"You're telling me that you got your head stuck in the link bed, and now you can't switch back?"

"No, I'm telling you I get my hair stuck in the projector, and I can't switch back because my human body's brain got turned to jelly."

It had been a very involved chat between the two scientists as they made their way toward the science lab at the other end of Hell's Gate. Bill had been trying to explain to Max his little accident, which Dr. Patel was very hesitant to believe. Sure, the same thing happened to Jake, but he did it on purpose, and that with the assistance of some very interesting biological phenomenon. It was theoretically possible, he guessed, but so many things could go wrong that it was a death sentence. Bill didn't care how lucky he was to have survived, and just wanted to know if the process was reversible.

"So," Bill said, smiling weakly at Dr. Patel, "is there any way to, y'know, help me out here?"

"Uh, how long has your human body been dead again?" Max asked in return. If it had only been a short time, he might be able to use some equipment from around the base to-

"About a week." Bill replied.

"Oh." Max uttered. He looked up to the giant chemist. He already had his hands full trying to bring Norm's avatar back online, and that was still an ongoing process. Taking a large breath, he delivered Bill the bad news.

"A week? That's...way too long."

Bill gave an exasperated sigh.

"Well, shit."

The chemist had really thought that the RDA would still be at Hell's Gate, but ever since looking at his own corpse, he secretly knew he was going to be stuck like he was, no matter how much he tried to bury it with wishful thinking. He was in this for the long haul and not having much else to say on a cure for his avatarness, he quickly changed the subject to something else he really wanted to know.

"So, what in the hell happened when I wasn't here? I'm gone almost ten months, and you guys let the place fall apart." he said, trying to keep humor about it. Max laughed as they reached the entrance of the science lab. The human took out a key card, slid it through a slot next to the door, and it hissed open. The two former RDA employees stepped inside, Bill ducking his head. Humans couldn't breathe the atmosphere of Pandora, but avatars and the Na'vi could breathe the more oxygen-enriched atmospheres of the sky people without much trouble. As the large room leading to the main building began the main pressurizing and filtration process, a voice came over the intercom, one Bill recognized.

"Hey Max!" the voice said, "You find anyone out there?"

It took a second for Bill to sort through his memory, and found who the voice belonged to: Norm Spellman. He'd only met Norm twice before heading out to his linkup station and getting subsequently abandoned, but he seemed like a nice enough guy. Dr. Patel pressed a button from inside the cabin to reply.

"Yes. It's Dr. Tabar."

"...W-what? Bill? Holy crap! Where was he?"

"In the housing quarters. Just hold on, we'll be over there in a second."

The hissing from inside the cramped room stopped, and the door leading to the inside slid open. The science lab always did have a pretty blue glow to it, although most of the science team never could stop and appreciate it, either from being worked to death inside or because they were in their avatars outside.

Whatever had happened to the mining and security division of the RDA had passed over the science team, because power was still running throughout the facility. They walked into a large circular room, and the sight of it took Bill back. It was one of the main avatar compounds, and sitting at one of the computers was Norm, reading a book. The anthropologist heard the footsteps and looked up. He gave the two scientists a look of bewilderment, as he wasn't expecting Bill to still be in his avatar form.

"Uh, why is Bill st-"

"I slipped and tripped and my human body went boom." Bill stated, interrupting Norm.

Norm snorted. "What?"

Bill didn't feel like going into the painful details of his accident for the sixth or seventh time, so he nodded to Max as he explained to Norm what had happened. Bill still hadn't told them what he had gone through just to get back to the base, but that could wait. As he saw Norm travel through a plethora of facial expressions, from amusement to suspicion, the chemist found himself wondering if these two plus himself were the only ones left on Pandora. Where was the rest of the science t-

Duh.

He looked around, and sure enough, he could clearly see almost all of the avatar beds in use, and the video feed from the inside of the beds showing the currently semi-comatose faces of the scientists. He walked up to one of the beds, getting a closer look, but then felt a hand on his wrist and looked down to see Norm.

"Man," he said apologetically, "that sucks."

"Yeah," Bill answered.

Norm tried to cheer Bill up, offering a new perspective.

"But hey! You gotta admit, it is kind of cool."

Bill shot a venomous glare at Norm, and Norm immediately backpedaled.

"From a scientific standpoint, of course."

It was getting late in the day, and he'd come here only to find the two things he wanted were gone or impossible to do. Now, he only had one question left.

"Okay. What happened here? Half the base is overrun with weeds, the RDA left me to die in the jungle, and a little birdie told me that my little mistake has happened to someone else, too! WHAT HAPPENED HERE?"

Dr. Patel was the first to say anything. "They got kicked out."

"I'm sorry," Bill replied, "I didn't GET that memo!"

"Bill!", Norm yelled to get his attention, "just calm down. You might want to sit down for this."

And so he did. There wasn't a big enough chair to support him, so he sat down on the floor as Norm and Max went over everything that had transpired from the day Bill had left. He'd stop them every so often to clarify things.


"Wait wait wait wait. So Jake, the jarhead."

"Uh huh."

"Mated with Neytiri."

"Yeah."

"Oh dear God."

Bill had met Jake only once, mere minutes before his departure from Hell's gate many months ago. He didn't think much of the marine, beyond that he apparently had a block of cheese where his brain should have been. When Jake had offered a handshake to Bill, the chemist told him to kindly go Semper Fi himself and left for his Samson awaiting takeoff.

