I was as alone, as I had always anticipated. Why would I expect two students from the same college to be accepted? I had always sort of known, I suppose, that if one of us had gotten a yes the other would get a no. I left everything behind to be immersed in this new world and that included my beloved friend, Jeffry. They called the moon Pandora, as though its expanses of foliage concealed some dangerous secret to be unleashed by a woman. I wasn't buying it.
Despite its mysterious drawbacks, it was the most incredible place I had ever beheld. Emeralds and jades and every other shade of green spanning as far as the human eye could detect. Trees the size of mountains threatened to crush my perception of the word 'large.' It was a jungle of planetary proportions and the five scientists that had been chosen to scrutinize every bit of it were more than a bit overwhelmed.
Dr. Augustine spoke to no one when we arrived. She was beaming, clearly even more pleased than she had expected to be. I was feeling just as she was, but somehow to see such a hard woman smile made me smile all the more. I watched her expert eye scanning each and every trunk and root that caught it until, suddenly, it hit something not so exhilarating: a wall. The military was erecting a gargantuan structure that would soon conceal the entire compound. It took me until this moment to even notice the human life bustling about us, I was so perplexed by the alien. We had been shuttled onto a military base. The buildings were all metal coated. You can never be too careful, I suppose.
We continued on to a de-briefing about how dangerous the planet was. Blah, blah, blah, curfew, blah, blah, don't be stupid. Not hard for a scientist, but maybe for the military personnel that comprised more than the vast majority.
After the happy little chat, Augustine took us to our quarters. Well… sort of our quarters. It was a linking room. Essentially, a room full of tanning beds that we clambered into and didn't exit for up to a month. We would be linked to our Avatars by sending powerful neurological signals from our human brains to those of our matching Avatars. They infused our DNA with the hybrids and would use the signals from our brains to jumpstart the brains of the undeveloped creatures. This would allow us to completely control them, but not ourselves. Our bodies would be heavily guarded day and night. If our signals were to be suddenly disrupted, they could be dropped altogether, which would result in the need for life support, and no one wants that.
After a short tour of the lab where we'd be working, Dr. Augustine pulled aside the specialized Avatar team to have a light chat.
"You came to this planet knowing the dangers. Don't you ever let me catch you doing stupid shit during this program, or you will be appropriately handled, do I make myself clear?" We all nodded awkwardly, "Good. Head to bed. You're permanent quarters are just through that glass door, to the left, and through a black sliding door. Bunks are labeled by last name. Night." And with that, she was swiftly away, leaving us standing awkwardly in a cluster in the middle of the bustling laboratory.
"So… now what?" said one. He was tall, blonde, not particularly nice to look at, but he had a genuine vibe that made me feel almost at home…
"Mhh." Mumbled another with awfully nice tawny hair and sleek black glasses. He didn't strike me as being very kind or very receptive of the entire human race. A definition misanthrope, but probably more brilliant than any of us realized at the time.
"I think I'm just going to go to my room. I'm feeling sick from the trip still…" Said a short, stout fellow with a disturbingly green tint to his complexion. We all took a cautious step back. He smiled weakly and left.
"I don't think I'm going to be tired again for the rest of my life. I just spent five years in chemically induced sleep and I'm rearing to go." Chimed the last. He was the most handsome of all. Tall, black hair, grey eyes, and almost a full beard (five years of sleep can do that to you). It was then that I realized: I was the only female, the only one of a highly specialized group of brilliant minds with vaginal organs. Great. I said nothing, shrugged, and got to my quarters as quickly as possible without seeming too desperate. I found my bathroom-sized dorm, investigated the drawers in my tiny closet for the location of my things, and collapsed onto the bed. How had this happened? I certainly wasn't the only highly developed female brain out there. Why did I have to be stuck for 8-10 years with testosterone-filled sex machines? Nothing seemed more appalling at the time until a heavy knock came at my door.