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Lara walked through the darkened hallway, past a table where the secretary must have sat during the day. The door ahead – that had to be it. Now, if she had learnt anything at all at her father’s company…
She rummaged through the secretary’s desk and in a few minutes she held a spare key. Lara unlocked the office, getting ready for another, more thorough searching, but a silhouette in front of the window changed her plans – at least temporarily. Lara pulled out her pistols, though she hoped she wouldn’t have to use them. If the building held any more people, even now in the middle of the night, someone could hear and she would rather not be interrupted by the police while she searched.
The figure moved, turned around probably, by the swish of short hair.
“Oh, Lara! That’s… not exactly a nice surprise, actually. Not now anyway.”
The voice was easy to recognize, despite only having it heard once.
“Miss Natla,” Lara held her guns up. “You sent Larson kill me.”
“I did, didn’t I,” Natla groaned. “I wish I came before that happened. Now you’re going to be all suspicious of me.”
Lara frowned in confusion. “Came? What do you mean? Were you planning to travel to Peru after me?”
“Pft, no,” Natla waved her hand. “It’s a long story, but not that long, and I need to tell you at least something because you’re not letting this go now that you know something’s up. So relax and make yourself comfortable.” She gestured to a silhouette of an armchair, probably for visitors, while she herself sat on a corner of her desk.
“No, thank you,” Lara declined mildly. “But I would appreciate it if you talked more clearly.”
“Aw, you used to be so polite! I’ve almost forgotten. Not that you still aren’t,” Natla leaned back on both hands, “but you have a certain edge to your attitude now.” She moved one hand, Lara only vaguely saw the movement and cocked her guns-
Next moment there was a click.
The desk lamp flickered on. “Ah, that’s better.”
Lara scrunched her eyes on reflex and for a vulnerable moment she could see nothing, but when her vision came back, Natla was still sitting there, waiting patiently.
“You can put those guns away, you know they don’t work on me. No, wait, you don’t,” Natla rubbed her forehead. Then she looked again, leaned forward, narrowed her eyes. “Hm, I wonder when you started wearing such dark make-up. Maybe after Egypt...”
Egypt? Which time? Lara had been there many times and anyway, her make-up wasn’t particularly dark.
“I will repeat myself only once: Explain what you are talking about, please.”
Natla grinned. “Can’t say no when you’re asking so nicely.” She threw one leg over the other. “I am seven years from the future.”
Lara’s eyes widened. That she hadn’t expected. But she’d asked for an explanation so she would listen.
“And we have a problem there – me, you, some more people you don’t know yet… We’re almost out of ideas, actually,” Natla said faux-cheerfully. “This is one of our last ones, pretty crazy, but that’s what you get for scraping the bottom of the barrel.”
“What problem would this be, for the two of us to work together,” Lara gestured to her and Natla with one of her guns. “I can’t see us cooperating after you decided to send Larson after me.”
“Yes, yes,” Natla waved her hand, “I get it. Look, back then, I’d heard enough about you to doubt that you’d have given me the Scion once you had it… Hey maybe I was wrong! I’ve never asked later, actually… would you have?”
“Would I have a reason to think it would be a bad idea?”
“Probably not, if I didn’t send Larson there,” Natla combed her fingers through her hair. “Well, what’s done is done. And trust me, the problem in question is big enough to put aside our differences. It’s worldwide and it’s kicking our butt. Your artefact collection is impressive – you’ll add a few interesting pieces in the next seven years – but somehow, most of them don’t really work against megalomaniacs… So,” Natla threw her hands wide, “we decided to try the Scion.”
Lara was listening carefully through all that. The explanations were still quite vague, and at the same time quite unbelievable. Some of the things she had seen – it probably wouldn’t be unfeasible to find a way to travel to the past. And a world-wide threat was hardly out of the realm of possibility. But that she, Natla and – from how it sounded – only a few more people would be those to face it? By using various artefacts of hers? And speaking of the Scion...
“And for that you needed to go to the past?”
