Rimmer tried to busy himself the whole next day so he wouldn't be thinking about Lister's surgery.
Kryten came bustling into the bunk room at 7 PM. "Mister Rimmer, I need your help in the medical bay."
Rimmer nearly jumped to his feet. "Is Lister all right?"
"I don't know," Kryten said. "I performed the surgery, but now he won't even open his mouth. I can't tell if there's anything wrong, and I thought maybe you could help."
"You could help." Surely those words had never been spoken about Rimmer before.
Rimmer nodded. "Where is he?"
Once Rimmer entered the medical bay, Lister seemed to relax. He inclined his head toward Kryten.
"Kryten, could you leave the two of us for a minute?" Rimmer asked.
Kryten nodded. "Yes, sir. I'll be just outside."
Once Kryten was gone, Lister smiled.
"Hi, Rimmer," he said.
Rimmer was dumbfounded. "The procedure worked."
Lister nodded.
"I thought you'd been hurt," Rimmer said. "I mean, Kryten thought—why did you send for me?"
"Because," Lister said, "I wanted you to be the person I said my first words to."
"Oh," Rimmer said. He couldn't be sure, having had little experience along these lines, but he suspected Lister had just made a gesture of friendship.
Lister glanced at the ceiling innocently. Guess you can't read my mind anymore.
"You guess wrong," Rimmer said. Now was as good a time to test Lister's attitude towards him as any. "You'll have to do more than get a new voice to be rid of me, Lister."
Lister grinned broadly. "Whatever you say, Rimmer. Whatever you say."
THE END
