NIRI TE 'S FANFIC "LAST FLIGHT OUT "

Started by Niri Te, January 10, 2013, 08:37:46 PM

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Niri Te


  CHAPTER 128

   After three minutes, the screen in the Combined Mess showed an incoming signa;.. It was S'ralta Tamas', one of the ISV captains.
   "Incoming ISV, this is Colonel S'ralta Tamas'.  I guess our Geologist got so excited, that he forgot his own rule!  We are sending you a navigational beacon to give you the shortest distance to our location.  Contact us when you begin your de-acceleration sequence.  Colonel Tamas'. Out."
   A minute and a half later, a new message had begun. 
   "Incoming ISV.  This is Colonel Simmons.  Contact us when you ascertain if you need pressure vessels for the explosives.  Colonel Simmons.  Out."
   Four minutes later Blue Heart Gate, broke squelch.  "Incoming ISV, This is Blue Heart.  I guess I got a little excited when I heard that you had the same conclusion as quickly as we did, down here.  Yes, it is an underwater camera capable of twice the pressure that it would be subjected to at the depths involved for a survey of that location.  The device is also fitted with sonar, and chemical sniffers.  We will lift the device to your ship via our shuttle as soon as you arrive on station.  Blue Heart. Out."
   Once the screen went blank, Colonel Hill remarked, "He may be a civilian, but at least he is trainable."
   After several moments, Major O'Riley queried, "Colonel Hill, may those of us who dashed here fresh from our duty shifts grab something to eat or drink and then conduct an On-Ship skull Session?"
   Colonel Hill replied, "As long as entire sections don't leave just to bunch up at the lunch counter, that is fine.  I want Majors Ring and West to go first, and hightail it back here in case things get busy on the screen."
   Thomas and Sharon excused themselves, and each grabbed a light (for a Na'vi) lunch with drink and made it back to the table post-haste.
   Once Colonel Hill followed everyone else through the line and was seated, he announced,
   "OK.  If anyone has any questions pertinent to this operation, now is the time to ask."
   From over in the corner of the room, a hand shot up and Joe recognized the individual.
   "Sir.  I am Master Sergeant Jerry Williams, the Chief Mess Sergeant.  I hope this is not out of place, but how many personnel will be deployed on this Mission, and for how long?  We need to know how many High Energy, To-Go Meals to plan and prepare."
   Joe replied with, "That was not in ANY WAY out of place.  I will NOT want sixteen Na'vi running out of Gas in the middle of a Mission that will go between 18 and 24 hours."
   Next up was Major O'Reilley who wanted to know if there would be any specialized munition holders that would be needed to drive a crack in the magma, like a shape charge.
Chip Higgins answered that with, "That would enable us to surgically  blast a narrow orifice down to the magma, so it would be the preferred method of performing the operation."  He then suggested to Colonel Hill, to see about opening a separate channel between the three ISVs, and Blue Heart to conduct the discussions and design work on such an endeavor. Colonel Hill then placed that as Priority One in Captain Wright's lap, as an opportunity for Pamela to gain some additional Command Experience.
   The last person to bring up a point, was Major West, with, "Which ever shuttle deploys the underwater sensor array will need to do so from a hover only five feet above the ocean, so they will need a fuel load sufficient to deploy the satellites, and descend to the moon while still being able to return to the ISV." 
   "Good thinking Major.  You just got the job!  Captain Wendy Harrington will be your co-pilot, and Captain Patricia Wright will be your Satellite, and Sensor Array Specialist."
   Once the Skull Session had run its course, Sharon notified the Bridge that she needed a signal to modulate their next message on. Within moments, the video link was up and running, so she began:
   
   "Geo synced ISVs and Blue Heart Gate, this is Major West, Duty Pilot of the Inbound ISV.  We are aware of your material stores, and the aide and assistance that we can offer each other.  We would like to open a second channel with Captain Pamela Wright, in charge of the Operation of the Channel.  This channel will be strictly for the mechanical and electrical engineering teams, to discuss and share designs of both equipment that is proposed or under construction.  We will be ready to deploy all assets within eight hours of your delivery of the underwater sensor array.  We welcome all data and eye-witness, as well as historical accounts of the volcanic activity in the region of the volcano in question.  We are monitoring this frequency constantly.  Major West. Out."
   
   "Well, let's all relax a bit.  Pamela and I are going to get some sleep.  Whoever pulls Charge of Quarters, from now on, if I am asleep and a message comes in, WAKE ME IMMEDIATELY."
   With that, Sharon and Pamela left for their quarters.
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te

 CHAPTER 129

   In the two days since the last transmission that Sharon had made, there was one set of maps and spreadsheets on historical data of the history of the volcano, and six transmissions on the engineering specific band that had recently been created.
   Sharon and Pamela walked into the Combined Mess for breakfast.  On the table of the Engineering Section was a three foot long device that bore a partial resemblance to a huge concrete cold chisel. 
   "The shape charge device, I presume?" remarked Sharon, to her mate. 
   "That's what it is," replied Pamela.  "We have been using the new video frequency that Colonel Hill authorized, to work with the Engineering Departments of both parked ISV's and Blue Heart, to make sure everything bolts together, even though the components were designed and built 30 million miles apart."  She continued with, "This is not an actual device, but a full scale mock up of one made out of polymer so that we could show it off on the table."
   As they were making their way toward their Clan's Table, Sharon and Pamela stopped by the Engineering Table, for Sharon to look over the device that would allow them to relieve the pressure beneath the volcano, without blowing 300 feet off the top of it.
   "Just because I'm curious," asked Sharon, "are you guys doing the final assembly of these devices when they are mounted to the explosives pressure vessels?"
   Thomas Ring assured that they would, with he, himself, and Pamela, giving each of the devices a final inspection prior to deployment.
   "Thanks Guys.  And I promise that the Shuttle Flight Crews will do everything in our power to put these devices PRECISELY where they are supposed to go," assured Sharon.
   "We have every faith in you Shuttle Pilots," replied Major Ring.
   Sharon and Pamela took their seats at their Clan's Table noticing that ALL of the personnel to the Medical Division were missing.
   "Where did all the Medical Staff go?" queried Pamela of Wendy. 
   "I'm not totally sure," was Wendy's reply, "but there was a report that one of the Engineering Techs was injured about an hour ago, right after you two went off duty.  Something about our Dentist getting to see the aftermath of someone in their human tokx catching a wrench in their teeth."
   "OUCH!" exclaimed Sharon, "Who was it?"
   "I heard that it was Eric Walden from the Engineering Division," said Wendy.
   "Perhaps some of us ought to go and try to cheer him up, after we finish our meal," suggested Pamela.  "He's part of my Team!"
     There were "Ayes," all around the table, so The Visitation was set in stone.

   After breakfast, most of the Undersea Renegades walked into the medical section, and inquired of the Intake Nurse about Eric Walden.     
   "Oh!  The Dental Patient!"  he remarked. 
And when Wendy said, "Yes," he said, "Follow me."
   Once back in the Dental Section, they waited in the reception area for about twenty minutes before Enrique Ortiz, the Dental Technician, informed them that Eric would be out in a while, and that he would tell Eric that he had Well Wishers waiting for him.
   "In about half an hour, Eric came out with the dentist, Major Pedro Fernandez, to a group of Well Wishers that, to some, looked more like a Lynch Mob.   Granted, they were ALL in the Na'vi aytokx, but THIS bunch looked like a group of Aysamsiyu getting ready for the Battle of the Well of Souls, years ago.  Each of them had ayfkxile, necklaces,  around their necks made from sharks teeth, boars tusks, elk antler tips, and bear claws.  The only thing that was missing from all this Battle Rattle, was the war paint and weapons.
   The dentist took one look at THIS bunch, and jerked to a momentary halt, before continuing to match Eric's stride.
   "WHERE did you people acquire all of THAT?"  was the first thing out of the Major's mouth. 
   "On 'Rrta we were ALL aytaronyu from our early teens," replied Sharon.

   Major Fernandez looked at Pamela and said, "What kind of rod did you use to catch THAT shark?" pointing to the huge teeth around her neck. 
   "If I had caught this shark from the safety of a boat," Pamela instructed, "I would NOT deserve his teeth around my neck.  I defeated him in combat with a speargun.  To be a victory worthy of adornment, one MUST have battled him on HIS hunting grounds." 
   With THAT, the Major let out a whistle, turned around, and walked down the passageway shaking his head.
   Enrique Ortiz had one more question for the Undersea Renegades, however. 
   "The last few times that I saw you people, you were not dressed like this.  Why Now?"
   Sharon was the first to answer.  "We are getting ready for our mission against the ayvrrtep (demons) that may be trying to kill the Na'vi with this volcano.  We will NOT allow that.  We were these battle trophies to SHOW the ayvfrtep that we are NOT afraid of them.  We will show them OUR strength, by halting their plan to harm the Na'vi, and that THEY need to fear US."
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te

   CHAPTER 130

   In the week and a half since Erik tried to "catch" the wrench that had been dropped from a scaffold six feet above him, with his teeth, Dr. Fernandez made him a beautiful set of permanent implants that looked exactly like his original teeth.
   Sharon was in the Engineering Section, looking over the devices for the fracturing of the sea floor rift.  Major Ring walked up and asked Sharon if she had any questions about the equipment, or the operation itself. 
   She replied, "Just one.  We still are not sure what type of bedrock is under the silt in the area of that rift, do we have any underwater drills?" 
   "Yes we do.  Are you thinking of drilling a cavity that would be a perfect fit for the explosive devices?" asked Major Ring.
    "As a matter of fact, I was."  Replied Sharon. "It would probably add two days for the wait to return to their home island, for the Na'vi, but it would disrupt the flora and fauna far less, if we opened up that rift, than if we blew off the top of the volcano.  The only way that I would want to crack the cap rockin the crater, would be if it was in immediate danger of an eruption,"
   "I think that you need to speak with Blue Heart Gate's Chief Geologist, Dr. Wade Lutzow.  He should be pretty familiar with the geology of Pandora, " suggested Major Ring. 
   "I will try to set up a conversation on the afternoon's Duty Shift," replied Sharon, "thanks for the suggestion.  I had forgotten his name."
   Pamela walked up and said, "We are finished setting up a new tool for the drilling operation, should it become necessary.  I'll show it to you after lunch." 
   "Cool."  replied Sharon, as the three of them stopped to pick up Major O'Reilley.
   
   When the four of them walked into the Combined Mess, Sharon immediately spied Chip Higgins, just sitting down at the Clan's Table. 
   "Great!", she said, "Now I can bounce some ideas off his brain."
   Major Ring had a quizzical look upon his face concerning her remark,  so Pamela enlightened him. 
   "Dr. Chip Higgins, was a preeminent Marine Geologist on our Underwater Research Team, so I'll bet that Sharon wants to discuss the geology of Pandora's Undersea Rift with him.  If she does, Don't expect much conversation out of her, until the two of them are done." 
   Sharon sat next to Pamela, and across from Chip.  Within moments of taking her seat, she said to Chip, "I am going to talk with Wade Lutzow this afternoon, and I would like to bounce some ideas off you first, if you don't mind."
   "Not at all," he said, "What is on your mind?"
   "Well, because of the location of the small rift, I'm wondering several things:
One, is it a Summit Grabben attached to the volcano.
Two, do to its small apparent width, could it be a geologically young feature, meaning that we are dealing with a new hot spot under these islands, or could it be that there are subduction zones that are becoming more active, and now causing this? 
Three.  Also, If this is an existing Summit Grabben, and it is part of an extended crease in the side of the volcano, wouldn't that weaken the side of the volcano  to the extent that if we DID cause an underwater eruption, what would be the chance that part of the weaker side of the mountain would give way, blowing out a good portion of the volcano's north face, just like what happened at Mount Saint Helen's in 1980?"
   Chip popped a piece of roll into his mouth, leaned back in his chair, and thought for a moment.  He then said,
   "Those are some really good questions, but until we get some images, and data, all we can do, is make contingency plans for each of them.  Let's take this one problem at a time.  Let's assume that the rift IS connected to the volcano, something that IS likely." Chip took a sip of his tea, and continued,
   "Even though it would blow on the far side of the volcano, from the village, it could cause a bad landslide on the village side.  And if the eruption was strong enough, the pyroclastic flow would be of such velocity, that it would cause ambient temperature winds from the village side of the island to join the flow, creating winds over the village of almost supersonic speed.  These winds could push waves at such speeds that would inundate the village under perhaps, one hundred feet of water, for a short time,  Because of this possibility, however remote, it might be prudent if the Na'vi were moved to the continent, by the Eastern Sea Clan, until AFTER we set off the charges."
   "I HAVE been wondering if getting the Na'vi off the island chain might be a wise idea, but ALSO wondering if the hundred and fifty mile separation between islands was enough," replied Sharon.  "She continued with, "If this IS a mid-plate hot spot like Hawaii, it might be safer to get the islanders to set up their village on Sanctuary Island for a year or so, to see what is going to happen with that volcano."
   Pamela asked, "Wouldn't that cause great stress on the Island People if they were kept away from their home for long?"
   "How much stress would be caused if they were sent back too soon, and the volcano erupted again?" asked Chip.
   Sharon leaned forward and said, "I am going to need to know from ALL the ISVs, and Blue Heart Gate, if we have the materials to build some "S" and "P" Wave Detectors as well as lasers and reflectors to check for ground swell, as well as underwater cameras.  THAT will give us the data that we need to make intelligent assessments and plan a Best Course of Action, without unduly worrying the Na'vi."
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te

  CHAPTER 131

   Sharon and Pamela strode into the Electronics Section of the ship after their half hour break, for Pamela to show-off some of her Section's newest devices.  Alongside the length of one wall of the Electronics Shop were twenty-two separate pieces of equipment. 
   "Wow! So what is all THIS? Seismographic sensors?" asked Sharon.
   "Not only that," replied Pamela, "these are all the self-contained units that include the sensors, telemetry encoders, and transceivers.  We have more than this in the back, being crated to arrive safely onto Pandora, enabling us to quickly amass seismic tomography data and transmit it to all three ISVs, as well as Blue Heart Gate in real time."
   "Sounds like Pandora is going to get a C.T. Scan," replied Sharon with a smile.

