Chapter 1
DREAMCATCHER

Neytiri slowly opened her eyes. At first the scenery was blurry, with only a few distinct spots of light visible on a dull, dirty gray background. However, at the same time as she slowly grew used to the strange body she found herself in, so did her vision clear, letting her take a look around.

Judging by the dusk, it was late evening. She was standing under a gray, foggy sky, on a concrete floor, a single relatively clear spot among piles of trash. Human trash, she understood. Dust, plastic bags, bottles, disassembled machinery, broken desks and chairs, discarded papers... Like the kind of waste the Corporation left on Pandora, except here, it seemed right at home.

A narrow path showed itself amid the heaps, and so Neytiri carefully treaded her way with her bare feet. Barely evading a dump-truck carrying more of the trash, she found herself in front of a tall lattice wall with a closed gate, with red signs attached to the other side — she could not see from here what was written on them. Behind was an enormous skyscraper of the same dull gray, shaped like a sharp pyramid — wide at the ground level, pointy at the bottom. The large sign above its front door was all too well-known to Neytiri: the four-circle logo and the dreaded three-letter acronym, "RDA".

"Welcome to Earth," said a female voice behind her. Said in the language of the na'vi, with a human accent. A familiar voice, very familiar. Neytiri turned around, not immediately discerning all features of the figure nearby; but yes, it was undeniably her.

"You!" Neytiri made a step back. "Aren't you —"

"Supposed to be dead?" Doctor Grace Augustine, in the human form, slowly approached her, smiling. "And you are supposed to be back on Pandora, with your people. Aren't they wonderful, the innate properties of your world's lifeforms? I only wish I had more time to study them while I could... But I repeat, welcome to Earth, Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at'ite. Watch and learn from me, like you did once."

Neytiri shuddered, recalling the memories of Grace's school. The avatars... English language... Sylwanin... No! I don't want to remember. She stared at Grace anxiously; something seemed wrong about her instantly. And it quickly became clear what: the scientist was as tall as she was. Neytiri looked down at herself, and this only confirmed her suspicions.

She looked like a human. Her hair was still black, still curled and falling below her shoulders; but she could not feel her na'vi her skin color was pinkish-color now, and her hands and feet were human-shaped, although oddly still with four fingers or toes each. She was wearing bulky pajamas, and could not see her face, but she was confident that the rest of her body underwent a similar change of appearance.

She caught her breath, then asked, pointing at the skyscraper, "This is the demon's lair?"

Grace nodded. "This is the heart of the Corporation, my girl. I think you realize now that many of us aren't exactly fond of them." She raised her hand, and all of a sudden the windows of the building lit up, casting light on other, shorter skyscrapers surrounding the RDA headquarters. All connected by catwalks and wires, with monorail tracks running along the streets, resembling an unnecessarily complicated web.

"On Pandora, they were kings — until you threw them away, that is. Here, they are not all-powerful," Grace continued. "There are governments and laws, clashing owners and rivals. But it's very powerful, still. Controlling our transport and food supply, sustaining us — all twenty billion. Communications and networks, computing and exploration... RDA has become the planet's veins and nerves, and eyes and ears, and its hands reaching into space — grabbing the first shiny toys they find, just like infants." She snorted and pointed to the top of the RDA building. "And this, dear, is the brain of the organism called humanity. Its central nervous system. Our Eywa."

Neytiri snorted. She dares to compare this inhumane force of destruction to the benevolent Goddess? Who does she think she is, anyway? "If these people tried to play god, they failed," she said aloud, eyeing her surroundings in displeasure.

Grace smiled, taking Neytiri's hand. "I do not think they try to do anything in particular. Just like every neuron does its job to keep the brain running, so do corporations run without anyone, even the bosses, being aware of the entire situation. Even those on top, much less the common people — just like you, adorable na'vi, can live your daily lives without realizing what complex chemical reactions are behind what you call Eywa. Let's take a look at this bakery of decisions." She tugged her arm invitingly, and then —

A massive bulldoser appeared from seemingly out of nowhere, from Neytiri's left outside her field of view, crushing the fence in front of her like ripping through the thinnest web. Looking just like the machine that destroyed the Tree of Voices, it drove straight at Neytiri, knocking her off her feet...

Neytiri woke up, gasping.

The change of scenery was dazzling at first, and it took her a few seconds to realize that she was dreaming. She shifted in her hammock, casting a quick look at her mother lying in the one next to hers, and stared down at the water. It was night — technically; but it was not quite dark under the shine of that giant blue orb in the sky, which the humans called Polyphemus, reflecting in the uncannily still waters of the lake.

A lot changed in the year that passed since the fall of the Hometree. On the bright side, the "skypeople" were gone — save only a handful, the "good" ones, and Jake — her Jake — was among them. On the downside, she lost her father, many of her friends among the Omaticaya, and her clan was left without a home. By now, at least, they had built a new haven by themselves, in the thick forest on the shore of Lake Kin'eyu, with some dwellings literally atop it, supported by intertwined tree-branches and ropes above the fresh water. Jake and Neytiri's house — if this aggregate of suspended platforms and rope-ladders could be called a house — was located right on top of the middle of the lake, and so were the hammocks where they retreated to rest.

Still, even after such a shake-up, when the Corporation threatened to destroy the na'vi's entire way of life, things remained mostly the same. Disappointingly so, even.

