1 Chapter 6-Revelation

She knew she had to change soon. She had been buzzing around the room in fly form for over twenty-three and half-hours. She had been watching the crew for as long as possible, before going up into the air vents and changing back. She would then remain in her natural form for an hour or so, before changing into a new form and beginning her visits once more. Only this time there was a problem. As she flew up through the air vent she thought she had landed on the solid inside of the air duct. However, she had landed on the thin, weak area of the vent. As she changed and grew heavier, the vent beneath her gave way. She crashed through the vent and into the guy's sleeping quarters. Unluckily she landed on top of an unsuspecting Rimmer who, with the aid of a skutter, was reading a book. She fell right through him onto the floor. He looked down amazed at what he saw. What looked like a human being was lying on the floor beneath him. It appeared to be female, with a large scar on its forehead. It stared up at him as he watched in both terror and bewilderment. He was even more shocked when it spoke to him.

" Hi, sorry about that."

" Who the smeg are you?"

" I'm First Officer Lauren Perry. Sorry to burst in on you like this, Rimmer, but the vent gave way."

" How do you know my name? And what were you doing in the vent?"

As Rimmer remembered that she was a first officer he added a quick Ma'am.

" I've been watching you for the last two weeks and I just happened to fall through a weak spot."

" If you don't mind me asking ma'am, why were you watching us?"

" Well for the last three and a half months I've been living by myself in the food decks. I was getting lonely with just Holly for company and I was too ashamed to reveal my existence."

" You mean Holly knew you were there?"

" Yes. I had asked him to keep my existence to himself because I was too ashamed to face you in case you made fun of me."

" With all due respect ma'am, why would you feel ashamed?"

" Are you blind? Can't you see my face?"

" Of course I can, ma'am."

" You can see my scars? I was severely disfigured in the radiation leak. It was only by a mutation in my rare blood that I survived, unlike the rest of the crew."

" Unlike me."

" For smeg's sake would you stop feeling sorry for yourself. You died, what of it. You can still do a great many things that even I can't do."

" What like?"

" You can make friends..."

" Yeah, like that's going to happen any time soon."

" You can talk to things other than Holly..."

" Like they ever listen."

" You can interact with people, you can be with people, you can love a person, you can be loved..."

" Who would love me?"

" You'd be surprised."

" Well you could be loved."

" Who would love me? The only creatures in the galaxy that could love me are you, Lister and the Cat. Anyway, who would even want to like someone as disfigured as me?"

" I like you."

Rimmer suddenly realized what he had just said. Here was this woman who had just fallen through him. They had only just met but already he could tell she had a serious confidence problem. Like him. He thought how well they seemed to get on, despite the fact that he was always nervous around women. He felt that if he was very lucky she might want to become his friend. It was a long shot but it might be a possibility.