Dead Man Walking
Chapter 4 - Light Fantastic
Each second smashed through the fabric of time and space, the numbers on the small clock in the A.R suite changing with an indescribable heaviness and finality. Rimmer still held Lister's body, his brain still unable to process the fact that he was holding just that - a corpse.
Kryten alternately sniffed and typed. There was no need for words - he was sure Rimmer was as traumatised as he was. He tried to keep himself busy, give Rimmer time: but eventually he just had to ask:
"Sir? Could you tell me what these readouts mean? I have never seen anything like it, and I wouldn't like to assume - "
" - Yes Kryten, I'm coming."
Rimmer's voice was flat and emotionless. He tried to get up, then realised that Lister was still slumped against him. As gently as he could, he lowered him to the floor, looking away when his head flopped limply to one side.
He never really expected to be any help - hell the toaster knew more about astronavigation and computer technology than he did. He simply wanted to forget, and lose himself in his work. Kryten wordlessly showed Rimmer a 3D plan of Starbug and its systems, highlighting the ones that were still functioning. He pointed to some that looked a bit suspicious. Several of the computer's memory centres were still operating, although the only data being processed was that of their flight. The Cat was still at the helm so those computers had little or no work to do - what was going on?
"Kryten, show me those centres."
Kryten tapped quickly on the keypad.
"Sir, I'm afraid it won't let me display the information. I will have to bring it up in machine code."
Rimmer sighed in frustration. For all he knew this malfunction of the computers could lead to all of their deaths, and the only way to work out what was wrong was encrypted in some gobbledegook that he had no way of interpreting.
"Just do it, Kryten. Tell me what it says."
Rimmer crouched once more beside Lister, and put his body into a more comfortable position. He was interrupted by a sad cough from Kryten. It MUST be bad - Mechanoids don't cough. They don't even eat.
"Sir. I can't read it."
"What!"
Rimmer had resigned himself to being the weak link but still getting the job done, now even that had gone down the pan.
"What do you mean you can't smegging read it? You're a mechanoid, you use that crap all the time!"
"Not this sir, it is a specific code - used in a specialised field. My manufacturers obviously did not think it was necessary for me to learn this code, so it will be something totally unrelated to my official function."
"So all we have to do is consider everything not to do with cleaning toilets and we'll be fine!"
Kryten hung his head, he wished he could help but for now the stuff on the screen was about as legible to him as a two year olds finger painting.
"You can't work out what it says?"
"No Sir, it has no official structure - no pattern as far as I can see. Some of the codes are symmetrical but it is an entirely original code - not a variant. "
"Ok I get the point. What the hell has this smegging thing done to the ship?"
"As far as I can tell Sir, nothing. It k-killed Mr Lister and now it is lying dormant in these memory terminals. Tens of trillions of bytes of memory - "
"What?"
Rimmer was sure he had heard that before. He turned to the screen and began looking at the scrolling numbers and symbols. Suddenly he was back at a desk in a classroom on Red Dwarf, and Todhunter was lecturing in his droning nasal voice:
"Tens of trillions of bytes of memory, and only for one person. That's why we have to make sure that you are worth it. No shampoo jokes please."
Of course! Rimmer looked at the symbols again. He recognised several of them, and now he understood.
"Kryten, I know what this is!"
Shortly after he had been revived as a hologram, the longing to know more about himself and his new existence had got too much, and he had made frequent visits to the hologram simulation suite. He had stood in the vast room, seeing images from his life replayed before him, saw his innermost thoughts and dreams once again. In a depression, he had sat at the console, looking at the reams of computer code that created him, and passing his hand soundlessly through the table to see if the numbers changed, digital tears trickling down his cheeks.
Those numbers and symbols were here! That was what he saw as he looked at the screen in the A.R suite. It was those same symbols - a mind and personality stored on disk. His own was in there somewhere as well of course, but not in the newly activated systems. There was something sentient in there!
He did not stop to think, did not stop to explain to Kryten. He knew those symbols, knew them better than anyone.
"Computer! Run hologram backup program from secondary memory terminals one through five!"
"This will compromise power levels"
"Just do it! Switch off all non-essential systems!"
Kryten looked round in bewilderment.
"Sir?"
"Hologram generated. Medical Bay."
Rimmer pelted off down the corridor, arms pumping furiously. Kryten jogged after him and the Cat peeked his head from the midsection and decided that a race was a race.
Surprisingly, Rimmer got to the medical bay first. He skidded to a halt and was promptly knocked flying by Kryten and Cat who had less reliable braking methods than his rubber boots.
He flew toward the hologram in the centre of the room, which did not have time to get out of the way. Rimmer was therefore surprised when his face connected with the wall.
The hologram turned round. Rimmer could make out a dim figure, its eyes shocked and sunken. It walked over to Rimmer and offered to help him up. Rimmer shook his head and covered his eyes with his hand. He had royally screwed up this time.
The figure had a 2-inch high hologram H on his forehead. His legs went clean through the tray of supplies on the floor.
The figure was Lister.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks again for the nice reviews! I hope you liked this chapter. Please feel free to tell me what you think.
