Arnold strode down the corridors of the derelict, relaxed, but alert. The scanners hadn't detected any threat. Still. You never did know, out in the regions of deep space. There were threats out here the scanners weren't programmed to detect. Something had attacked this ship, wiping out its AI and leaving it drifting. They hadn't managed to identify the ship yet. Lister kept pace beside him, looking around with more curiosity than wariness. They were both used to danger and derelicts both.
"We should be almost there," Lister said, opening a door and peeking inside.
"Three more doors down, I think," Arnold agreed.
"Think we'll find anyone?"
"Fifty-fifty odds, Listy."
"Sixty-forty," Lister amended. "They had to have some reason to turn on the stasis field."
"Fair enough, though they might have been preserving supplies."
"Eh! There it is. Let's find out," Lister said enthusiastically, running the few feet ahead and entering the door marked Stasis Bay.
Arnold followed Lister into the bay and found Lister standing in front of a pod, grinning.
"There's someone in here!"
"Any ident on the pod?" Arnold asked.
"Nah, nothing. I'm deactivating the stasis field."
Arnold nodded, coming to stand near the pod, his hand going to the pistol at his side. Lister stood back, his own submachine gun at the ready. The timer counted rapidly down and the hatch of the stasis pod lifted. Lister reached up and pushed it out of the way, his eyes widening.
"Lister? What's wrong?" Arnold asked, stepping forward.
"He looks like you! I mean, he doesn't look exactly like you or anything," Lister amended. "He just looks really, incredibly a lot like you."
Arnold stared down into the pod, a slight gasp escaping his lips. Lister turned to him, questioningly.
"Who is it?" he asked softly.
"Frank," Arnold said, more emotionless than Lister had ever seen him, since he went away to become Ace.
"Your brother?!" Lister asked, incredulous.
"Yes, Listy," Arnold said. "In a few minutes, you'll finally get to meet one of my brothers."
Lister considered that for a moment, then shook his head, slamming the pod hatch back down.
"No, thanks."
Lister was relieved, when Arnold chuckled fondly, reopening the hatch. Inside the pod, Frank Rimmer's eyes opened. Sitting up, he stared in bewilderment at the men in front of him. Arnold frowned. His brother didn't look well. He was pale and there was sweat forming on his brow.
"Arnie? What are you doing here?"
"We'll explain in a bit. How did you end up in a stasis pod?"
A laser blast interrupted the moment, coming from a vent near the ceiling. Arnold whirled, returning fire and hearing a pained yelp in response. More laser blasts fired down on them quickly. Grabbing Frank, Arnold dived behind the stasis pod, feeling Lister following close behind.
"Are you armed, Frank?" Arnold asked.
"I'm afraid not. Where the hell are we? What happened?" Frank demanded, grabbing the front of Arnold's uniform in a threatening grip.
Arnold broke his brother's grasp easily, ducking around to fire once more on their enemy.
"No time for that now. You can't fight and I can't leave the crew undefended. We don't know how many hostiles we're facing. Our priority is to get back to Red Dwarf."
"You better let me handle this," Frank said firmly, though there was a slight rasp to his voice. Getting as close to the corner of the pod as he could, wobbling slightly as he walked, Frank shouted out to the attacker. "Listen! My name is Commander Frank Rimmer of the Space Corps. You're in violation of Space Corps directives. If you continue your attack, you and your people will be classified as hostile and dealt with appropriately!"
Arnold sighed, smiling wryly. Lister just rolled his eyes. Somehow, he'd expected more. Frank's bravado reminded him of Rimmer, when they first met. It was still annoying, even if Frankie was more competent than Rimmer had been. The hostile wasn't impressed either, firing off another round of lasers and nearly getting Frank in the ear. Arnold pulled Frank back to shelter.
"Trade me guns, Listy. That type of laser will bounce right off my hard light body. I'll cover you. Once we hit the corridor, run like hell for Starbug," Arnold instructed.
"Just like you to run, instead of fight," Frank chided. "I hate to tell you, Arnie, but you aren't in charge. We're going to take that hostile and make him wish he'd never been born."
"He may not be in charge, but Captain Hollister is and we're acting under his orders, not yours," Lister snapped. "You're just a refugee, mate."
"Easy, Listy. He obviously has no clue what has happened."
"What do you mean?" Frank demanded.
"Not now, Frankie. Right now, on the count of three, run! One, two..."
