A/N: Okay guys and girls, here's chapter 9. I'm sorry for the lengthy period of time since my last update, but I'll admit that this was a difficult chapter to write. I've spent some time trying to make the neuorlogical stuff sound plausible, but I am no neuroscientist. For those of you who do have PhDs in neuroscience, don't kill me ;) Anyway, I really hope that you enjoy this chapter, and I'll try to update sooner. -Solaris1989
Chapter Nine: Delta Waves
"Come on Jake, calm down man," Norm said attempting to placate his friend as he paced around the small office. Looking over to the other man in the room, Norm sighed. "Max, tell Jake that everything's going to be fine."
Max removed his glasses and pinched his nose before looking at the pacing Na'vi leader. "Jake," Max began, "Alejandra will be fine…physically at least. You were able to replace her exopack before she inhaled too much of Pandora's atmosphere."
"Look," Jake began irritated. "I know she's alright, but your weren't there. You didn't see the desperation, the anger, and the absolute anguish in her eyes." The two noticed the Na'vi warrior's eyes dim slightly as he Alejandra's outburst. He regretted what he'd done to her. So far, she had done nothing but cooperate with him. Alejandra had been nothing but fair in her dealings with him, and in return, he did the one thing guaranteed to drive her over the edge. Because of him, she had spent the past six hours lying unconscious in a hospital bed just outside the Med Lab office.
He should have known better than to pull that stunt. For days, he told himself that it was help his people by breaking her resolve, but he'd underestimated the human captain. Jake wished Trudy were here right now to kick his ass for what he'd done to the only remaining part of his friend.
Looking at the sleeping human through the window, Jake noticed how much of himself he saw in her. He'd been a wreck after his brother Tommy had been murdered. When he got the call from the coroner in old life as human about his brother's death, Jake had wept uncontrollably for hours. After he'd managed to gather himself together, he'd wheeled himself to the nearest liquor store and bought enough alcohol to kill an elephant. The next morning, Jake had woken in a puddle of his own vomit to the ringing of his personal COMM device. That was been the day his life had changed. That was the day he'd received the call from the RDA to take his brother's place as avatar driver. His life was saved that day.
If it hadn't been for Pandora, for Neytiri, Jake would have probably joined his brother in death. Like Alejandra, he'd always been close to his sibling, but losing him was only the tip of his iceberg of turmoil. The beginning had been when he'd lost his legs in South America. Al ready suffering from depression, Jake had all but given up on life when his brother died.
When those two men from the RDA offered him the job of avatar driver, he accepted not because he wanted to see Tommy's dream through himself, but because of the risk involved. Jake had sunk so low that the notion of putting his life in jeopardy was the only thing he could do to make himself feel…anything.
He knew from Tommy that being an avatar was a risky assignment. There could always be a malfunction with the link equipment that resulted in permanent brain damage or death. His avatar could always be killed, which could result in his human body's death. From what Tommy said, that if your avatar died while you were using it, there was a seventy percent chance that the trauma of the experience could send your human body into cardiac arrest.
When he'd been marooned on Pandora after his first deployment with Grace and Norm, he'd been attacked by a pack of viperwolves. At that moment, he'd known that his avatar was going to die, and he was fine with that. His miserable excuse for a life would have been over, but then something changed.
His avatar's life, and by extension his life had been spared. Neytiri, the woman who would become his mate and life partner, arrived just as the viperwolves were going to strike and saved him from a gruesome death. Fate, as it seemed had intervened.
Of course, Neytiri had done more than save his life that night. She had given him a pur pose and a direction. Her companionship had also helped him heal from his brother's death as he found someone else to care for and trust. As their friendship grew, she granted him another gift. She taught him to see.
As a human, Jake had been blinded by his humanity. Humans, though wise and smart had become so absorbed in their progress as a species instead of stopping to see the world around them. Their lack of sight had been responsible for many of the various conflicts throughout their history and the damage their world had suffered because of their progress.
His eyes open, Jake had seen the error of his ways. He'd learned that fighting nature was humanity's greatest sin. A sin he'd repented from by learning to live with nature, and by doing so, he'd been rewarded with the thing he needed the most: a family.
