"I still think we should have checked the plane for people," muttered Pandora as she followed Marlboro and Tianne through the thick jungle underbrush. "It's not right to just leave them."

"If God didn't see fit to throw them out of the plane, then we're not meant to help them," Marlboro said.

"That's the damn stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Pandora exploded. "If they'd been thrown from the plane, then they probably wouldn't have needed our help! Untie me, you freaky Christians!"

"Nope." Tianne tightened the knot around Pandora's arms and waist. "You aren't going anywhere."

"I should have helped Death reclaim you two."

"Shut up already!" shouted Marlboro, whirling about to face them. "I don't want to hear anything else out of you two until we reach civilization!"

Tianne shrank back, but Pandora's eyes blazed with fury. She kicked him in the kneecap, and again in the face while he was clutching his knee in pain. Tianne grabbed Pandora's hair in an attempt to restrain her. Pandora used the backwards pull to move herself up and behind Tianne in a backflip. Tianne's hand was still wrapped around her ponytail, so Pandora nudged a shoulder into Tianne's back and flipped her. Tianne lost her grip on Pandora's hair in midair, and landed face down in a huge mud puddle.

Marlboro, meanwhile, was recovering from Pandora's initial attack. He had a bloody nose, a bootprint on his face, and a really sore knee, but ain't no way he was going to let some little girl beat him up. As he charged, Pandora managed to free herself from the rope and step aside. Marlboro didn't realize until the last second that if he didn't jump, he'd run right over Tianne. He jumped, and landed in the far end of the mud puddle.

While the missionaries spluttered and spat mud, Pandora collected the rope and scrambled up a tree. It might not be the most convenient form of transportation, but swinging from tree to tree was certainly safer than walking with those two. Besides, this was how George traveled. And she wanted to find George, who (aside from herself, of course) was probably the most intelligent person in this rainforest.

"You honestly don't remember who you are? Because if you're joking, I wish you'd stop right now."

"I really don't know who I am... well, I'm Suki, I guess, since that's what you called me." Suki was sitting against a rock, Brian leaning over her in disbelief, and Otto filming the entire thing. Her eyes were wide, slightly frightened by Brian's approaching-hysterical reaction.

"You're Suki Leilani Kyoko. You own a pony farm in southern Layla:)."

"Layla:)? I've never heard ':)' pronounced before."

"Of course you have! Every day of your life! You've lived there since you were born. That's where your family is."

She frowned, and pushed him away so she could better see her surroundings. "Where am I now?"

"Somewhere in the north of Brazil. As far as I can tell, the plane hit turbulence just over the Panamanian border, and we managed to get over Colombia before we crashed."

"Plane... and who are you again? Who is he? Why is he filming me?"

"I'm Brian. We've been dating for a few months. That's Otto. He's supposed to be filming the wildlife, but he likes filming you better." Otto suddenly pulled Brian off to the side. (The side of what? They're in a jungle!) Brian swatted at Otto's hand on his arm, but the dwarf persisted.

"You could tell her anything! You could get exactly the girlfriend you'd always wanted!" Otto's eyes shone. "I could do a film about psychological persuasion!"

"Shut up, Otto. I like her the way she is, and if you mess with her mind at all, I'll kill you." Brian held a fist before Otto's face.

"Okay, man, I'll lay off. But think about it. It could be cool."

"Hey, guys, what are we doing in the jungle?" Suki interrupted. "You told me there was a plane crash, but why were we on a plane? Where were we going?"

"Otto had to get footage for his wildlife film. I went to help him... and you tagged along to be with me."

"I did? Did I have any luggage? Because I'd like to have a little more clothing. I don't think it's right for me to be so... um..." She gestured to her torn shirt, which had been a tank top, but now resembled a lace handkerchief with shoulder straps. Her jean-shorts were in slightly better condition, in that they still covered what they had in the beginning.

Brian offered her the plaid flannel he'd been wearing over a t-shirt. It, too, was well torn, but gave her a little more protection. Suki, modest? I better fix this quick! Brian thought as he handed over his shirt. Otherwise, I might never have a fun night again-

A huge noise rocked the jungle just then and cut off Brian in mid-thought. Suki screamed, and Otto nearly dropped his camera. "Dammit!" he cried. "You think that's the plane blowing up?"

"What else would it be?" Brian asked. "If we can get back to the plane, maybe we can meet up with someone else who was on the trip. Safety in numbers and all that."