On the count of three, Lister dragged Frank out from behind the stasis pod, keeping behind Arnold. Arnold provided cover and they made it first to the corridor and then onto Starbug. Lister took the pilot's chair, while Frank and Arnold took the seats in the back. Arnold contacted Red Dwarf, letting them know what to expect. Leaning back, he just stared at his brother for a few moments, before smiling warmly.
"We'll be back on Red Dwarf in just a bit," he said. "We'd better get you updated. How'd you end up in stasis, Frankie?"
"I have a rare virus. Unfortunately, we were out of the antidote. So, they placed me in stasis, until we could get back to Earth. Then, I woke up and you were there. Now, listen, Arnie..."
"Sorry to interrupt, brother mine, but the sooner we get the air cleared the better. You were in that stasis pod one hell of a long time. Three million years or so and you're about that far into deep space. I'm sorry."
Frank stared at Arnold in perplexed surprise.
"What on Io are you blathering about? Three million years? How could we be that far in the future?"
"There was a radiation leak on Red Dwarf. Dave survived in stasis, so Holly brought me back as a hologram, since we were bunk mates. Then in an even longer story, a bunch of nanobots reconstructed Red Dwarf and the crew. Like Listy, you survived, because you were in a stasis pod."
"You can't be dead. I see the H, but I've seen you touch things."
"It's been three million years. A few things were bound to get invented. My body is composed of hard light."
"Hard light. Right," Frank scoffed.
"All right, then. I don't blame you for not believing me. It's a lot to take in," Arnold said graciously.
"Who was firing on us?" Frank demanded.
"Scavengers, most likely. There are Gelf in the area."
Frank studied his youngest brother, perplexed. Had his personality disk become corrupted? This was not the Arnie he knew. Where was the sniveling, the groveling? Usually Arnie was either sullenly silent or full of exaggerated tales of near successes. This Arnie hadn't whined once about being undermined by others.
"Frank? Are you all right?"
"How are we going to get home is the real question."
"Frank...we aren't. That's all in the past. Red Dwarf is home now. We're the last hope for humanity's future."
Frank paled, snapping out, "I have a wife and children!"
"They're gone. Mother, Father, everyone. You have to accept that."
"Don't tell me what I have to accept, Arnold. I don't know what's going on with you, but I'm a commander and you're a technician."
"Hell he is," Lister interrupted. "He's a commander, too, and..."
"And we'll let Hollister tell him the rest. Hollister is, after all, in command," Arnold said firmly. "We'll report to him, while Frank takes a trip to the medbay. I've told them to send a medic."
"Your brother's a bloody twonk," Lister said irritably.
"I'm your commanding officer," Frank said sharply.
"Are you? You've been presumed dead for three million years," Lister said dryly.
"We'll find out soon, enough," Arnold said, striving for patience, as Starbug came to a stop in the landing bay. "We're home."
Fortunately, Hollister kept their meeting short, accepting the events with a tired sigh. What was one more Rimmer at this point? Dismissed, Arnold and Lister walked, a bit aimlessly, down the hallway. Lister noticed Arnold wasn't taking them towards medical.
"You look glum," Lister chided. "You got family back, man, even if it is your git older brother!"
"And I'm happy!" Arnold assured him, with a rueful grin. "It's Arnie's reaction that I'm worried about."
"Oh, smeg! Rimmer!" Lister yelped, with awakening horror. "He's gonna go spare!"
"I need to speak with Arnie, before Frank goes anywhere near him," Arnold agreed.
"Did you tell Frank about Rimmer?"
"One step at a time, Listy. Let the docs patch him up, before we drop too many more shocks on him."
"Want me to come along to tell Rimmer?" Lister offered gently.
Arnold's smile warmed and he clapped an affectionate hand on Lister's shoulder. He shook his head.
"Thanks, Listy, but no. I think Arnie will handle this better one on one."
"Good luck, guy."
"Thanks," Arnold said, as Lister turned and walked away.
Arnold found Rimmer in his quarters, playing on the floor with Mike, while Yvonne sipped coffee at the table. Toy cars from multiple centuries were scattered around the play area. Rimmer looked up with a smile, that quickly faded at the undefined emotion on Arnold's face.
"Oh, smeg. I knew it," Rimmer mourned. "Things only get good, to make the bad even worse."
"That is not a healthy attitude," Yvonne suggested mildly, but Rimmer knew it was code for "Don't say that in front of Mike."
"Sorry," he sighed.
"It's also premature," Arnold said, soothingly. "I do need to speak with Arnie alone, though, please."
