Holo-Man

Alone

They made it to Alpha, and went deep into the mines. It was search party of just three; Kryten, Lister and Rimmer. The area seemed empty minus the dead bodies strewn about. They couldn't believe the damage that was done; lighting fixtures sparked, bullet holes were in the walls, gallons of blood everywhere. Rimmer stopped to look at it all. He hoped none of the blood was her's. The sight and smell of blood and guts everywhere made him nauseous. Rimmer gulped, and continued on with the others.

"I haven't seen anything yet." Rimmer stated.

"Me neither. Just a bunch of dead... things." Lister couldn't tell if any were human or not; they were that mangled up. "What the hell happened in here?" he wondered. "Maybe we should split up. It might strengthen our odds."

"Like smegging hell we should!!" Rimmer sneered, louder than he should have.

A high pitched screeching noise came from the distance, echoing throughout the mine. It sounded much like an owl but there was no way in hell it was one. It was an Edacior, and if that lanky, skinny, pale, flesh craving alien reared its ugly head, they'd be done for. Both Lister and Kryten shushed Rimmer.

"Sir, I think splitting up would be a bad idea." Kryten whispered.

Then they heard what sounded like footsteps.

"Aria?" Rimmer quivered. He wished he had the forethought to bring a weapon along. He found a broken pipe on the ground and wielded it, standing still for a few moments. Nothing undesirable showed up. He sighed. "Come on. You can do this." he thought to himself. "For her."

They pressed on until he got to a pile of rubble, blocking the rest of their path. There still was no sign of her.

"She's not here." Rimmer anxiously said. He looked harder and eventually found something sticking out of the debris. "Wait..." He shifted the rocks somewhat. After some time of removing the debris, he found a hand: Aria's hand. He recognised the nail polish she had been wearing.

The colour drained from Lister's face as his stomach dropped. He couldn't even speak.

Frantically, Rimmer removed what he was able to, bit by bit until he could pull her from the wreckage. Her body was miraculously still intact, but they were too late. Rimmer tried desperately to bring her back to life but nothing could be done: There was no saving her. All he could do was cry, holding her limp, broken body in his arms, and curse himself for never saying how he felt. He would never get another chance.

Slowly but surely, Kryten and Lister became an emotional wreck. It was getting increasingly hard to listen to Rimmer's sobbing and tormented cries to the heavens; it was heartbreaking. Without a word, Lister left. He couldn't stand to hear it any longer. Even all the way down the entry tunnel he could still hear him. Lister leant against the wall, sliding down to the dirt. He sat with his thighs pressed up against his abdomen, and covered his ears with his hands. Maybe erasing Rimmer's memory wouldn't be the worst thing.

Kryten tried to console Rimmer, but he was completely out of it: He was off in his own world. All Rimmer could ask was why: Why her? Why didn't she come back with him? Why is it that when anything good came into his life it would get taken away from him? His sobbing suddenly stopped, and anguish was replaced with despair and angst. Every part of his face slightly twitched until he went blank.

Kryten knelt down beside Rimmer. "Sir," he softly said while placing a hand on his shoulder. "We need to get going. We'll take her with us."

Rimmer looked up at him, tears shimmering in his eyes. He then looked back at Aria; his eyes darted over every inch of her. He found it hard to let go of her. Rimmer wasn't sure what he'd do with the body once they brought her onboard but he couldn't leave her there in this dreadful place. Slowly, he nodded to Kryten.