Chapter 4 - Light Fantastic
Each second smashed through the fabric of time and space, the numbers on the small clock in the A.R suite changing with an indescribable heaviness and finality. Rimmer still held Lister's body, his brain still unable to process the fact that he was holding just that - a corpse.
Kryten alternately sniffed and typed. There was no need for words - he was sure Rimmer was as traumatised as he was. He tried to keep himself busy, give Rimmer time: but eventually he just had to ask:
"Sir? Could you tell me what these readouts mean? I have never seen anything like it, and I wouldn't like to assume - "
" - Yes Kryten, I'm coming."
Rimmer's voice was flat and emotionless. He tried to get up, then realised that Lister was still slumped against him. As gently as he could, he lowered him to the floor, looking away when his head flopped limply to one side.
He never really expected to be any help - hell the toaster knew more about astronavigation and computer technology than he did. He simply wanted to forget, and lose himself in his work. Kryten wordlessly showed Rimmer a 3D plan of Starbug and its systems, highlighting the ones that were still functioning. He pointed to some that looked a bit suspicious. Several of the computer's memory centres were still operating, although the only data being processed was that of their flight. The Cat was still at the helm so those computers had little or no work to do - what was going on?
"Kryten, show me those centres."
Kryten tapped quickly on the keypad.
"Sir, I'm afraid it won't let me display the information. I will have to bring it up in machine code."
Rimmer sighed in frustration. For all he knew this malfunction of the computers could lead to all of their deaths, and the only way to work out what was wrong was encrypted in some gobbledegook that he had no way of interpreting.
"Just do it, Kryten. Tell me what it says."
Rimmer crouched once more beside Lister, and put his body into a more comfortable position. He was interrupted by a sad cough from Kryten. It MUST be bad - Mechanoids don't cough. They don't even eat.
"Sir. I can't read it."
"What!"
Rimmer had resigned himself to being the weak link but still getting the job done, now even that had gone down the pan.
"What do you mean you can't smegging read it? You're a mechanoid, you use that crap all the time!"
"Not this sir, it is a specific code - used in a specialised field. My manufacturers obviously did not think it was necessary for me to learn this code, so it will be something totally unrelated to my official function."
"So all we have to do is consider everything not to do with cleaning toilets and we'll be fine!"
Kryten hung his head, he wished he could help but for now the stuff on the screen was about as legible to him as a two year olds finger painting.
"You can't work out what it says?"
"No Sir, it has no official structure - no pattern as far as I can see. Some of the codes are symmetrical but it is an entirely original code - not a variant. "
"Ok I get the point. What the hell has this smegging thing done to the ship?"
"As far as I can tell Sir, nothing. It k-killed Mr Lister and now it is lying dormant in these memory terminals. Tens of trillions of bytes of memory - "
"What?"
Rimmer was sure he had heard that before. He turned to the screen and began looking at the scrolling numbers and symbols. Suddenly he was back at a desk in a classroom on Red Dwarf, and Todhunter was lecturing in his droning nasal voice:
"Tens of trillions of bytes of memory, and only for one person. That's why we have to make sure that you are worth it. No shampoo jokes please."
Of course! Rimmer looked at the symbols again. He recognised several of them, and now he understood.
"Kryten, I know what this is!"
Shortly after he had been revived as a hologram, the longing to know more about himself and his new existence had got too much, and he had made frequent visits to the hologram simulation suite. He had stood in the vast room, seeing images from his life replayed before him, saw his innermost thoughts and dreams once again. In a depression, he had sat at the console, looking at the reams of computer code that created him, and passing his hand soundlessly through the table to see if the numbers changed, digital tears trickling down his cheeks.
Those numbers and symbols were here! That was what he saw as he looked at the screen in the A.R suite. It was those same symbols - a mind and personality stored on disk. His own was in there somewhere as well of course, but not in the newly activated systems. There was something sentient in there!
He did not stop to think, did not stop to explain to Kryten. He knew those symbols, knew them better than anyone.
"Computer! Run hologram backup program from secondary memory terminals one through five!"
"This will compromise power levels"
"Just do it! Switch off all non-essential systems!"
Kryten looked round in bewilderment.
"Sir?"
"Hologram generated. Medical Bay."
Rimmer pelted off down the corridor, arms pumping furiously. Kryten jogged after him and the Cat peeked his head from the midsection and decided that a race was a race.
Surprisingly, Rimmer got to the medical bay first. He skidded to a halt and was promptly knocked flying by Kryten and Cat who had less reliable braking methods than his rubber boots.
He flew toward the hologram in the centre of the room, which did not have time to get out of the way. Rimmer was therefore surprised when his face connected with the wall.
The hologram turned round. Rimmer could make out a dim figure, its eyes shocked and sunken. It walked over to Rimmer and offered to help him up. Rimmer shook his head and covered his eyes with his hand. He had royally screwed up this time.
The figure had a 2-inch high hologram H on his forehead. His legs went clean through the tray of supplies on the floor.
The figure was Lister.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks again for the nice reviews! I hope you liked this chapter. Please feel free to tell me what you think.
