Chapter 2: Ketuwong
She lifted the fern away from her face, to move forward, gingerly walking along mossy ground, feet bare, absorbing the senses assaulting her; the slight moisture of the earth, the wet wood, the firm, somewhat prickly surface of the plant she pushed out of her way, trying to make out the scene before her, sunlight shining into her eyes. Hushed buzzing of insects, a familiar sensation, coupled with a foreign, but instinctual knowledge as the chirping and squealing of other animals in the bush.
A brief interlude...
"Grace, there's someone I'd like you meet."
Grace, only just shaken from her stupor, a fleeting moment in which she felt the native, the Na'vi, had imparted on her, still staring at the door which led to the creature's containing room.
"Grace?"
Her professor's voice finally broke through, shattering the tingling sensations of her illusions. She turned around, meeting the gaze of two men. Dr. Mani appeared as cheerful as could be, and she could see why upon the arrival of his guest. The man's dark hair and fair features did little to set her at ease. Even worse, this man was not at all unknown to her. She instantly recognized the man's voice, as he introduced himself, that placating tone that spoke regularly on the mainstream news and RDA scientific broadcasts, as well as many scientific journals. Dr. Cordell Lovecraft was perhaps one of the most controversial men in history.
"Pleased to meet you, Miss Augustine, is it?"
Grace cordially shook hands with him, maintaining a tight grip.
"I've been following your work for a long time, doctor." She nodded in an obligated respect. Although she was not partial to the way that many of Dr. Lovecraft's subject had been treated, or what had resulted of several experiments, the results had indeed been astounding, and offered rare opportunities for further exploration. Like many others, she rationalized it as a necessary evil for the bounty that could be brought from it.
"So you are familiar with the plans that are currently in the works?"
Dr. Mani laughed, interjecting, "I challenge you to name a competent scientist who is not!"
Grace nodded in agreement, cordially, without actually smiling. "Dark Dreamer is quite renowned in the scientific community, and as it pertains to this lab, I'm certain you're here to study the specimens?"
"Dr. Lovecraft is going to be working closely with our team, Grace. We're hoping that the creatures will respond better to something with a similar phenotype. I don't know if it's truly a necessity for the purposes of the RDA, but the International Faith Council along with other groups do have an interest in the savages."
"I've heard about the theory. I think learning their language might serve us as well." Grace folded her arms across her chest, trying to keep from grabbing a cigarette.
Dr. Mani beamed with pride. "Our Miss Augustine was the first to begin initial tracing and recording of the creatures' language. Apparently they call themselves the 'Na'vi' – it's quite fascinating!"
"As wonderful a discovery as that is, Miss Augustine, I'm afraid my work lies in genetics." Dr. Lovecraft gave a brief, forced smile. "Now if you'd show me to the specimens?"
Dr. Mani nodded, "Yes, right this way."
Grace watched the two men walk away, and finally succumbed, pulling a cigarette out of the pack, inhaling sharply after lighting the end. In the last two weeks, the female Na'vi's condition had gradually declined. Grace did everything she could think of to try to bring her solace, but still unable to really understand the language, Grace could only pick up on a sense of what the Na'vi was saying. She had begun to decode a small amount of what was spoken; however, she had not managed to successfully in engage in true two-way conversation. She made a point to record every sound that came from the enclosure, and with every word, every action that accompanied the sounds she watched, trying to piece together the meaning behind it all. Although several other scientists, and others, including the few lingering Terran anthropologists and linguists had stopped by to observe as well, Grace had perhaps the clearest understanding with the creature due to the sheer amount of time she was spending recording and re-evaluating the alien's movements and speech.
As if on cue, the Na'vi female started screaming in the other room. Grace shoved barely-used cigarette into an ashtray and ran to see what was wrong, hoping that she, as the primary communicator with the native, could ease the situation. Upon seeing what was taking place inside of the room, Grace felt an overwhelming sense of guilt. One of the dead male Na'vi that had been brought with them earlier was being pulled out of cryo, and the female, fully aware of her dead companion, wailed, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Ma tsmukan..."
She knelt, her body nearly pressed against the glass, hands trying to reach through, as tears streamed down her face. The glass there was already covered with dozens of handprints, with each time the Na'vi had struck the wall of her prison, angry and fearful. Her odd, four-fingered hand now pressed against it, as if she was reaching for the dead Na'vi, beyond exhaustion.
