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Sterilization. That was how Romana had unflatteringly put it once, the cure to the Free Time virus by stopping regeneration. Scarcely better than human, Braxiatel had described it. Narvin damn well wasn’t going to tell either of them that he’d been...sterilized.
He hadn’t wanted to go through the portal in the first place, had thought that they should have turned back when it first became clear that the place was trouble. And he had been right, but no one had listened to him, as usual. And he was the one who’d paid the price for it. He sat slumped against a grey wall.
He’d been alone for half a span when he heard soft footsteps approaching and Leela crept out of the shadows.
“Has something happened?” He scrambled to his feet, ready to act if action was needed.
“K9 and Romana are searching for more portals and Braxiatel is examining the...lim-in-al control system.”
Narvin leaned back against the wall. “I meant something important.”
“You are avoiding us, Narvin.”
“Are you surprised? I didn’t want to come here in the first place. If it weren’t for Braxiatel--”
“If it weren’t for Braxiatel, you would be zombified by now.” Leela crossed her arms.
“You can’t know that.”
“I can know that Romana is glad for your presence.”
Narvin raised a doubtful eyebrow at that pronouncement. Although he knew that Leela couldn’t see it, she would certainly be able to hear his disbelief in his voice. “You might want to have your intuition checked. It seems to be severely malfunctioning.”
“She may not like you or trust you--”
“You’re too kind, Leela.”
“--but she needs you by her side. She needs all of us by her side. The five of us must stand together. Whatever our differences, we are still a tribe, and Romana our leader. But leaders cannot lead alone. They need advisors and warriors and wisemen to assist them.”
“And if Romana ever actually listened to my advice I might consider myself useful.”
“You will certainly be useless hiding here sulking.”
“I am not sulking. And I wasn’t hiding, either.” The lies came easily. They were the simple preface to a more difficult truth. “For better or for worse--mostly worse--I’m stuck here. I didn’t want to be, but I am. But I know that we have a better chance getting through this together than apart.” That was as close as he was willing to get to admitting that he, too, needed them. Romana, Leela, K9, even Braxiatel.
“Then come, Narvin. Let us rejoin the others.”
“I don’t have much of a choice, now do I.” It was throw his lot behind Romana, fully and completely, as he did in the civil war, or try to find his way alone.