AVATAR 2.0
Pandora. Never thought I'd be going there. Sad thing is I used to dream about coming here; seeing the plants, the animals, the Na'vi. Now I finally get there, and it's for all the wrong reasons.
Jake felt heavy, as if he was breathing with a stack of bricks on his chest. Slowly, his senses reawakened. Everything was distant and muffled, as if he was under water. Slow humming, muffled talking, everything steadily growing louder and clearer. He felt his muscle start to tense, his lungs feeling with air, his heart pumping, along with that the dull, but sharp pain came back as well. Finally he opened his eyes. All he could see was pale glowing blue light, no shapes or shadows, just the same shade. Slowly though, it began to clear. A box, cold metal, barely bigger than a coffin and three huge mechanical clasps hovering over his shoulders, waist and knees. A bright light shined in from behind him and he craned his neck to look through the small window that looked out into the weightless chamber the coffin opened up to. Jake's eyes jumped around the chamber, taking it all in: it was exactly the way it was when he last looked at it… nearly six years ago.
Could six years really have pasted? Didn't feel like it. More like he just woke up after a dreamless, painless sleep and he just got over the newest muscle steroid injection. Subconsciously he wondered if he was still considered 19 or if he got booted up to 25.
The machinery whirled to life, the capsule jolted and slowly the box slid opened. A blinding white light glared into Jake's eyes and he closed them tightly against it, the light still shining through his eyelids. He heard a thud above his head and looked up. A man in a white surgeon suit, floating in zero gravity, crouched above him, his hand working on something to his right. Jake glanced over and saw his left elbow was still in the wired into the cryo-capsule. He remembered, taking nearly ten minutes being hooked up to the machine, being shut in the capsule and slowly feeling the medicine seeping into his blood stream, slowing his heart and breathing. The medic started pulling the IVs and wires off his body and opened the clamps above his body.
"Welcome to Pandora, son." The Medic said, smiled and moved down to undo the guy waking up under Jake.
Jake grabbed onto one the clamps to keep himself from floating up the ceiling. His muscles weak from lack of use, groaned in protest, some pressure taken off by the lack of gravity in Alpha Centauri A. Jake moved his body into a sitting position, feeling his body moving up off the coffin bed, beginning to float into the air. Using his legs to push up further, he reached up and grabbed one of the bars attached to the walls, and began pulling himself through the chamber.
"You've been in Cryo for five years, nine months and twenty-two days. You will be hungry. You will be weak. If you feel nausea, please use the sacks available! Thank you." Another medic announced from some where above Jake. Now more of the new Pandora arrivals were coming out of Cryo, trying to keep balance in the zero gravity. Two medics were hovering over one the cryo capsules, both looking grave. One shook his head and the other hit a button and a physical lock clamped the capsule closed and they move on. Not a good sign. Before any of them went into cryo sleep, the medics had told them that, some of them may never wake up. It had shaken most scientists, some army dogs but not Jake. He had been ready to die since he was ten.
A nineteen year old, traveling to the most hostile planet known to man, to serve a company scraping to get some precious stupid mineral to help mankind: sounds better when you're not the one doing it. How'd I do it? Only three ways to get to Pandora: Get into the company, become a good enough scientist, or be a retired devil dog. I'm none of them: I'm a trained UNIT agent, trained to kill and remove any and all obstacles in my path to get what ever job I get assigned done. No exceptions, no way out.
Jake pulled himself up the lockers and finally reached his own. He briefly looked around at the other occupants reaching and opening their own lockers. He could easily tell who were the scientists, the devil dogs, the worker and miners. Scientists were conversing about the reactions of their cryo injections and why they did that, devil dogs talking about how it was crazy as heck how they fell asleep and woke up and company workers complaining they were getting crap pay for all this. What got to him is that they all looked older then him. He was the young one, the one who no one knew or knew how got in here. He remembered when he first got one to the star ship, all the rumors going around about, one person even started he was a robot sent to spy on the operation, like a play off Terminators. No one knew anything about him, except that he was "specially trained".Then the new rumor was he was psychic or telekinetic. Good grief! He redirected his attention back to his locker and opened the latch. Revealing his pack that he had placed in it six years prior, he pulled it to the edge. He glanced around again; sure no one was looking in his direction, he reached into his pack's side pocket and opened the secret compartment inside it, reached in and felt around inside. He didn't take it out, but he made sure it was there. He chuckled then slipped it onto he back and he pulled on through the chamber to the door.
First thing on the list was to take a shower. Luckily Jake was one of the first ones to be woken up, and everyone else was busy meeting catching up with others they had met in the three months before cryo sleep: how you bonded with someone in a period of three months was something Jake would never know. But that left the shower empty and all towards Jake's self. He showered and changed his clothes, then went to work on his arm.
If anyone first looked at it, it would seem perfectly normal; which was fine with anyone who had one. The looked like a regular left arm, one would never see the seams, and the outer layer matched his skin and the mechanism worked just as natural and smooth as any of the should-be-there muscles would. The only way anyone could tell that it wasn't natural was if the gel skin mesh covered it had not molded in precisely with the mechanical arm underneath it. Out of habit, he looked around again to see if anyone had come into the room, but there wasn't. When he was sure of that, he did a quick look sweep around the wall, but saw no cameras.
Jake turned his arm around, pushing his sleeve up to reach the seam below the shoulder. Taking his finger, he slowly ran it down the length his arm, "unzipping" it down to his wrist. And slowly, he opened the sides and revealing his new arm. Very skinny and created of light metal and thin wires to send synapse messages to the synthetic muscles. The filling of the mesh was molded and grouped to curves along the shape of the machine. Jake removed the sleeve, and held the uncovered bionic hand up, and sent a command to it. When a person moved any part of their body, they could feel it and most replacement arms had artificial nerve endings running through it. Down side to that, if the arm was hit just right, a person could feel pain just as if it were a real arm. With Jake's arm, it was just there, like paralyzed legs; you could see it but you couldn't feel it. All that allowed it to move by his thoughts was the small chip at the base of it (the base at the shoulder) that was connected to his nervous system. It then sent an electronical message to the rest of the arm, which was complicated if the signal was not strong or precise enough.
Flex fingers. Jake thought. The metal fingers began moving, the joints sliding together with ease. He moved down to his wrist, rotating his hand, making certain that the joints moved without getting caught on each other. He moved to his elbow and reached his shoulder, finally feeling the motion. His arm was moving smoothly; one less thing he needed to worry about.
Satisfied, Jake replace the mesh cover over the mechanic arm, rubbing it around so the pus filled the machine's gaps and keep the surface of the cover smooth, and reached into a different pocket of his pack. He glanced around again, out of habit, and opened the hidden pocket. Inside were two things: a large vial filled with very small, white pills; enough he hoped was enough to last for his time on Pandora, the other, a necklace. Jake first pulled the bottle out and checked to see the top was still sealed. He bit the seal and tore it off. He tipped the vial over his palm and a pill fell out and he popped it into his mouth.
