Wow. Yet again thank you SO much for all the kind reviews. 50 reviews - wowza, I'm deeply humbled. Thank you to everyone who is following this fic. I sincerely hope that you're enjoying it as much as I'm writing it. Actually to be honest, writing this particular chapter was a b*tch, and I discarded several initial attempts before settling on this version. I hope that it lives up to expectations.
Again, this chapter is rated M so please don't peek just yet if you don't like the scary bits.
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It wasn't supposed to be like this.
He could see but not hear the commotion around him as the others rushed to the aid of his nano self; the morbid scene unfolding silently before him as he stood rooted to the ground unable to move, his gun still hanging loosely by his side.
One-thousand, three-hundred and thirty-two.
Lister fell to his knees on the floor beside his bunkmate, his shaking fingers dancing uncertainly between Rimmer's hands still tightly clamped to his chest and his own mouth open aghast. He felt no instinctive reaction beyond disbelief and panic, as opposed to Kryten who immediately set about trying to stem the flow of blood that crept across the cotton of his shirt, the khaki slowly disolving into a dark red shade. His throat tightened to the horrible sound of Rimmer's gurgling, shallow wheezes that fought to draw in air, watching transfixed as his wide, hazel eyes flitted left and right as they desperately searched his own.
Tearing his gaze away, Lister spun around to the man still stood a distance away, only to be greeted the same blank mask of shock.
One-thousand, three-hundred and thirty-two.
"Rimmer, he needs help," Lister pleaded mournfully to his old crewmate, his usual chirpy gerbil cheeks drawn and pale. "What do we do?"
One-thousand, three-hundred and thirty-two.
"Rimmer - ?"
A loud explosion rocked the ship quickly followed by a second, the crew stumbling to keep their footing. The Cargo Bay began to shake unsteadily, the warning lights sparking into life alongside the piercing wail of alarms.
The Cat recovered fast, but his offering was neither illuminating nor helpful. "What the hell is going on?" he demanded loudly.
Rimmer's stomach plummeted in dreaded realisation. The Orion had opened fire, most likely trying to disable Red Dwarf's thrusters. If they continued their attack with the same ferocity, it wouldn't be long before they located the hydrogen fuel tanks. One direct hit to that and the whole ship would blow, taking everything and everyone on board with it.
A third shot shook the Cargo Bay, snapping both Rimmer's instincts and vocal chords into gear. "The simulants have resorted to Plan B," he announced grimly, his 'Ace' voice now restored. "And unfortunately this plan doesn't necessitate any of us surviving."
The Cat looked at each one of them in turn, searching their faces for a glimmer of inspiration. "Aren't I the only sane one here?" he asked incredulously, a perfectly groomed eyebrow cocked in disbelief. "Why don't we just drop the defensive shields?"
With Kryten desperately trying to save nano Rimmer, Lister adopted his usual retort. "Slight problem with that plan, Cat," he snapped back quickly, his tone certainly not capable of replicating the calm, measured tones of the mechanoid. "We don't have any defensive shields – "
"That's not true."
Three sets of questioning eyes flitted back to Rimmer. Lister sighed impatiently. "Come on, man. You know all too well what a shitty garbage can Red Dwarf was like." He missed the strange look that etched silently across Kryten's face.
Rimmer nodded in affirmation. "What it was like, certainly. But my computer told me that the nanobots regenerated Red Dwarf to its original flight plans. Before the JMC made all its cutbacks, correct?"
Lister shrugged, exasperated. "And?"
Rimmer growled inwardly. This man's brain moved slower than the losing team in the Eastbourne Zimmer Relay Championships. "Red Dwarf was originally due to be fitted with deflector shields. It's a mining ship – it had to go through more than its fair share of astreroid fields, and the JMC didn't want a hefty bill every time it came to MOT time." Rimmer sighed raggedly. "Deflector shields aren't the ideal defence but it's all we've got. If we shut down all non-essential power on the ship – heating, lighting, doors, everything – we can get Holly to concentrate all the power into upping the shields, boosting the engines, and getting the ship clear."
The Cat snapped his fingers and pointed towards Rimmer. "I'm with that dude," he announced.
Lister shook his head in disbelief. Ten years as Ace Rimmer and his first instinct was still to leg it. "Woah, woah, hang on," he interrupted quickly. "We can't just shut down all the systems. We need to get Rimmer up to the medi-bay sharpish. We need to use the service lift, the medical equipment - "
Another shot impacted hard and the Cargo Bay shook harder, the warning siren doubling in ferocity.
"Lister, give me the Holly watch. We don't have time for this," Rimmer pressed, fighting to keep his patience. He steadied his hands on Lister's arms, forcing him to see sense. "The more time we spend standing around discussing it the more we risk getting blown to bits."
Lister's face hardened into a scowl as he shrugged him off, his shaking hands balling into fists. "We can't just leave him, he'll die!"
"If you don't listen to me, we all die!"
"For smeg's sake, Rimmer, can't you - ?"
"Smegging hell! Ten years older but none the bloody wiser!" Rimmer cried, his voice now devoid of the smooth, controlled tones of his alter ego. "You just don't get it, do you? Years ago we only used to survive the simulant attacks out of sheer dumb luck!"
Despite the severity of the situation, the room fell silent as Kryten and the Cat stared openly at the pair in shock. Lister's dark eyes were wide, his cheeks burning red as he shook his head imperceptibly yet meaningfully at his old crewmate. Rimmer swallowed, dropping his voice to a hissed whisper.
