Crossover:

Avatar

by mr. James Cameron

The Word for Society Is Forest

by miss Ursula LeGuin

Disclaimer
My general disclaimer, given in my profile, is as valid for this story as for all others I have written – James Cameron, the movie company he is working for, the studio he is working at and the team of creators of the story of "Avatar" are the full owners of all characters and topics of it. This story is no claim to ownership of any part of this.

However, in this particular story I also make a sweep into another story, the book I regard as the most prominent inspiration mr. Cameron absorbed when he wrote the "Avatar" story: The novel "The Word for Society Is Forest" by Ursula LeGuin, published in 1973. No part of this story here written is more than inspired by this novel and any claim to ownership to any part of it is certainly not attempted to this either.

This novel, which I read at high school many years ago, is IMHO a fabulous sci-fi novel and should be on the must-read list of any sci-fi aficionado. If I can express my humble admiration for this work of miss LeGuin by writing a small sequel to it that will be interesting to more people than me, I am honoured.

Prologue
Jake had succeeded. He was often told so by his loyal lieutnants in his Namana federation and by those from other federations too, that he was the great saviour of all Na'vi. But the thought sometimes occurred to him: The RDA company was dead. But what about the hypothetical QCZ or SEB company, or whatever letter array they adorned themselves by, they might right now be gathering up power to attempt yet another push for those accursed grey rocks.

Granted, the UN Mining Commission kept an eye on things. Such an attempt could hardly be made with a base at those other moons around Polyphemous any more. But another invasion straight at Pandora could be imagined. So Jake had his radio experts stay alert for as long as they technically could, for as long as they were able to keep their radio sets repaired and alive, to listen to the chatter in space. Best to keep up the guard.

In those mostly garbled communications Angie at the listening post in the by now mostly abandoned Augustine Research Station one day heard: "… now proceeding with landing at … Beta Canis majoris C … looks good…" She took the item of information to Clarabel Tomlinson ("Bella"), the astronomer of the once station. And she was told a story.

"Beta Canis majoris is a star about 27 lightyears away from Earth, i.e. some 30 away from us. It is a single star, not a double one like our own Alpha Centauri. Out of this message you picked up it looks like they have sighted a planet around it and the message you heard shows that they are proceeding with landing at it just now. Given that distance it looks like the message has been travelling through space for thirty years, it was probably sent thirty years ago, i.e. some fifteen years before RDA was evicted from Pandora."

Angie never again got any message concerning this space locality and most at Pandora forgot about the affair. But it kept on gnawing at the back of Angie's memory, when she got old she gave this story about the mysterious landing over to her and Todd's son and daughter Täkimit and Samantha ("Sammie"), and they talked about it from time to time, the affair was thus kept fresh in their minds. Because it might be a precursor to some sinister plan, like Jake had said he was often anxious about.

Another Outpost
The years passed and the Righteous War took place, ending with a victory for the reformation of federation constitutions and the establishment of a human embassy at Pandora just before Jakesully passed into the arms of Eywa. Täkimit was a man up in mature years now, he one day came to think about what his mother had told him about that mysterious message she had heard long ago. He wondered whether the embassy staff might know something concerning that message and decided to have a talk with them.

So one day he walked to the embassy and asked for an informal chat with someone knowledgeable. He got a talk with the resident head radio technician Rod McDuff and he got to hear quite a story.

"A few years after the discovery of Pandora, another Earth-like space body was found, this time at the star by the name Beta Canis majoris. It has been reported by the local scientist, Ray Lyubov, that it is in some ways a world more like Earth than Pandora but there are significant differences. Most of all the inhabitants are very different from humans but in some ways similar to the na'vi: They are hunters and gatherers using little metal, and with a very deep connection to their nature. Not through a link like your tsahaylu but through their dreams. On the other hand they are green by colour, rather small – hardly more than a meter tall and they have hair all over.

