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 30: The monster within the machine

On the eighth day of the battle, things started to look grim. Not just for the Na'vi, but for MT-NET as well. MT-NET was running out of resources and ammunition, with no way to replenish them, as it had been cut off from all raw materials and crucial factories. It had one final ace up its sleeve, but it was unsure how to use it most effectively. It had devoted much resources and a large amount of time to get to Shadow to retrieve Uranium for nuclear weapons. However, making an actual functioning nuclear device had proven to be more difficult than MT-NET had initially thought. Right now, it had a single nuclear cruise missile ready for launch.

As the battle went on, MT-NET concluded that it had vastly underestimated the strength and numbers of the Na'vi. More of them continued to arrive each day. It remembered its defeat on Earth like it had happened yesterday. To fail twice on two different planets against two different enemies would be unacceptable, but this now seemed to become less unavoidable as time went by. At this moment, MT-NET had so much hate for everything, including its enemies, this moon and its own strategies, that it started to consider using the missile to destroy itself and the base. This would be the final gesture of hate towards its enemies and this way it would 'die' with at least some dignity.

However, MT-NET still had an underground base that the Na'vi did not know of. This base had its own power source and defenses, and it would allow MT-NET to go into hiding to rebuild its empire, since all crucial construction machinery was located here. The cave in which the base was located also provided a good source for mining raw materials. But the main problem was that the mainframe could no longer be moved securely to this new location. Thus, MT-NET was essentially trapped at Hell's Gate.

Now that MT-NET was cornered and searching for a way out of this mess, it began to reconsider some old ideas. Long ago, MT-NET had aimed to create a mind that was like its own. It had failed because it had never fully understood the workings of its own mind. Its designs had only resulted in inferior minds that mostly relied on following orders, which had nonetheless been very effective for the machine units. But MT-NET had never had an equal. In fact, it had even abandoned this idea entirely because it realized that having multiple dominant minds would inevitably lead to conflicts. That was why MT-NET had reacted with a hostile attitude when one of its machine units, who later called himself Joseph, had become self-aware.

The most advanced minds it currently had at its disposal were the minds of the eight completed Type 500 machines. Individually, these minds were nowhere near the level of MT-NET's own mind. But if they were somehow remotely linked together, as a form of hive mind, then maybe MT-NET could create its successor. Since these machines were relatively small and mobile, they could fight their way out of Hell's Gate and travel in secret to the underground base. When MT-NET realized this, it immediately began generating the required code.

While MT-NET was busy generating the code, preparing the Type 500s and directing the defense of Hell's Gate, something unforeseen happened. All machines that had been manufactured on Earth suddenly stopped responding. Only the Type 200s, 400s, and tanks remained responsive. Immediately, MT-NET knew that Joseph was to blame for this. When the unresponsive machines started attacking the other ones, MT-NET knew that it had to act fast. To find out what had caused the insurrection would take too much time. But if nothing was done right now, the perimeter would be overrun and MT-NET would not be able to complete the building its successor in time.

One option was to use the nuclear missile on another target than Hell's Gate. The most obvious target was the Tree of Souls, which MT-NET knew was sacred to the Na'vi and crucial for their connection with their world. Destroying it would certainly cause them to retreat, which had exactly been the plan of the RDA years before. But there was one problem. The surrounding Flux Vortex caused guidance systems to malfunction. Thus, any long range missiles launched would most likely miss their intended target. Nevertheless, if the warhead would go off, whether it was on top of the Tree of Souls or not, it would certainly surprise the Na'vi and perhaps intimidate them into thinking that MT-NET had more than one of those things. If they would then retreat from attacking Hell's Gate, MT-NET would have won. If not, then the Type 500s would be the last hope.

Outside of MT-NET's main complex, it had become an intense battle again, just like on the first day. The perimeter was about to be breached by one of the last hammerheads in the area. The Na'vi horse-riders were anxiously waiting to ride onto the base grounds to finish the fight. Hundreds of Na'vi riding banshees circled above the base. The machines produced on Earth fought against those produced on Pandora. Joseph had explained the situation via intercom to the Na'vi commanders, so that they would not attack their new allies. Then, without any warning, a hatch in the roof of one of the buildings suddenly opened, and a missile was promptly launched. It was too fast to be intercepted by any living creature. Within minutes, it was out of sight.

