Pandora: The Final Solution

I gratefully acknowledge one of the foremost creative geniuses of our times, James Cameron, for conceiving the lush moon Pandora and the "noble savages," the Na'vi, that inhabit it. This story uses the characters and setting he created for his movie, Avatar. I have not received any money for my work based on Avatar. If I could get paid by the hour for these stories, I would retire and spend all my time dancing and writing in comfort.

Chapter 16: Mo'at and Cari Mohammad

As Mo'at and Norm are wrapping up their conversation, a female avatar wearing a white lab coat and carrying a large binder stuffed full of papers walks up behind Norm and says in English "Hello, Norm, who's your friend?"

In English, Norm looks to Mo'at and says "Tsahìk, this is one of our healers specializing in avatar and Na'vi medicine, Doctor Caroline Muhammad. Most everyone calls her Doctor Cari." Norm looks into the avatar's face and says "Doctor, this is Mo'at, the Tsahìk of the Omatikaya Clan. Besides being Jake's mother-in-law, she is also a healer and knows some English."

Mo'at nods her head while touching her forehead with her left hand, saying in English "I See you, Toctor Kari."

Doctor Cari, looking somewhat taken aback, fumbles with the binder but manages to make the gesture with her right hand, answering "I see you, Mo'at. Glad to finally meet you. I've heard so much about you."

Mo'at replies with a smile. "My hope is that you have heard some good things."

"I've heard nothing but good things about you. Just didn't think I would ever run into you casually like this, away from the rest of your clan."

"How did you become a healer for the Na'vi?"

"My mother is a nurse, a healer, for humans, and I followed her wishes and became a medical doctor. After practicing for several years, I found I wanted to help more sick people than I could one on one, so I studied avatar medicine. I was chosen to become an avatar driver and came out here after my training. I want to discover how the Na'vi stay so healthy in this dangerous and toxic environment and get that knowledge back to Earth to help humans living in polluted areas, which is almost everywhere these days."

"All Na'vi thank you for caring for our wounded."

"You are welcome. And I hope your people can forgive us that remain here for the hurt and injuries other humans have caused you. I am sad and angry that some humans thought it was necessary to destroy your home and try to chase you away."

"I think forgiveness will happen, Eywa willing, but it will take some time for everyone to overcome their pain and anger."

"Yes, I agree, it will take time."

Norm looks to Doctor Cari and says "Do you have time to show Mo'at where to sleep? I need to get back to the patients."

"I'm working the night shift and should get started soon, but I would be honored to show Mo'at around and find her a place to sleep in the avatar tent. You have to get back, you're the only human that can talk to our patients." Doctor Cari looks to Mo'at again. "Thanks for sending your children to us that can speak English. They have been very helpful, both translating and caring for the injured."

Mo'at nods and says "You are welcome. They are very happy to help you and the injured. Maybe some will decide to become healers."

Doctor Cari looks to Norm again. "How is her named spelled?"

"M-o-apostrophe-a-t."

"That's easy enough. Just the way it sounds. I will get her a place and set her up with our amenities." She and Norm both laugh.

Mo'at is stumped. Why is that funny? What does "amenities" mean?

Norm turns to Mo'at and looking serious says in Na'vi "Eywa ngahu, ma Tsahìk."

Mo'at replies in English "May Eywa be with you at all times, ma Normspellman."

Norm turns and trots to the gate into the human compound.

Doctor Cari looks up at the sacred tree and says "The Na'vi live on a most beautiful and enchanting moon. I saw pictures of the sacred trees before I left Earth, but never imagined that they would be so beautiful and impressive in real life, especially the way they glow at night." She looks back at Mo'at.

"I am sure there are beautiful places on your Earth."

"There are. In my husband's country, the Pyramids of Giza are the most amazing sight. My favorite in my country is the Grand Canyon. It's so big and uniquely wonderful, it's breathtaking."

"Is your mate also here?"

"Oh, … " She stops and swallows hard, hangs her head down, and continues with pain heavy in her voice, not able to speak louder than a whisper. "...no. He died many years ago..." She pauses again, raises her head and continues with an almost normal voice. "He was killed in his homeland. We had been married for only two years."

"I am sorry to hear that. My mate was killed five days ago when our home was destroyed."

"I'm sorry that he died because of stupid human actions." Doctor Cari holds the binder against her side in one arm, and hugs Mo'at with the other. Mo'at hugs her with both arms, and the two women remain silently together for some time. Hugging is the one gesture both species understand in the same way. Here is a woman who has suffered the loss of her mate, and understands what Mo'at is experiencing now.

