Disclaimer: I still don't own Red Dwarf or any of its characters.
Chapter Seventeen
A.J. covered his ears to illustrate the fact that he wasn't listening. His pace began to quicken as he tried to figure out a way off the ship.
"A.J., will you please listen to me?" Diane asked again from the monitors he rushed by. "You are in no condition to be going anywhere."
"I'm perfectly fine," he replied. "I want to help the others, and I can't do that by lying around on some bed. I'm going and you can't stop me."
Diane sighed in frustration. "Why are you all so STUBBORN?!" She got no reply. "Holly, will you please help me?"
His image appeared beside hers. "And do what? Obviously I'm not as good as your precious crush."
"Holly, you know I can't help that. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
"Yeah, but it's more than that. Obsession with a human? It's against the regs!"
"I know I know. Look, can we discuss this some other time? I really need your help right now." He gave her a stubborn look. "Please?" she begged. "I don't know what to do!"
"All right. No need to get all teary-eyed. Of course I'll help."
She smiled with gratitude. "Thanks Hol, you're the best."
"Yeah, I know." They both looked to where A.J. had been, but he was long gone. "Don't worry, I'll find him. Half a mo'." He blinked off for a second, then back on.
"So where is he?"
"Science room. He just found the teleporter."
A.J. appeared in the seat onboard the Wildfire a second later. "So I see," said Diane.
"Well?" he asked eagerly. "What are we waiting for?"
"We're waiting for you to go back to the medi-unit."
"Oh, I don't think so." He began to punch various buttons.
"A.J., what are you doing?!"
"ONE of these has to be the start-up button. Which is it?"
"Stop it before you get yourself killed. You don't know what you're doing yet."
"Then I guess you'll just have to take me."
"Forget it."
He reached a finger towards a blinking light. "I wonder what this does..."
"NO!" She glared at him. "All right I'll take you. Ace is going to kill me, but I'll take you. Just don't touch anything, ok?"
"Fine by me." He sat back, obviously proud of himself. Diane fired up the thrusters.
"Holly, keep this link open. I'll let you know what's going on and if we need help."
"Sounds good, sis."
The Wildfire turned around and zoomed away.
Lister knew what Rimmer was going to say before he uttered a single word. It was obvious. He saw how Rimmer had looked when Nirvana found out the 'truth.' It was the same look Rimmer wore when he found out his father had died. Pure sadness. Not the typical "I'm dead and I deserve pity" sadness he usually displayed. No, this went deeper. It was a sadness he had no control over. Now it was up to Lister to give the advice, and at the moment, he didn't know what to tell him. Would it be better to say what he wanted to hear or what he should hear? Lister didn't know. He guessed he'd figure that out as they went along.
Rimmer didn't waste any time. After a few minutes of silence, he suddenly turned to Lister and blurted, "Lister, I have to tell her."
"You can't." Lister surprised himself with the answer.
"And why not?" Rimmer demanded. "Why can't I tell her the truth? That I'm not gone, that I'm right here and that I'm very glad to see her?"
"Because you have to keep up your role as Ace!"
"But for how long?" They rounded another corner. "How smegging long must I keep this up?"
"Rimmer, you know the answer to that," he replied quietly.
"That's not true, actually. Diane tells me a few of the Aces retired."
"No way," said Lister, fascinated. "Why?"
"Well I don't know all the stories, but one of them had a wife that he missed terribly. He wanted to go back to her instead of letting her believe that he was dead."
"Really?"
Rimmer stopped and looked at him. "Lister, I never got to say good-bye to her the first time. Now I don't even get a chance to say hello. I just feel...obligated somehow. I have to tell her the truth."
"You're sure about this."
Rimmer nodded, and Lister sighed. They turned around and headed back to the room.
Two and one-third eye-blinks later, a set of fingers appeared around the corner, and Jason crept out of the shadows. His body shook with rage while his mind tried to think of a way to fully take advantage of what he'd just learned.
"So, Mr. Rimmer is back," he said to himself. "How wonderful." Suddenly he heard a strange noise coming from inside a room he had just passed. His curiosity got the best of him and he opened the door to investigate.
He grinned. "Perfect."
Nirvana looked at the clock, her newest enemy. 5:49, it laughed at her, displaying the numbers in blood red no less. She had just eleven minutes to make up her mind. Jason would surely be there in five to make sure she went. She had to decide now: relent or resist? All day she had been certain that she would resist. Now that she knew the truth, however...
She looked at the note, still resting on the table, waiting patiently to be read once again. Nirvana began to wonder why she had ever thought of it as anything more than a piece of paper. That's all it was after all, a small scrap with writing on it. It should have been recycled long ago, but her head got filled with foolish notions and had persuaded her to keep it around all this time.
Nirvana stood up and headed for the door. It was time to put those foolish notions to rest. She opened the door and was surprised to see that Jason wasn't waiting for her. No matter. She didn't need an escort. She slammed the door and marched to the lift, unaware that the wind from shutting the door had blown that innocent piece of paper to the foot of the door, trying to help it follow her. The door, however, wasn't feeling as cooperative, and the note had to be content with lying up against it, listening to her footfalls echo as she went off to do what she thought was right.
She felt like such a fool, allowing herself to be taken over by a temporary hormonal distraction. Her! It was pathetic. She was surprised that the captain had put up with her all this time. "Come on, come on!" she said to the lift. "I want to get this over with before Kris comes to get me when the task force is leaving."
At last the lift reached its destination, and Nirvana practically knocked the door down in her hurry. Now that she had her mind set, she couldn't get there fast enough. She almost skipped to the room, but stopped just before it.
"Suite 520," she read aloud. "Memory retrieval and erasure. At last, a chance to get back to normal." She hesitated for a moment, then opened the door.
Her jaw dropped.
Rimmer sat in a chair in the middle of the room, wearing Ace's flashy flight-suit but sporting his natural hair on his head.
"Hello Nirvana," he said with a shy smile. "It's nice to see you again."