   Seven hours later, Sharon and Pamela both went on duty.  As Sharon sat in the Command Pilot's seat, she asked First Lieutenant Bonner for a channel to both the other two ISV's and Blue Heart Gate, asking the Lieutenant what the transit time now was. 
  "Your transit time is now 18 seconds, Ma'am, and I have your channel," was Samuel's reply about a minute later. 
   "ISVs and Blue Heart Gate, this is Major Sharon West, Duty Pilot of the Inbound ISV.  We have completed construction and testing of 27 self-contained seismic sensors and transceivers, for the upcoming mission, in addition to all of the Space Deployed sensors.  I would like to speak with Dr. Wade Lutzow if that is possible concerning the situation on Pandora.  I will stand by on this frequency, until he is ready to respond.  Major West.  Out."
   Five minutes later, a message arrived, stating that Dr. Lutzow would join the conference call in another ten minutes.
   "Inbound ISV.  This is Jake Sully at Sanctuary Island. I wonder if you could give some frightened island Na'vi here, a little Pep Talk before you start discussions with Dr. Lutzow.  We will translate to the Na'vi what you say.  Jake Sully. Out."
   Sharon thought for a moment and said, "Oel ayngati kameie, Ma Soaia sponoya.  Ayoe leyku ayngeya kelku akxuke.  Major West. Out."  She then sat back, took a sip of thee Green Tea she had brought Forward with her, and waited for the signal from Blue Heart Gate.
   After her second sip of tea, the voice of Dr. Wade Lutzow was heard on the radio.,
   "Incoming ISV, this is Dr. Wade Lutzow, at Blue Heart Gate.  I am waiting for your transmission."
   Sharon put down the tea and said to Lt. Bonner, "It's showtime."  She keyed the headset and said, "This is Major West, I have some questions about this rift.  Could it be an undersea ridge in the making, or is it more likely just a local continuation of a fracture on the face of the volcano?"
   Thirty seconds later, Dr. Lutzow was back, "I doubt that it is a continuation of a crack in the face of the volcano.  If it WAS such, from an earlier event, then we would have a dike built up from the previous lava flow, and according to the photographs, we don't.  It COULD be the very beginning of a new local Hot Spot, like what created each, in its own time, the entire Hawaiian Island chain.  In order for THAT to be the case HERE, with no other island chains nearby in the ocean, this would have to be a brand new, very NEWBORN Hot Spot.  That may very well be what we are dealing with HERE, but we will just HAVE to be patient, until we start receiving data from our instruments, as soon as we place them."
   "Well, we are ten days out, and running as fast as is safe," reported Sharon, "We will be ready to begin deployment of all Electronics and Sensor Equipment within half an hour of taking station with the ISV.  One more question," ask Sharon.  "What about the danger of the sea water becoming supersaturated steam and highly pressurizing the magma that it hits when it enters the crack in the undersea floor that we make; if the magma doesn't flow out quickly?  Would this be just enough added pressure to the magma to blow the caprock off the volcano?"
   Dr. Lutzow replied with, " It doesn't quite work that way, water is not nitro, on Earth, it works like this. Water is carried to the mantle by deep sea Fault Zones which penetrate the oceanic plate as it bends into the subduction zone, beneath another plate.  This can cause large earthquakes such as the Tohoku earthquake of the 20th Century, as well as many earthquakes that occur hundreds of kilometers below the Earth's surface.
Using seismic modelling techniques the researchers analysed earthquakes which occurred more than 100 km below the Earth's surface in the Wadati-Benioff zone, a plane of Earthquakes that occur in the Oceanic Plate as it sinks deep into the mantle.
Analysis of the seismic waves from these earthquakes shows that they occurred on 1 - 2 km wide fault zones with low seismic velocities. Seismic waves travel slower in these fault zones than in the rest of the subducting plate because the sea water that percolated through the faults reacted with the oceanic rocks to form serpentinite – a mineral that contains water.  Some of the water carried to the mantle by these hydrated fault zones is released as the tectonic plate heats up. This water causes the mantle material to melt, causing volcanoes above the subduction zone such as those that form the Pacific 'ring of fire'. Some water is transported deeper into the mantle, and is stored in the deep Earth. It has been known for a long time that subducting plates carry oceanic water to the mantle,"  Dr. Lutzow continued, "This water caused melting in the mantle, which lead to arc releasing some of the water back into the atmosphere. Part of the subducted water however was carried deeper into the mantle and was stored there. The pressure caused by the water infiltrating the Magma layer, would only further blow out any debris from the freshly opened vent to the pressurized magma, and NOT blow the top off the volcano. What I suggest that we do now, is concern ourselves with getting ourselves ready for the task at hand. Once that is done, we need to relax, so we can spring into action, when we need to. Have I addressed your concerns, Major?"
  "Yes you have doctor, and forgive me if I woke you, Major West out."
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te

   CHAPTER 132

   Sharon walked up behind Pamela, and put her arms around her yawnetu, saying, "Meyam ting!  Meyam ting!" 
   Pamela stated, "MY! but you are frisky this morning.  You must be full of nervous energy, this close to bringing the ship on station with the other two."
   Sharon responded with, "Well, with us only 51 hours out, things are getting very business-like on the Flight Deck.  You are right."
   Pamela looked at her and asked, "Any new developments from the other groups?"
   "As a matter of fact," replied Sharon, "on my last Duty Shift, Dr. Lutzow informed me tht Blue Heart Gate completed 12 underwater air cannons, and 12 land- air cannons.  The ISV captain by S'aralta Tamas' has built the hydrophone cables and the other ship completed the land bound listening devices."
   "It looks like everything will be ready to go when we take station," remarked Pamela.
   "Well," said Sharon, straightening her tewng in the mirror, "We just put on our Na'vi tokx after getting of our ships.  Why don't we go have dinner?"

   As they took their seats between Steve and Chip, and across from John and Wendy, John said, "So it looks like everything will be built and tested when we arrive on station."
   "More than that," replied Sharon, "Two shuttles full of gear will be departing Blue Heart Gate in another hour, bound for the other ISVs."
   Everyone nodded in approval, and Sharon continued with, "We will be on station in about fifty hours, and the Wendy and I will pilot Shuttle One, while John and Dan Warren will pilot Shuttle Two.  Pamela will be in charge of Device Deployment on my shuttle, and Megan will handle those duties on John's Shuttle."
   Chip picked up one finger, and asked, "Are you folks getting any practice time for this mission?"
   John looked at Sharron, who nodded for him to offer the answer.  "There is no precision formation flying required, in either spacing or timing.  What we will be doing, is flying abeam of each other, at a separation of one mile.  We both will be placing CUBESATS astern of us, and once we complete the initial pass, Sharron and I will each be flying a serpentine pattern, Sharron to the north of our initial pass and I to the south, until all the CUBESATS have been deployed."
   Sharron continued the explanation with, "Once the CUBESATS have been deployed, both ships will enter the Pandoran atmosphere, and we will both fly to the large clearing surrounding the Na'vi village on the volcanic island and land there."
   Chip then inquired as to how the Land Based Seismographs would be deployed. 
Sharon explained, "Colonel Schroeder will bring twenty Na'vi and five mipa Na'vi, in the Dragon, and should be setting down about the same time that we do.  The Na'vi will carry the seismographs to their locations, and the mipa Na'vi will set them up, and get them operating.  The time required to deploy the land seismographs and their associated air cannons, will be minimized by bringing them close to their locations, with the Dragon.  While they are handling the locations of the Land-Based Sensors, we will be using the hover capabilities of the shuttles to deploy the Marine Sensors while traveling at a 20 mph forward speed, five feet above the water."
   Sharron took a sip of tea and continued, "While we are doing this, another Dragon from Blue Heart will be ferrying fuel for our shuttles, to the huge open area on the top of the cliff, just north of the village of the Clan of the Eastern Sea."
   Sharron eyed the others at the table, and smiled, saying, "As a reward for our exacting and dangerous work, WE will be spending the night with our family before anyone else!"
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te


  CHAPTER 133

   Sharon walked into the Combined Mess five minutes later than usual, with several rolls of charts under her arm.  At the Easter Sea Clan's Table, were John, Chip, Steve, Dan, and Pamela.  Once Sharon had made her way to the table, she laid the maps next to Chip, and went to the line to grab some dinner.  Several minutes later, she returned with some soup, scrambled, powdered eggs, a roll, and two cups of coffee.  Chip already had the Magnetosphere maps opened in front of him, with John leaning over the table, to look at them as well. 
   "I knew you guys couldn't resist!" said Sharon, as she sat between Chip and Pamela.  "So, Boss," said Sharon with a smile, "From these magnetosphere charts, does it look like the Ram Atxep will still be there, when we pull On Station in," she glanced at her watch, "eleven hours, and twenty-three minutes?"
   Chip offered Sharon the chair next to him, by pointing to it, and said, "It will still be there. From looking at this data, I think that even if we did nothing at all, we would not have an eruption for another three weeks. Trust me, we WILL get there in time."
   "Speaking of time," said Pamela, "We need to be at our sharpest, so I suggest that all the crew members of the two shuttles, get plenty of sleep."
   "Yes, Ma Yawnetu Alor, just let me finish my dinner then you and I can head back to our quarters," replied Sharon.
   "Mllte Oe," affirmed John.  "Wendy and I should turn in early, too.  We will have a VERY busy day tomorrow."

   Sharon and Pamela awoke, with the ISV at parking altitude above Pandora, four hours out of Taking Station, closing on the other two ISVs, at a closure rate of 600 miles an hour.  Up on the Flight Deck, there were two pilots On Duty for the PArking Maneuver; Major Sven Kriegson, and Major Scott Wrigby.  First Lt. Edward Daniels, was the Flight Engineer, and for the parking maneuver, the Navigator Neville James, was even at his station.  It would NOT be good, if the crew of the new, (and last) ISV to reach Pandora, did NOT know how to park, and PRANGED a stationary ISV.  Colonel Hill was even going to be on the Bridge, to oversee the event.

   When Sharon and Pamela entered the Combined Mess for a light breakfast, John and Wendy were halfway through theirs. 
   "Mind if we join you?" asked Pamela, as she and her muntxate walked up on the Clan Table, trays in hand.
   "Sure, make yourselves at home!" offered Wendy.  "We were wondering if we would have to wake up you two."
   "Kehe!  We were up half an hour ago," replied Sharon.  "We just spent twenty minutes looking at our new home from a viewport."
   "Well, we will just sit and chat over coffee, until you two finish,"  sated John. 
   "Cool!"  returned Pamela, "Then the four of us, can Mosey up to the Flight Deck, and watch the festivities!"
   "Oh-ho! No you DON'T," ordered Colonel Joe Hill, as he walked up on the table, coffee cup in hand.  "I don't want to see ANY crew members of the two shuttles up on the Flight Deck.  You folks need to be the sharpest ever, right now."  Colonel Hill pulled out a chair at the head of the table, and joined the discussion.
   Over the next hour, Sharon and John briefed the Colonel on the exact sequence of events to be carried out by the two shuttles, once the operation began.  Ten minutes before they all went their separate ways, Dan Warren joined the conversation with only a cup of coffee in his hand. 
   By the time that they all left the table, there were no doubts in any one's mind, what the plans were, as well as the Back-Up Plans, should anything start to get shaky.
   John, Dan, Megan, Sharon, Wendy, and Pamela, each went to their respective shuttles, to perform final checklists on each of the two shuttles, and their respective payloads.
   Once those duties were completed, the six of them retired to the Combined Mess, to just relax with ice water and chat, until it was time to go On Duty.
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te

 
  CHAPTER 134

   The six crew members of the two shuttles were relaxing in the Combined Mess for a little over an hour, when a Dining Room Orderly walked up, pushing a service cart with six bowls of soup, twelve rolls, six sandwiches, and six cups of coffee, plus a pitcher with enough coffee for six or seven more cups. 
   "Colonel Hill thought that all of you might like to have a light, early lunch, in case your Mission ran a little longer.  He did not want anyone running out of gas, before everything had been accomplished."
   "Why, thank you!" replied Wendy, "Colonel Hill is a great commander.  He always thinks of those under his command.  Please tell him, 'Irayo' for his concern."
   The Orderly turned an about face, and walked three steps before returning to the table and asking; "Please excuse me.  But are you going to have time to get back into you humona aytokx before having to pilot the shuttles?"
   John replied, "Because the shuttles did not have to be flown for weeks, the Engineering Staff was able to convert their Flight Decks to Na'vi friendly set ups.  So we will be flying them in our Na'via aytokx.
   With that, the Orderly thanked them, and returned to his duties in the Galley.  John turned to Sharon and inquired, "So tell me, are you going to fly the Mission in full Battle Rattle?"
   Sharon smiled and looked at John, who was still pointing his finger at all of Sharon's Coup hanging around her neck and replied, "Both Pamela and I wear this to remind us of the gravity of this situation, and to warn any Evil Presence trying to harm the Na'vi, that anything desiring to harm these People is doomed to failure."
   "Then do you think that I should pin my Distinguished Flying Cross onto my tewng?" asked John.
   "Wear it if you wish," responded Pamela, "You EARNED the right!"
   Dan Warren then said, "Then I guess Wendy and I ought to pin our Astronauts Wings onto our metewng?"
   "I would EXPECT you to," counselled Sharon, as she nibbled on a roll.  She continued with, "Our quarters are on the way to the Shuttles.  It would be wise for us to each grab the missing parts of our uniforms, so that we look presentable to our hosts, or family members."
   "From the little I have read about him," mentioned Dan, "I would love to speak with JakeSully."
   "Tse," replied Megan, "Sooner or later, I believe that we all will."
   "I sure wish," mused Sharon, "That Colonel Hill would let us watch the Parking Operation on the View Screen."
   "He is only trying to keep us at our best for our star performance," consoled Megan. 

