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Ardeth walked into the tent next to the one that housed the strangers, and headed to the crowd of healers that were kneeling on the floor.

"Does he live?" he asked.

"Aywa," one of the women replied.

Ardeth stood over them, and watched as one of them stitched a bullet wound on Frank's left shoulder, and another stitched a wound on his left side. The rest of his body was covered by a thin blanket, and Ardeth saw the three bullets lying on the sand beside him.

"Was there not also a leg wound?" he asked.

"Aywa," a third healer replied, who was wiping Frank's face with cool water. "It was the least serious of the three, and easily mended."

"Does the man have a name?" the one stitching Frank's shoulder asked.

Ardeth nodded. "Frank Donovan." He watched Frank's face for any reaction to the healer's ministrations, to see that there was none whatsoever; he was very deeply unconscious, his skin very pale. "Will he live?"

None of the healers replied for a minute, until one of them said, "We can not be sure, he has lost very much blood."

Ardeth nodded, expecting as much. "If there is any change, or if he regains consciousness, have someone inform me."

"Aywa, my Chief."

Ardeth left the tent and went back into the other.

Jake, Cody, Alex, and Monica all stood when he walked in.

"The healers have removed the bullets," he said. "He is still unconscious."

Alex's jaw dropped. "People here took out the bullets? Why didn't you take him to a hospital! He needs doctors to operate on him!"

Ardeth frowned. "My healers are as good as the physicians in Cairo. He most likely would not have survived the trip had we not done it here."

"Trip?" Jake asked. "How far from there are we?"

"At present, nearly half a day by horse."

Cody frowned. "Horse?! Why don't you take a car?"

Ardeth frowned. "We do not have cars."

"Why?" Cody asked. "Everyone has a car! Heh, some people have two!"

Ardeth shook his head, thinking this man to be mad. "No, everyone does not."

"Man, you'd think it was 1902, not 2002," Cody muttered.

Ardeth blinked, and looked at Safti, who likewise gave him a shocked look.

"Repeat what you just said," Ardeth told Cody, taking a step forward.

"Uh," Cody said, looking at his teammates. "You'd think it was 1902, not 2002."

Ardeth took another step forward. "Are you telling us that you are from the future?"

Cody took a step back, nervously. "The future?"

Safti shook his head. "The year is 1934."

Cody's jaw dropped, as did Jake, Alex, and Monica's. "What?!"

"This explains their sudden appearance," Safti said to Ardeth.

Ardeth nodded. "Yes. But we do not know the reason for it, and obviously they do not either."

"Wait a minute!"

They both looked at Jake.

"Are you trying to tell us that we're in the year 1934?"

"I believe that is what we just said," Ardeth replied. 

Jake blinked. "Uh, and just like that, you're gonna accept that? Believe us?"

Ardeth smiled slightly. "We have seen stranger things."

Jake shook his head. "Come on, this is impossible! What makes you think we believe you?"

Safti snorted.

"You must," said Ardeth. "You can not deny that you are here."

"He has a point," Cody whispered to Jake.

"So what do we do now?" Alex asked.

"Be careful," Ardeth said. "Anything that is done can change history. By simply being here, you may already have done that."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," said Cody. "I saw 'Back to the Future' fifteen times."

They suddenly heard a gasp, and looked to see that the old man they'd forgotten about was staring at Ardeth in shock.

Assuming he was reacting to his statement, Ardeth nodded. "You must not do anything while you are here. Watch what you say to whom. If you find something amiss or if anyone says anything strange to you, whether you understand it or not, tell me immediately. And do not tell anyone else that you are from the future. Only Safti and myself will know this."

Everyone nodded, more than slightly intimidated.

"All right," Ardeth said. "Who is the leader when Mr. Donovan is not able?"

They all frowned. "How did you know he was our leader?" Jake asked.

Ardeth hesitated. Because he resembles me so much, I assumed he was in the leader position as am I?

Seeing that Ardeth had no answer for him, Jake said, "I am."

"Come with me."

