Turning Native
Alan began to regret asking Bishop about what exactly the Avatar program was, for it was the only thing the android would talk about. Even as he, Alan and José re-entered the Serenity and talked Rachel into piloting one of the shuttles to take them out to Hometree, Bishop still insisted on poring over the files he had recovered. It turned out that most of them were from a video-journal, which Bishop insisted on playing segments of for Alan to hear.
As the landing party boarded Shuttle One and Rachel took the pilot's chair, Alan had to admit that he was getting a bit tired of Bishop's insistence on him listening to the files. He said that it would almost certainly shed some light on what had happened on Pandora, and how the mining operation had failed first time around. It turned out that the Avatar program was the key to it all. In the end, Alan decided to humour Bishop and hear him out, even as the shuttle left its small docking bay and set off over the treetops. Bishop now had a small mining pick and cutting laser clipped to his belt, while José had a sack for carrying the samples.
It turned out that the Avatar program was a top-secret project created by the Utah Foundation of Bio-Organic Research, Kiryuu Knight's own company. On Pandora, the project was headed by Dr. Grace Augustine, a top botanist, geneticist and cultural enthusiast, not to mention the leading authority on Pandora and the Na'vi. The pods that Alan had seen were in fact psionic resonators, allowing someone inside the pod to literally transfer their own mind into the body of an Avatar. Said Avatar was a simulacrum of the Na'vi, created through the genetic engineering of both Na'vi and human DNA. As a result, each Avatar was genetically encrypted to the person who had donated their DNA towards the Avatar's construction, so only they or genetic relations could pilot it.
In the early years of the human operation on Pandora, the Na'vi had made every effort to dissuade the humans from their mining. They routinely attacked the miners and the soldiers sent to guard them. Disappearances during scouting missions were rife, and those that vanished usually reappeared the next day, strung up outside the command compound. On some occasions, only parts of them remained. The idea of the Avatar program had been not only to allow humans a form of disguise, they were also intended to be used to speak to the Na'vi on their own terms, and make negotiations with them much easier, something which must have appealed to the higher-ups in the Utah Foundation and Omak-Argon, who seemed to be behind the operation on Pandora. As it turned out, the Na'vi were quick to catch on to the presence of imposters in their midst; even on the rare instances they tolerated an Avatar's presence, they showed themselves to be fiercely territorial and unwilling to budge from their homes, places which unfortunately rested above huge Unobtainium deposits.
"Gee..." Alan said, sardonically, upon hearing this. "Where have I heard that before?" Earth's history was still very fresh in his mind.
Bishop then showed a series of video diaries all belonging to the same person; Jake Sully, a crippled ex-marine who became an Avatar pilot when his brother Thomas, the intended pilot, was killed by a mugger. In his first entry, taken shortly after his first experience in an Avatar, he looked like a typical shaven-headed, white-skinned all-American grunt, though his accent betrayed hints of an Australian birth:
"I can't begin to tell you how great it feels to be able to walk again. As soon as I was able to, I was straight out into the courtyard before any of the doctors could give me a proper check-up. I felt like I could run forever. It's also a big relief to be able to see around Pandora without the need for a breathing mask!
"It's pretty funny, seeing how everyone has to crane their necks to get a look at me, for once. Something I don't get is that the Na'vi have those weird little tentacles under their braids. I always thought they just liked having stupid hair, but what's it really covering? Not even Gracie seems to know for sure."
Most of his entries afterwards consisted of the various day-to-day experiences he had working alongside Dr. Augustine in the Avatar program, which Bishop skipped through for Alan's benefit. He paused whenever it looked like Jake was talking about something important. As the entries progressed, Alan noticed that the pilot's appearance was getting steadily shabbier, as if he had forgotten how to shave or had forgotten the concept of personal hygiene:
"The Na'vi let me inside Hometree! Turns out this is just one tribe of many; I think they said they were called the Omaticaya. They told me they had never seen a 'warrior' of the dreamwalkers; their term for Avatars, I guess. The Na'vi who found me, Neytiri, was going on about how she only spared me because of a sign from 'Eywa'. According to Grace, that's the name of their chief god or whatever. Turns out they hate Avatars almost as much as they hate humans. Whatever, fruit-loops; I'm to walk, talk and think Na'vi now if I want to stay in their good books, and that's all that matters..."
