Chapter 11: In Which The Fecal Matter Impacts Against The Rotating Elements of the Ventilation Unit (And We Make A Trip To the Homeworld of the Sky People)

"Shit," was all Jake could say, "how bad?"

"We're not sure, but from what information I am getting, they're on to us, at least they seem to be aware that something is up. How soon can you get the others here for the next phase?"

Jake looked at Neytiri for a moment, then back to Jerryhandelman. "You're still going to go through with it? Even though they're on to you? Are you sure that's wise?"

"We have to, Jake. We have enough false-flag ops going, diversions, fake ops, that sort of thing, that they'll never be able to figure out what is real and what isn't in time to stop it, I hope. I am convinced that we have enough pieces in place to go forward with the plan, therefore I am moving up my timetable so instead of next week, Operation Payback starts in two days. How soon can you get the others here?" he asked again, this time sounding more strained that before.

"I don't know, maybe a day, a couple days." Jake muttered, not happy with this turn of events.

"Jerryhandelman, can you tell me what this means?" Neytiri wanted to know.

"The bad people whom I am trying to defeat are now aware that something is about to happen and they are going to try to stop it from happening, unless we strike first." he said curtly, turning to Jake. "You have 24 hours, Jake. Get on the horn and start calling your people. Get them here so we can go forward with the plan."

Her mate was silent for a moment, then he came to a decision. "Whatever you say. You're the boss." He turned to Neytiri, "Now it is our turn. Let's get on the radio and tell everyone it is time."

She nodded. They had work to do.

-SCENE BREAK-

Surprisingly, it was fairly easy to get everyone on the line and aware of what was going on. Each of the Olo'eyktans had a radio Jake had given him (and her, in the case of the Eastern Sea Ikran Clan leader) and a 'code phrase' Jake had told them, which meant that it was time to come to Hell's Gate to start the next phase of the plan.

Everyone would be there tomorrow.

As for now, she and Jake had one last evening before the madness began, a final evening's peace before Jerryhandelman went to war against his own people on their behalf.

She snuggled next to Jake in the hammock as the evening wore down and Hometree's occupants settled in for the night.

"My Jake, are you nervous?" she asked him, stroking his chest with her fingers."

"Yes, actually. I hope Jerry knows what he is doing." he said after a moment.

"You are afraid?" she wondered.

"Well, if the operation has been compromised, then hell yes, I am nervous. I just hope Jerry has all his ducks in a row and everything will fall in to place.

"Ducks?" she looked at him, smiling, "is this more of the Sarcasm you and Jerryhandelman seem so fond of?"

He smiled back at her, "Yeah, something like that. I just hope Jerry can pull this thing off. If anyone can do it, he can. I am convinced of that." he finished.

"We must trust that Eywa that she chose Jerryhandelman for a reason. I believe he will do what is necessary to save us from the bad people. I know it in my heart." she responded.

"And with that, we should get some sleep." he muttered.

"But first, my love, you must satisfy certain urges I have been having lately," she smiled, as her fingers wandered down his chest, toward his groin.

"Ah, what the hell." he said, "a little nookie before the shit hits the fan, what's the harm?"

And so, they mated again, as the night settled upon their Hometree and the Pandoran jungle's nocturnal creatures began their 'day' under the glow of Polyphemous.

-SCENE BREAK-

Hell's Gate seemed looked much the same when they returned the next morning, but something was different. This day would be a day to remember, she realized.

In a few hours, we'll be on the human's home world, she thought, with a rising sense of excitement in her belly. Soon, they would be on the world that had produced Jake, Maxpatel, and Jerryhandelman and there the fight for her people's future would happen.

It can't happen soon enough, she thought.

When everyone was there, they all assembled in a large room in a different part of Hell's Gate. Evidently this was a place for the humans to repair their machines, as there were a number of such machines around this place, some had been taken apart. Others were in various states of disrepair and/or nonfunctional.

"Yes, this is the main garage facility at Hell's Gate." Jerryhandelman remarked as she and the others looked around the room. "It's where they fixed their machines."

Over on one side of the room, standing by itself, on a large, square base, was an odd structure unlike anything she had ever seen.

It was tall, easily taller than she was, and was made of some clear, translucent material, similar to the stuff that covered the front of the Samsons and the other flying machines, made as flat panels, and had four sides to it. The top was covered with machines of some kind and various cables and other stuff went away from it and toward the wall, where some of those cable then entered the wall, through a roughly-cut hole.