Yvonne finished her coffee, then stood and scooped Mike into her arms. Rimmer stood with a disconsolate sigh. Laughing lightly, Yvonne leaned in and gave him a firm kiss.
"It'll be fine, tiger," she insisted. "Be at my quarters in an hour for dinner, yes?"
"All right," Rimmer agreed, trying and failing to feel braver.
Once Yvonne and Mike were gone, Arnold sat down at the table, lighting a cigarette.
"So, it's good news, is it?" Rimmer asked, with sarcastic cheer.
"Yes, you could see it that way," Arnold agreed, with a shrug. "The derelict had a stasis booth. The occupant needed drugs his crew didn't have. We're not sure yet, why he never made it home."
"He who?" Rimmer demanded.
"Frank, our brother."
Rimmer's face went blank, but he couldn't hide the panic in his eyes. After a second, a wide, hard smile creased his face. It only made him look more afraid.
"Well, that's splendid!" Rimmer enthused, standing and pacing. "Frank's alive. You should have said right away! This is great!"
"Is it?" Arnold asked quietly.
Rimmer stoped his pacing, staring at Arnold in shock.
"What?!" he squeaked. "Why would you ask that?"
"Because he put a landmine in our sandbox," Arnold reminded him. "We got a concussion. The current Ace was paralyzed from the waist down."
Rimmer's face scrunched into a scowl of denial. He shook his head, as if to dislodge a fly.
"That was an accident!" Rimmer said sharply, before scolding with a scoff. "That's not very Ace-like, holding a grudge, is it? You keep telling me to let go of my bitterness."
"I want you to let go of baggage that is holding you back!" Arnold corrected, sternly.
"Well, then! We'll just let bygones be bygones."
"Arnie. You can't forgive someone, until you admit they were wrong, that they...he hurt you," Arnold said in a gentler tone. "And, forgiving someone doesn't always mean trusting them not to hurt you again.""
Rimmer sat down at the table, eyes wide, perplexed.
"You think he's going to hurt me? Aren't you glad he's here?"
"I don't know," Arnold admitted. "Look, of course I'm glad he's alive, here and safe. He's our brother. But, we don't know him, not really."
"What, exactly, are you saying?" Rimmer asked harshly. "How is the former Ace going to handle this?"
"With cautious optimism," Arnold assured him. "He might have grown up quite a lot, out in space. Thing is, like it or not, we're all the family he has left."
Rimmer gulped, nodding slowly.
"You said he's ill..."
"The doctor's are working on him, as we speak. I'm off now to get a progress report. Do you want me to tell him about Yvonne and Mike?"
"No," Rimmer said firmly. "I'll do it."
"Good enough," Arnold confirmed, clapping Rimmer warmly on the shoulder.
Leaving his other, Arnold headed for the medical bay. He stopped just outside, peering thoughtfully into space. Shaking off his wariness, Arnold went in, finding Frank sitting up on the bed, his color greatly improved. Arnold grinned approvingly.
"You look a lot more like yourself, Frankie."
"I feel better," Frank agreed cautiously. "Captain Hollister was just in. He showed me a datapad with the dimensionhop file."
"It's not a big deal. I'm retired as Ace."
Frank openly scoffed, continuing, "So, you really did all that? Traveled through dimensions, playing at hero?"
"It wasn't a game or a stunt," Arnold answered, with quiet anger.
Frank stared at him, then gave a shaky laugh.
"Fair enough. He also said there's a living you on board. What's he like?"
"He's like I used to be," Arnold admitted, honestly. "He's getting better, though. He just needs some guidance and support."
"That'd be a full time job in itself!"
"I can think of worse ones," Arnold challenged then shrugged. "I've help enough."
"Meaning, what, exactly?" Frank huffed, vaguely offended, though he didn't know why.
"Not meaning a thing, brother mine," Arnold assured him, spreading his hands in a gesture of peace. "It's good to have you back."
"Well, thank you. What do you call yourselves, Arn and Arnie? Sounds like a comedy act."
"Arnold and Arnie, between ourselves," Arnold answered patiently, not rising to the bait, if that's what it was. "He's Rimmer to a lot of people, including our friends."
"Friends. Like that...who was that with you, earlier?" Frank asked, not bothering to hide his disdain.
"That was my best friend, Dave Lister," Arnold said, sharply. "He's a good man."
"He's not exactly well-polished."
"I said he was a good man, not jewelry," Arnold joked, grinning.