While the drug to effect, Jake replace the bottle and pulled the necklace out of the pocket. At first glance, it would not appear to be so special, but they would be wrong. On sight, it was a basic metal chain attached to a pendant that looked like an army dog tag, only it was a little thicker and had a slide opening. It was also a little beaten, but still in well condition, for being in the line of fire for ten years. Jake stared at the pendant for a minute, then using his thumb, slide the front side up. Instantly, a blue light shone up and from an inch above the light, a small but detailed hologram emerged.
A woman in a hospital gown, sitting on a hospital bed smiled back at Jake. On her left, a man was sitting on the edge of the bed, smiled down at something in her arms. In her arms, was a baby, less than a week old but already smiling, stared up at the man.
Jake and his parents. The last thing he had of his first life, the only thing that kept him from going insane over the last ten years. He looked at the hologram, drinking it all in again. It had been a while since he had gotten the chance to look at the picture, without the chance of being caught. With a sigh, he pushed the front closed, the hologram vanishing instantly vanished. He opened the chain's clasp and refastened it behind his neck and pulled it under his T-shirt and made sure the chain was completely hidden under the shirt rim. Once it was, Jake left the room, the cold square now on his chest giving some form of comfort.
Jake went through the routine of eating and warming up his unused muscles.
At the beginning, time had felt as if it was going frame by frame, now it was speeding faster than he could keep track of. Now he was on the Valkryie 16 heading to the hostile forest of Pandora. Jake was now sandwiched between every other army man they hired this round in the cargo bay waiting to be let out. No one talks; all are battling with their own minds about what was waiting for them. Higher ups worked around the cargo, shouting orders at one another; veterans, completely in their field.
Finally, the pilot announced over the intercom saying Hell's Gate was in sight, now the higher ups were in control. "Let's go! Exopacks on! Exopacks!" one officers ordered. The men around Jake started scrambling to get the Exopack mask onto their head. Jake smoothly slipped it on and hit the filter button, feeling the oxygen fill the mask and breathing it into his lungs.
"Let's go people!"
"Make sure masks are securely fastened!"
"Remember, people, you lose that mask, you're down in thirty seconds. You're dead in four minutes. Lets nobody be dead today! That's every bad on my report."
The orders were coming up all over the bay. Quiet chaos, slight panic coming from everybody; Jake closed his eyes and took a deep breath, calming himself. Cool it Jake, you've got a mission, focus on the mission. Focus, focus, focus.
"Let's go people! Up, up. Ship has landed. Let's move!" the CO shouted moving in front of them toward the closed latch. Everyone began standing up, pulling their packs onto backs. Jake copied them, attaching the exopack onto his belt.
"Get ready, everyone! When that hatch opens, you will go straight into the base. You will not stop. You will not break formation. Wait for my mark. Welcome to Pandora, people." The CO barked.
Around Jake, every soldier let out a "Oo-rah!" He rolled his eyes, why they did this was beyond him. The shuttle jolted and the pilot announced they had landed in Hell Gates. The hatch moaned and slowly opened, the toxic air of Pandora filling the space.
"Now; go, go, go! Get moving, let's go." The OC barked.
Troopers started jogging out the shuttle. The rest of them only focusing on getting into the main building, Jake went to recon mode: his muscles working on auto, while his mind took in the scenery. A Pentagon shaped steal inner wall, an outer gate, most likely electric; a missile tower on ever inner wall corner, a huge landing strip, and a large building, that looked like an airport but slightly bigger; A concentration camp look-a-like in the middle of the Garden of Eden. Impressive. Suddenly there was a hiss from somewhere behind him, Jake looked back, and saw something that could only be described as a flying scorpion bat flying down at him. A stingbat! Subconsciously his muscles tensed, but it was unnecessary; almost as soon as it came in, one of the AMP suits stomping around shot it down, it was dead before it hit the ground. Okay, scratch impervious security off the list. Jake thought, as he reached the tunnel that entered the Ops center. He walked through the bare tunnel, thinking about what just happened: ten seconds on the ground and he already got a life threat, and that was in Hell's gate; can't wait to get out in the field. The tunnel ended in an airlock passage and into another hall; two officers standing on either side of the door, telling all that entered to keep the exopacks on. Jake walked off to the side, taking in his surroundings: bare gray walls, different signs saying which ways was what, huge vent carrying oxygenated air around the base, just like he thought it would be.
The last of the new arrivals made it through the airlock. The women solider, the name plate on her uniform read: Lt. Harris, closed and locked the airlock and hit a button. "Okay, people, air is clean. You can now remove your masks and follow Lieutenant Bryce to the cafeteria, where you then meet the Colonel." As she spoke, she too removed her mask as well. Others did the same, some of them getting the straps stuck behind their ears or getting themselves tangle up in them. Jake found it slightly amusing; he pulled the mask off, breathing in artificial oxygen, and reattaching the mask to his belt.
"Right people, follow me." The man next to Harris, obviously Lt. Bryce, walked on down the corridor. The others fell in behind him, Jake followed. The Cafeteria, where they were to meet the colonel, was basically a huge space with about four dozen tables and huge windows that looked out onto the forest. Other high officers were lined up at the front, in front of the windows. New occupants filed in and took sits, already Jake saw the different groups forming together. Miners, scientists, soldiers, slowly feeling up the tables as they went down technically, he wasn't labeled as any of them. Jake slipped off his pack and sat on the last table, behind ever one else.
Suddenly the officers in the front assumed the attention stance and everyone in the room got every quiet. From behind, Jake heard someone enter the cafeteria, their footsteps echoing in the now silent room.
"You are not in Kansas anymore." A voice said. It was harsh, but straight and controlling. Definitely a once-was military officer, has seen more than his share of carnage. Jake glanced to his left, in time to see a gray haired man pass by him, in time to see three long scars branded on the side of his head…and to take in the large pistol he had strapped to his hip. He walked on.
"You are on Pandora. Respect that fact, ladies and gentlemen. If you wish for some RR when and if ever you return home, might I suggest Dante's ninth circle." He said.
He turned to face the new recruits, watching as they soaked that in. He turned back toward the front and pointed out the window. "Out there… anything that flies, crawls or breathes wants to kill you and eat your eyes for jujubes." He turned back around, facing his captive audience. "This planet holds an indigenous population of humanoids known as the Na'vi. They are fond of arrows dipped in a neurotoxin that will stop your heart in one minute. And bones reinforce with naturally occurring carbon fiber. They are very hard to kill."
Jake watched the colonel smile as he watched the different reactions: scientist got the annoyed look, miners got the wary look and the soldiers got the hunter look; they couldn't wait to shot a Na'vi down.
"We live in a constant threat condition yellow every day." The colonel began walking back do the aisle, watching the recruits' reactions. "Every moment. I am Colonel Miles Quaritch. As Head of Security, it is my job to keep you alive. I will not succeed." He paused for effect. "Not with all of you." He walked on, straight toward Jake.
