There was a very awkward silence. Fortunately Arnold and Dave saved her. They both walked out of their quarters after hearing her voice outside.
"So how are you settling in?" Dave asked her.
"Just fine" She replied. She kind of wished she could talk to one of them alone. She always did much better in a one-on-one conversation.
Olivia had tracked down some nicer cloths. She was now wearing black trousers and a red V-neck shirt. She had found them in the back of one of the closets.
Olivia wished she wasn't so quiet around them. She wanted them to get to know her. There was just something about her that would not allow that to happen. She wanted to say something, but it was like she had a filter in her mind holding everything back accept a few words. Once she got to know people the filter would ware out, but not break. There were still so many things that were left unsaid.
"Olivia, I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with us all tonight. We can celebrate." Said Dave. He sounded hopeful.
"Celebrate what?" She asked, not quite understanding.
"You being here, of course." Se replied,
Being here didn't seem like much to celebrate, but she couldn't refuse.
Three hours later, Olivia was sitting uncomfortably at a table with the others. Arnold, Dave and the Cat were all drunk. Even Kryten himself was a bit unstable after the mechanoid beer. Olivia had sipped at a can of Lager and spat it out. It tasted awful to her. Pretty much all drugs did. She wondered if she had ever been drunk in her life. As far as she knew she never had more then a half class of whine, but anything could have happened between high school and now. She watched as the others started to act obscure and spill out stories of their lives. Dave explained how he had lived on Mimas and lived in a luggage locker. The word Mimas seemed to ring a bell in Olivia's mind, but it didn't bring back any memories. It just seemed like a familiar word.
Arnold told her about his parents. He spilled many heart breaking stories about his childhood. Well, at least they were heartbreaking to Olivia, the others just laughed at him, which got him incredibly pissed off. His cheek bones even jiggled when he was angry. Olivia really didn't know what to do about this. While the others told many things to Olivia, Olivia told them close to nothing about herself. She may have told them something if she could even remember anything, but the truth was, she didn't know who she was. She was a stranger to herself.
By the end of the night, she admitted to having a nice time. She had, she had gotten to know the other members of the crew better, and became pretty friendly with them. She just wished she could have let them get to know her. She sighed. That would just take time.
Olivia retired to her quarters, but had a lot of trouble getting to sleep. There was too much to think about. She wanted to know what she had forgotten. She could only remember large details. She could remember basic things like where she used to live, and who her family was, but she didn't remember anything that she had done, or who she really was. It bothered her so much. She was 3 million years into the future, how come there was no cure for amnesia? The only cure was time, which she would have a lot of.
Olivia got out of bed. She was tired, but her mind was very awake, and would not allow her eyes to shut. She looked around the dark halls of Starbug. She walked back to the table she had been sitting at earlier. Dave, Cat, and Kryten were gone, but there was Arnold. He was sitting alone in a chair. He looked quite deep in his thoughts, and Olivia wondered if she should interrupt him. She silently walked in the room. She was lonely.
"Hi" She said.
His head instantly jerked up and he gazed at her. "Hi" He said. He sounded a little bit drunk, but the way he said 'Hi' made her feel like she was meant to be there, like he was happy to see her. She couldn't help smiling at him. In her opinion, he was attractive. He could see why in most peoples mind he wouldn't be, but Olivia didn't look at people the way most people did. She looked behind someone's facial features to see their character. He was very attractive, especially looking sad and lonely the way he had been. His hair was quite messed up, but Olivia liked it that way.
Olivia sat down across from him. They stared at each other. Olivia was looking into his brown eyes. She looked down at the table. Silence. The silence bothered her a bit. Arnold wasn't much of a talker, but that was ok.
"couldn't sleep either?" She asked him. She just didn't like the silence.
"No" He said
"Oh" She wanted to talk to him. Maybe talk about his childhood some more. There were so many things she wanted to say to him. She wanted to comfort him, hug him. He was adorable. He was also quite annoying. It wasn't anything that couldn't be fixed with a little bit of talk, but he seemed to be very angry at his parents. In everything he had told her earlier. He had blamed his problems on his parents. He had told her about his brothers who were perfect. Olivia couldn't exactly relate, from what she could remember, she had a pretty nice family.
Arnold seemed to be avoiding eye contact now. Olivia thought of what to say. She needed something, anything. 'The weather? What am I, an idiot? Were out in the middle of deep space' She thought to herself. "So, do you like it here?" She asked him. That seemed like a pretty good thing to ask.
He thought for a moment. "Its not being here that bothers me, its who I'm here with." He replied. Olivia could totally tell that he and the others did not get along. They were completely wrong for each other! Who's cruel idea was it to put them on a little ship like this alone?
"Yeah, I can understand that." She said. "So who would you rather be here with?"
"Well…" he posed like he was thinking very hard. "Well, anybody but Lister."
Olivia smiled again. "Hate him that much?" he nodded "Well, I'm here now, and I count as anybody but Lister, right?"
"Yes, I suppose you do…" He suddenly became silent as he realized he was talking to a woman.
There was a long silence again where neither of them looked at each other. Olivia didn't know what to say. He was obviously shy. Olivia liked shy people. Sure, it was nice when people were talkative, but shy people intrigued her. They had mystery. They didn't show you their entire personality at once. She knew she would eventually solve Arnold Rimmer's mystery, but like many other things, that would take time.
"so… you're a girl then?" he asked. That one just seemed to come completely out of no where.
"yeah." She said. Her voice sounded so American and boring compared to his. His was very cool in her mind. She loved the way it sounded. It made it fun to hear him talk. Too bad he didn't talk much.
"Well, I should go back to my quarters. You probably don't want to talk to me. I'll leave you alone." He got up to leave.
"Wait." Said Olivia. Arnold looked over his shoulder. "I… I don't want you to go. I was kind of hoping we could talk some more… if you want." Olivia wanted to hit herself for how tacky that sounded.
"Oh" That seemed to take him by surprise. He didn't move for a few moments. "Maybe some other time." He mumbled as he quickly dashed out of the room.
Olivia giggled to herself. That made her feel a little better. She walked back to her own quarters and finally got to sleep. She had a dream that night. A little fragment of her memory. It wasn't anything interesting. In her dream she was in her early twenties. She was sitting in an extremely crowded café with some friends. The moment she saw their faces she knew they looked familiar. They had to be her friends. She watched herself as she sipped café and laughed.
The dream comforted her a little bit. It seemed so familiar that she knew it had to have happened to her, or something much like it must of. It wasn't much, but at least it was a tiny hint. Maybe it would lead to her remembering more. Where could she have been? She couldn't remember a café like that when she was younger, but that didn't mean that there was no café.
Olivia wasn't normally an early riser, but after her dream she couldn't sleep anymore, so she got out of bed. It was six o'clock. The ship was completely silent. Olivia looked into Arnold and Dave's quarters. They were both sleeping like babies. She smiled to herself.
"Excuse me ma'am, can I get you some breakfast?"
Olivia was startled. She turned around and there was Kryten. "um, sure."