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. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.
Chapter 15: The other side
The last few days had not been very productive for MT-NET to say the least. Its test subjects had been set loose, not just by anyone, but by one of its own machines that had turned against its creator. On top of that, the machine sent to terminate this traitor had failed its mission and lost track of its target in the process. However, these last days hadn't been a total loss. One machine had actually managed to confirm which village the escaped Na'vi had fled to, even though the unit itself had been lost. But the most important achievement had been the landing on Shadow. If the system could succeed in building nuclear weapons with the Uranium that could be mined on the moon, it would have a major advantage over all possible enemies. Just before the test subjects had escaped, MT-NET had concluded that they could not easily be converted to another belief, such as accepting MT-NET as their new god. As this strategy proved to be a waste of time, the system chose to abandon it, in favor of old fashioned extermination.
Even though it now knew where the Na'vi had fled to, MT-NET didn't target this village for its next attack. There were other villages closer by, which could be destroyed far more quickly and efficiently. Its army of Type 400s had been repaired and expanded, now counting a total of 102 units. In addition to those units, it had manufactured a total of 29 Type 200 units, which had been used to handle the Na'vi in the base and which were now without a function. These units, though too fragile for assault missions, could still be used to guard the perimeters. The current army consisted of only infantry, which proved to be very effective nonetheless when the Na'vi weren't expecting an attack. It would however be beneficial if additional weapon support vehicles could be deployed. The Type 150 tank fitted this need, but MT-NET had only one such unit, which wasn't enough to wage a war with. The system had found a solution for that though. It would take too many resources to produce additional Type 150s from scratch, so instead it had to look for vehicles that were already manufactured, and which could be modified. The RDA bulldozers, of which scouts had found several wrecks in the jungle, would do nicely. That was of course, if MT-NET could actually find units that weren't damaged beyond repair.
The best chance to find such equipment would be at the former human main base of operations on Pandora: Hell's Gate. When MT-NET had first landed on Pandora, it had chosen not to settle in this base, in order not to attract too much attention to itself. Now that it had built up a considerable army, it had the capacity to conquer at least the main factories, so that it could expand the production of its army even more. That would be the primary goal for now. Once that had been accomplished, the next village would be destroyed. Using the information of the local database and the findings of scouts, MT-NET concluded that the village in the southwest was of the Tipani clan. According to the database, this clan was known to have many fierce warriors. Therefore, it would be a suitable test to see if its army could defeat them just as easily as the less war oriented members of the Uvora clan.
Unaware of all that MT-NET was scheming, John closed his link chamber and awoke in his Avatar moments later. Still thinking about last night, he was looking forward to his first day learning more about the Na'vi way of life from Ney'ite. Shortly after breakfast, he had to disappoint Hatuyo with the fact that he wouldn't be joining him with the harvest today. He did, however, let him know that he would still be keeping his promise; that he would continue the story this evening. Shortly thereafter, he approached Ney'ite to tell her that he was ready whenever she was. She let him know that she would start today by teaching him a few important Na'vi words and sentences, which he could use to help himself around at the village. John was glad that she looked him in the eye again while talking to him. Also, he presumed that the kiss she had given him had only been meant to say that everything was alright now and nothing more. As she wanted to check up on her brother first, Ney'ite told John to look for a quiet spot near the edge of the canyon, which was just outside the village. She would look for him there. John went ahead, without any questions.
He knew which place Ney'ite meant; he had walked past it on his way back to the village yesterday. It didn't take him long to get there now. John stopped a few meters away from the edge of the cliff. From here the view was magnificent. The canyon was at least twenty meters deep and fifty meters wide. Most of the grayish rock walls had been overgrown by several different species of moss. The sky had a vivid blue color, the sun was shining brightly and Polyphemus was prominently visible. John could feel the warm sunlight on his face. He closed his eyes, and noticed that the only sounds he heard were those of the wind and of a few screeching mountain banshees in the distance. It was a completely calm and comfortable environment. He decided it was time to live a little more in tune with the natural world, like the Na'vi, and discarded his shirt and shoes. Continuing to admire the view, John didn't mind waiting for a little longer.