   An hour and a half later, the Mess Steward brought a large centerpiece of iced shrimp, and as close a facsimile of cocktail sauce, as could be arranged on a Starship.  As he set it on the table that the two crews were sitting at, he cautioned, "We pulled on Station ten minutes ago, and are expecting a shuttle from Colonel S'ralta Tamas' 's ship any minute."
   Sharon asked, "Will the second ship also be sending a shuttle?"
   "I would think so, but I haven't heard anything about it," replied the Steward, "But the Galley is ready to prepare a second Shrimp Bowl as soon as they launch their shuttle."
   In the few minutes afforded them before the members of the other Starship arrived, John, Wendy, and Dan ran to their individual quarters, retrieved their missing items, and high-tailed it back to the Combined Mess.  They arrived and affixed their previously missing insignia to their respective aytewng, five minutes before five people walked in. 
   Of those who walked in, there were four men, and one STRIKINGLY beautiful woman, who, even though she was in her mipa Na'vi tokx, had RED hair.  The shuttle Pilot in Command, Captain Steve Warwick, introduced Colonel S'ralta Tamas', Dale Garbacki the Chief of Engineering, David Scott Jaggers the Chief Geologist, and Shuttle Co-Pilot Fritz Meullar.
   Once initial greetings were made, Dale Garbacki and Megan O'Reilly started a discussion among themselves concerning the design and programming of the sensors, while David Scott Jaggers and Sharon began discussing the newest available data concerning the latest volcanic activity.
   "So!  What do we have so far, David?" asked Sharon.
   "Everything is still far from becoming critical, but slowly, the magmic pressure IS rising,"  informed David.  "But we made it with several weeks to spare.  I will be back on our ISV, monitoring the data as your two shuttles deploy the probes.
  Colonel Tamas' tapped Sharon on the shoulder, and informed her that there would be a shuttle on the volcanic island with the underwater device and its operator, extra equipment, and fuel, when she arrived there. 
   Once all of the information had been relayed to the Shuttle Crews, Sharon announced, "Tse, if there is nothing to keep us here, I guess we ought to get this Operation underway."
   Colonel Hill, who had entered the Combined Mess, during the discussions, told the Shuttle Crews, "TALLY HO!" as they left the Mess for the Shuttles.
   Once they were gone, Colonel Tamas' asked him, "Do you think that we can pull off an Operation so grandiose on an alien world that we know so little about?"
   "They are the FINEST Pilots, Engineers, and Scientists that I have ever seen,"  he replied.
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te

  
CHAPTER 135
Sharon, Pamela, and Wendy climbed "down" (out) the ladder within the slowly spinning Shuttle Mooring Arm, to their Shuttle. They entered through the Crew Hatch, and sealed it behind themselves.
Pamela donned her Zero Pressure EVA Suit with Sharon's help, and then entered the cargo section of the Ship, after Sharon had checked her oxygen level, and flow, giving her a Thumbs Up.
Once the Pressure Door between two sections of the ship was closed and sealed, Sharon and Wendy took their seats at the Ship's controls, donned their headsets, turned on the electronics for the Shuttle, and checked the intercom to Pamela's suit. After that, they uncaged the ship's gyros and powered up the radios.
"Docking Control, Shuttle One. We are powered up. Requesting separation in three minutes."
"Shuttle One, Docking Control. You are cleared for separation in three minutes."
Sharon turned to Wendy and said, "Peroxide Pumps On."
"Peroxide pumps to On. Pressure nominal." replied Wendy.
"Engine Fuel Pumps to On."
"Engine Fuel Pumps to On, pressures in the Green."
"Hydraulic Pumps On."
"Hydraulic Pumps On. Pressures are good."
"Cycling nozzles."
"Cycling nozzles. Full range of Motion."
Sharon then turned the anti-collision lights on, keyed the mike and said,
"Docking Control, Shuttle One. Is Shuttle Two ready to separate?"
"Shuttle One, Docking Control. They will be ready shortly. We have you both on the same frequency. You will hear their radio traffic."
Sharon switched the Intercom to On and said, "Pamela, are you Safe-tied In?"
"Roger that! I am not doing any EVA this trip," replied Pamela.
Sharon and Wendy heard John's voice over the radio, "Releasing docking clamps in Three, Two, One. We are free."
"Shuttle One, Docking Control. You are cleared to release your docking clamps."
Sharon keyed the Mike, "Docking Control, Shuttle One. Releasing clamps in Three, Two, One. We are free."
"Shuttles One and Two, we show you clear. Eywa ayngahu."
The two shuttles set up their line-abreast formation with the specified separation, and headed for the first release point.
Sharon keyed the Mike, "I sure am glad that Blue Heart Gate worked up a Data Update for out NAV computers."
"Yeah," replied John, "And that S'aralta's navigators worked with the geologists on Colonel Simmon's ISV to give us the NAV program to deploy the Cube Sat's, as well as our atmospheric entry curve for that island when we were still a day out, yesterday."
Sharon asked Pamela over the intercom, "Are you slaved to my NAV gear?"
Pamela replied, "Yes, I am. I show two minutes and twenty seconds to first deployment, in Three, Two, One, MARK." After they had synchronized their time clocks, Pamela heard Sharon's voice.
"OK," voiced Sharon, "Cargo door coming down." Eight seconds later, the door was lowered to its maximum deflection.
"WOW! What a view! Ramp is down. I'm ready to go," was Pamela's report.
"OK. I show the deployment chute is correctly slaved to the NAV computers. But let me know when each Cube Sat leaves the Shuttle." requested Sharon.
"Aye, Skipper," assured Pamela.
Thirty-two seconds later, Pamela announced, "Number One is away. Number Two is in launch position."
This went on for the next forty minutes until all of the Cube Sats were positioned without a hitch.
"Deployment Shuttles, Blue Heart Gate. Well Done! We are receiving telemetry from all the Cube Sat's. Blue Heart Gate, Out."
"Well that got us a few Brownie Points," observed Wendy. "I wonder how the other Shuttle is doing?"
"Well ASK him!" suggested Sharon.
"OK! Shuttle Two, Shuttle One. How is it going, Guys?" asked Wendy.
"Just fine. We are going to tune in some music for the cruise around Pandora until we have to initiate entry burn," teased her husband.
Two hours and eighteen minutes later, Sharon broke the radio silence with, "Blue Heart Gate, Shuttle Flight. We will begin entry burn in twelve minutes."
"Shuttle Flight, Blue Heart Gate. We copy, and will notify Colonel Schroeder of your progress."
"Blue Heart Gate, Shuttle Flight. Thank You. Shuttle Flight Out," and Sharon switched radio frequency to the shared ISV frequency.
"ISV Net, Shuttle Flight. We will be going dark in five minutes. Shuttle Flight Out."
Four minutes later, the Two Shuttles were "cleaned up", and entered the uppermost reaches of the Pandoran atmosphere. Do to the atmosphere's chemical make up, the Shuttles lost speed faster that if they were performing the same maneuver on Earth before it went totally volcanic.
Once the Shuttles went atmospheric, where their aerodynamic controls were effective, and their engines were "air" breathing, the two shuttles pulled into a closer formation, with only one hundred feet lateral separation.
John keyed his Mike, "Sharon, we will go echelon right, when we are ten miles out."
"Roger that. We will give you all the room that we can on the ground." replied Sharon.
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te



  Chapter 136

   The two ships dropped below the heavier clouds of an upper level trough and followed their Flight Directors until the islands came into view. 
"Shuttle One, Shuttle Two.  We will assume an echelon right position."
   Sharon acknowledged John's transmission with, "Roger that.  Let's break forward motion with a point hover fifty feet from the shoreline.  Colonel Schroeder's Dragon is On Station, and I imagine he will deploy ground guides for us."
   "Understood",  was John's reply.
   They had brought their forward speed down to five miles an hour, before coming to a hover thirty feet off the water.  The Ground Guides signaled Sharon to bring her ship into a spot marked with two panels in an "X".  Once her ship was on the ground, they brought John's ship alongside, with thirty feet separation.
   Once the engines on both shuttles were shut down, everyone on the two ships disembarked via the two cargo ramps.
   A mipa Na'vi wearing a Staff Sergeant's Flight Suit ran up to Sharon, saluted, and said,   "Major West.  Colonel Schroeder is waiting on all of your party by the Dragon."
  "Well then, let's not keep the Colonel waiting," replied Sharon, taking the index finger of her pheld right hand, and spinning it in a circle, telling the crew of the other shuttle to join up with her.
   John, Dan, and Megan, came trotting up to Sharon, with John saying,
   "Yes, Boss?"
   "Colonel Schroeder sent the Staff Sargaent here, to inform me that the Colonel awaits the pleasure of our company at the Samson," replied Sharon.
   "Well, time's a-wasting!"  voiced Dan, in his best imitation of an old comic character from the late 20th Century comic strip named Snuffy Smith.
   The six shuttle crew members and their Guide walked up to the closest side of the Samson, towards the mipa Na'vi who was obviously in command, both by his demeanor, and the way that the others acted around him.
   Sharon was slightly in front of the others in the approaching group, and when she was three feet from the Colonel, she, and the rest of the group stopped and she saluted.      When the Colonel returned the salute, she said,
   "Oel ngati kameie," with the proper hand gesture, which was returned.
   "The volcano appears to be venting a fair amount of pressure," noted Sharon.
   "Srane, and every once in a while, she belches a bit more ash, but that is all, up to now,"  replied the Colonel.
   "Has the underwater camera arrived yet?" Sharon asked.
   "Not yet," replied the Colonel,  "But the shuttle carrying both the device, and its operator, should be here in ten minutes.  You people must be thirsty.  Come enjoy your first taste of Pandoran fruit juices, and some snacks. 
   There wasn't a shuttle member who was not absolutely enthralled by the tastes of the juices, and Pandoran grown edibles.  Once they had sated their stomachs, talk turned to the business at hand. 
   "I take it that you brought the Seismometers with you?" queried the Colonel.
   "Yes, Sir.  Between the two shuttles, we have twenty-six of them," replied Sharon.

   "Relief Mission.  This is Major Reams, commander of the inbound shuttle.  Fifty miles out, inbound."
   Colonel Schroeder walked to the pilot's door of the Samson, grabbed a headset off the seat, placed it on his head and said, "Inbound shuttle, This is Colonel Schroeder.  I have Ground Guides awaiting you.  It will be a little tight down here, but you will fit."
   "Roger that." was the reply from the Shuttle.
   One minute later, the shuttle could be seen descending from about 10,000 feet, to a hundred feet above the water.  The Ground Guides were exemplary in their duties of bringing the ship in safely.
   Once the shop was shut off, four Mipa Na'vi exited her, and walked up rto the existing group.
   As soon as greetings were exchanged, and the new group refreshed, the seismometers were loaded into the Samson, the Na'vi hopped aboard, and it was on its way to deploy the devices.  The members of the two ISV shuttles got to compare notes with the third shuttle members and especially with the Underwater Camera's designer and operator, Alex Gomez Gordon. As soon as everyone knew WHERE everyone was going to be for the duration of the mission, Eywa Ayngahu's were exchanged, everyone put on their Game Faces, and the three shuttles backed away from where they were parked, in the order in which they had arrived, and all went about their assignments.
   
   "Shuttle Two, Shuttle One.  Let me know when you commence and complete, deploying your sound cannons, and listening gear," transmitted Sharon.
   "Roger that," replied John.
   Sharon turned to Wendy and said, "I am going to need your help here.  You keep your eyes on the positioning screen, and guide me to each exact release point." 
   She then keyed the intercom, and advised Pamela, "Drop each of the devices on the longitudinal centerline of the ship.  The more precisely these are deployed, the better assessment we will get."
  "Aye, Skipper!" was Pamela's response.
   "Commencing deployment," John transmitted, and twenty-three seconds later, Sharon announced,
   "Commencing deployment."

   An hour and five minutes later all of the underwater devices were deployed and both shuttles headed for the clan of the Eastern Sea, on courses that would have them join up forty miles shy of the coast.

   "Well Hello, long lost brother," Sharon spoke as a greeting over the radio to John, as Shuttle Two pulled alongside.
   "I'm glad we were able to deploy everything in time to avert a disaster," announced John.
   "Me too.  Now let's hope the geologists can come up with a workable plan to quiet the volcano.  Let's switch to Approach Frequency now."
   "Wilco, Shuttle One," was John's answer.