Like him, Alejandra had lost everything, and like him, she was blind. Being blinded, she would be an enemy to the People, but if she were taught to see, Alejandra would be an ally…no more than an ally. If Alejandra were to open her eyes, he would not see an enemy lying there on a gurney, but a sister to him and the People.
As Neytiri healed him, he would heal her. However, where Neytiri had worked alone to mend the broken remnants of his old life, Alejandra would have an army of teachers. In time, he would call her sister, and she would call him brother. Mo'at is right, Jake thought as he stood there. He did have a destiny. He would save the Na'vi by opening Alejandra's eyes.
"Pandora to Jake, come in Jake, this is Norm Spellman to Jake Sully. Do you read me," Jake heard Norm call out, interrupting him from his thoughts. Spinning around to face the two scientists, he rolled his eyes at Norm's sarcastic remarks.
"Sorry guys, I guess you lost me for a moment," Jake apologized. "Did I miss some thing?"
"More like ten minutes," Norm replied, gesturing to Max's tablet, which was currently displaying a series of multicolored wavy lines as the crawled across a window on the screen. The window was labeled: Chacon, A. RDA ID: 762893 EEG Live Feed. Below the window's title bar, the words Anomaly Detected flashed on the screen alongside the wavy lines labeled with the Greek symbols for Beta and Delta. Max handed the tablet to Jake who studied the wavy lines for a moment before looking back at the scientists.
"What am I looking at," he asked the neuroscientist, and handed him his terminal back.
Max took the tablet and expanded the window to fill the entire screen. "This is an EEG, an electroencephalogram of Alejandra's brain. You know a measurement of the electrical im pulses the brain emits. Specifically, this scan is measuring Alejandra's Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma waves.
"Note these two waves here," Max continued as he pointed to the two flashing waves, "are her Delta and Beta waves.
"This one," he said, gesturing to the second flashing wave, "is her Beta wave. It spikes while you are alert, thinking, or concentrating. Think of it as the activity your brain is actively processing…that you are directing."
Jake nodded in understanding and Max continued, his finger now pointing to the other wave now. "This is her brain's Delta wave; it measures brain activity while the subject is either unconscious or sleeping."
"Okay, I get it, Beta waves conscious, Delta waves unconscious," Jake, acknowledged Max's science lesson. "So, what's the 'Anomaly Detected' got to do with these waves? I mean forgive me; I was never much of a science student." Jake shrugged at his last statement. When it came to the brain, Jake barely comprehended the fact that it somehow processed and stored the information that made up a person's mind.
Max nodded. "The problem is that they're both elevated. There's no reason that she should be showing signs of conscious brain activity while she is unconscious."
"Lucid dreaming," Norm, asked.
Max shook his head. "I thought so at first, but the signs are all wrong. I wasn't sure what to make of it until I saw this," Max said tapping a few commands into his tablet. "Really this is just speculation," he continued as he brought up another window that displayed similar lines. "Here, recognize this?"
Jake and Norm looked at the new window, which was labeled PC diagnostics and showing similar wave lines to Alejandra's EEG. "What does her brain have in common with your tablet Max," Jake asked as he noted the similarities between the two sets of lines in the side-by-side windows.
"Bear in mind that this is just speculation guys," Max began. "But I think there's a cor relation. If you'll note this tablet is connected the base's wireless networks, which it sends and receives information on, and how the CPU processes the information it receives. Look at Alejandra's Beta and Delta waves." Max pointed back to the EEG, he then superimposed Alejandra's brain waves with the CPU and network activity waves.
"Bearing that the scales are different, the waves are nearly identical. Whatever is going on in her mind, I doubt it is simple dreaming."
Jake was lost now. "I don't understand Max, are you saying that she's transferring information like a computer terminal?"
"Streaming information would be more accurate Jake."
Norm stood from the desk and walked over to the window to peer out at Alejandra before turning back toward Jake and Max. "Are you suggesting that she is telepathic?"
Max shrugged. "I'm not sure. I'd have to see if her brain displays similar readings while awake," Max added, and then scratched his beard as if in thought. "You know, this kinda re minds me of all those subconscious and subliminal conspiracy theories from back in the late-twentieth and early twenty-first."