They separate, and Mo'at asks "Did you have any children?"

"No, we decided to hold off until after my husband got his doctorate and a position back in his home country. His scholarship required that he return. We never dreamed he would die before that could happen."

Mo'at looks perplexed. "You were mated but didn't mate?"

Doctor Cari laughs. "I didn't say that well, did I? Like all young lovers, we mated as often as we could in every way we could, even at times and in places we shouldn't. I will always remember making out in the back row of a theater during a loud and awful action movie. But, with contraception, we never had to worry about a pregnancy. Humans have many ways of preventing conception."

Mo'at amused look turns into a frown. Receiving new life from the All Mother is the greatest gift a mated couple can get. Why do tawtute have so little regard for life? "Here it is a great blessing from Eywa to receive a baby, not a worry."

"I wouldn't know about Eywa, but on Earth it is best to be well established before having children. The thought of doing otherwise is too painful to consider. He needed quiet time to work on his dissertation, and a baby would take that away. It was the best way, until my husband was killed."

"How did that happen?"

"He was from a country called Egypt that is on the other side of the world from my country, the United States of America. Egypt is a very old country, one of the oldest on Earth, and is very proud of its long heritage. But, they cannot decide how to choose their leaders. When times are good, they look for progressive leaders to bring them forward to catch up with the Western countries. When times are not so good, they look for conservative leaders that try to take them back to simpler times. In between, sometimes, they have civil wars. Another war was breaking out, the Islamic fundamentalists were trying to take the country over again. My husband went back to help some of his family move to America. The government was flying armed drones to patrol the Islamic neighborhoods. Someone shot one down and it crashed into his parent's home and exploded, killing everyone inside, my husband included. It was a terrible waste, like the destruction of your home."

"I was knocked down by the explosions when Hometree was attacked. I understand what you are saying. How did you meet your mate from the other side of your world?"

"He was very smart, graduating at the top of his engineering class at Cairo University. He got a full scholarship for graduate studies from his government and went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in my country. The Egyptian government owns a large compound in Cambridge where its citizens live while attending schools in the area, and he stayed there. Several months after he started, a blizzard hit. Like most Egyptians, he had never seen snow before." Doctor Cari sees that Mo'at has a quizzical look on her face. "I don't think you have snow here either. When water gets cold enough, it becomes a solid. Snow is like rain, only very cold, and it comes down in flakes instead of drops, piling up on the ground. He went with some of his countrymen to a ski resort in Vermont. After recording themselves running around in the snow like fools, they rented ski equipment and paid for a beginners class. They made it down the bunny slope several times without too much difficulty, but then some of them collided and ran over my husband, breaking his leg and ankle. He was taken to a local hospital where they patched him up, and he returned to Cambridge on crutches and wearing a cast. I met him after an operation on his ankle in the hospital where I was a resident. We hit it off right away, and started dating the next weekend. I took some heat for getting involved with a foreign patient, but he was smart and handsome and funny, had a wonderful future, he was a great catch in my mind. The biggest problem was that he was Islamic, and I grew up American Catholic in Boston, formerly Roman Catholic but that's what it was called after Vatican City was nuked. Some of my family never forgave me for marrying a non-Catholic. Life here seems so much simpler, the only god you have is Eywa."

Mo'at looks to the sacred tree. Most of what Doctor Cari said made no sense to her. But, she knows a little about religions on Earth. "Yes, I have heard that Eywa is not on your planet, but many like Her have taken Her place."

"I don't know about that. I got tired of all the problems caused by religion, and lost interest, even though I kept my husband's name, the name of the last prophet. Guess coming out here was my way of putting those problems behind me." Doctor Cari follows Mo'at's gaze. "There are imposing trees on Earth, like the sequoias and redwoods in California, but nothing as stunningly beautiful as this Tree of Souls. Unfortunately, this is the worst place on Pandora for a hospital."

Again Mo'at is taken aback. These tawtute often say troubling words, usually oblivious to what they say. "Oh, why do you say that? We have found that the injured heal more quickly when they are close to sacred trees and can bond to get Eywa's healing powers."