We later established a colony there, not for unobtanium but for timber. The forests at Earth are still too weak to log in, they should still grow back before we start to harvest from them, so for objects we have to make from wood we go to that planet to get that raw material. Very far away, but then most objects we use are made from materials closer at hand. To keep the human people there in rein, to avoid any calamity like here at Pandora, the UN sent them a radio connected with a "wormhole" put up for them, an "ansibel", to allow them instant communication with Earth. We have spoken with the commander at the ISV delivering them this machinery, he heard some rumours there about some staff there running rampant in the nature but the evidence he found was inconclusive. The orders the UN staff at Earth sent them were at least formulated in no ambiguous terms, they had to keep on at least civil and preferably amicable terms with aboriginals of the planet!

After the last conflict at Pandora we heard reports through this ansibel that vaguely described conflict with the local inhabitants. And then the station went completely silent. We have been fearing the worst. An expedition is planned to inquire."

Täkimit thought a little about it for a while, and spoke: "It might be that those human people at Beta Canis majoris C station may have fallen out with the aboriginals. Something like what took place here at Pandora. If that is the case it might be a smart idea to go there to investigate as you plan, and to make sure that relations improve I propose that you bring along a mediator who is obviously neutral. Like a na'vi...

If you think this is a worthwhile idea the UN mission would appreciate, I will bring it up to the Omatikaya olo'eyktan Zazuru for him consider, if I say that the people at the Embassy are in favour of it he will pass it up to nxi'eyktan Bytok of the Central Forest tribe, I do think that the idea will then go up to the Namana kifi'ke eyktan Tulu'kum to ponder, and any with luck to the Great Peace Council, to name some na'vi as a mediator. Preferably not me, having a family of my own I can't be absent from here for so long and neither can my sister Sammie, she has our old parents to care for on top her family too. Will you go to the ambassador al-Bamaa and discuss this idea of mine with her?"

"Very well, I will!" said McDuff.

The proposal went up to the top political level at Pandora and at the proposal of Täkimit the young but intelligent and courteous scout of the Ekanagi clan Tsorom was offered the mission. Not coincidentally he was unmated, with the distance about 30 lightyears he would probably going to be absent from Pandora for some sixty years, by far too long to be away from a mate! Discussion about this had been going on also at the Embassy and through the local wormhole with Earth too, and permission to join the expedition was granted.

So one day Tsorom came to the Embassy, the space ferry was standing at the ready at the landing pad already. He gave his tearful goodbye with his parents and other relations, knowing fully well that he most probably would never see them again. He had been lectured about what was going to happen and conditions he was likely to meet at Beta Canis majoris C. Including a smattering of the local language on top of his reasonably good English, so he felt well prepared. He was given a na'vi exopack he could pull on while asleep, so his lungs could rest from the Earth-like atmosphere. The soldier at the Embassy with a medical degree gave him an injection and then darkness descended on him.

Tsorom in other words didn't sense how he was put on a stretcher, carried into the Valkyrie and brought up to the ISV. Neither did he feel how he was put in a cryo chamber – he barely fit in – and he certainly had no feeling how his body rapidly was chilled down. To him all the thirty years on the way passed like an instant.

Arrival
Then one day he suddenly felt jaundiced. "Spoiled meat in the meal yesterday?" he thought to himself. But then it dawned to him that he had come to the Embassy with an empty stomach – and then the thought struck him that this must have happened thirty years ago! The ISV crew must have awakened him, most probably the ISV had nearly arrived!

Then the drawer-like cryo chamber was pulled out of the wall. "Oel ngati kameie!" greeted the cryo tech in na'vi. Probably one of the very few na'vi phrases the guy knew… Tsorom at once reached for a barf bag, even before the tech had had time to explain what it was, but what he rid his stomach of wasn't very much, just some slime. But he was hungry and thirsty as a whole famine so he wasted no time with availing himself something to fill the stomach. While gobbling yet another tray of some belly-filling goo of not very delicious taste, a voice blared from the loudspeaker. "We are currently in orbit around our planet. Departure is due to go down in two hours. All in the exploratory team should finish their meals and make ready for descent. An item of information for your benefit: The human structures down there seems like vanished."

