III. Suspicions
Standing up, the two women looked each other over. Joanna was dressed in a form-fitting, dark-blue body suit, a section of which lay torn open from the crash, the bandages wrapped around her waist showing through. Shiny, metal gauntlets covered her forearms and a matching pair covered her calves, partially covered by the near knee-high, leather boots that rested on her feet. A shiny, metal belt was wrapped around her waist, a few small devices attached to its silvery surface. Her short, auburn hair flopped lazily on the sides of her head and a strange, metal, wire-like object wrapped around the left side of her face.
Lara was dressed in a tight, green tank-top and tight, brown shorts. Heavy hiking boots covered her feet and fingerless gloves covered her hands. A brown, leather back-pack was strapped to her back from the side of which hung a large machete. Her long, brown hair which was tied in a braid came down to her thighs and a pair of red sunglasses rested awkwardly on her nose, having falling from her forehead. The first things Joanna noticed, however, were the two guns holstered on the outside of her thighs.
"Well, Miss Dark, you certainly seem dressed for a mission through space." Lara said, revealing a brilliant, white smile as she pushed back her sunglasses.
"Joanna, please." Jo replied, a little suspicious, "What did you say you do again?"
"I'm a treasure hunter." Lara replied, "Relax, the guns are just there in case I run into any wild animals. What about your gun?"
"What makes you think I have a gun?" Joanna asked.
"One: because I can see you're ready to draw it right now. And two: because I took the liberty of removing it from your person."
"Why would you go and do that?"
"I didn't know if you were hostile."
"Well, now that you've seen I'm not, may I have it back please?"
Joanna extended an open palm towards Lara.
"Sure." Lara replied, taking off her backpack and retrieving Joanna's gun for her, "Nice piece, really. Don't think I've seen a model quite like it."
Taking the gun, Joanna holstered it and asked, "Aren't you afraid I might turn on you?"
"I think if you were going to, you'd have done it by now." Lara replied, "Besides, you wouldn't last a day out here without me, especially in that outfit."
Seeing the large sweat marks on Lara's outfit, Joanna suddenly became aware of the intense heat and humidity that was surrounding them.
"Yes, I suppose you're right." Joanna commented, wiping the sweat from her brow.
Reaching to her belt, Joanna pressed a button, allowing a small screen to flip open. Joanna then pressed a few buttons on the small display and the little device closed back up. Lara watched with amazement as Joanna's outfit began to change. Its sleeves and midsection retracted into the upper-torso of the outfit, the collar widening and lowering as the legs shortened to her hips. Joanna stood there a moment, looking over her new outfit. Her top had become a belly-length tank top and her pants were now comparable in length to Lara's.
"Well that's convenient." Lara commented.
Joanna glanced an amused smile at her.
"It's a prototype." she said as she continued to look herself over, "Wasn't sure if it would actually work. I suppose it is a bit skimpy, but at least I won't die of heat exhaustion."
"Well, that's for sure." Lara again commented.
Pushing a tiny button on her earpiece, Joanna watched as a small TelePrompTer appeared in front of her left eye.
"Agent Dark reporting in, do you read me?" Joanna said aloud.
The screen in front of her merely displayed snowy static. Lara looked at her, wondering what exactly she was doing.
"This is Special Agent Joanna Dark, Code name: Perfect Dark." Joanna continued, "Does anyone read this transmission?"
Again she was greeted with a screen of static. Pushing the button again, allowing the TelePrompTer to move away, she grumbled, "Useless."
"Mind telling me what that is?" Lara inquired.
"It's a new style of communicator developed by the Carrington Institute." Joanna replied, "It also displays the time and date. It's supposed to be linked up to a satellite. But, for some reason, I can't get a signal."
"May I see it?" Lara asked, her hand extended.
"Certainly." Joanna replied, removing the earpiece and handing it to Lara.
The young woman fit the piece over her ear and pushed the small button.
"Incredible." Lara commented as the TelePrompTer appeared in front of her eye, "Well, wait a minute. It seems as if your time and date are a bit off."
"Let me see that." Joanna said.
Lara handed the device back to Joanna who also checked the date and time.
"No, it's alright." Joanna said, "Twelve P.M., April third, two-thousand, twenty-three."
"Right, it's off." Lara insisted, "By about twenty-five years."
"What are you talking about?" Joanna asked, a bit confused as she once again deactivated the TelePrompTer.
"Oh, don't tell me you're from the future too." Lara said.
