The next day Mirabel awoke again.

"Ah, good to see you up mum."

Mirabel turned an saw the mechanoid.

"Kryten?" She uttered.

"You remember!" He said happily. "That is wonderful! It appears your head injury was not as bad as we feared."

"I don't remember much." She said. "Those three men. One of them said I was in an accident?"

Kryten nodded.

"Yes, you crashed your ship." He said.

"Went through a time hole." A voice said. "Collided with an asteroid field along the way then slid into a planetoid. If it was a baseball match you'd probably be safe."

Mirabel remembered the face of Holly and she turned to the nearest monitor.

"You're Holly?" She said.

"Ah you're a bright one." Holly said.

"We have a Holly on my ship too." Mirabel said. Then it hit her.

"Wait." She said. "You said a time hole!"

"That's right I did."

"If I went through a time hole, then where did I end up?"

"Really mum." Kryten said. "You should relax."

The door opened and three familiar faces appeared.

"Up for company?"

Mirabel looked and saw the three faces she had seen yesterday. She was still wary, but she nodded.

"Vitals are up!" Kryten said. "She is on the road to recovery."

"Great news!" A dark skinned man said. "How's the head eh? Still a bit foggy?"

Mirabel shrugged.

"A little." She said. "You're Dave? Right?"

Lister smiled.

"Yep."

She saw two other people with him. Two other men.

"Cat." She said pointing to the being with the cheeky smile and flashy clothes.

"You got it!"

Then she looked to the man with the H on his head. The hologram.

"Arnold?" She said.

"Correct." He said avoiding her gaze.

"Yeah, but we call him Rimmer or Smeghead!" Lister said. "You'll find out why soon enough."

"Piss off." Rimmer whispered.

Mirabel felt herself smile.

"One of you had mentioned Red Dwarf?" She asked. "That's a name I hadn't heard in awhile."

"Well that's where you are!" Cat said.

Mirabel gave him a look.

"That can't be though." She said. "I was told the crew of Red Dwarf perished a year ago. No one survived. Radiation leak. It was so bad that no other space crew across the globe was allowed to retrieve to the ship for fear of exposure. They just let it drift."

"Well, yeah, uh." Lister said rubbing his neck. "The thing is."

"The time hole brought you three million years into the future." Rimmer said.

Once again Rimmer the Tactless. They all turned to him ready to smack him.

"What's the use beating around the bush?" Rimmer said. "She's going to find out sooner or later!"

"Three million years?" Mirabel stuttered. "You're joking?"

The men said nothing.

"Aren't you?" She whispered. But the faces said it all.

Her vitals began going up again.

"Please mum." Kryten said. "Take it easy now. Anymore stress could hinder your recovery."

"Oh my god." She said leaning back down in the cot, her voice thick. "This can't be happening."

"Hey now." Lister said. "It's going to be alright."

"Please." She said turning her head. "I..I can't."

Lister nodded and motioned to the guys that she needed some time alone.

Cat and Kryten followed his lead, but oddly enough Rimmer stayed.

He could see the woman was starting to sniffle and tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Oh come off it now!" He yelled. "No need to blubber!"

Maribel turned to him in shock.

"Excuse me?" She asked.

"Look." He said. "Alright your three million years in the future, but really no need to feel sorry for yourself! It could have been a lot worse!"

She stared at him in confusion.

"How in the hell could this be a lot worse!?" She said.

Rimmer shrugged.

"Well you could be dead or worse?"

"What could be worse than death?" She asked.

"You could be a hologram having to live with a vain humanoid cat, a slovenly human, and a condom head mechanoid."

Mirabel shook her head.

"You mean I could be you?" She asked.

Oh dear.

"In so many words." He stuttered.

Mirabel didn't know whether to slug the guy or agree.

"Look, Arnold." She said. "I appreciate the advice, but in all honesty, I need some time to wrap my head around all of this. Could you please just let me be alone for awhile?"

She turned away from him.

Rimmer feeling slighted got up and left the medical bay.

"Oh smooth move Rimmer." Lister said. He and Cat had been watching through security television. "You really got her impressed now."

Arnold to get away from them.

"All I said was she needed to stop acting like a baby!" He said. "She's not the only one who has been through tragedy!"

"This guy is a regular Casanova." Cat said sarcastically.

"Rimmer." Lister said. "She just got the shock of her life. There is nothing wrong with her being upset, hell crying. She's a human being with feelings. And sorry to say that you being a hologram having to live with us is not high on the list of tragedies right now."

"Oh really?" He argued. "And how do you think she would have reacted if she found out she was a hologram! She's quite lucky she is still alive."

"God Rimmer." Lister said. "It's not about being alive or a hologram or rather it's not about you. How do you think Mirabel is going to feel if we can't get to that time hole? She's going to go through the same emotions we did, maybe worse. She'll have to wrestle with the fact that her family is dead, her friends dead, her shipmates on the Astrias dead!"

Rimmer pursed his lips. Oh no he was not going to feel sorry for her. He was taught life was a battlefield and if you didn't rise to the ranks of General, you weren't worth the ground you walked on.

"It's a sad world Lister." Rimmer said. "She better get used to it."

Rimmer walked away from them. Lister rolled his eyes in frustration.

A few days later Mirabel was up and moving around a bit. She was still forlorn, but it was hard to stay sad when the Cat and Lister were around playing games with her and telling jokes (bad ones, but still). Kryten monitored her condition carefully and prepared amazing food for her when could eat again. The scutters too were like mechanical pets that knew how to do chores and Holly fulfilled female companionship, even if she was a computer.