"Quaritch has got me on a new mission. He wants me to check Hometree for any kind of structural weaknesses that the security can use to their advantage should push come to shove. I don't think Grace would be happy with what the Colonel's got in his head, but he says it's all purely for deterrent purposes and has promised to pay to have my legs restored if I'm successful. I've gotta admit that's a very tempting offer..."
"I talked Eytucan into letting Grace back into Hometree, and continue teaching English to the Na'vi. The kids really seem to like her. Meanwhile, Neytiri is keeping the lessons coming fast and hard. She calls me 'skxawng', which means 'moron', and as for Tsu'tey..."
"I think Grace suspects that I'm in cahoots with Quaritch. She's kept me, Norm and Trudy here at this outpost in the Hallelujah Mountains for the past few days, doubtless to keep us away from him and Selfridge..."
"According to the database," Bishop explained, "Miles Quaritch was the commander of the UNSC detachment stationed on Pandora, and Parker Selfridge was Omak-Argon's chief executive on the site. Selfridge's account of the events on Pandora has never been made public, but I know that he was fired from Omak-Argon shortly after returning to Earth." He fast-forwarded to an entry taken some months later:
"It's been three months now since I came to this planet. Neytiri and I have grown real close, and I've been forgetting to keep this thing updated.
"There's a new problem. We heard word a few hours ago that Harvest got destroyed. The guys responsible call themselves the Covenant, these bad-assed aliens that want to blow us all to kingdom come. They won't say why, of course, but they were nice enough to leave us a note; 'Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instruments'...
"Quaritch is getting desperate. The news about Harvest seems to have hit him pretty hard. We're all expecting an attack from this Covenant, and getting the Unobtainium has become even more urgent than before. I keep hearing how it's going to be necessary to fight them, but it's all a load of technobabble bullshit. All that matters is that aliens want to blow us up, and we need the Unobtainium to fight them. It means I've now got a deadline that's approaching real fast.
"The Na'vi wouldn't be bothered by any of this, of course. Those tentacle-things I was talking about literally let 'em plug into the flora and fauna out here. I'm now bonded to an Ikran – a Mountain Banshee – which has secured me a place among the Na'vi people. I've done all I can to win their trust, but in spite of everything I think it's all been for naught. It's obvious that the Omaticaya will never leave Hometree. Why should we try to force them? I'm going to tell Neytiri everything tomorrow..."
The next – and indeed last – entry wasn't recorded until several days later. Jake's appearance was now rather alarming; although he had made attempts to clean himself up, his eyes now had a wild, staring quality to them. Indeed he looked half-mad, and Alan could not help but feel unnerved.
"It's all over... That fucker Quaritch is dead, and his little army got wiped out by Eywa herself. We took losses on our side as well, including Trudy and Tsu'tey. Shame I didn't get to see Neytiri plug Quaritch full of arrows. He deserved a lot more pain, after what he did to the Na'vi and to Grace...
"Selfridge and his corporate stooges have been banished from Pandora, and no humans will be permitted to live here now. Only Norm and a few others have been allowed to stay, but I can't see them staying here for long. Pandora is no place for a sky-person; Quaritch and the rest demonstrated that really well. Selfridge told me he would spread the word about Quaritch's actions to the public, but I can see the fangs behind his smile. He's going to sleaze his way out of responsibility for this one; I can see it happening.
"Not that the human race matters to me now. Fuck the lot of 'em. They can all go and get themselves wiped out by the Covenant, for all I care. If the damage they caused here is any sign of what they're going to do to win this war, then I want no part of it. Nothing excuses what happened here. If the Covenant wipes out every human in this galaxy, that's no business of mine now.
"Anyway, no matter what happens tonight, this will be my final entry. I'd better sign off now; I don't want to be late for my own birthday..." With that, he signed off.
