Nadja defies the norm for humans, but not by choice. Experimented on as a child she is now hunted by the people that changed her, but with signs of government betrayal all around her she can't evade them forever. Will she find escape and friends on Pandora or will she face her fate alone?


The next day I am awakened abruptly by five rapid beeps from hall, far more shrill than the ones that alerted us lights out the night before. Bolting upright in my cot I stare blearily at the wall for a moment as my eyes adjust to the light coming in from the beneath the door, not remembering where I am. A groan echoes from the other side of the room and a glance that way reveals a lump under a blanket on a cot identical to my own, a wheelchair parked close by. I rub my hands over my face with a long sigh, the sight of Jake reminding me of where I am. A spare look at the clock as I lever myself off of my cot tells me that it's only 0500 and running an idle hand through my hair I decide to grab a quick shower, take care of the necessities, then kick Jake out of bed if he isn't already and get dressed, hopefully there will be time enough for us to grab some breakfast before we have to meet up with Max at 0800.

After my morning ablutions I come out of the bathroom and am pleased to see Jake already awake and waiting outside of the door for his turn in the bathroom. "Did you vant me to vait for you?" I ask him before he closes the door, he pauses then nods at me "Yeah, sure. Thanks." I get dressed and sit on my bed as I wait for Jake to be done. Quickly bored with just sitting around, I fish though my duffle from earth, spotting my standard issue Pandorapedia I pull it out with a shrug and start to give it another thumb through. Stopping at the Na'vi-Music section I read a little tidbit about Fan Drums

'The fan drum is the most physically demanding of the Na'vi instruments because of its size. The instrument stretches well above the head of the Na'vi player who must jump a great distance to hit the highest drums. The physicality of the playing style makes this the perfect instrument for a young Na'vi male about to ride his banshee for the first time. If he can adequately play the instrument, he can demonstrate that he has the physical strength, agility, and stamina to mount his banshee.

The fan drums are made using sturmbeest bladders stretched across wooden frame.'*

I take a moment to try and picture what an instrument of that size would look like, giggling as I picture a tiny human next to an instrument that apparently dwarfs even the Na'vi. I wonder why the Na'vi would make an instrument difficult to play on purpose? Perhaps I'll ask Norm, he might know something about it and he seemed nice enough yesterday.

A cough from beside me alerts me to Jake's waiting presence and I send him a sheepish grin as I tuck away the book and stand to follow him through the door. "Do you remember vere zee cafeteria is?" I inquire as Jake seems fairly confident in where he's going "Yup, memorized where it was before we left it for the labs." He tosses a teasing grin over his shoulder at me "No need to rely on your amazing map skills, don't worry." I huff at him, shaking my head but grinning back at the Bengel regardless. Sure enough Jake leads us unhesitatingly directly to the Mess Hall, smirking at me like the Bengel he is proving to be as we line up to choose our rations then grab a table to eat at. Food is all artificial now, been that way since before I was born, Humans killed all the trees and are close to killing off the rest of the flora last I heard about it, not even dandelions will have any chance of surviving if humans has any say about it.

Finishing off my meal moments after Jake I follow after him to place our dishes into the 'Dirty' chute then trail after him out of the room, trusting that he had memorized the way to the link room as well and this time taking a moment to remember where the Mess Hall is. "You nervous?" Jake asks, but doesn't look up at me, focusing on navigating the busy hallways "Nerffous? Nein, vy vould I be nerffous?" I give him an odd look, then quickly have to dodge out of the way of a woman rushing down the hall, her arms stacked high with boxes. "Don't tell me you forgot, Legolas?" Jake exclaims in mock horror and at my bewildered look he tuts at me "For shame, Legolas. Don't you remember what Max said? We're trying out the Avatars today!" he ends with exaggerated cheer and my eyes widen as what he said registers just as we enter the Bio Lab.

In the Bio Lab we are greeted enthusiastically by Norm, who just as enthusiastically butchers my name, and less enthusiastically by Dr. Augustine , who greets us only with a curt "Sully. Bähr." and a nod in our direction before striding towards the Link Room with Norm, leaving us to follow along in her wake. "So-" she begins questioning Norm authoritatively "How much link time have you logged?" Norm is nervously wringing his hands but answers promptly "About five hundred twenty hours" Dr. Augustine looked moderately surprised and pleased by the answer and says a quick "That's good" making Norm grin before directing Norm to the link they were passing. Turning around she addresses me "Bähr, how many hours?" I stop with Jake in front of the next link as I reply "Around three hundred or zo, Ma'am. Just schtantard." Dr. Augustine nods approvingly though no less curtly, then calls over to Max who was standing in the pit looking at a screen "Max! Come set Bähr up!" Max nods and jogs over guiding me away from Jake towards the next link in the line.