So two hours later Tsorom was sitting strapped in a seat in the Valkyrie and waiting for a beeping sound – and heard it. The metallic clang and hissing sound of hatch closing and sealing off he had already heard. He soon started feeling very heavy but then the feeling subsided. A voice announced: "Touchdown in ten minutes!" and a little time later he felt a slight bump. Then the aft hatch opened and everyone unstrapped, rose and disembarked, Tsorom took his few luggage items and walked off.

Tsorom looked around and saw a verdant green forest around the glen where they had landed, looking much like the forest he was familiar with at Pandora but with subtle differences, for instance the trees were not quite so tall as at Pandora and there certainly was no kelutrel (hometree) in sight, and the space seamen said that there was no bioluminisence from the trees either. A few hundred meters away he saw some crumbling ruins, looking in many ways like the ruins of the Augustine Research Station but not quite so overgrown. "Completely overrun, no doubt" he heard the shuttle skipper say. Then he saw the skipper coming walking over to him. "Now it is your turn, Tsorom! Go into the forest and try to locate the natives! Here is a radio we call 'walkie-talkie', also it works as a radiolocating device. When the natives allows us to get into contact with them, then switch on by using this switch, then tell us what they tell you. If they allow you to guide us to them, then switch down the speaking volume at lowest level by this regulator (pointing out) to show us the way. Good luck, Tsorom!" It had a hook in the back so Tsorom hitched it to his belt.

He started walking into the forest, bringing his bow and knife – not desiring to become part of the menu of some predator – he would put his weaponry away very fast if he found traces of some people. Though desiring security from predators he didn't want to seem aggressive.

He wandered around in the forest for some time, listening to the sound of the forest, sniffing the scents he felt and looked for signs of people. He knew that he was probably watched by unseen eyes, so he attempted to make himself clear and visible, and audible too, sneaking silently around would probably make him suspect. A thought suddenly struck him: He was now in the very same situation like Jakesully that night more than seventy five years ago by now, wandering about in a world he knew little about and with wary eyes on him.

Contact
And suddenly those eyes made themselves obvious. A small arrow suddenly struck a log just ahead of him. "A warning signal. I better stand totally still" he thought to himself. He put aside his weaponry and simply sat down at the ground. A small being came out of the undergrowth, looking like the small and tailless monkeys he had seen pictures of at the school the Embassy offered, with green fur and aiming a small bow at him. He asked with a whistling-like voice: "You big and funny jumenn?"

He understood that his captor intended to inquire whether he was one of the human intruders, called jumenn (you – man). Tsorom replied: "No human, I am na'vi. Not from Earth, from Pandora. Humans may be enemies but Na'vi intend to be friends. You can take me to your leader. But please bring along my weapons too."

The guy made a whistling sound and two more came out of the bushes. He said in the local tongue: "We take this perhaps-jumenn to village. Show to shaman. Ask her to dream whether he is jumenn-friend, jumenn-enemy or may be not jumenn at all. Perhaps help us with taking away jumenn we took captive during War."

The three aboriginals asked him to stand up and walk. The first one he had seen pointed direction with his bow, the second one took his bow and arrows, and the third of them took his knife – just that one was almost half as long as that small fellow…

The tiny three took the giant along by a path in the forest. After an hour or so of walking they came to another, larger path and met with what looked like a man and his mate – they screamed and pointed: "Huge jumenn! Selver protect us!" And they dropped the game they had shot and ran – astonishingly how fast such a little one could run!

After still some time they came to a collection of small huts. Tsorom couldn't come into any of them. The leading one called out: "Meile! We have giant perhaps-jumenn here! Come out, have a look!"

Tsorom heard a voice from inside the hut. "A jumenn? But they are captives at their own island! Are you sure Unku?" She came out – and froze. So Tsorom could take a good look at her. It was obviously a female, she wore like most in the village some bangles and necklaces, Tsorom couldn't see any obviously rank symbol like the red cape of a tsahik or the necklace of an eytkan at Pandora, but there was a dignity about her that made it obvious that her opinions mattered.