"Wow..." Alan said, bemused. "Wasn't he over-reacting just a touch?"
As Alan looked over at the others, his eyes fell on José. The mercenary's look was one of pure disgust. He looked as if someone had defecated right in front of his eyes. Alan had never seen him look so repulsed before, not even when the topic of the Sangheili was broached.
"Fucking piece of crap..." the Hispanic snarled.
"Come again?" Alan asked.
"Him," José replied viciously, pointing at Bishop's commlink. "That Jake Sully idiota. It's all his fault... All those people the Covenant killed, and it's all his damn fault..."
"Bishop..." Alan said. "Is that the answer you wanted?"
"From these records," Bishop replied, "I'm afraid the only conclusion I see is the one that José reached. Jake Sully apparently betrayed everyone, and prevented our access to Unobtainium for the sake of the natives. Had the substance been acquired in sufficient quantities, I daresay-"
"Yeah, yeah," Alan interrupted. "I remember you telling me all about that."
"That son of a bitch!" José suddenly yelled. "I hope he got chewed up by the beasties here, for if I see him he's fucking dead!"
"Will you go vent somewhere else?" Rachel called from the pilot's seat, irritated. "We're almost at... Oh my God..."
Alan moved to the pilot's seat to get a better view of what Rachel was looking at. In front of him was a scene of total disarray. A gigantic tree stump could be seen, the huge roots splintered. Beside it lay what remained of a huge fallen tree, only now starting to decompose. Just looking at it, Alan guessed that it must have stood at hundreds of feet tall when it had been in its prime. The area around this fallen tree looked decayed, as if something was preventing new growth there.
"Jesus..." Alan breathed. "There's been quite a fight here."
"Yes..." Bishop said, joining Alan by the pilot's seat and peering at the commlink. "This was Hometree, the site that the Na'vi had called their home. According to these, Quaritch ordered that the tree be felled so that the miners could access the Unobtainium deposit underneath."
"I don't get it..." Alan muttered. "That was nearly thirty years ago. Why's nothing grown here since then?"
"Let me see..." Bishop frowned, looking over more of the files for a moment. "Yes, Dr. Augustine theorized that Hometree was a key part of Pandora's bio-organical network. The destruction of the tree caused incredible damage to the network; perhaps that is why it is taking so long for the area to heal from the conflict."
"You're not going to tell me what the hell a 'bio-organical network' is, are you?" Alan asked.
"Not if you do not wish me to, Captain," Bishop replied, with a half-smile.
"Good," Alan said. "Rachel, find a space for us to drop. José, Bishop, let's get ready in the airlock."
"Wow..." Rachel just breathed, as the others slipped their breathing masks back on. "I mean... That entire tree..."
"I know," Alan said simply. "We'd better move quickly; I hate to think what will happen if the Na'vi catch us here. We'll signal when we're ready to go, Rachel. Just fly around the area until then."
"Roger, Captain," Rachel said. The others squeezed into the tiny airlock area. After a minute, the doors slid open, as the shuttle hovered a few feet above the parched ground. Alan, José and Bishop dropped from the airlock and landed on the ground below. Rachel flew the shuttle away as Bishop led the way into the midst of the tangled, twisted roots.
By now, the sun had set, and the area was becoming coated in a blanket of darkness. Alan was now starting to get very worried. It had taken them longer than he had hoped to reach Hometree, and now he couldn't help glancing around nervously, expecting an ambush from the darkness at any moment. Beside him, the others pulled out flashlights as the darkness became thicker. Soon they were walking through the twisted roots, eventually emerging into a large open pit. Some vestiges of roots were still poking out of the floor, rotting away. Though there was a bright moon overhead, it did not do much to light the pit, as most of it was concealed in the shadow of the destroyed roots looming overhead. Alan also noticed several small tunnel entrances leading away from the pit. He guessed that some sort of burrowing animal had made them, though they were large enough for someone to fit inside if they stooped.