There were also wires and cables emerging from the base on which this thing stood. What purpose these wires and machines served, she could only guess. Some of those wires and cables went to an object standing by itself away from the big thing on the stand. Maxpatel was there, doing something to that object and next to him was a big screen, similar to the ones she had seen here before. This screen must be there to show us something, she concluded. But, even if she didn't know how it worked exactly, she could guess what this big thing on the stand was for.

"This is what will get us to Earth." Jake said, more of a statement than a question, his thoughts mirroring hers, as he looked the thing over, then turned to Jerryhandelman.

"Yes. This is the transfer chamber." Jerryhandelman responded.

He looked over the assembled group of Na'vi in the garage. Many of the Olo'eyktans and their mates were agog at what they were seeing around them. Most of them had never seen a human building before, let alone one as big as this one. And the machines all around them made the environment even stranger to those not accustomed to human machinery.

Jerryhandelman turned to her. "Neytiri, you'll need to translate some of this, I don't think my knowledge of your language will be up to the task at all, even though it's gotten a bit better."

She nodded to him. "I will be glad to assist you, Jerryhandelman."

He pointed to the machine, then to the group of assembled Na'vi. "Tell them this is what will get all of us to Earth. It is my machine. I built it. It works. I have used it a number of times and there is nothing to worry about." he finished.

She translated that to the others. They looked at the machine, then Jerryhandelman, then back to Neytiri.

"What of that thing over where Maxpatel is," someone asked and Neytiri translated. "It is called a 'control panel' and it is what makes this thing do what I want. The thing next to it is a screen and it is plugged in to a secure comm channel that goes right to my lab back home where the machine at the other end of this link is. Would you like to see the room where the other end of this link is?"

Everyone wanted to, and even if she didn't want to admit it to herself, Neytiri was fascinated. They were about to see the world of the Sky People, at least a small part of it.

Jerryhandelman nodded to Maxpatel, who did something at the 'control panel' and the next thing they knew, the screen came alive, like a moving picture box. It showed a room sort of like the one they were in, along with a big thing on a stand similar to the one in this room.

There were people in that other room, and some of them turned toward something in the room and then they were looking out of the screen at everyone here, at Hell's Gate.

There was a woman with the group and she waved at the screen. "Hi Jerry, looks like you got everybody lined up and ready to go, we're ready on this end." she said.

"Hi Pat," he replied, "yeah, we're just about ready to rock and roll over here, we'll be sending the delegation shortly. Be ready." and with that, he turned to the group.

"This will get us to the world of the Sky People" said the leader of the Eastern Sea Ikran clan, Tanhì was her name. She was wearing her warpaint, as were others. In addition, many of them had brought their weapons along with them.

"Uh, yes." Jerryhandelman said to Tanhì, then turned to Neytiri.

"Tell them they don't get to take their weapons, bows and arrows, that sort of thing." he said.

"Why is this, Jerryhandelman?" Neytiri wanted to know, as did a few others who understood enough English to follow the essence of the conversation.

"For two reasons, it is less mass to transfer from here to Earth and back and mostly importantly, because you guys are coming as a peace delegation, not a war delegation."

"So, no bows and arrows?" Jake asked, "we're to go unarmed? Why?"

"Jake do you want to tell everyone what will happen in the event that there are hostilities of some kind and even one drop of human blood is shed at the hands of a Na'vi, even if it is justified?"

He pointed off in the distance, toward his home planet. "If there is any fighting at all, it'll happen over there, on our world and we'll do it, not you. It will be better if it is humans fighting humans than Na'vi fighting humans. Trust me."

Her mate pondered that for a moment, then turned to Neytiri. "He's right. We need to tell them that." She explained this to the group. There was some grumbling and some wanted to know if they could at least take their knives with them.

"Sure," Jerryhandelman said, "as long as they are small and you can sheath them. You can put your bows, arrows, and other weapons over there, in the corner. They will be here when you come back next week."

With that, everyone took their larger weapons to the side of the big room they were in.

Once that was all done, Jerryhandelman looked to Neytiri, then to the group.

"So, who wants to go first?" he asked.

There was no movement, no answer.

"Come on, someone has to be brave enough to do this?" he muttered.