Quaritch found himself drawn toward Jake. Something was different about him. And he was going to find out what. He stopped in front of Jake, and looked him in the eye. Jake's eyes told no story; they were completely devoid, a wall placed up to hide his self. Quaritch remembered hearing about this kid from Selfridge: Jake Sully; apparently the equivalent of a Black Ops sniper, come hear to help with the ever impending war that was to come from the Na'vi and the humans.
Quaritch enjoyed the idea. From what he had heard about them, the government had taken the hopeless foster kids and designed a program that made them into specialized soldiers to go in and take care of the missions the president wasn't even supposed to know about; and they trained those kids to complete any mission and to never give up. With those traits and an impressionable young man, this may be the wheel Quaritch needed to get things around Hell's Gates moving.
Along with that pleasure, Quaritch also felt a bit sorry for him. When he had first seen him, from a snapshot that had been sent up from earth four years prior to the next shuttle arrival, he had been surprised by how young Jake was, he had to have been only fifteen when the picture was taking, and he was standing in the middle of a huge group massacre, covered in blood with an assault rifle. If he was able to do that at fifteen, what was he doing to get ready for this day? No kid should have to go through something like that.
But onward, you can't ever dwell in the past, or you miss things in the future. Right now, he had to focus to get Jake under his wing and come over to his side.
"If you wish to survive, you need to cultivate a strong mental attitude. You've got to obey the rules: Pandora rules." He said, still looking at Jake.
Jake just stared back at Quaritch. He knew what he was doing. The old intimidation, "I know more than you, I'm stronger than you, shut up and do what I tell you to" trick. Only one other person had ever gotten that to work on Jake and as far he was concerned, that person was over a million light years away. Quaritch wasn't getting anything out of him. He was mentally and physically ready and able to withstand any tortures or interrogations Quaritch could throw at him.
"Rule number one: keep an exopack on or near your person at all times." Quaritch stated, finally taking his eyes off Jake and walking back down the row. "Rule number two: respect all veterans here, even if you outrank them. They know what this planet can do, you do not. Rule number three: to civilians, listen to the soldiers. They say "Duck" hit the dirt, they say "jump" ask "how high". We are your only protection; all we ask is for some respect and loyalty in return. And rule number four: to the soldiers, if you see a Na'vi, pray they have wanted to be seen. If you do not see them, pray the arrow misses, scope them out, and take them down. We've tried to be peaceful with them, but violence is the only language they understand, we have no choice."
Jake listened to the response that that comments got. Scientists were now annoyingly murmuring amongst themselves, Soldiers were nodding in agreement, and civilians were looking nervous. Jake was sure that was the first time he had broken eye contact on Quaritch for the whole thing. Okay yes, when he was younger, I had dreamed about coming here and watching the Na'vi, the way Grace Augustine's book The Na'vi, had described them, they seemed more than just brainless savages. They seemed happy, content, able to be one with the world and each other; much better off than the humans of Earth. Jake was never sure why he had got that vibe from it; anyone else who had read, saw them as poor indigenous who they had to help, like a bad Alien rip off. Jake felt a small ache in his heart, and it wasn't from the drugs side effect, and he stopped himself from thinking about it any further. Last thing he needed was to get caught in those memories now.
"Follow these rules, and you will most likely stay alive while on your stay on Pandora." Quaritch's voice brought Jake back to the present. He was standing back at the front, gazing out at his audience. "This is all I have to say. Now you can leave and meet your departments head honchos and pray their as honest with you about what you will be against as I was with you. Dismissed." Quaritch finished with a smirk. Jake almost laughed, he could handle lies. Everyone else was now looking at each other, like, "What have we gotten ourselves into?"
Jake got to his feet, when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Now there was yelling and gunfire sounding. Jake went from the table to the side window in time to see a Forest Banshee attack an AMP suit knocking it to the ground. Some of the others came and watched as well, soldiers were excitedly watching the action, scientists were murmuring in concern, for the banshee or the driver he didn't know. The Banshee screeched, clawed and bitted into the metal, scratching the armor and glass, managing to do some serious damage, but it was in vain. The AMP suit driver drove his arm between the suit and the creature and managed to push it off of him. With a moment of opportunity, he jammed his AR under the banshee's stomach and fired the gun. The bullet went straight through the banshee, blood spouting from its back. It seemed that was all it took, but as the banshee fell from the AMP's arm, it was still thrashing and screeching. The AMP got back to it feet and fired another round of bullets into its wings and back. The noise of the room, the gasps of the people around Jake waded into the background. Now he was only focused on the sorrowful sight that was going on in front of him. The banshee was still screeching, bloody holes all throughout its wings, but it wasn't screeching in pain, but in defiance. The AMP suit was still looming over it, and with another round, ending its life, the bullets tiring through the skin on its neck and head. The banshee's head fell to the ground, its mouth still open from its final cry. Another AMP suit came on to the scene and picked up the corpse, slung it over his shoulder and walked away. The noise around Jake came back to life, everyone talking about what had just happened. Now everyone was turning away from the sight. Jake was still staring at the place of the attack, the blood staining the concrete.
"Poor kid. Got freaked out by a banshee and a stingbat in one day." Jake heard and he looked up into the window and could make out the partial reflection of the man that had spoken. It was one of the higher ups from before. Some of the others around him laughed.
"Hey, Wainfleet, how 'bout you go and give 'im your famous pep talk?" one of the others said to him. The first one was a hardened Pandora foot soldier, one who had been here so long, every indigenousness attack had become second nature to him. Jake watched as the man approached from behind him, keeping still.
"Hey newbie, don't let this get to ya." Wainfleet started, putting a hand on Jake's shoulder. "Things like that happens all the time, ya just gotta-" But Wainfleet didn't get a chance to finish. That was because at that moment Jake backhanded him in the throat, grabbed the arm resting on his shoulder, twisted it around and jammed it behind his back, grabbed the back of his head with his other hand and smashed his face to the window. This entire movement happened in a period of five seconds, to which all the noise in the hall was silenced once again.
"Thanks for the concern." Jake said, ice in his voice. "When I want sympathy, I'll ask in advance." He tightened his grip on Wainfleet's arm and pushed harder on his head for a moment than released him and turned away. He started from the room and glanced back to see Quaritch's reactions. What he saw was very mild surprise, and he felt some satisfaction from it. He looked away, almost waiting to see if Quaritch would reprimand him for stripping a veteran of his dignity, but he didn't so he moved on.
Jake moved on to his designated bunk room and found it deserted, most likely because all his people were scientist geeks and were out looking for plant samples and trying to talk to ten foot tall blue cat-like humanoids. He personally would love to them right now. He laid his pack beside his bunk and lay down. He focused on his breathing and let his mind go. He thought back to when he had first got the mission from his boss, what he felt at that moment was a mixture of joy and dread. Joy that he was finally going to the place he had always dreamed of and of dread that it was for all purposes to help wipe out the Na'vi so RDA could mine for precious minerals. Bunch of bull.
