Stephen Lang will be back

[archaic]

I suspect there is a means of 'maintaining' inactive avatars.

Like placing it in an amnio tank?

[Clarke]

I suspect there is a means of 'maintaining' inactive avatars.

Well, everyone thinks she's dead, and there's presumably no precedent of people being ressurected.

[Niri Te]

I suspect there is a means of 'maintaining' inactive avatars.

Well, everyone thinks she's dead, and there's presumably no precedent of people being ressurected.

 Well the only thing that pushes a "resurrection" real hard, is the Christian Bible, and most people don't put much stock in that, So I don't think there is much precedent for anyone getting "Resurrected".

[Taronyu Leleioae]

Well, everyone thinks she's dead, and there's presumably no precedent of people being resurrected.

But since we're wildly speculating...  here's my quasi-theory...

We know that individual consciousness and memories (ie "all that she is...") can be transferred.  Interesting that Mo'at believed so because exactly what would a Na'vi transfer "into"?  IE... how is this possible?  This also leads me to pose the question, have any Na'vi gone into Eywa to connect/bond, and fail to return into their physical body?  I think the answer to this is "yes" otherwise Mo'at wouldn't have said "she must pass through the eye of Eywa, and return".  Thus I think that precedent did exist for what I've just listed.  The question becomes, how long a delay (which might be up to a couple/few days for a body without water).

Thus for argument's sake, and sci-fi theorizing..., my questions would be:

1)  How is an Avatar body maintained when not connected?  It's a living, breathing organic "body".  A body can exist without higher brain function.  But it needs to be "fed", and cared for.  (Obviously kept clean.)  And we won't get into muscular atrophy nor bed sores for lying motionless and without muscle use for extended periods of time.  I like the idea of possibly putting an avatar body back into some sort of amniotic fluid (the tube chamber).  Although I'm less than ideal on putting lungs accustomed to air back into liquid again.  (Cues up the old "The Deep Abyss" film where this was sci-fi created for ultra deep water diving.)  Thus, for speculation, how long can an avatar body realistically survive without higher brain function?  This is kinda where the link system comes into play... ie how does the link room/system know which avatar to connect to?  (Also poses the wild thought... can the link system still mess with Jake even though he's permanently transferred his consciousness?)

Thus.  If the above is "possible" in Cameron's mind, then if Grace really did "come to the surface" and say she was willing to come back into the physical world, then bonding her (still alive) avatar body to Eywa might be theoretically possible.  Even if a seriously wild and far fetched idea, provided her avatar body was maintained...

2)  The other question I posed to Alyara the other night...  Was about Norm.  We know his avatar was mortally killed.  But I had a wild thought.  Would it be possible to clone it?  Seriously, the genetic blending of dna has been worked out.  And if the "science" of genetics figured out how to blend Na'vi and earth/human dna, cloning is a simpler task.  Plus, you have scientists like Max who are genetic specialists already there on Pandora.  If the grow/development tubes weren't already all loaded back onto the shuttles and put into orbit (where they might actually bring them back down to make space for all the off-world departures) .  Thus the question really is..., manufacturing the amniotic fluid which was cleaned out.  It just leads to imagine a crazy idea that (if you were staying on Pandora for the rest of your life and not going back to Earth...) wouldn't you give it a shot?  Thus whether or how long cloneable dna is viable, is an interesting question.  Even if it might take you another 6-7 years to find out if a successful clone was created.  Again, just a wild idea that has not been suggested or proposed.  Just where my mind wandered off to...  

[archaic]

I suspect there is a means of 'maintaining' inactive avatars.

Well, everyone thinks she's dead, and there's presumably no precedent of people being ressurected.

 Well the only thing that pushes a "resurrection" real hard, is the Christian Bible, and most people don't put much stock in that, So I don't think there is much precedent for anyone getting "Resurrected".

Non-Christian religions contain resurrection stories, precedent for this is wide spread! So here's just a couple .....
 
