Warning the following chapter contains scenes of unreasonable ANGST.
Chapter is named as tribute to the the great Laura xx hahah Hope you enjoy!! X
"Kryten, why isn't he moving? You said if we got him to the medi bay you could click in and start finding out how this happened. Holly hurry up!" Lister cried unable to keep a quaver of fear from him voice. Rimmer looked awful and Lister didn't like it one bit, all those dreams of having him switched off and never seeing him again were becoming dangerously realistic.
Cat was cuddling a near hysterical Paige in the corner, desperately trying to warm her with a blanket and stop her from shaking. "He was fine, he was fine" she whispered over and over to herself.
"I don't know sir" Kryten mumbled, "I haven't seen this before, this is completely new to me. I … I just"
"Please do something" Paige cried, "He said he felt ill, he said he had headaches and chest pains and he looked pale, why didn't I notice he looked pale?"
"He always looked pale!" Lister shouted, he tried to control the anger in his voice but a screaming woman was not helping his mind focus. "Look Kryten – outline this stress hologram thingymajigger again, you say he has known about this since before we went to Rimmerworld? That was two years ago!"
"I'm sorry Sir" Kryten cried, "He made me promise not to tell anyone he didn't want to seem weak. This cant just be his stress related disorders alone though, he has been dealing with that successfully. If he had lost control and if it had peaked he would have virtually wiped his own disc instantly with so much electronic energy – no this is something else!"
"Got it" Holly shouted, his face appearing on the screen in front of him, "got the little blighter, Code:9482ID5LP"
Kryten tapped the code into the computer frantically, and stared at the results, "Hmmm. Oh my"
"What is it?" Lister asked peering over Kryten's shoulder desperately, seeing his friend/enemy lying there was giving him the chills.
"It's a bug. A computer virus as it were, it passes from ship to ship and only affects holograms and the occasional light bulb. It's a complex eating virus that feeds on the electrical energy used to keep Mr Rimmer in animation – as a result he is barely hanging onto life on under a quarter of the power he is used to functioning on" Kryten stood back and stared at Rimmer on the table, "If we don't stop this it will wipe out his light bee completely"
"Okay" Lister tried thinking logically "So if we let him be wiped we find a new light bee and load him back up? In a worst case scenario I mean?"
"I am afraid that would be a very big decision" Kryten sighed, "That disc he is living on …."
"Can everyone please stop calling him a disc?" Paige shrieked, "Hes a person, a person with feelings and emotions and a heart." She turned into Cats shoulder and continued crying.
"If we load him up again he wont be the same" Kryten continued looking sadly at the floor, "He will the the original Rimmer that was originally loaded he wont remember anything he has done, said or felt since the day he died above Red Dwarf, he will think he has just that second died and been revived."
Lister winced at the quiet yet painful sob that came from Paige's direction, his mind was reeling the original Rimmer back? The complete smeghead who ruined everything – who wouldn't remember all of their adventure the few laughs they had enjoyed, the jammy dodgers? It was unthinkable. Lister scratched his head and stared at Paige. He wouldn't remember Paige, he wouldn't remember the first woman who had made him truly happy. Lister couldn't let that happen – memories were all a man had in deep space.
"Okay, we have the problem. Now what is the solution? How do we stop it. Every virus has a cure right?" Lister looked round, "Right so? How do we find it?"
"Yes, if I could just have enough time to break it down I may be able to find a solution." Kryten grimaced, "I will need an hour or so"
"Okay you start doing that, Cat – get a deep scan on Holly's database I want to know where that smegging virus came from. Paige – you stay with Rimmer. Kryten I will come with you" Lister gave out his orders with renewed determination, "We can do this guys, time is against us but we can do it"
Everyone nodded and jumped to attention each leaving the room one by one with one last glance at Rimmers swindling form on the table.
Paige pulled a blanket a little tighter around her and walked over to the table, try and she might she couldn't control the tears dropping from her eyes. "Rimmer" she whispered reaching for his hand. The poorly lit shape before her gave no indication that he could hear her but she talked anyway.
"You gave me a fright there" she forced a laugh, "You do know you are transparent right? And cold as ice! You know my ex boyfriend used to have cold feet that woke me in the night but you .. you really topped that didn't you."
Paige stared at him, she could see the table through his body and let out a small sob, she pulled the blanket from around her shoulders, "You really are cold you know" she whispered her voice breaking, wrapping the blanket tightly around his body she stared down into his eyes and reached out to stroke his hair. "You are going to be okay you know" she gulped, unsure of who she was trying to convince more, her or him. "The guys they are working on it right now, they will fix it and you will be okay again and we can move on. We were only just beginning" she sobbed unable to keep it up anymore, "Please don't leave me Arnold, I cant stay here without you. You are my best friend and god we were just becoming something so much more amazing. I cant imagine being here with out you. You are everywhere to me, everywhere I look I see you making me laugh, I see your stupid goofy face when you are confused, I see your beautiful mouth just before you kiss me" She fell onto his chest and wept bitterly, "Please" she whispered over and over again. "Stay with me, fight it. What ever it is please fight it"
Rimmer lay silently screaming, locked inside his own mind he could do nothing to comfort Paige nothing to thank Lister and nothing at all to tell them he was here, he was alive and he was fighting for all his worth!