Cocking an eyebrow, Jake crossed his arms. "You mean those old stories about how Earth's major governments tried to brainwash people into being compliant little slaves by beaming radio waves into people's minds."
"Sort of," Max replied, "but I don't believe she's being controlled. I'm thinking along the lines of someone or something trying to communicate with her by tapping into her subconscious mind."
Going on the defensive, Jake glared at Norm and Max. "Do you think it's the Dark Star," he asked.
Norm shook his head. "Jake, we're monitoring all signals the Dark Star's emitting. If they were broadcasting anything out of the ordinary, we'd know about it. I'm with Max; I think we're dealing with an unknown."
Jake's lips pursed as he looked at the scientists, then to Max's tablet lying on the desk, and finally to Alejandra's still form. Considering all the information that Max had given him, Jake looked back to the olive-skinned scientist. "I think I should talk to Mo'at regarding this. We may need a…less scientific point of view regarding her," Jake explained, nodding toward Alejandra. "Max, would you mind accompanying me, I may need your help explaining this to her."
Max nodded, "Sure Jake. Just let me grab a few things, and transfer to another tablet since this one's battery is about dry."
"Sure, just meet me at the rear exit in say fifteen minutes," the Na'vi warrior replied to Max as he gathered his things and headed for Link Chamber. After Max had left, Jake looked over to Norm. "Would you mind looking after our guest while I'm gone?" At the mention of remaining with Alejandra, Jake noticed Norm perk up slightly.
"Sure, I'd love to…. um I mean, if that's what you want me to do," Norm answered while attempting to look unfazed by Jake's request.
Smiling at his closest friend, besides Neytiri at least, Jake patted him on the back. "Thanks Norm," he said. Stepping out of the office, he headed for the Med Lab's exit. As he reached the door, he spared a glance back at the human scientist. "Oh, and Norm," he called out to the human.
Norm looked up from the desk's terminal. "Yes Jake," was his reply.
"Remember, she's not Trudy."
"I know."
"Right, but keep that in mind."
"I will."
However, Jake somehow doubted that Norm would bear that in mind.
Home, her mind said as she looked at the homey little farmhouse before her. She was back at her childhood home in Texas. At least it had been a farmhouse in the past, but now it was simply just on the outskirts of one of the many richer and more affluent gated communities the social elite flocked. Her great-grandfather had sold the farmland when her parents were children, but had kept the three-acre lot that the house set on.
Taking a step forward, Alejandra felt so much relief to be home. All of those terrible developments she'd been contending with recently aboard the Dark Star and Pandora had been nothing more than a terrible nightmare. As she neared the house, she could smell her mother's baking. It was one of her famous blueberry pies. Oh how she would enjoy a piece of pie later.
However, she had another interest than devouring a piece of delicious blueberry pie now. First, she needed to see Base Camp. Base Camp was the name she and Trudy had given to the tree house their father had built for them as children. It had served as their headquarters when they played Army, their castle when they played Slay the Dragon, and had served as their super fast time machine and spaceship when they were in a mood for exploring the final frontier. Base Camp had been their home away from home.
Walking around the house, she spotted Base Camp in the large metal tree behind the house. As her family wasn't wealthy enough to afford planting a real tree, their father had built one out of metal and composite materials just as Base Camp had been constructed out of synthetic composites. However, it didn't matter to her or Trudy; it was their tree house. There weren't many children who lived around her that had one.
A few steps later, and she was nearing Base Camp. As she suspected, Trudy was sitting on tree house's front balcony sipping their childhood ambrosia: root beer. Spying her, she saw Trudy lift a blue arm and wave to her before waving her bottle indicating there was more to drink with her. Funny, I never noticed how much taller and bluer she is than me, Alejandra thought to herself as she climbed the short ladder up into the tree house.
"Damn sis, I never thought you'd get here. I was about to give up hope and drink your share of the booze," Trudy-avatar said, opening a bottle and handing it to Alejandra who immediately took a long swig from the bottle.
Alejandra sighed contentedly as she sat the bottle down next to her and looked at her sister. "That hit the spot. There's just nothing better than a cold root beer on a hot Texas day," she stated, smiling and leaning back against Base Camp's front wall. "So Trudy, what brings you home?"