Ancient Greek religion, refers to men and women who were resurrected from the dead, and generally made immortal too. Sometimes this was linked to apotheosis/deification.
Asclepius (killed by Zeus) was resurrected and transformed into a major deity.
Memnon, king of Ethiopian, son of Tithonus and Eos (killed by Achilles) Zeus was moved by Eos' tears, resurrected him and made him an immortal.
Aristeas of Proconnesus (Greek sage, circa sixth or seventh century BC) while visiting a fuller, he dropped dead, and was locked in the workshop. The fuller informs the family and news spreads across the town, only to be strenuously denied by  visiting dignitary (from Cyzicene) had met and spoken with Aristeas at length on the road from Artaca.

Sambandar (Hindu saint, circa seventh century ad) sings a pathigam (Hindu hymn) to resurrect the beautiful daughter of a wealthy businessman, Poompavai from earthen pot full of her bones and ashes, twelve years after her death. He offers him her hand in marriage he refuses knowing her resurrection would be short term. Pretty sure Sambandar resurrected someone else, can't find any details on line.

Bodhidharma (Buddhist monk, circa fifth or sixth century ad) credited with teaching the Shaolin monks their techniques. Three years after Bodhidharma's death, Song Yun is said to have seen him walking barefoot, holding one sandal, when asked Bodhidharma said he was going home. The Shaolin monks opened the grave, there was no body, just a dingle sandal.

Zombie, more correctly nzumbe in the Bantu language of north-west Angola, a resurrected or reanimated corpse. Made poplar and misrepresented in contemporary media, Vodun (pronounced vodṹ) means 'spirit.


Then there are documented instances of spontaneous resurrection, where people are misdiagnosed as dead. For instance .....
Brighton Dama Zanthe's funeral has been delayed in Zimbabwe, Family and friends attending his funeral were were filing past a coffin when one of them noticed the dead man’s legs twitching, an ambulance was immediately. He was placed on life support in hospital and later regained conciseness, he is quoted as saying "I feel OK now,"

A British scientist studying heart attack patients says he is finding evidence that suggests that consciousness may continue after the brain has stopped functioning and a patient is clinically dead. Similar results have been reported in rats and salmon.


Just saying.

['Itan Atxur]

He was quoted as saying "I'm okay now"... epic!!

[Clarke]

Well, everyone thinks she's dead, and there's presumably no precedent of people being resurrected.

But since we're wildly speculating...  here's my quasi-theory...

We know that individual consciousness and memories (ie "all that she is...") can be transferred.  Interesting that Mo'at believed so because exactly what would a Na'vi transfer "into"?  IE... how is this possible?  This also leads me to pose the question, have any Na'vi gone into Eywa to connect/bond, and fail to return into their physical body?  I think the answer to this is "yes" otherwise Mo'at wouldn't have said "she must pass through the eye of Eywa, and return".  Thus I think that precedent did exist for what I've just listed.  The question becomes, how long a delay (which might be up to a couple/few days for a body without water).

Thus for argument's sake, and sci-fi theorizing..., my questions would be:

1)  How is an Avatar body maintained when not connected?  It's a living, breathing organic "body".  A body can exist without higher brain function.  But it needs to be "fed", and cared for.  (Obviously kept clean.)  And we won't get into muscular atrophy nor bed sores for lying motionless and without muscle use for extended periods of time.  I like the idea of possibly putting an avatar body back into some sort of amniotic fluid (the tube chamber).  Although I'm less than ideal on putting lungs accustomed to air back into liquid again.  (Cues up the old "The Deep" film where this was sci-fi created for ultra deep water diving.)  Thus, for speculation, how long can an avatar body realistically survive without higher brain function?  This is kinda where the link system comes into play... ie how does the link room/system know which avatar to connect to?

Indefinitely, if it's anything like humans... if you put it on life support. I'm concerned that there's no reason for people to do that, if it doesn't occur to anyone that Grae could be retrieved from Eywa.

(Also poses the wild thought... can the link system still mess with Jake even though he's permanently transferred his consciousness?)

Well, everyone with the correct genetics to operate that Avatar is dead.  

