Pandora: The Final Solution
I gratefully acknowledge one of the foremost creative geniuses of our times, James Cameron, for conceiving the lush moon Pandora and the "noble savages," the Na'vi, that inhabit it. This story uses the characters and setting he created for his movie, Avatar. I have not received any money for my work based on Avatar. If I could get paid by the hour for these stories, I would retire and spend all my time dancing and writing in comfort.
CEO = chief executive officer
HE = high explosive
IDF = Israel Defense Forces
LZ = landing zone
RPG = rocket propelled grenade
SAM = surface to air missile
Chapter 29: Captain Gustav – Laying the Groundwork
After hours of static, the speaker crackles into life. An unfamiliar voice says, "Hell's Gate calling Venture Star. Hell's Gate calling Venture Star. Come in, Venture Star, over."
After almost jumping out of her seat, the comm officer replies, "Pandora base, this is ISV Venture Star. We read you. Standby for the captain, over." She flips a switch on her console. "Captain to the bridge. Captain to the bridge." She flips the switch back and then uses the trackball. A window on her screen pops open, showing a map that pinpoints the source of the call.
"Will this take long? Over."
"No, the captain is coming through the hatch now, over."
The comm officer turns towards Captain Gustav, and in an excited voice says, "Captain, Pandora base is hailing."
"Finally. What's the status down there?"
"Power and life support are on automatic, everything else is on standby or off-line. Nothing has changed for hours. No one is minding the store."
"Video?"
"No, sir." She bends towards the screen to look at the map. "He's using one of the Vesta emergency radios, looks like a hallway unit in the science building, outside the avatar link annex."
"How many voices?"
"Just one, male, fairly professional but not familiar with RDA protocols, probably ex-military."
Under his breath, Gustav says, "Great, Sully." Using his command voice, the Captain orders, "Places, everyone. Clear the bridge and bolt the hatches." Several crew members and passengers scurry out, the bridge crew locking the air-tight doors behind them. "I will do the talking. Listen closely, I want your impressions after we're done. Start recording this for the log, and then switch over to the bridge audio system. Give me a sign when the mike is open."
The comm officer turns to her station briefly and works its controls, turns back to the Captain, and points at him.
"This is Captain Pieter Gustav, commander of the ISV Venture Star. My bridge crew and staff are listening in, and a recording will be sent to Earth after we're done. With whom am I speaking, over?"
"This is avatar driver Jake Sully, sir. I'm alone in my wheelchair in the hallway outside the link room, using an emergency radio. The command center is damaged and sealed off since it's open to the outside air. That's why I'm calling from here. Thanks for letting me know this will be sent to Earth, over."
"Thank you for calling. I was getting worried..."
"Yeah, well, I've been in a link almost around the clock, picking up the pieces after the SecOps attack. So now you want to send your only Valkyrie back here. How do I know it won't be full of soldiers making another attack on the Na'vi?"
Everyone on the bridge feels the irritation in Jake's voice.
Gustav mentally kicks himself, thinking, "These Americans can be so touchy. Turn down the temperature." He calmly continues. "That battle was very unfortunate. I'm sorry it came to that. I did not want my Valkyrie used as a bomber. I had my say, but I was overruled. I am not allowing another attack, and there is no one here that can overrule me now."
"I understand. Quaritch took over command of everything down here, hell-bent on destroying the Na'vi. He ordered the bulldozing of the Tree of Voices where the Omatikaya Clan prayed and talked with their ancestors, and then used incendiary and HE missiles to knock down the Hometree where the Omatikaya Clan lived. He was going for the trifecta by dropping mine explosives on the Tree of Souls. That's the most sacred tree the Na'vi have. They wouldn't let him do that. He's dead now, and RDA has been kicked off of Pandora, at great cost to both sides. Back to business. It took time to make the rounds discussing your request. All clans here were consulted. What do you really want?"
"I really do not want any more deaths. I just don't have enough cryo units to evacuate Hell's Gate. That is a known limitation in the design of these interstellar vehicles, hence the policy directing captains to euthanize excess passengers when necessary. I also have an emergency need for some critical equipment and water and oxygen, and want to make arrangements to obtain them."
"I am authorized to speak for all humans here and the Na'vi clans presently in the area."
"You are the sole negotiator? Selfridge says you failed as a negotiator."
"Humans have nothing that the Na'vi want or need. On the other hand, you need something I have."
