One Life Ends, Another Begins: Chapter 2 - Arrival (6 years after of
Chapter 1)
The ISV Venture Star had been traveling at a speed close to that of
light for more than six years. It began slowing as soon as it had
reached the appropriate level of speed. In the near distance was
Pandora. A world so many people had heard about. Many described it as
Eden while others described it as Hades himself.
The ISV obtained Geo-stationary orbit around the tiny moon. An
installation had been set up on the moon. It was Hell's Gate. Hell's
Gate was a strip mining base. The only reason humans were on Pandora
was for Unobtanium. Unobtanium is a lightweight superconductor. This
metal is one of the only things that is keeping Earth alive.
Ryan emerged from his cryo-bed just as everyone else did the same.
The feeling of waking up from cryo-sleep is not a pleasant one. It
feels like a fifth of cheap tequila and an ass-kicking.
Dr. Monroe found Ryan relatively quickly. They were headed for the
medical bay where their Avatars were being kept when a someone stopped
them.
" Captain Lorenz?"
" Yes." Ryan said. " That's me."
" I'm Major John Cage." the man said introducing himself.
" And you are?" he said indicating Dr. Monroe.
" Dr. James Monroe. Avatar program."
" It's a pleasure to meet you. Ryan, just a heads up. When we land at
Hell's Gate, you will be under my command. My command and and my
command alone. Understand?"
" Yes, sir."
" Good. Then carry on."
" Thank you, sir." Ryan said saluting him.
Cage returned the salute, then continued on his way. Ryan and Dr.
Monroe continued down the corridor. As they passed an observation
window, Ryan stopped in his tracts. He was staring out at the planet,
Pandora.
" Beautiful, isn't it?" Monroe asked.
It was several minutes before Ryan could find his voice.
" Yes," he replied hoarsely in a voice heavy with emotion. " If only
my wife and daughter could see this. This would be out new start. Now
it's only my new start."
" Did you leave them back on Earth?" Monroe asked.
" In a sense, yes. They were killed in an RDA plant explosion. But my
wife always loved growing things and that transferred over to me. It
just astounds me how much is living on this planet. There is nothing
on Earth."
" That just shows you that Earth is screwed. Big time. Eventually
Earth will no longer be able to support life. It is slowly being made
into a waste land. Even though we are only supposed to be here for six
years, I'm staying to live here. There is nothing on Earth for me to
go back to. Nothing at all. Will you stay? Or will you go back?"
After giving it much thought Ryan answered.
" I'll stay," he said. " As you said there is nothing left on Earth
for us. This my new start. My new life. No longer am I a Marine
captain. No longer will I kill men. I am going to study science and
this world. And I'll fight like hell if anyone tries to hurt it."
By the end of his speech, James could see a spark of life come back
into Ryan. Jim, as Ryan called him, had the same mind-set. He was not
going to allow the bastards that killed Earth to kill this planet.
" Aye," James said. " So will I. So will I."
" And Major Cage? What about him? I'm under his command."
" Don't worry. I'll get you transferred over to me. Beginning of the
week you'll be under me. Major Cage poses no threat to me or you. I'll
go to Selfridge. He holds everyone in his palm. You are insignificant
to him. Which is good because you can be overlooked so easily. That
gives us an advantage. A mole, so to say."
" A mole?"
" Yeah. You will get me information. Primarily military information."
" Why?"
" Because, if you think about it, the natives that have been living
here have been doing fine without any of our help. And what makes you
think for a minute they want our help? And that's going to mean
conflict when we say," Here take this", and they don't. So I need to
know what's going on so I can prevent conflict. See what I'm saying?"
" Yeah. I do and it makes a lot of sense. I'll be your mole."
" Okay. Good. And we're here, the science ward."
The science ward was where all the growing Avatars were kept. Since
this was to be the first experimental mission, only ten of the
available twenty-six amino tanks were in use.
" Damn," Ryan said. " They got big."
" Remember," James said, " I told you they would fully mature on the
flight out. But then I remind myself that you don't listen to anything
I say."
" What did you just say?"
James shot Ryan a look that was of pure annoyance and agitation. Once
Ryan saw it, he backed off.
" Sorry," he said. " I was just messing with you."
" I know," James said. " It's just that since this is the first
experimental mission, I'm a little on edge."
" You think you're on edge? You're not going into your Avatar first. I
am. I've got more reason to be afraid than you."
" That's true. Sorry. I was only thinking of myself. Ever since I knew
we were leaving for Pandora, I started thinking for myself and no one
else. Thanks for pointing that out. Selfishness. I could certainly do
without it."
" Me too," Ryan said. " But sadly that's one of our flaws as humans."
" Yeah," James replied. " I know."
As they talked, the amino tanks were being detached from the wall and
loaded onto special transporters. These would ferry the tanks to the
Valkyrie and into Hell's Gate. Ryan and James followed the men
transporting the tanks onto the Valkyrie, reminding them to be careful
every step of the way. The tanks were lowered into special holding
clamps on the floor of the Valkyrie's cargo bay. Once secured the men
removed the supports for the movers and removed them.
" Attention all Personnel," a voice said over the P.A. " Report to
Valkyrie 1-6 in the next twenty minutes. Shuttle leaves in half an
hour. I repeat shuttle leaves in half an hour. Thank you. Have a
splendid trip to the surface of Hell."
" Don't pay any mind to that," James said. " They jut think it's Hell
because they can't truly See."
" And we can?" Ryan asked.
" Yes, we can," James replied. " Mainly because we have good
intentions and are pure of heart. And because we have Avatars."