For some reason he could not shake the feeling that this was going to end badly. At his old Headquarters, most missions given out were going to the foreign lands of Earth and stop enemy groups from coming and bombing after America. That's what Spectra had told them. Jake figured out what it was really about: keeping other countries under while America got rich off selling them Unobtanium at ridiculous prices. Then using that control he had to one day control the country. That last part was Jake's opinion on the whole group.
When Jake was chosen for this mission, he was utterly surprised. Since the day he got smuggled in, he was for some reason Spectra's favorite. He was the only field sniper that got to go on trips with him, and when he needed petty missions done: recon, pulling information off computers, sneaking into bases, Jake was the one he called, personally he liked those missions better than the field missions; in recon, he only stole secrets, he didn't put a bullet in someone.
This wasn't good. Thinking about what happened and what he did on Earth was not the best thing to do when he was alone. When you're alone, nothing can distract you from your own thoughts and Jake's thoughts were not the ones you wanted to be left alone with. Memories of life at HQ were coming back after six years, and the first one Jake recalled had to be an omen, a very bad omen.
Jake, back in his ten year old body, was in his room, if you could call a 7" x7" room with nothing but a cot and a closet a room, shaking from the effects of the new drug the Meds had given him, when he heard the shouts and commotions coming from the hall. He didn't want to see this but he felt his body move anyway, despite the pain it caused, to the door. He reached and pulled the door opened, revealing the hall way and the huge arena it opened up to. He walked to the railing and looked down and felt himself grow white. Standing in the center was Carter, white hair standing out against his black on black outfit, and behind him were two of his henchmen, the two biggest strongest men he had, and they were holding a young boy between them. The boy was beaten and bloody, but was still struggling against their grip. Jake glanced around and saw that other people had come to witness the excruciation, kids like him, the teenagers now adapted to this way of life, the meds and staff of UNIT. All of them stood, waiting for what they knew was coming, but made no move to try in stop it.
Carter glance around and finally addressed the issue. "All of you are here for one reason: to serve your country. And the best way to do that is to obey me. I helped you when no one else would and going against me is going against your country, your people. This is what the young man did. He went against me. And that makes him a traitor. And there is no place in the world for traitors." With that he turned to the boy and drew his own pistol.
"Hey. You're Jack Sully, right?"
A voice snapped Jake out of his memory; he opened his eyes to see another man entering the room. He was definitely a scientist, brown shaggy hair, tall and lanky, some muscle but not enough to give him bragging rights; all that was missing was the glasses. He was heaving an overstuffed duffle bag onto his bunk, with his exopack dangling awkwardly around his neck. Jake wracked his mind: he had hacked into the company's h-drive before he left and memorized the personnel list, what was his name?
"Jake Sully." Jake corrected.
"Oh right, sorry." Norm said. "Jake Sully. You're the kid everyone's taking about right?"
"Yep, I'm the terminator come to destroy the human race." Jake joked. "You're Norm Spellman, right?" That was his name, duh!
Norm blinked, surprised. "Right. How'd you know that?"
Jake shrugged. "I hear things." Which I can never forget.
There was an awkward silence for a moment between them before Norm spoke again. "Hey, I saw what you did to that one guy in the mess hall." He laughed at the memory. "That's was cool, really funny, too."
"Ah, you saw that?" Jake said, chuckling slightly.
"Yeah. You should have seen the look on Quaritch's face. We thought he was gonna pop a vein." Norm said again.
"Well, I really wish I could have seen that. Should have stayed longer."
Another silent passed between them. "You're the other Avatar drivers, right?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, I was about to go see if I could get a look at them. You up for it?" Norm asked.
"Sure, why not." Jake got up, and had to conceal a grimace as the pain came back, stronger for a moment as he righted himself.
He tried to tone Norm out as he led the way to the Bio-lab. The scientist was rambling on and on about all the graduate schools he had attended and how much he had trained to be able to come to Pandora. Jake was almost tented to say all he had to do was become an orphan, but he couldn't. Finally, they made it to the Bio-lab and really things did not get any better.
"Into the Bio-Lab." Norm said happily. "We're gonna be spending a lot of time in here." Now Norm was in with his own people and Jake was an outcast again; not that it wasn't anything Jake wasn't use to. He looked around, taking in his surroundings.
Huge windows that lookout into the hallway, tons of glass lab tables crowded with vials and petre dishes of planet samples. And at least a dozen people in white lab coats with their noses to a microscope. Some of them looked up as they entered, but mostly the scientists went on with their work.
Suddenly one of the men left his work station and approached them, blocking their way. "Excuse me, but do you have authorization to be here?" he asked, like he was a body guard for some big shot. Jake looked him over: six foot in height, less than average weight, small disfigure of his right arm, most likely from a very bad break… Jake could take him down with right arm hold, a kick to the stomach and then snap his neck.
"Norm Spellman, Avatar driver." He held out his and to shake his hand. The man's demeanor changed and became friendlier as he shook Norm's and answered "Greg Jonathon, Anthologist."
"Ah, same here."
"Sweet." He answered, and then turned his attention back to Jake with a cocked eyebrow. "And who's your friend?" Norm was about to answer when Jake beat him to it.
"Jake Sully, new Avatar driver, I'm just here for the ride." He said. That was basically the part they needed to know.
"Ah, right. The 15 year old, that dropped out of the blue. So cute." Greg said, talking in a baby voice and started patting Jake's on the head, which annoyed Jake fiercely because he was at least 5" taller than Jake. Babying was one of the things Jake would not, under any circumstance tolerate.
In a flash, Jake's arm whipped up to Greg's hand, Jake grabbed onto Greg's index finger, pulled down and twisted. Greg let out a howl of pain. Correction, I can take him down with a finger hold. Jake thought in humor, but his face kept the same stony expression.
"I'm 19, I got company recruited from a special government program, and I know four different types of martial arts, any of those moves I will use to kick your butt if you ever talk to me like that again." He stated, keeping Greg's finger in his grasp for another moment before releasing it and watched with satisfaction that Greg nearly fell to the ground.
"Why you little-"
"Greg, stop freaking the new guys out." A voice sounded, and they all looked up to see a middle age Indian come from further in the lab. Jake got the vibe of a father figure from him, and a kind heart, which he had not really seen in a long time.
Greg shoot Jake another look, before he stalked off. The second scientist walked up to Norm and Jake. "Sorry, Greg thinks he owns the place when Grace's out." He held out his hand. "Max Patel, lab tech." This time it was Jake who shook the guy's hand.
"Jake Sully." He jerked his head back toward Norm. "And Norm Spellman."
"Right, good to have you."
"Riders coming out of Links." A computer voice sounded.
"And you're just in time." Max said, motioning Norm and Jake to follow him into the Link room. "Grace'll be coming out soon."
"The Grace Augustine?" Norm asked, pushing in front of Jake to catch up with Max.
"I'd kill myself if there were two of her." Max muttered under his breath.
"What?" Norm asked, not hearing him clearly.
"The one and only." Max answered with a smile so huge it had to be forced. Jake smirked, the Dr. Grace Augustine, was the author of the book/guide, The Na'vi. It had first come out when Jake was seven and by the time he was eight, he had the entire book memorized. But that was ten years ago, now he could barely remember anything it had said. He shook his head slightly to keep the memories from boiling up again.