"Yes, I need to give you the personnel I cannot take back to Earth to spare their lives, and I need the equipment and supplies listed in the email to avoid life-threatening problems for those remaining aboard the Venture Star. I do have some cargo that has not been off-loaded yet, mainly raw materials, electronics that you cannot fabricate, and luxury goods, even though Selfridge wants to withhold the cigars and scotch for his own use."
"Give him whatever he wants, we don't need any of your cargo."
"The personnel I'm returning might want some of it."
"OK, I can see that. Bring down whatever you think they need, but that is just prolonging the inevitable. I'm betting RDA is not going to supply us anymore."
"They will if more of their essential personnel are here. The raw materials and electronics are needed to build equipment that the inbound ISVs need. That is why Hell's Gate has a large manufacturing capability. That is what most of the personnel that are not miners or SecOps do for RDA, fabricating necessary equipment. You have seen the manufacturing factories, the stereo lithography plant?"
"I'm a new avatar driver that you just delivered. Look up my records, I got zero training from RDA before you flew me out here. Went straight into the forest after my avatar was cleared by the doctors. Haven't had time to do the tour."
"Why don't you talk to Doctor Augustine..."
"She's dead, Quaritch killed her."
Gustav mutters, "Oh damn!" and then says, "I'm sorry, I didn't know. As a department head, she would have been in the loop about base operations..."
"I doubt that. Selfridge and Quaritch cut her out of the decision making, from the griping I heard from her."
"Who is in charge of the avatar program now?"
"Let's just say I am."
Gustav thinks, "This is going nowhere, he doesn't understand the problem. Time to see where he stands." After a short pause, Gustav says, "Selfridge says you are the king of Pandora. Is that true?"
"No, sir! He knows nothing about the Na'vi. They have no kings. My brother told me about the officers in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. The soldiers voted for their officers, picking those they had the most confidence in. When the soldiers lost confidence, their officers were out. The Na'vi are like that, except they don't vote, they just talk everything through. A leader knows when he is put in charge, and knows when he is finished."
"A leader is selected or removed by consensus."
"Yeah, that's a better way to say it."
"Did they pick you?"
"Yes, but it's a long story, won't bore you with the details. After Hometree was destroyed, I offered my help to the Omatikaya Clan. They needed more help than I could give them, so I flew to the nearby clans and asked for their help. Since I was doing the asking, they followed me. Two of their leaders became my deputies, one leading the ground forces and the other leading the air forces. I never asked to be in charge. I'm not officer material, OK? That should be in my military records, too. I'm certainly no king. I just did what had to be done to save the Na'vi from Quaritch and his goons. Enough about me. After reading your email, I have talked with all the clan leaders in the area. They are not happy to have more humans on Pandora. I explained why you must kill these personnel if you can't bring them back here. They agreed that there has been too much bloodshed. My tsahìk settled the issue when she said all life must be protected. We all agree, all life must be protected, so you may land your Valkyrie at Hell's Gate and off-load engineering, maintenance, and construction personnel that did not participate in the attacks against the Na'vi people. If any of these folks participated in the attacks, or are SecOps or spies for RDA, they will be escorted into the jungle and left to fend for themselves."
"Sounds like capital punishment."
"The Na'vi would say they are put into the hands of Eywa. She decides if they live or die. If you don't want this to happen, don't bring anyone down here who's not welcome. We will find any spies or ringers you give us."
"It is not my intention to cause you any problems."
"Good, I'll hold you and RDA to that."
"I will fly to Hell's Gate with the returnees. We can meet and discuss terms that are acceptable to everyone, and load up the critical supplies and get them up here as soon as possible."
"That's fine, but I have a homeless clan and a ton of injured people, both combatants and civilians, counting on me to keep them alive. I don't have time for lengthy talks or lots of flights to supply you. Also, I promise to blow your only Valkyrie out of the sky if anything funny happens. If you want to get back to Earth alive, don't mess with us."
"As one military man to another, I give you my word that hostilities are over between your people and all personnel now in my command."
"I will hold you to your word. All life must be protected, but I will fight when necessary."
"I would not expect less. I look forward to meeting you in person. This is ISV Venture Star, over and out."
"This is Sully for everyone on Pandora, over and out."
Throughout the habitable parts of the ship, the intercom blares, "Doctor Ivanna Petrokov, report to the bridge. Doctor Ivanna Petrokov, report to the bridge."
