Disclaimer: Is it really worth the bother, surley not all of you who read my fics can be so stupid as to think I really own Red Dwarf?...Well maybe you are...

Yet again, another crap title, but never mind - It's the chapter content that counts... Not that it's much better than the title. (The idea is that each POV runs basically alongside each other, maybe with an odd minute difference, and Cat's continues a little bit longer than Rimmer's. - This may seem pointless but some people need this stuff explaining).

The Cage

Rimmer held his head in his hands and stared at the ground, for how long he wasn't sure – It felt like an eternity though was probably only a few minutes. Millions of thoughts swirling though his brain, like when he was on Rimmerworld. Except then it had been his fault… his cowardice, this time there was nothing he could do to prevent his current situation.

The situation was Lister and Kryten were dead, and he and Cat were in a cage surrounded by various people and creatures, some of whom you wouldn't want to meet in a lit alley – Never mind a darkened one!

He felt someone's gaze boring into him and he looked up to see a tired looking Cat opposite him. A shadow of his former self in dirt and blood ridden clothes, a green band adorned on his wrist.

Two others in the cage besides Cat were wearing the green band that supposedly meant 'Most Valuable'. Rimmer however was wearing a yellow band along with 3 others meaning 'Average Value'. This meant they would be separated when it came to the auctions.

Rimmer looked at the other green banders – there was Cat of course, who was there because he was the nearest to a real human they had had in ages. Then there was a GELF similar to the ones Lister had become related to via marriage, he seemed to have been sedated as a precaution. The other was a female stimulant with long blond hair and a scowl on her face – Not that that was stopping Cat whispering to her, like he'd really get a date a few hours before death. He could just imagine what would happen – "You look just lovely tonight in your dirt caked clothes, would you like to avoid the hunters by taking a swim in death lake? Or how about a jog through screaming forest?"

Rimmer shook off his inconsequential thoughts and looked over at his fellow yellow banders – they were all holograms,. Rimmer actually felt the most beautiful of them as the others were all holograms of dead sci fi geeks brought to deep space via an anomaly during a tour of the filming locations for 'Star Trek: Yet Another Generation'.

Unfortuantly one of them had now turned to him and was wittering on about comic books or some such smeg. Rimmer sighed and tuned out.

There were other groups of weaker GELFs but Rimmer didn't really care. Cat was right, it was a game of cat and mouse, and they were caught in a never ending trap.

Cat ran a hand through his tangled hair and sighed, things were not good. At least he wouldn't be with Rimmer for much longer… If that was really a good thing, Cat sighed again and found his finger brushing against his scar again…

Scar, such a deep hitting word, as if the sound itself is a knife cutting deeper than any blade could.

He shuddered and looked around, wishing his nose was still broken so he couldn't smell the unwashed-ness and fear radiating from the other captives. He looked at Rimmer carefully, who seemed to be having a silent breakdown – not that that was very hard, he never had been good on staying cool.

He turned to his left where the pretty stimulant was staring ahead of her, she didn't seem afraid, more… determined.

"Hey babe." He whispered quietly to her though she still stared in front of her, unregistering him.

"Anybody home?" He asked, trying to make a joke.

"Are you trying to imply my systems are not working functionally?" She replied coldly, her head turning quickly to meet his, her blue eyes boring into him.

"No of course not! Your systems are wonderful." He said quickly, before inwardly cursing for his semi stupid remark – So much for always been smooth with what few females they encountered.

"I'm afraid I can not say the same for you." She observed after looking at him for a moment. Cat wondered if she was teasing him about his scar and general unkempt appearance, but decided she was been sincere.

"No… Why are you here?" He continued after a moment.

"A hologram from a research vessel escaped but instead of aiding in it's recapture I decided to help her in escaping." She said simply as she turned back to stare into space.

"Oh… Would you act differently if you could?" Cat persisted softly, intrigued by the female in front of him.

"…I would not." She responded finally.

Cat tried to think of something else to say, but couldn't so he just sat in silence for a few minutes, half listening to one of the holograms bore Rimmer about sci fi comic books – Ironical really that there was someone more boring in the world than Rimmer.

Cat suddenly looked up as a guard began to undo the bolts in the door.

"What's going to happen now?" He whispered, feeling more worried than he thought he would about loosing Rimmer – his last link to Red Dwarf and the others. But the stimulant didn't reply as she shouted "NOW!" At the top of her voice, causing the apparently slumbering GELF to leap up and plough through the guard, grabbing his gun in the process.