41: Drowning Man
They wasted no time. Despite trying to find Peyral and tell her of their plans, they both learned, as they waded through the sea of injured, groaning, rolling bodies, she had gone off with another rescue team- Yawne still had not been found yet. The comm.s no longer functioned after the Giant's attack, and the matter was far too urgent to wait for her. Instead they left news of their mission to Norm and Max, as well as informing a few of the Nekxtskxe themselves, then they were both off upon a second Pa'li. The closest grove of the Tree of voices was long gone since the dozer had nearly crushed them along with it, but seeds were planted else where and another grove did exist outside of the tree of souls. They headed their now with all speed though Jake's doctors again tried their best to stop him and insist they monitor his condition. Especially with his wounds. Neytiri did the actually 'driving' while Jake hung onto her, it may have been faster by Ikran but they couldn't take the chance of being spotted by the giant in the air and followed to the grove. So they rode.
On and on past trees and blue green walls of drifting leaves, shaking at their passing as if afraid of what followed. The ground churned beneath the Direhorses hooves, ripped asunder in great sprays of rich dirt in their haste. The ride was considerably smoother without the pursuit of the giant, but no less urgent. The evening light had just begun to settle when they finally reached the outskirts of the grove and were greeted with a start- Na'vi scouts, watchers in the trees, called down to them. The Omaicaya were still there. Was it perhaps…? The Pali trotted past curtains of hanging vines, intertwined with Na'vi guardians who nodded to them gravely. They ducked beneath a dipping frond and suddenly were upon them. The Tree of Voices; long willow trees with glowing pink whips, much like the tree of souls in miniature. While the Tree of Souls always seemed so majestic, so solemn, the Tree of voices was inviting- almost reaching out to them as if hoping to impart the connection of wisdom from ancient times past. The voices of the peoples, neither gone nor ever forgotten.
Mo'at did indeed wait for them beneath the gently waving limbs.
They dismounted and approached her at a trot, though her expression was happy to see them she also looked very concerned. "I see you Mother." Neytiri projected before they neared.
"And I you daughter, and son." The formal tone caught them both slightly off guard, halting them as they came up to her. It was clear she had troubling thoughts.
"Wise mother, what troubles you?" Jake prompted.
Mo'at cast her eyes down in thought, seated on the ground reverently. "The songs of the past gave warning…" she looked up, "then, were silenced." Neytiri gasped and instinctively reached for a number of the hanging whips, "Be warned." Mo'at said quickly, "There is something greatly wrong here." Neytiri turned to Jake, her lips tightened, and she turned back to the whips. Connecting she closed her eyes and listened. Instantly her expression transformed, she began weeping, her face contorted- only it was far worse then Jake had ever seen her. She wept bitterly, loudly- as if the tree of voices, her father and Home tree had all happened at once. Mo'at swiftly rose and helped her break the connection.
"What is it, what's wrong?" Jake reached for her. Neytiri pushed his hands away, shaking her head; unable to speak.
Mo'at answered, "I can not explain it, I only feel the absolute sorrows of my people all at once and nothing more."
Jake frowned as Mo'at held Neytiri and soothed her, though as soon as the connection was broken Nrytiri improved. Jake turned to the whips himself, set his jaw and took hold. Mo'at didn't stop him, instead she watched him, allowing him, as if curious herself. Jake pulled up his braid and conne- his brother was dead, DEAD. His legs were useless, he couldn't walk ever again, cripple. Crippled marine. What good was he now? Some soldier. Locked in a tiny chair, a tiny man. He couldn't even follow the orders he was given. He was a traitor, he'd lied to Neytiri, he took his brother's body; he'd betrayed everything he'd ever known. Why was he still alive? How arrogant to keep living when he was such a burden on those around him. He should have ended it rig- Mo'at held Jake's hands, softly brushed her fingers along his shoulders and down his arms, hushing him like one comforts a child. Jake blinked, realizing tears clouded his vision and his hands shook. "…jesus christ."
"Now you understand." Mo'at said softly as she held both Jake and Neytiri's hands.
Now that Jake's thoughts were his own, he forced himself into calm. "What's doing this?"
"I do not know, I only heard all the voices of times past, whispering to me- then shouting warning, a great rush of fear, and then it was as you experienced."
Jake squeezed his eyes shut, his heart felt as stone again. "When, when did this happen?" he shook it off; or tried too.