The team shot apprehensive looks at Jake, as he followed Ardeth out. He had to shade his eyes against the shockingly bright desert sun.

"I am assuming that you and your friends can, in fact, be trusted," Ardeth said. "I do not give my trust lightly, or easily."

Jake nodded, as he followed Ardeth.

Ardeth stopped at the entrance to another tent. "I need to know exactly what occurred before you appeared here."

Jake sighed. "Well…we were standing on a sidewalk, and a car drove by and shot at us. Frank was hit, and then…"

Suddenly the tent flap opened, and one of the healers walked out with a bowl of water. She stopped when she saw Ardeth.

"You dropped this, my Chief," she said, handing him the amulet. She then bent down and poured the water out of the bowl.

Jake didn't notice the amulet, instead gasping when he saw the red water. "Frank is in here?!" Without waiting for an answer, he went into the tent.

Ardeth was shocked he'd dropped his amulet; a stab of fear hit his stomach when he realized he could've lost it. He draped it over his head, and pulled his hair out from under it. Positioning it in the center of his chest, he froze at what he felt. Looking down, he saw that he was wearing two of them!

He took them both off and stared, in utter shock. They were identical in every way; even down to the little nicks it had obtained through the centuries, as it was passed down the Bay family line, from Leader to Leader. Ardeth shook his head, astonished, for none other existed! How did this come to be in the healer's tent?

Donovan, he thought. He brought it with him! Any slight doubts he had that the people were indeed from the future evaporated, and he put his amulet back around his neck, and the other into a pocket, and walked into the tent.

Jake was kneeling beside Frank, studying him intently. Ardeth could see that he looked paler, and was still completely motionless. His concern grew: he didn't want the man to die, especially not before he could talk to him, and find out where this mystery lies.

He went closer and knelt on the other side of him, watching as Jake checked Frank's pulse and took a look at the wounds, while one of the healers still wiped Frank's face and forehead with cool water, hoping to prevent fever.

Jake sighed. "He belongs in a hospital." He shook his head. "1934? Geez, in this year the doctors are probably as likely to kill him then help him."

Ardeth's head snapped up to look at him, and then at the healer. She apparently hadn't noticed Jake's strange words, as she continued her task, softly humming, as if Frank could hear her calming voice.

Jake looked at Ardeth, realizing what he'd said. He looked back down at Frank with a sigh. "Can the others come in to see him?"

Ardeth nodded, and they stood.

As they walked out of the tent, Ardeth remembered that he hadn't gotten Jake's full explanation. "You were saying, earlier…"

Jake looked at him with a frown. "Oh yeah. Frank was shot, and the car kept going. Then…" he shook his head. "Something really weird happened."

"What?"

"Well…Frank's blood…it touched the amulet, and then kinda stood up in a spiral and then came back down, into the center of the thing, and then *wham*, suddenly we were here." He shook his head. "It was the weirdest thing I ever saw. Like something out of a Sci-Fi movie."

Ardeth didn't even bother to ask what 'Sci-Fi' meant, as they stopped at the entrance to the tent housing the other agents. "How did he come by the amulet?" Ardeth asked.

"That old man with us, he gave it to him."

Ardeth's eyebrows flew up. "When?"

"Not even fifteen minutes before we got here."

Ardeth stroked his beard, as he thought. "That is significant. Donovan is given the amulet, and then shot." He took the amulet out of his pocket, and looked at it in surprise. "Then, through the amulet, you all are brought here."

Jake shook his head again. "This is the weirdest thing that ever happened to me, and I've been in some pretty weird situations…" He went back into the tent, and his teammates immediately started questioning him.

"What happened?"

"Where's Frank?"

"Yeah, is he okay?"

"Frank is alive, guys," he said. "You can all come see him."

Everyone ran for the tent opening, as Ardeth opened it and walked in. Safti was still there, and Ardeth held out his hand to the old man to stop him from leaving. He knew now that the man had something important to do with the situation, and he wanted to know just what that was.

'Aywa': Egyptian Arabic for 'yes'