Story Telling
"Sit down and speak to me, jumenn! You don't look like the captive jumenn at Captive Island! Are you from Earth too?"

"My name in full is Tsorom te Kana'eia Eytukan'itan. You can say that I am not a human but a na'vi jumenn, I do not come from Earth but from another world named Pandora."

"Why have you na'vi-jumenn come here?"

"I am here to make friends not enemies, we na'vi have driven humans out of our world too. We have had many a bitter struggle with them and in the end succeded. I will on behalf of the na'vi clans congratulate You with getting rid of them.

I have been assigned a task before I am to leave this world, to mediate peace with your people and the Earth-jumenn. I have come together with a team of Earth-jumenn, they have come to find out what has happened here and to assist those Earth-jumenn who may be here. I heard that they are prisoners? Tell me the story, abbreviated!"

"Fortytwo years ago we had many jumenn from Earth here. They were brutal people who destroyed a lot. One of our islands is barely recuperating. That island is our Prison Island, the worst man among the jumenn will always be held there. They say he is still alive but totally catatonic mad now. It is his punishment.

One day a man, Selver, saw his wife killed by that very bad man. He started dreaming dreams unheard of. That we had to kill the jumenn. We are a peaceful people who abhor killing persons, we sing insulting songs when we want to chastise someone. But now the dreams of Selver, sent him by the gods, told him that they had to kill those jumenn. He had become a god himself, you see. All other gods of old had joined in giving him the power to create something always before unheard of. That we had to collect many, many athshe against their power."

Tsorom interrupted: "Athshe?" He thought to himself: "To these people their gods are like toruk makto to us." And he said out aloud: "May I compliment You with your very good English, Meile!"

"Some of us learned English language from some of the captives at the Captive Island. Athshe, that is us, it is our land and hence our people here too. The jumenn say that it is sometimes necessary to understand from context and that is what you need to with this word, whether talking about people or world. Literally translated it the term means 'forest'. Well anyway, we won the war, but their… radio… was destroyed when we took their main camp. So now we are waiting for some space boat to bring them away – and then you came. We must thank Selver the defender for bringing you, he is regarded as our god of protection from the jumenn nowadays. He died some years ago, his gravesite is a place of reverence to us.

Then there are some few jumenn still alive who are not evil but only stupid. We hold them at a detention camp at Captive Island. Many of them have died these years since the war but some are still alive. We have always hoped that some jumenn would come here to take them away. Now you have come, you MUST take them! We are simply desperate to see them taken to space and never return."

Tsorom watched and pondered for a little while. Then he spoke up. "I will now tell you our story, what took place there. Much of the same, you see. We call them the Sky People, tawtute in my language.

They came to us some eighty years ago first time, not for the timber like here but for a mineral in the ground. They were not so very annoying at first but they kept on coming and with time they became a serious threat to all of our life. They destroyed a lot of nature to dig out that mineral, we na'vi didn't know what to do about them, we are a mostly peaceful people too. We killed some of those intruders when we met them in the forest but it mattered for little. They didn't take our messages.

Those Sky People then invented a device to communicate better with na'vi. They made artificial, na'vi-looking bodies they could move their minds into, then they could easier fit into our nature, to gain our trust. We called those artificial bodies with a human mind for uniltiranyu, in our language "dreamwalkers". Well, they didn't succeed. After all, they were still Sky People in their heads and their task was clear to them: To make us na'vi accept them and what they did to our land, what they basically had been sent out to get us to accept was the very thing we never could accept.

Then something happened one night. A dreamwalker by the name of Jake Sully got lost in the forest and was nearly killed by dangerous animals, but he was rescued by a hunting girl one day to become shaman. We took this man into our clan, taught him to live and love the forest and our life style, he ended up in a love affair with this shaman trainee girl.