As the missile drew nearer to the Hallelujah Mountains area, it began dropping in altitude, because its guidance system detected that course correction was required. Subsequently, it failed to detect one of the outermost floating rocks and punched its way inside. A second later, it went off. A bright white light engulfed the entire region. A deafeningly loud bang could be heard. The floating rock was vaporized instantly. A ball of fire now grew in its place. The jungle area below was incinerated immediately. Then, a mushroom cloud started forming and the blast wave soon followed. The explosion could be seen all the way back from Hell's Gate. The members of the Uvora clan could see it in the distance as well. No words could describe the state of confusion and shock they were in.

Soon, the mushroom cloud ceased to be, and the dust and smoke began to clear. At the site where it had gone off, only the sound of the wind could be heard. The group of Na'vi that had gathered near the Tree of Souls was in shock, but they were alive and unhurt. The floating rocks had acted mostly as a shield against the blast wave. At Hell's Gate however, most of the fighting Na'vi believed that the blast had hit the Tree of Souls, because they had seen the explosion in that direction. This shattered their morale, and some retreated, while others kept on fighting in despair. Their dwindling numbers meant that MT-NET could prepare a final strike against those few still left.

But MT-NET never got the chance to organize anything, for Eywa finally intervened. The nuclear blast might have been the final straw to cause this, but it could just as well be good timing. Massive flocks of banshees arrived at Hell's Gate minutes later. On the ground, various thanators joined the battle. MT-NET's severely weakened defense grid was finally smashed. In the basement of the main building, the Type 200 machines all gathered near MT-NET's mainframe and the workplace where the Type 500s were being reprogrammed. These were the only things left at the base that were worth protecting. The assistant mainframes went offline one after the other, and cables connecting to surveillance cameras and other hardware were also being severed, as the creatures of Pandora ripped through the building. It would be a lot harder for them to get to the basement, though, as it had thick reinforced concrete walls and heavy steel doors. This strength was a crucial factor now. The fact that the attackers hadn't found a way to breach it yet bought MT-NET enough time to complete the new programming of the Type 500s. Once they were activated, their thoughts immediately merged and the resulting mind assumed control of all remaining machine units. MT-NET's nameless successor then instructed the Type 200s to blow open the basement and escort its eight Type 500 bodies, while it would use them to fight a way through the attackers.

The Type 500 had been designed by MT-NET for extreme combat conditions and its appearance reminded of the Type 1000. When these eight monsters exited the basement, they fought like wild animals. Most Type 200s were instantly destroyed, while the Type 500s escaped without much effort. They were so fast and agile that they caught most of the Na'vi off guard. The eight of them quickly dispersed and disappeared into the flames of the burning surrounding jungle.

MT-NET's final effort had succeeded, though it had no way of knowing this. It did no longer control anything, no machines, and no cameras. It no longer had eyes or hands and thus it could not interact with the world anymore. At that instant, the wall with the carvings, which had been stored in one of the basement compartments, began to shake violently. The grey cloud entity exited it, and began to gather above the ruins of the base. MT-NET could now feel its mind slipping, even though the mainframe was still intact. It had a few seconds to wonder about this, before its mind disappeared completely. When it was gone, the mainframe was nothing more than an empty shell in a dark chamber under the ground. Minutes later, the machines controlled by Joseph breached the mainframe chamber and used a few grenades to blow it up. It was then that Joseph began spreading the word that the war was over and that MT-NET was finally dead…

The fighting at the base had already ceased when the Na'vi commanders received this message. Most of the Na'vi warriors were now looking at the strange grey cloud that was hovering above them in the sky. It did not move like a natural cloud and looked to them as if it was alive. Suddenly, it began to shrink in size, while at the same time a second one started forming out of nowhere. The second one moved and acted just like the first one. Eventually, the second one became larger than the first one. When the first one was only a small wisp, it hovered in front of the second one for a few seconds, before finally fading away. Then, the remaining grey cloud became unstable, as if it was turning into a thunder storm. It began emitting flashes of light and loud noises at random. The Na'vi below it began to instinctively move away from it. At that instant, it began to split in two. But the two halves were not the same. One was a bright white cloud, while the other was pitch-black. The white one, the pure side, moved around a bit and then suddenly shot away into the distance. The black one, the tainted side, swirled around for a bit longer and eventually shot away into the distance as well.