"The future?" Joanna said, still confused.
"Oh, dear." Lara said as she walked over to Joanna and guided her to sit down on a large rock, "Now I realize this may be a bit of a shock for you, but the year is nineteen, ninety-eight."
"What?" Joanna said with a half-chuckle, not wanting to believe it, "That's ridiculous. How could I have traveled backwards in time? Time travel isn't possible."
"Maybe not for Humans." Lara replied, "But you were on an alien spacecraft. Now, do you know anything about how that ship operates?"
"No. All I know is it took us about twenty minutes to get from the Mayain home world to our solar system."
"What happened to make you crash?"
"A Skedar bomb went off outside the ship."
"Alright, well, what if an explosion was just the sort of catalyst to offset the ship's inertial dampers long enough for it to travel back in time twenty-five years."
"But that's ridiculous."
"Think about it. It explains why you can't get through to whomever you were trying to contact. It also explains your gun, your communicator, even those devices on your belt."
Joanna sat there a moment, her mind trying to comprehend what was going on. Time travel? It was almost ludicrous. But what other explanation was there, unless... Joanna suddenly looked back up at Lara, a hardened look on her face.
"No." she said, getting up from the rock and backing away, "This is some sort of trick. I'm in some sort of hologram room aren't I?"
"I'm telling you the truth, Joanna." Lara insisted, "The year is nineteen, ninety-eight and you're standing in the middle of the Brazilian rainforest. I thought that would be plainly evident to you by now-"
Lara watched as Joanna went for her gun. Lara instinctively responded by drawing both of hers. The two women stood there, pointing their guns at each other.
"Come now, Joanna. You don't want to do that." Lara calmly stated, "Think about what you're doing."
Lara could feel the sweat on her face. She could feel it coating her hands, making the grip she held on her weapons looser than she would like. She had an urge to move her fingers and somewhat re-adjust her grip, but she knew that one false move and this could easily turn into a blood bath for both of them.
"Come on, Jo, think about it." Lara said, "What would I have to gain from deceiving you? I'm just a treasure hunter."
"If you're just a treasure hunter, how could you have known about the inertial dampers?" Joanna suspiciously asked.
"What's the matter? Don't you people have Star Trek in the future?" Lara inquired, "Put the gun down. I'm telling you the truth, now put the gun down."
"We'll see about that." Joanna said as she reached up and tapped a button on her earpiece.
What looked to Lara like a pair of red-lensed safety glasses quickly formed in front of Joanna's eyes. Joanna looked through the lenses of her I. R. Scanner, half-expecting a Skedar to be standing next to Lara. But as she looked around, all she saw was Lara and the thick rain forest that surrounded them on all sides. She hit the button again and the red lenses quickly exchanged for orange ones. Joanna stared at Lara and saw that she was indeed human, her human skeleton showing a number of healed fractures. Once again, Joanna looked around but saw nothing but an empty forest. Finally, she looked back at Lara and lowered her gun. Letting out the breath she had been holding, Lara lowered her guns and holstered them.
"But this is impossible." Joanna said, plopping down in the charred grass as she deactivated her lenses.
"An hour ago I would have agreed with you." Lara said, "But it seems we've both been proven wrong."
"What am I supposed to do now?" Joanna said in a frustrated tone, "Just start a whole new life in the twentieth century?"
"Look, why don't you just come with me for now. I was in the middle of a treasure hunt when you and your spaceship showed up. My team will be back in seven days to pick me up. Until then, it's just you, me, and the jungle. What do you say?"
Lara extended an open palm towards her.
"Well, at least I won't have to deal with any more aliens." Joanna finally agreed, taking Lara's hand.
"That's the spirit." Lara said with a smile as she helped Joanna to her feet.
Joanna suddenly swayed at the quick action. She had still not fully regained her strength. And with the heat of the forest and the stress of the moment only seemed to make things worse.
"Oh." Lara said, "That, unfortunately, is not."
Lara examined Jo's side.
"Well, not bleeding anymore." She said after a moment, "But this wound still needs to be cleaned and re-dressed. There's a river about a mile from here. Think you can make it?"
"Yes, I…I think so." Joanna replied, rather unsteadily.
Lara watched her a moment. She doubted Jo's ability, but nonetheless agreed. It wasn't like they had much choice.
"Alright. Let's go." She said.
Lara then unstrapped her machete and proceeded to cut a path through the dense jungle. Joanna promptly holstered her gun and followed.