Mo'at considered, "The light of there." She held up her hand to the horizon, counting back with her fingers.
Jake counted, it was a loose approximate, but it was near the time the Nekxtskxe had been attacked… what was the connection? "Pau- no…" Jake shook his head, feeling a pang of regret and imagery of a sad face in his mind at the name, "P'all… has to have something to do with it. He can, could, control emotions by… by bonding with anyone at the touch of his skin, this…" Jake tried to piece it together despite his heart pounding and mind racing.
"Jake… that would mean he has bound with Eywa."
Jake felt the heavy stone of his heart fall into the empty well of his stomach; his mind cleared instantly, "When he touched the ground… chasing us! He must be bonding constantly every second he's in contact with the ground!" Mo'at remained silent offering nothing, Neytiri had finally regained her composure and she looked at Jake with uncertainty.
"It is not possible, for one being to bond with the whole of Eywa Jakesully. You would do better to dam the river with a pebble."
Jake shook his head, "You haven't seen the size of this pebble." Jake looked for reference, but found all the trees around him lacking. "If you took, Toruk, and spread his wings from tip to tip, you would have half the length of what P'all has become."
Mo'at didn't seem impressed, "It is impossible Jakesully, no being can so overwhelm Eywa, and even if what you say is true, to what end?"
Jake thought quickly, his feet trying to make him pace as he felt on the verge of something important. "Norm, and Max said P'all may be the embodiment of, the virus and that there may not be any consciousness on him at all. So if, if, P'all was just a gigantic version of the wildfire virus it will do what it was suppose to do. Cleanse Pandora of all human life, but, more then that it will act as any virus acts. Spreading and spreading until it can't anymore."
Neytiri and Mo'at looked to each other, Neytiri wiped her face. "You would say Eywa is infected with this virus?"
Jake held both arms out, "It's the only thing that makes sense. I thought at first maybe it was really Paul, because of how he looked at me, but, I don't know. Maybe the virus just had racial memory of my face being the last thing it saw before it was nearly annihilated." Neytiri furrowed her brow, "It doesn't matter now; we must cure Eywa of this sickness before P'all spreads to consume all of Pandora."
Neytiri nodded, once more stern control. "How?"
Jake turned, "Well, I suppose we immunize her? But that won't work if she is already infected, it's got to be, some kind of anti-virus or, I don't know I'm not a doctor or a scientist, Norm or Max would be the best to ask."
Mo'at still looked skeptical, "There is nothing which can consume Eywa. She is everything, everywhere."
Jake silenced the condescending voice in his head, "I don't know what else to do, and, in this state we can not ask Eywa."
Mo'at looked thoughtful. But it was Neytiri who spoke, "Go then Jake, try you way."
Jake looked puzzled, "What about you?"
"We shall stay and try to see beyond this voice louder than others; Eywa may be trying to tell us something in this, but if what you say is true, then perhaps we may yet reason with P'all." Jake found a thousand different reasons why they shouldn't bother, most of them excusing because of the danger, but every single one came from that place in his mind that instantly dismissed the things he consider fantastical. Jake toned out that voice, gripped his fists, and nodded.
"I'll be back as soon as I can." With only that, no goodbyes, Jake mounted the Pa'li and tore off into the forest once more. He believed whole heartedly if they were to save Pandora from this, global threat, it would come from science… but he was not unwilling to try everything. As his Direhorse pushed through the vegetation two shadows arched overhead, Jake caught sight of two Ikran, though one had to be a Cave Ikran. He considered going back just in case, but knew time was important, so pushed on.
...
"And it just reflects all the negative emotions and thoughts you've ever had back at you?" Max rubbed his scraggly beard. Jake nodded. "Sounds like a defense mechanism to me." Norm remained silent, sitting over a microscope while once more doctors hovered and buzzed around Jake like news bees.
"It all seems unlikely," Norm added without looking up, "But I'm not even going to try and rule out any possibility at this point. We've had to work overtime to figure out this wildfire virus, and should have been from the start, not only for you Jake- but for everyone on Pandora. If this thing adapts as quickly as it has been, it'll be only a matter of time before it adapts to survive by infecting Na'vi equally." Jake brushed aside his surprise, filing it away as just another thing to strengthening his resolve.
"But which do you think it is? The embodiment of a genetic virus, or really Paul?" Max leaned forward.