On the other side of Polyphemus, there was a moon which was quite unlike Pandora. It was smaller, had a thinner atmosphere and couldn't support life that required oxygen. Near the surface, the sky had a mint-like green color at the times it wasn't obstructed by a cloud cover. The water of its oceans was grimy and had colors ranging from dark yellow to black. On one of the larger continents, several hundred meters away from MT-NET's shuttle, stood a building of human origin. Apart from the sounds of the wind and the ocean, a periodic clank, followed by a creaking sound was all that could be heard there. These out of place sounds were caused by a small dilapidated sea vessel being repeatedly pushed against a rusty buoy by the waves of the ocean. The building was still structurally intact, but there were several cracks in the concrete walls, and all the edges had been rounded by acid rainfall. The lanterns near the building appeared to have been equipped to withstand this rain. Each lantern had a mushroom shaped helmet of some kind to protect the light source from the harsh weather. Even though they probably could still serve their purpose, none of them were lighted at this moment. All signs pointed to the fact that the outpost was abandoned. This was not entirely true, however. Though this place was dead on the outside, on the inside it was a different story.
The building, which was visible on the outside, was merely an entrance, as the rest of the structure was situated underground. Below the surface, there was a large complex of rooms and corridors. The architectural style reminded of the interior of a submarine of the twentieth century. The walls, the ceilings, and the floors were all covered by a layer of rust. The artificial atmosphere inside was very damp, and rich in oxygen, which allowed various organisms to thrive. The seal on the oxygen garden had long since been broken, which had allowed these organisms to escape and expand their territory to the rest of the complex. In one of the rooms, the last human on the moon had just awoken. He promptly went to the garden to collect his breakfast. Next to his bed, there was a wall covered with photographs. Most of them showed the vast landscapes of Shadow, but there were several older ones as well. One photo depicted small boulders in a desert with a brownish yellow sky in the background. It had been made on the surface of the largest moon of Saturn: Titan. Beside it was another photo made on Titan, but this one was made indoors. It was a group portrait showing the personell that had been stationed there around the same time as the man. Each member had a nametag stitched to their uniforms. Right next to the man, who this photo revealed to be named Martin Herman, stood another man who was wearing a cap with the company logo. His nametag revealed him to be John Simons. The photograph was made more than twenty years ago, while both men were still in their prime.
Today, Martin Herman looked nothing like all those years ago. He had adjusted to a life alone; a life in which nobody could bother him. In fact, as far as he could tell, he had the entire moon to himself. That was why he did no longer paid attention to his appearance. If there had been somebody else inside the complex, they wouldn't have to see or hear him approaching; they could smell him approaching. Even though he didn't care about hygiene, he was still somewhat annoyed with the plague of lice that had infested the underground complex. He had shaved his head to counter them, with mild success.
After having finished his breakfast, he prepared to go outside on his normal routine. He viewed a video feed from the only functioning camera left to get an idea of the weather outside. Then, he was startled by the revelation that there was something not right with the picture. He viewed this screen every day and he knew how the landscape looked when it had rained or when a storm had hit. This was nothing like that. A strange looking refrigerator with legs had just walked out of view. Martin immediately grabbed his breathing gear and put on his goggles as he headed for the backup airlock. After having closed the inner door, he swiped the lice off his scarf, which was lying on the ground, before wrapping it around his neck. He checked to see if his goggles and breathing mask were properly sealed, put on a mushroom helmet just like the ones outside, and opened a small round hatch in the ceiling. Because of the overpressure inside, a gust of wind helped him climb the ladder to the surface. With only his upper body sticking out from the ground, he was now somewhat camouflaged by the lanterns surrounding him. He took a small binocular out of his pocket and scouted his surroundings. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Not one, but four of these things were walking around out there. They all appeared to have come from the spacecraft up ahead…