Working For The Man

A Red Dwarf Fan Fiction

By Anastasia Hunt (AnaNg718@hotmail.com)

Prologue:

And Here Our Troubles Began



Terror and confusion reigned, as usual, aboard the Space Corps search vessel Andromeda. However, the confusion was now laced with genuine terror, something the crew wasn't used to. They all wanted to know why Miranda, the ship's 13th generation holographic computer, was ordering them into the stasis booths.

Aurora Leigh Rimmer had a bad, bad feeling about this. She couldn't find Captain Briggs, nor was she gaining edification about the situation anywhere else. Not that she was entirely surprised; she was effectively second in command to a rather incompetent man who never managed to keep her in the loop. She was used to having to figure things out for herself and the crew. They would be coming to her for answers . . . it was too bad she didn't have any to give.

Rory reached the stasis booths first. She leaned against the plastic coated green-gray wall, catching her breath. She had joined the Space Corps to get away from her overbearing father, Frank Rimmer, a much decorated and glorified Space Corps veteran. It was either Space Corps or marriage for Rory, and she felt she had too much potential to waste on some ungrateful slob of a husband. She had taken this mission simply to find out what had happened to her Uncle Arnold.

Not that she had any great fondness for him; she'd never met him. His ship, the Red Dwarf of the Jupiter Mining Corporation, had simply disappeared about a year after she was born. Twenty-five years later, the powers that were still had some hope of finding Red Dwarf, and possibly its' crew. Rory was fascinated by the story of the Red Dwarf. It was a point of pride within the Rimmer family that Uncle Arnie was part of the legend. Rory hoped it would take at least a couple of decades to find the ship, She could use two decades away from her entire dysfunctional family.

Tim Vitale came running around the corner. He plunked himself next to Rory, with a look of worry all over his slightly ratlike features. That bothered Rory. Tim was not customarily a worrier. Tim was actually a clown, but he was for once dead serious about something. He looked at her expectantly.

"If you're wanting to ask me what's going on, don't bother," she advised him, "because I don't know anything. I am just as clueless and helpless as you are."

Timmy looked even more worried. She felt really bad for him. She wordlessly wrapped her arms around him. Poor kid, only eighteen and entirely new to the whole notion of danger.

The rest of the ship's skeleton crew showed up- Angel, Brad, Jodie, Robyn, Steve, and Drew. There was still no sign of Captain Briggs. They grouped around Rory, looking for answers. They liked and respected her, because she was competent and professional, yet was capable of fun. She felt even worse about her cluelessness in the situation . . . her complete inability to help them this time.

Miranda's "face," motherly, frizzy haired and careworn, popped onto the screen.

"Into the stasis booths, all of you," she ordered. The crew stood in place, awaiting an explanation. "NOW," Miranda insisted. "I promise to explain everything as soon as I can. I'll have you out soon, I promise. Now, all of you, get moving! Quickly! It's a matter of life or death!"

The crew obeyed. As the doors to their booths hissed shut, they all said a quick prayer.



The lights dimmed after the racket was finally quelled. Miranda shut down everything that wasn't necessary, then put herself on standby. The ship glided along after its' destiny; the greatest adventure her crew had ever known.