Zombie kitty – sorry for the lack of Cat, I got carried away. I can never manage to write characters without something bad happening to them! Here's a chappie, hope it's all right, I tried my best! thanks for the permission lol
Sunrise – thank you very much! Dunno what I would do without you dear. Please don't turn into a strange hobo pigeon lady! thanks for the lovely words reguarding this chappie!
Br1de-of-fr3ddy/Germiphobe – :) cheers for the review. Thanks so much for putting your fic up! It was so fab! Well done dear!
I don't know what's come over me! There's hardly any Lister in this chapter; it's mostly Rimmer, and bits of Cat. Enjoy:
…….
…….
Lister was doing fine. Albeit still unconscious and bleeding heavily, but fine more or less.
He was lying on the table, while the load of eccentric robots tended him. They weren't doing that good a job. Most were hysterical, and that poor one who couldn't stop singing Peter Andre had been forced from the room, on account of him disturbing everyone with one of the worst artist's ever known.
They were afraid the medical equipment might break from the resonating crap filtering from his mouth.
That poor robot was now trying to commit suicide out the door, it just couldn't take anymore!
…….
Rimmer was still sat on the ground. He couldn't even bring himself to stand up. That was when Cat bounded down and nearly fell into him with an 'I'm so sexy! Aaoooww!',
"Hey there bud!"
Rimmer just looked at him.
"What's the matter? You look like you've just seen Chipmunk cheeks in the shower again!"
Rimmer, still not replying, had taken great interest into staring forcefully at the ground.
Cat raised his eyebrow at the hologram, and decided that he didn't much care why Rimmer wasn't talking. So he carried on about himself, "Do you like my new suit? This baby took me hours to make! See the beaded pattern on the rim?"
Rimmer still didn't answer; in fact, Cat swore he saw something in the hologram's eye that looked out of place. Almost like grief? Maybe even sadness?
He tried to lighten the mood, in the only way Cat knew how, "I look snappier than a crocodile made of mouse traps!"
No reply.
"You're a git!"
Getting no usual retort or verbal abuse, Cat got a bit annoyed, and so danced down the length of the corridor extremely loudly, shouting: "Goalpost head is a smeg head, he's a goalpost and smeg head! Aoow!" and making sure the little lights around his collar were flashing the hologram in the face.
That was when Rimmer spoke.
"Lister got shot."
It wasn't the longest sentence he'd said, but it was definitely one of the most dramatic.
Cat spun round, glittering, "What?"
"I said… I said Lister got shot!" Rimmer's voice broke on the sentence, and he quickly turned away from Cat, afraid of showing his feelings.
"Oh." Cat felt a little uncomfortable, "Is that it?"
There was a pause "What do you mean is that it?" Rimmer said, still facing away from the feline, "Don't you care?"
Cat shifted, "Well… not really, no."
Rimmer blurted at the wall: "It's my fault! I feel awful!"
Cat rolled his eyes, keeping safe distance from the crazy hologram, "Well frankly bud, if you're gonna feel this awful you shouldn't have shot him in the first place!"
Rimmer's mouth flapped open, of its own accord, "W-what? I didn't shoot him! It was – it was those sticky foot monsters!"
"Why aren't you with curry breath now?"
"I… I don't want to see him like this."
"What? You don't mind seeing him normally, I can't imagine him looking worse than that!" Cat squinted at him, "what happened?"
Rimmer could hardly take anymore, Cat was getting suspicious. He knew what Rimmer did. The thoughts were beginning to add up in his mind, and the hologram could feel it. He was going to get found out.
Rimmer's heart fluttered like a butterfly called Alfred trapped in a jar with no air holes. His emotions bubbled inside of him; he didn't think he could hold it much longer.
"Shut up!" He shouted, storming past him, and shoving the Cat out of the way.
This proved to be one of the biggest mistakes Rimmer ever made. He forgot about the stairs. The drop slipped his mind. And he most certainly didn't know that when he pushed Cat out of the way, the feline would tumble over the rail and fall three storeys down the stairway.
What a perfectly smeggy day our Rimsy was having.
Of course, being a cat, Cat landed on his feet. As all cat's do. But that didn't help at all, in fact it just proved to shatter his leg bones and cause him to crumple to the ground in a clumsy heap.
The next thing Rimmer knew he was looking down the sharp drop, at Cat who was lying sprawled on the floor below.
It took all his strength to stop himself throwing his body over the edge to join him.
…….
Rimmer burst in through the medibay doors, white-faced and shivering.
"It's – It's Cat!" he managed to cry out, in between quivering breaths.
"What is it sir? What happened this time?"
Rimmer was distraught, not so much for Cat falling, but for Rimmer having pushed him, "He - he fell! I couldn't save him, I pushed - he just fe – toppled over the edge!"
Kryten gasped, "Oh dear me sir!" he gestured to three other robots, "The monster flung poor Mr Cat over the railing! We have to help him quickly!"
Rimmer's chest tightened, it wasn't the monster! He wanted to scream, it was me! I did it!
Kryten had just assumed it was the creature. Why? Why would he do that? Rimmer started mumbling something with his eyes clenched closed, and slid down the wall of the medibay with a sob.
With his head in his hands, he cried.
Kryten came over, patting him gently on the shoulder, "It's alright sir," He said sadly, "I'm sure you did the best you could."
"No," Rimmer whimpered, through his fingers, "you don't understand!"
"I do sir!"
"No you don't!" Rimmer couldn't contain it any longer; he had to let them know the truth, no matter how horrible it was. He breathed in a shaky breath, "It was my fault!"
Kryten sighed, "No sir, please don't blame yourself, there was nothing you could do."
"It was my fault! I DID IT!"
"Please sir calm down! We'll get the monster don't you worry."
…….
…….
Oh dear me… I'm at a loss as to what to write next… Review please!