"This is awesome!" Norm excited voice saved Jake from falling back into his memories again. He turned back to Jake. "Grace Augustine is a legend. She wrote the book, I mean literally wrote the book, on Pandoran botany." He stretched the sentence to get the point across.
Jake smiled, he remembered that much.
"Yeah, that's cause she likes plants more than people." Max commented as the passed through the connect chamber, just in time to see a young woman scientist running away from one of the links. The Link Room itself was a large round room with the computer's gathered on a platform in the center. Around the walls were a dozen capsules that were somewhere between a cross of a coffin and a MRI scanner. Some were open; some were closed and pushed into the wall inside a circle that had an electrical current going through it. Most likely that meant it was working. It actually felt homier than the rest of the base did.
"Who's got my damn cigarette?" a voice sounded from said Link. It defiantly belonged to an older woman, about 45, 50 years old and was very crabby at the moment. "Guys what's wrong with this picture?" the voice came again, with it a hand appeared over the top of the link chamber's cover. The scientist returned then with an already lit cigarette and a lab coat. "Thank you." A red haired woman emerged from the link, putting the cancer stick in her mouth and pulling the lab coat on.
"Here's Cinderella back from the ball." Max announced. At that comment, the woman looked up and took a drag of the cigarette. "Grace, I'd like you to meet Norm Spellman and Jake Sully." Max nodded to them as he introduced them. Grace barely looked at Jake and turned her attention to Norm.
"Norm," Grace said, taking the cigarette from her mouth. "I've heard good things about you. How's your Na'vi?" She waited.
Norm cleared his throat, then made a motion with his hand and recited something in a different language, most likely Na'vi. Grace nodded approvingly and replied in the same tongue, but in an easy, natural way, instead of the practiced tone of Norm.
Then Norm replied and Grace answered and so on for about five minutes with no sign of letting up. Whatever they were saying Jake didn't know, so he waited leaning on the computer desk with a look of indifference on his face. Unfortunately, against his will, he was slowly getting jealous of the whole thing. That Grace and Norm knew the language, not that Grace was ignoring him.
Fortunately Max tried to come to the rescue. "Uh, Grace?" He interrupted, nodding back at Jake. "This is Jake Sully."
"Hi." Jake greeted, holding out his hand.
"Yeah, yeah." Grace said, waving him off. "I know who you are and I don't need you." She fixed him with a hard glare. "Whatever RDA hired you for is a waste of money and a waste of my time."
"Hey if it was up to me, I wouldn't be here. This isn't grand for me either." Jake said.
Grace looked a taken aback for a moment; apparently no one had ever back talked her before, but she recovered quickly. "How much lab training have you had?"
"Dissected a frog once." Jake answered, smirking at Grace's face.
"Know anything about the wildlife of Pandora? Anything at all?"
"No, but all ears on learning it."
"Have you ever been in a stimulation pod or have the faintest idea of how a connection works?"
"Don't know what that means, but I'm going with no."
"Ya see?
"See what?"
"Ya see? They are pissing on us without even the courtesy of calling it rain." Jake realized half way through Grace's rant that she had switched to Max. She stalked off. "I'm going to Selfridge."
"No, Grace!" Max shouted going after her. "No that's not a good idea." He stopped when she left the corridor. He sighed in defeat.
Norm sighed. "Well, that could have gone better." Jake shrugged.
Max came up between, looking exhausted. "Here tomorrow. Oh-eight-hundred. Try to use big words." That last one was focused for Jake.
"I'll try." Jake said his retreating back. He turned and walked from the Link room, he heard Norm coming up behind him.
"Well, not exactly what I was expecting, but-" Norm started.
"Really? It was almost like I pictured it." Jake said sarcasm dripping off his voice.
"It was?" Apparently Norm didn't get the concept of sarcasm.
"Yeah, personally, I thought she was going so ticked she'd come at me with a Bunsen burner." Jake told him. "See you later."
"Where are you going?"
"Either follow Grace and listen to her get chew the Co-Head off or head to the weight room." Jake answered, increasing his speed. Norm made chase.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Yeah, peachy."
"Well, if you want-" Norm was trying to be nice, but that was the last thing Jake needed.
He turned to face Norm, he expression set. "What I said to Wainfleet applies to everyone. When I want concern, pity or sympathy, I'll ask for it." With that he turned away.
Okay, maybe it was harsher than he meant it to be. But he had to keep it up. Most people had grown in a different world than Jake, in his world you needed to protect yourself, keep to yourself and keep from any emotional attachments to anything. Jake had to keep to that rule.
Jake exited the Lab, the door hissing closed behind him. He had wanted to follow Grace, but it would take longer to find her, so he decided to head to the gym and release some of the stress that had built up. Exercise gives out endorphins and endorphins acted as a natural pain killer, and that was what he needed right now.
X~x~X
Grace walked down the hall faster than she usually did because of the anger and annoyance that had built up inside her, in a very short amount of time. Idiot Parker! She thought, bitterly. He didn't have the intelligence to run a multi-million company, let alone one that was thousands of light-years away from Earth. For the eighteen years she had been on Pandora, any respect she had for him had gradually flown out the window. The only thing he cared about was the quarterly statement and he only worried about how he looked to the press. If Grace was running the base, both things would be last on her list of concerns. She'd be trying to keep the bridge between the Na'vi and humans from going down. Every day, relationships were growing worse; now none of the Na'vi contacted the Avatars and they were considered as low as the workers and jarheads digging up the earth. And the raid on the school had only helped with the Na'vi's motives.
Grace reached the Ops center, which was the center of all activity on base, as Parker would say. She walked pass Parker's huge glass office glancing at it for a moment to see that it was empty and turned her head sharply as he heard the Head of the whole operation cry. "I love this putter Ronnie, I love this putter." Of course, he was playing golf, like all the great leaders had done. When ever Grace looked at Parker, the only word she could think of was "Pansy" and it was true. He basically looked like a regular business man that belonged in accounting, who had gotten into too much for himself. Right now, he was standing over a golf ball lining up his putter on the small strip of green grass set up in front of the desks.
"Parker," she addressed him stepping near the opposite end of the green, near the coffee mug he had set up for the hole. "At first I hoped it was benign neglect, but now I see I that you are intentionally screw me."
"Grace, you know I love our little chats together." Parker said, keeping his eyes on the ball. He pulled the putter back and tapped the ball. He wasn't taking her seriously, again. He had stand by while soldiers destroyed the school, cut back funds for her lab and science, and made a mockery of everything she brought to the table. Now he dumped her with an immature navy brat, and she was going make him listen. And she hated golf. She kicked the mug off of the green as the ball neared the mouth.
"Oops." She said deadpan, hands behind her back. Finally Parker looked at her. "I need a researcher; not some immature jarhead-wanna-be."