2)  The other question I posed to Alyara the other night...  Was about Norm.  We know his avatar was mortally killed.  But I had a wild thought.  Would it be possible to clone it?  Seriously, the genetic blending of dna has been worked out.  And if the "science" of genetics figured out how to blend Na'vi and earth/human dna, cloning is a simpler task.  Plus, you have scientists like Max who are genetic specialists already there on Pandora.  If the grow/development tubes weren't already all loaded back onto the shuttles and put into orbit (where they might actually bring them back down to make space for all the off-world departures) .  Thus the question really is..., manufacturing the amniotic fluid which was cleaned out.  It just leads to imagine a crazy idea that (if you were staying on Pandora for the rest of your life and not going back to Earth...) wouldn't you give it a shot?  Thus whether or how long cloneable dna is viable, is an interesting question.  Even if it might take you another 6-7 years to find out if a successful clone was created.  Again, just a wild idea that has not been suggested or proposed.  Just where my mind wandered off to...  

I think several fanfics use this idea to let Norm interact with the Na'vi again.

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

Since it is unknown when an avatar will be linked to its driver, the avatar has to be able to maintain low level life functions. It can probably function without any special care for a couple days. But it will need food, water, etc. There is probably a way to control the avatar to enable it to drink, and maybe even eat. Food and water might even be given through some sort of an 'IV' connection. So, I see a strong case that something like this is built into an avatar. I don't think it involves going all the way back to the amino tank, though. That is impractical for day-to-day operations.

It was the James Cameron film 'The Abyss' that featured the fluid breathing suits. Interestingly, this was my favorite film for quite a few years.

Link interference? I hadn't thought about that. Its possible that when Eywa rewires the brain of the avatar, that the remote control function is disabled. The nature of the link is another subject entirely. I don't think it is radio as we understand it. if it was, Colonel Quaritch would have been able to easily 'jam' it with technology readily available to him.

I suspect that most or all of the Na'vi brain has to be present for the avatar to work. therefore, it is relatively easy to 'map' a real conscience into that brain. I suspect there are some advantages and limitations though, to the avatar brain vs a real Naʼvi.

I really don't know the state of Grace's avatar. It is possible the failed attempt to map her conscience into her avatar killed the avatar. But I also suspect it may not have, for the sake of the next films. It would have had to be put on 'unlinked support' as discussed above, or taken back to Hell's Gate for longer term storage (which I also think is possible, and that may mean the amino tanks.) The fact that this was possible tells me that 'soul re-mapping' sis something that the Naʼvi have done in the past. Only James Cameron knows for sure.

As far as I remember, Norm took a shoulder shot, that is not likely immediately lethal. But certainly painful enough that it forced him to break the link. (Where did Norm go after that scene?) So, his avatar could have been taken back to Hell's Gate for 'repair'.

One thing is for sure. for a technology as complex as an avatar, we had to by thsat time, be much better at 'fixing bodies' than we are today!

[Taronyu Leleioae]

I came across an interesting set of links when I was looking at the latest post that CyanRachel posted about Pandora Blue Prints for Walt Disney World (Florida).  On the side of the page had 4 other links to recent Avatar film discussions.  One was how a very recent comparison by a Yahoo News writer regarding Avatar vs Apocalypse Now in terms of shooting angles, shooting scenes out of cockpits and the destruction of the landscape.  The link to the article (written a couple days ago) is here.


But the relevant comment I wanted to share was this...

The influence of 'Apocalypse Now' was also seen in the character of Quaritch. This apparent psychopath - although, we are reliably informed by the actor who played him, Stephen Lang, that his character evolves over the series as a whole - has been compared to the similarly bloodthirsty Colonel Kurtz in Francis Ford Copolla's 1979 film. Whether or not Kurtz was an inspiration to Cameron, we don't know, but it is clear that the similarly harsh environments could spark such similar characters.

Wondering...apprehensively...what Stephen Lang meant by this...  
Is Quaritch going to be in all 3 additional films?  

[Niri Te]

I came across an interesting set of links when I was looking at the latest post that CyanRachel posted about Pandora Blue Prints for Walt Disney World (Florida).  On the side of the page had 4 other links to recent Avatar film discussions.  One was how a very recent comparison by a Yahoo News writer regarding Avatar vs Apocalypse Now in terms of shooting angles, shooting scenes out of cockpits and the destruction of the landscape.  The link to the article (written a couple days ago) is here.