Ivanna sits up in the bunk. "Izzy, wake up."
Izzy rolls on his back and mumbles, "Huh, what's going on?"
Ivanna stands up, and pulls on her medical jumpsuit. "The Captain wants my decision. Do I stay or do I go back to Earth?" She picks up a hair brush, and works her hair back into something presentable.
"Thought we decided last night, if I can go with you, we stay on Pandora. If not, we go back to Earth, even though there is nothing for us but RDA debriefing and unemployment. Your uncle encouraged you to stay, and you have a very expensive avatar you can drive that is useless without you. You should stay, regardless of what happens to me."
"But you're SecOps, you can't stay."
"I wasn't in the fight. I'm a tech guy, remember?"
"The records will say you're SecOps, and they don't care much for SecOps, after what's happened."
"I'll be honest and up-front about it. I'll give them my sob story. Besides, these people need my skills. We really can't go back, we've got to stay on Pandora. Don't keep the Captain waiting."
"I'll do my best, dear."
"I know you will, my love. Good luck."
They kiss, and Ivanna practically runs out of the cramped cabin in the medical bay.
Once again, this Valkyrie is on its dizzying drop into the depths of the Pandoran atmosphere. "Captain, we are approaching the mine outside Hell's Gate. The terrain avoidance and weather radars are breaking up, but the radar altimeter is still nominal."
Captain Gustav is belted into the jump seat behind the flight crew. He leans forward to ask, "Is the flux vortex doing this?"
"No, sir. We're far enough away from its source. I think we're being painted by the radars from some shoulder launched SAMs."
"Let's hope Sully is true to his word, and has some control over the situation on the ground."
"We can't outrun a SAM at low altitudes. Do you trust him?"
"We don't have much of a choice. He sounded very believable, though. He said all life must be protected. And this after winning a very bloody battle. Not what I would expect from a young American jarhead."
"Me neither. Look at our LZ. They didn't give us much choice"
"Ignore the distractions. Set us down just like everything is nominal. Right in the bull's eye."
"Aye, Captain."
The engines on the Valkyrie rotate down as its clears the fence, hovering above the tarmac. The tops of the walls and buildings are riots of color, covered with banshees and their riders in war paint. Above all is a monstrous great leonopteryx sleeping serenely on the comm tower topping the command center that is partially covered in tarps. The usual landing spot for the Valkyrie has been completely surrounded by huge dump trucks, all with buckets fully raised, beds pointing inwards. There is no sign of anyone on the ground as the shuttle settles onto the pavement. An eerie hush falls over the scene as the engines spin down.
"We're down. You can head out now, Captain, while we finish our landing checklist. The loadmaster will lower the ramp when you're ready."
Captain Gustav unbuckles his seat belt and stands up, leaning forward between the two pilots. "Remember, sit tight until I say so. Maintain the uplink to the Venture Star, otherwise keep total radio silence. That should be easy, since no one is manning the radios these days. Keep an eye on the video links. Don't do anything unless they shoot me. If that happens, do an emergency liftoff and save yourselves."
"Yes, Captain. We all want to go home again. Good luck."
"Thank you, and godspeed." Captain Gustav turns around and steps onto the ladder down to the cargo hold. The gravity here makes the trip harder than expected. As he carefully descends down the vertical ladder, he thinks "I miss training with the en-route crew, they always push everyone to stay in shape. The on-orbit crew do the most physical tasks, so they don't train too strenuously, just enough to meet their PT quotas. And they spend all the time they can on the ground. Much more than us round-trippers. Should have done more ground-pounding this trip. If only this time was for relaxation..."
After a short wait, the back ramp slowly drops down to the pavement. A human in an all-white uniform, with a white and gold hat and gleaming white exo-pack, carefully steps down the ramp. Behind him are a man and a woman, dressed in the blue jumpsuits worn by the ship's crew, each carrying a tripod and using a normal exo-pack. The couple sets the tripods down about five meters out from each corner of the ramp, and the Captain centers himself between them, his back to the Valkyrie. He pulls himself upright, as tall as he can stand in this gravity. Looking at the wall of vehicles around him, with no sign of life at ground level, Captain Gustav thinks, "Wonder how long they will keep me waiting?"