"Right," Parker started, walking off the green. A woman got up from her desk and took the putter Parker held out to her and hurried off to put it away. "Well, it came to my attention; the researchers you hired weren't getting the job done." He walked over the table that had the hologram map of the forest region and started rolling through the forest. "So we got something different."
That's what it was? The whole relationship issue and Parker had tried to fix it? "The last thing I need is another trigger happy idiot out there." Grace said, trying to keep herself cool and collected.
"Yeah, yeah, right now you're supposed to be winning the hearts of the natives, right? That's the whole point of the puppet show. You look, talk and act like them, and they'll start trusting us?" Parker stated, like that was all it took to get into the tribe. "We build them a school, we teach 'em English, but after what? How many years?" he stretched the word. "Relationships with the indigenous are only getting worse."
Grace had heard this before, but Selfrigde couldn't get it through his mind that if the machine was racking the ground and cutting the trees, some Na'vi would try to stop them and if the soldiers shot them down, the rest of the Tribe wouldn't take it the wrong way. She reminded him of this now, "Yeah, which tends to happen when you use machine guns on them." She hit him with a look that said, "Whatta you think would happen?"
Parker laughed in arrogance, "Right, right. Could you—just follow me." He walked to his office, motioning for Grace to follow. "This is way we're here." He reached his desk and picked up a piece of the prized mineral, and held it up eye level with her. "Unobtanium; because this little gray rock sells for twenty million a kilo. It's what pays for the whole party. It's what pays for your science." He emphasized the second statement. "Comprendo?" he replaced the hunk of rock on the hover disk. "Now, those savages are threatening our whole operation. We're on the brink of war, and you're supposed to be finding a diplomatic solution." He walked behind his desk, swung his chair out and sat in it, leaning back and placing his feet on the desk. "So use what you got and get me some results." He cocked his eyebrow as if to say, "Why are you still here? Get going."
Grace stood her ground for another moment. This was the man she had to work for to get her paycheck. Life really sucked, when the only thing the man cared for was a piece of rock. When she had come here, she had hoped that Pandora's people wouldn't be like Earth. But she had been proven wrong, humans were the same where ever you go. She flecked the rock off the hover pad and it crashed to the floor, small pieces breaking off. "Oh, I'll get it done." And she turned and walked out.
Grace walked back to the Lab, slowly calming down. She looked back at the way she reacted towards Jake, feeling a touch of remorse. She did act bitchy toward him, but his attitude certainly did not help the situation. Jake was like any other jarhead she met; single-minded, stupid and thought violence's solved everything; her trip to the Ops center had allowed her to overhear some of the new comers talk about how Jake slammed one of the veteran's head into the window, which to her sounded very funny, wish she saw it. But something in the back of her mind kept telling her Jake was different, and not to judge him or something; maybe that was the conscience everyone was talking about. Whatever it was, she ignored it; unless hard facts proved her wrong, she was sticking to what she had said. She reentered the lab and found Norm and Max hovering over by the video log station, talking to Greg, another Avatar driver.
"Norm, Max." she called over. "See you're getting familiar with the equipment." She looked at the computer screen and saw Norm had his flash drive loaded and displayed the log entries and was pleased to see that it was a good amount. "How many link hours have you logged?" she asked.
"About 520 hours." Norm answered.
Grace nodded. "That's good, very impressive." She touched the screen and scrolled down the log clips. Four years' worth of practice right there. Hard to believe she started out like that. "We don't get many with that much heart." She turned to Max. "Are the Avatars out of cargo?"
"Just got word, waiting for you."
"Good, let's head over and…" she stopped when she looked around, and sighed. "Where's Jake?"
"Try the Gym." Norm said absently, listening to one of Greg's first Video logs.
"Shoulda guessed." Grace said, and sighed again. "You two go on ahead I'll go get him."
"Grace, you sure?"
"I can handle myself, Max. Give me a break." Grace turned and headed toward the military gym, basic equipment in a large gray room, where all the army dogs went to show off war wounds and change each other to contests to see who could break their backs lifting weights. She was entering the corridor, just as two goons came out.
"You see that?"
"Yeah, 80 pounds each, 100 press in a role."
"That kids a machine!"
Grace stopped for a second, waiting to hear more, but the two had already left ear shot. If they mentioned "kid", they had to have meant Jake. Right place. She thought. I'd hoped he'd be just a tad smarter than this.
She walked into the room, and saw that it wasn't as busy as she thought it would be, and it was noisier, but not with metal pounds crashing together, more like with hoots and hollers. She looked over and saw a group huddled around one of the beams they used of chin ups or what ever. She walked over, grabbed two of the men from the back of their shirts, and pulled them away and started shoving the others away.
"Whoa, clean the language guys, lady in the house!" someone shouted.
"Wow, the great Dr. Augustine is gracing us with her presence!" Another shouted.
Now, the men in front were moving out of her way, and now she saw what they were all gawking at: Jake was doing chin ups on one of the bars, only his he was hanging upside, and pulling his body up to par with the bar. She felt her eyes widen, ever so slightly, she had seen men doing this but they could only get their back straight or half level with their thigh, what Jake was doing was pulling his body into a V shape, and from the sweat that was dripping off of him, he had been doing it for a while.
And the dogs around him were getting a kick out of it.
"Yeah, how many has he done?"
"I lost count!"
"His been doin' it for half an hour!"
"Yeah, go baby!"
If Jake was hearing any of this, he wasn't letting it on. His eyes were closed and his breathing was even, if he hadn't been going at it for thirty minutes straight, he was either going to fall of the bar or manage to get down and then collapse, either way it was not going to end well.
"Jake, I need you down here." Grace said, but Jake ignored her. "Oh yay the silent treatment, love that method."
"200."
Grace looked up and watched as Jake pulled himself up one more time and grabbed hold of the bar. All around the dogs were whooping and hollering like the idiots they were. Jake slipped his legs off the bar and jumped down, his back toward Grace.
"Well, that was impressive." She said.
Jake turned to her, and she was surprised that he didn't seem out of breath or wobbly on his legs, nothing that suggested what he just did. "Never thought I'd see you here." He walked away, the men parting ways for him. Grace followed him, glaring at the guys that tried to get in her way.
"Call it a onetime favor to you." Grace replied. Jake walked over to one of the water fountain and took a drink. She wasn't sure and maybe it was a trick of the light, but she thought she saw a small drop of blood enter the water. "The Avatars are in from the shuttle, if you want to come along a gawk at them."
"Ha, funny that was the reason I went to the lab in the first place." He turned to face her. "Funny how a small conversation can change the course of an outing isn't it?"
"Hilarious. You coming or you gonna stay and entertain the military goons?"
Jake shot her a look and then walked off to the door. Grace took that as a "Yes".
In the hall Jake waited for her and allowed her to take the lead. Grace was surprised but didn't show it, and she was a little pleased. She made a new observation: Jake had attitude but had humility, he could have made another sarcastic remark earlier but he kept his mouth shut.
"I have a question about the Avatar's." Jake said.
Grace looked back at him. "Okay, shoot." She loved answering questions, gave her chance to show off.