Grace quietly shut off the microphone, effectively cutting the sound feed from the enclosure to the rest of the lab, and walked up to the dead Na'vi male, unsure of how to breach the subject with Dr. Mani and Lovecraft.. Upon the sight of the great creature in front of her, Grace was momentarily in a measure of awe. The sheer size of the Na'vi was incredible – like many of Pandora's creatures, such large animals no longer existed on Earth, making most scientists who encountered real specimens feel dwarfed. Grace also couldn't help but notice the markings on the Na'vi's body, which was riddled with bullets. He was decorated in elaborate war-paint, streaked whites, reds and blues across his face and chest, almost as in-tact as the minute he was placed in cryo, six years prior. The creature's hair was elaborately braided, part of his hair (what appeared to humans as hair, at least) was shaved, or gathered away from his skull, giving him a mo-hawk of twisting braids, elegantly accented with beads of all shapes and colors, while one very long braid lay to his side, a faint, white, feathered tendrils peeping out from the strands of hair. The long braid lay to his side, and looked heavier than the rest of the hair – almost a different organ altogether.
"Grace, look at him! Isn't he incredible?" Dr. Mani looked over the creature in wonder, the female still howling, unheard by the scientists, now crumpled on the floor of her enclosure.
Grace nodded in agreement, and knelt down next to Dr. Mani. She kept her voice low, whispering urgently.
"Professor, I think that the female is upset about the male specimen– could you move the specimen to another room?"
Dr. Lovecraft glanced to the silently heaving alien, and back to the dead specimen before him. "We're not going to dissect him here anyhow; get over to that side and help us move him if you want to, or stay out of the way."
Grace moved to the back of the extra-long gurney, and followed the other scientists into the room beyond, the weeping female's cries seeming to carry through the hallways, echoing through Grace's perception. She watched, feeling sick now, as Dr Mani prepared his tools, unwrapping a series of needles and tubes, and Lovecraft so callously examining the specimen.
"After you get initial samples, I want to get a look inside its head," Lovecraft pulled out a pair of calipers, and already was measuring dimensions, proportion and other aspects of the cranium. "Do you think we can shave him with a razor? Or will we need to use some other method?"
"All in good time, doctor." Dr. Mani nodded. "We've got a number of tests to run first."
"The sooner I get this under way the sooner we can begin the next phase of the project..." Lovecraft argued.
"I know you want to crack him open, but you'll need to wait."
Grace stood and watched as Dr. Mani carefully began to prod the creature with syringe after syringe, getting basic readings, and extracting several biological materials. Grace watched, unable to assist him in her state, as he gathered the Na'vi's equivalent to blood, vials of skin scrapings and different samples from the various parts of the body. He handed a few tiny vials to Grace, still grinning with enthusiasm.
"Start some initial decoding on these, I want to see what we come up with. And once John gets in send him over."
"I'll get on that."
She grabbed the materials and returned to the analysis lab, setting the computers to sequence the chemical arrangement of the Na'vi's genetic material. She quietly continued her work, in exploring chemical compounds of a rare sample of some of the foliage of Pandora. As the computers hummed, whining with the efforts to compose the newly named "NVTranscriptase" for the specimen in the other room, Grace found herself distracted by the female Na'vi's voice, which still carried to the monitor in the laboratory, albeit very quietly – though the screaming had ceased, this new sound was painful to hear, but different than anything Grace had heard from the monitors before during the span of her shifts.
The young scientist quietly made her way into the room, and saw the Na'vi was now kneeling, still wailing, but with a cadence that made a detectable melody ring throughout the room.
"... peyä tìtxur mì hinam awngeyä
Na aysangek afkeu..."
As the Na'vi continued, Grace could tell that she was singing, perhaps mourning the death of the Na'vi in the other room. Grace just stayed silent, not wanting to disturb the Na'vi. and tried to quietly inch to the recording controls, amplifying the microphones to pick up on every last nuance of the Na'vi's chant; a high pitched wheedling, just a glimpse of what a Na'vi in full-health could be capable of.
The young Terran scientist stayed in the room with the alien, kneeling near the enclosure, just within the shadows, where she could see the Na'vi trying to speak to any sort of nature that might exist in this place. Grace stared solemnly at the sterile steel plating on the walls, the plain floor, sealed concrete, and realized that not a single thing in this room, except for herself and the Na'vi, was truly alive.