But the relevant comment I wanted to share was this...

The influence of 'Apocalypse Now' was also seen in the character of Quaritch. This apparent psychopath - although, we are reliably informed by the actor who played him, Stephen Lang, that his character evolves over the series as a whole - has been compared to the similarly bloodthirsty Colonel Kurtz in Francis Ford Copolla's 1979 film. Whether or not Kurtz was an inspiration to Cameron, we don't know, but it is clear that the similarly harsh environments could spark such similar characters.

Wondering...apprehensively...what Stephen Lang meant by this...  
Is Quaritch going to be in all 3 additional films?  

 The last announcement that was released was that he WAS contract for all three.

[archaic]

One movie may be a prequel?
If so, plenty of scope for Quaritch.

Maybe there's to be a whole mass of flashbacks in Avatar two and three?
Doesn't feel likely for Cameron, but perhaps.

Maybe Avatar two and three are both sidequels, looking at the same/overlapping time period(s) from radically different perspectives?
Again, doesn't feel likely for Cameron, but perhaps.

No, I reckon we may have ourselves a Quaritch clone, either that or future medicine was able to somehow save him?
I feel we have established he is likely to have been spared the effects of Na'vi neurotoxin, and the absence of huge quantities of comedy horror movie gushing blood spurts, strongly tells me that Neytiri missed his heart and major blood vessels.
So maybe, just maybe, it's just possible he survived.

[Niri Te]

  I SAW where those arrows hit, she got his blood pump, he had NO heart.

[archaic]

Not everyone has theirs on the left.
It's rare, around one in twelve hundred people have 'Dextrocardia situs inversus, where the heart is on the 'wrong side'.

Ask any surgeon and they'll tell you, people look different inside. Hell a third kidney, for example, is not that uncommon.

[Niri Te]

 That may be, but the amount of species lethal neurotoxin on TWO weapons the human size of Spears, I doubt that ANY Human could survive. It's either a Clone, flashbacks, or he is "with" the Evil version of Eywa.

[Taronyu Leleioae]

It's one thing to create a clone.  But then there is memories and learning.

Technologically, this is physically extremely possible and likely.  If the RDA can create a Na'vi based avatar from successfully blending human and Na'vi dna, and "grow" it in a tube to adulthood with muscle tone, then simply using pure human dna to create a clone using the same technology shouldn't be a problem.  And Quaritch states to Jake that he (Jake) could get his "real" legs back.  Meaning they can regrow body parts.  Perhaps even on the existing body?

Further, this is 150 years ish in the future.  Anyone going to Pandora would have had dna, blood and whatever other samples taken before departing Earth.  It would be a given in medicine at that point.

But it's the spirit that remains the big unknown.

[Niri Te]

It's one thing to create a clone.  But then there is memories and learning.

Technologically, this is physically extremely possible and likely.  If the RDA can create a Na'vi based avatar from successfully blending human and Na'vi dna, and "grow" it in a tube to adulthood with muscle tone, then simply using pure human dna to create a clone using the same technology shouldn't be a problem.  And Quaritch states to Jake that he (Jake) could get his "real" legs back.  Meaning they can regrow body parts.  Perhaps even on the existing body?

Further, this is 150 years ish in the future.  Anyone going to Pandora would have had dna, blood and whatever other samples taken before departing Earth.  It would be a given in medicine at that point.

But it's the spirit that remains the big unknown.

 That's all very true, but the Rebel Ayhumon that were allowed to stay, are partially comprised of medical personnel, they HAVE ALL of the equipment at the complex, so WHERE are Trudy Chacon, and Tsu'tey ??

[Taronyu Leleioae]

That's all very true, but the Rebel Ayhumon that were allowed to stay, are partially comprised of medical personnel, they HAVE ALL of the equipment at the complex, so WHERE are Trudy Chacon, and Tsu'tey ??

All theoretical discussion of course...   And I'm admittedly going off topic on a related tangent...   