Bishop was examining the jagged walls of the pit carefully. Alan wondered what it was he was peering so intently at, until he saw that part of the wall actually started to shine when he pointed his torch at it, as if there was a polished metal buried in the rock. Eagerly, Bishop unclipped the small mining pick and cutting laser from his belt and within minutes had hacked out a piece of the buried metal. He held it up in his hand for Alan and José to see.
"This, Captain," he said, rather proudly, "is the Unobtainium we came here for."
"I'm sure it's very pretty, Bishop," Alan said, in a slightly snarky tone, "but do we need much more of it? I don't like the thought of being out here all night."
"We should not need too much more," Bishop replied. "With the size of the Serenity taken into account, it should not take too long to gather sufficient amounts of the substance."
Time seemed to pass slowly as the group worked in the near-silence, the only sounds coming from the clinking sound of the pick striking the rock or the high-pitched whine of the cutting laser. Every now and then Alan thought he could hear a shuffling noise coming from somewhere above their heads, but when he turned to look into the gnarled roots he saw nothing. José too looked very tense, even as he held open the sack for Bishop to slip the samples inside.
"What's taking you guys so long?" Rachel's impatient voice could be heard saying over Alan's commlink. "I'm running out of fuel here!"
"Bishop, how much longer?" Alan asked.
"Almost done, Captain," Bishop replied. Even as he spoke, he was chipping away the last pieces of Unobtainium ore that it seemed he could reach. The vein had proved to be surprisingly easy to cut the ore from, and Alan felt that the group really needed to be counting their blessings. With a flourish, he dropped the last of the samples into the sack. Alan looked at it with a dubious expression.
"You sure that's all we need?" he asked. "It doesn't look like very much to me."
"That was the beauty of Unobtainium, according to the research notes," said Bishop. "Not much would be needed for a small ship. Of course, much more would have been needed if the UNSC planned to implement it in the fleet during the war. We will need to find a facility where we can smelt and refine the ore, but once that is done and the necessary modifications are made to the slip-space drive, we're 'scot-free', as you might say."
"There's something to look forward to," Alan said, as José tightened up the sack. The ore was surprisingly lightweight; José could lift it with no effort. "Right, let's get to a clear spot and-"
He had been about to say that they would contact Rachel once they were in the clear. However, his next word became a sudden grunt of pain and he lurched forwards. Out of the darkness above them, something had struck him in the back. As Alan collapsed to the floor, Bishop and José saw it was actually a large wood-and-stone arrow, about the size of a javelin, sticking out of his back.
All of a sudden more arrows began shooting out of the darkness. Bishop dragged Alan behind one of the roots, while José dived behind a similar root nearer to one of the tunnel entrances. Arrows were flying at them from all directions, and shouts and strange calls could be heard from the roots overhead. Clearly the three of them were surrounded.
To make matters worse, Alan suddenly started twitching violently, his eyes rolling into his head as he started having a violent seizure. Bishop looked over to José, who blind-fired with his assault rifle into the roots, but of course hit nothing. Mercifully he still had the sack of Unobtainium with him.
"Run!" Bishop called. "Get the Unobtainium back to the ship!"
José was hesitant at first, but in the end didn't protest. He fired into the roots again, and dived for cover into the tunnel as more arrows flew past him. Once in cover, he stopped to look behind him briefly as he saw Bishop slowly come out from behind the root, raising his arms in surrender, and with large, dark figures slowly coming down the sides of the pit, bows and arrows trained on him. Sure that those same figures would be investigating the tunnel soon, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him.
0
Hardly daring to believe that he had left two of the crew behind – one of them being his Captain, no less – José did not dare to look back as he charged down the tunnel. It seemed that the mission was already over before it had begun. Not that he particularly cared for the so-called Captain, of course; if he had known that co-operation with the Sangheili would be involved he would never have agreed to come along on this mission.