Norm pulled away from his scope, the soft drum of the machines and the buzz of people coming and going to tend to the wounded filling in his silence. "Honestly, if it's not really directed I don't see how it can be a human consciousness. I mean, you said his eyes showed an intelligence that blamed, even hated you Jake. That sounds like a human thing; but if he is connected to Eywa, and, by that- the whole of Pandora, I don't see how he couldn't have known it was you and attacked through the bond. Right?"
Max looked thoughtful, "It could be Paul is only aware of himself on an instinctual level and therefore shares the same drives as the virus but acts only on a subconscious level."
Jake held up his hands in defeat, "I'm not a psychologist, that's Yawne's department. I just need to know if there is some way to kill it."
Max and Norm exchanged thoughtful looks, Max picked up a pad and reviewed a few pages of information. "As far as we know the Wildfire virus can't be 'cured' as we know it yet. We can vaccinate, we can even slow it down, but we can't out right flush it from a system."
"But Neytiri…"
"Had been a sterile environment, the Virus was unable to reproduce and burned itself out. Flushing her system was easy because the virus killed itself. It never activated beyond repairing its host to prolong its life." Max scrolled past a few pages of technical information. Everyone fell silent; save a nurse who suddenly ordered Jake to hold still while she again drew blood. They watched her do her work in deep thought. Jake watched his own blood enter the tube, the needle piecing his skin. He wondered how long he had until he was changed, if he actually was changing… changing…
light-bulb.
"What a minute, you guys were saying the virus is changing me into a more human host so it can kill me right? It's altering my hybrid DNA." Norm and Max nodded. "Why didn't it alter Neytiris'?"
Max dipped the pad to his elbow, "Well, because she is a pure Na'vi."
"Are you assuming that or do you know?" Jake stood pulling free of the medical team, "Look, you guys told me it was possible for the Wildfire virus to alter any material it came into contact with, melt it down for its own use, and make something into something else."
Norm nodded, "Right, because of the embryonic fluid properties."
Jake narrowed his eyes, "But the virus inside of me is changing my Na'vi DNA to Human DNA, and I got sick before I was exposed to the new wildfire virus with the embryonic fluid."
Norm shrugged, "Yeah, it grafted to your human DNA and began to change the Na'vi DNA to match it."
But max pointed with his pad, "No, he's right, it shouldn't be able to do that…"Norm looked to him. "We've been so blinded by the amazing aspects of the virus thus far we've assumed and overlooked the simplicity of its coding, if it can change Jake's Na'vi DNA, why didn't it just change Neytiri's too? It didn't need Jake's Human DNA to know what human DNA was, it had plenty of Paul's, so why would it leave Neytiri alone but attack Jake? For that matter, why is it trying to turn Jake fully human? Why not just kill off all the aspects of Jake's human DNA from the get go?"
Norm screwed up his face, "What, you're saying it's trying to kill Jake's human DNA and persevere its Na'vi DNA?"
Jake backed away as if someone hit him in the face, "You mean its turning me into a full Na'vi?"
Max stood up, "We're missing the point, the Na'vi DNA- no, Neytiri's DNA. Her body was the only known successful survivor of infection. Why? What does she have no one else does?"
Norm shrugged, "Neytir and Jake are the only ones who've actually been infected that we know of, and it was through repeated exposure to Paul's spit, er Venom."
Light bulb.
"Paul's anti-venom!" Jake shouted it so loudly everyone in the room jumped, and work stopped. "I told Neytiri to kiss Paul! When ever he used his venom it created an anti-venom so he wouldn't be affected and if it's an anti-venom, it could also be an anti virus! Paul was never killed by the Wildfire virus because it continued to keep him alive by killing itself with its own antivirus!"
Norm and Max both looked stunned, "The resistance did code it to kill itself once its work was done, to burn itself out."
Jake gripped Norm's slender shoulders, "How do we trigger that?"
Max rushed over to a console, "Even better, why don't we see if we can find the anti-venom in Neytiri's saliva sample." Jake and Norm both turned to him, "We took a bit hoping to analyze it later in case we needed to synthesize an anti-venom, but with everything that happened we never got around to it, then with Paul's death it never seemed very urgent." The medical team harassing Jake suddenly switched to worker bee mode as Max began issuing orders. Norm smiled at Jake, brimming with excitement and hope.
"Jeeze Jake, and I'm the nerd?"