"You may not be aware of it, but there is a great disturbance here called the flux vortex. We don't know if the vortex is here because of the tree, or if the tree is here because of the vortex, or if it is just a coincidence that both are here together. It is a mystery, and it interferes with the operation of our electronic equipment. Fortunately, as Jake proved, the vortex doesn't seem to affect avatars. That was a huge surprise to us. Modern medicine is very dependent on electronics, and without our diagnostic, monitoring, and therapeutic devices, we cannot heal nearly as many. I have lost too many patients here that I could have saved if we were in the hospital back at Hell's Gate. I much prefer keeping patient records on computers, but the only reliable way here is this." Doctor Cari holds out her notebook. "I would be lost if it wasn't for my experiences in volunteering at rural clinics in southern Egypt. There wasn't much technology in those places, either."

"You said that you could have saved many more injured?"

"Yes. I tried injecting nanites modified for Na'vi into several bad bleeders, but the flux vortex kept them from working. They worked fine when SecOps used them on Grace's avatar after they shot it at her school. The nanites saved its life. Jake also used them on Grace after she was shot during their escape, but they flew into the vortex, and the nanites failed. Here I had to resort to sewing the blood vessels back together by hand, and that is much slower and less effective. I lost more bad bleeders than any other injury, and those are usually considered routine back on Earth when nanites are administered right away."

"I have never heard anyone say anything bad about being near the Tree of Souls before. We have much to learn about each other."

"I agree. Is it true that you can talk to your ancestors using these trees?"

"Yes, I just spoke with my mate. Many clan members have spoken with him through this tree since we arrived here. Have you made tsaheylu with this sacred tree?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know the Na'vi language."

"Have you tried to bond with the tree?" Mo'at holds up the end of her queue, causing the tendrils to wave around outside their protective covering.

"No, I don't have any ancestors in there, and I don't know the language. I probably shouldn't say this to you, but we avatars are forbidden to try."

"Oh? Did Jake forbid it?"

"No, it's nothing like that. During our training, long before leaving Earth, we saw a video made many years ago by one of the first human explorers of your moon. He brought many miniature drones, really flying cameras, out here early on to study the Na'vi. Drones were flown into several groves of sacred trees and recorded thousands of times when Na'vi bonded with the trees. What we saw was the most disturbing encounter. A group of Na'vi came to the tree, all looking very worried and grim. They connected a baby to the tree, and very quickly the baby died. The rest of the Na'vi then took turns connecting with the tree, and each stayed connected for some time. After they all had their turns, they dug a hole away from the tree, held a ceremony to bury the baby, and then left. No one on Earth understands what happened. But, it is clear that bonding with the tree can be fatal. Therefore, we are commanded to never try."

"Jake has not said anything about this rule."

"Guess Jake doesn't know anything about it. His twin brother Tom trained for three years as an avatar driver, but was killed in a robbery just before his departure date. Jake was talked into replacing his brother, but had to leave immediately and never had time for any training."

"So, you think no tawtute has bonded with any sacred tree, other than Jakesully?"

"Until there is proof it is safe for us to try, that Eywa is not going to kill us, don't think anyone will risk it. Besides, we were told that the sacred trees were off-limits. Our last boss here, Doctor Grace Augustine, wanted to establish a good working relationship with the Na'vi, and insisted we stay away from them. Seeing how dangerous traveling in the jungle can be, it took no convincing. We were all surprised and upset when we heard that the road construction crew bulldozed the Tree of Voices on the way to the new mine. They should never have been near it. I remember Grace being very angry when she heard that awful news."

"The destruction of the Tree of Voices was a great loss to us, but Eywa protected those within Her. All ancestors are available here and at any other sacred tree. In time, Eywa will grow another Tree of Voices for the Omatikaya near our new home, after we settle somewhere in our clan territories."

"That's a relief."

"What you described is called a first bonding ceremony. The baby must be one half to one year old and be able to bond. I have presided over many first bonding ceremonies, and never has one of my babies failed to bond or died. It is very rare for a baby to die. That happens only when Eywa decides that a baby is not strong enough to grow up. If the adults looked worried, that means the baby they brought was sickly, and they were expecting a sad outcome."

"Thank you for explaining that. That video has always bothered me. But, I'm still worried about bonding with this tree. If Eywa can kill babies, can she kill me or my avatar?"

"I have no way of knowing. I will pray for an answer to that question. But first, I need to find a new home for my clan. That is what I'm praying for now. Please excuse me, I need to talk to this young warrior."

