This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet.
Chapter 4: The dark one
The machine, which had spotted the two Na'vi, instantly opened fire. Ney'ite pulled her brother behind the tree trunk, but it was already too late. He had been hit by the machinegun. Though Wukan had only been hit in the arm, it was nonetheless a serious wound. He quickly grasped it and did his best not to yell out in agony. The trunk was now the only barrier between them and the machines. MT-NET commanded the machines not to fire at the tree and instead to save valuable ammunition. Half of the patrolling machines were sent out to get a better firing angle. The rest stayed behind to guard the entrance. One of the Type 700's was sent to climb its way towards the targets.
Ney'ite tried to quickly find a safe escape route. Higher up the tree seemed to be the only way out, but her brother couldn't climb up there with only one usable arm. The machines were only seconds away from getting a good aim, when they were suddenly ambushed. A large creature, the Hammerhead, had been disturbed by the loud noises. It charged at the machines, knocking several of them out of its path. MT-NET now shifted the focus to the larger threat, commanding all capable machines to open fire. This allowed the two Na'vi to take the route from which they had come, as Wukan could still manage to jump from branch to branch. While they fled the area, the Type 700 reached their forming hiding place. It could still see them in the distance, but it determined that it was incapable of catching up with them at that pace. Therefore, it turned its attention to the Hammerhead below. Eventually, the machines managed to kill it. One Type 300 was totally wrecked, one more was severely damaged, and a lot of ammo had been used up.
MT-NET realized that it would not last long enough to complete the mission with only this small army. It still had the control over twelve Type 300's, fourteen Type 600's and nine Type 700's, as well as several construction bots and a handful of other machinery. A major advantage however, was that it now had the location of its enemy's camp, despite the fact that the scout was destroyed. If it were to attempt an all-out attack, it calculated that it could wipe them out. But then, it couldn't defend itself anymore against other camps of these beings, let alone the hostile creatures of the environment. Therefore, a new army had to be built; something that was easier said than done. Also, MT-NET noted these beings had the home field advantage. The current machines had never been designed to battle monkeys in trees. That was why a new design had to be implemented as well.
To get a factory running, several important things were needed. A safe location, a large enough compound and a power source were all first priorities. Also important were the necessary tools and resources to manufacture the new units, but this problem could be dealt with after a compound had been established. MT-NET deduced that if the humans had the capacity to send the mainframe and the machines to this planet, there was a high possibility they once had or still had a base here. This site would then be the perfect location to set up a factory. Again, this called for a recon mission. This time however, great care had to be taken to avoid attracting the attention of the locals. Four runners were sent out in each geographic direction, with the orders to keep on running unless there was a danger of being noticed.
The Type 700 had climbed its way back down again. Unlike the other humanoid machines, this one actually seemed to move like a normal human would. Although the others were built to mimic human movement as well, their moves had always been fairly rigid. This Type 700 was dressed like a tramp. It also wore a raincoat, of which the hood covered the unit's head. A few weeks before MT-NET's failed invasion on Earth, all those years ago, it had been released from the factory as an experiment. This unit, like the other Type 700's, was equipped with the most powerful mind MT-NET could produce. Its reasoning and learning capabilities rivalled that of humans. The one thing that MT-NET couldn't program into its units, however, was genuine human behaviour. No matter how many digital encyclopaedias it processed, practical human mannerisms still had to be learned the old fashioned way. Only then could it create effective infiltrators.
The Type 700 had been given the mission to stay in the shadows and learn from a distance. This meant watching humans converse, recording their movement and manner of speech and translate this into usable machine instructions. The unit had killed the first tramp it set eyes on. As it had now disguised itself as one of them, it was often allowed to enter shelters for the homeless, which were ideal places to learn without attracting much attention. The other tramps soon learned that this stranger wasn't much of a conversationalist. The stranger would sit at one of the tables, staring around for hours from under its hood. This mysterious behaviour and its appearance earned it the nickname 'the dark one'. Some would openly mock the stranger, while others simply avoided the shelters when they saw 'him' sitting there. If a drunken tramp would pick a fight with it, it would ignore him, until he got too close. Then it would simply knock him out with one blow.