   "Eastern Sea Base, this is Major West, leading a flight of two shuttles, twenty-five miles out, 10,000 feet, descending to two thousand feet.  Request parking slots."
   "Shuttle Flight, this is Major Tai Tae Ao.  There will be Ground Guides to park you, and you can shut-off your NAV instruments.  An Honor Guard of ayikran will lead you here.  WELCOME HOME."
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te



  CHAPTER 137
   When the shuttle flight was ten miles out,  Sharon got up on the radio, and said, "Multiple targets, five miles out, turn the radars off.  I don't want to damage any members of our Welcoming Party." 
   "Aye, Skipper, all radars are off.  Why don't we slow down some? Over." transmitted Dan.
   "Good idea," agreed Sharon.  "Let's back these down to sixty indicated."
Within moments, both ships had cut their forward speed in half and were stabilized at 2,000 feet, Mean Sea Level.
   "Once we make contact, slow to forty, and adjust as required.  We do not want to stress the ayikran," suggested Sharon, to which John concurred.
   "I can see them on the horizon.  There are so many, that they are changing the brightness of the horizon," offered Wendy.
   "What do you think we should do when we touch down?" asked Dan.
   "I believe that we should try to present ourselves to Atumopin," replied Sharon, "I would REALLY like to meet the woman whose DNA I share."
   "Leading elements of the ayikran are wheeling around to fly with us now.  I never thought this day would ever happen," exclaimed Dan excitedly.
   "Well, the day is here, and I sure hope that we don't embarrass ourselves TOO badly with our HORRIBLE ability to speak Na'vi," worried John.
   By now there were forty or fifty ayikran flying formation with the two shuttles, with their riders all gesturing Oel Ngati Kameie to the Flight Crews, who were all returning the greeting.
   "Village in sight," reported Sharon, as she throttled back to an approach speed of thirty indicated.
   "I see the clearing at one o'clock," informed John.
   "Yeah.  The ayikran are nudging us in that direction.  Let's let them lead us," agreed Sharon.
   "Wow! Look at that cool village!  Is that going to be our home?" wondered Wendy aloud.
   "I imagine that we will find out a LOT of things when we meet with the elders of our olo'," offered Sharon.
   "The ayikran are breaking formation to give us room to move," reported Dan.
   "I see the Ground Guides," notified John, "We will follow you in."
   With that, John throttled back to allow Sharon to be two hundred feet ahead of him.
   The Ground Guides motioned Sharon to land first, and as soon as her ship was on Pandoran soil, and shutting down, the second group of Guides brought John's Ship to her slot.
   Once both ships were completely shut down, with their cargo ramps down, Na'vi started walking up to the ramps, to view their mipa soaia.

   Sharon and Wendy walked into the aft section of the shuttle, and joined up with a somewhat apprehensive-looking Pamela.
   "Hey Sweetheart, is this the same girl that took on TWO active machine gun nests by herself in Nicaragua?" asked Sharon.
   "Yes.  But I wasn't trying to make a good impression THERE," Pamela replied with a wry smile.
   Sharon motioned for Pamela and Wendy to come with her, and she walked up to the small crowd and said, "Kaltxì, ma frapo!  Moe lu ftu ISV, ulte reypay ftu Atumopin.  Srake tsun aynga wìntxu ayoe peseng poe lu?"
   Out of the crowd came two Na'vi: one tall, muscular and obviously the Eyktan, by the red paint she wore.  The other, probably a teenager, who might have been her aide de camp.
   Sharon immediately recognized the tall one as Atumopin, snapped to attention, and said in a loud voice, "TEN-- HUT!"
   Atumopin could hardly suppress her amusement.  She patted the air in a calming gesture and said, "'Efu mawey, ma pxesmuke! Srake ayoeng samsiyu lu, slä  oe lu ke JakeSully! Aynga lu oeyä aysmuke.  Oel Pxengati Kameie!"
   Ateyo, in her role as translator, stepped forward. "I am Ateyo.  I can tell words in Inglìsì.  Srake, you three unnerstanding words say from Atumopin?"
   Sharon and Pamela nodded vigorously, to the one called Ateyo and to Atumopin.  Wendy, however, sported a look of puzzlement on her face.  She spread out her hands to her sides in a gesture of bewilderment,
   "Mawl, nì'aw. Only half."
   Ateyo was pleased with her role. "Her saying, SAN. QUOTE: Feel calm, my three sisters.  We are warriors but I not be JakeSully. Oel pxengati kameie. I SEE three yous!"
   Wendy gestured properly to Ateyo and added, "Oel ngati kameie."  She then turned to Atumopin, and addressed her also.  "Oel ngati kameie, oeyä eyktan.  Oeru nìprrte' sleku hapxitu soaia ngeya. I see you my leader.  I am pleased to be a member of your family."
   Atumopin gestured from her forehead and addressed the three in broken English, which she had been rehearsing for several hours.  "I have been- srefoley-" she turned to Ateyo with a questioning gesture.
   "EXPECTING."
   She waited for a moment and continued, "I have been expecting this day for meet you all, my new family! Srake? There are others?"
   Sharon answered with; "Srane, Ma Atumopin.  Pxelapo ulte pxefo lu fìtsenge set."
   Just then Dan, John, and Megan, were brought over to Atumopin by the ayNa'vi that were over by the other shuttle.
   "Oel ngati kameie," said John to Atumopin.  To which she immediately responded with like greeting and gesture.
   "Meuia ultxa si nga, Atumopin," John haltingly said. (I meet you with honor.)
   Atumopin bent over sideways to say to Ateyo, "Ayfo slivu ayNa'vi ameuianga!"  (These people will become honorable Na'vi.)
   Dan, being more fluent, overheard, and answered, "Ma Atumopin, oel fpìvim ngrra seyki ngaru awngateri!"  (My Atumopin, we will try to make you proud about us!")
   "Srefereiey, niprrte' !" (Looking forward to it) said Atumopin with a smile.  She then motioned for everyone to follow her and announced, "Za'u ayoeng ftxozä si fpì nìwotx ayzima'uyu."
   Wendy looked over the other five members of the shuttle crews, and said, "WOW!  We have been here less than an hour and we have already been invited to a party!"
   Dan placed his hand on her shoulder, and cautioned, "They don't just party.  When they work, they WORK.  Your training WILL be fast-paced and SERIOUS."
He then raised his voice and said, "NO MORE than One SMALL Drink of the fermented fruit juice.  It WILL knock you on your ASS and we have to FLY tomorrow."
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te



  CHAPTER 138
   As the six crewmembers of the two Shuttles entered the outer edges of the crowd of Na'vi attending the Ftxozä, being led by Atumopin and then Ateyo, the crowds, no matter how thick, or how involved in merriment,immediately parted for the small procession. They headed straight for the location of the Elders, and important guests.
   Atumopin led the group to the place by the Ylltxep, around which, the elders were seated, and motioned for them all to be seated. As the newcomers were fed, the UnderSea Renegades and the three from Blue Heart Gate  were acquainting themselves with the ayeyktan and aysahik who were seated.  Those from the Island were interested to learn from the Star People when it would be safe to return to their Island.  Atumopin addressed the question to Sharon West, whom she had identified as the Eyktan of this new Underwater Clan. She then turned to the crowd, and raised her hands to get their attention, and their silence. Once that had been achieved, Atumopin addressed the crowd.
    "Ma S'rron? Srake, nga lu tsun pivllte ta aysute sponoìri?"  (My Sharon, can you speak to the people about the Island?) "Ma Ateyo tsun ralpiveng ngeyä aylì'u." (Ateyo can translate your words.)
  "Hu nìprrte', Ma Sa'nu." (With pleasure, Mom.)
  Atumopin smiled graciously, yet turned to Tai and rolled her eyes. She wasn't as troubled with the poor grammar as with being identified as Mother, to yet another person of her own age!  Only Tai and Lamu'ite had seen her expression, and stifled their amusement. 
  Sharon nodded as she finished a crispy teylu, and stood to her feet.

  "Ma Frapo!  Ayoe tsolam fwa ayngaru lu yawne ayngeyä spono."
  "She say, Quote: We know that to all you is love for your island. Unquote." said Ateyo in Na'vi.
  "Ulte ayoe tsolam fwa, um, tsnì,"  At that point, Sharon gave up her attempt at communicating in Na'vi. "It is worrisome, when you all can return to your island."
  Ateyo chimed in.  "And we understand that, that..."  Ateyo wondered why the Star People had difficulty when using Fwa and Tsnì.   Now Ateyo could translate from English to Na'vi, rather from strange sentences to properly worded sentences.  She continued Sharon's translation.  "Lu sngumtsìm akrrìri ayngaru tätxaw ayngati ta spono ayngeyä."
   Sharon continued, "We have just received images and information about the volcano..."
   "Ayoel tirmel ayrel volkeynoru ulte aysäomumil volkeynoìri..." translated Ateyo.
    Sharon waited and then continued.  "We will study the images tonight and we will decide how best to make the island safer.  We want to make the volcano explode under the water," continued Sharon.  She sighed as Ateyo translated.  She recognized the words, San, and Sìk, volkeyno, and pxor,or actually, pxeykor, cause to explode.  She wished she had become more fluent and smiled gratefully at her translator before continuing.
Sharon's sorrow at not being more fluent in Na'vi was short lived, however. She heard the Eyktan of the islands, speaking so vehemently, she was almost spitting out the words. Apparently, Eyktan Fayri'el was very upset by something that Sharon  had said.  The eyktan of the spono, stood up to be recognized.
  "Oe lu Eyktan Fayri'el te Omnakir, 'ite Ketemenviyä , ftu Sponoyä Meoauniaea."  She was so animated in her body language when she spoke, that the various shells she was adorned with, rattled.  Her Kxetse swung violently through the air in irritation and her speech was punctuated with harsh glances at Sharon, and her fellow crew members.  Her speech, however, was addressed largely to Nawma Eyktan Toruk Makto.
  Sharon West reached over to her translator's arm.  Ateyo leaned toward her and whispered harshly.  "Her saying San: Sky People always bringing more things for explode.  This is bad, very bad, for Eywa'eveng.  People have living on island with volcano many long time before Coming of SkyPeople.  Na'vi on Big Land liking these SkyPeople.  We do not. SkyPeople always destroying Eywa'eveng. Sìk.
   "Ma Eyktan Fayri'el."  Jake said, as if he was exasperated at having to regain her trust.  Sharon sensed that he seemed to be admonishing a young teen ager. He looked at her, smiled, and in a soothing voice, said, ""Ayfo solar fayu apxor sre krra mì 'Rrta, tìftang sì ayvolkeyno kxeykuke nìhawng.
("These Ones have used the exploding things before, on 'Rrta, to stop volcanos from causing more harm.") 
  "Tì'efumì oeyä, Eywal ke new fwa Na'vi sponoyä terkup. ("I don't think Eywa wills it, that the Na'vi Sponoyä, should die.") 
Fayumonit polähem fìtsenge ulte ayfoti nerew srungsivi ayoengil. ("These humans have come here and are willing to help.")
As Ateyo translated these words into Inglìsì, the faces of the visitors registered dismay.  Sharon was the first to speak;
  "Ma JakeSully.  We understand the fear and distrust of Technology.   But we fear for the safety of the People.  All our studies indicate that this will be a massive Eruption, with a large, fast moving Pyroclastic flow and that the resulting Na'vi, and animal death toll would be almost instantaneous, and total on that island.  The People are safe here.  I urge her to remain here with all the Islanders for a month, if you could translate that."
   Neytiri, who had been conferring with Mo'at, was next to speak.
  "Oe lu Neytiri te Tskaha Moat'ite.  Oe plltxe fpì oeyä Sa'nok. Poe pltxe San: Ayoengur solop alìm nìhawng." (We have traveled very far.)  She continued with Ateyo translating.  "Returning now would not be wise for those who are old and frail.  I urge you to wait with all of your people here, with the Ikran Clan of the Eastern Sea.  YOU may return now, if you wish, and bring them back when it is safe."
There was a murmur of amusement and consternation, as her words were shared.
  "Ma Tsmuke."  Norm's muntxate then rose to her feet.  "Oe lu Tsahik Liri'el.  I suspect that my relations were once from the Island." (She had mentioned the similarities of name construction earlier)  "I would like very much, to share tsaheylu with you and others from your Clan so that we may hear the words that Eywa has to share with us about this matter."  She spoke in Na'vi, in urgent, hushed tones.
  Eyktan Fayri'el, sensing that her tsmuke had given her a reasonable cause for delay, and a way of retracting gracefully from a stubborn stance, nodded solemnly, causing the myriad shell beads in her hair to clatter softly.
  "Fìsämokìri oe irayo seiyi, Ma Tsmuke."  (For this suggestion, I thank you very much, My Sister.)  Ateyo was about to translate but Eyktan Fayri'el stood and spoke to the others of her Clan.
  "Oeyä Tsmuke, Liri'el, kem sami tìmok alu ayoeng sweylu run Mokri Nawma Sa'nokur.  Oe new kem sivi fwa lu nìswey fpì oeyä sutan.  Tafral, fìsämok oer finanfya a sìltsan."
  Ateyo tapped her wrist politely, to remind her that her words needed a translator.  Fayri'el stepped back a little and gave Ateyo the floor.
    "Ma Eyktan Fayri'el piylltxe SAN:'Our Sister, Liri'el, has suggested that we join in tsaheylu to hear the words which Our Great Mother would say to us.  I want to do what is best for the People.  So this makes sense to me.' :SìK."
  "My Daughter." A very wizened, old man had spoken, and had paused politely while Ateyo translated his daughter's words.  "Oe lu Tsahik Ketemenvi, Sempu te Fayri'el."  He grinned at Ateyo as she translated.  "I may be old, but I walked down to the lagoon after the sea creature had been hunted.  I sat in the tidal pools and spoke with the ancient creatures whom we know as brothers.  They will be here tomorrow in the lagoon and promise to chase away any other dangerous and hungry creatures like the one caught today.  They have much to share and wish for us all to join them tomorrow."
  He grinned to see Ateyo's puzzlement as she translated his mystic message.  When JakeSully heard the words, he was reminded about the legends that were shared with him as he waited on the Sanctuary Island.  The dolphin-like creatures he had seen near there were said to be descendants of the Islanders.  It surprised him, yet made sense, that the Islanders simply used tidal pools of sea water to convey information through Tsaheylu.  Even Norm's Liri'el realized how efficiently this would work.  She and the other aysahik exchanged glances, as if to say, "Why hadn't WE thought of that".
  JakeSully then rose to address everyone assembled.  However, the flicker of lightning in the East distracted him.  Indeed, everyone rose to their feet and began to move outside of the "amphitheater."  In the distance, in the exact direction of the volcanic island, a towering cloud of ash was growing, illuminated eerily by red, orange, and even blue gaseous eruptions.  Lightning seemed to emanate from one point on the horizon, even snaking upward.
  All Peoples stood slack-jawed in awe of the show of force from Eywa'eveng.  Mo'at hobbled near toward Eyktan Fayri'el and murmured loud enough for her to hear; 
"Oeru nìprrte tsnì Eywal kxeykuke sutel nìwotx."  Eyktan Fayri'el nodded solemnly, as she turned the words in her mind; "I am pleased that Eywa caused all the people to be safe."  She was beginning to understand HOW Eywa caused their safety.
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te



  CHAPTER 139

Once the communal meal, and meeting ended with the light show to the East, Sharon saw one of the English speaking Mipa Na'vi approach Jake Sully, and Tai Tae Ao, and the three of them talked for a very short time before Jake pointed to the six crew members, and said, "We have commo from both ISV's, and Blue Heart Gate. I think that you people need to be in on this."
With that, the nine of them trotted down to the Commo Shack, to confab with those on the radio.
Once everyone was in the structure, the Mipa Na'vi shook the hands of the six newcomers, and said, "Talk about making a grand entrance, Eywa seems to have placed an Exclamation point on everything all of you have been trying say to us. My name is Norm, ---Norm Spellman. Jake and I arrived here together on the same ISV over a decade ago".

