Chapter 12 - Endgame

The entire Team stood in shock. It took perhaps twenty seconds for reaction to show. A combination of wailing and screaming took over the room. Some fell to their knees, while others collapsed into each other. While the phrase technically meant "Eywa be with you, my sister" it translated more as "Good-bye, my sister."

Denial kicked in right away. Voices spoke in a frenzied storm.

"We should get another opinion!"

"He treats animals, what can he possibly know?"

"Someone did something wrong, someone had to have screwed up!"

"Call 9-1-1!"

"F-k the secrecy, take her to Grace Medical!"

Though the chants in Na'vi which were shown in the movie were short, as soon as one person started others began to follow. Joined together in one swaying mass, they repeated as best they could the prayer issued by Mo'at asking for Eywa's intercession on behalf of Grace.

It took perhaps fifteen minutes to calm everyone down enough to have an orderly discussion. Even then, conversation was interrupted by the occasional sob or sniffle.

"I don't know how Neytiri arrived here" began Dr. Ross, "but she is clearly not of this world and cannot survive here much longer. The iron supplements I gave her should have started showing an effect on the density of hemoglobin in her red cells by now, but the cells have actually shown a decrease in the amount of hemoglobin."

A broken voice spoke: "So what does that mean?" Any thoughts of cutting replies ("Try English" or "Quit with the doctor-speak") were forgotten in the gravity of the moment.

"Her blood isn't carrying enough oxygen. Internal organs are beginning to shut down" was the strained reply. "Her body is making a lot of extra red blood cells in an attempt to compensate, but it's not enough. It's like spreading butter over too much bread. The high gravity isn't helping, either."

Dr. Ross took another sample. It probably wouldn't do him much good, but he had a feeling.

Through this, Sarah and Steven's parents had shown up, angry that the two had not returned to their respective homes to leave for school. "You were supposed to be home by 2 o'clock!" snapped Sarah's irritated mother. "We've been waiting for you and you could have at least called" added Steven's father.

Sarah wanted to slap her mother for being so insensitive, but in the back of her head she knew her mom couldn't possibly be aware of what was happening.

Dr. Ross stood up, and introduced himself to the irate parents.

"I'm Dr. Arnold Ross. The reason your children are still here is because their very dear friend is most likely dying." There. He'd said it. He'd tried to avoid it, but these parents were only going to make a fragile situation fall into chaos if they were not quickly pacified. Vocalization of the word "dying" brought a fresh round of sobbing from the assembled crowd.

Ann and Conner Truebeck looked as if they'd been paralyzed. Here they were berating their child for being late. How insensitive could they possibly be? When Scooter, the family dog, had died, Sarah was distraught for a week. Regardless of regarding Neytiri as an exotic pet of some kind, they did understand that the loss of, whatever Neytiri was, would be devastating.

Robbie and Katrina Whitter were just as shocked. Steven hadn't really seemed to be the emotional type. When faced with situations like this, Steven usually became stoic and quiet. Instead, tears were streaming down his reddened and puffy face. He turned away from his parents, nearly tripping trying to get to Neytiri, who lay on the floor looking quite pitiable. Grabbing Neytiri around the shoulders the best he could (accommodating her 9-foot plus height), he pulled her into an awkward upper-body hug. She could barely muster the strength to turn her now-dull amber eyes to look at him.

"Chet, I'm kind of busy right now…no, I'm not at the office…I'm at a friend's on a housecall"

The low hiss of Arnold Ross on his BlackBerry caused everyone to look up.

"No, we don't have any horses, the iron was for…can we talk later?"

Chet had noticed something odd at the office, prompting the phone call. Odder than usual, at any rate. Arnold had left his computer unlocked (which was unlike him), and it was open to a website called "Avatar-Wiki." Arnold Ross was not a science fiction fan by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, he went out of his way to avoid the craziness surrounding that movie "Avatar." So why was he reading about it? And furthermore, what was with the "sampLOL" on his desk, open, and for that matter, the scribbled notes that seemed to be a summary of content on the page ("Pandora")? Had Ross finally cracked?

There was a long silence from Dr. Ross. Then "2203 West River Drive." The BlackBerry went back into his pocket.

"It can't hurt" he thought. One of the things Arnold liked about Chet was that he and Arnold complemented each other and filled each other's gaps. If one got stuck on a problem, the other would most likely come up with what the first was missing.

"Who did you bring in?" demanded Michelle. "We don't need vultures hovering over Neytiri!"

"Chet Chambers is not a vulture" responded Ross in a severe tone. "Regardless of the outcome here, having him look can't hurt."

Dr. Chambers literally didn't know what to expect. He'd just been told that "I need someone else to look at a patient I have" and little else. Yes, it was related to the horse iron supplements, but Ross hadn't said how. He also hadn't said why the house call was in the middle of the wealthiest section of the suburbs, where no large animals were even kept as per zoning laws.

And what this had to do with "Avatar" he had no clue.