Sorry for the hiatus all :) Hopefully you'll get another update out of me first! Hope you all enjoy.


The able-bodied youths darted through the trees, agile as cats, leaping between the branches and limbs ofthe forest as they followed the signs of the incoming sky creatures. From the Tipani clan, they had heard tales of large, metal beasts, and their appetite for everything from the sky to the earth itself. The fires from so far away could just barely be visible some morning from the top of Kelutral, and now it seemed they were coming to the lands of the Omaticaya. The small group gathered at the edge of the forest, where it would drop off as a sheer cliff, to gain a clear vantage point of the incoming aliens, now but a speck in the sky.

The smallest of the group, a tiny female, caught up with the rest of the group, a knife as long as her arm in its sheath. She scurried up to the outcropping of the cliff, and balanced herself along the outstretched root of the tree, mimicking the crouch of her elder sister as they kept their eyes sky-ward. Tiny beads in minute braids rattled against each other in the wind up high on the drop-off, which created a sort of wind tunnel, and superior vantage point over the dense jungle of the valley below, as well as the open sky. As they scanned the clouds, they could clearly see a small object, slowly growing larger in size. The young huntress, and even younger sister watched the metal sky-beast, as it descended, just as the Tipani clan had shown them through the power of Eywa. The Tipani clan's stories were not far from the young hunters' thoughts.

"Tsahay! ayKetuwong..." the eldest hissed.

"Fayvrrtep!" one of the males shot back, flicking his tail with agitation. "Ayoeng peng zeme Eytukan."

The little one's eyes widened, in awe and fear, to see the massive thing coming ever closer, the stench of fuels, metal and foreign materials already apparent.


October 2139

Hell's Gate

Grace craned her neck to see out the tiny port-hole window, past the larger man on her left. The blur of fog, treetops and sky made it impossible to discern anything specific. The shuttle violently lurched, with turbulence, and Grace gripped the arm of the seat she was in. The men on either side of her laughed, obviously used to the kind of transportation. She gave them a glare, and released her grip on the seats as the vehicle dropped in altitude, fast-approaching the newly constructed center of RDA operations on Pandora, appropriately-named Hell's Gate. Grace hadn't bothered asking why it was called that.

She felt her stomach lurch uncomfortably, jarred at the harsh landing of the shuttle as it hit the tarmac. Between cryo and the shaky descent, she had a little trouble standing as they began the unloading procedure. She did as she was told, while the man instructing them played the drill sergeant routine, lining them up with their bags to march to the safety of the facilities. Glancing around Grace could tell she was in the minority here in many ways, but she was not deterred.

In the brief minutes marching in, Grace watched, in awe, as a creature soared overhead. As she kept her eyes toward the creature, someone behind her gave her a quick shove, and she shuffled along in line, keeping the swooping creature in her line of sight until the concrete of the building had swallowed them in fluorescent light and gray, lifeless shadows.

"My name is Lt. Allistair." A man stood before the new crowd, muscled arms clearly displayed as he wore his camo shirt with the sleeves rolled up. "Welcome, gentlemen..." He paused, "...and lady, to Pandora. This, my friends, is not a place for the weak of heart. We are in the wildest place man has ever known. Even our sad little ancestors, living next to the dinosaurs, would find that life to be a pleasant stroll compared to the hell-hole you'll find here."

Grace stifled her critique of his choice of description, and dutifully listened to the remainder of his safety speech. The other soldiers in the unit seemed to listen with about as much care as she did – laughing at the little inside jokes that the female doctorate in xenobotany would never understand. As they were dismissed, the lieutenant approached her, a gentle, but cajoling grin on his face.

"Hey there little miss, not so fast."

She stuck out her hand, trying to act professionally, and maintained a stoic countenance . "Dr. Grace Augustine, Sir."

"Well, uh, doctor – just so you know these rules, even though primarily for security and manual personnel, you still must abide by them. You're one of the first gals to come out to these parts, so let me know if any of the men get rowdy, hear?"

Grace softened her expression, "Thank you, Sir. I'll be sure to review the procedures."

"See you around doctor." He nodded and went about his way. Grace lugged her things to the lab, balancing the duffel with some difficulty. As she set them down, John, her old rival and co-lab worker appeared.

"Hey Augustine – long time, no see." He unceremoniously dropped his own baggage, and stretched. "Feel a little strange coming out of cryo. Isn't it crazy, we've been on the move for almost a decade and we look no different than when we left."

"Yeah, John, it's been a trip." Grace surveyed the lab, and noticed several large glass cylinders, at least three meters in length. "What'd you end up getting your degree in?"

John shrugged with feigned indifference, but the tone of his voice spoke volumes. "I ended up switching from regular Xeno to XenoNeuro. It's a pretty new field, but a lot of money and potential, as you can see."

"Yeah, I heard you are working with Lovecraft now." Grace didn't look at him, still carefully inspecting the room. It was a decent size, but easily dwarfed by the large areas of the rest of the compound. The layout was somewhat lacking, and the distance from administration, as she could see on her map, gave her small cause for concern.

"Yeah, you really missed out." He shrugged. "I got sent up here to do operations for the Avatar program – and be a driver."

"Oh, how nice." Grace honed in on a mini-electron microscope.

"Yeah, Avatars are-"

"-remotely controlled bodies with DNA from ourselves and the Na'vi. Our nervous systems must be identical genetically and line up with that of our Avatar, allowing our minds to operate these bodies." She stood up straight, and looked at him directly. "I did all the reading on it, John. I know what you guys have accomplished. I even have a fair grasp of how it was done, and to be frank, I do not approve of Cordell's methods."

John looked at her with a touch of anger. "Grace, you obviously don't understand how valuable this is. You said it yourself you're being a part of this – don't demonize the very technology that is going to let you play in all the pretty Pandora flowers."

