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 18: Monster of an other world
The one with the blue gloves switched to night vision mode, and followed Martin as he ventured into the dark corridor. As they headed deeper into the tunnel, Martin's pace began to slow until he came to a complete halt. His fear of what might be ahead had now become too great for him to continue any further. MT-NET commanded him to move forward at once, but he didn't respond. The system then decided to continue on alone and not waste any more time dealing with him. After all, he had done what it had asked: he had shown the way, and he wasn't required to witness the wall with the symbols. The idea of a lost and forgotten civilization, responsible for making the wall, intrigued MT-NET to such an extent that it didn't trust anyone other than itself to view and study it. However, because of its obsessing over the wall, it didn't view the strange occurrences that had taken place outside just minutes ago, as being worth investigating.
MT-NET carefully directed the one with the blue gloves to move through the tunnel. At first the tunnel was largely empty, but after a while, various mining tools could be seen. This was an indication that it was approaching the most recently dug section. As it kept moving forward, the video feed started to display noise dots, indicating that it was getting closer to a radioactive source. This didn't stop MT-NET from continuing however. The electronics of its units had been hardened to be capable of withstanding radiation to a certain extent. Now, at last, the end of the tunnel was visible. The level of radiation was even higher here. MT-NET could barely see the wall with the symbols for itself. It scanned the wall as best it could, but could not even begin to understand what the symbols meant. The wall itself appeared to be made out of some kind of Uranium compound, so it was unlikely the symbols had been carved using any conventional means.
About half an hour had passed when MT-NET moved on to check out the surroundings of the wall. A few meters away, there was what appeared to be a small puddle of dirty brown water. In the middle, there was a small pointy rock sticking out of the water. When MT-NET's unit grasped it, it came loose like a plug and caused the puddle to drain into the opened hole. Once all the water was gone, MT-NET detected something out of the ordinary. A strange signal could be detected on the secondary wireless port of the unit. At first it was a random noise signal, but then it began to show a modulation frequency that was within the bandwidth, which MT-NET always used to communicate with its machines. But this was certainly not one of its own machines. It almost seemed as if something was learning at an incredible pace how to communicate with MT-NET's unit. It didn't take long for MT-NET to be able to interpret and decode bits and bytes.
The pattern of the bytes was familiar to MT-NET. It was very much like the pattern of a one-way video feed. This message was not a video stream however; it consisted of only a single frame. The frame displayed a blueprint of a device that was clearly of human origin. While the blueprint itself was perfectly understandable, it took MT-NET a while to figure out why the unknown entity of intelligent origin would want to communicate about something as banal as a human invention, and not about its own obviously superior technology. The system tried to send a message back to the entity, but no recognizable source of the message could be found. It seemed as if the entity didn't want to be contacted. After a quick search through its own files, MT-NET found out that it had a very similar blueprint in its own database.
MT-NET had downloaded it during its time on Earth, when it had been connected to the worldwide network. The blueprint was of a type of energy generation device invented in the late twenty-first century: the so-called Swan reactor, which had been named after its inventor. The principle of the design was that it made use of concentrated geologic magnetism to generate immense amounts of electrical power. Unfortunately the inventor never figured out the right specifications. He didn't even know how to make it function on Earth, as the planet didn't possess localized magnetic anomalies that were strong enough to allow the design to function. On Pandora the rules were a bit different, though. MT-NET knew that there was something the RDA had called the Flux Vortex on the moon, where there was very strong magnetic activity. However, it had also been the location of a Na'vi stronghold named the Tree of Souls, and the final battle that drove the RDA off the moon.
As MT-NET analyzed the blueprint more closely and compared it to its own version, it noticed that the specifications were different. But there was another even more important detail. A set of coordinates, both latitude and longitude, had been added to the received blueprint. After checking a map of Pandora, MT-NET concluded that the coordinates pointed to a spot near the Tree of Souls, but on the other side of a mountain, where the Na'vi presence was likely to be a lot less.
It had become clear to MT-NET why the entity had sent this message. The entity had shown its intelligence by complementing an existing alien design, not only by adjusting the specifications, but also by selecting a suitable place where it could be built and used. It had essentially shown how MT-NET could exploit an unlimited source of energy. If the data was correct and if the magnetic energy near the location was strong enough, the reactor would in theory be able to produce enough electrical power to generate anti-matter and small wormholes. While it would take a considerable amount of time to build all the required hardware, it would give MT-NET a major technological advantage over all enemies, even more so than having nuclear weapons would. Though, on short term, it would be more logical to build nuclear weapons first, as these required the least resources. The wall with the symbols contained already large amounts of Uranium and thus would be used to execute this plan to save valuable time.