"You've no idea what these simulants are capable of. They've killed thousands of defenceless people – women and children. You think just because you're the last human in this dimension they're going to spare you? You're the main prize. The jackpot."
Rimmer glanced over to his other self, an involuntary shudder shivering up and down his spine. It was more than a little disconcerting to see yourself dying all over again. He sighed defeatedly.
"Lister, you and I both know he's not going to make it," he pushed gently, his voice barely a whisper. "Either we try and save him and we all get killed, or you trust me and I have a chance to save you." He shrugged loosely. "Your choice."
Lister vision quivered. He knew that Rimmer was telling the truth from the sincerity in his eyes, but it didn't make it any easier to digest. Unsure what to do, he swivelled back to Kryten, whose rubber hands were futily helping to press down firmly on the unconquerable wound; the mechanoid's metallic blue eyes returning his gaze mutely. Swallowing, he turned to the Cat who shook his head sadly in response. Lister looked away, blinking quickly as he stared silently at the floor. Without looking up, his shaking fingers unfastened the watch and held it out to Rimmer who took it wordlessly, before returning to sink back to his bunkmate's side.
The Cat stood beside Rimmer. "What are you going to do?" he asked carefully.
Rimmer's breath shuddered as he saw Lister's heaving shoulders. Too many people had died. The simulants had practically destroyed him. And now they'd returned to his home dimension to tear apart everything he'd ever risked caring for.
His features hardened. "I'm going to end this."
Not knowing what else to do, Lister patted and rubbed the dying man's arm reassuringly. He couldn't gather the courage to look him in the eye as his dark, dilated pupils desperately searched his, gasping for air like a fish out of water.
"You're ok, man," he managed with an encouraging nod that felt too surreal for words. "We're here. You'll be fine, don't you - "
Lister tailed off as he noticed a dark red shadow creeping out slowly and silently across the floor from Rimmer's back. He pulled away instinctively with a choked sob as his hand shot to his open mouth, unshed tears quivering in his eyes but refusing to flow. He could still see Rimmer through the watery lens staring at him with undiluted fear, horrified when the only words that seemed to form in his mind tumbled, unchecked, from his lips.
"I'm so sorry."
The signal to the watch was very weak; Holly's face crackled, buzzing in and out of focus as he listened to Rimmer's plan.
"Have you got that, Holly?" Rimmer asked evenly.
The disembodied head nodded. "I'm already on it, Arnold," he replied through a haze of static before disappearing into darkness. The harsh glare of the lights dropped, immediately replaced by the red glow of the emergency lighting.
"Computer?"
Wildfire's computer had loaded her program into his light bee, her words echoing silently in his mind.
"I can hear you, Ace. Are we ready?"
"Almost. Just wait for my signal. We need to make sure we're out of range first."
"Understood."
Rimmer mopped his face with the flat of his palm. Before he'd reached Red Dwarf, he'd made a quick stop at the Orion to prepare them for this moment. The simulants were an arrogant race, and hadn't even bothered to up their defences or their security once they'd boarded Red Dwarf, so disabling their engines and planting the explosive on board had been relatively simple. It was this part of the plan that he was most afraid of. There wasn't going to be much room for error on this. Holly had to get the ship a safe enough distance from the Orion before he gave his computer the signal to detonate. He hoped and prayed that Theo's device would live up to his destructive reputation. He hoped and prayed even harder that the deflector shields held out long enough for them to find out.
The Cargo Bay shuddered once more as another volley of fire hit the ship, but the impact felt slightly more muffled than before. The shields were taking a lot of the force, but the kick-back resonance was still damaging the hull.
Holly's pixellated face pulsed in and out of focus on the watch. "Arnold, we've lost 70% of the deflector shields. We don't have long."
"Ace, I calculate we're six clicks from the Orion. Shall I detonate?"
Rimmer shook his head at the garbling of voices in his head. "No, we're still too close. The shockwave of the blast could tear out the hull. Just hang on."
Lister gripped Rimmer's sleeve harder as his breaths grew weaker and more shallow. "Just hang on," he echoed to him softly.
As yet another round of merciless fire thundered into the ship, the dark, dank air of the Cargo Bay hanging stagnant and heavy, Rimmer's wheezing and writhing slowed and stopped as with a final sigh he seemed to relax, his eyes glazing over sightlessly.
"Rimmer - ?"
"Arnold?"
"Ace?"
"Computer, go for it!"
The shockwave felt even more devastating than the simulant's attacks as the blast shook Red Dwarf forcefully before dying away into eerie silence. Rimmer's eyelids blinked slow and heavy. For such a momentus, conclusive finality to his ten year struggle, the moment felt strangely hollow. The wailing of the sirens faded away, leaving the room bathed in the deep red glow of the emergency lights.
"Rimmer - ?" Lister called for a second time, his voice echoing across the now silent Cargo Bay.
Rimmer watched with a strange sense of detachment as Kryten's cubed fingers wordlessly pressed to the neck of his other self, and with a solemn drop of the head gently closed his eyes. He tried to swallow but his throat felt sandpaper dry.
One-thousand, three-hundred and thirty-three.
Lister's eyes burned into him as he stared straight back, the angry tears now flowing freely and silently down his face.
They may have only been a few feet apart, but in all the years he'd been gone, hundreds and thousands of light years away, the distance between them had never felt so wide.