Chapter 3

Only days before their arrival, the militia reclaimed one of their older research institutes, which had been inhabited by some of the humans who were allowed to stay the first time around. Surprisingly, they recovered the fully intact Avatar of none other than Dr. Grace Augustine.

Due to her part in the first battle, the superiors struggled with the decision of what to do with her. In the end, her memories were implanted to use her abundant knowledge of the Na'vi language and culture. They seemed to have left out some major parts to make sure she would not run off at the first possible moment.

When she woke up, she started quarrelling with Quatrich right away, which seemed to be a good thing. He was also allowed to talk to her, but at first, she only recognised Jake. Tom had a fun time explaining to her how he was the twin brother who had died, and after that, he got to explain how not only he but also she had died.

The woman was truly a genius in her field and adapted pretty quickly to her new body. She tested Tom on his speaking skills and was not too disappointed with his flawless but somewhat formal language.

"You know I could have used you from the beginning. Jake was so much trouble I could hardly believe it," she said in a fond manner.

"Yeah, well, I was indisposed for the time, but I guess I'm grateful that you kept an eye on him." He replied in a rather dry humor. Both of them had not yet fully come to terms with being alive again.

After that, he made sure to share all his gathered information with the woman. It all made her so angry, but for both of their sakes, she kept quiet.

"Do you know that sharing this with me will mean breaking out of here?" Tom blinked at Grace in surprise.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, obviously they did not give me back all of my memories. If what Jake said in his log is true, the Omatikaya will have brought me to the Tree of Souls. We might just get some information there." Tom had to think about that for some time. Assuming the Tree of Souls was some kind of connection to a hive mind, that the Na'vi had access to, Grace might just be right with her guess.

"You are right. Right now, we are just what they intend us to be: glorified hostages. We need to get out and help my brother." Both of them sat in silence for some time, internally debating how to get out of the colonel's watch.

"You know, it is somewhat ridiculous how little they think of me, or us. Do they feel so sure of themselves that we won't betray them just because we miss some memories? It is either that, or they really just brought us along to pressure Jake." Tom thought out loud.

"They did not even bother to chip us or even put up some cameras. They just locked us up in this room." He continued.

"you don't know much about the base here, do you?" Grase questioned. "Because if you did, you' know that getting out of here without outside help is nothing we can pull of. We will have to wait for them to take us out. Heaven knows when that will happen." She sighed and pressed two fingers to the bridge of her nose.

Luckily their chance presented itself only an hour later when Quatrich ordered them to come along on a mission to one container. Apparently, Jake had used it before the final battle, and they wanted all the data that was left in it. Grace and Tom were the most suited to deal with the 17-year-old technology.

They packed up as well as they could without arousing suspicion and left with Quatrich and the other Avatars. The helicopter flight was rather short due to the Flux, which made it hard to fly. So they had to walk to the container on foot for quite some time.

Tom was absolutely mesmerised by the beauty of Pandora during the trip. He exchanged excited looks with Grace and received cutting remarks from the soldiers for his childish behaviour. However, Tom was not bothered at all.

Unlike his brother, Tom had a pretty calm temperament and was rarely riled up by insults or anything else. Of course, the reckless ways of man irritated and infuriated him especially when it came to the destruction of nature, but he concealed that anger with years of experience to act the way others wanted him to act.

When they arrived at the site, they found the demolished and overgrown container. A few meters to the side, a Robosuit laid in the same condition. Quatrich went to the suit and pulled out an arrow and a skull. Nausea overcame Tom, and he rushed to the nearest tree to vomit when the man voiced his thoughts about his own death and then crushed the skull in one hand. How twisted was the man to destroy his own remains? How twisted was this whole situation that he was even able to do that?

He was startled out of his thoughts when he heard the cracking sounds under his feet. He recognised an animal skeleton. From the form and height of that thing, it must have been one hell of a big cat, maybe a Palulukan that Grace had told him about. He crouched down, went for the head on impulse, and retrieved several long and still sharp looking teeth. He pocketed the teeth and spoke a short prayer in thanks for the animal.

"Hey, you have a job, whimp! Go and get the data out of this thing!" bellowed one of the other soldiers.

Grace had already entered the container and put on an act of looking busy. She told Tom to recalibrate some wires for her, and they both knew that was bullshit. There was nothing to get from those computers, but Quatrich did not know that. So Tom went to make some pretty wire knots while looking as focused as if he were defusing a bomb. At one point, he showed his work to Grace, and she struggled to keep her face straight.

Then something in the woods distracted the soldiers and they went of. Grace took the opportunity to bolt out of the container taking her pack with her. Tom was about to do the same when he heard the cry of a child from the woods. His heart constricted for a second. He might just do something very stupid but a strong feeling in his gut told him to go.

"Grace, take my bag too. I'll meet you at the tree," he said as he handed her his bag. She didn't have time to reply before he bolted off in the opposite direction and disappeared into the woods.

Years of bullying and abuse had taught Tom a thing or two about hiding. He was a natural graceful runner, which allowed him to quickly gain ground on the soldiers. By pure luck or perhaps skill (probably luck), he found the source of the cries before the soldiers did. Three Na'vi children, not older than 15, and a human boy in a loincloth, around 17 years old, huddled together in fear. With his sharp ears, he heard the Na'vi boy whisper into a comm, "It is me, Kiri, Spider… and Tuk." The boys looked at the small child at his side, his face was contorted as if in pain, and said: "We're at the old shack."

Tom heard the soldiers approaching and reacted quickly. He let out a bird cry that he and Jake had used for years to call each other. Only the small child turned her head in his direction. Surprisingly, she ran straight to Tom and into his arms. He realized in shock that the others had already been found, so he shushed the small child, motioned for her to climb on his back, and when she did, he quickly left the area. When he was sure none of the soldiers had noticed them, he found a big tree that had formed a small cave beneath its roots.

"Here, little one, hide for me under there." She did as she was told and then looked up at him with big eyes. "Why are you wearing such weird clothes, Daddy?" He was startled by that last part. The child, Tuk he assumed, thought of him as her father. How could that be? It took him an embarrassing amount of time to realize what could have made her say that. He stared at her in shock for a moment, but then smiled a wide and honest smile.

"No, little Tuk. I'm not Jake, but I would never mean you harm." Without giving her much of an explanation, he said, "I must now look for your siblings. I must make sure they are safe." Tuk nodded and hid in the cave when Tom turned around and went back. The first thing he noticed was the silence. Three soldiers lay dead on the forest floor, arrows sticking from their bodies. The children were gone, and the smell of blood and fear hung in the air.

There was nothing more for him to do except to return to Tuk, but she was gone as well when he returned. He prayed that it was Jake who had found his little girl and not one of the soldiers.

He then turned and left in the direction of the Tree of Souls.

Finally some action. Tom and Jake nearly met but it was not their time jet. Thank you for reading this story.