Although the mission eventually succeeded, this vast database of knowledge was never copied to the other units. MT-NET had decided to launch the attack without using infiltration, because the physical disguise of its units wasn't convincing enough anyway. The dark one had then fought alongside the other units, until the mainframe was shut down. Now, the gathered knowledge had become even more useless, as the current enemies weren't even humans.
Several clan members gathered around them as Wukan and Ney'ite returned to the village. Wukan sat down, still grasping his arm. Blood was dripping down his elbow. He asked his sister to go to their Tsahìk and ask for her help. Ney'ite didn't hesitate for a moment, and a few minutes later, she came back together with the clan's spiritual leader. The Tsahìk muttered several words as she inspected the wound. She asked Wukan if this had been caused by those he had spoken of earlier. As he acknowledged it, several bystanders began to whisper to each other. Some of them had witnessed the metal demon that had attacked the village earlier today. Wukan confirmed that these metallic creatures were in league with the rotting ones. Whoever they were, they were hostile and had the same weapons as the Sky People.
The Tsahìk then told Ney'ite to get a few healing leafs to help her brother. She knew exactly which ones the Tsahìk meant, and where to get them. She herself had been treated with these special leaves on several occasions in the past. They were known to help staunch bleeding wounds and prevent infections. The leaves had always grown on the plants surrounding the Uvora clan's totem: their totem. It wasn't far away at all, just on the other side of the village. Once there, she plucked three of them, each one from a separate plant. She had been told during her early childhood years that one should not take more from Eywa than needed. The three leaves would be enough. Ney'ite promptly returned them to the Tsahìk as she had requested.
Fifty-two kilometres east of the cave, a Type 300 came to a halt. It looked down from a cliff to scan the area. A large, seemingly abandoned structure was in sight. As MT-NET had received the data, it commanded the unit to find a suitable way down and explore the exterior of the complex. To do an interior scan, a humanoid unit was needed. Because of the slight chance it would encounter humans there, the dark one was selected for this mission. The Type 700 strapped its rifle to its back and held on to a Type 300. This machine would sprint to the site at a much faster pace than the dark one could walk on its own. A few hours later, the two machines reached the site and used the way down, which the scout had mapped. The complex was surrounded by an electric fence, but it didn't seem to be operational any more. The Type 700 quickly located an entrance. Both doors of the airlock were standing wide open. Many, if not all windows were broken. Vines and moss covered the exterior walls of the building, and it seemed they had grown their way into the building as well. The machine stepped inside. Glass shards and other debris covered the floor. It was relatively dark inside, so the Type 700 switched to night vision.
The machine checked the first few rooms for any activity and quickly concluded that the base had been deserted for quite a time. Now, it needed to be checked if the complex still had power. At the end of the hallway, the machine came across the control room. It contained a few desktop terminals as well as a utility cupboard. The dark one opened it and turned on the main power switch. The reactor was apparently still operational. The lighting in the room switched on and an alarm sounded. MT-NET received the information from the unit and deemed the mission a success. All machines now began preparing to leave the cave as the night was approaching. Darkness would be their cover.
Wukan's wound had been taken care of. But still, Ney'ite was uncomfortable with the fact that the projectile hadn't been removed from the wound. She felt that the Tsahìk always had put a little too much faith in the healing leaves. Then again, there hadn't been a single time that this treatment had caused further complications. However, she still wanted to consult someone else about this. Someone she thought could give her a straight answer for once. The person she had in mind lived quite a distance from the village. It was too far away to get to before nightfall, so she decided to go there first thing tomorrow morning. Her brother wouldn't need her by his side; his mate Elynin would be with him. She left her clan mates at the campfire to go to sleep earlier than usual. As Ney'ite climbed into her hammock and lied down, she looked at the sky, letting her thoughts wander about tomorrow, before finally closing her eyes and slowly falling asleep…