Perfect Dark

IV. Recollections

Joanna Found herself wandering the empty halls of a skedar ship. Her phoenix gun in hand, she turned this way and that as she moved swiftly down the corridors, watching for the enemy whom she was sure to be just around the next bend of the triangular hallway. The ship was oddly empty, and eerily quiet. Somewhere in the distance, she could hear the sound of water trickling as well as what sounded like the sound of a fire snapping and crackling. She could feel heat. There was a presence. Something was approaching. She spun around, searching for her enemy and saw mangled jaws lunging at her. Outwardly calm, inwardly screaming, she fired.

She woke with a start, snatching up her weapon and pointing it up at the young woman that stood staring down at her.

“Didn’t we already go through this?” a familiar voice asked her.

Joanna blinked, her quickly clearing eyesight revealing the treasure hunter that had now twice saved her life.

“Sorry.” She said, lowering her gun. “Been long about it, you know?”

As she holstered her weapon, Joanna looked around. It was night. She found herself leaning against a tree, a campfire crackling in front of her, and what must have been a stream offshoot of the river just beyond. A spit hung over the fire, cooking well the small fish that were skewered on it.

“How long was I out?” Joanna asked as she pushed herself up to sit better.

“Ten hours.” Lara replied, squatting down, “It’s midnight. I thought I might lose you for a time. Here.”

Lara handed Jo a spit of freshly cooked fish. Upon seeing it, the young agent realized just how hungry she was and took it with thanks.

“Sorry to have worried you.” She said between bites. “That’s twice now you’ve saved my life. You keep this up and I may wind up being your slave.”

Lara didn’t answer the joke. She was busy observing carefully their surroundings, never moving from her squatting position.

“Is something wrong?” Jo asked her, halting her inhaling of the fish.

“Maybe.” Lara replied, still looking around.

“Hey!”

Lara at last looked at her.

“I may not be as experienced as you at this sort of living, but I’m not daft.” Jo told her. “I’ve had quite a bit of experience with close quarters combat and have come close to losing my life several times. I don’t carry this gun for style. If something’s wrong, I’d like to know what we’re up against.”

Lara regarded her for a long moment.

“What is it you do Joanna?” she finally asked her.

Joanna stared thoughtfully at the young treasure hunter. Thoughts of the space-time continuum and the consequences of tampering with the past ran through her mind. If she told her, would she create an alternate timeline? Would she erase her own future? Would it affect her at all or would the universe implode if she spoke one more word? She thought about it so much, her head began to hurt. Then again, maybe it was just the fish. The blasted things weren’t the best tasting thing she had eaten.

Joanna sighed. She had better stick to what she knew. And all she knew was that the universe hadn’t imploded yet.

“I guess there’s no harm in telling you.” She said, resuming her meal. “I’m a special agent working for an independent agency known as the Carrington Institute. I specialize in espionage; you know, break in quietly, recover the microfilm, that sort of thing. Course, my body count is often a lot higher than my boss would like. In my time the world is ruled by malevolent megacorporations mostly dealing in pharmaceuticals on the surface and grasping for world domination underneath. I deal with these megacorps’ security forces which usually amount to a small army on a regular basis. They aren’t expert combatants, but they’re tough and numerous enough to give me a pretty hard time so I’m no stranger to dangerous situations.”

“And the spaceship?”

Joanna shook her head as she took another bite.

“I was as surprised as you were.” She replied. “Datadyne, one of the megacorps I was assigned to infiltrate on several occasions, had been holding Elvis captive. I managed to get him out and found out a lot more about Datadyne. Mainly that they had apparently allied themselves with an alien race called the skedar. They’re not nearly as cute and annoying as Elvis. Think the Alien movies only with intelligence and advanced weaponry. They and Elvis’ people, the mayians, were in the middle of an interstellar war. That was no fun to get involved in. Put all that together and you get an idea of what I’ve had to deal with up until yesterday. So you can see I have no patience to be left in the dark as it were.”

Lara nodded, taking in all that Joanna had told her.

“Your turn.” Jo said, taking another bite.

“I found a set of fresh tracks half a kilometer away heading in the direction of the entrance I told you about. They were human and they were booted. Do you know what that means?”

“Well, based on your behavior, I’d say it means that those unsavory characters you told me about before are somewhere nearby and probably headed for the emerald you’re hunting.”

“Right.” Lara replied as she continued to look around.

“So what’s the plan?” Joanna asked, tossing the empty spit away and dusting her hands.

“Nothing right now.” Lara replied, “You’re too injured to go anywhere and I can’t leave you here to fend for yourself. So unless you’ve got a miracle pill in that belt of yours, all we can do is stay put.”

“Well don’t count me out yet.”

Lara looked to her in disbelief.

“Oh don’t tell me you have a miracle pill.”

Joanna laughed as she began to pull herself to her feet, Lara on edge as she moved to a standing position.

“Not unless you consider penicillin a miracle pill.” Joanna said as she stretched her legs out. “I’m feeling much better now that I’ve eaten and that blasted sun is off my head. Remember, I’ve been trained at stealth and espionage. I know how to move without causing a lot of stress to my body. So long as I don’t aggravate my wound, which I assume you are at the very least competent in stitching, I should be fine. Besides, I’ve seen plenty of times myself what happens when evil men get a hold of something powerful. If this emerald is as you say, we can’t afford to waste any time.”

Lara stared at her, arms crossed as Joanna pulled out her gun, checked the clip and pulled back on the slide, chambering the breach.

“Lara.” Joanna said, looking back at Ms. Croft, “I’ve risked my life several times to keep what’s important out of the hands of those who would use it for their own gain. This is no different. The world doesn’t stop and start by our timetable and these men won’t wait for me to heal.”

Lara stared at her a moment more, weighing heavily what Joanna had said.

“Alright. But if your condition worsens-“

“Then you’ll leave me behind and I’ll wait for you to return. Understood. Lead the way.”

“First let’s put out this fire. No need to burn down the entire forest.”