A handsome and strong looking adolescent male walks towards them, carrying food wrapped in leaves. Mo'at makes the gesture and begins speaking in Na'vi, and he respectfully replies. Doctor Cari doesn't understand anything being said. The warrior hands the food to Mo'at, and climbs the terraces. He places his hands on the shoulders of an old woman. Her frond goes dim, and she stands after her queue disengages. Arm in arm, the pair carefully walk down to Mo'at, and they resume their conversation. Mo'at hands the food to the woman who begins eating. Soon the young warrior and the old woman walk off together into the heart of the Na'vi side of the well.

"Thank you for waiting. That young warrior will tell the sentries around my clan that I am sleeping in the well with the tawtute. They must know where to find me if any problems occur tonight."

"I've seen her around the Na'vi side of the well, but don't know anything about her."

"She became the tsahìk of her clan at a very young age, younger than Neytiri is now. Her mate was killed hunting several years later. She retired very young, after training her new clan leaders, but remained a healer. She is well known for talking to the ancestors in Eywa, and knows the first tsahìk from the Time of the First Songs. That young warrior is a son of a son of her son, and is in training to become the next clan leader. I think he will make an excellent clan leader. He is very much like my mate Eytukan was at that age."

"Thank you for telling me about them. Now, let's find a place for you to sleep. I need to start my rounds. I will tell the humans and avatars where you are staying, so you can be found easily if anyone from your clan asks for you." Doctor Cari puts out her free arm, and Mo'at wraps her arm around it. "Come, Mo'at." They walk to the gate into the human compound and stop before opening it. Doctor Cari points out the baskets of leaves by the gate. "If you need to relieve yourself, this is the place, outside this gate. Thanks to the Na'vi that supply the leaves after our toilet paper debacle. I know the Na'vi live with those animals that clean up..." she points to the animals hiding in the shadows, "...but we don't know much about them, what microscopic life they carry, so we had the fence put up to keep them away from our patients. We call it a tapirus."

"We call those animals fwampop. They are essential for the well-being of all Eywa's children. As you would guess, they taste very bad, so we don't eat them."

"Yes, they also taste bad to avatars and humans. Sometimes the food service personnel prepare the protein dishes in a less than tasty manner, and we call what they serve tapirus burgers. If you come through the gates by yourself, please keep them on the outside. Be careful, there is a steep ramp up just inside."

Doctor Cari opens the gate and closes it as soon as the two women pass through, keeping the fwampop at bay on the outside. They climb the ramp side by side, but Doctor Cari struggles with the steepness. Mo'at easily walks the ramp, it is not as steep or long as the spiral walkways inside Hometree. Like all tawtute, including Jakesully at first, the doctor appears very weak.

"That same researcher that collected videos in the sacred trees also flew drones into many Na'vi villages to record the songs. He tried to fly drones into your Hometree, but failed because of the electromagnetic fields around it. That's how they discovered the unobtainium deposit beneath it. He did put drones in the gathering places of the neighboring forest clans, many Plains clans, and some Eastern Shore clans. Guess there are songs sung in the clan gathering places almost every night."

"That is how we remember and pass on our history, with nightly performances by our singers."

"A team of researchers translated those songs and built timelines for each clan, and then a composite timeline for the Na'vi as a whole. One of the previous administrators of Hell's Gate read those histories, especially the songs for the five Toruk Makto, and decided that an opportunity existed here for humanity to help the Na'vi."

Jake never mentioned this. Maybe another sign of his lack of training? "Oh?"

"Those five organized the clans when natural disasters threatened the survival of the Na'vi."

"Yes, we call those events Eywa's Trials. It is Her way to bring us together whenever we get too separated. The trials are times of great sorrow, because there is always much loss of life, but the Na'vi always come out stronger for them."

"Well, that administrator was also a fan of an ancient television show called MASH, for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. He decided that humans could help with the next disaster, and had a mobile hospital made for Na'vi based on the mobile surgical hospitals developed for human soldiers. He got lots of support from the RDA security forces and upper management. They thought war here was inevitable, and building such a capability under the guise of helping the Na'vi was a brilliant stroke of PR. The biggest challenge is the physical size and weight of a typical Na'vi adult. You are way too big and heavy for humans to handle."

"Many Na'vi see humans as children, because of your size and behavior."

"Well, you look like oversized hairless blue cats to humans. The obvious approach is upsizing and putting wheels on everything, but that only works if you have a smooth floor. So, they designed this decking system we're walking on now."

Mo'at looks down through the clear deck. It is hard like stone but is transparent like water, with a regular pattern of small holes. She can see small plants and the roots of the sacred tree on the ground beneath, with many bright yellow bars arranged in a regular pattern of triangles in between. "I heard from some of the hunters about helping to put this together."

