XIII. Tallon IV
The planet of Tallon IV loomed ominously before the three women as Samus's ship approached.
"'It's a terrifying thing to fall into the hand of the living God.'"
Jo looked at Lara who stood staring at the screen with her arms crossed.
"What?" she asked.
"It's from the Bible." Lara replied. "Just thinking out loud."
Lara didn't say any more and Jo didn't care to ask, but rather turned back to look at the planet growing larger and closer as they approached.
"We're about to enter the atmosphere." Samus told them from her pilot chair. "You may want to strap yourselves in."
The two women complied, Jo being a bit more hurried about the matter. The planets surface lomed ever closer on the viewscreen. Joanna turned away and shut her eyes. Tremors ran through the hull and Joanna shut her eyes tight and cringed at the feeling as the ship dove into the atmosphere of the seemingly earth-like planet. The tremors quickly died away as the ship entered the lower atmosphere and began speeding towards it destination. The women watched, Jo now more comfortable with looking since the tremors stopped, as white wisps of clouds streaked past the ship back-dropped by mountains and landscapes seemingly metallic in nature. At last the streaks slowed and went out of sight as the ship lowered its altitude and finally landed with a final soft tremor.
Samus unstrapped herself and stood. Turning, she stopped when she saw the two women getting up from their seats. Hey eyes went from one to the other.
"What's wrong?" Lara asked when she noticed Samus staring at them.
Samus hesitated a moment, considering each of them, if they were up for the potential of what they may face.
Without a word, she headed over to the opposite wall and put her hand to a certain spot. A panel opened and she pulled out two objects. Walking back over to Lara and Jo, she held out grip first what looked to them like futuristic laser pistols.
"There's no telling what we may encounter out there." she said. "There are certain creatures, large and gelatinous. If you see them, you'll need to use these. Projectiles won't do any good unless you do. They have a limited charge so don't use them unless you have to."
The women reluctantly took the pistols, each giving theirs a once-over in their hands. Jo tested the sight on hers.
"Can you set your communicator to constantly broadcast?" Samus asked Joanna.
"Audio or video?" Jo asked.
"Both would be best." Samus replied, walking over to the console. "Set it to do so. I'll have Creto sync it with mine and the one I have for Lara."
Samus then walked over and handed Lara a small, ovacular object.
"This will always be on. You should be able to constantly hear us and we you. Just in case we get separated."
"What about you?" Joanna asked as Lara pinned the communicator to her shirt. "I assume you're not planning on going out in your swimsuit."
"No." Samus replied. "I'm not."
Her left hand suddenly lit up with an intense, purple glow. Samus then flung her arms and head back. Instantly, a bright beam of the same hue shot out from her chest. Brilliant light mixed with waves of cloud-like energy issued forth, covering her body in an array of colors. It coalesced and solidified in a few seconds and she suddenly stood before them in a full suit of yellow and red armor. Her eyes opened and stared back at them through a visor of green, her right hand having been replaced by a formidable-looking, forearm-length cannon. Lara and Joanna just stood staring at her with wide eyes.
"Well," Lara said at last, looking at Joanna. "I think she's got you beat."
"I'll say." Jo replied, looking over the new Samus. "You wouldn't happen to have any spares of those, would you?"
"Sorry." Samus replied, her voice coming through an external speaker. "Frankly, I don't feel too comfortable with this. You two are almost completely unprotected. If we encounter something-"
"No offense, Samus," Lara interrupted, a bit annoyed , "but I've encountered everything from ancient guardians, to dinosaurs, to flying demi-gods. And from what Jo tells me, she's had regular dealings with small armies and she's obviously still alive. Your armor is quite impressive and I'm sure that cannon isn't just for show. But we do have our own skills and experience with this sort of thing. We'll manage."
Samus did not reply, but contemplated Lara's words as she activated her visor. It flashed green and took on a mirrored finish. Inside her helmet, Samus noticed the suit's energy charge and command symbols that awaited a glance or mental command. But her eyes remained on the two women. Somehow, she knew Lara's words to be genuine. Experience would tell if they were true.
Moving past them, Samus stepped into the hatch area. Strangely, the platform did not lower, but rather, a small circle appeared around Samus' feet and the area on which she stood lowered down out of the ship. Lara and Jo gave each other concerned glances.
Samus looked around, her arm cannon aimed before her. Nothing dangerous was in sight.
"Let's do a communications check." She said aloud.
"I read you." Came Lara's voice.
"Joanna?" Samus asked after not getting a response.
A small window appeared in the upper-left of Samus' visor showing the interior of her ship.
