Xander stood out in the chilled night air of Pandora for a moment before removing his mask and looking up at the massive gas giant Polyphemus above.
"You lose your mask you're unconscious in twenty seconds and dead in four minutes. Lets nobody be dead today, it looks very bad on my report."
The words of the crew chief echoed in his memory as he slowly took a deep breath of the hostile, toxic Pandoran air.
Five seconds. His vision was a bit blurry and his lungs burned. Ten. Tunnel vision had set in as a hacking cough worked its way through his lungs. Twenty. Near blackout as his body struggled to pull in what didn't exist, not in this environment at least.
At five minutes, Xander slid the mask back in place and inhaled the oxygen his body craved.
Immortality, eternal youth, undying; wars had been fought over such a thing for millennia, empires had bankrupted themselves looking for it, men had wasted their lives searching for the answer and Alexander Harris had gotten the entire thing shoved down his throat by a friend that was "just trying to help." It was an action he had long since stopped cursing her for, it didn't seem to help anyway.
"Are you really still angry about that?" a voice whispered from behind him. Turning, Xander smiled at the only one from the old gang to still be around. "I can't die, I can't grow old and I am damned to watch my species kill each other off until only I remain." Xander said before sitting down on the alien soil and staring back up at the sky. "I used to think Elrond was just being an ass when he tried to force his daughter away, but this is a living hell. A hell I wouldn't wish on my worst enemies." Xander explained as the ethereal form sat next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder.
"We tried to find a way Xander. We looked through every book and tome we could find to discover a cure, we even summoned Inpu to try and find a way to free you… and in the end we died and left you all alone," she said quietly as Xander watched the swirling gas giant so far above.
"Not alone, Dawnie, you're still here." He whispered before a momentary chill passed over him.
"No Xander, I'm not." She whispered before the ghostly form faded into the twilight gloom.
Taking a deep breath through the filter mask, Xander stood up and made his way towards the complex. Stepping inside, he removed the mask and hung it back on its rack before stretching and heading towards his bunk.
He was mildly surprised when he rounded a corner and ran into a wheelchair bound man sending both of them to the ground. "Hey man I'm sorry I…" Xander trailed off as he finally got a look at the man he had assaulted "Tom?" he whispered in confusion. He recognized the face immediately, even after several centuries you never forget someone you kill.
"No, I'm Jake, Jake Sully. Tom's brother." The man said as he put his chair back up and crawled back into it, "You knew my brother?" Jake asked as Xander got back to his feet.
"No, not really… I only met him the one time before he…" Xander trailed off with a shrug as Jake nodded in understanding.
"Yeah, well, I gotta go… big day tomorrow." Jake said before wheeling off in the direction of his bunk.
Watching him go, Xander let out a sigh before slumping against the wall. "Well, that was awkward… haven't had something that strange happen since I read my own eulogy a few centuries back." He muttered before heading off in his own direction.
Like Jake said, tomorrow was a big day.
--
The next morning, Xander entered the link room and tried to resist the urge to hack up a lung. While being immortal kept him from dying it did nothing for the damage he received that would cause said death. That of course made his one experience with a combine harvester a memory that still woke him up some nights with phantom pains.
Smirking past the pain, Xander made his way to an empty bed and walked through the start up process. While the science geeks running about could have easily helped, his 'Conversation' with Dr. Grace Augustine had not endeared him into the Doctor's good graces.
Not that it really mattered, but at least she would leave him alone. Sliding into the bed, Xander nodded to the watch technician before hitting the activation button and resisting the urge to panic as the coffin lid closed over him.
"Bury me once, shame on you. Bury me eighteen times… and you need a new job." At least he hadn't gotten himself killed since they started the mandatory cremation laws a few decades past that would likely be unpleasant.
As the link finally kicked in Xander exhaled and felt himself get dragged towards his new body.
--
Xander stood in the morning sun the next day as he ran his new body through its paces the medics had ordered him to follow. Limbering up Xander smiled as one of the massive ampsuits moved one of the few boxes he had paid a small fortune to get transported out here with him and dropped it on the ground before stomping off.
Flipping the driver off Xander moved over to the box and carefully lifted the lid, inside was enough weapons to put a Roman Legion to shame. Shifting through them, Xander checked for damage before picking up a spear that had been massive just a few hours earlier and hefted it easily in one hand before reaching for the tall oval shield that was usually paired with it.
He had picked up the habit of using this combination during his time in Africa, before it had been annexed by the Russian Federation, conquered by the Italians, and finally 'liberated' by the new Swiss Union.
That had been an odd century and a half, Xander thought as he ran through a war dance with his weapons; the tail almost had a mind of its own he realized as his body shifted its center of gravity naturally.
Spinning around, Xander froze as an Avatar still in its hospital gown stumbled out of the medical center before working its way into a run. Watching the puppet run, Xander smiled before going back to his own activities.
Some things were just not worth asking about.