Disclaimer: Again, I don't own any of Grant Naylor's fantastic creations.

Author's note: This chapter is a bit quicker than the last few. I love the reactions of Rimmer, Lister and the Cat in this one!

The quarantine bay door slid open with a whispering hiss and she silently stepped into the Control Room. Kryten was the first to speak, "My name is Kryten, ma'am." He shook her hand. Lister's bazookoid crashed to the floor and smashed into a thousand pieces as he raced to hold out his own hand.
"Dave Lister," he introduced himself whilst tripping over his own foot. Rimmer also eagerly stuck his hand out even though he was in soft-light form: "Arnold J. Rimmer."
Cat had no idea what they thought they were achieving by thrusting their fingers in her face and saying their own names, but he followed suit, "The Cat," he said, then added, "I'm smooth, with a capital smoo!"
"Dave Lister," Lister said again.
Just then Holly appeared on the screen. This would have been a comfort to the newcomer, had Holly not performed a self-head-sex-change operation.
She looked at the quintet in fear. There was a man with very large teeth, some sort of robot, a floating head, a man with an 'H' on his forehead (she took comfort in the fact that she knew that meant he was a hologram) and a man who looked strangely familiar.
Finally Rimmer couldn't stand the silence any longer, "Er, may I ask for your name?"
"N-Nicole," She found her tongue at last, "Nicole Adler."
"Dave Lister," Lister repeated once more for good measure.
"Yes, you did say," Nicole said, "Wait. Did you say...Dave Lister?"
"Yeah. Three times." Lister said, humiliated.
"Oh my God! You're the coffee guy!" This comment was greeted by a silence and several confused looks, "Do you not remember?"
Lister shook his head slowly.
"You came into the Drive Room? You spilt coffee on Kris's lap? I got the wet paper towel? Anything?"
Lister searched his mind, which didn't take long, and finally came up with something.
"Nikki Adler..?" he asked tentatively. She nodded fervently. Lister turned to face the others. They clearly needed an explanation.
"Nicole joined Red Dwarf as a Nav. Officer just before the accident."
"What accident?"
They all stared at her for a while, not wanting to tell her the tragic position she was in.
Kryten spoke, "Excuse us for two minutes, ma'am.' He said politely. She nodded and they all got in a huddle. Without saying a word they all made fists. They silently counted 1...2...3. Cat and Kryten made rocks. Rimmer and Lister made scissors. Rimmer and Lister turned to each other. 1...2...3...they both made paper. 1...2...3...they both made rock. 1...2...3...they both made paper again.
"OK," interrupted Lister at a whisper, "I'm thinking of a number between one and twenty. What is it?"
"Seventeen?"
There was a tense pause before Lister mouthed "Dammit!"
He turned to Nicole with a false smile. Her heart sank.
"What is it?" she asked with a sigh. She really didn't want to know, but she knew she had to.
"Well, you are back on Red Dwarf," said Lister.
"Oh, good!" said Nicole.
"But..." said Lister.
"Oh, God." Said Nicole.

"Say that again..." Lister had finished his elucidation of the situation and she was finding it a little hard to believe. He shrugged and shook his head. What could he say, except repeat the whole thing again? Nicole took a deep shaky breath and paced around for a bit, muttering 'I don't believe this. I simply don't believe this.'
"Miss Adler, ma'am?" Nicole turned to face who she now knew was called Kryten. "If you don't mind me asking, how did it turn out that you were not aboard Red Dwarf at the time of the accident?"
Nicole raised her eyebrows. "Wow," she exclaimed, "I really can't remember, um..."
Rimmer interrupted, "It's OK, you don't have to tell us now." He shot a glance at the insensitive droid, who sent himself immediately into 'guilt mode.'
"No," replied Nicole, "It's fine, I'll tell you. OK, it was early evening, and Red Dwarf had just left its post on Titan, when Captain Hollister told me to come into his office..."

A/n: OK, flashback sequence coming up. I'll probably post it by the end of today. P.S. You may be wondering how my chapters are being uploaded so quickly. Well, I had an operation two days ago, and I'm at home on recovery, so I have had a lot of spare time on my hands! It will slow down on Monday when I go back to school :(