He remembered when he had been told of the mission and what it entailed. Malcho had agreed to loan Alan the new-model Spartan laser to give it a test run, on the condition that one of his own people go on the Serenity. José had been hired with others to reinforce Malcho's security personnel, and he ended up taking the job. José had wanted ten thousand credits, but Malcho had made him a better offer; two thousand up-front, and another fifteen thousand upon successful completion of the mission. That was not the sort of offer he could pass up easily. Now he could not help but wonder if this was Malcho's idea of punishment for some misdemeanor or another.
He began turning plans over in his head, now that everything had gone south. He gave serious thought to the idea of commandeering the Serenity, and heading back to Earth. Sure, it was a long flight, but that was what the cryo-tubes were for. He could persuade Rachel to go along with the plan; they were the only two humans on the ship, after all; perhaps they could display some solidarity. The gargoyle would never agree to it though; he would have to think of a way of getting rid of him. He ended up scrapping that plan when he remembered that he had absolutely no idea how to pilot a Firefly. That was a ship his ODST training had not prepared him for, mostly because it had been outmoded years ago.
In the darkness of the tunnel, he thought he could hear strange noises all around him. He kept telling himself that his mind was just playing tricks on him, since he was currently running in fear of his life. After a few minutes he finally saw moonlight coming through the exit of the tunnel ahead. As he ran, he tried to open a channel to Rachel through his commlink.
"Rachel?" he called. "Rachel? Can you hear me, mi amiga?"
"José?" Rachel responded. "What's going on down there?" The transmission was of a bad quality until José emerged from the tunnel. He found that he was back on the dead ground outside the roots of Hometree, and peered around him nervously at every shadow. He thought he could hear shouts and shuffling coming from the roots, and did not take his eyes off them, his gun raised.
"Rachel," he said into the commlink, "tell me you're not far away now..."
"I've got a fix on your position," Rachel replied. "I'll be there shortly."
Within seconds, the shuttle was swooping into the area once again. It slowly moved down towards the ground and then halted, hovering about an inch over it. The airlock door in the side opened, and José quickly moved towards it. As he did so, there was a sudden loud, high-pitched cry, like a Native American battle cry, and José spun round. He was shocked when he saw several tall, dark figures in the shadows. He backed quickly into the airlock, his breath becoming more rapid in his panic.
"Go, Rachel!" he shouted. As he shut the door, several loud thudding sounds were heard as the arrows of the attackers slammed against the hull. Rachel gave a small scream and José was almost thrown off his feet as she banked the shuttle sharply upwards to get out of range of the arrows. Soon enough, though, they were clear, and José was eventually able to step into the main body of the shuttle, his face caked in sweat.
"What were those?" Rachel asked, alarmed. "Were they the Na'vi?"
"Best guess," José said.
"Did you see what happened to the others?" Rachel asked, concerned.
"Last I saw," José said, "those creeps had shot the Captain. The professor told me to run with the scraps we picked up." He dumped the bag full of Unobtainium ore onto a seat.
"Oh God..." Rachel said faintly. She quickly began peering into her commlink, and eventually brought up what looked like two ECG readings. One of them had almost flatlined.
"If they were the Na'vi, they'll both be dead by now," José said. "We could take the Serenity and-"
"We're not going anywhere!" Rachel shouted, outraged, as if José had said something inexplicably vile.
"Eh?" José said dumbly.
"Our commlinks are able to monitor our heart-rates and our positions," Rachel said. "As long as we all wear our commlinks, we can all check up on each. Look," she continued, pointing at the ECG readings on her screen. "They're both still alive, and being moved. It's hard to tell where, though; there's a lot of interference. The Captain's is really weak though..."
"So you're saying we should go and get them?" José said incredulously. "You're crazy, muchacha. We'll be torn to pieces by those guys!"
"We can't just leave them!" Rachel howled. "We'll go talk to Alistair, and we'll think of something! The Serenity's our only hope of saving them!"
José was about to say something, but instead he just let out a frustrated snarl and sat down on one of the chairs, rubbing his temples. He could not believe just how self-righteous Rachel was being right now, but then again she was the sort who would be inclined to rescue every cat stuck in a tree they came across. He could not see the sense in going on a rescue mission, not if there was a very strong chance that they would also get killed in the process. He didn't think he was being heartless, just practical.
