The safety brief concluded and everyone was free to go on their way. Brinn Emberleigh lingered cluelessly, unsure where she was meant to go. She glanced around as soldiers stood and exited in groups. The pressure of a poke on her shoulder made her turn. She was met with the narrow face of a tall man with brown hair. "Hey, you look kinda lost." He offered his hand with a friendly smile and she shook it, "I'm Norm, Norm Spellman."
Brinn let out a breathy laugh, "Yeah, I am a little bit lost. I'm Brinn." Norm's eyebrows raised in recognition, "Brinn Emberleigh?" She nodded. "Yes! I-" Norm interrupted Brinn with a pat on her shoulder, "We've gotta let Dr. Augustine know you're here! Come on, I'll take you to her." So, Norm began to lead her out of the room. Brinn found it easy to keep track of Norm because of the massive duffel bag he carried on his back. It was easily the size of his torso. The walk there was anything but silent. Norm kept asking questions over his shoulder about her life, where she went to school, and her favorite thing about Pandora.
"Mine has to be the language of the Na'vi." He said, then spoke a sentence in Na'vi. Brinn grinned. She was always intrigued by the complexity of the language that the Na'vi people spoke. Without warning, Norm picked up his pace as if he was chasing something. "Excuse me, excuse me." He mumbled as he slipped past people in the crowded hallway. "Jake!" Norm called out, slowing to a stop beside a wheelchair bound man. Brinn recognized him as the man on the aircraft with her. "You're Jake, right? Tom's brother." Norm said as he walked in step with the man's wheelchair. Brinn followed a few paces behind, listening as they spoke.
"Wow!" Norm said in awe, "You look just like him." After a confused look from Jake, Norm exhaled sharply and outstretched his hand and Jake shook it. "Sorry, I'm Norm- Spellman. I went through avatar training with him." Jake simply nodded. Brinn stayed quiet, reluctant to interrupt the one-sided conversation. The three continued in silence, with Norm and Jake in the lead, until they reached a wide entryway into a room on their right.
"Into the bio-lab. We're gonna spend a lot of time up here." Norm chuckled as he entered. He greeted the scientists inside, receiving only a couple hellos in return. "Hey! How you doing? Norm, avatar driver." Brinn's lips stretched into a taut, polite smile. "Uh, link…" He murmured to himself, then spoke up, "Here's the link room right here." He pointed forward and said, "This is where we're connecting to the avatar." The dimly lit area smelled surprisingly pleasant and clean. There were multiple scientists working at desks with technical equipment, while others stood beside ten-foot-long glass tanks, tapping on screens showing complex information.
Jake moved over a few feet, staring solemnly at the containers filled with blue liquid. Brinn walked to his side, studying every detail of the room in front of her. But, more importantly, the beautiful, lanky blue creatures resting inside of the containers. The avatars. Remotely-controlled bodies grown from a mix of human DNA and Na'vi DNA. "Wow." Brinn breathed. She felt a smile of glee form on her lips.
Norm walked up to one of the glass containers and rested his hand at the top, looking down into it. A curly-haired man wearing glasses and a lab coat paused what he was doing and greeted Jake and Brinn with a handshake, "Hey, welcome." Jake replied with a brief, "Hey." And Brinn said, "Hi." The scientist glanced at Norm and added, "Welcome to Pandora, good to have you." Norm followed the scientist to a different container a few feet away. Brinn heard Jake laugh in disbelief behind her, "Dang! They got big."
Norm looked back at him with a smile, "Yeah! They fully mature on the flight out." Norm then turned to the scientist and said, "So the proprioceptive sims seem to work really well." The scientist responded, "Yeah, they've got great muscle tone." Brinn shook her head in shock at how truly magnificent of a sight she was experiencing.
The avatars were huge! Nine feet at least. The one that they were gathered around looked exactly like Norm. The curly-haired scientist continued, "It'll take us a few hours to get them decanted, but you guys can take them out tomorrow." Brinn broke into an ample grin. She felt a flip of excitement in her stomach. "There's yours, and there's yours." He said to Jake and Brinn, pointing at two nearby containers. Brinn slowly approached hers while Jake approached his own, each with a look of wonder in their eyes. In the background Norm and the doctor introduced each other.
"Hey. Dr. Norm Spellman."
"Dr. Max Patel. Great to meet you."
"Good to meet you, yeah."
Brinn immediately recognized the features of her own face in the face of her avatar. "She's beautiful…" She listened to the subtle gurgling of liquid and thumping of the avatar's heartbeat, pressing her fingers against the cold glass. Brinn glanced over the top of the container to watch Jake. When Norm knelt down beside him, Jake said, "Looks like him." Norm chuckled, tilted his head side to side, and replied, "No, it looks like you." After a pause, he added, "This is your avatar now, Jake." Brinn studied Jake's face as his stoic expression turned into a half-smile.