No, I am now going to have to tell the boy the news. Dylan leads Rommie away, probably to sit her down and give her one of his inspiring speeches. Trance and the magog are looking at me and as it seems that we are the only three left, I suppose that we must be the ones who tell him what his fate will be.
As I step into medical I see him laying on the bed, he is still unconscious but is fidgeting and obviously dreaming. I feel almost sad about what will happen to him. He has shown astounding resilience and even bravery. Trance reaches down and gives him a shot of nanobots. I can see he is slowly surfacing and know that we must soon tell him the bad news. As he starts awake Trance starts trying to calm him down
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! It's ok!"
He sighs and I feel very bad that soon he will know the worst of it, I promised that they wouldn't infest him and I failed.
"Oh, man. Talk about nightmares! I dreamt I was being infested by magog eggs, and they were, uh" he is slowly looking around at our faces "not a dream?"
"I'm afraid not," broke in the magog, I am still not comfortable with him, not after what I saw him become, I take a long time to trust anyone.
"But everything turned out ok, right? I mean, we escaped, uh, the bad guys' world ship was destroyed, and you just took the eggs out, right?"
I start to speak and try to tell him what is wrong but I find I can't, not directly at least
"We've escaped, at any rate."
"The world ship was not destroyed, although we did cripple it somewhat. As for the eggs…"
It seems that none of us can tell him; since when has this human become important to me?
"Magog larvae, they kind of wrap themselves around things and when you try to take them out, they attack the host. I figured out a way to get them out, but I wasn't sure if it was going to work, so I tried it out on Tyr, and he survived – barely."
Yes, she tried it out on me first, I am still not happy about that; I was unconscious at the time and…
"But I'm not a Nietzschean."
He has worked it out, he isn't stupid, I almost feel…guilty I think this is called. I watch and wait as the magog explains his situation a bit more fully, now that he knows it seems easier, but not by much.
"This is a drug. It is a lukaprine variant. If you take it religiously and remain in otherwise good health, it will keep the larvae dormant, for a time."
"And while you're taking it, we will try very hard to find another way to get them out. Everything will be just fine. We promise."
I can see in his face that he doesn't believe what they're saying any more than I do, it wont be all right, but we can't admit it.
"Gee, I feel better already. Just out of curiosity, what happens when you can't figure out a way to get the larvae out? I'm supposed to take this forever?"
"No. Eventually, the medication will cease to be effective. If we have not found an alternative treatment by that time, the larvae will become active and you will die."
"Why don't you just shoot me now?"
The stupid boy and I thought he had some sense in him, suicide is never an option, and never will be not for me or for my, companions. After seeing him fight as bravely as he did I thought he understood that!
"Harper!"
"No, I mean it, Trance. I don't want to walk around life waiting for my stomach to burst open. You shoulda just left me to die. You shoulda…"
That is it. I slam my hand angrily against the wall in frustration at this pathetic excuse for a human being who I seem to want to protect.
"Kill me. I'm doomed. You shoulda just let me die." I know it sounds childish but I have to make him see how stupid he sounds, "Listen to yourself! Child, if I can teach you one thing…"
"If you're gonna give me anymore of that 'Where there's life, there's hope' crap…thanks. 'Cause I really need to hear it right about now."
Maybe he isn't a complete waste of time after all. He doesn't seem completely bent on death, not yet.
"Can I just be alone for a few minutes though, just to you know…"
I know what he means and I slowly file out with Trance and the magog trailing behind me, I think I hope that he will be fine.