Grace bowed her head, feeling herself overcome with guilt for the first time. She had dissected cadavers, bodies of animals both Terran and Pandoran, but this interaction with the living made her doubt herself for the first time as a scientist. She suddenly recalled, long ago, sitting in a classroom with hundreds of other young students, as the aged professor, with drooping features, and a hacking cough, pleaded with the students to not forget the world he remembered; where Robert Frost's woods and Kipling's Jungle, still existed; and, where the scent of pine-trees was more than a manufactured odor-control device.
"I'm so sorry..." Grace murmured to herself, the Na'vi continuing her incantations.
"...Utralä a Nawm ayrina' lu ayoeng,
A peyä tìrol mì awnga."
The Na'vi came to a finish speaking faintly, though the sounds still echoed in the room due to the amplified recording equipment. The Na'vi's ragged breathing echoed over the sound system, giving an illusion that the room itself could be alive. It somehow intensified the creeping feeling Grace was getting, the feeling of being trapped, the longing for fresh air.
"Eywa ngahu, ma tsmukan..."
Grace finally began to understand what the Na'vi was saying with more clarity – a gist, but enough to finally attempt communication. She took a step toward the enclosure, the Na'vi finally, in an angrily, weary response yelled at her.
"Ftang nga!" Stop!
She froze, halting her progress, meeting the alien's fading eyes, and tear-stained face.
"Rutxe..." Please...
The young scientist pressed her own mic to speak with the Na'vi, trying to use a quiet tone of voice. The Na'vi watched almost passively, the spirit obviously diminished from when she had first arrived. Grace did not doubt that the alien would die, soon. This sudden realization sank in, and she felt an awful, overwhelmed feeling of helplessness. There was nothing she could do for the alien now, except to learn from her, and try to prevent the RDA from bringing more Na'vi to Earth.
Grace did not approach, but put up a hand, mimicking the way the Na'vi had acted on several occasions, touching her fingers to her forehead. She then tried again to engage the alien, gently coaxing in a soft voice, pointing to herself.
"Grace..."
The alien gave her a blank stare, her eyes flickering only momentarily with understanding.
"Ketuwong kakrel..." stupid alien..
The alien muttered to herself, pretending to ignore her, before finally glancing over. Grace pressed the mic again, opening her voice to the Na'vi's.
"Ketuwong, Grace." Alien, Grace...
She tried to used the Na'vi's words, and watched as the alien's attention was drawn back to her. She pointed at herself, then back to the alien.
"Na'vi ?"
The Na'vi glanced at her direct address, and finally pointed to herself again, glaring with as much pride as she could muster.
"Oeru Na'vi – Oeru syaw fko Atanäie."
Grace tried to make sense of it, and the Na'vi, picking up on Grace's confusion, pointed with emphasis.
"Atanäie!"
"Atanäie." Grace repeated, and the Na'vi curled her lip, likely at the bad pronunciation, but the ability to speak, in her own language, and be understood, kept her from completely giving up on communication. The alien's eyes pleaded with the scientist, now desperate to be understood.
"Rutxe... srung sivi oer." Please...
Grace could tell the alien was asking her for something, but was unsure what..
"Srung sivi oer!"
The Na'vi begged, her voice cracking as she pressed herself against the window. The plea echoed through the room.
"I don't know what you want... how?"
Grace became more agitated, along with the alien. The Na'vi scowled, her nose wrinkling in disgust at the idiocy of the human, and she began to weep again, no longer facing Grace, and retreated to another part of the enclosure.
"Skxawng ketuwong..." The words echoed from the sound booth.
Grace, now defeated, returned to the other room of the lab, and surveyed the computers' progress in decoding the genetic codes. It looked like it would be an incredible challenge to successfully complete Dr. Lovecraft's intentions, and at this point, the young scientist doubted very much that her being blue and ten feet tall would make any difference at all in how the creatures of Pandora would interact with her. But there were other factors, of course, to be considered – especially the mining operation investment, and the possibility of efficient mining by native hybrids, since it was evident that the natives themselves could not be tamed or bought into doing the work – unless of course, the RDA probably considered, they had real interaction.
Weary and feeling let-down, Grace grudgingly brought the information to Dr. Mani in the other room, typing the in the room's access code without a second though, keeping her eyes scanning the info-card, before seeing before her, the digital imaging done on the Na'vi anatomy, projected onto the wall. She nearly dropped the papers she was carrying, eyes wide.
"Grace, you're never going to believe what we've found..."