"You," Trudy-avatar replied calmly before asking, "Do you want another beer?"
Alejandra shook her head, "No, I need to finish this one first. So you wanted to see me?"
"Yeah."
Taking another sip from her root beer, Alejandra took out a pair of aviator sunglasses and put them on. When Trudy had gotten her pilot's license, Alejandra had gone out and bought them both two very expensive pairs of aviator sunglasses. In response, Trudy-avatar took out a Na'vi sized pair and put them on. "Care to share?"
"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about a new tree house. I found this really nice real tree that I think you should look into." Trudy-avatar's voice was calm though she emphasized her words with hand gestures.
Alejandra laughed. "Nice one Trudy, I bet seeing Base Camp gave you that one. So, what's the real reason you brought me here."
"I told you, the tree."
"Seriously Trudy," Alejandra retorted, annoyed.
Trudy-avatar's features hardened slightly, but then softened. "I am more serious than I have ever been." She then wrapped her left arm around her sister's shoulder and pulled her close. "Please believe me, Sis."
Unable to resist, Alejandra softened. "Alright, so you want me to see this tree," she said looking into Trudy-avatar's golden eyes. Those kind eyes Trudy used had always been able to turn her into mush; a fact that Trudy always shamelessly exploited.
Smiling, Trudy-avatar cracked two more bottles of root beer and handed Alejandra one of them. Drinking from the bottle, Trudy-avatar smiled again before continuing. "Good, I know you'll love it Sis. Oh man, I can't wait for you to see it," she seemed almost giddy.
"Okay," Alejandra began, "I'm sure I'll love it, but where is it. I don't exactly see a lot of trees around here you know."
Laughing, Trudy-avatar nearly choked on her root beer. "Oh Trudy, it's not around here," she stated matter-of-factly. "It's deep in the mountains of Iknimaya."
"The mountains of what," Alejandra asked incredulously. "I've never heard of them."
"You know them as the Hallelujah Mountains, but there's just one problem."
Sighing, Alejandra knew that Trudy would say that. "Alright, hit me," she sighed out.
"Well, it's the locals. They don't easily trust Sky People, which means you'll have to earn their trust before they'll let you see the tree," stated Trudy-avatar, shrugging.
Biting her lower lip, Alejandra stood and leaned over the balcony. "I take that you don't have that problem."
"No, they trust me completely," Alejandra heard her sister say in response as she placed her large blue hands on her smaller human shoulders.
"How about putting in good word for me," she asked Trudy as her blue twin began rubbing her shoulders, which liquefied her from the mush she had become. She could hear Trudy chuckle behind her.
"Damn Sis, your muscles are way too tense. You really need to relax more," the blue woman commented as she rubbed the kinks out of her sister. "It doesn't really work that way. You have to make the effort, but I'll do everything I can help your chances with the People." Trudy-avatar paused, her massage causing Alejandra to turn and face her.
"What will I have to do," she asked, studying her sister's face. Her mind was struggling to remember when Trudy had grown and gone sapphire, but she was failing.
Trudy-avatar smiled slightly and cupped Alejandra's face in her hands. "Do what you always do: Follow your heart, and you'll sail along the right path." Alejandra was surprised by her sister's tenderness. Though she knew Trudy had a soft spot, her sister rarely ever let it out. She felt her sister's hands leave her face to pull her into a soft embrace.
"Why so nice all the sudden," Alejandra asked pulling slightly away from her sister.
Trudy-avatar only rolled her eyes. "What's wrong with showing my sister and best friend that I care about her?"
"Well nothing…. I guess I'm just not used to this side of you."
"It's okay. I just wanted you to know that I do, and that I'll always be there for you in one form or another." Trudy-avatar's face saddened. "You've got a hard road ahead of you Alejandra, but you won't travel alone."
"This is a dream isn't it," Alejandra asked, finally realizing the surreal atmosphere for what it was. "I'm still on Pandora, aren't I?"
Trudy-avatar nodded.
"Please tell me you're not dead," Alejandra stated, her voice becoming worried. "Please tell me that Jake Sully's lying to me," she begged her sister.