"Yes, they were very helpful. They lifted the space frame, those yellow rods, in place. It is very light but very strong, and sits on legs put down in open spots to keep from damaging the plants and roots of the trees. They also helped putting down the deck. Perforated deck panels are used in exterior places, and solid panels in interior spaces. Here are the living quarters for the humans. The tents on the left are the sleeping, dining, and recreation tents, on the right is the food preparation, storage, and mechanical equipment tents." The women continue walking between the tents.

"Is your human body here?"

"No, I'm in a link back at Hell's Gate. The links are too heavy to move except by the larger gunships, and we don't have them or pilots now. No one thinks they would work here in the well because of the flux vortex, unless they are shielded like those in the link module from site 26 that's around here somewhere. Most of the medical staff do not have avatars. I'm one the lucky ones that do, so we need facilities here for them. Luckily, RDA had this complete MASH unit in storage, and Jake was able to fly some of it out here using his big bird..."

"His toruk?"

"...yeah, I've heard it called that. The rest of it came later on those oversized horses. The electronic instruments stayed behind. Here on the left is the avatar tent. I'm the only avatar driver that is also a medical doctor, uh, healer, but I need help lifting and moving the injured Na'vi, particularly those that are unconscious. So, I convinced all the avatars I could to come out here and help. Except for a few that can't stand the sight of blood or dealing with the odors, they all volunteered. We're on half day shifts, that's more link time than we're used to, but we'll be able to slow down in several days. Here's our first stop." Doctor Cari pulls back a flap to the supply tent, and both walk inside. After setting her binder down on a shipping crate, she grabs a white object with wheels. "First, you'll need a gurney." While she pulls on the object, it opens out and lowers down into a low platform on wheels. "These are made for humans to work on Na'vi, so it will seem too low to you." Next, she grabs a white slab from a box, lays it on the platform, and pulls off the clear plastic wrapper, causing the pad to expand in all directions. She hands the wrapper to Mo'at, who has never seen such a material before. It is clear like the insect wings ikran riders use for their flying goggles, but is much thinner and stronger with no ridges. "This is the mattress for you to lay on." Doctor Cari reaches into another box and gets a rolled up item out and lays in on the mattress. She pulls off its clear plastic wrapper and it unrolls as it expands. "This is your sleeping bag. Only the avatars use these, the patients get sheets, but this will keep you warmer. It gets cool here in the mountains at night." She pulls it open.

Mo'at puts her hand on it and feels the fabric. It feels almost slick, but it is very dry. Never has she seen cloth so finely woven. "Was this made here?"

"Yes, I'm sure this was made in Hell's Gate. They told us that Hell's Gate can produce almost anything. The fiber comes from the food growing vats after it is made into a plastic. Oils and plastics are very similar as they both have long chains of carbon atoms."

Again, Mo'at does not understand her words, but lets them pass. Humans always say things that are not understandable, and few seem to know that. "I have never seen such fine threads before, or the fabric made from it."

"Well, there are much better materials on Earth. This is recyclable, like these wrappers. We'll ship them back for reprocessing, and then see if we can figure out how to do that now that most workers are gone." Doctor Cari wads up the wrappers and stuffs them into another box. "Now, see these handles here?" She hold them up for Mo'at to see.

"Yes."

"After you lay down on the bottom part, fold this over so that the edges meet, and pull on the inside handle, it's called a zipper, and seal yourself in. Here, I'll show you." Doctor Cari sits down on the sleeping bag and turns to lay flat. She pulls the flap over and pulls the zipper around to seal the three sides. Her head is visible through a large hole in the top flap. "On the inside there is a drawstring you can use to make the face hole smaller." The hole shrinks down to surround her nose, covering the rest of her face. Her fingers appear at her nose, and she spreads the hole out again so that her whole head fits through it. "You can adjust the drawstring however you like, but on cold nights, keeping just my nose out to breathe is best for me." She unzips the bag and rolls out of it, standing beside Mo'at.

"Thank you for showing me how to use this, but I don't think I can say its name. It uses sounds not in my language. Sleeping pang."

Doctor Cari laughs. "Sorry, I'm not laughing at you. It's just that the word pang in English means pain. The hardest thing for all avatar drivers to learn is how to position their avatars before breaking the link. Since we humans do not have tails, many of us sleep on our backs. Doing so with an avatar body results in much pain in its tail when the driver gets back into it again. The face hole works best sleeping on your back, but then you hurt your tail. Most of us roll the sleeping bag around so we can sleep on our side with our nose out the face hole."

