The Balance of Life
Part One - Discovery
Chapter 4 - Part 23- NewHome
When Jake and Neytiri went to find Mo'at and Ralu, Norm just watched them walk away. He had enough problems to deal with. Now he had one more, and it just might be the most difficult to deal with. Walking away from the Samson, where Kyle and Judy were chatting with Rocky, he made his way over to the riverbank and sat down on a smooth rock that seemed perfect for just watching the river flow by.
Had he done anything to encourage Ralu to think there was something more than adult-child relationship between them? As he thought back over all of the time they had spent together, nothing inappropriate stood out in his mind. True, she was a great pleasure to have around, to talk with, and play with. But that had always been completely normal. Her level-headedness when she had patched him up after being stabbed had surprised him. Some people are just naturally cool in times of crisis. He had attributed that quality to her.
When they were horsing around in the water in the Well of Souls everything seemed perfectly natural. Maybe at times like those he thought of her as a daughter, more than an honorary niece, but that didn't equate to Ralu thinking of him as her future life mate. He would have dismissed the whole idea as a figment of Neytiri's over-active imagination except for the nagging sensation in the back of his mind that something was just a little off.
Most of the first several hours after Karen had been killed were a blessed blur in his mind. If he concentrated, he could recall fuzzy images of Ralu being close to him during that time. Nothing specific, just a feeling that she was close by. His first clear image of her was when he awoke in the avatar hut. She and Gary were standing very close, almost hovering over him. He knew it is true that when she was near him, holding onto his hand, that the pain of Karen's death was much easier to deal with. Having empathic abilities would account for that, he was quite sure.
But still, now that he was thinking about it, there was some other force at work here. Grace had taught him about the global network of energy that was the essence of Eywa, or Pandora. The 'Great Mother' that protected the balance of all life. His first day in the forest she had showed him how quickly trees could communicate with each other. They had speculated that Pandora was one large, fully interconnected neural-information network that allowed all living entities to communicate with each other in near real-time. Trees, plants and other flora were always connected through their system of roots. Animals had to connect in other ways.
Obviously, the Na'vi were at the top of the food chain, intellectually speaking. Their ability to control animals of lower intelligence was an extension of the planet-wide network. 'Control', the word stuck in his mind. There had been some basic research done a decade ago, when Na'vi-human relations were significantly better, about how the Na'vi were able to control direhorses and banshees through the neural fibers in their queues. The image of Jake's human body lying next to his avatar on the dais—as neural tendrils rose up from the Mother Tree's roots to attach themselves to Jake's spinal cord—suddenly popped into his head.
Having been too emotionally involved at the time to give the actual process of passing through the 'Eye of Eywa' much thought, the sheer magnitude of what was involved to move Jake's mind—spirit, whatever one chose to call it—from one body to another suddenly blossomed in Norm's mind. This transfer of consciousness required a degree of control that was several orders of magnitude beyond anything human cloning science could accomplish. If Eywa could move the essence of a person—essentially his or her thought processes and memories—into a body through its neural link, what else could she do to any organism linked with her?
Neytiri's comment about not letting young Na'vi link with Eywa because they could absorb too much caused Norm's thoughts to veer off in another direction. 'Just exactly what takes place when the Na'vi are linked with Eywa at the Mother Tree?' Before, he would have answered that the Na'vi seemed to provide Eywa with the energy she needed to perform some task. Much like recharging a storage cell. He still felt that the Na'vi provided Eywa with energy, but just how much 'control' did Eywa have or exert over the Na'vi while connected?
"Is this discussion private, or can anyone join in?" Kyle asked, jolting Norm out of his intense debate that wasn't as 'internal' as he thought.
"The more the merrier," Norm replied when he looked up to see Judy and Kyle standing a few feet away.
"When I looked over here, it looked as though you were genuinely disturbed about something," Judy began. "I was starting to worry a little, so I dragged Kyle with me to see if we could help lighten your mood. Once we got close enough, I realized that it wasn't Karen's death that was bothering you. At least, it wasn't the only thing bothering you."
"What is it about Eywa that has you so concerned?" Kyle asked as he and Judy sat down across from him.
"Some things Neytiri said about Ralu got me to thinking about Eywa," Norm began. "I guess the crux of the issue comes down to exactly how much influence and control does Eywa have over the Na'vi and other organisms on Pandora. Can she dictate their physical actions to some extent? It's obvious from our observations that the Na'vi seem to have free-will just as humans do. I'm not suggesting that Eywa could tell one Na'vi to kill another—"
"That thought is just a little creepy," Judy interrupted.
"She may be able to direct the actions of lower, less intelligent life forms just as the Na'vi do." Norm continued. "I was thinking more along the lines of mental control, persuasion. Can she affect someone's personality? Can she shape that personality to some extent?"
"What does this have to do with Ralu?" Kyle asked after he had picked up a flat stone a skipped it across the quiet river waters.
"I'm not sure. It could be nothing. On the other hand it could be very disturbing. I'm sure you have noticed that Ralu acts older that her age?"
"Yeah, some." Judy replied. "What does that have to do with Eywa?"
"Neytiri thinks that Ralu sees me as more than just one of the adults. She is concerned that Ralu may see me as her life-mate once she has grown up herself."
"That's a bit far-fetched, isn't it?" Kyle asked, his obvious skepticism coming through in his voice.
"On the surface, I'm inclined to agree with you," Norm responded. "But it got me thinking. I will admit that she acts and thinks more like a child of twelve than one of six. Is it possible that by bonding with Eywa she has had her personality altered?"
"I didn't think Na'vi children were permitted to bond," Judy added.
"Normally they aren't. From what I understand, Ralu did this out anyone's knowledge or permission. How many times she has bonded only she knows for sure. The last time was the night Jake traveled through the 'Eye of Eywa'. The energy flowing through Eywa with about two hundred Na'vi bonded to her was incredible. You wouldn't believe it unless you saw it for yourself."
"You think Eywa has changed Ralu's personality, her level of intelligence?" Kyle suggested.
"I think it's a possibility. Neither of you two has bonded with anything but each other. Right?"
"Yes, that's right." Judy confirmed.
"I have never bonded either." Norm added thoughtfully. "I think I am going to have to do that if the chance presents itself."
"If your right about Eywa being able to program the mind of any creature that bonds with her, aren't you taking a risk that she'll change you in some way?" Kyle asked.
"Yes, that's a possibility that needs to be considered. This whole business needs a great deal more investigation. We have never really studied Eywa formally. What she is and what she can do. Maybe it's time we did so."
"You need to get Buck and Abby in on this," Judy suggested. "He's the AI expert and her knowledge of molecular biology might provide some added insight. Were just your everyday archaeologist and anthropologist. I'm not sure how much help we will be in deciphering how Eywa works."
"It's going to take all of our efforts to solve this. In essence we're asking how Pandora works as a single entity composed of all her parts. No small task."
"Look on the bright side. We aren't going anywhere so we have the rest of our lives." Kyle added.
Another short post. I have been swamped at work and getting ready for the holiday weekend. I should be ready to get back to some serious writing soon.
For those of you who have reviewed, Thanks. As always I enjoy hearing from you, so please review when you can.
Enjoy.