Shaking her head, Trudy-avatar pulled Alejandra closer again. "No, our brother isn't deceiving you, but I haven't left you. I'm still with you." Tears were beginning to fall from the human's eyes.
"Brother," she choked out between sobs.
"Yes, Brother Jake will help you. I need you to trust him. He'll point you in the right direction," Trudy-avatar said as the world around them began to brighten. Alejandra held on tighter to her sister. "There's one more thing Alejandra."
"Yes," she stuttered out.
"When the time comes, remember Lunar Grid five-four-nine," whispered Trudy-avatar in her ear. "Five-four-nine," she repeated.
"What," Alejandra asked, her face warped in confusion.
"I love you," was Trudy-avatar's only reply however.
Alejandra tried to reply, but she found that she couldn't talk as the world became blindingly bright. Trudy's golden eyes were last thing she saw as the world faded into white light around her.
Opening the airlock door, Jake and Max exited the Administration Building. In the distance, they could make out the avatar bunkhouse, which stood near Hell's Gate's western perimeter. Unlike the other sectors of the base, there was little artificial light actively lighting the area. Instead, the warm glow of campfires lit the area that some of the Omaticaya had recently appropriated. As they neared, Jake could smell the scents of roasting meats and vegetables wafting out from the fires. He could hear the murmuring of voices as many Na'vi ate their evening meal.
He looked down at Max, who was struggling to keep up with the taller and more athletic Na'vi warrior. The scientist was huffing behind his exopack causing it to fog up. Damn, Max you really need to get in shape, Jake thought as he noticed how chubby the scientist really was. Jake knew firsthand that Pandora was not a place to be caught unprepared, or out of shape for that matter. He would have to get Max outside, or in the base's gym more often.
Neytiri and Mo'at sat around the largest of the campfires talking over a shared bowl of fruit from the avatar garden. Looking up, Neytiri spied her mate as he walked toward them and smiled. Though Jake would have preferred her to tackle him as she had a few days ago, he realized that making a carnal and romantic scene in front of Max wasn't a good idea. The poor scientist would probably have a heart attack if they got carried away; a thought that made Jake grin.
She stood and walked the few remaining steps it would take her to reach Jake and em braced him. "I see you my Jhake," she whispered in his right ear.
"I see you my Neytiri," was his reply as he gently kissed the curve where her neck and right collarbone met. Jake pulled away from her and gestured toward Max. "You remember Max," he asked.
She nodded and bent toward the human. "MhaxxPatell, it has been many days. What brings you here with my Jhake?"
"Um, Jake said that he needed to speak with Mo'at about our guest… the human captain," Max stuttered. Taking a deep breath, he continued nervously. "Jake thinks that I may be able to better understand and explain Captain Chacon's current condition."
Jake knew that Max felt intimidated being around the Na'vi. It came from being conditioned to see them as a threat to human safety and security. Just over a week ago, this many Na'vi here would be cause for alarm, but now was merely business as usual in Hell's Gate's changed reality. Looking toward Mo'at, Jake sighed.
"Our medicine machines have discovered something strange with Alejandra's mind," Jake clarified. Though Neytiri's understanding of human equipment was growing, much of it remained a mystery to her. "We don't understand what the machines are telling us, which is why I wanted to speak to Mother."
As if on cue, Mo'at stood and joined the trio. She placed her hand on both Jake and Neytiri, a motherly gesture seemingly almost universal no matter where you were in great cos mos. "What concerns you JhakeSulley," the Omaticaya spiritual leader asked their new olo'eyktan.
"Mother, I need to speak to you about the tawtute leader," Jake began and led the group toward a bench outside the bunkhouse. Squatting in front of the bench as Mo'at sat, he continued. "Earlier today, she suffered a nervous breakdown and ran outside without her mask and nearly died. We took her unconscious body to our healing center for treatment of her injuries; however we discovered something… unexpected." Jake gestured to Max who was already wak ing his tablet from sleep mode.
Standing, the human scientist walked over to Mo'at. Jake placed his right hand on the smaller man's left shoulder as a means of comforting the nervous scientist. "This is Max Patel. He is what our people call a neuroscientist, a person who studies the human mind.