"Sorry." Joanna replied. "Had to activate my lenses. My tech isn't as advanced as yours. Do you have a visual?"
"Confirmed." Samus replied. "Looks all clear out here."
Samus then moved away from the platform and allowed the two women to exit the ship. Lara came first, Jo coming out with her gun already drawn and the gun Samus had given her in her holster. She held her weapon barrel-down, both hands on the grip. Samus saw her readiness and wondered at Lara who seemed just as she had been, save that she was looking around, taking in their surroundings.
"Stay close." Samus instructed them. She then moved out from under the ship, leading the two ladies in a deliberate direction. Lara followed behind Samus, looking casually around, but mostly ahead to their intended destination. Jo brought up the rear, pensive and turning this way and that, keeping her eyes open for anything potentially hostile through the lenses of her I. R. Scanner. But there was nothing. All around her, there was nothing but the bizarre structures of an ancient city. Much of the area had become overgrown with vegetation. No one had lived here for long, long time. Ahead of them, up a steep incline of steps, and looming over them, was an immense, square, pyramid-like structure revealing similarities, Lara noted, to those of the Incan and mezzo-American styles.
Suddenly, Samus stopped in her tracks. Her head was cocked, staring up at the structure.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Jo asked.
"This is wrong." Samus replied. She then turned and looked back behind them. Her scanner zoomed in on a patch of moss on a nearby structure. The scan revealed it to be a type of moss needing hundreds of years and undisturbed conditions to grow to its current state. Samus then looked back to the structure before them. "This place should not be like this."
"Like what? Lara asked.
"We're still supposed to be in your time." Samus replied, still looking ahead. "If that's true, this place should not look like this. The Chozo inhabited this planet long ago in my time. But in yours…"
"They should still be here?" Lara finished her thought.
"Yes." Samus replied. "And this fountain should be flowing with water, not dried up."
The two women behind her looked to the large structure. It stood several kilometers tall with several openings where water may have once flowed through. Busts of bird heads poked out in various places.
"Creto," Samus called out. "You said the stellar pattern was inconsistent with our own time period. Based on the data you have in your memory banks, can you determine if the pattern indicates post or pre?"
"The calculations will take some time, Samus." Creto replied. "But I should be able to give you a rough estimation of time difference and direction."
"Contact me as soon as you have a solution, however approximate." Samus then turned to the others, her eyes once again visible through the green of her visor. "Did you copy that?"
"Yes." Lara replied. "It's rather peculiar, but at the moment, it doesn't make much of a difference."
"What do you mean?" Samus asked.
"The tablet referenced the lore which led us here. Regardless of what time we're in, this is where we need to start our search."
Samus nodded. "Agreed. Let's keep moving." Her visor flashed, once again hiding her eyes. She turned and continued on, the others following close behind.
They soon reached the base of the structure. Chozo busts jutted out in weather-worn detail, remnants of once stunning artwork. Their hollow eyes stared at the three women, their beaks open in silent warning. Narrow openings too small for them to enter covered the structure in various shapes and locations. Samus stared at it, the familiarity of its design striking her with homesickness.
"Well, what now?" came Joanna's voice.
"The tablet spoke of two other elements, fire and light, and a pathway." Lara stated, looking up at the structure. "The fire was described as being unquenchable, so it's likely a place where the water of the fountain didn't touch. Do you happen to know how the water flow of this fountain went?"
"I'm afraid not." Samus replied.
"Right." Lara continued. "Let's split up. Look for places devoid of water erosion near one of these openings, particularly something that looks like a torch-holder or a cauldron. The tablet also spoke of light so look for places that aren't hidden from the sunlight."
Joanna was still pensive as she turned to Lara.
"Are you that's a good id-"
"I'll take the top tier and work my way down." Samus interrupted.
"I'll start in the middle." Lara complied. "Jo, you have a look around down here."
Before Joanna could object further, Lara and Samus began leaping and climbing up the enormous, metallic blocks. Jo covered her mic and muttered out, "Thanks, a lot."
By the time Lara reached the middle tier, Samus had already made it to the top. Lara began moving around the structure, running her hand over the strange, metallic rock, feeling and seeing erosion and determining by her best guess the places that had received the least of it.
Jo walked along the bottom, dividing her attention between the fountain and the surrounding area. It was fortunate the fountain was built at a higher elevation than the rest of the city. There wasn't much chance of getting ambushed unless it was from inside the fountain. Her eyes searched the wall beside her and frustration crept into her mind.
"Erosion, erosion." She muttered. "Oh, this is blooming ridiculous. I don't even know what I'm looking for."