Neytiri's mother, Mo'at, was the tsahik, the spiritual leader. So was her grandmother, and great-grandmother, and so it stretched for generations, as far as she could tell. Neytiri herself was slated for the role since the death of her older sister Sylwanin — then she would be bonded to Tsu'tey, a warrior devoted to traditions to the marrow of his bones, and the cycle would continue. Year after year would the Omaticaya hunt, and live in the wilds, sing of Eywa, and tell tales about their great accomplishments — mostly made up, Neytiri suspected. After all, the old ways are the best, right? Right?..

Then came Jake. She was ready to kill his avatar on the spot, yet something stopped her hand. Was it really appreciation for his strong heart? Or was it pity for this clueless wanderer, stranded with no knowledge of the ways of Pandora? Or the fond memories of Grace and her genuine respect for the na'vi, before the rift between them and RDA widened? Who knows... One thing is certain: he was different. Different from the na'vi, yet different also from the other marines, who only had one thing on their minds: destruction.

"Still not sleeping, Stubborn?" asked Mo'at, rolling onto her other side to face her daughter.

"I saw a dream," said Neytiri quietly, not turning her eyes from the water. "Like many of us did recently."

"The human world, dying and grey?"

"That, and... This time, she spoke to me."

Mo'at shifted uncomfortably in her hammock. "She?"

"Grace," explained Neytiri. "About her world, and I thought... Mother, is it possible that something of her mind survived? Within Eywa, I mean. Perhaps this is how she..."

Mo'at shook her head. "Those made one with Eywa do not speak directly to the living. We can only look for signs from our ancestors — in the clouds on the sky, in the plants trembling from wind, in the patterns of leaves under our feet... But not in words. If she spoke, I think this is just your imagination."

"But the dream itself...?"

"Shared dreams are unmistakably a sign from Eywa," said the tsahik. "We should travel to the Tree of Souls and delve into the meaning of this."

Neytiri rolled onto her back, staring at the sky apathetically. "I'll wait for Jake's return, at least."

"Where is he?" Mo'at looked at the empty hammock on the other side of Neytiri's. "With the humans?"

Neytiri nodded. "One of those days for him. Something I should get used to." She tilted her head down, moving her mouth close to the communicator attached to her neck. "Jake? Jake, do you hear me?"

No response. Knowing him, he probably left it in his bag at the doorstep. Or he may be asleep in Hell's Gate by now.

Jake... such a wild card. He's lovely, yes, he is. Faithful, devoted, and determined. He looks like one of them now, and needs no machine to sustain his new body. But what is he down under the shell, in his own mind? Human, na'vi, or some strange mix of the two? And let's face it, Neytiri thought... he's a marine, a warrior. All he knows is how to fight and kill. Would he be the right person to lead the na'vi out of this... vicious cycle... yawn...

...Now they were walking through a corridor on the top floor of the RDA skyscraper. The lamps on the ceiling were brightly lit, illuminating the pristine walls, sturdy scratchless doors along the way, and soft-looking couches and armchairs. Yet occasionally, through small cracks in the wall, the perceptive Neytiri could see signs of disrepair and negligence on the other side: rooms full of dust, with broken ladders and crumbling furniture. This was not, however, the most puzzling feature of the building.

Apart from them two, there was nobody in sight. Just her and Grace, apparently the only two people in the entire complex. They walked into a wide open hall, displaying a large map of Earth — Neytiri recognized it from Grace's school — and numerous posters full of text in fine print English. A desk in the middle featured a... one of those machines with shining screens, what do they call them... computer, but there was nobody operating it.

The most richly-decorated door here bore a golden-colored plate with an inscription:

CEO
M. WEGENER

Neytiri looked away for a moment, then back at the door, only to find out that the text had morphed into fuzzy letters: Pride.

The sound of an opening elevator prompted her to turn around. "Come in," said Grace softly, pointing at the elevator — good thing, indeed, that Neytiri was human in appearance in the dream, and could fit into it. The glass doors of the elevator closed, carrying the duo down. The floor numbers were passing by them rapidly... 76... 72... 68... — each number morphing into a word in English when it crossed the level of Neytiri's eyes. Gluttony... Wrath... Vanity... Greed...

"The Corporation has no idea what it unleashed on itself," said Grace, shaking her head. "Neither that idiot Selfridge, nor his higher-ups back here. The avalanche will come down on them once they have pushed the first stone — serves them right for opening Pandora's box." She turned to Neytiri, studying her puzzled face. "It's a myth. An ancient legend of ours, where our name for your world came from."

The elevator was rapidly approaching the bottom of the building. Suddenly, Grace's clothes changed; her lab coat disappeared, replaced by a human-sized version of the shirt worn by her avatar. "I should warn you, however. Leaving aside the question of my relationship to that Grace Augustine, the one you saw dying under the Tree of Souls — a connection that I do not fully understand... This world you see based on her, or should I say mine, memories of Earth. But do not rely on them too much, and take everything you see and hear here with a healthy degree of skepticism."

"Why?" asked Neytiri, touching the wall of the elevator cabin to get a feeling of the unfamiliar texture. 1... 0... It only stopped on the floor below; the doors opened, leading into a pitch black hallway, with only the lighting from inside the elevator showing the plate with the floor number, -1.

Grace turned away and walked into the darkness, stopping briefly to look back at Neytiri and say, "Because nobody can guarantee that these memories are accurate."

The na'vi princess was left alone in her strange human dream body, still unable to see anything beyond the sign, as much as she was used to seeing in the dark back on Pandora. Her vision became blurry again, and just before sight completely failed her, she saw the floor number morph into the English word, Hope.