"Don't you dare die on me." Lister warned the motionless body as he sprang up and ran – awkwardly and in less than a straight line – back to the remains of the ship. The smoke stung his eyes, but he didn't care. He moved faster than ever before, scouring the rubble for the emergency kit. Every second was precious. Thanking whatever god was still out there, he found it – still intact. Sprinting – though wobbly still – back to Rimmer, Lister gave him a couple more breaths of oxygen before ripping open the container and attaching the little stickers to Rimmer's chest. He grabbed the wireless button that went with the 'paddles' of the defibrillator, and pressed it hard. Rimmer's body jumped with the shock, and then lay still straight afterwards. The little lights were still red, so he waited until his button lit again before pressing it to send another shock to Rimmer. Lister couldn't help but sob while he did this. He knew he cared for Rimmer much more than he let on, but had no idea this much.
"Please…please…." Lister pleaded.
Lister's heart jumped when the lights flashed green, indicating a heartbeat. He clasped his mouth on Rimmer's again and exhaled, and was met with the most wonderful sound he thought he ever heard – coughing. Rimmer opened his eyes for a few moments, and then passed out again – but he was alive.
Lister collapsed from shock and exhaustion, and just lay on the ground next to Rimmer, barely conscious.
Lister wasn't sure how long he lay there. It wasn't until Rimmer had started making noises again that he snapped back to reality. The fires of the ship had all but burnt out, leaving only charred remains behind. Not much for them to survive on. Lister didn't even know what planet they were on. Or why they crashed. Kryten had mentioned something about dimensions, but he'd been too drunk to pay that much attention. Maybe he would remember in the morning. That was another thing Lister thought…he didn't know when the sun rose on this planet, if it did at all. In the dark it was hard to tell if there was any life around – but Lister thought it was a forest that he was looking at behind him.
Rain started to fall from the sky, only a light drizzle, but enough to make the both of them wet. Lister decided to take his chances in the forest, because Rimmer really couldn't survive getting hypothermia right then. Picking up the other man underneath the arms, Lister dragged him into the cover of the forest. He suddenly realised just how tired he was. After making sure that Rimmer was still breathing, Lister laid his head down and quickly succumbed to sleep.
Lister woke, his head foggy. It took him a second to realise that the scenery that he had left behind when he closed his eyes wasn't what he was looking at now. In fact, it wasn't remotely forest-like: in fact, it was definitely Starbug-like. He must have passed out while asleep, because he didn't notice being moved.
"Kryten, man… thanks for finding me." Lister moaned as he struggled to look up from the bed. "Guess again, Smeghead."
Lister wrenched his eyes open at that sound. It wasn't Kryten or the Cat… it sounded familiarly like...
"So, you wanna tell me what's goin on?"
Yes. It was him. Dave Lister had been rescued by… Dave Lister.