The portal closer

“You’re alive!” Ortana rushed over, and hugged him. She was relieved.

“Of course I am?” Timothy hugged back, and looked at the rest of the team. He was wondering what was going on. “You’re alive too. I guess?”

The group chuckled in response, they were enjoying his confusion. He might as well be confused, because he only saw this woman yesterday, and yet she acted as if he had been missing for ten years!

“I’ve been looking for you for five days…” She then said, “The guards said that you got killed, and eaten, so I gutted a lot of bugs in order to find your body. Those guards are liars, they lied to me with a straight face!”

Before Gustav could chime in on that last statement, Timothy cut his words short because no one wanted to be lectured right now, and then he emphasized a question. “Five days? We've only been here for an hour. Maybe an hour and a half, give or take.”