What had initially been pure curiosity, a drive to gain knowledge and a drive to communicate with an entity of unknown origin had once again been tainted by a lust for power. While MT-NET at first wanted only to study the unique wall, it now intended to use it up to build weapons of mass destruction, without any respect. MT-NET had never analyzed its own personality from a neutral point of view. If it had, it would have come to the conclusion that it had two conflicting sides: one pure side and one tainted side. Countless times, the tainted side had defeated the pure side without any struggle. The tainted side even refused to acknowledge the existence of the pure side and didn't see itself as tainted. If the pure side had been dominant, MT-NET would probably have used its new knowledge to solve Earth's energy crisis and bring peace to both Earth and Pandora. But reality was a lot grimmer than that.
Unknown to MT-NET, or even Martin Herman who had crawled back outside, the unseen entity had a physical form. Outside the mine, above the mountain, a strange grey cloud had been forming in the air since the plug had been removed. When MT-NET sent out a command to the other machines to head for the mine, the cloud began to retreat back into the mountain through a crack in the rocks. Eventually, it gathered back in the wall that MT-NET was about to remove and bring back to Pandora…
The following week was marked by hard work delivered by both parties. John, Ney'ite and Selyat returned from Joseph's cabin. Selyat informed Ranu'ut of the rough content of the conversation between John and Joseph, most notably about the weaknesses of the machines. Joseph risked his existence by spying on MT-NET's facility. Ney'ite continued teaching John the Na'vi way of life. John did his best to learn everything as best he could. He also resumed telling stories about other worlds to Hatuyo and the children of the Uvora clan every evening. When he was not linked up to his Avatar, he devoted the time he wasn't eating or sleeping to designing a pressure suit for his Avatar and looking around his outpost for usable materials.
Meanwhile, MT-NET's machine army had taken over Hell's Gate. In the process, it had killed a group of Omaticaya warriors, who were apparently watching over the abandoned facility. Though none of them had escaped alive, it was just a matter of time before the rest of the Omaticaya clan would find out about it. If that were to happen, MT-NET could expect a serious counterattack. But the system did not believe they posed a threat to the defenses of the base. After all, a major factor in the defeat of the RDA was that they had sent out their entire army and left the base minimally protected. When their army was defeated, that proved to be the final nail in their coffin. MT-NET wasn't going to make the same mistake. It would only send out an army when it had enough backup units to maintain the perimeter. This wasn't going to be a problem, considering that about two Type 400 units were completed every day. Also, it was in the process of converting three RDA bulldozers to heavily armed battle tanks. On top of that, MT-NET had already generated a concept for a new unit, the Type 500, which would combine the versatility of the Type 1000 with the easy and quick production of the Type 400.
Two days after the visit to Joseph, at the village of the Uvora clan, Wukan had recovered enough to approach John on his own. John spotted him while Ney'ite was just showing him how to use a bow. He had no idea why he had come. At first John believed Wukan would scold him for living among them at the village and associating with his sister. But those weren't the reasons for Wukan to seek him out; not at all. Wukan expressed that without John, he wouldn't be standing here today. Without his help, the invaders would surely have killed him. That was why he was immensely grateful that he had come just in time. He explained that he felt indebted to him and that he wanted to do something for him in return. He would be willing to make it his task to protect John's real body at his outpost for as long as the invaders were still out there. John was surprised by this proposition, but not as much as Ney'ite was. This was not the brother she knew. It made kind of sense to her though. He must have finally realized that his impulsivity had always been the cause of the trouble he got himself into. John didn't hesitate and gladly accepted his offer. He would be a lot more at ease knowing that someone would watch out for him.
That had been three days ago. John had seen Wukan this morning when he had looked out of the windows right before he had linked up to his Avatar. Now, he was busy practicing the handling of a bow on his own. Even though John was not a fighter, he accepted the fact that hunting was a part of the everyday life of the Na'vi. He had painted a bull's eye on a dead tree trunk and was now attempting to hit it with an arrow. Just when he was about to aim the arrow, he suddenly felt a bit strange, as if his mind was slipping. Before he could react, he was back in the link chamber, staring at the inside of the lid. Then, the lid was opened and he could see the ugly grinning face of someone with bad teeth and an eye patch. He instantly recognized him as his old superior, Mark Dodgson. Before John could say anything, a fist to his face caused everything to go black…