Disclaimer: I still don't own Red Dwarf or any of its characters.
Chapter Eight
Jason was losing his patience. He didn't have all day to sit here and wait for her to answer the door. He had tasks to reassign and an exercise session with Lieutenant Noland in fifteen minutes, and he certainly wouldn't be late for that. He tried knocking harder. "Commander, are you there?!"
Nirvana awoke with a start. She looked at the time--what? She had fallen asleep? Impossible. She realized she was clutching something in her hand, and looked down. It was the note.
Another series of knocks. "Commander, PLEASE! Answer the door."
Jason, she realized, and got up from the bed. The knocks continued as she headed for the door, pounding inside her sleepy head in the most annoying way. It is going to be a LONG time before we exercise again, Jason, she told herself, and slowly opened the door.
"...yes?"
"Commander, at last. Didn't you hear me knocking?"
"Oh that's what that was! I'm sorry, I thought it was an angry mob attacking city hall."
Jason noticed that Nirvana was trying to hide something behind her back. "What's that?"
"What's what?"
He snatched the note from her hand and skimmed through it before throwing it down in disgust. "I knew it. You were thinking about that damn technician again, weren't you?"
Nirvana's lips curled into a smile as she reached down and picked up the note. "Yes, as a matter of fact I was. Not that it's any business of yours, lieutenant."
"Nirvana, when are you going to see what's happening to you?"
"And just what is that?"
He sighed in frustration. "You've become so emotionally attached to that man. It's interfering with your work, your relationships--your general state of well-being."
"Oh nonsense. Just because I'm not afraid to let my emotions show doesn't mean that my health is at risk."
Jason firmly grabbed her hand, pinning her against the wall. "Commander, you leave me no choice. After we have dealt with the matter at hand, I'm taking you down to suite 520 to have your memories of that technician removed."
"What? No, I don't want to!" She struggled to get free but Jason held her firm. "You can't possibly--"
"Oh yes I can, and it's for your own good. Maybe you'll return to normal once he's out of your mind, and you won't be such a bother anymore."
"But--"
"No, I won't hear it." He released her and she glared at him. "Now come with me. We've rescued someone and the captain wants you to be the greeter."
"Me? Why me?"
"I don't know. For some odd reason, the captain still thinks you're fine and that you're the best choice to be the first to expose the stranger to our greatness." He turned and marched off. Nirvana reluctantly followed.
They stood in silence in the lift, Jason listening to his ego whisper compliments in his ear, Nirvana scared to death about what Jason was going to let them do to her. She didn't want to forget. It was the only happiness she knew anymore.
She made a pact with herself. Somehow she was going to get out of this. She just had to think of how exactly she would go about that.
Finally the lift reached deck 21, which had been recently converted to a sickbay for any people they managed to rescue. Jason stayed in the lift as she stepped out. Nirvana was glad that he was gone. Maybe she could actually think now.
She heard a muffled, yet angry voice coming from inside the sickbay. The doors swung open and she stepped inside.
Kristine Kochanski gave up on the so-called courtesy button and fixed her eyes on the officer that had just entered the room. "Hi, nice of them to send someone at last," she grumbled, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and standing up. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to know where the hell I am."
Rimmer grabbed hold of the doorknob and threw open the door--just in time to see the roof get blown apart. He was thrown forwards and landed on his face in the dirt, skidding to a stop about seven feet away from the front door. He got to his feet and looked up to see who was attacking; the skies were perfectly clear. Either it's some sort of strange natural occurrence, thought Rimmer, or whoever it is has a cloaking device.
Suddenly he remembered A.J. He ran back to the house as another destructive wave zipped through the cabin, vaporizing the weak structure with one massive stroke. Again he was thrown--backwards, this time--away from what was left of A.J.'s home. Rimmer felt like he was running in slow motion as he tried to reach the cabin in time to save A.J; he was only a few feet away, but it seemed like he would never reach it. Finally he plunged into the splintered remains of the cabin.
"A.J.?" he cried as he lifted parts of what used to be the front wall off the rubble. "Where are you? Answer me!"
A muffled "...over here" came from the direction of the chimney, which was the only structure still intact. Rimmer crawled over the debris and spotted A.J.'s arm sticking out from underneath a small hill of wood, books, and papers. He furiously clawed at the rubble, sweat dripping off his face as he raced to save his other self.
He lifted a dictionary from the pile and A.J.'s face appeared. He had a nasty gash on the right side of his head, but other than that he seemed to be all right. Rimmer thought he'd ask just to be sure.
"A.J., are you all right? Can you move?"
"Yes I think so. And maybe once you get the rest of this stuff off me, I'll be able to resume my tap-dancing lessons."
"Of course. Sorry--" He removed the rest of the debris and helped A.J. to his feet. He was weak, but didn't seem to be too badly hurt.
"I was thrown against the chimney," he said, leaning on Rimmer for support. "Then the second blast threw all of that on top of me." He looked around in a daze, slowly realizing just what was happening. "Someone blew up my house. I can't believe someone has blown up my--"
Another wave of blasts came from above, obliterating A.J.'s 'back yard' and cutting down the stoic chimney at last. The pair began to limp back to the Wildfire when suddenly Rimmer became aware of a frantic voice coming through his communicator.
"Ace, what is HAPPENING?" cried Diane.
"Not sure, old girl, but I've got an injured man here. We're going to have to take him with us."
"What?!" cried A.J. "Leave my research? You must be mad!"
"Shh. You don't know what you're saying."
"Ace, you can't bring him on board. We have no room."
"We'll make some then!" Rimmer barked.
AJ folded his arms. "See, she said I can't go, so leave me be. I don't want to go anyway."
