"Just call me Cassie," the young woman 'remade' her entrance. She had the role of piloting Icarus II all the way to Pandora, & was elated that her old job was done with. Actually, she'd be returning to a similar job soon, only it involved the thrills of driving a body less susceptible to the Sun's heat & light.
A man of moderate height stood on her right to speak, "And we – all of us – are the crew of the Icarus II spacecraft." One would tell his eyes were brown, even in this light. There was just enough warmth in them to make it possible to call him 'friendly'. Still, he looked like he especially liked, or even enjoyed strictures. "I'm Captain Kaneda," he said without starting a handshaking session.
"We have Dr. Searle, Harvey, Corazon, Trey, & of course, Capa," Kaneda whirled his hand about to show the others his pretty large team.
Dr. Searle had shades on (in spite of the dim light), looked like a nice guy & explained his profession in medicine succinctly.
Harvey's facial muscles appeared to be perpetually tense; coupled with his hard irises, he would be an intimidating communications officer/co-captain had he been over six feet tall. Thankfully he wasn't.
In great contrast, Corazon had an eager, lively countenance. "Hi, I'm Corazon, or Cory," she grinned to the rest. Few knew she was an old friend of Dr. Grace Augustine. In the early course of Grace's career, she had left Earth to journey to Pandora where she would fill the pages of her renowned book-to-be, Pandoran Botany. Corazon had promised that she'd strive to once again embark on intriguing adventures in biology with her one day. It was a dream come true.
Trey was reserved, smiling for a split second, which was how he usually greeted people. Why? Because of the fear of losing any other person's regard: Trey was a child prodigy who created a computer virus that brought down millions of computers in the past. To do something less nonsensical & apply his genius beneficially, he signed up for the space program.
As for Capa, the quietest of them all, he was the physicist who was to bear the biggest burden - operating the massive star-bomb device (which the Icarus team had to assemble on Pandora) once it functioned. Besides, he was the only one who understood the operation and true scale of the star bomb. He said nothing.
"We're here to get a preview of, you know, our Avatars?" Harvey pointed out. He didn't care how vain he actually had sounded.
Mace was appalled, "So, you're all undergoing a job change? After all this time running your ship & dragging it here?"
"No, we're not," Capa suddenly talked, "We'll be doing what we were born to do. Except we need the sturdiest possible physique to pull everything off once we're out in space."
"We don't follow," said Jake, confused & speaking on behalf of Mace, Dr. Patel & Norm as well.
"The last time a mission like ours was carried out, Icarus I was…put simply…lost in space. That was seven years ago," Kaneda sighed, "We haven't managed to locate them till today.
"As you may have heard, the Sun's strength hasn't shown any improvement over this time span. That's led us to assume the crew onboard Icarus I didn't make it. They failed to deliver their star bomb to reignite the Sun."
"So this is…some sort of retry? To help our original planet & whatever remains there?" asked a wide-eyed Norm.
"Yeah, it is. Although the hopes seem thin," sighed Cassie.
Norm looked at her & said, "Not too late to get your hopes up." Cassie noticed a grin stretched across his face. Shyly, she returned that grin.
Dr. Searle was vocal about the subject, "Putting it short, two things: one, we have been enrolled into the Avatar program which can give us tougher bodies, & thus a higher chance of surviving when we get close to the Sun to deliver the finished bomb. Two, we're making a pit stop here to use Pandoran minerals to construct our bomb."
"I think we can comprehend," said Jake jokingly.
"So where are our Avatars?" queried Trey.
"Down this very same corridor, genius," someone new was heard entering the area. A woman with a cold expression, in a lab jacket with curly, ruddy brown hair. "Cory, I'd call it an age since we last met," she added with a humorous twist.
"Grace!" exclaimed Corazon, who trudged over to her long lost companion. They took each other's hands in warm gestures.
"Here she is the 'Cinderella of the ball'. Everyone, meet Dr. Grace Augustine," Dr. Patel began.
But Norm interjected too quickly, "Grace Augustine is a legend - she's the head of the Avatar program. She wrote the book, I mean literally wrote the book on Pandoran botany!" A few other irritated faces turned to him, but he was oblivious to it all. Unbeknownst to him, only Cassie was pretty amused.
Grace barked some rash orders, "Aside from Cory, just so you all know, we start work right away. Everybody follow the procedures to link with your Avatars within the next half hour, or else. And one more thing – you! Norm Spellman? How much link time have you logged?"
"About 520 hours," Norm replied.
"That's good. You switch places with Cory," she concluded, & stormed off.
"I guess we better be going," Jake alerted the newly assembled Avatar Drivers' team.
The eleven team members stood in a circular room with the Avatar linking machines lining its edges. Several manned neurological scanners & computers were constructed in the room's center, each screen monitoring each of the Avatar Drivers. Outside the room's perimeter were eleven gurneys with an Avatar body lying on each one, ready for the linking process.
"Listen Cory, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing for the space mission," Norm nervously said. He hadn't known how spontaneous Grace could be to switch the jobs of anyone working under her. Fortunately his link machine was right beside Corazon's so he could speak to her.
"I'm in charge – sorry – was put in charge of Icarus II's oxygen garden on the way here," Cory responded with kindness, "It isn't hard. I'll brief you on the details long before the ship finally takes off. Besides, it will take some time waiting; the stellar bomb has to be fully constructed first." Cory's new job (& Norm's initial job) was to join Grace in sampling Pandora's plant life.
"Would the garden still be an 'oxygen' garden after we leave Pandora?" asked Searle, whose link was on the other side of Corazon's. He added, "I heard the Na'vi mainly breathe carbon dioxide on this planet, so wouldn't it be the same with our new bodies?"
Corazon explained fluidly, "Yes. But remember how plants require the CO2 to make oxygen in turn. Pandoran flora is just about the same as Earth's. Grace says the Avatars will still breathe CO2 onboard Icarus II, but we'll require O2 to supply to the links containing our human forms."
Those who were listening to her nodded enthusiastically.
"Okay. Fine. An 'oxygen garden'," chortled Searle.
There was the sound of Grace's bossy tone while she walked through the entrance door, "Alright! I'm going in. All of you, link first, introductions later!" She pointed a finger at a few of the members, before showing Jake to his link.
"You're here," she told him, pointing to the nearest machine. "How much have you logged?"
"Zero. But we read manuals," said Jake.
"You & who?" she was curious.
"Both of us," Mace's head popped up from a neighbouring link machine.
"Tell me you're joking…," she exhaled.
"This is cool," Jake pressed & felt the bouncy texture of the link's interior, designed for the person's comfort.
Grace proceeded to help him get his legs in too. "Don't. Got this," he told her, & pulled both legs in himself.
She keyed in a sequence on a screen to operate the link, "So you just figured you'd come out here, in the most hostile environment known to man, with no training of any kind &, see how it went? What was going through your head?"
"Maybe I'm sick of doctors telling me what I can't do," muttered Jake.
"You okay?" Cassie asked Capa, a few machines away.
He seemed to stare into space for two seconds before turning to her, "I'm fine." In truth, he was worrying about the payload.
"Just relax, Capa," Kaneda reassured him from the next link.
"Biometrics are good," one of the staff at the central computers said.
"Link Three's ready," Dr. Patel informed Grace. Link Three belonged to Jake.
All eleven links were eventually shut, with the Drivers inside. Each member shut his or her eyes for the linking process.