Jake grinned back, "Well it's up to you guys now, that's as far as I can go, and speaking of- has Yawne or Peyral came back yet?"
Norm pushed away from his microscope, "Oh… um, come with me Jake." he then moved down the hall motioning for Jake to follow. Jake felt instantly uneasy, but Norm stayed silent. Jake passed through corridors filled with makeshift treatment beds, with Na'vi and humans doing their best to keep the wounded alive. They came to a secluded room far from the main labs, with a very heavy door, and a very heavy guard. Nekxtskxe glared at them as they came near, but one at least recognized Jake and held up a polite hand. He clicked his tongue to his teeth and spoke to the people beyond the door. "Jakesully has come."
"Let him enter." Peyral's voice, haggard, and very tired.
Jake narrowed his brow as Norm nervously pushed pass the guards inside just as anxious as Jake, to find two more on the other side who parted as Jake came into the room. Peyral looked like she had just pulled an army off the battle field single handedly, yet even she wasn't unaffected by the burns. Long bandages, bloody, stuck to her left forearm like a red flag; her hair was shaved and a white patch of gauze adored the left side of her face. She couldn't smile at Jake nor Norm as they entered, but it was Norm who spoke. "So it is…?" Norm slightly gasped, apparently seeing for the first time just as Jake did.
"…yes." Peyral said quietly. Jake felt his neck tense, his teeth clench, because he knew who they must have been talking about… and looking beyond them, he could see the bed, and the figure… the huge stature of Yawne was hard to hide at the best of times, which made his stealth all the more amazing, so Jake could easily tell who lay beneath the stacks of sheets. But shape was all he could tell. Bandages covered the whole of his face and head, a mask of clear plastic locked over his mouth, wires stuck out from under the wraps. Red. Wraps. A slow, methodical beep filled the room. For the first time Jake saw the head doctor who had originally been bothering Jake seated in a corner, exhausted. This then was the reason he was not attending Jake, he had been attending…
"Yawne…" Jake hated saying it.
Peyral nodded, "He lead the warriors in the spiral, and was closest when…"
Jake felt his knuckles ache and realized he had been gripping them white. What other words did he have to say? The slow beep mocked him. Saying sorry was useless… Yawne had done it to himself, in his hunger for battle, he had grown careless and lead his people into a fight they couldn't hope to win due to his inexperience. Jake had seen the signs, had seen the warnings, his years as a soldier had let him know the danger swiftly- but even if the Nekxtskxe had seen it, they wouldn't have backed down unless Yawne made that call. They were all fools who would gladly die for honor in the hunt, but Yawne was different, he was not one to sacrifice for anything but the one he loved. He'd been swept up in the fire of the Nekxtskxe passion, and been burned for it. Jake looked to Norm, the guards, even the exhausted doctor in the background at standby. Peyral seemed unaffected, she was trying to be strong in Yawne's place, but under that mask Jake knew she was grieving.
"We'll stop him." Jake heard himself say.
Everyone knew what he meant, but Peyral took Jake by the shoulder, hard. "There has been too much vengeance." Jake was struck dumb. "Many fell, but my heart tells me, violence will not solve this."
Jake's eyes softened, she really was trying as hard as she could. "Well… Neytiri and Mo'at believe there is more they can do, that Eywa will have an answer." Peyral looked into him intently, stilling the assurance before he made it, killing the lie. "…but they can't hear anything beyond a single voice that speaks only of personal sorrows."
Peyral nodded as if she understood exactly what was happening, but Jake knew it was simply her taking everything in stride. "I can not-"
Now Jake took her shoulder, "You've done enough. Your people must protect Hell's Gate, and Yawne." The word stabbed her. "My people will handle it from here. Trust me." He left her then, standing beside the bed… the door closed slowly.
Jake worked his way back through the halls, following Norm blindly past the clutter of side beds, moaning bodies, and machines; all blurred, he was lost in thought. Mechanically he passed it all by: Never thought I'd feel useless again. It's a nostalgic feeling, reminds me of my first few days of therapy after the surgery; after I lost my legs. I thought those days of uselessness were behind me, I thought I could rise to any challenge. But this kind of thing is beyond me. I don't know what to do. …but… whenever you're in a jam like that, the best thing to do, is find someone who does know. Jake looked down to Norm, still moving forward, weaving past the same obstacles. His face was determined, his stride purposeful; he had a job to do, and it was Jake's job, to help him do it.