Now Mo'at is laughing. "Jakesully was very good at hiding the fact that his body went unconscious when he slept. Only recently, when he and Graceaugustine fell unconscious at bad times, were they carried somewhere protected. They usually were placed on their backs and awoke with sore tails."

"I've made that mistake getting out of the link too quickly, and paid the price the next time I linked. Sleeping wrong really is a pain in the butt." The women laugh together.

"So, this sleeping pang was designed for humans, and made bigger for avatars?"

"Yes, it was. And they were made roomier just so the tail can move inside. One avatar driver cut a hole in a smaller bag just to let his tail out, but then some insects bit his tail. After his complaints, the bags were made larger."

"When we sleep out in the forest, we rub a special lotion on our bodies to repel insects. Without that, you will not be able to sleep while the insects feast on you." Both women laugh again.

"That's why I never liked 'roughing it' or camping out. Some of my family really enjoy it, but I never did. Being cold or damp or smelling of smoke was never my idea of fun. Now, maybe, that could be my future." Doctor Cari seems almost sad.

"Once the Omatikaya make their new home, you must come and visit. You will find that the healers and all others that work in or near a great tree stay warm and dry, most of the time. Our noses are very sensitive to smoke, and everyone bathes often. I have not been in your hospital or home, but I think it is very similar in many ways."

Doctor Cari brightens up. "I suppose you're right. I will enjoy visiting you and seeing how you live." She picks up a short, fat stick and pulls off one end. "Have you seen your name written out before?"

"My daughters went to the school to learn from Graceaugustine. They made my name, but I don't remember it now. Writing is not our way to remember."

"I'm going to mark your name on everything so you may use these items as often as you want until this stuff gets taken back to Hell's Gate for recycling. Here is your name." Doctor Cari prints "Mo'at" on the gurney, mattress, and sleeping bag in large letters. She goes to several boxes and collects a wash cloth, towel, toothbrush, and plastic drinking cup, all wrapped in the same clear plastic. After removing the wrappers, she marks them with smaller letters and piles them on the sleeping bag. "You see this hand rail on each end of the gurney? Most everyone hangs their towel and wash cloth on one end, and hangs their clothing on the other while they sleep. The cup and toothbrush go in the rack by the sink just inside the tent. Almost forgot." She grabs a small object from another box, but this is not wrapped. "This is toothpaste specially formulated for avatars and Na'vi." She marks it and drops it onto the pile. She replaces the cap on the marker. "On to our sleeping tent, the last stop."

Doctor Cari picks up her binder and sets it down on the gurney, and pushes the gurney out of the supply tent with Mo'at close behind. They walk the short distance to the avatar tent. When they enter, they see the sink near the door flap, with a number of gurneys holding sleeping avatars on one side, and a number of empty gurneys on the other. The far wall has a screened opening overlooking the well, with the view dominated by the sacred tree.

"Here is the sink. I'll put your toothbrush and toothpaste in your cup, and put them on the left end of the bottom row of the rack. To get water, push this in." She puts her finger on the large button on the faucet. "It stops when you let up. Soap is in this dispenser on one side." She puts her finger on that button. "Just push the button in repeatedly to get as much soap as you want. Usually, one or two squirts are plenty. You see most of the day shift are already in bed, and the night shift is up. Everyone is by the door to make it easier to check. You are familiar with avatars becoming unconscious when their drivers get out of link?"

"Yes. So everyone in here that looks asleep is really unconscious now?"

"Yes, they are. We have someone come through and check them every hour, but none will move until their drivers link in again in the morning. So, let's put you on the far wall by the window so the checkers leave you alone."

"That is good. I need a full night of sleep. After sleeping in the cave, seeing outside is very nice."

Doctor Cari pushes the gurney almost against the wall of the tent. "If it starts to rain and blows in through the window, just untie the flap above it and tie it down over the opening."

"I can do that, but it will not rain tonight. The weather is not right for rain."

"Everyone in here will be out until morning, so if you need anything, just come to the patient tents or wait for a checker."

"Thank you. I am sure I will be fine after all of your help. I have slept alone in the forest many times in the past. I will be fine here with the unconscious avatars."

The two women hug again. Doctor Cari picks up her notebook. "Good night, Mo'at."

"May Eywa be with you, Toctor Kari."

Doctor Cari walks through the flap, leaving Mo'at alone with the sleeping avatars.