The radio received a new message. "Eastern Sea Clan, this is Txe'lan ikranä , Colonel S'aralta Tamas' speaking".
Jake pointed to Sharon, so she picked headset and said, "Txe'lan ikranä , this is major Sharon West, go ahead."
"Major West, we had quite an explosive ash eruption of the volcano on the island that we are watching.
The main direction of the pyroclastic flow was from the North side of the volcano, and directed to the North, away the island. The ash plume is headed your way, at an altitude of sixty thousand feet, and dropping, as it nears your location, over".
Do you have a projected time for the leading edge of the ashfall to come over our location, and an estimate for the amount of ash released?", queried Sharon.
"Our preliminary numbers show three million metric tons of ash, that will begin dropping on your location in an hour from now, over."
"Colonel Tamas', let me get Blue Heart in on this conversation, but please stay with us, as well as the other two ISV's. Blue Heart, can you wake up one of the Geologists?".
"Eastern Sea, this is Vlad Eleferov, second in command of the Blue Heart Geology team, I have been up since this started. It appears that there has been no magma flow with the current event, the pressure release just cleaned out the magma tube between the chamber, and the mouth of the crater, blowing off the top two hundred feet of the North face of the volcano. Is Dr. Lutzow with you people?"
Sharon looked at Tai Tae Ao, and she nodded in the affirmative, just as Dr. Lutzow, Pxati, and Colonel Shrader walked into the makeshift room together.
Dr. Lutzow grabbed one of the unused headsets, donned it, and said, "Vlad this is Wade, we are going to fuel up a Shuttle, and go take a look at first light. I need to know if there was a drop in the floor of the magma chamber, just prior to the eruption."
Vlad informed Dr. Lutzow that they were cranking out the sensor data, and they could have a computer simulation within the hour.

Tai looked at the shuttle crews, and noticed that they looked pretty haggard. "We need to get you folks where you can get some sleep, so that you can fly tomorrow." She turned to Ateyo, who was standing next to her, and whispered something to her. Ateyo then said, "Please coming with me", as she headed to the exit.
As Ateyo led the crewmembers to where they could let their ayuniltirontokx sleep, a light snow of volcanic ash was starting to fall.
Sharon trotted up to Ateyo, and suggested, "Ma Ateyo, you need to tell the Na'vi NOT to sleep on the open ground, because by morning, what is falling will be this deep", and Sharon motioned to her knees. "If they sleep unprotected, they may not be able to breathe".
Ateyo assured Sharon, "I will tell the Na'vi".

Ateyo led the two crews to a huge structure, perhaps a hundred feet high, at it's tallest, and fifty feet at it's lowest, and a hundred feet long, and fifty feet wide.

At the entrance to the building, Ateyo struck up a conversation with several Na'vi, and after the conversation was finished, she came over and said, "These Na'vi will protect your ayuniltirontokx while they sleep. In morning, they will help you make ready to fly the thunder ships."
Sharon looked at Ateyo, and said, "Irayo, ma Ateyo, ayoeru meuia fpì smeron ngati" (It it to us an honor to know you).
Ateyo responded to Sharon with a smile, and said, "Pum Ngeyä", (I should thank you), and then in English, she said, "My daughter think good about you! You have walk on moon other! She wanting always for doing new thing--going new place."
Sharon looked at Ateyo, and tried out some more of her book learned Na'vi. "Poe liyu nume pxaya ayu mì ayoengä AY-ES-VI ".
Ateyo smiled politely, while she processed the words. With a slight frown, she translated: "She will learn many things in our ISV, kefyak?" She continued carefully, "Make one word, niyume. Means will learn. Tafral, for reason of, liyu means will be soon, but niyume means will soon learn, OK?"
"OK," laughed Sharon. "Txoa livu oer oe ke plltxe' Na'vi, nì'ul." (To me be forgiveness this thing which is I not speak Na.vi better).
Ateyo smiled and said, "Ke sngum ma oeyä  eylan'. Ngal fmeri plltxe' ayl'uti. Ngalu lu tke'lan aniltsan! Ayoel kiyar ayngaru, nì'ul, ul." (No worry, my friend. You are trying to speak words. You have a good heart. We will teach you all better and better).

With that, Ateyo left to return to her muntxate in the "Comm Shack".
Pamela walked up beside Sharon, put her arm around Sharon's waist and said, "Come. my sweet, let's join the others, and give these bodies some sleep".

Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te



  CHAPTER 140
   Sharon "came to" in the link chamber aboard the ISV.  She hit the internal release, and rolled up into a sitting position on the side of the chamber watching the adjacent chamber which held her beloved Pamela. 
   After about a minute, and no change in Pamela's link chamber, she got a little concerned.  The Link Tech, noting Sharon's distress mentioned,
    "There's nothing wrong, she will be here momentarily.  She is just going Alpha now."
   "Half a minute later, Pamela's chamber lid opened.  She opened her eyes, and sat up. 
   "I thought that there might be something wrong with your link," offered Sharon.
   "NO, You can take those "Ranger Power Naps" the moment your head hits something like a pillow, whereas I have to work at it!" responded Pamela.
   "Tse, oeyä yawnetu alor.  Moel zene yomtìng moeyä metokxit." (Well, my beautiful Beloved, we need to feed our bodies) advised Sharon.
   "Srane, ulte tsakrr moel zene ftia fayrelit sponoyìri," (Yes and today we need to study the pictures about the island), replied Pamela.
   
   Sharon and Pamela walked into the Mess Hall together during the Lunch Cycle, though it was night at the Ikran Rider's Clan of the Eastern Sea.
   They immediately, each grabbed coffee, several rolls, and a large bowl of soup, and proceeded to the "Commander's Table", when summoned there by Colonel Hill.
   "How are things on Pandora?" asked Colonel Hill, as they seated themselves at the table.
   "Well, some of the Island People that don't trust our use of explosives to quiet the volcano, seem to be having a change of heart, now that Eywa has demonstrated the gravity of the situation", replied Pamela.
   "Some of the people are pretty shaken up by the large ash fall", added Sharon.
   Colonel Hill cleared his throat, and said, "Not meaning to sound like we should try to take advantage of this situation, but once we reduce the danger, I think the Na'vi, in general,  and the Island Clan in particular, will have a little more faith in our JUDICIOUS use of Earth Technology.  They seem to not have minded our use of explosives on what they thought of as 'Rrteyä Vrrtxep by ayhumon hu eana txe'lan, but they have a dlfferent mindset when they think that we are using them against Eywa'eveng."
   Sharon added, "They need to understand that a knife in the hands of an Evil Person killed Jake Sully's brother.  While the knife in the hands' of a surgeon, heals.
   "I don't think that these people can understand that analogy, as they have no idea of what a surgeon DOES, or how it works," replied Dan as he and Wendy joined the rest of the group. 
   "That's very true," replied Pamela, "But even the Na'vi, should understand that fire can be a Good Thing, or a Bad Thing, depending on HOW it is used."
   "I am not sure of how the Na'vi feel about our doing something that they might view as going against the will of Eywa; But one thing that I CAN report, is that we were treated with the utmost respect and dignity by the Na'vi of MANY different clans." added Wendy.
   A Dining Room Orderly approached Colonel Hill and said, "The people in the Planetary Sciences Section, would like to see you, and all the Volcano Team in their Section for a briefing after everyone has replenished themselves, Sir."
   "Tell them that we will be there is twenty minutes," informed the Colonel.

   Colonel Hill, Majors West and Williams, Captains Wright and Harrington, walked into the Planetary Sciences Section, where the staff, and remaining away team members were awaiting them at a holographic table.
   At the head of the table, was Loren Anderson, one of the ship's engineers, speaking to Majors Thomas Ring , and Megan O'Reilley and Captain Dan Warren, sounding like he KNEW what he was talking about.
   Loren looked up from the image on the table and said, "Commander on Deck!"
   Joe responded with, "Calm down, Loren!  We aren't THAT spit-and-polished any longer.  I didn't even KNOW that you were this knowledgeable about geology."
   "Yes Sir! I took a double major in college in the hope of appearing more attractive as a candidate for the Space Program. I eventually graduated from UCLA with a Master's in AeroSpace Engineering and a Master's in Planetary Geology."
   "I am IMPRESSED!" returned Colonel Hill.  "Not just by your academic achievements, but by your ability at keeping this additional talent under wraps for this journey.  I had NO idea!"
   "It was a paperwork SNAFU at RDA Personnel Department.  And I just let it lie once I was accepted into the program.  No reason to confuse some paper pusher with an over abundance of facts."
   "What do you have for us?" inquired Colonel Hill.
   "I believe that Eywa is birthing an entire island chain, where there were originally only several islands.  It appears that a new hot spot formed just above the upper magma limit of the Magma Layer, and beneath these islands, about a thousand years ago.  The size of the hot spot grew, and its proximity to the surface of Pandora got closer, until the pressure gradually started venting through a long dormant volcano two hundred years ago.  I believe that Eywa engineered for each of us to be alive, and be in the positions that we are in, so that our two subspecies can learn to integrate with each other.  I believe this will be for the eventual growth and betterment of BOTH subspecies, and that what we do now, will facilitate that event."
   "I am just asking this know my crew better: It SOUNDS like you believe that Eywa has the same powers that the God of the Jews and Christians of Earth, was believed to possess, correct?"  Questioned the Colonel.
   "I believe that she is the female aspect of the same entity," Loren replied.
   "That seems to be the view of a fair number of the Crew Members on this Ship," returned Joe.  "Now.  What about this hot spot?"
   "Well, it seems to be starting the same pattern of the one that formed the entire Hawaiian chain did, back on Earth.  If that is the case HERE, it will be active, and spawning new islands, for the next ten thousand, or so, years,"  Loren postulated.
   "WOW!  If THIS hot spot is as prolific, that would mean a chain of hundreds of islands, that would be over a thousand miles long," said Pamela.
   "That is true," answered Loren.  "And if we help out, just a little bit, with THIS Breech Delivery, THIS island," Loren pointed at the volcanic island in question, "will grow to the North without the island being greatly damaged by a Krakatoa style explosion in the future.  I have been in constant contact with the other Volcano Experts that we have on Pandora,and they are coming up with  the numbers of detonations as well as their locations and required power at the moment."
   "Thank you very much.  Please keep us all apprised of the progress.  We will leave you to your duties.  If you need ANYTHING from the Mess Hall brought down here, I will clear it on my way forward," advised Colonel Hill.
   With that, the entire entourage filled out of the Geology Section.
   Five minutes later, the Mess Hall was aware of their duty to deliver meals to those working in the Geology Section. The Crews of the Shuttles ate a light snack to hold their human aytokx over, until the next animation, and the crews "Hit the Racks" to go Alpha.
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te



  CHAPTER 141

    Sharon awoke to a darkened area in which all of the ayuniltirontokx were sleeping, guarded by four young Na'vi tsamsiyu.
She turned her head to the left, and there beside her, was her hone yawnetu tsamsiyu alor, still sawing logs.
"Come on, Sleeping Beauty", time to get up and greet the day." Sharon whispered to Pamela.
Several seconds later, Pamela's eyes snapped open, she spent a moment focusing them, and then asked her muntxate, "Have you been waiting for long?"
"No, honey, I have only been awake for half a minute or so," was Sharon's reply.

  The Na'vi were bringing leaves that they used as face cloths, that were moistened with hot water. Sharon washed her face with one, and gave it back to another young Na'vi, when she was done.
"Irayo, ma 'eylan", she said.
Others followed her lead, and soon there were more Na'vi that brought a hot beverage, and a piece of smoked fish, and some fruit for each of the crew members.
"Irayo fpì syuve sì näk, meuia eylan" (Thank you for the sake of the food and drink, honorable  friends).
The young woman to whom Sharon spoke, smiled and said, "Fayli'u lu eyawr stum." (The words are almost correct.) "Plltxe SAN: "Syuvìri sì näkìri ayoeng irayo si.:SìK"  Now that she had Sharon's attention, she continued: "Ulte nga pivlltxe SAN: Ayoengur lu meuia. SìK."
   Sharon answered with, "Irayo fpì sänumvìri, Ma Tsmuke!" (Thanks for the sake of the little lesson, my Sister!)
   The young woman giggled at Sharon's effort.  Not wanting to discourage her progress, she simply replied, "Nìwin nume nga!" (You learn quickly)
   With that, the young woman left, to tend her other duties elsewhere in the structure.  Dan walked up to Sharon and Pamela and said, "You are REALLY trying to speak with the Na'vi in their language.  That is more Na'vi than I have EVER heard you speak, since we left Earth."
   "She has been working with me on her Na'vi since we left the StarShooter for the Old Dawg on her way here.  Now, she makes me proud, trying to run with her knowledge of Na'vi, on the fly, so to speak," replied Pamela.
   "I just try to string together the root words that I have learned, with as much grammar as I can.  I think that they like that I am trying, even when I get it a little wrong," Sharon added. 
   