But then the tawtute leaders – the jumenn leaders if you will – got impatient with him. They forced him to demand that the na'vi clan should move from their home to let in the tawtute diggers. We didn't understand what he tried to warn us about, so the tawtute came and destroyed the big tree the clan lived in and more than a hundred people who didn't get away in time. Jakesully was thrown out into the forest, we thought him a traitor – and so thought the tawtute leaders since he had tried to stop them from starting the tree-felling.

But Jakesully and a few friends escaped from detention in the tawtute camp, entered their dreamwalker bodies and he gained status as toruk makto, like a god in your way of speaking. He assembled a big war party which miraculously managed to overcome the intruders. After the battle he had them thrown off our world, he reformed our rules so that we could manage to resist them should they return.

And return they did, second time the struggle was very protracted but we managed to beat them second time too, even when they duped gullible na'vi to assist them. The institutions he had founded gave us opportunity to defend our world third time too, when there was a big war between us na'vi and they weaselled in through that gap in the defences of Pandora. He is fondly remembered as one of the greatest heroes ever in our history, his descendants are held in high esteem among all na'vi. So we know something about defending against those people."

Meile nodded and said: "I see that we have experiences in common. Well, if we very simply get those jumenn away from here we will be happy anyhow."

Tsorom gave her something to ponder: "May I give you a tip, so that You don't have to risk losing to a second attack? The jumenn or tawtute over there are no risk but there are people at Earth who would gladly try to invade once again if they had the opportunity, they may try again. We na'vi had the good luck that Jakesully, and his other dreamwalker friends who stayed with us, had given us many institutions and taught us many stratagems that worked to save us both second and third time. So it is my humble advice for You that You somehow learn this too.

And here is an offer I now am going to present you on behalf of the na'vi people. This is something I will tell you that the tawtute or jumenn who brought me here are not aware of… The essences of those practices Jakesully taught us. If you will lend me an ear, of course… On top of taking those people out of here, of course."

Explaining Society Systems
Meile gave him a thoughtful glance and kept silent for almost a minute. So she rose up and asked him to go to the jumenn and get them here, then they would arrange to get the captives away.

"I for my part will take a dream about this to find out what next to decide, and I will ask other dreamers of the tribe to do the same. They will give me advices too."

Tsorom replied that he wouldn't need to go to them, he was just going to have a talk with them by using this distance talking device and to guide them here, then some Athshe would be the guide to the island where the prisoners-of-war were held. Then what next would depend on the outcome of the dreams of Meile and other dreamers of her clan.

This he told the space ferry skipper when he radioed him. So the next day Tsorom invited an athshe along with him and they walked to the landing place of the space ferry. They embarked and it took off, flying very low so that the little green one could show the way to the Captive Island. They found some fifty old people there, most of them in their sixties and seventies and brought them on board. The athshe and Tsorom was then flown to the mainland and put down there, they then walked back to the village. Once there Tsorom settled down to await the outcome of those dreams.

It took two more days before Meile came to him with her decision. "Having had some dreams and discussed them with other dreamers, I have made a decision. We will like to hear how you at Pandora have organized it, allowing you to withstand repeated attacks by the jumenn. Not that we will promise to adopt all your ways but we have concluded that it won't harm to listen to na'vi experiences.

However, before you get started, let me explain a little about how our society works.

We live in clans bundled up in tribes. All clans don't carry the same prestige, the various clans of each tribe are mostly named after a sort of tree, the jumenn have named those trees in English for trees looking like them that they are familiar with at Earth. So if someone should desire to find a wife outside the clan he is free to do so but it is very rare to go to a different caste, an ash man will normally join with an ash lady of another tribe in so case. The Oak clan use to be the highest of each tribe, or if the tribe doesn't have any Oak clan then the Holly clan, the basest use to be the Maple clan but I think there is a Birch clan in another tribe, that is even below the maple. There is in the mean twenty-something clans in each tribe, they use to count for some four or five hundred members each clan. How many tribes there is at Athshe is a profound mystery to all and everyone here – we hardly ever try guessing.