After several minutes of flying, the shuttle reached the command centre again, and found the Serenity waiting on the landing pad. Except it wasn't the only thing waiting for them there. For outside the ship were three tall, hunched figures, carrying plasma rifles and their faces covered with respirators. They were all dressed in similar ornate battle armour; two of them in blue armour, one in white. They were peering at the ship as if they were unsure what to make of it. The figure in white armour approached the entry hatch and banged on it, while the other two peered up at the shuttle as it moved to dock with the Serenity.
"Uh-oh..." Rachel muttered as she piloted the shuttle onto the extended landing arm. As soon as it landed, the arm retracted, locking the shuttle safely into its secure position.
"Waddaya mean 'Uh-oh'?" José asked. Rachel quickly tried to move into the ship as if it wasn't anything important. As she and José entered the cargo bay, however, the banging on the door sounded again, and muffled voices could be heard coming from outside. Sighing, Rachel crossed over to the door control and began to lower the ramp.
"What the hell are you doing, muchacha?" José said indignantly. "Who's out there?" He peered out of the small windows in the metal doors that separated them from Pandora's atmosphere. Coming up the lowered ramp were the three figures. This was his first time spotting them, and he now saw that they were Sangheili warriors. He turned to look at Rachel, his face in a tight grimace.
"Are you fucking crazy?" he half-shouted. "Those are fucking Elites! You're just letting them waltz on here as if they own the ship?"
Rachel said nothing, and closed the ramp once she was sure that the Sangheili were inside the airlock. In fact, it seemed as if she was making a deliberate effort to ignore everything José was saying or doing. This only served to make him more irritable, and for a moment he seriously considered attacking Rachel. Instead, he satisfied himself by returning to the window and throwing a one-fingered salute to the waiting Sangheili.
"Fuck off!" he shouted. "You're not welcome here!"
One of the blue-armoured Sangheili snarled, his mandibles quivering. He was about to open fire on the impertinent mercenary, but his superior in the white armour discouraged it. A loud hissing filled the airlock as the harmful toxins of Pandora's atmosphere were expelled, and then the metal doors slid open. The three warriors marched into the cargo bay, looking around them at the piles of crates in the room. José stared daggers at them, and looked more murderous when the white-clad leader of the squad moved closer to him.
"Are you the Shipmaster of this vessel?" he asked.
"It's called a Captain, split-face," José snarled. "And I already told you that you're not welcome on my ship! Now get out or I throw you out!"
"José!" Rachel shouted. "First of all, you're not the Captain. Second, don't be such a moron! Do you really want to piss off these guys?"
"What the fuck were you thinking, letting them on, anyway?" José spat back.
"Dierram era owt eseht kniht uoy od?" one of the Elites muttered to his companion, addressing him in their language.
"And if you have anything to say," José shouted, "say it in English!"
"José, this is no time to try to be clever!" Rachel snapped, in a surprisingly harsh tone for her diminutive frame. The Sangheili were evidently growing more frustrated; the blue-clad warriors even pointed their rifles at José.
"I just thought we could use a hand in getting the Captain back, that's all!" she finished.
"From them?" José spluttered. The white-clad Sangheili squad leader rolled his eyes and turned back to Rachel. The engineer had to admit that she felt positively dwarfed by the alien, and she tried not to tremble.
"I am to assume, then," the Sangheili said to her, "that you also have had trouble with the natives?"
"Y-yes," Rachel stammered. "Our Captain and our pilot were taken. I can track them and monitor their condition through my commlink, but we haven't a hope of getting them out ourselves!"
"I see," the Sangheili responded. "Our Shipmaster was also taken by the natives. They ambushed us and were able to take our Shipmaster while we were occupied with fighting them off. I told him he was being foolish, running on ahead..."
"So..." Rachel said timidly. "So you'll help us?"
"Since it seems that we share a common goal," the Sangheili replied, "you may tag along if you wish. However," he said forcibly, looking at José in-particular, "I want no funny-business, or we will teach you a lesson in respect which you will never forget."
