Author's Note: Ugh, I've been busy recently. And with nothing worth mentioning. Got addictred to Dragon Age and Metro 2033, so I was either playing my brains out or reading. This chapter was in my head since the time I finished previous one, but I could not bring myself to start typing it. See, I am not the biggest fan of tie-ins. It's where nothing happens but you must type it because it makes the progression smoother. Plus, I believe myself to be an extreme lame-o when it comes to typing descriptions. Dialogues - love them. Describing - eeeh... This chapter will probably be long, boring and forced beyond belief. I apologise and hope it is still readable. :) Now I shall make me some hot chocolate and study for a bit. Duty calls, as they say.

Rock on,

AngelT

Into The Wild

Once again Katryn stepped out of the complex but now she was free from wearing the Exopack and could freely inhale the fresh air. It smelled so much different then the air back on Earth or the sterile atmosphere inside the base. For a second in front of Kat's eyes flashed a picture from her childhood: a small enclosed garden with two flowerbeds and a tree. The image left her mind almost immediately, it was very long ago, however the sudden feeling of strange comfort had stayed. The colours looked brighter then she remembered them, from yesterday. Somehow everything seemed to have additional angles and perspectives. Kat put her bet on the different spectrum that the locals may perceive things in.

Norm was said to be found near old Avatar Station, still used by the remaining scientists but slowly decaying, as the staff was unable to perform the regular maintenance on their own. Katryn quickly searched in her messenger bag and took out the camera, which finally felt right, not the heavy bulky piece of equipment she had to hold with both hands in order not to drop. Kat heard chirping somewhere above her head and saw a flock of small bird-like creatures flying into the sky. A quick zoom and she clicked the shutter, hoping to catch at least something; the 'birds' were incredibly fast. There was no time to check if the picture had any value to it since Katryn remembered Spellman was waiting for her, probably getting pissed off more and more with every passing second.

She quickly went up the small stairs and entered the hut. There were rows of beds, some of them free, some of them occupied with other Avatars, peacefully sleeping while their owners were in the 'real world', as Kat named it for herself, doing their daily jobs. She attentively looked at the faces of the blue giants but she could not recognise anyone. The woman carefully reached out and put her hand on the shoulder of an Avatar to her right, female with soft and gentle features. Her hair had several small braids with beads in them, which Kat herself did not have and could only guess it had something to do with the Na'Vi culture. The skin of the Avatar felt silky and warm. It was so strange to think it was a living being. Incomplete and lacking a vital part but still alive, in a way.

"You took your time." Said Norm sourly as Katryn appeared on the other side of the station and ascended the stairs. His words sounded a bit muffled because of the mask he was wearing but the woman still heard him clear enough. Just as she wanted to open her mouth and apologise her gaze fell on a tall lanky figure behind Spellman. Troy in flesh and blood. He stood there, staring at the ground, uncertain of what to do and clutching fingers around the straps of the bag which no doubt was packed for the trip.

"The hell… I thought I was going in alone." Finally brought Katryn out, still trying to restrain herself from yelling. The words came out with an unpleasant undertone, making Delford even meeker. Norm gave her a warning stare, which basically said she had to behave or the whole excursion could be easily cancelled. Katryn quickly remembered who was in charge and apologised, still not really meaning it.

"Sorry. So, enlighten me on this sudden change of plans." She said slowly, staring down at two people in front of her and feeling superior due to the simple difference in height. Her face was calm but the tail was giving out her real emotions, angrily lashing at the side of her hip.

"At the best of times people never went alone. It's not going to happen now." Continued Norm and Katryn caught an irritated intonation in his voice, as if he was explaining something easy to a child. "Now, pay attention, I shall say this only once. This," he pointed at a relatively small cylinder-shaped object at his feet. "Is a sonic repulsor. We don't use guns anymore so if you want to keep your limbs, you'll be this thing's best friend."

The scientist quickly kneeled down and hit a small button at the top of the repulsor. The apparatus made a little nudge and the cap popped up, emitting ultrasonic noise that made Katryn cringe a bit and rub her ears. Apparently she was the only one who could hear it, as neither Norm nor Troy reacted in any way different.

"Oh that's just peachy." Kat muttered to herself stepping a bit away so that ultrasonic sound would stop bothering her. "So I have to work with that thing on and the sound making my teeth hurt?"

"Other drivers do so without any problems. You either live with that or stay inside the base." Apparently she was not the only one with the bad mood today. "Repulsor works in a three metres radius. That's why we give you two of them, one for each."

Katryn shifted her weight to the other leg and silenced. She did not know what to say. Truth to be told, she had a phrase or two in her head. But all of them were way far from anything nice and peaceful.

Kat was really looking forward to explore the jungle alone. She could find her way around and would be able to care for herself, would the need arise. Delford would just drag her down and now she also had to watch out for someone else. That was never a pleasant task. She suddenly felt Norm giving her the glare just like the one from yesterday and understood that she fell out from the conversation.

"Katryn. Are you even listening?" He demanded and tapped on the top of the repulsor. Even Troy was giving her a disapproving look, making Kat flush in both shame and irritation.

"Yes, sonic repulsor, three metres. Got it." She answered impatiently and looked up in the sky, which was a beautiful colour of light blue with a small feather-like clouds lazily drifting by.

"I said, that you have the whole day, you disconnect from you Avatar when you go to sleep. You leave your Avatar at the station."

"I've read the damn manual."

With those words she marched past Norm, grabbed two repulsors as if they were merely plastic toys and headed out of the gates, with Troy jogging behind her, desperately trying to catch up.

When they stepped out into the jungle the metallic fence behind them closed with a loud noise, announcing to everyone out there that two possible preys came out to play.

