Fragments of the Reclaimer

Requiem

Only smoke and ash filled the air. Pieces of Red Dwarf were scattered across the unknown planet. Some big, some small. Flames and sparking wires jutted out of the more intact parts. Inside a large, somewhat undamaged section of the ship held a lone escape pod that failed to eject. Aria sat in the pod, unconscious but otherwise unharmed.

Rimmer's light bee made a whirring noise; a pale blue glow flickered in Aria's jacket pocket as his projection tried to turn back on. It was still active. Somehow he managed to survive his massive electronic explosion.

"The hell is going on?" he wondered aloud.

Rimmer kept hearing a thumping noise. It frightened him. Everything was pitch black. As each second passed he gradually became more anxious. He called for help but there was no answer. The loud thumping still continued.

"Lister?! Kryten?! Anyone?!?" he cried. "Please?" he whimpered. Wherever he was he didn't want to be there, alone any longer.

His cries slowly woke up Aria. She stirred slightly, then came to. "Rimmer?" she mumbled. The fact that he was talking had her befuddled. She thought to herself, "I'm still dazed from the crash, right? There's no way he—"

He let out a sigh of relief. "Aria! Thank God! Where are you?"

She took him out of her pocket and held him in the palm of her hand. She was careful with him. She never thought she'd be so glad to hear his voice again. "Are you alright?"

"I think so. Where am I? I can't see a thing." After a few seconds he started to panic. "Oh, God, I've gone blind. Lister's socks finally blinded me!"

She looked upwards and shook her head. "You're not blind, Arnold. You had some sort of electronic meltdown and your light bee failed."

He was silent for all but a few seconds. "Oh..." he uttered, somewhat embarrassed from his overreaction. "Wait, failed?"

She nodded, despite the fact he couldn't see her. She eventually decided she'd vocally respond. "Yeah. Must not have been too bad..." She started to wonder what did bring him somewhat back on. "Maybe your hard light drive repaired itself?" she pondered.

"Whatever, just help me!" he demanded.

"I'm trying." She struggled to open the hatch of the pod but it was no use. "It's jammed." she groaned as she tried to get the door open. She kicked it, hoping that would work. After a few solid tries, it finally flung open and she tumbled out, landing upside down. "Son of a bitch..." she moaned. She still clutched his light bee in her hand. She steadied herself and jetted out to a safer area. When she made it outside she saw the wreckage that once was Red Dwarf. The part of the ship she and Rimmer were in collapsed in that moment. "That was too close." she thought. She looked around at the burning debris. She didn't realise how bad it was. There was nothing usable left of Red Dwarf. "I think you have to stay like this for a while." she told Rimmer.

"Are you serious?" he griped. "Can't you bring me online? I hate it in here."

"I can't. Red Dwarf crashed. Everything that could bring you back is in bits."

He went silent again; he was worried about his fellow ship mates. It was the first time he was happy to be nothing but a piece of technology with no physical presence - no one could see how scared and concerned he was over the people he never once called "friends", at least not to their faces.

"Rimmer?"

He stammered, "A-and.. the others? Did they make it?"

"I don't know what happened to them." she told him. "I'm guessing they got out in time."