James Cameron owns Avatar, not me.
Chapter 2: Joyless Nights
Date: December 24th, 2156
Location: Hell's Gate, Pandora, Alpha Centauri A system
The two scientists gazed stoically into the Pandoran night from the darkened Ops-Center. Both were slowly sipping from the glasses that contained smooth scotch, liberated from Selfridge's private stores. Only a few, flickering monitors still illuminated the room, the soft colors of their lights seeming to enhance the darkness, rather than banishing it.
Max Patel, Doctor, sighed quietly as he reached for the bottle, slowly refilling his cup.
"Might as well put a dent in it, and besides, Christmas Eve is as good a time as any, right?" Norm had said, a brittle smile on his usually cheerful face.
Smiling his own bitter little smile, Max slowly took another sip. There were times that it was hard to believe that it had been two years since the Venture Star had left. And there were times.. when it was painful to think about.
That was not to say that he regretted it, oh no, he certainly did not, not even for a nanosecond. Quaritch and Selfridge had needed standing up to, and the Na'vi had more than needed their help to stop them. But... sometimes.. sometimes he was reminded just how alone they had become. How, just a few light years away, billions of members of humanity were sleeping, preparing to wake up rested, ready to celebrate joyous life the next day, despite all of the problems within their lives.
That.. was when it became painful.
"I talked with Jake the other day." Norm's steady voice broke him from his reverie, "He and the Omaticaya are settling in well to the new kelutral. Said he and the other Avatars would come by sometime next week to help us patch up the cracks in the reactor building."
He gave a small, far less bitter smile, and nodded slightly, "That's good, on both counts. How are the Avatars doing? Settling in better to the tribal life? Any lingering effects from passing through the Eye of Eywa?"
His slender friend shrugged, "He didn't mention anything, so I think everything is going good."
"Always good to hear. It'll be nice to see them again, it has been getting a bit quiet around here, with just the eight of us." That was an understatement and he knew it. Eight people were inhabiting a base meant to house several hundred. They rarely left the science wing for the simple reason that Hell's Gate had become a literal ghost town, with all of the creepy solitude that was implied.
"Yeah." Norm replied, after a moments pause.
The two sat in a companionable silence for some time, simply gazing through the glass at the forest, so much closer to the fencing now than it had been just those two years ago. They slowly sipped their scotch, watching the tree tops moving slowly with the wind. Behind them, a computer screen flickered from its stand-by blue to a deep warning red for a few moments, before winking out entirely. Neither paid it any attention.
"Hey Max?" Norm was again the one to break the silence.
He frowned at his friend's very quiet, almost small, tone, "What is it Norm?"
"How long.. how long do you think Hell's Gate will last?"
Lifting his glass, he took another slow sip of the smooth beverage before he answered, "Hard to say. Given how quickly the jungle is already advancing into the old kill zone.. I would guess it will probably be totally over-run in two decades, and unrecognizable in about twice that."
Norm gave him a brittle smile, "Not what I meant."
"Oh." he sighed, glancing down into his glass. He had always been the cautious one, the practical one. Making sure that everyone knew what was going on, what they were getting into, making sure they were prepared for any situation that could come up. Such readiness of mind had a downside, a rather massive one, as he was now learning. It was hard to find hope.. any hope at all, in a situation, when you knew exactly what you had, how long it would last you, and what you would have to do to have any chance to survive.
"Maybe a year." he answered finally, "Two at the very most. We don't have the deuterium to keep the fusion reactor going any longer than that. And that's assuming we can keep it repaired and functioning. We'll have to relocate to a mobile site, probably Sixteen, since it is the closest to the Omaticaya. That's going to have all of its own problems. No more greenhouse, we'll have a lot less computing power..."
"Won't have the automatic turrets to keep us safe." Norm said quietly.
"That too." He sighed, "And the Na'vi probably won't be thrilled about it, despite what Jake and the other Avatars might say. We'll probably be dependent on them for food by that time, we'll have to try our hand at hunting and trapping, maybe try and start a small farm. We'll have to keep at least something here working though, the mobile sites aren't hardened, and the yearly radiation storms will kill us unless we manage to get back here for the two weeks."
His glass flipped back, as he took a much longer, faster drink, letting it burn down his throat, freeing up his voice to let go of what had been stuck within his mind for nearly the entire two years, "If we are lucky.. if we are really, really lucky, we might all make it the decade until the soonest ISV arrives from Earth. But.. we probably all won't make it. And even if any of us do, who is going to be showing up? The RDA again? The UN? A regional power like the EU or NAU? Hell, are they even going to come back at all?"
A quick shake of his head came as he tried to dispel the depression that had risen, and he polished off what was left in his cup, "But you know what..in the end, we did what was right, and that's enough for me, even if it means that I'll never go home again."
Norm smiled slightly, looking into his own cup after taking another sip, "That sounds good to me. I just wish... I just wish that Jake understood. I mean.. I know that he's preoccupied with being the new Olo'eyktan, and with Neytiri expecting. But.. we talk less and less these days. Neytiri doesn't mind stopping by once and a while, but the rest of the clan.."
"To them we're just tawtute, just more idiot sky people." Max supplied, nodding. "Even though we helped them in the fight, helped them find their new home, we don't have Avatars. We're not Uniltirantokx. When they look at us.. all they see is the same aliens that burned down their ancestral home and attacked their most sacred site. They see you not as the person whose Avatar died fighting beside them, but just as another human, bumbling around."
His friend glanced at him and shrugged his shoulders in a self-deprecating fashion, "I know it's stupid, still wanting to be one of them, to be able to help them like Grace and Jake did. But Jake.. he's found where he belongs. And I'm sure Grace is content with Eywa, way more than she would have ever been wherever human spirits go. I just wish that we could have had that.. that happily ever after that they have.."
Max sighed and got up, shuffling slowly into the Administrator's former office and grabbing a new pair of bottles. Opening both, he shuffled back and simply handed Norm an entire bottle, keeping the other for himself and taking a short swig.
"Two years.. then we'll have to see if Jake will still support us.. or if he'll stand by the tribe, who will probably want nothing to do with us." Norm's voice was utterly quiet. "Wish I knew what he'll do.."
He sighed very heavily, and took a much longer pull from the bottle.
"I don't know Norm." he whispered softly.
Behind them, a clock softly chimed midnight, even as the last functioning monitor in the room flickered over to red, before flashing off entirely, leaving them in total darkness.
The two touched their bottles together softly, murmured "Merry Christmas", and resumed gazing into the jungle, trying to see beyond the trees, towards the place that contained all of their hopes and dreams, the place that they only wished the best for.. yet was also a place that would never accept them, simply for being what they were.
Next up is Chapter 3: Wolves, Jackals, Oh My