"Can you… Please… Slow down… Please?" Huffed Troy behind her and Katryn hit the brakes, mercifully waiting for the scientist to come closer. His khaki shirt was dark brown from sweat, it must have been really stuffy outside but Kat did not feel it. One of the many advantages of pretending to belong here, she guessed. The guy had finally reached her and stopped, putting hands on his knees and breathing heavily. Katryn once again felt bad for her behaviour. Perhaps she was a bit too harsh on Delford.

"Listen, I am sorry. That Spellman really ticks me off…" She apologised and kneeled down, trying to level herself up with Troy. But even sitting on her knees the guy was still somewhere down below and crunching herself even further felt inappropriate.

Troy muffled something, tried to wipe his forehead, forgetting about the mask and settled down on his own rucksack, a second later remembering that he put fragile equipment there and jumping up as if something bit him in the ass.

"No need to apologise, Katryn. I did ask specifically if anyone was going out in the morning. Could not wait to start working."

"Well, we have that in common then." She smiled and stood up, brushing dirt from her knees. "Shall I help you carry your bag?"

"I will not allow a woman, no matter how tall and strong she is, carry my burden." Troy announced gallantly and with a grunt pulled his backpack up. He may have been an annoying stalker but he had charm, Katryn had to admit it.

Apparently they came to a silent agreement that she will lead their tiny expedition since Delford did not move and gave her a questioning look. Katryn shrugged her shoulders a bit uncertain and reached in the depth of her bag, taking out her notebook, which seemed to be so extremely small and fragile now. She had that little book for a long time, it contained all the information she ever needed for her jobs. Locations, places, landmarks. Little teal bookmark marked the beginning of her notes about Pandora and Katryn, very carefully, in order to avoid damaging the pages by accident, skipped to that part.

"I need Helicoradians to start with. You know… Those sort of swirly… things."

"Oh, those are basically everywhere. Just go straight ahead, you will find them eventually." Once again Troy proved to be a walking encyclopaedia. Katryn decided to follow his advice and proceeded forward, carefully pulling twigs out of her way and watching Delford struggling with high grass.

By the look of it, here used to be a road that was once leading into the jungle. However, during the course of history it was proved many times over that the nature will claim anything that was ever taken from her, sooner or later. Much sooner if the human interference and resistance was close to nothing. Once spacious road, made for small transports and independent vehicles to easily reach their destinations, it was overgrown with plants of all shapes and sizes. The clicks of Katryn's camera were almost constantly disturbing the serenity of the forest, as there was always something that caught her eye. The initial idea of consulting the guide and then taking pictures did not work out quite as well as she hoped, so Kat quickly switched to plan B and put the notebook away. In the end eyes were the most reliable source of information.

Several times Troy had to stop and take ground samples. That usually was a long and boring process, which basically consisted of three steps. Put down the repulsor, activate it and wait till the guy fills every of his carefully labelled testing tubes. Several times he asked Katryn for a bit of assistance; apparently the plants were not hostile towards Avatars which allowed the woman to get some of the material for Delford and not being splashed in the face with poisonous venom.

At some point the bacteriologist discovered something that could be a gold mine for his kind and settled down for good. That's when Katryn really started to get bored out of her mind, so she carefully grabbed her bag and slid away into the nearest bush, not meaning to go too far away. She did not see any particularly interesting fauna but managed to take a snapshot of Prolemuris pack travelling up high in the trees. The monkeys stopped for a second, interested in the strange sound but when Katryn tried to come a bit closer and get a good look at them, the little creatures emitted squeaks and purrs and disappeared into the foliage. Pursuing them would be a waste of time, so she turned around and walked back to her companion.

Ten minutes passed by when Katryn suddenly understood she was walking around in circles. Too excited to pay attention where she went, Katryn did not bother to pick a landmark so she would not loose herself in the alien forest where everything seemed different and yet the same. A wave of chocking panic ran through her head but as quickly as it came, it went away again. Getting scared would be the death of her, Kat learned this simple truth years ago, while in the similar situation in Venezuela, praying opposing forces would not see her and trying to find her way back to the camp.

She circled around for a bit, trying to remember the direction she came from. Finally Katryn gave up finding a way out by herself and called Troy as loud as she could. A little hope that he might just be nearby turned from a sparkle into a full-blown fire when Kat thought she heard something further ahead. She darted forward but the forest around seemed to get thicker and thicker with every step she took. Now it was obvious she got lost and it was not part of the plan. At least not right now. Katryn grinned bitterly, remembering how just several hours ago she was plotting a way out of the base, since the real beauty of Pandora could only be seen at night and no-one would let her go.

Unlike in Venezuela, where the scariest thing you could encounter was a rebel with one or two big guns, Pandora was full of dangers, both known and not quite so. In pursue for their prey animals could get really inventive and Katryn was not really keen on to be on the other end of their wits.

Kat looked up, trying to find the sky amongst the mass of leaves, the little patches of blue could still be seen now and then, when the wind lazily stroked the tops of the trees. The sky was growing dim, making it clear the woman spent quite some time wandering the wilds.

The rainforest started to wake up, Katryn heard muffled noises, buzzing, careful squeaks… She could swear she heard something that sounded like laughter but it hardly could belong to anything that walked on two feet.

Standing in one place would be pointless, Katryn believed if she goes forward she might just stumble on the traces of civilisation. Perhaps an abandoned research unit… Anything that might help her to spend the night without a danger of her head being bit off by a happy viperwolf. And just maybe, if the situation takes an interesting turn all of a sudden, she'll be able to find what she came here for. The night was still young.