I opened my eyes only to be blinded by flashlight.

'Jane? Jane!' I heard someone repeat frantically.

'She's waking' said some other.

I blinked a few times and finally got my vision back.

'Come back to us, kid'

'Hey' I said lamely.

'You've got no idea how worried I was about you!' dr Augustine almost screamed. 'Is your avatar safe?' she added in a moment. That sounded more like her.

'Yeah. You won't believe where I am.'

'Come on. You'll tell us at dinner'

I got up slowly from machine. Again I felt funny without a tail to help with balance, but I adjusted quickly and went with the rest to the cantine.

When I got there I were surprised to discover how hungry I was. A moment had to past before I realised that last time I ate I had been in avatar body, not this. Sometimes switching bodies was a pain. Soon enough I remembered also how awful was food here. On Earth, real food was very expensive, and even then it was made mostly of chemicals. Here wasn't any better. They grew some Earth plants here, in greenhouses with oxygene, but not enough to eat them everyday. I collected my piece of shapeless meal, that I didn't really want to know what it was, and went to look for the table where dr Augustine, Norm, Max and others sat.

'Jane' Norm waved to me from the distance. I came closer, and he moved to make some space for me. I sat between him and Max, dr Agustine sitting opposite to me.

'So girl, don't be cruel. Tell us what happened to you' asked Max.

'Yeah, Jane. First tell us, are your avatar really alright? It looked really nasty, when you've been running away from that Thanator' Norm, as always was very caring.

Some of people sitting at the table gasped. They haven't heard about anything yet.

'I'm totally, absolutely fine' I said. 'A little tired and sore from running, but apart from that, fine'

'Come on, tell us what happend!' Max said excitedly.

'First, tell us where your avatar is' dr Augustine ordered.

'In the Hometree of Omaticaya' I stated calmly taking some of my meal to my mouth. Wasn't a good idea. I almost spat, as most of them stared at me shouting What?!, Come on! You must be kidding!

'Hey guys, I'm trying to eat here!' I complained halfjoking.

'They let you in?' asked dr Augustin, a little jealous I think.

'Barely, but yeah' I sighted. 'There was that guy, Ja'ki. He brought me there and didn't let them kill me.'

'Ja'ki, like the future Oloeyktan Ja'ki?' Norm asked excitedly.

'Yeah, I guess so' I told him, still little shocked that all of this really happend to me. Sitting here I had the impression that all of this was just my imagination. I took pity on them then, and told them everything, from the begining.

I left the cantine early, ignoring all protests. Everyone had questions and wanted to hear all that again, but I was really tired and wanted to rest some before going back to my avatar. My human body was supposedly sleeping all the time while I'd been in avatar but my brain still felt like I was tired. I needed to rest my mind and then maybe record some videolog. I guessed Norm won't mind listening to my story again. I never talked to the camera alone, always asked Norm to talk with me while doing it. I felt just too silly to talk to myself. And of coarse I was sure he will have more questions. It is no wonder he wants to know everything, I would be jealous too if I were in his place. The only thing I could do for him was satisfying his curiosity.

I wasn't able to do any of that at that time.

'Hey, Thanator chick' I heard from behind me. Trudy.

'Don't call me that' I scowled as she cought up with me.

'I didn't made that up, actually' she laughed. 'It was our beloved security chef, Quaritch'

'Quaritch?' Great. What he wanted now?

'He wants to speak with you. He's with Selfridge in his office. He apparently heard about your adventure'

'Wonderful' I sighted.

'Better go to him now, and be done with it.' Adviced Trudy.

'Yeah, I'll do that' I said turning to go in the opposite direction to Selfridge's office. 'Oh, and Trudy' I added before I left. 'If I hear you calling me Thanator chick again, I'll kick your ass!'

She only laughed. Like I would be able to do that. Well, that's true I'm shorter and weaker than her, but that won't stop me trying.