"But what direction did it come from?"

"That way," said Suki, pointing. "But... I have the feeling that if we go that way, we'll find a village." She pointed in the exact opposite direction.

She hits her head and she's psychic. Well, what have I got to lose? Brian thought. "I say we go to the village. Otto?"

"I'm just here to film. Let's go."

"You are not here to film. You... okay, you're here to film, but you'd better be filming animals!" Brian helped Suki stand up, put a protective arm around her shoulders, and set off along a faint path. Otto followed, his camera trained on the couple's backs.

I found him! Pandora thought joyfully. I can't believe my luck! George was sitting in a tree, looking down, both literally and figuratively. "George, I'm so glad I found you! Look, you can call me Ursula if it gets you out of trouble with Ape. Anything to get me away from those crazy missionaries!" Pandora shouted as she swung to the tree George was seated in.

George looked up, startled, and his eyes lit up as he recognized her. "Really?" he asked, eyes widening. "You do that for George?"

"Sure, why not? You're my ideal guy anyway: sexy, dumb... wearing a loincloth." Just then, a huge explosion noise echoed through the forest. "Holy carp! That must have been the plane!"

"We look?"

"Yes, George, we look! What if someone was there, in or near the plane? They probably will need our help! I shouldn't have listened to those missionaries... hey! What are you doing?" George had an arm around his "Ursula" and was swinging through the trees.

"We look." And ten minutes later, they landed safely amid a deserted clearing scattered with charred plane parts.

"No one left. If anyone was here, they're probably dead, their molecules scattered to the wind." Pandora cast her eyes at the ground. George followed suit, then dropped completely to the ground and started sniffing. "George, what in God's name are you doing now?"

"Fresh tracks. Two... no, three. We follow, help?"

"Yes, George, yes!" cried Pandora. "What would I do without you and your animal instincts? Let's follow them!" Before she finished the sentence, Pandora was in the air again, flying through the trees with George's arm wrapped firmly about her waist.

"George check trail again." He dropped to the ground, set Pandora down carefully, and sniffed the ground again. "Still good. Closer. We walk from here."

George forged ahead, pushing aside branches and occasionally snapping them off. Pandora had lost her sandals somewhere along the way, and so George made sure the ground was safe for her bare feet. I think I found the adventure I was looking for... it's too bad my camera is broken. If I ever decide to go back to civilization, no one is going to believe me about George.

"That heathen!" sputtered Tianne. "She will burn in Hell for this!"

"Yes, she will, but if I get my hands on her, she'll suffer through Hell on Earth first!" said Marlboro.

"I just want a shower! I'm all covered in mud!"

"So am I," muttered Marlboro. "Come on, let's see if God has provided us with a safe stream nearby." He stood, mud squelching in his shoes, and proffered a hand to Tianne. She took it, and tried to pull herself up, but their muddy hands slipped and she fell back, causing a splash that hit Marlboro full in the face.

Marlboro jumped when he saw the wall of mucky water flying at him, and as it hit him, he slipped and fell again. Tianne had managed to grasp a branch and pull herself partway out of the puddle. She laughed as Marlboro momentarily floundered, but he propelled himself to her end of the puddle and pulled on her leg. She slid into the puddle again, and Marlboro had a brief moment of laughter.

Then Tianne grabbed a relatively solid clump of mud from the edge of the puddle, and smushed it into Marlboro's hair. "Take that!"

"Oh, really?" he cried. "How 'bout some of this?" He scooped a glop of mud from the puddle and rubbed it into Tianne's scalp. It quickly devolved into an all-out mud war, with neither one keeping the upper hand for more than ten seconds at a time.

Soon, Marlboro and Tianne were laughing too hard to continue fighting. They dragged themselves out of the puddle (wider but shallower, now) and tried to catch their breath.

"I think," Tianne gasped, "that God sent us this comic relief for a reason."

"Yes," Marlboro said. "God doesn't want me to torture Pandora. He wants the delight all to himself."

"So he took away your anger?"

"Yes, and in a most creative way. Let's look for His stream now." They trekked silently, and aimlessly, until they happened upon a quietly flowing stream. And to their great surprise-- there stood Zachariah, filling Ellie's canteen!

Pandora approached the clearing carefully. According to George, this would be someone from the plane. She wanted to make sure, however, that it wasn't the missionaries. There was a woman, that much she could tell, with shoulder-length hair. Either Tianne or Ellie, and she hoped it was Ellie. The woman bent over another body... unidentifiable in the dimming light, at that distance. She approached, George following quietly.