A young Na'vi couple, both covered in warpaint and colorful feathers, holding spears decorated with cloth streamers, run out from between two trucks beside the shuttle and circle towards Captain Gustav. They stop two meters before him, out of his reach but well within the striking zone of their spears. The Na'vi couple wave the human couple together behind the Captain, where they stand, holding hands. The male Na'vi speaks in surprising good American English, "Welcome, Captain. I am Wrrtll and this is Maytse. We are here to greet you and take you to Jakesully."
"I am honored, but I was expecting him to greet me in person."
"Five days ago, our clan leader was Eytukan. He was killed defending our Hometree. Three days ago our clan leader was Tsu'tey. He was killed defending our most sacred tree, the Tree of Souls. Today our clan leader is Jakesully. Maybe this is a good sign, but there are no trees left here to defend."
"This is an airfield, there can be no trees. The wind could push our aircraft into the trees, and that would be bad."
"I See. I have been blown around on my ikran, but he keeps me out of trouble. We Omatikaya are tired of seeing our clan leaders die, along with many others in our clan. For that reason, we wanted to greet you here in his place, in case this was a trap."
"I am truly sorry for your losses. I can assure you, this is not a mission of war, this is a mission of mercy. Many good people must die if they cannot be returned."
"That is what we were told. All life must be protected."
"Jake Sully said those very same words to me."
"All Na'vi believe in these words, live them every day, and are very pained when forced to do differently. That is why you are safe with us."
"So Jake Sully is your clan leader. How long have you known him?"
"Since he first came to our clan. Once Neytiri taught him basic skills, he joined us for training. The three of us climbed Iknimaya together to capture our ikrans."
"Why did you two volunteer to greet me for him, and maybe get into harm's way?"
Maytse replies, "We intend to become mated before Eywa."
Wrrtll adds, "You would say get married."
Gustav asks, "What are you saying? Did you misunderstand my question?"
Maytse continues, with an edge in her voice "No. We want to have our dream hunts first. We were getting ready for them when the tawtute machines destroyed our Tree of Voices, the place where we would have mated for the first time. Then they destroyed our Hometree, and almost destroyed our Tree of Souls. Instead of being a time of great happiness for me and Wrrtll and our families and friends, you tawtute have made it a time of great sorrow. We must end this sorrow so we can have our dream hunts. I do not want to die, but if I must to end the sorrow, I will."
Wrrtll adds soothingly, "Let's go and talk to Jakesully. He is in a safer place nearby. I remember him saying he wants to stay outside the blast radius, whatever that is, if this is a trap. If you are here in peace, we can settle things quickly. Then we can find a new home and prepare for our dream hunts again."
"I am sorry that events have interfered with your personal lives. I would like everything returned to normal as soon as possible. Thank you for telling me your stories. I have no way to make amends for any wrongdoings by my fellow humans. All I can promise is to pass along what I find here on Pandora, so that the problems between our peoples can be resolved in a mutually satisfactory way. To that end, may I take the cameras with me when we go to Corporal Sully?"
Maytse demands, "Corporal? What does that mean?"
"It was his rank, back on Earth. My rank is Captain, as I am the commander, like clan leader, of the Interstellar Vehicle Venture Star."
"He is now Toruk Makto."
"What does that mean?"
"He is rider of toruk. Eywa only permits those who are worthy to lead The People in times of great sorrow to capture a toruk. He is the sixth that Eywa has chosen in our history."
"That must be a high honor."
"It is. Eywa provides, and She provided him when he was most needed. Now it is time for us to go to him."
Wrrtll interrupts, "You mentioned cameras. I remember Doctor Augustine had a camera, it made pictures on paper. I don't see one now."
"You know Doctor Augustine?"
"I did. She has gone to Eywa, you would say died, killed by the leader of your warriors."
"Sully said Colonel Miles Quaritch killed her."
"I do not know his name, but he is dead now. She taught English in her school, that is how we learned it. But the school was prohibited after your warriors killed some students there, our clan mates and friends."
"It seems you have seen too much bloodshed."
Maytse blurts out, "There are too many bad humans. All they know is death. They do not See life or Eywa."
"So you are not happy that I want to leave more humans here?"
"I will be happy only if they are like Graceaugustine or Jakesully or his friends."
"I can't promise all will be like them."
"Then maybe they should die, and save us from sorrow."
Wrrtll interrupts again, "Where are your cameras?"
Captain Gustav keeps his eyes on Maytse and points to one of the tripods. "The cameras are on those stands that the others were carrying."