Neytiri was about to ask the question again when Tanhì stepped forward. The Eastern Sea Ikran clan were known for their bravery.

"I will go first." she announced.

Her mate, the Tsahik of their clan, looked around for a moment or two, and then also stepped forward to be at his mate's side.

"I will follow." he announced.

At that point, everyone then lined up and Neytiri then understood what the human expression "break the ice" really meant. She smiled.

Jerryhandelman went to the big machines with four clear sides. "I'll open the door and explain what's going to happen." he said.

Tanhì followed behind him, and Neytiri behind her to provide any translating that might be needed. Jerryhandelman pointed to his machine. "There is a similar machine on Earth, in the building where I work. We can see it on the monitor there. That is where she will go when she goes to Earth."

Neytiri explained that to Tahni, who looked at the machine askance for a moment, then stepped up to it.

Jerryhandelman opened one side of the machine up. Tahni stepped inside it.

"Neytiri, tell her when I close this door, she should take a deep breath and hold her hands up like this," he said holding his hands up, palms forward.

She explained this to Tahni, who wanted to know why she had to hold her breath and why it was important to hold her hands up.

"Because when you snap back into this universe, you will be moving, slightly, so you want your hands to be out so you can catch yourself on the wall if you stumble. That's why you need your hands out and up like that. And, we take the air out of the chamber so there is less mass to move, makes the number-crunching a lot easier."

"Moving?" Jake asked, "I thought you said you had all the bugs worked out of this thing."

"Well Jake, I did, and that was one of the bugs we had to work out. One of the first trips I made back to my lab, I forgot about the moving, lost my balance, and banged my head against the inside of the chamber. I was knocked out for a few seconds, the guys in my lab back home were freaked out, they opened up the chamber, dragged me out, and were about to call the hospital next door to my lab when I came to. So, we refined the mechanism of the transfer a bit better to reduce the moving as much as possible, but we can't completely eliminate it, at least not yet."

"All in the name of science." Jake smiled.

"Jerryhandelman was hurt in this thing?" Tahni said, trying to follow some of the conversation.

Jerryhandelman turned to Neytiri. "Tell her I am just fine, it was a problem with the machine that we have basically taken care of."

She explained that to Tahni, who seemed somewhat mollified at this.

She entered the chamber and Jerryhandelman closed the door.

Maxpatel did something at the 'control panel' and there was a hissing sound as the air in the chamber was removed. Tahni looked out at the group, nodded to her mate, then to Jerryhandelman, who said, "Max, do it." to Maxpatel.

Maxpatel did something else, there was a brief flickering of the lights in the ceiling, and in an instant, Tahni was gone. Maxpatel did something else at the 'control panel' and there was a hissing noise as air was put back in the chamber.

Tahni's mate stepped up to the machine. "Tell him we have to wait, for the capacitor banks to recharge." Jerryhandelman said, "in the meantime, watch the monitor." he pointed to the big screen.

Tahni was there, in the other machine, looking a bit surprised, but there nonetheless. The humans at the other machine helped her out and pointed to something in the room. She walked up to it and in a moment, was taking up all the monitor they were watching.

"I am here," she said excitedly, "on the world of the Sky People!"

Jerryhandelman nodded to Tahni's mate. "Tell him to step in the chamber."

He stepped in the chamber and disappeared. And so, they worked their way down until it was just Jake, Neytiri, Normspellman, and Jerryhandelman left. Maxpatel would be staying here to operate the transfer machine, of course, but also other stuff with the plan.

Jerryhandelman looked at Jake and Neytiri, "So who wants to go first?"

Jake stepped up to the chamber before Neytiri had a chance to respond. "I'll go." he said.

Neytiri had wanted to go first, but Jake came over to her and held her hands, "I'll go first this time and when we come back, you can go first."

She smiled at him and then he got in the chamber.

He disappeared. "Neytiri, it's your turn." Jerryhandelman said.

"I will wait until your machine is ready," she said, looking at the machine and not him.

"That's fine by me." he said.

"So, while we're waiting, you want to tell me how this thing actually works?" Normspellman asked Jerryhandelman as they looked at the chamber.

"No, not really, Norm. It would take too long to explain. It's basically a transfer chamber between universes, when you get right down to it, but that is only part of the answer. Like I said, it would take too long to try and explain how it works to you. Hell, even I don't understand how some of it works exactly but that is the point. It works, have faith in me that I designed it and know that it works."

