Chapter 21: In Which Neytiri Finds God, Jerry Handelman Finds Out What Is Wrong With Him, And Max Patel Provides Us With a Little Comic Relief (Not Necessarily In That Order)
The snow had melted away by the next morning. What had been a wonderland of white returned to its drab, soulless, urban desert, with hardly a trace of greenery. But, there was still much to do and much to be learned if she was to be able to help her brother heal. Jake needed him, the Na'vi needed him, she needed him to be as rested and healed as possible when it came time to meet with the American president and the other leaders.
So, she would bring him some good, solid, human food for his first meal of the day. Jake and another of the Na'vi leaders were both back hunting around Hell's Gate for a Yerik (or two) they could butcher and send back to this world. He would not be back until later, perhaps not until tomorrow.
In the meantime, she and Norm and the others would help Jerry heal. She admitted to herself that it was good that Tahni and the others were helping her. It gave them something to do while they waiting for Jerry to heal.
She entered the hospital building, accompanied by two soldiers from the American clan. They told her the Russians would be leaving very soon. She would miss them, these strange warriors in their blue helmets and blue vests.
She entered Jerry's room. His doctor was there with him when she came in. "Ah, Neytiri, you brought Jerry's food. Good!" he said, clapping his hands together.
"We have plenty of it now, and we all feel Jerry should share in this food. It is better than the other stuff he's been eating."
Jerry looked at the plate before him. "Beef? You got real beef? Damn! I must really be special to deserve this." he said, smiling. "That beef I got for you guys was kind of a fluke, I have to confess, but getting some like this now, I must be somebody now to be worthy of this."
"Yes you are, brother. And I intend for you to get the best care the humans can give you, and that includes getting you the best food possible." she said, looking at the doctor.
"No complaints here, Neytiri." the doctor said. "Anything that will help Jerry heal faster is fine with me. Speaking of which, you got any more of that ointment left? We're running out of it for him and it seems to be doing a very good job on him."
"I can get some, Toktor Hansen. I will ask Jake to bring more from Pandora when he returns."
"Excellent." the doctor said, "and with that, I have to keep on my rounds. I'll check in with you later, Jerry." He nodded to Neytiri, "and that the good Lord and/or Eywa that your sister-in-law is helping you to heal. She's doing an excellent job.
"It is my duty as Tsahik, Toktor, but Jerry is also family to me, so it is very important to me he get the best healing possible."
"And that is exactly what we're going to do for your brother-in-law, Neytiri." the doctor said as he left the room. "Take care, see you all later." he finished.
Neytiri sat on the little bed across from Jerry's bed. He was sitting up now, and only had a few tubes and such in him now. He was able to carry on conversations for longer now and was able to stay up and about for much longer. His doctor had even allowed him to use his "datawindow" now to keep track of his communications from and to other humans around the world. "The Great Mother hasn't shut the network off," he'd told her yesterday, "she's just put her thumb over it, which is why it didn't take very long to calm everyone down after the takeover, life goes on, and all that. So I might as well try to get some work done while I can."
She watched him while he ate, her head resting on her hands. "You are liking this meal, Jerry?" she asked him.
"Yes, this is great! I don't get steak very often and when I do, I savor it. I'm luckier than most people because most of the human race has never had real meat of any kind. It's something of a luxury item these days. Thank you for getting this for me!" he said, wolfing down a mouthful.
She smiled. "You're welcome, brother."
"And the rest of the Na'vi, how are they doing?" he asked her.
"They're fine, and they will be helping me to help you. It is the best way for all of us to help you get better so you can sit with us and negotiate with the Earth leaders."
"That's a good thing, Neytiri." he said, carving up his beef steak with expert hands.
"And," she said, "we might be able to get you some even better food, when my Jake returns from our home."
"He's on Pandora?"
"Yes, he's hunting for Yerik to butcher and bring back for us so we can have a taste of home in addition to your human food." she said, looking out the window.
"That's good," he said.
She looked up into the sky. There was a bright, glowing crescent orb in the sky.
She pointed. "That is your world's Moon?" she asked.
"Yes." he said. "And if you look carefully, you see all those lights all over it? You can see them better on the dark side, next to the crescent that is lit up by the Sun?"
She nodded.
"Those are cities up there, on our Moon. There are billions of our people who live and work up there, on our Moon. They live underneath great domes, kilometers high, connected to each other by shafts and tunnels that run all over our Moon."
She looked up in wonderment, seeing a twinkling constellation of lights on the Moon, and realized that many billions of humans lived there, where those lights were.
"You have been there, to your Moon?" she wanted to know.