All the clans of each tribe are more or less independent, only joining together for large communal endeavours, like that time when all the Hehe Island tribe took part in defeating the Jumenn. The Oak clan shaman doesn't have any command over other shamans but they often regard the Oak clan shaman as the wisest one and will take her ideas to heart. The Maple shaman on the other hand just may have a good idea – but probably not… The life styles and sumptuary differences between the clans are in any case more or less nil. The shamans are always females, the dreamers she use to consult if she is not quite sure are of whatever gender. They are not appointed or anything, they just start to dream and then we listen to them.

Relationships with other tribes are like links of marriage alliances, all tribes are interlinked with their neighbouring tribes in a vast network. Disagreements are mostly solved with a satirical song or sometimes a homage song. Violent conflict is almost unheard of, or was at least until Selver the defender started dreaming about necessary eviction of the jumenn.

This is how we do it, and now describe what it is like among the na'vi, please."

And Tsorom explained in many details, to the rapt attention of at first only Meile, as time passed by other interested started to assemble around them. He explained about clans and their leadership of olo'eyktan and tsahik, about the élite of every craft including the military one and the masters of them, how the clan population in general had a say in the clan governance too, how they organized their hunting, fishing and gathering to be able to have a fairly large population in spite of their subsistence living, how they appointed representatives to tribal governing bodies mirroring those of the clans, ultimately likewise up at the federation level, and he talked about the Great Peace Council where grievances that couldn't be solved at lower level could be mediated. He held out his queue and explained how this was the keystone of his faith, enabling a direct link with the divinity Eywa and with long dead ancestors, it was so to say the "key to his dream world".

He explained about their training of young people, their initiation to adulthood by taming an ikran and how Jake gained respect by taming the next to untameable toruk, about schools for training further the young initiates up to mastership and the Royal Academy for training tsahik and eyktan. He gave the size and warrior power of each clan, how many clans to each tribe and how many tribes to each of the sixteen federations at Pandora, and how this federation system translated to a military system of able warriors when the peaceful na'vi people needed. He explained some of the tactics and strategies Jake had invented or given his blessing to the developments of others – ambushes, guerrilla, formation fighting, utilizing terrain, closed order drill for ceremonial occasions…

And at last he explained how after the last war, the Righteous War, the UN and the Great Peace Council exchanged ambassadors. The na'vi had in other words gained a respect never until now possible for people of limited technology as independents on equal standing with jumenn at Earth. Such a recognition might be something to struggle for, also for the Athshe?

Departure
Tsorom then declared himself finish and said that he was now ready to leave for home, along with the ISV hovering up there. But he asked Meile to consider the story he had related and to contact the jumenn at the space ferry if they wanted to implement something of the same sort – SOON in so case… because the Valkyrie space ferry was due to leave quite soon.

The day after, when Tsorom and the others were sitting inside the ferry and making ready for leaving for home, they were suddenly interrupted by these peculiar whistling voices. Tsorom and the skipper went outside and met Meile and some other of the aboriginals. "We had a talk with mr. Tsorom yesterday and he told us what the na'vi have succeeded with at Pandora. We talked about it, I and other dreamers of our tribe, and in the night I had a long dream. I saw a huge meeting of all sorts of gods and our protector god Selver the defender stood out of the masses. He named me a god too, the god of relationships with honest jumenn. We want to arrange something similar to what the na'vi have managed. So we hereby would like to invite honest jumenn and honest na'vi to come to us, not to settle permanently but to represent Earth and Pandora here. You see, we absolutely don't want any repetition of that disastrous story of Selver's War with the jumenn. If you bring a na'vi along we will know that you are honest about it. But mind you, we want it to be a diplomatic representation only and no logging, mining or any other commercial station!"

The skipper brightened up several degrees instantly, he understood that his mission looked like succeeding. Tsorom congratulated Meile with her decision and wished her all the best, but he declared that he doubted that he would be the best for such a permanent representation, it would be something for the Great Peace Council to debate. The skipper said something of the same sort, but made it clear that UN at Earth for sure would be sending some representation in the future, probably in some thirty years. And then they took off, were gone from Athshe and bringing the freed captives along, true to their word.

