Riding the Trail - Chapter One

Set a few months after the events of Back To Earth...

Int: Drive Room

Lister walks into the Drive Room while eating from a packet of Double-Layered Chili and Curry flavoured Crisps. He sits down and eventually checks the Radar. He notices a small object approaching Red Dwarf. No, it's two objects. No, three. A number of objects were approaching the ancient crimson Starship. "Er, guys. I think you should come in here for a sec." said Lister over the intercom. Rimmer and Kryten walk into the room. "What's wrong, Mr Lister? Did you see something on the Radar?" asked Kryten. "Yeah, there's a couple of Objects approaching the Dwarf, they look like Shuttles from what I can make out." says Lister "There's actually a Ship out there? Aliens!" suggests Rimmer excitedly. "Oh, here we go. Why do you still hope for aliens? You have a body now, even if it's made of light." says Lister. "True, but you get bored seeing the same three smeggy faces for many years. I want to meet someone new. I want to have a life outside of complaining about your eating habits." says the Hologram snarkily. "Look, whatever, the shuttles are moving very slowly, like they have more than one or two dozen parts broken. I'd say it'd take a couple hours to catch up with us." guesses Lister. Lister gets up to leave, though Kryten and Rimmer sit down in nearby chairs. "I suggest we monitor and try to contact these vessels. They could need help with repairs, judging by the speed they're going that. Either that or it's being driven by a Snail distracted by quicksand." says Kryten. "Whatever, i'll be down at the bar if anything happens" says Lister before leaving the room.

Two hours later...

Lister re-enters the Drive room to see Kryten, Cat and Rimmer busily analyzing the approaching 'Snailships'. "Any news?" He asks. "Nope, not really. Though judging from the speed their going at, they probably aren't cool enough to have a fashion sence like mine!" Cat boasts. The panels bleep in a pattern. "We've got something! The shuttles are of JMC origin!" notes Kryten. "Wait a minute." says Rimmer alarmingly. "Remember when we abandoned the rest of the Ship's crew in all those Shuttles? I'm pretty sure that that's them, and when they catch up with us, we might as well say goodbye to food that isn't made from cabbage and Space Weevil." "Smeg, it is them, isn't it? Well we're not gonna let 'em get us. Someone blast up our speed, we'll outrun the buggers!" says Lister. Red Dwarf's speed raises slightly, and the gap broadens between the shuttles and the Giant Ship.