"Maybe it's better if we do leave him here, Ace--"
"There, a sage idea at last."
"Will both of you shut up?!" yelled Rimmer. He propped A.J. up against one of the ship's supports and climbed halfway up the ladder so he could look into the cockpit. He wanted to look Diane in the 'face'.
"Thank God, you're safe," she breathed.
"Not now. What do you mean we don't have room?"
"Look around you. How many seats do you see? One? That's right!"
"But surely there's room in the back?"
"Well, there is the space where the trophies are kept--"
"Perfect, I'll clear those away."
"You can't throw those out! They're souvenirs from past Aces! It would be like throwing out their history."
"Diane, I hardly think the legend needs trophies to prove how great it is. Now come on, open up the hatch."
More explosions tore through the ground, missing the Wildfire by only a few feet. Rimmer jumped down by A.J. to make sure he was still safe, which he was. His mouth movements showed that he was yelling, but his voice was overpowered by the sound of the blasts.
Rimmer shuddered as each explosion ripped through the landscape. For some crazy reason, the destruction seemed almost familiar.
"Ace, what do you want me to do?" Diane cried over the noise. "Do you still want me to open the hatch?"
"No, we don't have time for that. We'll have to go now."
"But how--"
"Never mind, I'll explain along the way." He leaned over A.J., who had stopped yelling for the moment. He was fixed in an empty gaze, staring at what remained of his career. It was all gone. All of it.
"A.J., I need you to do something for me."
"They destroyed my house, Ace," he mumbled.
"Who did?"
A.J. turned his head up towards him. "I don't know! Don't you?!"
"Listen, we don't have much time. I'm going to hoist you into the cockpit, and then we're getting out of here."
"But I thought your computer said there was only room for one of us?"
"Very true--if we both try to fit in there."
"What, you're going to stay?! You can't!"
"No, I'm not." He put his hand on A.J.'s shoulder. "I'm going to switch off my image, and you're going to carry my light bee--"
"You're going to what?! Image...light bee...what are you driveling about?"
"A.J., I'm a hologram."
A.J. did a double take. "You--you are? But you can't be, I can touch you. How could I possibly be able to touch you--"
"I'll explain later, all right? Just trust me on this one." He turned to Diane. "And I don't want to hear any retorts from you. We don't have time. As soon as we get into space, jettison the junk back there and then, A.J."--he turned back to him--"you crawl back there and hold on tight. The thrusters on this ship pack quite a punch."
"What about you?"
"Diane, reactivate my image after he's safely back there. Got it?"
She nodded. "Will you please get in now?"
He looked at A.J., who was still in awe. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine. Diane will do all the flying. You just have to sit back and relax." His image flickered off and A.J. caught the light bee in his hand. What a guy, he thought.
Within seconds the ship was in the air and gaining speed. A.J. looked down at where is home used to be. He couldn't help but feel like a part of him had died. He hated change, and after living the same life for so long, he couldn't help but be a little frightened. For the first time in his life, things were out of his control. He always had a plan, or at least someone who had planned things for him. Now everything he had known was destroyed in a matter of minutes, and the future seemed incredibly uncertain.
He noticed he was absently rotating the light bee in his hand, and looked down at it.
"Incredible, isn't it?"
His head shot up and he saw the computer for the first time. For once, it was a computer with a lovely face. "Yes. That's just what I was going to say. I'm sorry, Diane was it?"
"That's right. Don't worry," she said with a wink, "I already know who you are." A noise echoed from behind the ship. "There, that's done. Now, look behind you. See that hatch behind the seat?"
He leaned back and peered at the door that existed just inches behind where he was sitting. "Yes, I see it."
"Open the door and get back there."
"How?"
"Just go!"
He began to squeeze back when suddenly the seat lurched forward. "See, it's adjustable," said Diane. "Go on, almost there."
A.J. opened the hatch and climbed into the small space. Suddenly he heard his--or rather, Ace's--voice echo through the intercom.
"A.J., how's your head?"
A.J. realized he was feeling a bit woozy, but shook it off. "It's fine, I think."
"Well hang on. We're going to DJ."
"What?"
"We're going to jump to a different dimension."
"Oh." A.J. covered his head and tried not to think about the imminent death that would surely come with this insane venture. Suddenly the pressure increased to tenfold what it was, and A.J. held on for dear life.
The Usurper followed the Wildfire's. Gambran was screaming with rage at tactical for missing their targets.
"You could have spit on them, you were so close! How could you miss?"
The bewildered officers opened their mouths to reply, but Gambran waved them off. His patience was completely gone, and the last thing he needed to hear right now was excuses. Instead he turned to the monitor.
"Ensign, don't let that ship out of your sight! Reestablish the grapling link. We're not letting him get away again. It just won't happen."
"Grapling link secure, sir. Do you think we should prepare for another jolt like we experienced before?"
Gambran chuckled. "My dear boy, I hardly think Mr. Rimmer would be stupid enough to try that on us again. No, I'm sure he'll try and out run us and out-maneuver us this time. Trust me, there won't be another j---"
The ship shot forward, sending the crew flying in a replay of the earlier events. Gambran tried to punch his chair in anger but he couldn't lift his hand; the pressure was once again fixing him to the floor.
"Will someone please tell me what the hell this is?" he hollered, but no one had an answer to give him. Everyone stared at the screen, hoping to make it through again as they had last time. No one was about to pass out this time; they were all too curious to let that happen.
Gambran observed the events with awe. He wondered what kind of a weapon could produce such speed and power. The white light filled the room and reality ceased to exist anymore. Gambran didn't notice; he was too busy formulating a plan that would bring the weapon into Timlar control. If he couldn't defeat the enemy, perhaps this was the next best thing.