"When we were healing the tawtute leader, he discovered something strange with her mind. However, we have been unable to ascertain what is ailing her. We came here because I believe that you may be able to better explain her condition." He nodded to Max to begin.
Clearing his throat, Max began to go over the same information that he had earlier ex plained to both Jake and Norm. However, he provided a much more rudimentary explanation this time as both Mo'at and Neytiri barely understood the concept of brainwaves, computers, and wireless networks. For their part, though, the two female Na'vi remained silent during Max's explanation.
Mo'at nodded as Max showed her Alejandra's EEG scan and the tablet's processing and network output. At his conclusion, Jake allowed Mo'at a few moments to let her digest the in formation Max had given her. A few moments later, the spiritual leader rose and motioned for Jake, Neytiri, and Max to follow her.
She led them to the bunkhouse where she had told Jake about the legend of the Txon Tanhì only days ago. "JhakeSulley, have you spoken of the Txon Tanhì with this man," she asked as she gestured to the painting still marking the floor of the bunkhouse.
Jake shook his head. "No, I have only discussed this with Neytiri and Norm. Why, is there a connection?"
Mo'at nodded. "The legend says that the Txon Tanhì will share a deep connection with Ewya that will be forged from love and grief. As with all life, Ewya shows compassion, but the bond between the All Mother and the Txon Tanhì comes from a deeper source. How deep, I know not."
"Excuse me," Max interrupted. "What is this Txon Tanhì, and how is this connected with Captain Chacon's anomalous brainwave patterns?"
Jake looked to Mo'at who nodded in response to his unspoken question for permission. "The legend of the Txon Tanhì," he began looking down to the olive-skinned scientist, "about a warrior who summons something known as the Txon Tanhì, or Night Star if you prefer, and this Night Star ushers in a New Dawn for the Na'vi from the nearer of Pandora's moons."
"And you think that Captain Chacon and the Dark Star are related to this legend?"
Jake, Neytiri, and Mo'at nodded at Max's question. He merely shrugged in response.
"Well that explains why you and Norm have been so focused on the Moon. So, you think that Captain Chacon is the Night Star?"
Again, the trio of Na'vi nodded to Max's question.
"Okay, so if this captain is the Night Star of legend that would certainly explain why her brainwaves are so… so odd. This would mean that your Ewya is somehow transmitting information into her mind as a means of communicating with her." Max continued, as he appeared to be considering this turn of events. "How can Pandora's global bio-network connect with a species that doesn't have a queue," he muttered to himself.
Shrugging, Jake said, "Hell if I know," confessing his lack of knowledge regarding neu roscience.
"What about grief," Jake heard Neytiri ask her mother. He had wanted to ask that question himself, but filling in Max about the legend had placed it on the back burner.
Mo'at shook her head. "I know not the cause of the grief, but the legend says that the Txon Tanhì comes bearing the grief of a great loss. A loss that only the All Mother will be able to cure."
Jake's mind froze for an instant. Alejandra had lost her sister. A great loss reverberated in his mind. The pieces of the puzzle were falling in place. Trudy had died, which translated as a great loss for Alejandra, and the mysterious brainwave patterns were Ewya's attempts at consoling the human captain. But why would Ewya give a crap about a human who has no connection with Pandora other than a dead sibling, he asked himself. However, the answer did not present itself. Another question, though, presented itself.
"Mother, why did you wait till now to mention this about the Txon Tanhì?" Jake was perplexed. If he'd known about this a week ago, he could have better planned for handling the Alejandra situation, or at least been more informed.
In response, Mo'at smiled and placed her right hand on Jake's right cheek. "I did not tell you, JhakeSulley, because you did not need to know then. You were clouded by your anger and worry with the coming of the tawtute to know. I tell you now because you are ready to embrace your destiny."
Jake looked to the other two people currently inside the bunkhouse. Max had immersed himself in his tablet as he worked with his latest theory regarding Alejandra's neurological condition. Neytiri had managed to grasp his left hand at some point during the meeting, and was presently rubbing her thumb over his knuckles. Again, Jake wondered what he'd done in his life to deserve someone so devoted and compassionate in his life. Whatever the reason, he was eternally grateful.