"Yeah, a couple times, for my work. It is a lot like here, only more confined, because there's no air you can breathe up there. That's why our cities up there are under the domes, so people can live there without having to wear special suits all the time."
She looked down the street. There was a building in the distance, a large building, with a strange structure atop it, like two straight beams, one short, one long, and the short beam directly across the longer one.
"Jerry, my brother, what is that building down there?" she asked, pointing to it.
He looked at the window. "Oh, that's just a church, it's where some of the Sky People worship our God, or one of them, at least. If you look down the road a little bit further, you'll see a building with a star symbol next to a crescent moon shape. See it?'
She looked, and yes, there it was.
"What building is that for? Another of your Sky People gods?"
"Yeah, sort of. It's a mosque, it is where Sky People who call themselves Muslims worship around here, even though they worship the same God as the Christians, who worship in that church right down there. And if you look down the street the other direction, you'll see a building with a different star-shaped symbol, this one with six points, see it?"
She got up and looked and yes, off in the distance, was another building with a symbol shaped like a six-pointed star atop its roof.
"That's called a synagogue, and the people who worship there are called Jews. They also worship the same God as the Christians and the Muslims, because they're all People of the Book."
"The Book? What is that?" she wanted to know.
"Uh, it was from a long time ago, when the Jews and Muslims were living in a place called the Sinai, they were two tribes of Sky People who had the same ancestors and they worshiped the same God, even though the Jews called Him Yaweh and the Muslims called him Allah. Both tribes told stories about their God and wrote them down a long time ago, and put them in a big Book."
"And these 'Christians' they are also of 'People of the Book' like the Muslims and the Jews?"
"Yes, sort of. They came from the Jews. A long time ago, when the Jewish tribe was living in the desert, they were under the rule of a people called the Romans. There arose among the Jews a very wise man called Jesus. He said he was the Son of God and had come to Earth to fulfill the ancient prophecy the Jews had gotten from a Jew named Moses a long time before that one day among their number would arise a Messiah who would lead them to freedom and to God. He preached many truths to the Jews, and said many wise things. Some Jews started following him and he began to raise unrest among the Jews, which made the Romans angry. They didn't want the place where the Jews lived to be unruly. It was called Palestine and it was a very important province in the Roman Empire, at least in that part of it, because it was a crossroads. A lot of Sky People came and went through it on their way to and from other lands. So, they had their allies among the Jewish leadership call for the arrest of this Jesus for blasphemy, which they did, along with a demand that the Romans put him on trial and execute him, which they did."
She recoiled. "These Romans, they killed this man? How cruel!"
"Yes. They arrested him and since the Jewish "leadership" at the time were calling for him to die, the Romans did what the Jewish leaders asked. That way they could say they were just carrying out the wishes of the Jewish leaders, and they would get what they wanted, which was a Palestine that was happy and pacified, rather than unruly and upset."
"But these Christians, they came from the Jews?" she asked.
"Yes. Even though the Romans killed Jesus, it was said by his followers that he came back to life three days later and then went to Heaven to be with his Father, the God of the Jews. It was said that he promised his followers that he would return one day for them and would bring justice to the world, or something like that. So, his followers started calling themselves 'Christians' in his honor. Not that I believe a word of any of this, even though I'm a Jew, I am a thoroughly secular Jew, you understand."
"Thoroughly secular Jew? What does that mean?"
"Uh, it just means that I really don't believe in all those old stories about God or the Gods, whether you want to call God Yaweh, Allah, or just God. I'm not really religious, even though I was raised Jewish. I'm what we call an 'agnostic' because I don't really believe in God or any deities of any kind, even if others do. I and other agnostics say we can't ever know if there really is a God or not. As for myself, I don't really believe in God or any kind of deity." he said.
She glared at him for a second.
"But my mind could be changed in that regard!" he added quickly.
She smiled. "You may not believe in Eywa, but Eywa believes in you, Jerry."
"Yeah, I suppose, but like I say, even though most humans of the American clan are Christians, there are some Jews and some Muslims here, and many Americans worship other Gods besides the God of the Jews, Christians, and Muslim, and many are like me. They don't really believe in God or any of that sort of thing."
"But those Americans that do, the Christians among the American clan, they think of their God as the One True God?"
"Yes. And the Muslims think Allah is the One True God, and the Jews think the Christians and the Muslims are both wrong, which has caused a lot anger and strife among all three faiths for a very long time."
"Why can't your clan agree to worship just one God, like the Christians, Muslims, and Jews do?" she asked, mystified.
"Because very few people who believe in God want to let other people believe in their own God, or not believe, if they want to. Some want to impose their idea of God on the rest of us, and that makes a lot of people very angry." he said.