And why, WHY would Neytiri want to be with the guy who had all the brainpower of a gnat? He had known the chieftain's daughter a little better, as she had been one of the students of Dr. Augustine's class, before the RDA shut it down. Bastards.


"They did what!?"

"Yeah, Quaritch went all out. Used gas and napalm too."

Bill really couldn't believe. He knew that the RDA really wanted the unobtanium under that tree, but he figured they'd at least convince the Na'vi to leave before they started mining for it. Scratch complete assclown off the Selfridge's resume and just replace it with evil, Bill thought.


"...what?"

"Yeah. She'd lost too much blood."

Bill began to shudder a bit when he learned of Grace's death. It was the first thing in a very long time that made feel truly terrible, and the story had to wait while Bill shed a few tears for the fallen botanist. Dr. Augustine was a total pain to work with sometimes, but she was brilliant. She was also the only one who would laugh at Bill's stupid jokes. Still, if she could see Bill now, she'd probably whack him upside the head.

Right. The doctor died doing what she loved, no sense in mourning that. He regained his composure a little later, and motioned for them to continue.


"And...that's it. Everyone except the science team were forced to leave. Jake's still out there, along with the rest of the clan."

"They ever find a new home?"

"Well, the area around the Tree of Souls has become their unofficial home. They're still around there."

Bill still couldn't get over the ending. Jake used the Tree of Souls to permanently transfer his consciousness to his avatar. How that was even remotely possible was anyone's guess, but Bill couldn't help feeling a little jealous. At least Sully had a choice in the matter, whereas a broken chair had made up Bill's mind for him.

"So, now what?" he queried. For Pandora and the humans that had learned to respect it, a good end had come to the story. For the ones who kind of wanted to just get home, like Bill, it was bittersweet more than anything.

"You're more than welcome to stay here." Dr. Patel answered, "more company's always nice."

"Yeah," Norm chirped in, "and you could help the rest of the science team. We're still doing our jobs, more or less."

The RDA had been gone for months, so it's not like there was a paycheck in it for them.

"Uh, why?" Bill asked.

"We have nothing better to do."

Of course.

Dr. Patel stood up. "Well, I think Bill better meet the rest of the avatar team."

"They still live in recreation area out back?" Bill asked.

"Most of them. C'mon, they'll be happy to see you."

Bill doubted that. He almost never talked to any of the other members of the avatar team, and spent most of his time out in the field, collecting chemicals. He had actually pulled a few strings to be able to work alone out in the boondocks, and Selfridge granted the request. One less hippie scientist bitching at him because he approved the request to strip mine another forest.

"Actually," Norm said, "I think that better wait until tomorrow. It's getting late, and that big banshee is still flying around out there."

Bill chuckled as he pointed to the circling creature out one of the windows.

"Oh, he's mine. Name's Tweety."

Dr. Patel just gave Bill a weird look as Norm laughed, mouthing 'what!?'.

"Hey, don't look at me." Bill said, putting his hands up, "he chose the name. I wanted to call him Elvis."

"That would explain how you got here." Max stated.

Well, that had told him their story, he might as well do the same. He stood up, towering over the two humans.

"So, you guys want to hear about my adventure here?" he said. He was answered by two nods, and he started off from his first encounter with O'Tey and his son, to the Thanator, skipping the full switch accident, to the river village, his short stint inside the Kelutral, his taming of a banshee, and his arrival back to Hell's Gate.

"...Wow, and here I was thinking that Jake had a lot happen to him." Norm mumbled, slightly jealous. He'd been on this planet for all of three months before his avatar had been nearly shot to death. Max had been devoting all his time as of late trying to heal the wounds, but seeing as he was the only one left who knew how to operate most of the avatar equipment, progress was painfully slow. Still, Norm's avatar was almost ready for use again, and he'd been bouncing off the walls for the past few days just to get an opportunity to go outside again.

"I think you and Jake will a lot of catching up to do. He could probably tell you about what happened better than either of us." Max stated, folding his arms.

"What, seriously? Bill just got here, I don't think he wants to take off just like that." Norm argued, as Bill began to wander off into the other parts of the station. They let him go without saying anything, as he'd had enough stress for a few decades, if his story had any merit. The two human scientists kept talking, with Norm going over just when his avatar would be ready again for the sixtieth time.

Bill went up to the window, looking outside. It was evening now, and Tweety had gotten tired of flapping around and had perched himself on the main tower of Hell's Gate and was looking off into the distance, squawking at something. Bill followed Tweety's line of sight until he arrived at what the banshee was looking at: two smaller banshees, coming up fast on the base.

"Hey, guys?" Bill said, pointing at the two incoming banshees outside, "we have company."

Norm walked over to the glass window and leaned in, trying to get a closer look. Dr. Patel went to the back of the lab and went through a drawer, finally pulling out a pair of binoculars and strolled over to the window as well, using the device to home on the two creatures.

He smiled, and handed the binoculars over to Norm. Bill, feeling out of the loop, became annoyed as Norm also started smiling. The two scientists immediately went for some nearby exopacks as Bill was feeling a bit frustrated.

"What? What's so funny about two banshees rocketing towards us?" he growled as Norm and Max finished putting on their equipment.

"It's Jake." Norm said.