   An older Na'vi of some authority walked up to the crews, and tried out the English her learned in Doctor Grace's school, decades ago.  "Please with us coming.  We go greet the new day together."
   Everyone followed him outside, and towards a large group of people that were gathered on, and by, a peninsula of rock that jutted out from the main cliff for about a half-mile to the east, into the sea.  In the eerie, subdued light, Sharon could see hundreds of Na'vi. 
   As they joined the rear of the the throng, some at the front of the group, on the very easternmost point of the spit of land, blew what sounded like a conch shell, several times.  After the last note of the conch, everyone raised their hands, palms pointing toward the sun, and in unison they offered a greeting to the day.
   "Trrongìri ayoeng irayo si " (For the blossoming of the day we give thanks)
   "Ayoeng kaltxì si Ma Nawma Tsawke" (We greet the great sun)
   "Ayoeng kaltxì si Ma Nawma Sanok!"  (We greet the great Mother)

   As soon as everyone said their morning prayer, the people in the rear of the assemblage broke up into small groups, and turned to head to the communal area. 

   The crew bid their farewell to their morning guide, and headed toward one of the five locations that they knew of; The Comm Shack.
   "Once there, a lone Na'vi told Sharon, "Ay Es Vi Eana Ikran, polltxe." and pointed to a headset. 
   Sharon picked up a headset and said, "ISV Eana Ikran, this is Major West, just back from morning prayers.  Go ahead with your message."
   "Major West, this is Major Gabriella Donsdorf, Executive Officer of Eana Ikran.  How soon will Jake, Tai, and Wade, be back from the prayers?"
   "I believe that they were at the eastern edge of the crowd, so it might be fifteen minutes or so," replied Sharon.
   "OK," acknowledged Gabriella. "Can you monitor this frequency until they arrive?"
   "Will do," affirmed Sharon, "We will stay here until they relieve us, and then we will fuel the aircraft, and fly out to the islands to video record and uplink to Blue Heart Gate and the Three ISVs.  Major West on Active Monitoring."

   Twenty minutes later, JakeSully, TaiTaeAo, Taifa'an'ae, and Dr. Wade Lutzow, walked into the Comm Shack to find Sharon sitting in Tai's chair, having an animated discussion about subduction zones and their role in injecting water into the deep magma of either the Earth or Pandora. 
   Pamela pointed to the door of the shack, and when Sharon noticed the people returning, she started to get out of Tai's chair.  Tai held her hands out, palms down, and motioned for Sharon to stay put. 
   Sharon and Loren finished up their discussion in about a minute.  She got up, and handed Dr. Lutzow the headset.
   Wade and Loren immediately discussed the data on the recent volcanic event, and signed off with Wade promising to be airborne within thirty minutes.
   Three minutes later, Tai, Wade, Pamela, Sharon, John, Wendy, and Dan, were heading for the landing area.  Along the way, they picked up Norm, Taifa'an'ae, Harold, and Alex. 

   Once at the landing area, they were met by the Sponoyä AyNa'vi, who INSISTED that they all fortify themselves with food and drink from the islands before flying out.
   The crews were only happy to please the Sponoyä AyNa'vi, and still, only ten minutes were lost.
   As they were finishing up their wutzo, JakeSully, and six Spono'olo volunteers joined the Eyktan and Tsahik of the Sponoyä AyNa'vi, for the flight out, with  a good selection of light-to-medium debris-clearing equipment on the ship Tai was flying.
   The other Samson carried John, Wendy, Dan, Megan, Alex, and six more Na'vi volunteers, along with the Underwater Sensor Array.
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te



  CHAPTER 142

  Sharon and Pamela hopped aboard Tai Tae Ao's Samson, along with Jake Sully. As Sharon started to sit down in one of the jump seats, Tai looked over her shoulder, and said, "Oh NO you DON'T! Get up in the number two seat, and lets see if you can still FLY one of these".
"Nìlun," said Sharon with a grin, as she climbed into the Co-Pilot's seat.
Once Sharon was buckled in, Tai told her, "The ship is yours."
Sharon spooled up the engines, picked up the ship in a low hover, and transitioned to forward flight over the face of the cliff, then the lagoon, and in the direction of the ayspono.  "Ftue!" (Easy) Sharon exclaimed happily over the intercom, as she settled the ship in at 2,000 feet AGL, and 160 knots indicated. 
   Tai keyed the intercom to the rear of the Samson, and bilingually informed everyone, "We should be at the islands in two hours, you will find drinks in a cooler in the stern of the ship.  Ayoe pate ayspono tengkrr natkenong.  Krrpe ayoe tswamayon ne 'oloikranä aymaktoyu txampayä, ngaru wur aynäer mì nga'u ro ne'ìm lefngapa ikran." (We arrive to islands sometime, as for example, when we flew to Clan Ikran Riders of the Sea.  To you is cool drinks in contain-thing at back of metal ikran.)
   "You forgot to tell them about their tray tables, in the back of the seat in front of them!" said Sharon with a laugh.  "THIS IS Air Pandora, is it not?" she continued.
   "V-E-R-Y funny!" replied Tai with a wink.  "You are having entirely too much fun with this."
   "HEY! At least I didn't say, SAMOAN Airlines!" chuckled Sharon.
   "Be quiet!  Or as Captain of this airliner, I'll demote you to stewardess!" laughed Tai.
   "OK!  I'll be a good girl and just fly the plane," returned Sharon with an air of having been chastised in her voice.  It was all the two of them could do to keep from breaking out in raucous laughter.
   
   Halfway to their destination, the sunlight fell a lot stronger. And when Tai and Sharon looked up, the ash cloud was markedly thinner.  "It looks like the ash cloud is dying out," said Sharon, pointing up to what was now left of it.
   "Yes, and it almost disappears completely, the closer that we get to the islands.  I need to report on this," replied Tai, as she keyed her headset.  "Geosync ISVs, this is Volcano Observation Flight.  It seems as if the ash plume is thinning out quite a bit.  Can you give us your perspective?"
   "Observation flight, this is Eana Ikran.  The ash plume has now ceased from the Volcano.  Let me patch in the ship's Geology Section, and they can tell you what the sensors are reading."
   "Observation Flight.  This is the Science Section.  Pxepxi speaking.  Our sensors show everything quiet under island now, Ma Meuia Sa'nu. Science Section Out!"
   "You don't LOOK old enough to have a daughter serving as a Science Specialist on a StarShip!" stated Sharon.
   "Ateyo and I adopted her and a boy several years ago," explained Tai.
   "You used to be an uniltìrantokx, kefyak?" questioned Sharon.
   "Srane. Jake, Norm, Ka'alani, and a host of others, used to be tied to link chambers, until, at different times, Eywa granted each of us a total Na'vi existence."
   "That would sure be nice," Sharon mused, "But I would imagine that only certain members of the ayuniltìrantokx are granted that blessing, and only after distinguishing themselves in battle."
   Tai turned to Sharon and said, "EVERYONE in our little rebel unit, was giving the status of full Na'vi at exactly the same time.  Those who were in the midst of a pitched battle against the last unit of the RDA, technicians, clerks, medics, EVERYONE!  Don't worry, your time will come.  Come to think of it, Weren't you in Command of the Away Team that found, and cleared, floor by floor, that RDA base on the moon of another planet in this system, contributing greatly to the intel we have on what the RDA was up to?  Your time WILL come, but only Eywa knows WHEN that will be."
   "Thanks for the advise.  I guess I was looking for signposts," said Sharon.
   "There really WERE none that were external.  About sixty percent of the unit that I commanded were not even Taronyu, much less Tswayonyu, and a few of those STILL are not.  I think that she is just interested in the state of your hearts."

   "Not to change the subject, but I think I can make out the top of a pretty calm volcano on the horizon," announced Sharon. 
   "I believe that you are right," answered Tai, who keyed the intercom and said, "Moel tse'a ngeya spono alìm,"  which brought Tsayri'el up forward between the two pilots, to gaze at her home, if only still far away.
   "Lora kelku," whispered Tsayri'el, to which Sharon affirmed,
   "Srane. Poe lu!"

   When they finally arrived at the island, Tai and Sharon orbitted the volcano, and then set the Samson down in the clearing that made up one of the communal areas for a largely untouched village.  Only a few huge boulders and some mud had come down the village side of the mountain, partially damaging two structures.  All of the Na'vi volunteers, Norm, John, and Dan, dove onto the damaged structures to effect temporary repairs while Pamela drove a small tracked vehicle with a hydraulic bucket on front, off the second Samson and cleared the boulders from the area.  Wendy and Megan disappeared into the brush, to harvest fkxen to refresh the workers.  The three leaders of the 'olo supervised the repairs and cleanup, while Tai, Sharon, and Alex flew to Samson to a two foot hover above the water over the rift, where the underwater device was deployed.  Alex controlled its image and data gathering mission.

   Several hours later, everyone met at the now cleaned up village for refreshments and conversation.
   Norm pointed at a purple fruit that had petals like an artichoke. But these were not hard and spiny, but soft like a peach, and the fruit tasted like a pear, but with the sweetness of a pineapple.
   "Now THIS is GOOD!" said Pamela, as she sampled something that looked like what Na'vi at Eastern Sea Clan called "Push Fruit", but tasted more like the guavas on 'Rrta.
   Sharon popped another few berries into her mouth, while Tsayri'el asked her, Alex and Jake WHY the clan could not come back to the island yet.
   Jake knew that to prevent a possible catastrophe, HE would have to answer and hope that his "fame card" would entice her to Play It Safe.
   "Ma Meianga Eyktan Fayri'el. Ayoeng nari soli fwa oeyä Nawma Sa'nok holawn fayu fpì ayngeyä nìkxuk.  Poel ayfoti zola'u fìtsenge fpì srung sivi .  Krro ayoeng zene hum heku ayoengä.  Slä atfo plltxe SAN: "Krro ayoel nì'aw.:" SìK.  (My Honorable Eyktan Fayri'el.  We have seen that our Great Mother has protected these Ones for the sake of all your safety.  She has brought them here for the sake of giving help.  Sometimes we must leave our homes.  But They say, QUOTE: "For a short time only." UNQUOTE.)
   "Ma oeyä 'Ite.  said the raspy voice of Tsahik Ketemenvi.  "Ayswirä txampayä fpole ayoengaru 'upxare.  Fo plttxe SAN: "Ayoeyä Nawma Sa'nok rolun fìtsenge akxuk fpì ayoe. 'ì'awn fìtsenge ulte ayoe eylan lu. SìK." (My Daughter.  The Sea Creatures have sent us a message.  They say, QUOTE 'Our Great Mother has found a safe place for us here. Stay and be our friends. UNQUOTE) 
   
   Sharon paid close attention as Jake translated for the ayuniltìrantokx.  When Jake finished, she said, "Krr ayoeng lu hasey fìtsenge, ayoeng kin tswiyon ne Sanctuary Island for fuel." 
   Jake and all the Born on Pandora Na'vi, smiled at Sharon who was trying so hard
to speak as much Na'vi as she could, and being frustrated when she was forced to add English where she couldn't.
   Tsayri'el lightened up the moment by giving the Thumbs-Up sign that she had seen so many of the Mipa Na'vi and ayuniltìrantokx gving each other, while she climbed aboard the Samson and yelled, "Ayoeng tswayon ye'rin!"
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te



  CHAPTER 143

  The flight to Sanctuary Island, the landing, and everyone's "Trips behind the tree", while the Samson was refueled from the large tank that was left for operational refuelings during the volcano operations, all went without a hitch.  The trip back was somewhat boring for the people in the aft sections of the two Samsons, but the Flight Crews kept the monotony at bay, by conversing with each other, the ISV's Science Sections, and Blue Heart Gate.

   "Eastern Sea,  This is Inbound Volcano Inspection Flight, fifty miles out, full stop."
   "They will know who is at the Controls, I always do my traffic reports nìNa'vi, nì'aw!" said Tai with a smile.
   "Someday I will get proficient enough with Na'vi to where I can just SPEAK it off the cuff like that, but it might be a while."
   "Maybe not," smiled Tai.  "I will see about asking Atumopin to assign Ateyo as the teacher for you and Pamela.  Ateyo will like that!"
   "Sharon got back to business, saying, "Are we going to be met by an ayikranä Welcoming Party, or is that something that is reserved for First Time Arrivals?"
   Tai smiled and informed Sharon, "We Na'vi are a friendly bunch, so THAT is an every time thing, no matter WHAT you are flying."
   Sharon thought out loud, "I hope that someday, I will be good enough to go on Iknimaya, AND that I manage to prevail against the ikran that chooses me."
   Tai put Sharon's concern in perspective with, "I believe that when the time comes, as the Warrior you have already proven yourself to be, you will have no problem.  The same goes for your wife, as well.  LOOK! at your Two o'clock.  Here comes the Welcome Home Escort!"
   "Tally the Escort," replied Sharon, as she throttled back to Fifty, indicated, and initiated a long, shallow, descent to the landing area.  "Ten miles out."
   The Riders and their ikrans surrounded the two Samsons with the traditional greeting being given and returned.  Two miles out, the Escort peeled off for their favorite roosts, and the Ground Guides took their positions for the two ships.
   Once on the ground, the VIPs from the Islands were greeted enthusiastically by their clan members, and the Crews made a "beeline" for the Commo Shack.  Halfway there, they were mobbed by members of the Eastern Sea Clan, who INSISTED that they stopped to sit with their soaia (family) for some fruits and juice.  Ten minutes were spent there before they were allowed to continued to their destination.