José said nothing. Instead, an odd, strangled sort of noise came out of his throat. With one last resentful look at the Sangheili leader, he stormed off up the gantries towards the flight deck. The Sangheili leader sighed and shook his head.
"The scars never heal for some, I see," he muttered.
"Erm, excuse me..." Rachel chimed in. "I think we got off on the wrong foot. My name's Rachel Tam. I'm the engineer on this ship, the Serenity. My 'cohort', if you can call him that, is called José Lovano."
The Sangheili nodded. "My name is Aeko 'Ilsus, Special Operations Commander of the Sangheili forces on board the Transcending Vigilance."
"Is that the ship we saw in orbit?" Rachel asked. She began to walk slowly up to the stairs leading to the gantries, with the Sangheili following her.
"Yes," Aeko replied. "Our commanding officer informed us of your ship's arrival, no more than a few minutes after we set down on this planet. We intended to speak to you and learn your intentions after we had finished our scouting mission. The intervention of the natives hastened those plans somewhat."
"We've been out of the ship for a while, though," Rachel said. "Have you been outside Serenity all this time? Weren't you afraid the Na'vi would catch you?"
"No," Aeko said, shaking his head. "They shun this area, for reasons unknown to us. We are safe here." They stepped into the corridor where the crew's cabins were located. "As I said, if your accomplice can keep his slanderous thoughts to himself, you are welcome to come with us, if you wish to save your Shipmaster and pilot."
"Thanks, Ae- erm, I mean, Commander," Rachel said. "It's a good thing our First Mate, Alistair, knows the basics in piloting a Firefly; aside from Bishop, the rest of us haven't a clue." She looked around her, looking puzzled. "Talking of which, where's Alistair, anyway? I'm surprised he didn't meet us in the cargo bay."
"If you're looking for Alistair," José then chimed in, poking his head out from the flight deck, "you're going to be waiting a while..."
For one horrible moment, Rachel thought that Alistair had somehow been smashed while they were away. She charged down the rest of the corridor and bounded up the small steps leading to the flight deck. Upon getting there, she found Alistair was intact, but was still frozen in stone. Aeko followed her on to the flight deck - José snarled again, but otherwise did not dare to raise an objection - and peered at Alistair, looking puzzled.
"It's... a statue," he said.
"I don't understand it!" Rachel exclaimed, shaking her head in disbelief. "It's been dark for well over an hour! Why isn't he awake?"
"Beats me, amiga," José shrugged. "Until he wakes up though, we ain't goin' anywhere."
"I don't understand," Aeko said. "What's so special about this statue?"
"I guess you've never seen a gargoyle before," Rachel sighed. "They're stone by day, and alive by night. He should have been up ages ago!"
"I thought dragons were strange beings..." Aeko chuckled. "Earth is a very strange place."
"No stranger than your face," José muttered. One of Aeko's warriors snarled, but Aeko held him firm.
"Sruovaf yna su od ton lliw mih gnillik," he said forcibly.
"Mih gnillik eb ton dluow spaceenk sih gnirettahs," the offended Sangheili muttered. José looked on the verge of making a retort, but seemed to think better of it as he moved down to the turret controls. It was clear that he was not comfortable with the presence of Sangheili on the ship; it brought back too many bad memories.
Presently a faint, high-pitched whining sound could be heard coming from outside. The sound grew louder and louder, until José saw a Phantom-class dropship landing outside, quite close to the Serenity. One thing that seemed odd about it, however, was that it was painted green rather than the usual purple.
"Our transport has arrived," Aeko said. "The rest of my squad will soon put these Na'vi in their place. We will try to locate our Shipmaster's position. Once your gargoyle friend has awakened, follow us as fast as you can."
"I see," Rachel said. "I'd better go get the door open then." With that, she ran out of the flight deck, with Aeko and his squad following close behind. José shook his head and walked back up to Alistair. He leaned against the flight control, peering at the frozen stone face.
"Wanna break out the deck of cards?" he asked sarcastically. The statue, of course, gave no response.