" You could have just said because we have Avatars. That would have
convinced me."
" Well I like being technical with you because then you have no clue
what the hell I'm talking about and it's so funny."
" Yeah, well I don't think it's funny because you're learned and I'm
not. Please use layman's terms with me or explain what you say in
plain English."
" Okay. From now on I will explain everything to you."
Ryan and James reported to the shuttle along with a steady stream of
people. Most were security forces but some were engineers, scientists,
or just plain grunts. Many had good reason to come but others were
just here for the paycheck.
As soon as everyone was loaded into the Valkyrie the boarding ramp
door closed and the ship blasted away from the ISV.
" This is TAV 1-6. We are clear of the ISV." the pilot said.
" Copy that 1-6," the ISV responded. " Have a safe trip."
" Roger that."
Valkyrie 1-6 plunged into the rough Pandoran atmosphere like a hot
knife goes through butter. The point of entry had severe thunderstorms
in the area. The ship was bounced left and right, up and down. Luckily
the ship had never been hit with lightning. If that had happened,
power would have been cut and the ship would have lost altitude due to
the loss of the engines. But to this day, it had not been hit. As the
Valkyrie came out of the storms, all Ryan could see was forest. Living
forest. But it was different than Earth's forests. These trees were
close to 400 feet tall and had a color close to that of indigo. Behind
him, James was carrying on a heated conversation with Parker
Selfridge. Selfridge was young, in his mid-thirties, enthusiastic,
and very focused.
" Yes, I understand that," he heard James say. " But why does he have
to be under Major Cage? He's going to be working with and for me.
Can't you transfer him to me? Yes, I know Major Cage will be unhappy
but that is the way it has to be. C'mon Parker. For old times sake.
Thank you. You're to kind.…"
James continued talking but Ryan no longer paid attention to him but
looked out his window down into the world that was to become his new
home. He was happy that James had managed to get him transferred. He
did not relish being under Major Cage.
Apparently, Major Cage had been dismissed from his command because of
brutality. He had never taken any prisoners. Any one who threw down
their guns and surrendered, Major Cage ordered them to be executed. No
mercy was what he lived by. He had never received mercy and never
dealer it out.
Ryan had found out about his abusive tendencies from a fellow marine
who was also an Avatar driver. His name was Sam Spellman. He had a
younger brother, Norman, who was a scientist. Sam had come with Ryan
because on Earth there was nothing left and that his brother would be
coming here someday. Sam had seen Cage kill innocent people in cold
blood. He had developed an intense hate for the man from the start. So
naturally, Sam had an intense duty to do what was right. He had sided
with Monroe and Ryan. Which was a good thing for him because all the
guys who were in the Avatar program he knew and had strong friendships
with each and every one.
James had finished talking with Selfridge and walked over to stand
with Ryan at the window. He stood in silence beside his friend for a
couple of minutes then began speaking.
" I managed to get you transferred over to my department. " he said."It
wasn't easy but I know a few tricks."
" Yeah. I could tell," Ryan said. " How do you know Selfridge? I heard
you say you were old friends."
" We go back a long way," James began, " I knew him when he was just
an ordinary working man. Back then, he actually had a conscience. Now
I'm not too sure. Anyway, back to what I was saying, he started out as
a janitor. He used to clean the science labs and the administrative
offices. When he cleaned the administrative offices, usually he would
tell the executives about all these grand ideas. They saw potential in
him and moved him up into an office with very minor duties at first.
Soon enough though he was excelling in anything they threw at him. So,
eventually he was moved up as an executive. He was still a good man.
Money had no influence on him. Now it does though. When Pandora came
up in the discussions one day, he volunteered to go and take command
of the base that was being set up there. He traveled here and has
been here for about twelve years. And he owes me a couple. I saved his
ass from being fired more than once."
" I had no idea." Ryan said. " I know who to come to now if I need a
favor."
" No. No. No." James replied quickly. " That's not how it works. Don't
abuse my ability. I don't like to use it. I only use it when necessary."
" Okay." Ryan said. " There goes that plan out the window."
" You better believe it." James said. " Look there is the mine. We are
almost to Hell's Gate. It's about five minutes from the mine to the
base itself."
The mine was like an open wound in the ground. All around it the trees
had been burnt back one hundred yards. The gigantic extractor stood
like a sentential in the midst of the mine. It's grinding wheel slowly
turned bringing huge boulders of Unobtanium.
As the Valkyrie flew over the mine, in the jungle just outside the
perimeter of Hell's Gate, a pair of large golden eyes watched the
Valkyrie as it flew in for a landing. The eyes vanished just as fast
as they had appeared.
" This is Valkyrie 1-6." the pilot said into his mike. "Requesting
permission to land on the east runway."
" Permission granted 1-6. Proceed with caution." came the reply from
an air-traffic controller in Hell's Gate's air control tower.
" Copy that," the co-pilot said.
Valkyrie 1-6 flew into Hell's Gate not two minutes after transmission
with the tower. Hell's Gate was a bunch of permanent buildings with a
couple air lift modules. The air lift modules were mainly for
scientists who were going out into the jungle. A perimeter fence ran
all around the outside of the instillation. Every one hundred yards
along the fence a defense turret with multiple Hydra machine guns. The
fence was also electrified and consisted if two layers. The outer layer
was the electrified one while the inner one was a fifteen foot barbed
wire fence.
The Valkyrie hovered over its appointed landing pad for a moment. Then
its landing gear came down and its wheels hit the tarmac. Ryan was on Pandora.