No question Max and other scientists have backgrounds including genetics.  But they may not have equipment to "start" the cloning process.  However I had wondered about that for Norm.  They already had his avatar body (if it can be found and it's intact...) as a successful genetic mixing.  They likely still have a grow tube as the shuttles needed to ditch them to create space for those returning.  Question would be what about the tube liquid to grow the avatar in.  They know what it is.  But can it be made (or a suitable substitute)?

Trudy gave her life.  Tsu'tey did the same and was at peace.  
But if I were now isolated on Pandora with a bit more time on my hands, I'd wonder what could be done to clone Norm's avatar.  

[archaic]

"They can fix a spinal, if you’ve got the
money. But not on vet benefits, not in
this economy"

Exact techniques and procedures not mentioned, but likely using stem cell therapy.

While the RDA may not have Jake's DNA on file, they will have Tommy's - needed to construct the avatar.

It's forming neural pathways, programming what is essentially an empty vessel with memories, that's the trick.
Read my fanfic Avatar2 script for full details on how I think a Quaritch clone might come to be and be programmed.
Scene 13 .....
and
Scene 16 .....

[archaic]

Spoiler: Might as well go for the full set!

Hell's Gate med bay, some one is propped up on pillows, from the wast up they are covered in bandages, not even their eye's are visible.  There are a number of wires and tubes plugged into a whole pile of equipment, and several drips. This person are alone in the room, apart from the sounds of the equipment, all is quiet.
Dr Max Patel enters followed closely by Norm Spellman wheeling a trolley with a steaming bowl full of something, towels, and fresh bandages.
Max "Good morning Cleopatra!"
Trudy's voice is huskier than before, and muffled, but clearly in a good mood "That is so not funny, ouch."
Norm "Hey there."
Trudy lifts her hand, Norm takes it, and caresses it tenderly.
Trudy "Norm."
Max "You are officially one lucky lady, apart form the eye you're progressing nicely, I see no reason why most of those bandages can't come off for good by the end of the week. Need to keep using the cream for a couple of weeks more though."
Trudy "So how's my eye looking?"
Max "I'm no eye specialist, but it is improving. Wish I could tell you how much better it's going to get, just going to wait and see."
Trudy "Or not."
Max "Were you two expecting the pitter-patter of tiny feet?"
Trudy and Norm "What?" there is a happy note in Trudy's voice, but only surprise in Norm's. Norm looks at trudy with a mix of affection and pity.
Max "I'll take that as a 'no' then." pauses, " Trudy, you are, with child."
Norm "Wow, I'm going to be a dad. Umm it is mine, right?" with a hint of sarcasm.
Trudy sits up an whacks Norm in arm, laughing "Yes it is! Oww, Cheeky."
Norm looking at the bandages covering Trudy's stomach "Your going to be the first human born on pandora."
Max "First human born outside their indigenous star system.
Trudy serious now "Fist human who's never seen earth."
All three take this on board for a moment.