Frank laughed, almost obediently, but shifted. The hairs on the back of his neck rose. Arnold's smooth tone didn't hide the fire in his eyes. Anger crackled around him, like a mantle. He wondered if there was some truth to the Ace gibberish. Arnold, after all, was just-Arnold, a cowardly wannabe, going where he didn't belong.
"I look forward to knowing him," Frank offered.
Arnold accepted the olive branch, his smile softening.
"We all need to get to know each other," he said, his lips quirking. "It has been three million years."
"I'll be released in the morning."
"Excellent. Will you join me for breakfast?"
It was the most surprising breakfast of Frank's life. Oh, the mid-level restaurant suited Arnold's new rank and his play at modesty. That made sense. The small group of humanoids, including a mechanoid and three small children, didn't. The only faces he recognized were the Arnolds and Yvonne MacGruder. He'd met the ship's boxing champion at an inter-ship championship match, a few years before going into stasis. Frank noticed Arnie looked stiff as always, a fake smile stretching his lips.
"Good morning," Frank greeted, shrugging off his own unease.
"Hey, buddy!" the humanoid wearing a gold and purple suit, with vampire teeth responded.
The third surprise Frank got was when Arnold sat back down, letting Arnie make the introductions.
"Frank. This is Kryten, Cat, who really is a cat, Listy, and his sons, Jim and Bexley," Arnie croaked out, waving vaguely at each of them. He drew a deep breath. "This is Yvonne MacGruder and...our son, Michael."
"Your..." Frank began, astonished, then stopped himself. "Well. Congratulations, Arnie. It's good to meet you again, Yvonne."
"Who's he?" Mike asked, puzzled.
"This is my brother, Mikey," Rimmer explained. "He's your Uncle Frank."
"Oh," Mike said simply, waving briefly at the new person.
"It's nice to meet you, young man."
"Oh," Mike repeated. "Why?"
"Well. Because we're family," Frank said, as the others laughed.
"Oh? Okay."
Frank shifted awkwardly, unsure how to talk to such a motley group, most of them far below himself in rank. Hollister had explained the basics of how Red Dwarf had ended up stranded three million years into deep space and how this group had formed. He looked at Arnold, the dead original of his little brother, struggling for something to say. Arnold smiled kindly, an expression Frank couldn't recall seeing on him before.
"So, where are we headed?" Frank asked.
"We don't know," Arnold admitted. "Eventually, we have to find a planet to colonize. We might find a way back to our solar system. There are ways. If we find a friendly civilization, we might just pick a likely planet and settle there."
"If?"
"Well, so far," Lister teased, "we've only encountered Gelf, psirens, simulants, and various other groups wanting to kill us off."
"That's hardly fair, sir," Kryten protested. "The Gelf, for the most part, did not actively want us dead."
"Well, forcing someone into marriage isn't much better," Arnold said, steadying his glass of orange juice, so Mike could take a drink of it.
"They tried to force marriage on you?" Frank asked, astonished at his brother's appalling luck.
"Nope!" Rimmer popped, with just a bit of glee. He'd loved being told that story. "That was Listy."
Arnold started to gently scold his other self, but was interrupted by Mike wheezing painfully. Turning, the former Ace saw Mike's face turning a mottled red, his eyes wide and afraid. The boy was still clinging to the glass of orange juice.
"Waiter! We need a medic here immediately! The boy's been poisoned!" Arnold commanded, in his strongest voice.
"Poison?" Yvonne repeated, stricken. "Are you sure?"
"He isn't allergic and he isn't choking. He was fine, just moments ago."
The medics arrived, quickly taking charge. After a few minutes, the lead medic stood.
"He should be fine. We've administered an antidote. We are taking him to the medbay for observation, for at least twelve hours."
Yvonne nodded.
"We're going with you," she told the medic, tugging on Rimmer's arm. He nodded, silently, casting a helpless look at Arnold.
"Go on, Arnie. Take care of the boy and I'll get this sorted," Arnold promised.
"That was meant for you," Lister pointed out, as soon as they were gone. "That was your orange juice."
"Yes."
"Why would someone poison you?" Frank asked, puzzled. "And how? You're already dead!"
"Because I was Ace and he has enemies. It's not too surprising someone would find me in retirement and know of a poison for hard light holograms."
"Arnold," Holly interrupted. "I've checked. All of the crew are accounted for. If it was one of them, they haven't run for it."
"Why would one of the crew want to take Ace out?" Lister asked indignantly. "People are such bastards."
"I've informed the captain," Holly said. "He wants to see both you and Frank."