"Ellie. Thank God it's you."

"Pandora? What luck! Neil's gotten torn up something awful--" Ellie was cut off as Pandora approached, saw Neil's face, and promptly fainted. Immediately, George was there to catch her.

"Me George."

"Hi, George. What do you know about surgery?" Ellie asked wearily.

"Ape study medicine."

"We don't have time. Zachariah is squeamish, and it looks like Pandora is, too. If you can't help me..."

"Ellie!" Zachariah's voice tried to ring through the jungle, but the humidity defeated it. Instead, it merely carried heavily. Ellie looked in the direction of the stream, and saw not one, but three people approaching. "Look what I found!"

It was the two missionaries, now mostly clean, and dripping wet. "Hey, man," said Tianne as she saw Ellie. She grinned sheepishly.

Marlboro's eyes fell on Pandora, unconscious and still in George's arms. "The heathen! She fought us then left us to die!"

"Well, if you had, you would have been martyrs. As it is, we could use your help with a miracle," Ellie said dryly. "I don't suppose either of you knows anything about surgery?"

"A little," said Tianne, glancing sidelong at Marlboro. "All missionaries are required to know some doctoring, for we must heal the bodies as well as the souls."

"Eloquently put, my dear. What precisely is needed?" Marlboro asked.

"Skin grafts. Neil's face was well-shredded by the blast from the plane."

Marlboro nodded. Then he took over the operation.

Ellie grumbled internally, knowing she could have headed it up. Chauvinism seemed to run rampant around her, the most capable of women. Perhaps, she thought, it's my purpose on this Earth to prove women are just as good as men. That we're better.

Within an hour, Neil's face was close to what it had been before. There had been minimal blood loss, minimal arguing between Marlboro and Ellie, and minimal fainting. Zachariah had taken Pandora, upon her waking, to the stream. George had forged them a better path before returning to the clearing to protect the surgery from random animal attacks.

The next morning, when Neil finally woke up, they began following George to a settlement he knew was nearby.

"Holy carp... Suki, how did you know there was a village here?" Brian's mouth was wider than a railway tunnel.

"I just did," she shrugged. "We should find out if anyone knows how to get to a big city."

Otto panned the camera across the entire village. It consisted of perhaps a half-dozen circular huts, and fewer rickety wooden buildings that indicated a long-ago visit by "civilized" men. Naked children sat in front of the huts, or ran around the central well. It was oddly quiet, with the exception of the children's cries. One old woman sat by the well, one eye watching the children, the other watching her fingers as they worked reeds into a basket.

Suki surveyed the area nervously. Yes, they needed to approach this woman. She was the only one in the village right now. The women were probably working the tribe's farmland elsewhere in the jungle; the men were most likely hunting. The old woman was the oldest of the village, Suki knew. She was probably also a queen or princess of some sort, or a priestess or medicine woman. She wasn't familiar with the habits of this area, but Suki knew these things intuitively.

"We should ask her." Suki strode forward quickly so that Brian would not stop her, but as she drew closer to the center of the village, she slowed her steps and kept her eyes on the ground. This was always a safe posture to assume when dealing with important people. Let them know you respect them. Suki was rather lucky to have been bonked on the head. She might not have listened to her instincts otherwise.

The old woman spoke first, in a language that was a mixture of Spanish, Portugese, and the native language. And despite the fact that she had never learned more Spanish than "hola," Suki found she was able to understand the old woman. "We have long awaited your coming. Please excuse the absence of the other elders; it is the middle of our planting season, oh honored one."

"I excuse your unpreparedness and bless your crops," Suki said, barely understanding why the words were coming out of her mouth. "I require your assistance."

"Anything, oh honored one, O Goddess Okoykinalielikus."

Suki heard the name she was given, and realized it was Suki Leilani Kyoko, backward and run together. She also realized that she had been this goddess of fertility for many millenia, and had suffered many incarnations to return to the sole village that honored her. It had taken a knock on the head to bring this knowledge back to her, but now that the floodgates had opened... the Goddess Okoyki was ready to reclaim her people.

Brian and Otto watched, listened, as the two women conversed in the strange tongue. They had no idea what was going on. If they had, they would have been frightened indeed. A dangerous place, the Amazon valley. More dangerous to them, since they were men in the land of the Amazon women.