Grace clenched her fists but kept her eyes neutral. "John, you may be running this part of the show, but I got here of my own merit, just as you did. Do not belittle me."

They stared at each other frigidly for a few moments, before being joined by two more men, both obviously not on the security team. One was a touch shorter than Grace, and rather scrawny, but seemed to be rather enthusiastic to be there. The other, a large, dark man who stool sullenly in the doorway, watched unamused as the first genially greeted Grace and John.

"So nice to meet you!" he shook Grace's hand quickly, grinning from ear to ear. "Name's Finn! I'm the local IT guy – so if anything but a brain needs rewiring, I'm your man!"

"Dr. Grace Augustine." she smiled, a little flustered by his greeting. "Xenobotanist and Avatar driver."

The other man, now obviously the largest of the group, approached them. "Dr. Andrei Volynski, Biologist." He said quietly, in an obvious, yet slight Russian accent. He shook Grace's hand firmly.

"Dr. John Bredych. Avatar driver and Xeno-Neuro specialist." John kept his eyes directed at the other men as he greeted them, avoiding Grace's gaze. Andrei seemed to notice the tension in the room, but made no comment as Finn kept chattering, oblivious.

"I graduated from the Engineering program over at MIT – I know the two of you were both Stanford grads though, man what a place. I did my internship there that summer -"

Andrei, obviously a few years older than these new graduates, began his own examination of the room, while the other new PhD's were held captive as Finn explained his way through the last few years of his life one Earth. A captive John stood a little bewildered as Grace and Andrei continued inspecting the room. Grace was impressed by the design – it was obvious that RDA did not want to allot a large amount of space to the Avatar Program but the people they'd hired to make use of the space had done their job well.

"When do you start testing?" Andrei glanced at Grace. "The vehicles – they have arrived two hours ago."

"I'm not entirely sure-" Grace paused. "Do you know who is running the AVTR program?"

"I was led to believe it was to be you and Dr. Bredych – which of you has worked with Dr. Lovecraft?" His face grew dark with concern. "Were you not briefed on this information?"

Grace turned to John. "What were Cordell's last orders to you?"

John looked back, a little peeved. "Dr. Lovecraft instructed me to teach you, and future AVTR drivers. I'm the only one who has any level of experience with this, so I am supposed to be in charge."

Grace sighed inwardly, but didn't express her irritation. She wasn't going to make this into some schoolyard argument about who got to be in charge, so she let it go. She figured that administration would eventually step in and set him straight. After all – Grace had undergone many months of training herself. Although she did not have quite as intimate an understanding of the neural link as John may have, she did possess detailed knowledge of how the operations were supposed to work. And what to do if something went wrong. Her head ached. She didn't want to deal with John's little complex right now. Grace dug the squashed cigarette box out of her pocket, lighting up and taking a long drag – she felt better already.

"Grace – no smoking in the lab." John admonished.

Grace rolled her eyes. "I'm going to have my goddamn cigarette, John. You'll just have to deal with that."

Andrei eyed her. "You spare a smoke?"

Grace handed one off to him, and smiled to herself. "Want one John?"

"No. Thanks." he grasped his duffel and began lugging it out of the lab. "Meet back here at 06:00 tomorrow. We'll begin the testing then."

Grace watched him leave and continued to take inventory with Andrei. Finn had settled down a little, his energy all but expended, and in too many words excused himself to the dining commons. Andrei loomed behind her, almost like a shadow.

"What are you here for?" she asked him between drags on the cigarette.

"I studied disease pathology and xenobiology at university in Bejing." He laughed, a rich, hearty sound. "I speak better Mandarin than English, apologies."

Grace mulled over that for a moment, as Andrei took another drag on his own cigarette. "Did they tell you why they asked for someone who studies disease?"

Andrei shrugged. "To study disease of the native. I also know microbiology well. Perhaps that." he sighed, almost happily, enjoying the smoke. "These are good – American made?"

Grace nodded, and crushed the butt of her own cigarette into an ashtray. "I am going to get some rest – see you in the morning."

He nodded. "Good night, Augustine."

Grace reviewed the new discoveries of Pandora on her laptop – since she had been in cryo for years, she figured much had been done while she had made the trip. She was curious to see if they had indeed found any diseases of the planet – particularly those affecting humans- that would explain further why Andrei's focus had been a necessary one to add to the team.

Thus far, little progress had been made in science, but much in the construction and other projects on Pandora. Hell's Gate's completion marked an incredible feat as many of the materials had been shipped from Earth to arrive. Full scale mining operations were soon to be underway, and new shipments of manual laborers would be increasing in number soon. In only a few months, Grace saw they could expect more scientists, and the progress made on Dark Dreamer had increased significantly. Little progress was being made on the Planet itself. Grace decided she would see to it that more was done. She couldn't wait to get her hands on the flora, still living, in its natural environment.

Curious, Grace checked to see if further research on the Na'vi had been done – Grace was relieved to see no more specimens had been brought to Earth, but did see several articles authored by Lovecraft and his associates regarding very detailed physiology of their neurological tissues. Grace was pained as she read the articles, but unable to turn away, as she realized that she had, indeed, missed out on an amazing research opportunity – and learned an incredible amount from reviewing their findings.

She was felt torn – though it had long been over and done with. There was nothing to be done at this point but more forward. Grace sat in the cot for another moment before taking a stroll to the floor below the command center, one of the few places where large, panoramic windows looked onto the tarmac. Grace stood for a moment, in awe as she could see the night simply glowing beyond SecOps stationary vehicles. Polyphemus was also visible, the light reflecting from it illuminating the moon further, with an iridescent violet glow. It looked so alive, so magical – so unlike the planet of her own origin.

Grace felt right at home.