Max "I'll leave you three alone, remember, wash, cream and bandage."
Max leaves. Norm starts removing the bandages from her hand and arm.
Norm "So how is it?"
Trudy "That pain killer's good stuff."
Norm "Don't go mad with it, it's pretty potent."
Trudy "I suppose we need to think about names."
Pause. More bandages.
Norm "How about Evi, means child in Na'vi."
Trudy "I had a pony called Evy, a mare with a real vicious streak. Didn't like her."
Norm "You never told me you had a pony"
Trudy "You never asked. I had 3, 'Jacob's Ladder', gelding, nice temperament, 'Lady Evangelene' (Evy) and 'Painted Warrior' my favorite, 13'2 chestnut gelding, great all rounder, nice personality. Totally mental. And a horse called 'Shadowfax'. 17'1 gray mare, strong, very competent, nice horse (if a bit big for me), but I'd moved on to boys. And flying."
Norm "You never told me you where rich either."
Trudy "We're not. Not any more. We lost everyone. And everything." pause " Just me and my bro' now, and we're not exactly close"
Norm "Pistol whipping him probably didn't help any."
Trudy "We've given each other worse when we were kids, You know that scar on my thigh?
Norm "Mmm?"
Trudy "Mmm, bow and arrow, he was grounded for a month. And a third cousin on mars." pause "People don't want to know you if they find out you where rich but lost it all, so I don't advertise. The two of us joined the military, I had my pilots license already so I went Airforce, fancied myself as top gun, ended up in transport, and usually in trouble, [laugh] I knew all the guards in the pen by first name, and most of their birthdays too. Bro went for the army, too many action flicks as a kid. Ended up behind a desk in the stores for most of his time, won a couple of martial arts competitions while he was there."
Norm "Yeah?"
Trudy "Yeah, he had loads of trophies at home. Had to leave them behind."
Norm "He never left your bed side while you were unconscious."
Norm has finished unwrapping her arms, and is now unwrapping her face, the back of her head has lots of superficial burns, and a couple of nasty gashes, held shut with butterfly sutures, the hair is just starting to re-grow, her face has a line around it, she was burned up to the edge of an exopack face mask, but both eye's have pads taped over them, Norm removes them, two black eyes, her left eye is very swollen and has a gash that runs from her eyebrow (which is partly shaved off for the sutures to stick better), and half an inch into her cheek.
Trudy "So what about you? Dad."
Norm "Dad, guess I'll have to get used to that, Mom."
Norm unwraps Trudy's neck and shoulders,
Norm "There's not much to tell, dad worked in construction, ended up as site manager, and died suddenly when I was 19. We lived in a nice apartment, mom was a waitress in a small time dinner till I was 8. Then the owner died and unexpectedly left half of it to her. The other half went to his cat. He'd had some feud with the rest of his family and he didn't want them to get the place. I studied hard, got a phd in exobiology, managed to get a job in pandoran research, then was lucky enough to get on the Avatar program. Went to pandora, fell for this gorgeous woman, and had a kid. Will you marry me?"
Trudy "Not looking like an Egyptian mummy I won't."
Camera is careful not to show trudy, but we see norm removing bandages, then taking a flannel and washing her on the bed, lifting her arms and legs into shot.
Norm "Where should we take our honeymoon? Rome? Paris? Cairo?"
Trudy "I hear the Hallelujah Mountains are nice this time of year."
Washing.
Norm "We should be talking about names."
Trudy "Actually can we skip the baby names, for now. Just can't get my head around 'going to be a mom', just doesn't seem real."
Washing.
Trudy "I know we won, but that's all I've heard. Everything else has just been, 'medical'. What gossip have I missed?"
Norm "Tsu'tey is off life support, has been for about a week. No human would have survived, but it looks like he'll be released in a few days time. Na'vi really are as tough as old boots."
Trudy "They have bones reinforced with naturally occurring carbon fiber, they are very hard to kill."
Norm with a broad smile "Yes Colonel, did he always give the same lecture?"
Trudy "Word for word."
Norm "Mo'at's acting 'eyktan, it's within their tradition, olo'eyktan would lead war parties or hunts for weeks sometimes, Tsahìk would run things back at hometree, fighting off surprise attacks sometimes. Max is confident my avatar will be heeled in another week or so. Jake and Neytiri are thinking about having kids."
Trudy "What am I not being told about Jake. I'm told he's fine, then I over hear people are going to his funeral. Then they have been and it was very nice, now him and Neytiri are thinking about having kids. How dose that work? Did they make up the funeral as some bad joke to tease me?"
Norm "Jake is fine, His funeral was nice, Jake thanked every one for coming personally. Most of the Omatikaya came, all of the other clans sent as least a couple of representatives."