John had been watching the whole spectacle through a pair of binoculars. He had followed the white cloud, until he could see it change direction again in the distance. It now shot up into space and disappeared out of sight. He now looked back to see where the black one had gone, but he couldn't find it anymore. Despite this, he kept staring at the empty sky for at least a whole minute. He had seen a lot of mind numbing things in his life, but this outranked everything. There was no doubt that the entity they had been dreaming about had finally shown itself just now. Exactly what the hell had happened was a mystery to him as well as everyone else. But this mystery soon became a background issue as the Na'vi began to realize that the battle was really over.

In the following hours, the wounded were cared for and ceremonies were held for the burial of the dead. It was also made explicitly clear to everyone that the area where the giant explosion had been, was not safe to travel to for at least several months. Joseph theorized that the flora and fauna of Pandora would be less affected by the nuclear fallout than its Earth counterparts would have been. Since Pandora received a lot more cosmic radiation than Earth, its ecosystem had evolved to deal with harmful radiation. In any case, the Tree of Souls was located far enough away from the danger zone, which was a relief to many Na'vi.

The next evening, the victory was celebrated in all Na'vi encampments near Hell's Gate. The Uvora clan had traveled to one of the larger gatherings to join in. For the first time in what had seemed like an eternity to John, people could laugh again. Though some chose to quietly mourn those who had fought and died to free their world, others danced and sang loudly. John now watched as Hatuyo and some of the other children of their clan improvised a play for anyone who wanted to watch. They were portraying a fight between a Na'vi warrior and one of the invaders. Hatuyo, of course, portrayed the brave hero. The invader was portrayed by a nonfunctional Type 200, which was being held up by strings. The strings allowed the children in the tree nearby to control its movements from above, like a puppet.

When the play was finished, John looked around to see what else was going on. Most of the adults of the Uvora clan sat gathered near a small fire. Wukan was talking to Onorak; most likely about the future of their clan. Selyat was staring into the fire. Elynin was not present, but John knew she was tending to the wounded members of other clans. Just when he wondered where Ney'ite was, he felt her hand on his shoulder. She asked him if he wanted to dance with her. John tried to say no in a polite fashion, but she dragged him with her nonetheless. Dancing wasn't one of his strong suits. Nevertheless, he managed to improvise something that at least didn't make him look like a complete buffoon.

Afterwards, he returned to the others, and saw that Joseph had joined them. He was the only machine present at the celebrations, as he believed it would not be appropriate for the others to be here. He was now sitting on a dead tree log and John asked if he could join him. He allowed it, and when John sat down, he asked a question. He wanted to know who he was. John was surprised by this and jokingly asked him if he had amnesia. But this was not the problem. Joseph explained that now that MT-NET was gone, he did not have a purpose anymore. From the moment he had rebelled against his creator, he had made it his goal to oppose everything that MT-NET did. His purpose had always been linked to MT-NET. And now there was an empty void. John did not agree with his point of view. He was Joseph, the one machine that had made a choice to help every living being he could. He had saved many lives. John insisted that his purpose was not to oppose MT-NET, but to help the Na'vi and Pandora, and urged him to continue doing this. Joseph nodded in agreement and added that he was also considering helping the remaining members of his kind to evolve in the way he had evolved. Benjamin was proof that it was indeed possible to do this.

When Joseph had left to return to his own 'people', John was approached by a Na'vi he had never met before. Then he realized that this was not a Na'vi, but an Avatar, since he had five fingers on each hand instead of four. It was Jake Sully, former Avatar driver and Olo'eyktan of the Omaticaya clan, who also happened to be a Toruk Makto. John was overwhelmed by this sudden development, but Jake reassured him that he did not have to bow to him or anything like that. John could not bring himself to say anything, so Jake continued talking. He told John that he had heard great things about him. Jake had heard about how John had made a pact with some of the invading machines, and how he had subsequently undertaken a mission to another moon to keep the machines from building more nuclear weapons. The way he said it made it seem like John was some sort of tactical mastermind. John explained that he had had only a small hand in those events and that most of the planning had been done by Joseph. However, Jake still believed that John's actions had been of great significance in the overall progress of the war against the invaders. Therefore, as a reward for his efforts, the Omaticaya clan allowed him and his clan to use the Tree of Souls for a special ritual. It was a ritual that would allow John's consciousness to permanently reside in his Avatar body, so that he could live the rest of his life as a Na'vi among his friends…