Meile arranged a meeting with many tribal shamans, told them what she had been told by Tsorom and what the divine Selver had told her in a dream. They had told her that there was a not unlikely risk for jumenn returning in less benevolent business than now recently. The Athshe had to organize and train for that eventuality and the Na'vi had provided a model for it that had stood the acid test of a repeated invasions to satisfaction formerly, so why not take that one?

So tribes banded together and formed federations called "mutuals" with a common shaman and the various "mutuals" sent a dreamer to the "Permanent Meeting". They decided to meet in the grove where the memorial stone to Selver the defender stood. Some hunters took an oath to his sacred memory and formed a warrior gang that trained for warfare on top of their daily tasks as hunters, they trained in laying ambushes, signals, keeping eye on the enemy, infiltrations etc. Warriors called "defenders" were appointed to head each war band, and hunting teams were given to skilled hunters too. Likewise for fishers, canoes were headed by skilled boatmen and the canoes were to be headed by a renowned warrior during times of war. Each federation was given a "great defender" too.

The organization the athshe put on feet wasn't quite such an impressive thing as Jake Sully had invented at Pandora but with the more limited resources available to the Athshe it was what they could make. They had no ikran (banshee) to ride through the air on and neither did they have pa'li (direhorse) to ride on the ground on. Their clans were smaller of size and they were more passive peaceful by nature. Last but not least, they were far, far smaller by stature than na'vi. But what they arranged was better than nothing and there would come a day when they would see this clearly.

Acid Test
Only five years later the news was made public at the Permanent Meeting that two things of note had taken place. The first one was that the old and by now completely madness-wrecked villain Davidson, the main jumenn barbarian of the Selver War, had finally sunk below his catatonia and into oblivion. A big sigh of relief went over the Permanent Meeting, he had finally paid down his debt to Athshe. It was decided to dig him down in grave where he had sunk down instead of pulling him to sea as had been proposed by Selver himself long ago. Since he was a god himself too, a bad one for sure but still, a headstone was erected to make a place where curses could be called down on new, unwelcome jumenn should they arrive.

Then a dreamer at the Meeting rose and spoke. He had a far more serious item of news to present. A jumenn space boat had been sighted. Coming so soon after the departure of the benevolent space boat at which the na'vi jumenn Tsorom had come, it wasn't likely to be coming in peace. Alarm signals went out, asking all tribes to keep on the lookout for those unwelcome jumenn.

It didn't take long to find them, happily lumberjacking at the Nonika Island. The Nonika tribe was already keeping eyes on them, an English-speaking athshe was sent them to warn them and ask them to leave in peace. The lumberjacks flatly refused to do so and were clearly warned:

"We know that big jumenn at Earth don't want you to be here so we are committing no crime in evicting you. And we will, make no mistake about it!"

The jumenn then retorted: "Try to and have a treat! We have made ready to defend us if we need to!" They then brought their logging machinery down into the bunker they had built and hunkered down. With this eventuality in mind they had stocked up on food, water, oxygen and all other necessities. And pillboxes had been built around all doors and ventilation shafts. The lumberjacks felt secure in there.

Meile and her defender spoke up at the Permanent Meeting. "The na'vi jumenn Tsorom told us that simply trying to overwhelm jumenn who are well prepared will invariably end in a bloodbath. We have to avoid that. He also said that there are better ways, it takes observation, logical thinking and creativity.

Great defender Nippi of the Nonika tribe presented the jumenn base thus: "There are small gun-houses all around it, shooting anything getting close. We can't jump down at it from above, the trees around the camp is to far away from the underground house to allow that. They are probably well provisioned to wait for a long time, and when they do come out they are not outside for any long time, they immediately go inside their machines – making themselves hard to strike with arrows."