Reaching up, she pressed a button on her earpiece and her red lenses exchanged for orange ones as she activated her x-ray lenses.
Samus watched as the small video link to Joanna first went down and then came back up in a strange array of orange, green, and red. She wasn't quite sure what she was looking at until a Chozo bust came into view and then partially vanished as its hollow inside was displayed. Just then the sun peaked through the clouds and shone upon her visor. Samus looked out over the vast ruins stretching in all directions. She saw how the plant-life had so overgrown it that she could barely pick out any sign of Chozo architecture. The melancholy feeling that had come to her at the base of the fountain now washed over her all the more. The sight was a visual reminder of the extinction of her adoptive family's race…her race. Their memory was ebbing away. She was all that was left. And, eventually, she would follow them.
The melancholy turned to sadness and she sat down, still looking out over the ruins. She had spent much of her adult life traversing mazes and defeating enemies. She had always found a way out. She had always emerged the victor. But in this maze, she could find no escape. There was only death.
Old Bird. She called out in her mind. Where are you when I need you?
"Samus, I've finished the calculations."
Creto's words cut through her depression. She still had a mission to complete. Shoving aside her thoughts, she stood and viewed the other two far below her.
"What did you find?" she inquired.
"The stellar pattern is consistent with one that would exist approximately nineteen-hundred years after your native time period."
"That's a long time." Came Lara's voice over the com link.
"I think I may have found something." Joanna said, her visual displaying a black square surrounded by orange and green. "Looks like a hallway or shaft that goes up. I'll track it. See if you can meet me at the entrance location."
"Creto, send out a communications." Samus ordered her ship as she switched to her x-ray scope. "Standard 'hello' message. Open frequency. See if anybody's out there."
She caught sight of the shaft and its end point almost immediately.
"I can see the entry point from here." She announced, turning off her scope and hopping down. "Lara head for mid-section one level up on the sun-facing side."
"Copy that." Lara replied.
The three met at the intended destination, Joanna arriving last, pulling herself up with a grunt. They found themselves staring at a blank slab of metallic rock. Two Chozo statues of the same material stood on either side, perched on blocks, their beaks open in silent threatening of some unseen enemy.
"It's right on the other side of this-" Joanna began.
She was interrupted by Samus raising her cannon and stating, "Stand back."
The end of the barrel separated and spread as Samus aimed it at the wall.
"No, don't!" Lara called out.
Abruptly, she was pulled backwards as a projectile shot out of Samus' cannon and impacted the wall. The projectile exploded and the wall crumbled to rubble, surrounding the three in a cloud of dust. Lara watched in amazement and shock as the dust rolled over her form but never actually touched her, as though she were behind a polygonal wall of glass. It was then she realized that it was Joanna that had grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Coming to herself, Lara jerked her arm free and stepped up to Samus, yelling at her mere inches from her helmet.
"Are you mad?" she yelled. "You could have blown us all to smithereens!"
Samus turned to her, calm as ever. "I said, 'stand back.'"
"Oh!" Lara yelled, obviously not pacified. "Well that makes it all jolly well good then, doesn't it? What about the wall? You could have destroyed some important clues or a trap could have triggered! Not to mention the complete disregard for the Chozo! Haven't you any sense of tact? Or do you just go around blowing everything up all the time?"
Lara ceased her ranting, too angry to think of anything else to say, and just stared at Samus, breathing heavily. The hardened bounty hunter stared back at Lara through the green of her visor. Her face was unreadable, but Lara's words had cut deeper than she knew. She stared at the enraged treasure hunter. Some of her brown hair had come loose from her braid and had fallen disheveled over her face.
"You're right." Samus said finally in her same, calm tone. "It was disrespectful. I should take much better care to preserve what is left. "
There was a tone in her voice that the others might have picked up on, had the known her better. It was deep regret mixed with forced humility. As little as Lara knew of the matter, she was still right.
"Well, I'm glad you see that." Lara replied in a calmer tone, though still highly irritated. She then began to hastily fix her hair as she continued. "Sorry I got all hot. I just can't…never mind. Let's just get moving."
Lara then proceeded over the rubble and into the dark entryway. Joanna followed, giving Samus a look displayed her thoughts of Lara's reaction being rather extreme. Samus followed after, Lara's words still resounding in her soul.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Is it just me or does anyone else when reading the scene of the three of them walking through the Chozo ruins, get a visual in their head of Lara as she appears in Tomb Raider standing behind Samus from Other M, and a hand holding a pistol in the lower right hand corner of the screen?