   When they contacted the Geology Teams on the radio, they got some great news.  The undersea rift had grown in length, width, and was full of sulphur dioxide spewing vents, indicating that the crust between the rift and the magma, was considerably thinner.
   Atumopin walked into the Commo Shack and said, "Oeyä ayswayonyu tolätxaw, Peu aynga nolume?"  (My Fliers have returned.  What thing have you learned?)
   Sharon replied, "Eywa volewng ayoeng.  Set ke kin ayoengur, pxaya apxa pxeror ayu, mawkrr txana atsäpxor mìfa sì äo ram." (Eywa took care of us. Now, no need to us, many large exploding things.  After many explosions inside and under mountain)
   Atumopin smiled to herself at the valiant effort to communicate.  She thought to herself, "Faysute ftu äo txampaya "rrtayä fmeri pivlltxe lìfya Na'viyä.  Slä tìrey liyu ftue nì'ul krra fo plltxe siltsana nì'ul!" (These People from Under the Great Water of Earth, are trying to learn to speak the language of the Na'vi.  But Life will be more esay when they speak more well.)
   Atumopin would always give encouragement where it would do good, and this New Member of her Soaia always seemed to try so hard.  So she said, "Fìfmawnìri fwa nga zamunge lu kosman, irayo ma mìpa tsamsiyu!"  (This news you bring is wonderful.  Thank you New Warrior.)
   Sharron replied with, "Nìprrte'." (I did it with pleasure.) 
   Jake was standing by the doorway, and walked to the center of the room to make an announcement. "Ayoeng zene wìntxu aylapo 'upe ayoeng set omum.  Tsakrr ayoeng tsun fìtsap fwew Eywayä Txanslusam fpì fì tingäzik."  (We must show others what we now know.  Then, we can each seek Eywa's wisdom for the sake of this problem.)
   Atumopin asked, "Fyape kem si ayoe wìntxu aylapo, ma Jake?"  (How do we show others, Jake?)
   "Fa ayrel 'erarìp," (By means of pictures moving) replied Alex.

   Atumopin had everyone assembled in the natural amphitheater in less than an hour.  And the Techs had the holographic projectors ready to go ten minutes sooner.  All the Pandora-Born Na'vi were awestruck with fear, by what was shown on the holographs, ESPECIALLY the VERY realistic clip of what happened at Pompeii.
   After the presentation was over, the aysahik of the different clans explained to the people that the last scenes had happened on 'Rrta a long, long time ago.  And only COULD happen on the island IF nothing was done. NOT what WOULD happen.
   "These Na'vi are so excitable," mentioned Tai, after the presentation.  "I wish that there was some other way to show them the information, other than by 3D holograms."
   "I know," said Alex, "But it's the ONLY way that we can do it.  These People have Zero Training on HOW their homeland works, and given what human greed did to the Na'vi, in the RDA occupation of this Moon, and the complete destruction of the Earth, I can understand their fear, that it is technology that is the root evil, rather than blind greed."
   Pamela chimed in with, "I just hope that sometime before all of us scientists are dead, they will see technology as neither good OR bad, but simply as a tool that can be used for EITHER result."

   Ateyo came trotting up to the EarthBorn ayNa'vi, sì ayUniltìrantokx, and invited them to accompany her and some other Na'vi to the Lagoon.  "Ma frapo, mìpa tsute wolìntxu ayrel'erarìp.  Eywa wiyìntxu ayrel nìteng ulte kxawm Nawma Sa'nok srung sivi ayoengur slolam. Oel ayoengati mok fwa ayngur kä ne pay a nìmwey ulte ayoel Eywati vin." 
   Ateyo added her translation, "Everyone! New people have show pictures.  Eywal will show pictures also.  And perhaps Great Mother will help us unnerstand.  I suggest that we all go to the Calm Water and request Eywa for 'xplain."
  She closed with, "Ma Mìpa Eylan, We know Laughing Sea Creatures.  You all will be liking them.  They have show us all Fire Lava under the Big Water.  Za'u nìprrte'!"
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te



  CHAPTER 144

The undersea renegades, all saw the Dolphin like mammals cavorting at the mouth of the Lagoon, before they were half way down the trail from the top of the Cliff.
"Are those what you call Laughing Sea Creatures, ma Ateyo?" asked Sharon.
"Srane, Yes! Hang-us-hama Ayswirä  Txampayä . Ma Ka'alani syaw ayfo Tolfìn". (Ka'alani call them Dophin". "Srake, you call them Tolfìn, Niteng?"  (Dolphin, also?).
Sharon replied, "Srane, ma Ateyo, they love the humans that treat them well.The dolphins that we had on R'rta before the evil humans killed the Planet, and everything on it, did not have metswin".
Ateyo replied, "They all having only one tswin?"
Sharon explained, Kehe, ma 'eylan, they did not have ANY tswin, but what sounds like laughing to us, was the way that they would talk to each other on R'rta".
Ateyo looked confused, and asked, "Not ayswin? They not talk with aynga? Or you talk fa laugh?"
They would talk fa laugh ma Ateyo," informed Sharon, their laughing was a language, Lìfyao. We had started to learn to understand it, before all the creatures were killed with the R'rta. Those of us that are called the undersea renegades, loved them very much, miss them very much, and are very sad, and HATE the RDA VRRTEP for doing that ."

   Before long, Ateyo and her parade of AyNa'vi, mipa AyNa'vi, and Blue Hearted Ayuniltìrantokx, were at the shore of the lagoon.  As they got closer to the water, the Laughing Sea Creatures entered the lagoon, and swam close to the shore.
   Pamela, Sharon, John, and Wendy, were the first to enter the water, with the four of them wading out to where the water was a little over waist deep.  Four creatures swam straight towards them, with one "tolfìn" each, choosing one of the four Renegades.
   The One that chose Sharon, swam by her left thigh, brushing its entire side against her thigh, turned around behind her, and then brushed her right thigh, with the length of the other side of its body.  It then turned and faced her, rose up out of the water a little, and chattered at her, while offering her one of its meswin. 
   When Ateyo saw this, she copied a hand signal that she had seen the ayuniltìrantokx, and mipa ayNa'vi give to their groundcrews when they wanted to have their lefngapa ayikran hooked to Ground Power.  Sharon, knowing what Ateyo meant, gave a thumbs-up, which Ateyo returned. 
   Sharon then held her tswin in one hand and the creatures offered tswin in the other, mentally braced herself, and connected the two.
   The initial sensation was almost overpowering.  Sharon sensed, heard, and saw, what this other-worldly dolphin sensed, heard and saw.  THEN she saw images of what the creature saw for the last several weeks, that were "Burst Loaded" into her memory very quickly, for later retrieval.  She saw the last months seismic activity at the undersea rift, as well as activity at another undersea vent many, many, miles to the north.  She then got the sensation of a "voice" that she had gotten when she dreamed, saying, "You dive deeper than us," and a sense of first, confusion, and then profound, heart wrenching sadness.  Sharon almost gently severed the connection to save the creature from pain.  But the "voice" pleaded, "PLEASE DON'T."
   After the period of sadness passed, Sharon felt the assurance that the dolphin, as Sharon called them, trusted her implicitly, for it had peered into her very soul, so to speak.  Sharon felt as if she truly UNDERSTOOD these relatives of the now demised dolphins of Earth.  She had known a lot ABOUT Earth Dolphins from years of studying them, but never truly UNDERSTOOD them before Bonding with THIS one.

   When the time came for them to sever the Bond, the Creature sensed Sharon's sadness, and Sharon then, somehow, was filled with the knowlege that she, and THIS ONE would share thoughts again.
   Sharon walked out of the lagoon, and towards Ateyo, who was standing next to several members of the olo'spono who had brought down some juicy fruits from the top of the cliff.
   "Teuti!  Ma Ateyo!  Tsa'u lolu txantsan!  Poru set kerame teri oeyä txe'lan!"  (Wow, Ateyo!  That thing was excellent!  To her is now seeing about my heart!)
  "Lam ngaru lolu 'eylan mipa! Mlltxe oe. Lam poru kameie ngeyä txe'lan aean nìteng.  (It appears that you have a new friend.  I agree.  It appears that it SEES your Blue Heart, as well!)
   Sharon accepted a large blue fruit, the size and shape of a papaya from one of the Na'vi, bit into it, and was rewarded with a VERY juicy mouthful of sweet, and tangy pulp.
   "Irayo ma 'eylan. Fì'u lu txantsan!  (Thank you, Friend. This thing is excellent!) exclaimed Sharon.
   "Kea tìkin," (It was nothing) was his reply to her.

   Before long, Pamela, John, and Wendy, walked ashore.  Pamela had a big-eyed "Deer-in-the Headlights" expression on her face, John looked like he was still intellectually processing the entire experience, and Wendy kept trying to explain WHAT she experienced aloud to herself, someone, ANYONE, constantly switching between Na'vi and English.
   When they had separated from the group of Undersea Renegades, PAmela and Sharon walked back to the lagoon, sat in the knee-deep water, and spoke with each other in what, they thought, was a private conversation.  PAmela tried to explain to her muntxate, "We always suspected that they were very intelligent, but I had NO IDEA, to THIS extent!"
   "Yes,"  replied Sharon, "I wonder now if the dolphins on Earth KNEW that it was because of the greed of SOME of the same Humons that killed their great brothers, the whales, that they and their beloved oceans were dying."
   "I just HOPE," said Pamela,  fighting for emotional control, "that their last thoughts were not wondering whether we had deserted them or had died ourselves."
   Sharon stroked her Beloved's hair, and said, "They KNEW how much the GOOD humans LOVED them.  I believe that they thought that we were already dead."
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te



   CHAPTER 145

   Pamela and Sharon's contemplation concerning the final thoughts and emotions of the dolphins of Earth, as it was rapidly becoming unable to support life. was cut short after several minutes.  Atumopin had noticed that they had not returned from the lagoon, and the sun was rapidly sinking, so she sent twenty-five ayswayonyu and their ayikran to pick up everyone who was at the lagoon. Piwopx Srewyu had watched Tai Tae Ao hike down to the lagoon with the others from his favorite roost at the top of the cliff.  By the time that the second ikran and tswayonyu dove to the lagoon, Piwopx figured out what was going on, and NO ONE was going to ride Tai up from the lagoon as long as HE had anything to say about it.  He leapt from his perch, folded his wings, only pulling up from his vertical dive at the last possible moment.  A bat-of-an-eye later WOULD have been too late, as even with his strong chest-groaning-pull-up, the big ikran missed crashing into the sand on the beach, by mere inches, and actually had just touched the water's surface near the shore with the talons of his hind legs.  He bled-off speed, by flying out over the lagoon, one foot above the water, for seventy feet, climbing enough to stand on his left wingtip while executing a left 180 degree turn, heading back to the beach to land in front of Tai Tae Ao. Piwopx Srewyu landed three feet in front of Tai, threw back his head and screeched triumphantly.
   "Proud of ourselves, are we?" Tai asked him, to which he shrieked again.

   Having seen Piwopx Srewyu take off, and plummet toward the lagoon, Atanvi likewise flew toward the beach but in less of a "Hell for Leather" fashion, landing alongside Piwopx Srewyu only half a minute later.  This was advantageous as Tai and Ateyo were talking to each other as Piwopx Srewyu had landed.  Moments after their mounts arrived, Tai and Ateyo got on them, and flew to the impending Sun Down ceremony.  Immediately after Tai and Ateyo took off, the other ayikran landed in threes and fours on the beach to pick up passengers while the other ayikran flew over the water, waiting their turns.  When the UnderSea Renegades saw what was happening, they immediately lined up, and mounted available ayikran, for the flight to the ceremony.  The ayswayonyu landed their ayikran close to the periphery of the crowd of ayNa'vi, to allow their passengers to dismount and join the Celebration without being late.

      After the ceremony was over, and while everyone was eating, Eyktan Atumopin announced that she would like to see all of the UnderSea Renegades together, once they had eaten.  Complying with the request was no problem, as the Renegades all ate together, and arrived in Atumopin's presence together.
"Srake ngaru lamu nìprrte' polltxe hu hang-us-hama ayswirä?" (Yes/No, to you was pleasure speaking with the Laughing Sea Creatures?) asked, Atumopin.
   Sharon answered, "Srane, moel nolume txan talun hang-us-hama ayswirät." (Yes, we learned much from the Laughing Sea Creatures.) She continued with, "Oe tsole'a ayupe fwa po tsloe'a mì txampay." (I have seen things which it had seen in the BigWater.)
   Atumopin was beginning to find it a little easier to quickly figure out what Sharon was trying to say with the unusual way that she would string good Na'vi words together.  She guessed that to other ayhumon, it made sense ..... THAT was the answer!  Put each one of these humans that meant so well, with their own Na'vi tutor.  Mated couples would share the same tutor.  That would start as soon as they quieted the volcano, and before hunting, or other training.  Get them to speak better Na'vi!  Atumopin smiled at the thought of coming up with so simple a solution, to this small problem.
   She smiled at Sharon and said, "Nga livu slolam txan tafral fwa nga tsole'a fa menari  hang-us-hama swiräyä."  We will understand because that you have seen by means of the eyes of the Laughing Sea Creature.
   "Srane, oe livu Ma Atumopin." (Yes, I will Atumopin) replied Sharon.