She was starting to feel like she could trust them. Especially when Holly said they would work to find the time hole she had come in through. Not only could it bring Mirabel back home, but also Lister, but instead of three million years in the future, it would only be a year later after the demise of the crew of Red Dwarf.

With Rimmer though, well, Mirabel was still a bit sore about that, so much sore that she started to ignore him when he did come to the room or pretend she was asleep. How dare he treat her like she had no right to feel sad about her situation? Like she was inconveniencing him.

"Hey don't be so hard on Rimmer now." Lister said as they played poker with her one evening in the medical bay. "He's a total smeghead. He just doesn't understand women is all."

Mirabel took a card.

"It's not about understanding women." She said. "It was just mean."

"Trust me, mean is his middle name." Lister said reviewing his cards.

"I thought it was Judas?" Cat asked.

Mirabel looked at him.

"Your kidding?" She asked.

Lister laughed.

"Nope." He said. "Cat's right. Rimmer's middle name is Judas."

Mirabel's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Who in the hell gives their kid "Judas" as a middle name?" She asked.

"Trust me." Lister said. "If ever want to know about how Rimmer became the bonehead that he is, ask him about his folks, then you will understand."

The next morning as Mirabel was waking up, she heard the door to the room open. She thought it was Kryten come to check on her, but it was only Rimmer.

"Ah I see you are awake." He said. "Or are you going to continue pretending I don't exist like a child would."

Strike 1

"Why Arnold." She said sarcastically. "If I had known you were coming I would have baked a cake."

Rimmer rolled his eyes.

"Stop being silly." He said. "It's unbecoming."

Strike 2

"Unbecoming?" She asked. "I'm sorry was there a certain protocol when you graced my presence? I apologize my saluting wrist is still healing."

Rimmer growled.

"Well excuse me if I just came to say hello!" He said. "I didn't realize that instead of a woman I was to be greeted by a smart mouthed brat!"

Strike 3, he's out.

Mirabel shot up angrily.

"SMART MOUTHED BRAT!?" She yelled. "Well that's the pot calling the kettle isn't it? And yes maybe ignoring you is childish, but it's better than having a conversation with someone with the humility of a pig!"

"A PIG!?" He argued.

"YES A PIG!" She shot back. "Do you not have any sense of decency or compassion? Everyone else on this ship has been very good to me, but you on the other hand think I am nothing more than a wimpy kid, so excuse me if I don't exactly look forward to your visits at the moment!"

Rimmer shook in anger, but part of him was also attacking his ego. It was occurring to him that maybe he should have been a little less, well, honest?

"I was just being honest!" He yelled. "I apologize that I do not coddle!"

"It's not about coddling Rimmer!" She yelled. "It's just, becoming a friend. But obviously you don't know what that means!"

Arnold tried to find a retort, but when he saw the hurt on her face, his mind and mouth just couldn't work together like usual.

"I know what it means." He could only come up with that.

"Bull." Mirabel said.

Then the painkillers wore off.

"AH DAMN!" She yelled and gripped her ribs.

"What is it!?" Rimmer yelled. "What's wrong!?"

She closed her eyes tightly.

"The medicine drip stopped." She said. "OH GOD IT HURTS!"

Rimmer ran to her side, but in all honesty had no clue what to do.

'WHAT!" He screamed. "WHAT HURTS! HOLLY!?'

Holly appeared on the screen.

"She's in pain!" He yelled to her. "Do something!"

"I can't." Holly said. "She's on a manual drip! She needs someone to start it up for her!"

"Well get Kryten then!" He yelled.

"JUST DO IT RIMMER!" Mirabel yelled in tears.

"WHAT!?" He yelled in a panic. "DO WHAT!?"

Mirabel took a breath to calm herself.

"Just." She said. "Just get me some aspirin."

The way Rimmer had panicked, she did not want him touching any of the medical devices hooked up to her.

He looked around the room.

"In the case." Mirabel said pointing. "There."

He all but ran to the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of aspirin.

"Water." He whispered. "Water."

He grabbed the cup on the stand by her cot and filled it with water from the jug. Handing her the pills she swallowed them quickly.

"Better?" He asked nervously.

She shook her head.

"It's going to be awhile before it kicks in." She said. "I can't rely on the drip all the time. Kryten wants me to start weaning off of it."

"Great time for you to start now." Rimmer said taking a seat next to her cot. "Stupid mechanoid, obviously you are not healed enough."

Mirabel tried to relax her breathing.

"No time like the present." She uttered trying to lie back down. "Pain is a part of life. You believe that right?"

It would have seemed like a snarky remark, but when Rimmer looked at her, he could not see contempt in her eyes. She was actually questioning him.

"Well yes." He said. "Yes it is."

Mirabel nodded.

Rimmer swallowed and put his hand awkwardly on her shoulder. He was so nervous, he was stiff as a a board, sitting on the stool like a statue.

She looked at his hand and then him, but didn't move it off.

"I still can't believe you can touch." She said shakily. "How did you come about it? Becoming a hard light hologram I mean?"

Rimmer sighed.

"It's a long story." He said.

"Tell me." Mirabel said. "It may get my mind off the pain?"

And Rimmer sat there, telling Mirabel all about the time he and the other smegheads had met Legion and how Legion replaced the wiring of the soft light and inserted a device that gave him the power of physical senses. He may have embellished a bit saying it was him who took care of the odd being, but somehow Mirabel knew better.

And he would stay there until Kryten finally came in to check her. Holly had shown Lister what was happening and he ran to Kryten before he could go and interrupt the moment.