All the way there I've been wondering what they could possibly want from me. If it was Quaritch alone, I would guess that he wanted only to yell at me for endangering myself. But with Selfridge I had no clue.

They were waiting in the office, Selfridge settled in his chair, Quaritch standing behind him, leaning against a wall.

I wasn't easly intimidated, not by men at least, but sometimes that guy just scared me. He was that sort of soldier I wouldn't want to piss off.

'So' he started, not even letting me sit. 'I heard what stunt you have pulled, scientist lady.'

Well, well, well, that was nicer than Thanator chick, I thought. He didn't seem to be angry and I wondered what does it mean.

'Quaritch, where are your manners? Please, Jane, take a sit' Interupted Selfridge, with his fake smile.

I sat and looked expectantly at Quaritch. His scars were very vivid. I wondered, was it a thanator wchich gave him these?

'As a head of security on this base on Pandora I should dissaprove what you did. But I must say, it was actually very impressive'

I looked at him surprised.

'Stupid and dangerous, but impressive, nontheless' he added. 'I'd have thought, that such fragile lady will end up being eaten on her first day, but no. You somehow managed to survive and even get to their village.'

I had an impression that I won't like what he was going to say next. I never wanted to impress the man and wondered what I got myself into.

'You see' Selfridge spoke instead. 'Relations with the natives are getting worse and worse.'

'And you want to change that?' I asked astonished.

'We wouldn't actually care' said Quaritch. 'As long as these savages didn't endanger our whole operation here.'

'So' started Selfridge. 'We've got some proposition for you. We want you to gain trust of those savages and learn whatever they are willing to teach you.'

'And then give us some useful information' added Quaritch.

'So, basically, you want me to spy for you?' I asked, a little shocked. That's so not going to happen!

'Call it as you please. You don't have to do it at all. You still will be able to go to your little blue friends, but only for the next three months.'

'Why only three months?' I asked, worrying what I'll hear.

'I'll show you something' said Selfridge and stood up. He grabbed some small rock that had been levitating above some pad. He waved it almost to my face.

'You know what that little grey rock here is?'

'Yeah, unobtanium' I said, a little perplexed.

'Yes, unobtanium. It sells 20 million a kilo. So that's why we're here, that's what pays for our whole operation. It pays for your science, too. No unobtanium means no more funds.'

He was talking to me like to a child, and that started to irritate me. I knew all that. Couldn't he just go straight to the point?

Selfridge put mineral back to the pad and said.

'Follow me'

He led me to command center, where a lot of computers were. He stopped by a table that showed holograms of the area.

'Can someone...?' Selfridge asked after failed attempt of setting hologram on the place he wanted. Some technician guy came and did it for him.

'I suppose you know what that is?' he asked when our gaze landed on a huge tree. The Hometree. He didn't expect an answer.

'Look at these shiny areas around it. There are the biggest known deposits of unobtanium.'

I looked blankly at bright colours. Something turned upside-down in my stomach.

Selfridge rounded the table and lean his back against it, near me.

'Killing the indigenous looks bad. But you know what to my bosses looks even worse? Low results on my raports.'

'You could prevent this' said unexpectedly Quaritch from behind me. I nearly jumped. 'You could learn what these savages want and then we would provide it, so they'll move before bulldozers get there in three months.'

'It was supposed to be Grace's job to find diplomatic solution, but she obviously failed.' Added Selfridge. 'But now you would be able to negotiate their relocation.'

I felt sick. I already knew what Na'vi wanted, but it wasn't something they could get from Selfridge. They wanted to be left alone, in peace. I couldn't tell that Selfridge, though.

I remembered all those Na'vi faces that was staring at me in the village. I remembered Ja'ki's handsome face. I couldn't let humans greed hurt Na'vi. I had to do something. I didn't know what yet, but I had three months. I had to let Slefridge and Quaritch think I'm by their side, so they won't interfere and let me handle this myself.

'All right. I'll do this.'