Trudy "Think I need to cut back on the pain killers."
Norm "No, it's not that, Eywa transfered his spirit, out of his human body into his avatar."
Trudy "I do need to cut back on the pain killers."
Norm "The funeral was mostly to say good bye to his previous life, as a human, he no longer wants anything to do with. There's something that's haunting him, but he wont admit anything to me."
Washing
Norm "I wonder if he's said anything to Neytiri."
Washing.
Trudy "So, only thinking about having kids?"
Norm laughs.
Washing.
Trudy "When they make an avatar, they blend human DNA with the Na'vi, err...."
Norm "N V Transcriptase."
Trudy "So Jake's now a hybrid, can he have children?"
Norm finishes washing, drops the flannel into the bowl one last time, begins gently blotting Trudy dry with the towel.
Norm "Not sure, it's not that much human DNA. But when I asked Max, he changed the subject."
Trudy "Could you remove the DNA in the lab?"
Norm "I couldn't, I don't think Max could either."
Trudy "Any genetic engineers stay behind?"
Norm "Loise took an arrow in the fighting, to be honest that's no great loss. Carlo, Natasha and Xander went back to earth."
pause, more blotting
Norm "Bill, he stayed, phd applied genetics, no hands on work since then though."
Trudy "Is Bill the avatar driver with the pilot license?"
Norm "Yep, he's been doing all the flying lately, been bugging me to see how you're getting on. Wants to get back to his field research, barely clocked an hour a day in his avatar lately," smiles "keeps saying he'll forget how to drive it."
Norm continues drying
Trudy "I'm glad I won't to be the only pilot on pandora."
Norm "There's a couple who are up for learning. At the moment we have one operational samson, that's it."
Trudy "Who's going to keep it flight worthy? Did anyone from maintenance stay behind?"
Norm "You haven't heard! Nine refused to leave, Stan said he'd take a Na'vi arrow before he went back to earth."
Trudy "Stan never did want to talk about life back home."
Norm finishes drying, scoops out some cream from the bowl, rubs his hands together a little to spread it. Places his hands on Trudy's back.
Trudy "That's cold."
Norm "Sorry."
Trudy "Don't be, cold's good."
Norm, rubs the cream in gently.
Norm "When they get the second Samson flying, it's coming on nicely. Was in bits all over the hangar, but it's mostly back together. Stan say's they going to take a look at completing the second dragon."
Norm rubbing the cream in gently.
Trudy "I used to fly C-21's, transport version. Never the gunships. Well, hover taxi round the base, but I wasn't cleared to fly them outside the fence."
Norm "No? How come?"
Trudy "Don't ask! Lets just say I spent a lot of time in the slammer."
More cream.
Norm "A couple of the guys are working on an exopack for the Na'vi so they can come inside, they call it an endopack. Neytiri and a few others are curious to see what the inside of Hell's Gate looks like, Bill suggested we could have a regular movie night, in the commissary."
Trudy "They'll be back wont they, the earthlings."
Norm looks at her then looks away, "Mmm."
Trudy "We can't stay here."
Norm "They won't be back for a while."
Trudy "No, but sooner or later we will need to be some place else. I was told Quaritch smashed up the shack."
Norm "Yeah, badly damaged one of the link machines too. Only good for spare parts now."
Norm still applying the cream.
Norm "Relocating is something the construction guys are already looking at." pause "5 stayed, they were with the flight tech's when they said they wouldn't leave."
Trudy "So how many have stayed."
Norm "You know the chef in the commissary, the crazy frenchman, the one who named it 'Hell's Kitchen'?"
Trudy "Maurice, I bet he was first on the shuttle, he couldn't wait to leave."
Norm "He stayed."
Trudy looks at Norm in amazement, but the effect is slightly ruined by the bruising and swelling.
Norm "All the avatar drivers stayed, half the support team, 9 flight tech's, 5 from construction, 1 dumper driver, 1 dozer driver, 3 or 4 site maintenance crew, the stuck up air traffic controller, a couple from the offices. Your brother stayed and a couple others. And Jake, obviously. It's around 60 in total."
Trudy "I thought it would just be me & bro. Some of the avatar drivers. Maybe a couple of white coats. And Jake. 20, maybe 25 but no more."
Norm "Too many human survivors, around 60 more than venture stars cryo units could take."
Norm still applying the cream.
Norm, slightly disturbed, "Too many human survivors. I never thought I'd have to say that."
Norm finishes applying the cream. Wipe his hands clean his hands clean on the only unused towel, and picks up a couple of pads and roll of bandage.
Trudy looks at the bandages, then at norm, sighs deeply, with a pained expression. She holds out both arms in front of her,
"And now my pharaoh impression."


http://forum.learnnavi.org/index.php?topic=7262.msg176815#msg176815