"You mean these sticks? They don't look like the camera Doctor Augustine had."
"Yes, these are very different, I suppose. There is a ring sensor, like many of her cameras pointing in a full circle, on each stand, streaming video up to the Venture Star, and ultimately to Earth."
"We can carry them." He points to the one nearest Maytse, and she picks it up. He picks up the other tripod. "Please follow me, Captain and friends." Wrrtll walks slowly for a Na'vi, but that pace makes Captain Gustav and the couple behind him walk briskly. Maytse brings up the rear. They walk single file around to the front of the Valkyrie and stop in front of its nose, in sight of the pilots, and turn towards the wall of raised dump truck beds.
A female voice calls in English, "Put the cameras down by our guests." Wrrtll and Maytse set the tripods down. "That's good. Thank you for your help. Come here now. Captain Gustav and others, please stay where you are. This won't take a minute." The young Na'vi couple trots off between two trucks.
A small human woman of Asian descent wearing jeans and a colorful top runs out. She waves a security wand over the tripods, from top to bottom. She calls out, "Both are clean. These are really nice cameras with wireless links. We can tie our cameras into them." She opens a keypad on each, and enters some commands. "That should do it."
Another voice, male and much louder, calls out, "Good job. Scan the crew."
She says, "Please hold your arms out." She scans the male first, and then the female. "They're clean."
"Now scan the Captain."
"Please hold your arms out." She waves the scanner over him and calls out "He's clean, except for something in his coat." She looks at him and says "Hold still, please." She reaches in his coat pocket and pulls out three clear plastic tubes. "Looks like syringes in protective tubes."
The Captain says, "It's an experimental antidote for the neurotoxin the Na'vi use on their weapons. The ship's doctor gave them to me, just in case."
She replies, "A good precaution, but unnecessary. I'll hold onto these for you. Please follow me."
"My helpers should take my cameras."
"No, mine are tied in now. We want everything broadcast, too. I take it your pilots are watching."
"They are."
She raises her voice, looks up at the cockpit on the Valkyrie, and waves her arms. "Give us a thumbs up if you are receiving my cameras." The heads visible in the cockpit turn away for a few seconds, and then one turns back and gives a thumbs up.
"Captain, everyone, this way please." She leads them between two trucks and towards the hangers beyond. As they emerge from the trucks, the young couple Wrrtll and Maytse fall in behind. Gustav sees a solid line of Na'vi warriors behind the trucks, bows at the ready, still as statues, quietly looking towards the shuttle. He thinks, "Fierce, but no threat to the Valkyrie." More menacing are the humans he sees, much less impressive in jeans and tee-shirts, wearing exopacks and holding modern RPGs or SAMs. He thinks, "Just one of those could blow up the Valkyrie, kill all on board, and maroon me."
After walking past the hanger doors, they turn the corner and stop. Standing between two camera stands against the hanger wall is another young Na'vi couple. Except for the sheaved knives and bows over their shoulders, they appear unarmed. The male snaps to attention and smartly salutes, saying, "Welcome to Pandora, Captain Gustav. I'm Jake Sully."
Gustav returns the salute. "Good to meet you at last."
"This is my wife, Neytiri."
Turning towards the tall and barely dressed female, he makes a slight bow and says, "An honor to meet you, Nay-tear-ee. I am Captain Pieter Gustav, commander of the ISV Venture Star."
The female touches her forehead with her left hand and replies, "I See you, Captain. I wish we could welcome you in our home, but we don't have one."
"The other Na'vi couple told me of your losses. I can't do anything to change what has happened, but I can promise to send my findings back to Earth."
The human woman holds up the clear plastic tubes. "This is all that he was carrying. Says it is the antidote to the Na'vi neurotoxin."
"Really? If it's the antidote, everyone facing the Na'vi would be required to carry it."
"It is experimental and was intended to be tested here, but arrangements to do that haven't been made yet."
"Experimental, huh? You're not the typical guinea pig. Who are your escorts?"
"You don't recognize Doctor Ivanna Petrokov?"
"Sorry, I went into the field full-time almost immediately after landing, so didn't get to know many people here. Excuse me." Jake puts his hand on his neckband, an RDA throat comm unit. "Max, Norm, come on out. Need you to verify someone."
A door down the wall opens and two human men appear. One is wearing a white lab coat, and the other is carrying an RDA assault rifle.