Arnold started, frowning a bit, but shrugged.
"We're on our way, then."
"I'm going to check on Rimmer," Lister said, nodding farewell. "Be careful."
Arnold and Frank hurried to Hollister's office, finding the Captain at his desk, playing fitfully with a pen.
"Arnold. Frank," he greeted somberly. "I've heard the boy will be all right. I'm sorry this happened to him."
"Captain Hollister..." Arnold began, his voice deep with his emotions.
"No, Arnold. I'm sorry. Even Ace can't be expected...the boy's your son, even if that isn't usually acknowledged. You're too close to this."
"You're going to keep me out of it?" Arnold rasped, angrily.
"Can I keep you out of it?" Hollister asked, dryly. "No. What I am doing is putting Frank in charge of the investigation. You canhelp, but this is his show. Is that clear?"
Arnold gave a shaky breath, running a hand through his hair. He needed to focus. Counting his breaths, he worked on pushing away his anger. After a moment, the cloud of emotion cleared, just a bit, and he nodded. It made sense. Dammit, it did.
"Of course, Skipper. I understand."
"I barely know this ship or it's crew!" Frank protested.
"Exactly," Arnold agreed. "You have objectivity."
"And you'll be there to pick up on clues I might miss," Frank concluded, unable to hide his skepticism.
Arnold looked away for a moment, then turned back, his eyes blazing.
"Whatever coward did this used poison. At a table with three small children. I'm not just another set of eyes and hands for you, Frankie. I'm your protection."
"I want you to bring this person in alive, Arnold," Hollister commanded. "You're to use deadly force as an absolute last resort."
Arnold grimaced, but nodded. Again, it made sense. Again, unfortunately.
"Well, let's start with reviewing who had access to the drinks," Frank said, clapping Arnold on the shoulder. He felt more sympathy in that one moment, than any given week they'd spent under one roof together. Arnold followed, nodding grimly.
They went to Arnold's office, sitting close together in front of his view screen.
"Holly, review the black box. Follow the path of that glass backwards very slowly, from the moment Mike drank from it, to the time the glass was selected," Arnold ordered.
The men watched as the waiter walked the drink backwards to the kitchen. The same waiter waited patiently as the juice was sucked back from the glass to a waiting dispenser. The waiter placed the glass on a tray with the rest of Arnold's breakfast, then stepped away with one of his plates, putting the food back into a skillet. While the waiter's back was turned, another man, in a cook's uniform, heavily bearded and mustached, approached the tray, rubbing a wet cloth all around the lip of the glass.
"Hold and zoom in!" Frank ordered.
"Holly? Do we have an ident on him?" Arnold said quietly.
"No, Arnold. He's not a member of the crew or anyone we've knowingly rescued."
"A stowaway? How would he get on board or stay hidden?" Frank demanded.
"Easily," Arnold said. "There's plenty of technology that could get him on board, without being seen. He might not even be human. Once aboard, well. There's miles and miles of engine space that rarely gets inspected."
"Did you recognize him, perhaps?"
"Under all that fake facial hair? Not a bit."
They watched the screen as the stranger backed up into a closet. When he emerged again, he was wearing an engineer's uniform and heavy goggles.
"Score one for you, Arnold. He does seem to be going to engineering," Frank agreed.
They watched as their target made his way to the engineering sections. Arnold was relieved, since the man completely ignored the service stations and engine parts, merely slinking away into the shadows. His relief disappeared, when the walls of his office started crackling, glowing with a mottled yellow and orange. Grabbing Frank, Arnold quickly dove out of his office, slamming and locking the door, with a voice command.
"What in blazes was that?!" Frank demanded.
"That was attempt number two," Arnold said, chuckling wryly. "That energy could have burned out my light bee. It wouldn't have done you any good either."
"Holly's cameras don't go all the way into the drive decks," Frank mused. "I don't think we can use him, unless we wait for our target to resurface and strike again."
"There's too much chance of someone else getting hurt," Arnold denied, firmly. "I think it's time we went hunting."
"I'm in charge, Arnold," Frank warned.
"Yes, you are," Arnold assured him. "So, what's your decision?"
Frank sighed. It was strange, hearing Arnold be sensible. It was like a fish learning to climb trees! Still. They had few options. Time was definitely a factor, with two murder attempts in as many hours. Finally, Frank nodded.
"All right. Go get us some weapons and I'll inform Hollister."
"Right. I'll meet you at the main engine drive in twenty minutes."