She shook her head. "This is so confusing, my brother. You have too many Gods, you humans of the American Clan."
"And we're not the only one. There are other clans that worship other Gods, and there are Christians, Muslims, and Jews in those other clans too, as well as those who do not worship or believe in any God, like me."
She smiled at him. "Maybe not now, but someday, my brother, I will show you Eywa's way and you too will believe."
"Perhaps. Anyway, that church down there is a big worship center around here and it's where there are a lot of big religious events and gatherings, things like funerals, weddings, and the like."
"Weddings? What are those?"
"Uh, that's when a man and a woman, or sometimes two men or two women, who are Christians or at least say they are, get married before the Christian God. They make a promise to each other to honor and obey each other and commit to each other until they are parted in death, and their families are there to witness this important ceremony, and afterward, they are considered mated before the Christian God. Anyway, that is what happens in that church, but there are other ways of marriage among the Sky People."
She pondered that for a moment, remembering the night she and Jake and chosen each other as mates in the Na'vi way. "I wonder, could I get married at a church, in the Sky People way?" she said, thinking out loud.
"I don't know, it's possible." he answered after a moment. She could see him thinking about it.
"It's not important right now. You're finished with your meal. I'll take your dishes back to the other place." she said, getting up.
"Here you go and thanks again." he said.
"No problem, as you like to say, Jerry." she said smiling as she left the room.
-SCENE BREAK-
She returned a little while later to check in on him. His doctor was back.
"Neytiri, you're back. Glad you're here. We're about to contact Maxpatel."
"Really, here, in this room?" she asked him.
"Well, through Jerry's comm link back to your world. He wants to share some medical information about Jerry with us."
He pointed to a monitor near the bed. "We'll be seeing him there in a moment."
He did something at another machine and in a moment, Maxpatel was on the screen!
"Maxpatel! It is you!" she marveled.
"Hi Neytiri, yes it's me, Max and I'm here at Hell's Gate." He looked out through the monitor and waved at Jerry. "Hi Jerry." he said.
"Hi Max." Jerry said, with little enthusiasm.
"Maxpatel, is Jake there with you?" she wanted to know.
"Yes, he and the other Olo'eyktan are here, at Hell's Gate. They're downstairs right now, in the armory, cutting up the Yerik they caught earlier today. They'll be sending the meat back first before they come back and as you can imagine, they're pretty busy right now. Otherwise they'd be here with me right now."
"This is good. The toktor here is helping Jerry to heal very well." she said.
"So I hear." he replied, looking toward Jerry's doctor.
"So Max, you have those brain scans from Jerry? I want to see those." he said.
"I can do you one better, Tim. I can send you the brain scans directly, along with all the other medical data we have on Jerry here at Hell's Gate. All of it, I can send it your way and it'll only take a few moments to download the whole file, scans and all."
"Great. Let's have it." the doctor said.
Machines started humming and then, a few moments later, the doctor went to another machine. He picked up a "datawindow" similar to the one Jerry had and walked over to the monitor.
"Hm, Max, this does look interesting." he said and then proceeded to talk to Max about things she could not fathom. They talked for several minutes and at the end of which, Max was about to end the connection, but he looked at Neytiri for a moment before doing so.
"Neytiri, before I sign off, I just wanted you to know one thing, how proud I am that you're helping to heal Jerry."
She smiled. "You're too kind to me, Maxpatel."
"I'm behind you one thousand percent."
"Why thank you, Maxpatel, even if I don't know what a 'thousand percent' is."
"It just means I've got your back, I'm right behind you, and I'm the wind beneath your wings." Maxpatel said, smiling broadly. "You rock my world, Neytiri."
She noticed that Jerry and his doctor were both smiling, Jerry trying desperately not to break out laughing. "What is so funny?" she demanded.
"Uh, it's just that I think Max has the hots for you, Neytiri."
"Hots?" she said, then looked at Maxpatel. He started laughing and the other two men immediately joined him. They were laughing at her! "I am not amused!" she yelled.
"Don't worry about it, Neytiri, we're just having a little fun at your expense, is all."
After a few moments, she started smiling at him. "Well, if this will make you feel better, then perhaps it is not a bad thing, my brother, but don't do this again, or I might get mad at you." she muttered at him, trying not to be too angry with him.
And with that, Maxpatel "signed off" and the screen went blank.
"Now if you'll both excuse me, I have to check on some things that Max sent me." the doctor said, leaving the room. "I'll be back later." he said, looking at the datawindow as he walked out of the room. Neytiri watched him disappear into the hallway.
