Fragments of the Reclaimer

State of Being

Aria started the take off sequence, occasionally looking at a twitchy, disassociated Rimmer who sat in the co-pilot's seat. He had suddenly taken a turn for the worst.

"Listen," she nervously began, attempting to strike up a conversation. "About what happened back there..."

"I already apologised." he hastened to say, voice quavering.

"No, I know," She flicked a few switches. "I mean, if you channelled those feelings towards the Didact, this could all be over sooner than you think," The more Aria looked at him, the more she grew concerned.

Rimmer's projection once again flared and flickered more violently than before.

"Are you going to be alright?" she asked.

His head jerked. "I'll be... f-fine." he stammered.

She winced as she felt every bit of pain he felt. All she could do is watch him suffer; she hated it. She looked at the ship's on screen map for a place that might be able to help. Going there meant abandoning their current plan of going after the Didact. It didn't matter to her at that point.

After a few seconds of searching, she found something. "Okay, there's an AI repair station not too far from us. Think you can make it?"

When she didn't get an answer she glanced over in his direction, only to see that he was having what seemed to be the hologrammatic equivalent of a heart attack. Swiftly, she plotted a course to the station and switched to autopilot.

As soon as she approached him he let out a fearful whine. It was all he could do; his entire body was frozen and he couldn't even speak. However, he still seemed to be aware of what was going on around him.

Aria knew of his family's medical history; strokes, heart attacks, you name it. She was no doctor, but it was obvious to her that something worse was going on.

She watched him as his hazel eyes darted anxiously. "Arnold?" She spoke clearly and slowly for him. "You need to power down, okay? I promise I will keep you safe. You just have to trust me."

His eyes rolled back into his head, showing only the whites of his eyes. He forced himself to stay with it. He switched himself off. Anything to stave off permanent death. Rimmer's image faded away, causing his light bee to fall and land in the seat.

She breathed a sigh of relief. What he was going through was something she'd never wanted to see again. She carefully stuffed his only source of life in her pocket.

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Aria scrambled into the station. She got the repair machine up-and-running; she pushed a button and a tray popped out, then she stuck his light bee in. The machine then began processing data. What she saw on the screen was unsettling.

"Hologram matrix corruption: 97%"

Those words were enough to cause Aria's stomach to sink down into the depths of her body. Within a matter of minutes, Rimmer would be damaged beyond repair.

"No, this isn't happening... This cannot be happening!" she cried out.

She heard footsteps. She hastened to whip out her sidearm and aimed it at the person. It turned out not to be a person after all -- it was Kryten. Aria let out a quavering breath and dropped her gun. She rushed over to him and hugged him. His mechanoid suit was uncomfortable but she didn't care.

"I'm so pleased to have found you. We were certain that you didn't make it."

She slightly chuckled. "You can't get rid of me that easily..." She began to head for the console but paused for a moment when his words sank in. "Wait, 'we'? The guys are with you?"