However, it did not calm his mind because every question answered regarding the current situation resulted in the birth of two more. The only thing he knew for certain was that there was nothing for certain in this universe.
After Jake left the Med Lab, Norm had found himself standing over the sleeping form of Captain Alejandra Chacon. She lay there still as he absorbed every visible inch and curve of her body and compared Alejandra to her late sister. He was amazed at how much they looked alike. Alejandra only differed slightly.
Alejandra wore her hair slightly shorter than her sister did, and her skin was paler from having spent most of the last six years inside of a sealed starship with little more than fluorescent lighting. She was also thinner than Trudy was. Where Trudy's features were somewhat fuller and richer, Alejandra's were thinner and gaunter. Norm figured that the Captain was a habitual workaholic who didn't eat at regular intervals. That's gonna change, Norm added to himself.
He also noticed that her muscles were significantly less defined than Trudy's because of atrophy. He knew this was from spending over two years outside of cryo stasis in microgravity, and not working out at proper intervals to maintain her physical strength. She would be able to work in Pandora's lower than Earth gravity, but he doubted that she would be able to move around easily at one gee. Alejandra would require weeks, perhaps even months of physical therapy and exercise to regain her normal functionality.
However, these physical differences did not mar her beauty. Like her sister, she was very attractive; she only needed to establish healthier eating habits and rebuild her muscle definition. Like Trudy, Alejandra was a goddess; only that Alejandra was formed of a frailer divinity than her pilot sister was. At least that was Norm's assessment of the woman before him.
As he viewed the goddess before him, Norm remembered the time he'd spent with her sister. The months he'd spent with her in the mobile lab at Site Twenty-Six in the Hallelujah Mountains had been the best months of his life. While Grace and Jake were piloting their avatars, he and Trudy had gotten to know each other.
The friendship they had formed at Hell's Gate grew as the two spent most of their days together maintaining the modular facility and monitoring Jake and Grace. One day, as he was explaining how the avatar link chamber worked, Trudy had kissed him. A few minutes later, they'd found themselves in the dormitory building as they made love for the first time.
Over the next several weeks, they continued to spend many of the days in each other's arms while Grace and Jake drove their avatars at the Omaticaya hometree. To Norm, it seemed as if he were in heaven. However, their heaven soon turned to hell.
Within thirty-six hours, the RDA bulldozers destroyed the Tree of Voices and Quaritch had leveled the Omaticaya hometree. Within another twelve hours, he, Trudy, Jake, and Grace were fugitives on the run from Quaritch as they fled to Site Twenty-Six to salvage the link chambers before RDA forces tracked them down. Moving to the Tree of Souls, Jake had come up with a plan to bond with a Great Leonpteryx, and gain the trust of the Na'vi to retaliate against Quaritch and the RDA.
The night before The Battle for the Tree of Souls, he and Trudy had made love once more. That night, they confessed their feelings for each other. Norm told her that he was in love with her, and Trudy had confessed her love to him. The following day, however, their seeds of their love were burned away when her Samson was destroyed by Colonel Miles Quaritch.
When Norm learned of his love's fate, he'd been grief stricken. Soon his grief had turned to anger and he'd lost control of himself. At first, he'd blamed Jake for her death by hitting and punching the Na'vi warrior before collapsing in his arms and weeping for Trudy. Jake had comforted him until he calmed down enough to understand that the one responsible for her death was not Jake, but Quaritch.
Norm had been angry with the dead human Colonel since. His only regret was that he wished that it had been him instead of Jake and Neytiri to end the bastard's life. If he'd had his way, the son-of-a-bitch would have died a lot slower than he did. Neytiri's arrows had been a too kind a way for Colonel Genocide, as Norm called him, to enter hell.
However, all that had changed. Now, it seemed almost as if Trudy had been reborn in the woman lying before him. Norm knew that this woman was a very different person than the one he'd loved so, but maybe Alejandra's arrival wasn't mere accident. Though it may never be, Norm hoped that Alejandra could be a second chance at love. If so, he wouldn't make the mistake of allowing her to die as he had with Trudy.