Author's Note: I bring you another chapter! Woop, I guess... Gotta use the imagination while it's working. Probably looks kind of short, but I am not really fan of big chapters, so I usually brake them into small ones. Nothing major this time round, just the regular description and some of the original cast showing their faces. ^_^ Thank you for the lovely rieviews and hope you enjoy the new addition.

Salutations, AngelT

The Welcome Committee

Hell's Gate. Also known as Extra-Solar Colony 01. Also known as a 'primary human outpost in never-ending struggle with beautiful yet deadly world of Pandora', at least according to several old documentaries that were roaming the Web after Pandora had just been discovered. Katryn would lie if she said she expected everything to look just the way it did five years ago. In her mind Hell's Gate, maintained by hundreds of people before the evacuation, and now left with only couple of dozens could not possibly be in the perfect shape. And yet it seemed as if no-one had never left. Excavation machines were still standing in a neat row on the farthest end of the field ready to roll out would the command be issued. Several heavy choppers, possibly Scorpions, were also located nearby but the machines looked as if they got abandoned in a hurry. Multiple crates and gas hoses were still chaotically lying not far way.

Katryn was the first to reach the gates. She hit the touchscreen panel and the small door slowly crawled up, inviting her in. Inside was yet another decontamination chamber and five seconds later the small light under the ceiling turned green, announcing the presence of oxygen in the air. With a sight of relief she took off her Exopack and threw it on the special rack nearby. With a hiss the door that was leading inside the facility had slid to the side and Kat stepped in, almost bumping in her welcome committee. In front of her stood a group of five, just enough for frisking every passenger from the shuttle.

"Well, I probably should welcome you to our little paradise." The guy in front broke the silence, his voice dripping with badly masked cynism. Quite tall and thin he was your typical science guy. He wore a field outfit, a bit shaggy in places, consisting from a red shirt, multiple pocket khaki vest and the pants of the same colour. He kept almost literary burning a hole in her forehead with an intense stare of light green eyes.

"Well, you probably should." Snapped Kat at him, not really impressed with the hospitality of the residents.

"Norm is not in his best mood today, Miss…"

"Please, call me Katryn." She flashed much warmer smile in the direction of the other male scientist standing behind the leading man. This one was shorter, sturdier, had glasses on and had an overall friendly atmosphere around him. The little nameplate on his lab coat had 'Max Patel' written on it. No doubt he did not need it, since after five years everyone was bound to get to know each other, but it was a nice gesture to make newcomers feel more at home.

"Sure, Patel, be the devil's advocate… No harm's done." The moody one rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Kat. "Name's Norm Spellman. You could say I'm a bit of an authority here." He did huge quotation marks in the air accompanied with several chokes of smothered laughter from somewhere behind. "And as you can see I am not appreciated around here."

Spellman reached out for her bag and managed to pull a smile on his face, trying to be polite enough and not to give more wrong first impressions.

"Shall we? Just a standard procedure, nothing major."

Katryn reluctantly handed the guy her luggage and they proceeded a bit further down the corridor, allowing other people to finally come in and get their portion of local welcoming procedures. Spellman quickly started to ravage her private belongings in search of whatever firearms she might have been hiding. Kat left him to this exciting task and took her time to look around. They were standing in a spacious hallway that had huge windows overlooking the landing field and massive electric-wired fence in the distance.

"Well, everything seems fine… Can I take a closer look at this though?" Norm's voice attracted Kat's attention and she turned around just to see the scientist holding her camera.

"Hey! Put that down." She exclaimed anxiously. "It's expensive and if you break anything…"

There was probably a hint of serious menace in her voice, since Spellman gave her a complicated stare and carefully passed camera in her hands.

"Ok, fine, don't be so touchy. It's not like I'd drop it or…" He did not finish the sentence as at that precise moment the bag he was taking off the small retractable table slipped through his hands and fell on the ground. Katryn gave Norm deadly stare and kneeled down gathering her stuff from the floor.

"You were saying?"

"Nothing." He grumbled under his breath and dropped down on the floor to help her. Somewhere between gathering her socks that were scattered around the wide terrain Katryn felt Spellman was once again staring right at her. With the annoyed face expression she threw her clothes back in the bag and lifted her head up.

"Get those sniper scopes off me." She said flatly, while zipping the bag shut and standing up. Spellman stood up as well and cleaned his knees.

"I just recognised your face. You're that new Avatar driver, aren't you?"

Kat raised one eyebrow out and started to walk further up the hallway, figuring that was the way to go.

"So, you've seen it? My Avatar? How is it doing?"