Jake says, "Captain, may I introduce Doctor Max Patel, in charge of medical matters, and Doctor Norm Spellman, the other avatar driver you delivered with me three months ago."
The Captain shakes their hands in turn and replies "Gentlemen, my pleasure."
Max looks at the woman in the jumpsuit and says, "Ivanna, good to see you again. We weren't expecting you back."
"I left because I didn't want RDA to punish my uncle for my actions. Got a message from my uncle saying the CEO approved of me staying on Pandora."
Jake looks at her rather coldly, "Your uncle discussed this with the RDA CEO. He's that high up the ladder?"
"You know the RDA spaceport where you were processed in New Mexico? He's now in charge of that entire RDA facility, and is also in charge of all space operations." Looking to Captain Gustav, Ivanna says, "Guess he's you boss now."
Jake says, "Could you email him and ask him to leave us alone?"
"I could, but don't think that would matter. He has to answer to the board, and they fire him if they aren't satisfied with his actions."
"Figured that would be too easy." Turning to the man who has remained silent, Jake asks, "And you are?"
Before the man can answer, Captain Gustav interjects, "If I may, please let me explain. After I spoke with you on the radio, I asked Miss Petrokov if she was going to stay on board to travel to Earth, or return here. She said that depends on whether or not her boyfriend could return with her. They wish to remain together. The problem is that he is a member of the SecOps contingent. I decided to bring them with me and let them appeal to you directly. I do not want their situation to interfere with our negotiations."
Jake looks at the man and says, "Who are you?"
"I am Itzach Krazney. Everyone calls me Izzy."
"I take it the Captain passed on what I said I will do to SecOps personnel."
"Put them out into the jungle to feed the local wildlife."
"Something like that. The Na'vi say that Ewya will decide their fate. And you came down here anyway."
"Such is the power of love. I'd rather take my chances with the jungle. We have nothing to go back to on Earth. Ivanna has her research and avatar here. I have to take the risk. I will be useful here."
"In what way?"
"I'm a comm technician. Mostly do radios, wireless networks, antennas. Keep the server farm up and running. Even help out with the transmitters for the avatar links, when needed." Max shakes his head in the affirmative, making Jake more receptive.
"What did you do during the battle?"
"They were flying into the flux vortex. My job was to boost the signals from them to try to overcome the flux and keep comms with base up. Luckily, I disarmed myself before climbing the comm tower. With my bad legs, I couldn't carry weapons and parts and tools up the ladder. When the Na'vi showed up, I hid my tools inside the receiver rack, so I had nothing threatening on me when I climbed down."
"I'm wondering if you are a ringer?"
"I am a ringer. I am from what's left of Israel. I was in Shayetet 13, you would say Flotilla 13, of the IDF."
"Really. I was in First Recon, U. S. Marine Corps. How did you end up here?"
"Training accident. Was hanging under a helicopter when a microburst pushed them down and me into the ground. Blew out one knee, and ruptured my Achilles in the other leg. I was handy with electronic devices before the accident, so I moved into that during rehab. One of my buddies was hired by RDA to come out here, and he gave them my name. The money was great, and I was ready for a change of scenery after my wife and family were killed in a rocket attack."
"I'm sorry for your loss. Did you do any martial arts before your injury?"
"I dabbled in krav maga and abir as a child, mainly from videos on the web. The IDF taught me how to do it right."
"Could you take me in my avatar now?"
"No doubt, before my injury. Now, I don't think so."
"Yeah, been there myself."
"I heard, you're the avatar driver in the wheelchair."
Jake just nods, and then turns to Max. "Max, what do you know about these lovebirds?"
"I'm rather mystified. The Avatar Program is small enough that everyone knows everyone in it. Ivanna was always a loner, didn't date anyone in the program. And I would have heard if she was dating someone in SecOps."
Ivanna replies, "I worked with Grace. I didn't want her or anyone in the program to know I was involved with Izzy or someone in SecOps."
Izzy adds, "And I couldn't afford to let anyone in SecOps know that I was involved with a scientist and avatar driver. Quaritch would never trust me if he knew."
Jake shakes his head. "I can't believe Quaritch didn't know."
Izzy replies, "I sure would have been called on the carpet if he knew anything. Besides, I'm the comms guy. I have access to every place in this complex. Even the unobtainium vault has cameras and a phone, and they are always going bad because of the fields around that stuff."
"So you made out in the vault?"