"The avatars have been growing the tanks up till now, right? And their bodies are supposed to be the same age as the driver?"
"That's correct."
"Does that mean, when they are out of the machine, they age at a ridiculous pace, and by the time we get off here they'll be back-aching old men?"
Grace stopped and looked back at him to see if he were serious. "No. The amino tanks caused them to age rapidly, but as soon as they are taking out, the Na'vi's aging process takes over; which is remarkably very close to the human life span." She threw that last tidbit in for knowledge sake, as they entered the lab.
"Avatars are in the back room." She walked through the lab, all around the scientist were muttering under their breath. They did that every time a new recruit was brought in but it was worse this time, and it was aimed all at Jake. Greg looked up at her and his eyes cut towards Jake, nothing short of absolute loathing in them. He never looked that way at anyone unless they had insulted him somehow, and Grace hadn't heard about what had went on between them earlier, but it had to have been good.
Grace rounded another corner, and there they were: two huge amino tanks, with the huge Avatar bodies floating in them. Grace was now use to the sight, but always loved the reaction the driver got when seeing them for the first time, so she stopped short and turned to look at Jake's face. Unfortunately, the reaction wasn't what she was hoping for. Usually when a driver sees them for the first time, their star in awe for a second them they walk up for a closer look with a stupid look of joy on their face, she was positive that was Norm's reaction, but Jake's wasn't that at all. Jake's eyes may have widened slightly, but that was about it.
"Wow, they got big." Was all Jake said before he walked up to the amino tanks, where Max and Norm were hovering about Norm's Avatar.
Max must have heard him say it, because he looked up to say, "Yeah, they fully mature on the flight up. Give us a few to decant them, and you guys can take 'em out tomorrow."
Grace walked up next to Norm, who was checking the screen on top of the tank, watching the Avatar's vital signs. "What do you think?"
"Looks more like me than I thought it would." Norm answered. She looked at the avatar too. It did look like the Na'vi she had seen, aside from the extra fingers and eyebrows, but it also had more of a human face than a Na'vi face. Kind of like her own avatar.
Grace looked up and saw Jake had moved around the tank and was now looking at his own avatar. She moved beside and got a look at his and was mildly surprised: Jake's avatar had more of the feral snout and facial structure of the Na'vi, but his was also more muscular by Na'vi standards, and by most avatars, much more muscle mass. Besides that, it looked every much like any of the Na'vi, blue skin, black hair, a tail and the long braid all Na'vi had; which was a mystery all of its own, none of her years of research had gotten her close to uncovering it.
Grace looked back at Jake and was glad to see a trace of awe in his eyes. Taking that as a good sign she asked. "So what do you think?"
Jake blinked twice, as if he had forgotten she was still there. "It looks like…" he cleared his throat. "like me."
Grace chuckled, couldn't come up with a better response than that. "Who else? This is your avatar Jake." She kept watching him; it was like he wanted to smile, but he wouldn't let himself.
"Yeah, and when you take it out for the first time, it'll something right out of a dream." Greg announced, leaning on Jake's tank. He was probably trying to get Jake to start questioning about how it was like linking up for the first time, and babbling anything that he had heard was going to happen. Grace knew it wouldn't work.
"Dreams…" Jake said under his breath. He leaned forward until his forehead was resting on the glass of the tank. He looked for the first time, deep in thought. Maybe he was going to say something half smart, Grace wondered.
"Dreams are nothing but dumb ideas that only come back to kick you right in the balls." Jake finished and walked away.
"Wait, wha… Jake." Grace called after him, but he was already out the door.
Silence.
"Okay, he is a lost cause and a waste of time and money." Greg concluded.
Grace shot him a look before focusing on where Jake left. Something was off here. Jake should have been just like any other military goon; short minded, hot tempered and ignorant, but that wasn't the vibe she was getting from him. There was something more to the story, and Grace did love finding out about things under the surface.
X~x~X
"Pandora. One can only think of its namesake in Greek mythology. The box has been opened. Amidst the savage terrain and fearsome creatures, we must assume that this strange bewitching place holds something inside itself for all of us. Hope. For our species, for our planet, and for the future of all leaving things." The narration on the program finished. The screen changed from the lush forest to a long shot of Pandora in the university, dwarfed in comparison by the giant Polyphemus behind it. And the screen went black then came the long list of names of all the people and the grand RDA company that had made viewing the program problem. Then that disappeared and the TV went black.
"Okay, sport, time for bed." Jake looked back over his shoulder and saw his dad holding the remote. Jake got up from where he had been sitting in front of the TV. It was late at night, and Jake had stayed up watching the documentary of Pandora, the greatest find in the 22nd century and his newest obsession.
As he walked by, his father told him, "I honestly cannot see why you watch that show every time it comes on. Or how you can even know when it's coming on."
"It's a gift. And I watch it every time because I can't record it without deleting one of Mom's prized Vincent shows what's its name." Jake answered as he entered his room and hopped onto his bed.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm just worried that you're going to watch it so much that you'll start to see deeryhorses and pterodactyls everywhere you go."
Jake sighed in frustration. "Direhorses, Dad! And they're called Banshees." He reached on his night stand and grabbed his copy of The Na'vi. He had gotten it two years ago and it was in condition but the spine was bent and worn where Jake and read it so many times; he had been memorizing it from day one and didn't even look at the page to find the picture of the Direhorse and Banshee. "See? There in black and white."
"Okay, okay. I won't offend the great creatures of Pandora." His father said, laughing. Now Jake had the book out and it would take an hour to get him to put it down.
"They're amazing. The Na'vi's actually get on them and ride them around. And they can hunt from the air on a banshee, and no one knows how they can do it, Dr. Augustine says it has something to do with their hair or something, but no one knows exactly what it was." Jake was off on one of his rambles about the Na'vi.
"And you're going to be the scientist to discover what it's all about up there." His father added. "Now time for future scientists to go to sleep." The sound of the front door slide open and metal card hit the counter sounded through.
"Tom, Jake, you awake?" Jake's mother voice sounded through the apartment, finally getting home, from court.
"In Jake's room." His dad called as Jake stuffed the book under the pillow.
"That book better not be under your pillow, Jake." Her voice was closer and his laughed at the look on Jake's face. The woman knew her son all to well.
"Nuts." Jake said, handing it to her as she entered the room. She took it and placed it on his desk. She went back to her son and kissed him on the forehead.
"Good night, sweety." She said, pulling the covers over Jake.
"Sleep tight kiddo." Tom said, turning off the light as he left the room. Jake turned over, facing away from the door and relaxed his body.
Suddenly he heard a scream, and he sat bolt upright, terror clutching him: that was his mother. He leapt from his bed and ran to his door, he grabbed the door, but it wouldn't open. Jake pulled harder but it wouldn't open. Suddenly, the walls of his room flew away and were replaced with giant windows and on the other side of the glass, flames were bellowing up around him, the heat of them seeping in around him, but that was not what was terrifying him. Beyond the glass he could see his parents being burned alive, the flames licking away at their hair and flesh, their screams echoing among the walls mixing with the roar of the flames. Jake started beating against the glass, screaming to his parents, tiring to break through, thinking of only to get to them, to try and help them.
