Rimmerworld II

Null and Void

It had been in excess a whole year. Rimmer was still inside the Cryptum. For three hundred-eighty days he appeared to be unconscious, yet he was still able to think. However, Exuberant noticed something had changed within the last twenty-four hours: He had spontaneously woken up.

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There was nothing but darkness and muffled voices and sounds that  didn't register in Rimmer's mind. He wanted to panic, he wanted to  scream — he physically couldn't. He felt as though he wasn't in his  body, floating through blackness. Eventually he saw a single dot of  white light.

"Oh, God, I'm finally dead."

The dot became larger the closer he came to it. He tightly shut his  eyes as he passed through. Afterwards he peeled open one eye. He found  he wasn't in heaven or hell. He didn't know where he was.

There were multiple tunnels, each leading to what appeared to be  memories of other people, even other species, from what he could tell.  Some were dark, such as needless wars breaking out, others were more  pleasant like babies being born and long lost lovers reuniting. It was  as nice as it could have been, considering they were of GELF births and  lovers.

He came to one memory; according to the records beside it, hadn't  happened yet — the end of everything. Time, space, all living things.  Gone. All by the hands of everyone who currently existed in the galaxy.  They were slaughtering each other and destroying planets. It was like  everyone in the known galaxy had gone crazy, or perhaps they were just  bored and wanted to kill more than time.

It was enough to make his nonexistent heart pound in his chest. He  just stared at the horror, watching the stars fade out one by one.

Out of nowhere, a woman spoke to him while he had his back turned away. "It's horrid, isn't it?"

Rimmer bit back a scream. Quickly, he turned around. For a moment he  didn't recognise her. When he finally did, his face went blank.  "McGruder?!"

As sure as smeg on shoes, it was her. He remembered her eyes, her  face, her hair, everything. She even smelled the same as she did when  they were intimate.

She slightly smiled at him. "Hey, you."

"Hi..." he uttered. He appeared baffled. Why he was seeing her here, of  all places, was puzzling to say the least. He never thought he'd see  her again, but now that he had, he felt happier than he had been in  months. He could do anything now that she was there; if there was a time  to say anything, it was at that moment. "I'm sorry I never called you..."

She shrugged her shoulders as she shook her head. "I'm over it."

Nervously, his eyes flitted from her to the ground, then back to her again. "Are you... um... over me?"

She gave another half smile. "Never."

His desire for another liaison with her flickered to life; every inch  of him craved her. He was just about to lean in to plant one on her  when Toto's hit song Africa unexpectedly began to play. Perplexed, he looked around wondering where it was coming from.

Incidentally, it was coming from outside the confines of the Cryptum.  Exuberant was putting together a playlist for Rimmer to keep him calm  whilst inside. It relaxed her at least; it was one of her favourite  songs amongst human made music.

Rimmer shrugged it off. "It's fitting, I suppose." He tried to kiss her again but was stopped once more, this time by her.

She firmly placed her hands on his shoulders, gently pushing him  back. "Listen to me: That there?" She pointed a finger at the memory he  was gawking at before. "You can stop it before it even begins."