Hi guys! Here we are :) Thanks for those who have left kind reviews, you make a poorly girl very happy hehe.
Anneke stepped out of the shower in her quarantine bay, towel wrapped around her like a tube dress. Sitting on the edge of her bunk she dragged a brush through her wet hair, nose wrinkled at the smell of the iodine shampoo. When it was knotless she grabbed a couple of elastic bands from her bedside locker and rubbed some ship issue perfume-free moisturiser onto them, before scooping her hair into an artful twist and securing it in a bun. After this she dressed in a crop top and sweats, standing to look at herself in the floor length mirror inside the bathroom door. Pulling the waistband of the trousers down she carefully inspected her hips, scowling at the greying bruises splayed over the right one, then bent over to roll up her trouser leg. Wrinkling her nose, she pulled off the damp dressing on her calf, muttering to herself,
"Oh joy," as she revealed a fresh purple scar a couple of inches long underneath. "Well, it's opaque tights from now on, Anna."
Throwing the dressing into the bin, she bounced up and down on the spot a few times, then stretched her arms over her head, linking her fingers and feeling a few satisfying clicks come from her shoulders as she pulled. Bending at the waist, she fell forwards to touch her toes, holding for a few seconds, then uncurled, looking around herself with an exasperated sigh.
"Urch, bored."
She mused for a moment, then clicking her fingers rapidly, she wandered over to the chest of drawers beside her bunk, kneeling to rifle through them. Tossing aside some documentary cassettes and a pack of stationary pads, she lay her hand on the bottom item in the cabinet, a smile creeping over her features as she pulled it out.
"Incoming message, Arnold. Wakey wakey."
With a snort Rimmer darted out of his bed, throwing himself into his callisthenics. After a few star jumps he slumped, realising he was in the room alone, Holly still trying to get his attention;
"Oi, you've got a message."
The hologram arched his eyebrows, looking up at the computer.
"I have?"
"Yep. Want it?"
"Ideally, yes…" he said, rolling his eyes. He turned to face the screen, folding his arms. Holly's face faded to black, before being replaced by a line of square red text:
'MR RIMMER, DO YOU PLAY CHESS?'
"Huh…" Rimmer muttered in surprise. "Erm… Shower please, Holly…"
Half an hour later he was hesitantly stood outside the lieutenant's window, fiddling with his shirt cuff buttons, his own twitchy reflection looking back at him. He coughed a couple of times and heard a chair move, a click clearing the glass. Anneke greeted him with a warm but weary smile, stepping closer to look up at him.
"Morning," she said brightly.
"Morning again," Rimmer replied stiffly.
"I hope you didn't't mind the I.M," she said, rubbing a bruise on her upper arm idly.
"No, no, not at all, no…" he mumbled.
"What was the answer then?" She took a couple of steps back from the glass, hitching her trousers so they sat comfortably on her hips. They were definitely too big. Rimmer watched her, a low buzzing in his ears as he spoke.
"Hm? Sorry?"
She smiled, moving aside to reveal a chequered board with polished wooden pieces carefully arranged on it.
"Can you play chess?" she asked.
Rimmer felt his stomach lurch, his mind rapidly hissing at him;
Lie. Say yes, you gimboid. Don't let her no you're a useless tit!
"Of course," he mumbled, immediately regretting it.
Ha! That's it! Now you're going to have to play her and she'll know you're a useless tit anyway! See what you did there, Arnold? You shot yourself in the foot with a double barrelled rifle. That'll teach you to listen to yourself!
"Brilliant!" Anneke grinned, wandering round to sit at the table. "Play me, would you? I'm going stir crazy. And I've got another hour before Kryten comes down. I'll even let you be white. It's only good manners."
Oooooh, smeg it….
She brushed a stray lock of hair away from her eyes, pulling one leg up as she settled into the chair, hands resting on her knee, looking up at him expectantly. A lengthy pause passed between them and she tilted her head, an unmistakable pale pink blush spreading over her cheeks.
"That is, of course, if you have time," she said softly.
"I do! No, I do, I do, oodles of time!" Rimmer gushed, his holographic chair appearing in front of the window. He sat in it hurriedly, his insides doing somersaults.
"I'll move the pieces for you then," Anneke said, smiling once more. "Just say which."
Right, Arnold. You can do this. Father tried to hammer chess into you as child, some of it must have sunk into that thick skull of yours. It's only a board game. You're fine.
"Alright then," he mumbled, gripping the bottom of the chair by his thighs tightly. "Pawn to G four."
"Mmhm." Anneke picked up one of the smaller white pieces, edging it forwards a couple of squares, then moved a pawn of her own. "Next?"
"Pawn to F three."
Small fingers moved another white piece in a diagonal to the first, then picked up the black queen and swept it across the board before plonking it down neatly next to the pawns.
"Check and mate."
"What?!" Rimmer stared at the board open mouthed, feeling a surge of nausea. Anneke shrugged her white shoulders, smiling gently.
"It's a fool's mate. Haven't you seen it before?" she asked.
"Can't say I have…" Rimmer muttered, looking at the board incredulously. Anneke watched him carefully, picking up the pieces and putting them back in their starting positions, then twisted the board so she was now sat at white and placed one of her pawns in the centre.
"Ready when you are." The hologram nodded once, doing his best to look nonchalant.
"Right. Pawn to E five then please."
Anneke moved the piece for him, mirroring her own, then carefully slid a bishop forwards.