"You know how this works right?" he sends me a tentative smile as I hop up to sit on the open link "Ja, I kot zis. Don't vorry." Max nods, fiddles with the screen and starts up the link, which whirls and flashes colours, then turns to me and gestures for me to lay down, pulling the biometric sensors down over my torso once I had done so "Okay, arms in, head down, watch your hands. Ready?" he pauses before he closes the lid "Ja" I give him a small nod and a nervous adrenalin hyped grin. He closes the lid and I shut my eyes, I feel the cradle moving into the link and for a moment it's just dark.

Then bright streamers of light appear, forming a pulsing kaleidoscopic tunnel of light. I hear the children laughing and the beautiful singing from my dream again, but now there is an warm presence encompassing all of it, including me, I get the feeling of being nudged along, gently guided on my way with a fond smile. The next thing I know the world is blurry and bright like an overexposed, out-of-focus image, the first thing I see is two blurry faces starring down at me, the first thing I hear is someone making an absolute mess of my name.

I sit up with a groan after the techies have a chance to test my hearing and pupils, swinging my legs over the side of the gurney I wait until one of the techies unhooks me from all of the monitoring machines, then I start flexing and stretching to make sure everything works right. A scream from behind me alarms me and I feel my ears pin back and my tail lash as I stand up and spin around to face the noise, bearing my fangs in a move that I have long practiced after getting fangs in my human body, though the instinctual automatic threatening hiss that accompanied the move is something I didn't expect or mean to happen. The sudden movement on my part is apparently cause for panic among the now very small techies, shouting takes over the room, people in scrubs rushing to my side hands up and yelling for me to be calm.

I gift the techies a look, but that pause on my part is enough for me to hear a familiar voice over the hubbub and looking around I bypass the sight of Norm and Jake's still unconscious Avatars to focus on Max peering in through an observation window "Max! Was passiert?!"* I stride up to the window gesturing around myself wildly "Warum zur Hölle hat jemand schreien?!"* Max is also holding his hands up, a screen clutched in one, but he is speaking somewhat calmly "Nadja, we can't understand what you're saying. Please get back on the gurney." I stare at Max uncomprehendingly for a moment then glance behind in time to see one of the male techies prepping what appeared to be a rather large needle in comparison to his hands while shouting about sedating me.

I turn to the techies and now it is my turn to raise my hands placating as I slowly move back to the gurney, giving Mr. Needle-Happy a wide berth as I pass him, and calmly sitting back down. Everyone seems to take a steading breath and a male techie approaches me, not Mr. Needle-Happy thank goodness, and begins to guide me through small exercises to test my motor control. At the end of the tests I very pointedly to not get off of the gurney even as I hear Norm come to behind me, instead I catch Max's eye and shooting him a questioning thumbs up.

Only after I get a confirming thumbs up from Max and I check that Mr. Needle-Happy is nowhere near, do I cautiously and slowly begin to rise from the gurney and approach Max at his window. "Max, vy did zomeone scream? Vat happened?" Max sighs and rubs at the area between his eyes "When you stretched your tail flicked and it startled Julie." I stare incredulously at the scientist for a moment before rolling my eyes with a chuckle at some people's ridiculousness "Yeah. You can grab some clothes through there and head out. Try to find Grace, she'll show you the barracks and hopefully answer any questions you might have." Max points me towards a door and I thank him with a nod, heading that way.

Switching out my hospital gown for a pair of shorts and a sports bra, I'm shocked when I catch my eyes in a mirror and I realize they are not the light blue I was expecting, but a gold mixed with speckles and lines of green that is quite beautiful. I puzzle over it for a moment and then it hits me BlueYellow=Green, the Na'vi genes must have been too strong for my freaky eye genetics I realize with a grin. My little bubble of happiness is popped by screaming from the other room and I freeze for a moment, but when I hear repeated cries of "Jake!" and "Sit down!" I am reassured, but then I hear the voice of Mr. Needle-Happy once more crying for sedation and I grab a pair of boots, open the exterior door and high tail it out of there. I'm certain that Jake will just do the same that I did and it will calm down soon enough.


*This is an exact quote off of the Pandorapedia online, I make no claim to this information

*I do not speak German this is what an Online translator said was correct for "What happened" and "Why the hell did someone scream" respectively.