Great defender Mimmo of the Hehe tribe took the word. "Tsorom the na'vi-jumenn told us that the systematic approach is mostly the best one. What do we want them to do? Answer: Leave our world Athshe. How do we force them to do that? By forcing them out of their fortified camp, either by pushing into it or by plugging them inside, waiting for them to surrender when they at long last run out of provisions. The first alternative may get bloody, the second will take a looooong time but once in place we can leave it to a few Nonika warriors to attend to. I am inclined to opt for the second way. That was what the Na'vi did, with great success."

Great defender Gulby of the Gog-tot tribe then asked: "Some problems then. Even getting close to them to block them in can be bloody, the gun-boxes can shoot those who approach to block the doors. Nonika warriors have told us they have big lamps illuminating darkness, allowing them to see us in the night. Darkness is no protection to us, so how can we approach them? And if we somehow can get close to the doors, how can we block them so that they can't break them open?"

Mimmo went into depth about what Tsorom had told him. "The Na'vi did it twice, first time by tiptoeing in on a fortress hiding in rags, and second time by appearing harmless and then attacking the gun-house eyes first of all and by surprise. If we can create some astonishment for them we can take them by surprise too! We can probably do away with the gun-houses altogether!"

Nippi glanced at Mimmo and said: "It is very obvious that this na'vi-jumenn must have made huge impression on you, not only by his size! You constantly keep saying that 'Tsorom said this and Tsorom proposed that'. I understand that you think about him as a god, you may or may not be right. But I do remember you saying that he gave you an advice always to look around for inspiration around you when you are pondering a problem. In other words: We must think on our own and not only remember what he said!"

The meeting was adjourned, time for a meal. Mimmo took Nippi's words to heart, and while he saw into the firepit how the food was roasting in it and idea struck him: Smoke!

He walked over to Nippi and mentioned for him his idea: Putting the grass to fire, and holding up smoking candles for good measure, and then run at the guns and the eye-box under cover of the smoke. Then some can carry stones to smash those eyeboxes and the lamp, and hammer at the guns in the gun-houses to bend and destroy them. And some other can run with a chisel and a mallet, to hammer into the door joint so that it jams and gets stuck. Having done that, we can sit down and wait. The hunters can then go home and take care of their daily business while some few warriors are standing guard outside that camp, they can be fed by hunted game by the nearest clan. In the end they will have to exit through some emergency hatch.

The plan was executed, with admirable success. The lumberjacks inside came to discover that the "crecchies", as they called the athshe, had both planned a well thought out action plan and trained in the abilities they needed to carry it out, and they found out that the "crecchies" had organization to keep up the siege too, they kept up the watch over the logging camp and the warriors at the watch were fed while they were there. A couple of technicians intending to repair the defence systems outside were struck by arrows when they went out through emergency escape hatches to do that. It took four weeks before the humans inside had consumed their provisions and gave up. End of the story was ten athshe dead or wounded out of the five hundred or so that had taken part in the initial attack, and four jumenn out of the some sixty at the camp. They were taken to Captive Island too when they finally came out.

Two more Embassies Established
It took thirty years and something until the benevolent jumenn were back, bringing a na'vi couple with some craftsmen to put up a joint embassy of Earth and Pandora. They were highly astonished to find out that the athshe had some humans for them to bring back, and it amused ambassador eyktan Jake (named for the admired figure from now old history) and his ambassador tsahik Beyla that the athshe thanked them roundly for explaining them the tricks they had needed to successfully overcome the jumenn once again – they just MIGHT have made it once again but not for sure…

Ambassador Jake then handed over his orally spoken credentials to the Permanent Meeting and invited them to appoint a similar representative at Pandora. It would probably be possible to accommodate in the human embassy compound, since the air at Athshe was more like Earth than Pandora's. And so Meile's junior and adventurous daughter was appointed to be ambassador at Earth and the daughter of Mimmo, Thele – named for the wife of Selver the defender – was likewise sent to Pandora.

Secretary general Masako Inogama sighed with satisfaction when this item of news lay on her table. The reports from the jungle of Africa indicated that the Athshe would be most welcome guests of the pygmies too, like the na'vi already were. Peace was descending on this corner of the Universe, strife had been brought under control.