   An hour later, Sharon and Pamela were walking hand-in-hand, back to their sleeping quarters, when they met John out on a stroll. 
   "So what do you think will change in the original Game Plan?"  he asked.
   "I think that we will not need as much Fire Power." Pamela replied.  "I think that we will be able to use shape charges, in a more surgical manner."
   "We were getting ready to return to the ISV, to give these bodies a rest, feed and maintain the Other bodies, and find out just what the new plan IS," added Sharon.
   John batted away a flying bug, and mentioned, "I won't be that far behind you two, I just needed a little walk to help me go Alpha."
   Sharon and Pamela returned to the structure and after some small talk with a young Na'vi, who offered each of them a skewer of seylu, which they accepted and ate,  they went Alpha in their Sleep-Leaves.

   Sharon sat up, once the lid of her link chamber lifted out of her way.  Her Yawnetu's lid was just opening, as her feet touched the floor. 
   "Not bad," she said, a moment after Pamela had sat up.  "We can BEAM UP to the ship from the surface below in a moment, just like those guys on that ancient Star Trek TV Show," Sharon continued with a smile. 
   "You are a warehouse of late twentieth century trivia, you know that?" Pamela shot back with a pout.
   "You DO know, that if you keep it up with that cute little pout, the Mess Hall, or Bridge, will NOT be the first place that we GO from here!" warned Sharon.
   "I DARE you!" teased Pamela.

   Two hours after the dare was made, and answered, the Couple, now fully refreshed and relaxed left their Quarters for the Combined Mess.
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te


 
   CHAPTER 146

As Pamela, then Sharon sat down at the Clan Table, John stood up, and gave a "Golf Clap" to the couple, and was immediately joined by Jim, Chip, Steve, Transport Jim, and lastly, Wendy, who clapped, but remained seated.
Chip said, "Did you guys get jumped by a few RDA operatives?"
Steve joined in with, "WHERE did you hide their bodies?"
Not to be left out, Transport Jim added, "We were about to dispatch a relief column".
Pamela responded with, "So what did we miss?"
Chip replied, "You better eat fast, we have an important meeting in the Geology Section in forty three minutes,and Colonel Hill will be there".
"Oh, we will be done with this in half an hour", Sharon responded.
I'll stay here, just to make SURE that you two don't get lost on the way there," said Wendy with a wink.
Sharon dug into her bowl of shrimp, courtesy of the still running Shrimp Farm on the "Old Dawg", and asked, "So we have gotten input from Blue Heart, on the current situation with the rift since the volcano had the ash eruption?"
Chip explained, "They have had the computers of all three ISV's, networked with the main frame at Blue Heart, and have been cranking out Computer Simulations non-stop, since the eruption. I would guess that we will get quite a bit of data domped on us at the meeting."
"Speaking of the meeting," Wendy reminded all, "I would suggest that each of us show up on time."
Several minutes later, Sharon and Pamela finished their meals, and everyone made their way aft. The "Renegades" entered the Geology Section five minutes early, but still found Colonel Hill, Colonel Thomas Ring, Major Megan O'Reilly, and several technicians, and craftsmen around a table, looking at some mechanical drawings.
   "Ah! The main characters of this story!" remarked Colonel Hill, as he looked up from the table, and noticed 'The Renegades', as they liked to be called, enter the room. 
   Colonel Ring motioned for Sharon to stand between himself, and Megan, and look over the drawings of the explosive devices.  Once Sharon started looking at the designs, Megan asked her,
   "Well. what do you think?"
   Sharon, noticing the small charges, and orifices at the top if the device in the drawing asked, "What is the lead time of these sealing charges?"
   "Fifty one-hundredths of a second," was Major Ring's reply. 
   "That should work," responded Sharon with a nod, "Do you have any high pressure water injection devices, located at the end points of the rift, set to activate immediately after the shockwave of the breaching charges reaches the roof of the magma chamber?"
   We thought that the sea water would percolate down the new crack and same vents that the sulfur dioxide was bubbling up from, and that would suffice," explained Megan.
   Chip Higgins, who had been silent up to now, said, "If that were the case, we would not need to be doing this right now.  The velocity of the escaping gas, is keeping the water infiltration along the walls of the vents to a bare minimum."
   Sharon expounded on what Chip said with,  "What we need, are several Rootes type positive displacement pumps, at both ends of the rift, set to deliver the seawater down the vents, over powering the percolating sulfur dioxide.  The seawater will turn into a super-saturated steam with tremendous pressure.  It will be enough pressure to rip open the crack that we create in the caprock, allowing hundreds of thousands, perhaps, low orders of millions of cubic feet of magma to escape through the new, wide cracks per day, forming the new islands, and in time, completely negating the volcano danger on the island."
   Colonel Hill spoke up, "The one thing that we need to keep in mind, is that Blue Heart says that it would be optimal, if we couls detonate the charges in thirty-six hours.  This means that the flight crews need to fly the shuttles back here first thing at daybreak.  From now on, People, this operation is maximum effort from all concerned."
   "Then we will need Blue Heart's machine shop to fabricate the housings for the pumps, while we build the rotors up here," stated Colonel Ring. 
   "I will need to go to the surface, to oversee the assembly of the pumps as soon as we arrive with the rotors," added Megan.
   "I will see that the drawings for the pumps that we initially considered for thisd operation, are sent to Blue Heart immediately," briefed Colonel Ring, who was released to attend to that task by Colonel Hill. 
   "It is going to be a while before you Flight Crews can reanimate your human bodies, so I suggest that you s***, Shower, Shave and top off the Tummies of your human bodies before you return to the Moon's surface.  We now have thirty-five hours and forty-eight minutes.  The clock is ticking, People!", warned Colonel Hill.
   
   After attending to their 'Other Duties', the Renegades piled into the Mess Hall just as the shift getting off at midnight arrived, but Colonel announced that the Flight Crews had precedence in the line.  He then explained that the next thirty hours of duty on the ship were CRUCIAL to the safety of the Na'vi People, so the entire crew needed to give one hundred percent.  It really was a nice 'half-time speech' and fired up the crew members nicely.
   Once the Renegades had insured that their human aytokx were fed for their extended stint in the link chambers, they each retired to said chambers for their return to Pandora. 

   It was an hour before the sky would start to lighten on the horizon, when the Renegades' ayuniltìrantokx started to awaken.
   Sharon rolled over, opened her eyes, and sat up, stroking her yawnetu's hair, waiting for Pamela's body to awaken.  Before long, Pamela let out a soft contented sigh, opened her eyes, and said, "Rewon lefpom, Oeyä Yawnetu." (Pleasant morning, My Beloved.)
   Sharon bent over, kissed Pamela on the forehead, and said, "Rewon lefpom, Oeyä hona Tsahik alor!" (Pleasant morning, my adorable Tsahik beautiful.)
   "Get a room, you Two!" said Wendy, chuckling from behind them.
   "We already HAD ONE," Sharon instantly replied, grinning as she and Pamela, got up, and stood beside Wendy, laughing, and waiting for the guys to awaken.
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi

Niri Te



  CHAPTER 147

The Undersea Renegades walked into the Commo Shack an hour before Krr'ong, (Day Birth), and bid their Rewon Lefpoms to Tai Tae Ao, who was manning the radios at that moment.
"Rewon Lefpom, ma Tai Tae Ao" said Sharon as a greeting.
"Rewon Lefpom, ma sharon ulte eylan," returned Tai, who continued with, "Ngaru lu fpom, srak?" (You are well, yes/no?).
"Oe lu fpom," (I am well), replied Sharon.
"We should go to the morning ceremony, yes?" asked Steve, to no one in particular. Tai replied with, "Yes we should, let's go now".

As they left, Tai almost walked right into Ateyo, on her way through the curtain used for a Commo Shack door.  Before Tai had a chance to say anything, Sharon, who was the second person through the door, decided to practice some of her Na'vi.
   "Rewon lefpom, Ma Ateyo!  Srake nga hivahaw sìltsan?"
   Ateyo batted her eyes at this much Na'vi coming out of a mipa uniltìrantokx this early in the morning, but said, "Srane, oe hamahaw fya'o tskxe!" (Yes.  I slept in the manner of a rock!)  "Ngaru tut?" (And you?)
   She had uttered the words before she realized that she was speaking to an uniltìranyu. 
   "Tsat lam eyawr." (That appears correct), was Sharon's reply.  Sharon did not need to explain that her Blue Body had been inert, not asleep.  Sharon laughed as Ateyo's face registered confusion, and then surprise.
   "Oe tslolam." (I understand), replied Ateyo.  She switched to English and said,
"I had forgetting about Dream Walker Body sleep."
   Sharon did not miss the sly exchange of smiles between Ateyo and Tai.  Sharon and Pamela then, both, smiled with the realization that SOMEDAY perhaps Eywa would bless them both with having permanent Na'vi bodies.

   The Ceremony was not long, perhaps because Atumopin sensed that the Renegades, and the crew from Blue Heart, were going to need to go to work elsewhere as soon as the ceremony was complete, Sharon and John surmised.
As soon as the service was finished, Sharon informed Atumopin that all of the ayuniltìranyu, and the crew from Blue Heart, were going to leave right away, and could only take some food with them,because they had to go make the volcano safer. 
   Atumopin looked solomnly at Sharon and her companions and said, "Eywal ayngati tìving sop akxukx." (May Eywa give to you all a safe journey.)
Sharon replied, "Irayo Ma Eyktan, ulte ngaru txe'lan mawey livu vaykrr ayoe fnu ram atxep." (Thank you, Eyktan, and may your heart be calm, until we silence the mountain of fire.)
   Eyktan Atumopin smiled proudly at the effort of Sharon to speak the Na'vi language.  The sentence was structured differently than a native speaker would have phrased it, but enough of the words were correct that she understood the meaning.  She clapped Sharon upon both shoulders, which was more affection than she was used to displaying, and stepped back a pace to allow Sharon to go about her duties.
   Sharon glanced for the members of her crew, and saw John conversing with Wendy, as well as Pamela speaking with a slightly animated Ateyo, while Tai Tae Ao looked on. 
  On their way to the shuttles, about ten Na'vi walked up to the two crews and handed each crew a large woven basket of food.  The food was graciously accepted with many "Eywa Ngahu's",  "irayo's", and "kea tìkin's".

   Once her crew was inside the shuttle, Sharon told Pamela, "You have no science experiment to run in the back, why not ride in the jump seat up front with us?"
   Pamela did NOT have to be asked twice.  She almost beat the two pilots to the Flight Deck.  As soon as the crew was strapped into their seats, it was all business.
   Sharon eyed the panel, and began the check list. "Confirm Main DC Breakers to OFF.  Confirm Avionics OFF.  All Breakers to OFF.  APUs to OFF.  Throttles to Ground Idle. Fuel boost pumps to ON. Oxidizer boost pumps to ON.  Auto igniters to ON. Starting Number One."  Sharon reached to the Engine Start Switch for the port engine, and engaged it to the momentary START position, while Wendy watched the turbine inlet speed, and temperature.
   Wendy called out the numbers as the engine spooled up. "Ten percent - - twenty percent - - twenty-five percent - - auto ignite - - thirty percent - - engine stabilized."
   Sharon reached for the overhead panel again, and announced, "Starting Number Two - - - - -"
   Once they and John had both taken off, and achieved orbital insertion, Sharon asked Pamela, "Before we made our way to the shuttle, I saw you talking with a somewhat-animated Ateyo.  What was she trying to say to you?"
   Pamela replied, "She ran me down as I was trying to get to you.  What she said to me was, Sop nìkxukx Ma Pamlala," (Travel well, Pamela.) "The pantomime came when she said, 'If you see daughter mine, tell her I saying,San-I LOVE YOU, AND I AM PROUD FOR YOU-SìK.'  She seemed to be so proud of her daughter, or proud to be able to communicate in English with me, I don't know which.  I told her, 'Nìlun, Ma Ateyo, kxawm oe tsun pivllte pohu,' (Of course!  Perhaps I can speak with her.) "Then I gave her a quick hug, to reassure her that I would try.  Hopefully, it will help to cement a relationship between us, and Ateyo and Tai."
   "That would be a good thing, for the four of us seem to have hit-it-off rather well from the very beginning",  observed Sharon.
   "We should have the ISVs coming over the horizon momentarily," reported Wendy.
   "Time to stop the chatter and go to work!" said Sharon, activating the Close Range Radar Approach Display.
   "ISV, - - flight of two shuttles, inbound for docking - - over." announced Sharon.
   "Inbound Shuttle Flight.  You are both clear for Approach and Docking.  ISV on active monitoring."
   "Well, here we go!" Sharon said to Wendy and Pamela. "We should be docked in twenty minutes."

    Sharon, Wendy, and Pamela, exited the airlock and headed for some coffee in the Combined Mess.  They, and the other shuttle crew arrived within a minute of each other. 
   "AH!! Home the conquering heroes!" said the Mess Sergeant, as they walked up to the serving line.
   "We haven't conquered anything or anyone just yet," clarified Johnas he picked up his tray.
   "We are not going to make war on the spirits that wish to destroy that island for another two days, yet," added Pamela.
   "You guys will hear about it straight from our mouths, as soon as we walk in after we detonate the charges," said Sharon.

   The six Renegades sat down just a Colonel Hill walked into the Mess, and took a seat at the table.  "We will have your ships loaded out with gear in six hours, so I suggest that you go Alpha as soon as you finish here.  You will need to be awake and ready to fly five hours from now.  You folks are the Stars of THIS Operation."
   With that Colonel Hill added, "Get some sleep.  You will NEED it for the next two days.  Your human bodies will be catheterized and sedated, so that your consciousnesses can get some REAL sleep.  Good Luck!"
Tokx alu tawtute, Tirea Le Na'vi