Normspellman shrugged. "And you only came up with this less than a month ago?"

"Look, Norm, this is the culmination of years of research, on my part and that of others. I didn't just 'come up' with this thing on the fly. We've been trying to figure this out for years and now that we know it works, we'll refine the design. For now, the damn thing works and that is all you need to know. Just chill out, dude."

"Whatever." Normspellman muttered.

"This machine, you say you don't really know how it works?" Neytiri said, looking at the machine very dubiously.

"No, not quite, it's just that the theory we came up with to make this machine is so new we don't know everything about it. But we will in time."

"And whatever you do, you'd better figure out a way to make it use less energy!" Maxpatel grumbled.

"Sorry about that, I know it will eat into your fuel supply, but I have a few ideas for workarounds to deal with that issue, along with the problem with keeping the machines running out at the Tree of Souls."

"Good, because we don't have an easy way to get deuterium here without a constant resupply of shuttles from Earth and you know, the machines out at the Tree may have to run for quite some time, perhaps indefinitely. We can't be flying out there all the time to replace fuel cells you know."

"No problem, Max. Like I said, I have some ideas for workarounds and when the time comes, I will think of something. Everything will be fine, just relax."

"I'll try," Maxpatel grumbled, "it's just that I don't want to be around here when the power runs out at the Tree of Souls and the machines that get the signal here suddenly crap out on us and lose power."

Jerryhandelman rolled his eyes. "Just chill out and relax." he muttered.

The machine was ready again. She stepped in the chamber and Jerryhandelman closed the door.

It was claustrophobic and tight, but she could easily fit inside the machine. She could reach up and touch the ceiling, if she wanted too, but she didn't. She took a deep breath and suddenly, she noticed how the air inside was disappearing very rapidly. Soon, she was inside a dead chamber. There was no sound inside except she could hear blood rushing to her eardrums.

She rapped on the glass and Jerryhandelman nodded to her, then to Maxpatel. She said goodbye to Pandora at that moment.

And before she knew it, she was in another chamber, very much like this one, only it was slightly bigger, and it was in a different room. It happened so fast she could not really say she had actually moved in any way, but she was moving. She felt herself moving forward slightly, as though she was about to fall forward, but she moved her feet and caught herself. The air rushed into the chamber and she could breathe again. She drank in the air hungrily, then looked around. There were various people in the room where this chamber was located, and the Na'vi delegation was standing off to the side, obviously waiting for her. Jake was standing there, smiling at her.

A woman came up to the chamber and opened the door.

"Welcome to Earth. You must be Neytiri. My name is Patricia. I work with Jerry and am one of his colleagues."

Neytiri stepped out of the chamber and into the room.

"Yes, I am Neytiri. And where is this room located?"

"In the basement of one of the buildings Jerry and I work at to do our research." Patricia said.

"So we are on Earth?" Neytiri asked.

"Yup," Jake said, "and I never thought I'd actually ever say this, but it is good to be home."

Now all they had to do was wait for Normspellman and Jerryhandelman to arrive.

Normspellman arrived first. He came down from the chamber, seeming a little rattled. Jake and Neytiri helped him come down to the floor.

"That was interesting, in a weird way." he said.

"Yeah," Jake answered, "it almost felt like something grabbed me, my entire body, and yanked me here, or something."

"You felt that too," Normspellman said, surprised. "To me it almost felt like I was yanked into the chamber. I closed my eyes when all the air left the chamber and suddenly, BOOM, here I am, right here on Earth, or so Jerry says."

"We'll find out about that soon enough. Speaking of Jerry, he should be along soon, I figure."

"Yes," said one of the people at a 'control panel' very similar to the one at Hell's Gate, "in fact, he should be here any second." The man pointed to a monitor screen like the one at Hell's Gate. "See for yourself."

Neytiri looked around the room. It was crowded in this room, and the ceiling was very close to her head. There were a number of humans here. She recognized Scottbellovin and Tomanderson among them. Both waved at her.

They all watched the screen as Jerryhandelman stepped into the chamber at Hell's Gate. A few moments later, he nodded to Maxpatel and disappeared.

It seemed instantly later, but she was sure there must have been some passage of time, he reappeared in the chamber here. The chamber filled with air, and he stepped out.

He came down to the floor and looked around.

"We're all here, let's get you guys to your quarters." he said.