"No, those cameras are recording 24/7. So are the cameras in the residence hallways and secure areas. The body recognition software logs everyone captured by those cameras. The utility cores in each building and the tunnels between them have cameras that only work when the lights are turned on, but I modified some to turn on the lights without activating the cameras. From the cores, there are access crawl spaces into most apartments and suites, including our places. There are always a couple of open suites around the complex, and we would use one on date nights. We were very careful. We would meet only three nights a week, and made a point of being around others on the off nights. Ivanna usually bought an ice cream cone in the cafeteria on those lonely nights, just to have a computer record that she was alone."
Jake smiles. "You are a piece of work. The only way I can accept you is if you promise to work for us and not RDA or SecOps. Promise?"
Izzy nods and says, "I promise to work for you and not RDA or SecOps."
"If I every find out you are helping them, I know a nice pack of viperwolves that would love to have you for dinner."
"That is one dinner party I do not want to attend. Is there something you need done right away?"
"Yes. I need the connectivity between the off-world comms and the local net severed, to prevent any RDA ordered cyber warfare. And then check out the command center. Once the construction crew gets it airtight again, you will have to restore it to working order."
"Right away, sir."
"Just call me Jake."
"OK, Jake."
Jake looks to Ivanna and says, "Welcome back. No doubt Max has your avatar in good shape, but you should get into it pretty soon. I told him about how my tail hurts after sleeping on my back, but that hasn't stopped the medical staff from laying avatars on their backs."
Ivanna smiles and bursts into tears at the same time. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. You have made me so happy. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Get into your avatar and make sure it is good to go, and then see Max. He can find something for you to do, I'm sure. I do have one question, did you or Izzy have any baggage?"
"Just our belongings we left with."
Jake looks to Wrrtll and gives him instructions in Na'vi. He turns back to Ivanna and Izzy and says, "Wrrtll and Maytse will take you to the shuttle. Retrieve your baggage, and be sure you two are the only ones leaving the shuttle. They'll escort you through our security checkpoint and into the science building. From there, drop your stuff off in Ivanna's apartment. There's no need to hide anymore, and I'm guessing her place is better than his place. After that, get to work."
Izzy says, "Thank you, Jake, for allowing us to stay together here, and not feeding me to the wildlife."
With a stern look, Jake says, "Both of you, just remember that pack of hungry viperwolves, and don't do anything that will get you sent out to them."
Izzy and Ivanna both nod with worried looks on their faces.
Wrrtll says, "Come, let's get your stuff. Doctor Augustine described how weddings are celebrated on Earth. If you get married soon, I would like to see the ceremony." The two couples walk off together.
Once they disappear around the corner, Jake looks to Max and Norm and says, "Why don't you meet them at the door into the building and walk them to Ivanna's place. After they drop off their stuff, Max, you should get Ivanna into a link, and Norm, you should follow Izzy around and see what he does to sever us from RDA."
Norm gives Jake a skeptical look and says, "Really? I'm no computer geek. I won't have a clue what he's doing."
Jake smiles and says, "OK, I can't do any better. Have any ideas?"
Captain Gustav interrupts, "Excuse me, but I would like the doctors to stay. Doctor Patel has been here long enough to understand this complex, and Doctor Spellman may have something to add."
The Asian woman says, "My name is Sunny, I'm a link technician here. One of the other link techs is also our sysadmin for the link servers. I'll get him to follow Izzy, and I can help Ivanna into a link."
"Thanks, Sunny, that will really help us out. Get a throat mike for yourself, and give one to the sysadmin guy."
"I have to take this scanner back to our security checkpoint, and I'll do that after I grab the throat mikes and get Kuval. I'll meet them there."
"Good. Call for help first if Izzy or Ivanna starts screwing us. And get Izzy to give admin access to Kuval and others that can use it, too."
"Will do. See you later." Sunny heads off towards the main building.
Captain Gustav looks to Jake and says, "It is good that you let them stay here. Doctor Ivanna has been very useful aboard, preparing those for cryo."
Jake smiles, "Yeah, I remember the pills, the water. Spending hours on the toilet."
"We didn't ask for technical help aboard, except for space qualified welders, and don't have any experience with Izzy. It is clear they are smitten with each other."
"That they are."
"I know you are concerned that those personnel being returned may cause you problems, but most are like that couple, very talented and productive individuals."
"Un-huh. Let's get down to business."