“What, haven’t shot any artefacts to pieces yet?” Natla threw back. “Was Scion the first?”
“I shot – no, would shoot the Scion to pieces?” The tenses were slightly confusing here.
Natla’s grin was strained. “Yes.” Then pouted. “And tried to do the same to me when I was pissed about it. But I got better.”
There was still something important missing. “Why would I destroy the Scion?”
“Riiight, okay here comes the tricky part,” Natla mumbled and switched legs. “You didn’t really like my plans I had with it, but,” she raised a finger, “the me back then – uh, now – was really short-sighted. I didn’t do any research on current population and worked with almost twelve thousand year old data! I feel like an idiot just talking about it… And honestly, I’m glad to stop the me from here from making such an embarrassing blunder.”
“And what was it you wanted to do?”
Natla groaned, letting her head fall back. “Just, you know, speed up the human evolution so people aren’t such weaklings.”
That didn’t sound good at all. Lara’s hands on the guns tightened. “ Speed up the evolution?”
“Look, just...” Natla rummaged in her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “Here.”
As Natla didn’t seem to be attacking anytime soon, Lara holstered her guns after all, bringing relief to her arms, and made the few steps to reach Natla’s extended hand. She took the paper and unfolded it.
The message was brief:
Give Natla the Scion and send her back, we need both. Keep making your own luck.
Lara
That was Lara’s own handwriting. She stared at the note, hoping it would give her anything more. The second sentence – that wasn’t really informational, was it? It merely hinted at Lara’s philosophy that Natla wouldn’t know, as a proof of authenticity.
Time travel… yes, Lara could be willing to believe it. She had seen enough strange things… and a message from her future self – well, it was definitely one of the strangest experiences, but she wouldn’t consider it impossible.
“Very well,” Lara looked up, “let’s say I believe you. Wouldn’t you coming here cause unexpected changes to your time? A butterfly effect, if you will.”
“Good question,” Natla snapped her fingers, “and no, we’ve tried before and every travel creates a new branch of timeline, even though I can still return to my own.” She leaned forward now, and one elbow resting on her knee, she put her chin into her palm. “So see, I can even give you a warning about the thing we’re dealing with and it might never get that far here. You might not have to do desperate things like time travel.”
Lara might not have to – that wording brought another question to her mind: “Why wouldn’t future me come here instead of you? I am quite sure I would trust myself more.”
Natla hummed, still slouched forward in that sitting position, and looked up at the ceiling as if recollecting some events. “We didn’t know where and when exactly it would dump me. You have only one piece now, right? Imagine another you searching for the others… even if there were two of you for it, and even though time doesn’t really play a role here because I will return to the moment I’ve left from… it would still take Lara – our Lara – some energy. We can’t have her exhausted, she’s already tired – well, we all are, but we can’t afford to make her worse.”
That only proved that there weren’t many people fighting this world-wide threat. But why? And why Lara specifically would be so important? Natla really enjoyed being vague, didn’t she? “What is so important about me – her?”
Natla’s eyes slid down to look at Lara, the look was sharper now, but also amused. “Oh Lara, it’s funny seeing you not yet aware of what a one woman army you are.” She straightened and hopped off the table. “ So? Will you help me get the Scion?” She walked forward, past Lara, who was watching her every step, and stopped by a wall. Kneeling down, she fiddled with something in the dim light and Lara finally recognized the door of a safe.
“I suppose I could just tag along,” Natla shrugged as she pulled out a leather-bound book, “wouldn’t want to spoil your fun.” She turned back to Lara, offering the book to her.
Lara didn’t take it. “And what exactly can the Scion do? How would you use it in your time, to deal with the problem? Which you also haven’t described yet.”
Natla shrugged in a “point taken” way and shook the book a little. Lara relented and took it. Golden letters stood on its worn down cover:
BROTHER HERBERT
PRAYER BOOK
1573
†
She didn’t open it yet, but looked back at Natla expectantly.
“Oh, we’ll create an army of skinless, fireball-shooting beasts to kick some Nephilim butt!” Natla wiggled her fingers dramatically.