Glass started to crack and Jake stepped back to ram it, but someone grabbed him by the shoulder. He looked back and saw that it was a mechanical arm and saw that the person grabbing him was a man wearing sunglasses and in his other hand he held a syringe. The man started to pull Jake toward a metal door that had come out of nowhere, pulling away from his dying parents.
Jake pulled, trying to escape the man's grip, but he had a literal iron grip on him. He turned back to the glass walls and the silhouettes of his parents. Slowly he was pulled behind the metal door and watched as it slammed shut and he was consumed in darkness.
X~x~X
Jake's eyes flew open, staring at the pale light that was the scientist's bunk room. He felt himself tremble, cold sweat sliding down his neck. He was on Pandora, 4.4 light years away from Earth and anything he was in affiliated with on it. He craned his neck around, his muscled stiff from what he had just seen. He rolled onto his back and laid an arm across his eyes. Not that dream again. Jake hadn't had enough energy left to really dream when he slept in year, but an easy going day out of cryo hadn't given him much to stress over. Now the dream had come back and much more vivid than it had ever been.
Jake pulled himself up to a sitting position on his bunk, the knife poking into his inner heart chamber feeling coming a bit stronger for a moment. He glanced around the room; the bunks were filled with scientist, all now dead asleep.
The Lab was probably empty by now. Jake thought, glancing at the clock on the wall 12:30 a.m. No one in their right mind would be up at this time. Now Jake could get some one on one with the Avatar. He slipped of his bunk, feeling his feet touch the floor, and stood. UNIT training kicked in and now Jake was a solider sneaking through the corridors of an enemy base, moving as quiet as a mouse through the room to the door, the men around him snoring.
Jake reached the door and it hissed open.
"SYNPAS CONNECTIONS!"
Jake froze. Someone had seen him! "Synpas connections"? What the heck?
"I want a cookie, memaw." The same voice sounded, only much softer and had a childhood lisp to it. Jake turned around to see Greg arms, which were up in the air for a moment, flop to his sides, roll his body over, start hugging his pillow and sucking his fingers. Where's the camera when you need it? Jake thought in humor of all the things he could use this for blackmail with. Then he left the humorous sight and left the room, the door sliding shut again.
The corridor was quiet, no sound of human life, just the distant sound of the mining equipment working the Unobtanium on the farther side of the base. It made Jake angry and felt guilty that he didn't do something to stop it. But then he felt angry at himself for being angry. Whatever he felt didn't matter, people didn't give a damn. Unless they got something out of a situation and it came at no cost to them. Being angry about any of it was a waste of time and energy, what he had left of it. And as Grace or any other scientist would say, he's just the guy with the gun. Wave, point and never question an order, that's what, kept you alive.
Jake reached the lab and as he suspected, it was deserted. All the little petre dishes of samples and notes scientists were studying earlier were gone. The hum of the links was gone and Jake had the whole place to himself. He thought for a minute about messing with some of the samples, and freaking everyone out, but for all he knew, Grace had the place rigged at night, so he got to the point of why he snuck here.
He made his way to where the amino tanks were, but before he turned the corner, he stopped, closed his eyes and cleared his mind. The image of his dream/memory was still there, but he forced it to the back of his mind. The man and everything he had done to Jake was wiped away and he was just there. He wanted to see his avatar again with as clear a mind as he could manage. He stepped around the corner and looked into the amino tanks.
When Grace had shown him his avatar for the first time, there were about ten conversations going on in the background and any machine they had going. He had tried to focus on them as soon as he saw the Avatar. If it hadn't worked, for the most part, he may have lost it there. He almost lost it when Grace had spoken to him and when Greg put his two cents into the bowl. He had gone ten years without giving himself up, and he wasn't about to break down in front of them. But now he was alone, no one could see him show his colors now.
Even though he knew it already, what first caught him was how much larger the Avatar was compared to a human, he knew that Na'vi were 10ft tall, but you could never register it until you saw it back to back. And the tail was nothing surprising, neither was the long strand of hair, that was already braided, floating around the Avatar's body. The body even had the same blue striped skin and cat-like ears that Na'vi were said to have. But there were features that couldn't be over looked; the avatar had five fingers, because of the human DNA, while Na'vi only had four, and the Avatar's eyes were shaped human like and had eyebrows and had the facial structure of the human driver.
But that wasn't what Jake saw now as he watched his Avatar now, still connected to the amino tank by an artificial umbilical cord. It looked like it was only asleep, not empty, its fingers and toes twitching slightly as if it was dreaming. Its muscle tone was greater than Norm's own, but that was not what had captured his attention this time. It was the Avatar's face. It had the feral snout Na'vi were said to have, and had the pointed cat-like ears, but it also held the human shaped eyes and eyebrows and more than that. The face had Jake's own structure, his jaw line, his forehead. It truly looked like himself, but it was different at the exact same time. Jake wasn't sure but he would have sworn that the Avatar's heart was beating in time with his own. That was more than Jake could have ever imagined, even when he was younger.
Jake sat with his back leaning on Norm's amino tank, just watching his Avatar. For an hour, he wasn't a man on a distant planet, he wasn't a UNIT agent and he wasn't someone different or/and outcast. He was a kid who was about to get what he had always wanted to do. But at what price? Every other person on there had earned their right to come here. Army dogs with battle scars, scientists who had paid their way through school. Jake had gotten here on a fluke; any other UNIT agent could just as easily been picked other than him, he was only picked because his above average skill of infiltration and a higher percent of getting the job done.
And the saddest thing was now; he had the opportunity to do what he had always wanted to do all because of the whole ordeal he hadn't been taken by UNIT in the first place. That was bittersweet irony if anything else.
But those thoughts were then, this was now. Now he was on Pandora and an Avatar driver and far enough away from Earth that not even UNIT's shadow could reach him. He was free, at last.
Knowing full well that he wouldn't be caught, Jake reached for the chain and pulled the pendant up from under his shirt and flipped it open. The faces of his parents smiled back down at him. All of the times they had listened to him ramble on about how he was going to come to Pandora and make the lasting bridge between the human and Na'vi and walking among the clans, all came back, and now he realized how far-fetched that all sounded now. He couldn't get anywhere close to the clans with Norm around, he actually knew about the clans and knew all a person could know about his culture. He'd be the bridge, not him.
"Hey guys," he said to it, feeling slightly ridiculous but he ignored it. "I finally made it." He chuckled slightly. Talking to a picture was juvenile, but hey, what the heck, it was better than talking to his self. His eyes began feeling pressure and when he blinked and he felt a small drop seep from his eye. Jake shook his head and closed his eyes. Crying wasn't an option. He hadn't cried when his parents were killed, or in any part of his training, he wasn't start back up now. He rose, and left the room, but for a second, he looked back to his Avatar for moment. In another few hours he would be running around in it.