It had been about a week now since Jake, Norm and I arrived here on Pandora. As I was walking through one of the hallway Jake and Norm headed towards me in the direction of the link room. During the last week all three of us had been working together getting used to our Avatar bodies. As a result of that we had all started to become a little bit closer and a friendship had begun to form.
"Hey guys, where are you off to today then?" I asked while stopping them in their tracks.
"Grace is going to take me to collect some samples of the local flora." Norm Remarked excitedly. "I can't wait."
"How about you Jake, what are you up to?" I continued to ask.
"I'm running security for this guy." said Jake while pointing a finger at Norm. "You know what he's like."
"Yes I do" I replied while trying to suppress a giggle. "Well don't let me keep you. Otherwise Grace is not going to be very happy with you two."
"We'll come find you when we get back okay. We'll all go to the mess for a drink." Shouted Jake as him and Norm rushed off to the link room.
After that I just went back to my room to have a nap after the work out session I'd just had in my avatar. It may not be my real body but I'm sure feeling the effects right now. And with that I retired for the afternoon,
The next thing that I remember is waking up to a banging coming from the door to my room. As I got up and made my way to the door my mind woke up enough to hear Norm shouting me from the other side of the door.
"What is it Norm this better be important" I said but it didn't come out quite as menacing as I wanted.
"It's Jake he's missing!" Norm Shouted.
"What do you mean he's lost I'm sure he's around here somewhere." I said wondering why Norm was getting so worked up.
"No you don't understand. Jake isn't missing somewhere on base we lost him out in the jungle!" Norm shouted again
"What! How could you lose him it's not like he'd just wander off and get lost" I said starting to worry now about one of my only friends here.
"I'll explain. Grace and I were studying some samples when we heard a roar. we went over to see what the commotion was only to find Jake squaring off to a Hammerhead Titanothere. Just as the Hammerhead started to charge for Jake it stopped and ran away in the opposite direction. After that a Thanator appeared and chased Jake away into the forest!"Norm said. A bit quieter than the last few times but the urgency was still there in his voice.
"A Thanator, how did you not notice a Thanator approaching" I remarked quite shocked at the news
"Hey their not the number one land predator for no reason you know!" shot back Norm
"Okay why don't we head over to the link room Jake should still be their right. He can't actually die can he? Only his avatar would, not his real body." I said after regaining my senses for a moment. "Let's go." And with that Norm and I headed off towards the link room.
As we entered the link room we approached the link chamber with Jake inside and looked over the monitor next to the chamber.
"See everything is okay. Jakes fine." I stated seeing Norms face cheer up a bit. Before Norm had a chance to reply however one of the techs t the main control area started calling out
"Grace, Grace! He's coming out!" he shouted out while looking around the room.
"Stop shouting will you. I'm only over here" came the rather irate reply from Grace "anyone got a cigarette. I could really do with one right now." No one stepped forward to offer one however. Grace then just started to make her way over to where Norm, I and a multitude of other personnel had begun to gather around jakes link chamber. All of a sudden the hiss of the hydraulics on the chamber signalled it was opening just as Grace arrived next to the bed.
"Jake, Jake. Can you hear me?" Grace asked. The concern in her tone was obvious. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah doc I'm fine" came jakes reply and I then released a breath that I didn't know I was holding. For that matter I didn't understand what I was holding it for. My attention then returned to the conversation happening in front of me.
"And the Avatar, is it okay?" questioned Grace. Jake just chuckled before replying to that
"It's fine doc. And you won't believe where I am." Said Jake and with that he pulled himself out of the chamber and into his wheelchair. After we all made our way to a quieter place out of the view of the others Jake proceeded to tell Norm, Grace, Max, myself and a few other members of the team what had happened once he got away from the Thanator. To say I was shocked at what had happened would be an understatement. I also couldn't believe that the Omaticaya had accepted him into their clan. By the look of it Norm was both happy about Jake and his Avatar being okay. However he seemed unhappy about something but I could not figure out what it was wrong.
After we had all finished talking Jake went off to get something to eat and to rest and before I had a chance to speak to Norm about what was wrong he disappeared out of the room. As I was about to leave was when Grace approached me.
"Leave him be for the time being" was the first thing she said. My face went red then as I realised how obviously I was showing my worry about Norm. "Just give him some time. I think he's not too thrilled about Jake being accepted by the Omaticaya."
"But why, that's a good thing isn't it?" I asked starting to get confused.
"Yes it is. However try and see things from his perspective. He trained for many years for this and now Jake who hasn't had that same training is a part of the omaticaya clan. He's a bit jealous. Anyway, try not to worry yourself too much okay." All I could do then was shake my head uncertainly as Grace made her way back towards the link room. With that I made my way back towards my room hoping to put all of this commotion from today behind me.