“Nephilim? The biblical giants?” Lara asked.
Natla beamed. “Yes!”
“This is the danger I should watch out for?” Lara raised an eyebrow. From what she remembered, those creatures should have merely been… large and strong people. Not exactly the apocalyptic threat she had been expecting.
Natla gave a crooked smile in return. “Definitely. But do you want more hints? Wouldn’t it get boring for you?”
That was a very good point indeed. “I will think it over,” Lara finally said. “So, the Scion. How many parts are there?” While speaking, she reached to her ba c kpack with her free hand and pulled out the piece she had retrieved from Qualopec’s tomb.
N atla almost stared, eyes wide, but then she shook herself off. “Two more. As Brother Herbert would tell you,” she nodded towards the book. “You can read it all on our way to Greece.”
“Greece?”
“Great for sightseeing, right? And then to Egypt for the third piece.”
Lara remembered Natla’s previous words, which now made more sense. She had been talking about Lara’s future. “Is that when I will start wearing darker make-up?”
Natla grimaced. “Not for a few years yet, unless we really mess up.”
Lara gave her a curious look, but decided not to ask. Something might happen to her in the future, but clearly, with this time-travelling intervention, thing s could end up very differently. Lara wouldn’t like watching out for something that might not even happen. Instead, she decided to focus on the situation at hand. Finally opening the book, she started leafing through.
“Oh and after that we go to your house so I can use the Iris to get back,” Natla added.
Lara’s hand stilled halfway through turning a page. “The Iris?”
“Don’t worry, the Iris will stay, the same way I was sent here from your house in my time. The Iris doesn’t travel through time, it always stays behind.”
Lara shook her head. The Iris. The artefact she had found with Werner in Cambodia. She had suspected back then that it had carried Werner home, a teleportation, a travel through space… but a travel through time too? Amazing.
That wasn’t what had given her a pause though, but rather - “I don’t have the Iris.”
Natla’s smile froze. “What?”
Lara resumed looking through the book. “I did have some plans to retrieve it, maybe next year… Atlantis?”
“What?” Natla said again, this time confused.
“Atlantis,” Lara repeated and read through the whole passage where the unexpected word had appeared. “The Scion belonged to the rulers of Atlantis? So the myth is true?” Lara could hardly bring herself to feel surprised. If anything, that was exciting – a new place to find and explore for artefacts. That was, if there was anything left of the mythical island.
“Oh yes, yes,” Natla waved her hand impatiently, “three pieces for the three rulers, Qualopec, Tihocan and me. Now, what did you say about the Iris? It’s still in the VCI? When I get back home, I’m so thanking Lara for not warning me about this little scheduling hitch.”
Lara could hardly care about the whereabouts of the Iris now. “One of the pieces belongs to you? Do you come from Atlantis then? The myths describing its destruction are very old.”
Natla managed her most fake smile so far, almost manic. “The wonders of cryogenics.” Then her expression turned more sane. “But that doesn’t really help us with finding my piece, other than knowing the approximate location. Which is the way you probably prefer it but anyway , the Iris. VCI? Really?”
“Yes,” Lara agreed. “Does anything of the island of Atlantis still remain?”
Natla sighed. “Of course you’d be interested in that. Yes, there are some remains. I can point you to it later, if you want, we need to go find the Scion first because the other me is already searching for it.” She paused. “Wait, we need to find the Scion and get the damn Iris. Then I can tell you all about finding Atlantis so you can get busy digging through there while I finally can get the hell out of here. Deal?”
That was a lot Lara had learnt in such a short time. But at the very least, this Natla would remain close and in her sight, in case she would want to try something. And… this all sounded rather too silly to be a plot to get the Scion from Lara, didn’t it. “Greece, Egypt, New York, Atlantis,” Lara listed the destinations in Natla’s preferred order.
“How’s that for a big park?” Natla asked, her smile genuine now, almost excited.
Corners of her mouth pulling wide, Lara smiled back.