"Jerry, what are 'hots'" she asked her brother.
"You don't want to know, not right now." he said with a straight face, but with a twinkle in his eye, and laughter in his soul.
Humans are strange, she finally concluded.
-SCENE BREAK-
Later on that day, she came back, with another meal for Jerry. The doctor was back, and he did not look happy.
"Jerry," he wanted to know. "How many trips did you make between here and Pandora through your little teleportation thing over there in your basement?"
"Uh, I don't remember, eight or ten times, maybe a dozen? Is it important?"
"Yes. It's important. And how much time did you spend on Pandora, breathing the air their without an exopack?"
"Damned if I know, Tim! I can't remember, it was a total of many days, I think!" her brother grumbled, a petulant tone to his voice. "Why do you want to know?"
"Because these brain scans I got from Max after you are telling me you have some major brain damage, most of which we fixed, but the aftereffect are still there and those aftereffects may be with you for the rest of your life, Jerry. That's why." the doctor said, a trace of anger in his tone.
"What do you mean?" Jerry asked, now sounding unsure. Neytiri was curious too, but she was starting to get worried. Was her brother's health in danger?
She asked that of the doctor. "Yes, his health may have been compromised. I think I fixed you up pretty well, Jerry, but the damage is done. I am not sure at all that I repaired all of it or even if I found all of it, or whether all of it can be fixed, for that matter. What the hell were you thinking, Jerry? That teleportation chamber, the operation I gave you, both of those were untested."
"Hold on a minute, Tim. You operated on me and I told you to make the procedure be rated for the Pandoran atmosphere, remember. Well guess what, it worked. I could breathe that world's air."
"But only for a while, Jerry, and not for an indefinite period, and you never even told me you were actually going to Pandora. If I'd have known that, I would have done everything differently."
He looked at Neytiri. "Your brother-in-law here never told me he was actually going to go to your world, Neytiri. For reasons of his own, he didn't tell me."
"I'm sorry, Tim, I just couldn't bring you into the loop, not quite yet. I had to do what I had to do. I'm sorry, it was never anything to do with you."
"Jerry, you damn near got yourself killed." He turned to Neytiri. "You may think of your brother-in-law here as Na'vi, but he's still in a human body, a very weak, frail, human body. We're not designed to breathe your world's air, and he was breathing it for way too long. That may very well have adversely affected his health." He turned back to Jerry. "And you never even told me what you were planning. We've known each other for twenty years, Jerry. You could have talked to me about this, but you didn't!"
"I'm sorry, Tim. I really am." her brother said, lamely.
"And making all those trips back and forth through the teleportation chamber, that also apparently has hurt you, in ways we can't even begin to understand, yet, Jerry. You chose to experiment on yourself and you may very well be paying the price for that. It's why you're so tired all the time, among other things, it's why it is taking you so long to get your strength back, though Neytiri's medicine is certainly helping you in that regard. It is also why you're having some trouble thinking, but that might be fixed now. Time will tell, Jerry, but I have to tell you, you really, really fucked this one up!" the doctor muttered.
Her brother said nothing. Neytiri spoke up. "My brother did what he felt was necessary to save us, to save Jake, me, my world, my people." she said, quietly but firmly.
"And it might have cost him a few years off the end of his life and may have affected his health in such a way that he'll be permanently scarred from all this. A few more weeks of what you've been doing before you got to me and you'd probably be a dead man, Jerry. You're not young anymore, you know. Your sister-in-law might think you're a Na'vi, but you are still a human and you goddamn know well we're not as tough as they are."
"Yeah, I suppose. But hey, at least you can name this condition after me, call it Handelman's Syndrome or something. Gotta look at the bright side, Tim."
"Very funny." the doctor said, clearly not thinking it was funny at all. This must be more of that Sarcasm her brother was fond of.
"Toktor, you have healed my brother on the inside. He can come back to our world, with me and Jake? He will be able to visit us?"
The doctor sighed. "Yes, Neytiri, I have fixed him up inside, and given his lungs and his system a thorough upgrade, as much as I can, but he probably will never be quite the same as he was before all this, that I can assure you. He'll be scarred."
She put her hand over Jerry's hand. "I thank you for this, Toktor, you have given Jake and I a second chance to be with our brother."
"And as soon as he's up and around, he can come visit you. But until then, he needs to rest more and heal up." the doctor concluded.
And with that, he left the room. "Well, that settles it. I'd better eat this food you brought me, Neytiri, else I'll not heal as fast." he said.
She looked at him for a second. "Yes, eat well my brother, even if you're in a human body, you're still Na'vi to me and Jake."