Norm caught up with her and pointed out to the left. The flashing sign on the wall helpfully announced that was the way to the laboratories and linking chambers. The quick tour had ended up in a dark large room filled with empty tanks. The lights were off; however blue illumination coming from one of the tanks was enough to find your way around. Katryn put her bag down and slowly approached massive glass construction. Inside it, in the pool of what seemed like water but more bluish and thick slept her other self – tall and lean teal-coloured creature. Its eyes were closed but it was moving, making small trembles with fingers, feet and tail. It looked like a child within a womb. Yet helpless child that slept and dreamt about the world she will once see.

"It's… beautiful…" Whispered Katryn almost inaudibly and carefully touched the glass. It was a crazy thought but it looked as if her Avatar had actually felt Kat's presence; it made a slight movement with its head and their faces were now facing each other. It felt extremely strange to look at the face of this creature and actually recognise the features Katryn saw in the mirror all her life.

"When… When will I be able… to drive this?" She asked still astonished, stuttering and having trouble finding the right words. Katryn saw a lot of crazy stuff in her life and it was quite a challenge to come up with something that would throw her off the track. This experience was so far the most shocking of them all.

"Whenever you are ready." Answered Norm. His hostility towards Katryn seemed to disappear a bit; perhaps he softened up seeing her reaction. He gently tapped on the glass, making the clone inside give another slight tremble and curl its tail. "You are lucky to have this opportunity. I would give up a lot to live through an Avatar once again." There was a hint of sadness in his voice. Katryn crooked her head a bit and gave him long examining stare.

"What happened to your previous one?"

"Got shot by RDA troops and lost somewhere in the jungle. We could not find it afterwards." Norm silenced for a bit thinking about something. "Not that it would matter. Avatar is a living shell. Wound it and it will eventually bleed to death, whether you are in it or not."

Katryn maintained a pause, thinking what would be the best to say. She could only guess that Spellman's Avatar was quite important to him. Probably the recreation of a new clone would not be possible without some of the resources available only on Earth. That's how her Avatar was made. It must have been really hard, knowing that something is within your reach and yet not being able to grasp it.

"I'm sorry." She finally squeezed out, but at least that was sincere. Norm shook his head and stretched lips in a tired smile.

"Don't bother, really. That was five years ago. I got over it."

No you didn't, thought Katryn to herself but tactically silenced; she did not want to continue the conversation that got a sudden bitter tone to it. She reached out to grab her bag but scientist beat her to it.

"Let me show you your quarters."

The sudden change of his attitude towards her was surprising but not unpleasant. Contrary to the popular belief amongst her friends and occasional co-workers, Kat was not a conflict person. She did have a straight-forwards attitude that rubbed people the wrong way sometimes but she always preferred to keep the communication on the friendly terms. The passages and corridors they walked through all had lights off and even though looked clean and fairly maintained it was obvious people did not visit here much. Katryn guessed it was for the purpose of resource saving. Hell's Gate had several generators that used to do a great job in supporting large base with loads of people. However, how much do thirty-forty really need? Spellman probably read her mind. Or perhaps it was just the thoughts one would expect from a newcomer.

"The complex is huge, but we don't need much. There used to be separate wings for techs, scientists and grunts. Nowadays there's so little of us we can live like kings in one place and still have plenty of space left."

Katryn nodded, more to her own thoughts then to the Norm's words and quickly took a snapshot of the hallway. There were never enough pictures to take and you don't know what might be useful. They soon stopped near one of the many doors that all looked same. Spellman quickly typed something on the little panel nearby and waited for the confirmation sound. The control panel made a soft chirp and the door slid to the side, revealing small room with basic necessities: bed, bathroom with a toilet, small shelves and cupboard near the wall. Not too crammed and just enough place to avoid claustrophobia.

"Here we are. Your place." Norm dragged her bag in and placed it near the bed. "All of us are further down the hallway and your group will be located here." He wanted to add something but then waved it away with an irritable jerk of the hand and turned around to leave. "When you think you are ready for a little Avatar trip go find Patel, he is our linking genius."

He walked off when Kat jumped to the doorway and poked head out.

"Norm? It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise." Was the short answer and the scientist disappeared around the corner. Katryn stood there for a second till she heard voices coming from the direction she had arrived not so long ago. Kat did not have any more energy to socialise with anyone else, so she quickly locked the door and dropped on the bed. Technically there was still unpacking to do, computer to set up and photos to browse through; however the whole new experience and thrills of the day really shook her up and the only thing Katryn wanted to do was to catch some sleep. She quickly took a shower, changed and slid under the sheets, closing her eyes and listening to the sound of the jungle, smothered by the glass of the small window above her head but still clear enough.

The easiest part of her travel was now officially over.