Deus Ex Machina

Who: Rosette, RufusWhere: Rufus' LabWhen: During the evacuation of Mollopod~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~--- Snip ---Rufus came crashing down on top of her, and their eyes met.  It took
no time at all for Rosette's hands to make their way to his back, dig
her nails into him, and tear off his shirt.
"H-here?" he asked, eyes wide.--- End Snip ---"G.. get off me" Rufus stammered, trying to squirm out form underneath Rosette. "P... P...Please?" He added tentatively, as his lab coat was thrown over a hamster cage. "What's the matter Rufuss?" She asked, grinning, pinning him down. For a girl, she was surprisingly strong, more than a match for the weedy scientist."Tria!.. T..Tria! Activate lab laser turrets! I.. I'm being assaulted!"  He panicked and shuffled back against a wall of cupboards. "Understood Rufus. Activating now. Do you wish me to use lethal force against the intruder?" The bland V.I. said. "But, I thought you wanted this Rufus?" Rosette said, backing off and letting him up."I didn't want you to rip my shirt off and pin me to the floor! Do you know what I've spilled here?!... I mean... I... I.. I've never... Just... go away please." Rufus turned and tripped over an empty metal box, falling head over heals into the time fridge. There was a swish and a swirly time vortexy effect, and maybe even the sound of a key being dragged down a piano wire. Then the lap was empty.Click.Whine."Turrets armed. Access privileges revoked. Please leave the Laboratory now." Tria said, the simple Virtual Intelligence stated."Smeg." Rosette said, and sprinted out of the room. --- An hour later and several Decks away --- Who: Rufus,Where: Supply Field BWhen: An hour after the above.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The time fridge re-appeared about an hour after it had vanished, with a repeat of the effects that had followed its disappearance. Rufus tumbled out of the fridge and groaned as he banged his head on the table of Trisees workbench. A note fluttered onto the floor.'Rufus, sorry to leave, but Annie insisted. She's really rather fed up of that stupid excuse for a surgeon dying all the time. Got some work to do on my old experiment still trying to fix this blasted mess. Hopefully if I ever come back everything will be back to normal and I'll be rid of that idiot counterpart once and for all. Reality squared away or at least I'll have all my limbs back. Sincerely Lawrence Trisees'"Smeg... Ow... Smeg... What's the date?"  Rufus said, getting up, and scratching the beard on his chin. He shivered, remembering that he was half naked, and looked about, his hair tickling the back of his neck. He stumbled away from the supply field, the odd peewee around, dusting the surfaces and filing anything that the long gone scientist had not forbade them to touch.As the turbo lift entered his sight, he rubbed his eyes, the slight blurring a worry."Where are my glasses... ROSETTE! O... Oh smeg, I hope Tria didn't really s... Shoot her." He stumbled forwards and opened a comms channel to Holly. "Holly... Holly what's the date? And time... I fell into the fridge and...""What'd you do that for? Stupid thing to do, wasn't all the food in the way?""No, the Time Fridge you fool. Date, time please?""Oh, right, that's what that temporal anomaly was an hour ago in your lab. I did wonder. What's with the beard?""I've only been gone an hour, phew. Beard? I don't... H... Have a..." He caught a glimpse of himself in the glass of the monitor. "Smeg, I look like a hobo... A.. n...Naked hobo."There was silence between them both."How can I have a beard after a week?""Well, according to my scans you're about a week older." Holly said, after a small pause for thinking time."Niiice... I d.. Don't remember any of it... T..That can't b... Be good." An enormous explosion rocked the ship. Some miscellaneous stuff falling off the shelves around him. "What was that, Is Rosette alright? She's not d... D... Dead is she?" "I dunno, that knocked out my internal sensors. You better get up to the bridge and have a word with your sister, she's yelling for me up there. See ya dude!" And the A.I vanished.
<To Be Continued>