"Bishop to C five."
The girl smiled slightly, moving the piece opposite her own bishop and twitched her queen onto another square.
"Knight to F six, please." Rimmer crossed his arms over his chest, starting to relax slightly. At least he was playing an actual game now, he could almost look like he knew what he was doi-
"Checkmate."
He blinked a couple of times, staring at the board. She'd taken his pawn, that was all. But somehow she had beaten him again, in less time than it took for most people to go to the toilet.
"Sorry," Anneke said, looking a little sheepish. Her fingers hovered over the board, still hanging over her queen.
"How did you…"
"I guess you didn't see me coming," she said, looking at him levelly. "Should I start a couple of pieces down? Maybe you need to warm up a bit."
You've been scuppered, miladdo!
Rimmer let out a sigh, his hands falling to his lap, avoiding her gaze.
"The truth is, technically, I suppose I can't really play…" he murmured, feeling mortified as he said the words. "I mean, I know the logistics behind it but… well…"
Oh Lord, please let the ground open up and swallow me whole.
He couldn't bear to look up. Why did he feel this impulse to lie? Just when he was starting to make headway with this woman, to have real conversations with her, she was going to realise he was a total and utter smeghead.
"So do you know how the pieces move then?"
His head snapped up and he swallowed, feeling the familiar lump of lead in his throat.
"Sorry, what?"
"Do you know how each piece works?" Anneke asked again, smiling gently at him.
"I er, yes, I think so," he stammered.
"Well alright then, I'll teach you. You should have said before, I wouldn't have been quite so aggressive," she chuckled, resetting the pieces and removing her queen and one of her bishops. "Let's start with a few different opening tricks, hm?"
Rimmer felt himself break into a smile as she began to talk him through some techniques on how to seize the board, gesturing animatedly at the cheque mat and pushing pieces around as she talked. She hadn't shot him down. She hadn't sat in judgement of him. She was treating him like a normal person, offering him help, even if it was for something as simple as a board game. He leant forwards to listen, eventually finding his voice again to start asking the odd question, feeling a slow burn of pleasure work it's way through him as they talked. She was treating him like a friend.
When Kryten arrived to take his samples they were settled into a rough game, Anneke occasionally going back a couple of turns to explain where he was making a mistake. As the mechanoid was letting himself into the bay Rimmer saw her gaze drift to the door, attention slipping.
"Anneke?" he said cautiously.
"It's only going to be a minute," she said quietly. "Do you mind waiting? Or you can go if you want."
"I'll wait," he said, straightening up in his seat.
She nodded with a thin smile and got to her feet as Kryten came in, his tray of medical equipment in hand. Before he could say a word she stuck her arm out towards him, causing the service droid to blink in surprise.
"Let's get it over with, shall we?" she said.
"Ma'am, it would be easier if you could take a seat," Kryten replied, looking bemused. The girl sighed, then nodded, settling into her chair sideways. The droid set up the vacutainer, strapped a tourniquet round her upper arm and eventually found a vein. Anneke made a small noise of discomfort as he punctured her skin, the area around it looking dark and angry with bruises. He drew a couple of sample vials, then took her pulse, temperature and blood pressure before packing it all up again, taping a cotton wool ball over the pinprick. The girl looked up at him, bending her arm a few times.
"Any news?" she asked.
"Still clear, ma'am," Kryten said, looking at her apologetically.
"Well, that's good then." she said, rubbing her elbow. "Hopefully it'll stay that way."
"I'm sure it shall, Miss Thorne."
"I'll see you tomorrow, Kryten," Anneke said, getting to her feet to steer him out of the bay. Rimmer sat in silence as the droid left, watching the girl sink back into her seat, her smile gone now as she picked up her rook and exchanged places with the king. She looked despondent and with a careful glance he noticed her arms were becoming sore and blue from the daily testing routine.
"Not that long to go," he said, making a weak attempt at comfort.
"At least thirty two more days," she mumbled, crossing her legs in her chair.
"It'll fly by," he said, shuffling his chair as close to the window as he could.
"I'm not so sure," she replied, tapping her fingertip on the rook.
He sucked his teeth, feeling a twinge of panic. She was sinking, he could see it, bogged down by the weight of her situation.
"Do you know what I miss about Earth?" he said quickly, hoping to snap her out of it. She looked up at him, brow quirked.
"What?" she asked, resting her cheek in her palm.
"Pizza," he said with a cautious smile. "It used to be a guilty pleasure of mine."
She laughed then and it was all he could do to keep himself from a proud fist pump.
"I agree," she said, taping her fingertips on her cheek a couple of times. "The universe just won't be the same without a ham and mushroom with barbecue base. Know what I'll miss?"
"Go on. Knight to C six, please."
"Bicycles. I can't drive, I used to cycle everywhere back home." She moved his piece, then her bishop, settling back into the game.
"What else?" Rimmer asked, resting his arms on his knees. This was what she needed, he understood now. She needed a distraction, something benign and harmless. He would ask her daft questions, he would let her teach him board games, he'd fritter away as many hours with her as he could if that was what she wanted. It wasn't much but it could make the difference between her coming through the other side of quarantine in one piece or letting the reality of things swallow her up. If she dropped him like a stone once she was out, that was fair enough. But for now it seemed he had something to offer her and he had to admit, he was beginning to enjoy his time spent in the quarantine bay more than anything else.
"Jacuzzis, the really hot ones that would make me turn all pink, Your turn."