"Soul mates" The story. (comments in comments threat plz)

[Unil stä'nìyu]

Hey

I've decided to make a new thread, containing the story. Kind of easier to do it that way i think. My original intentions, were to put chapters in the first post, but i hit the 20000 char limit. Bummer... Well here they are. Comments are still welcome, either good or bad, on both my grammer and the story itself. Of course i would like to know if you like it or not, and maybe why too?

Comments : http://forum.learnnavi.org/fiction-fanfiction/my-first-story/

Now, i present to you : Soul mates

Chapter 1

Spoiler

Soul mates

Chapter 1. A man in pieces
Whooooosh!
Jim sat up in his bed. Totally covered in sweat, after his nightmare. He just went through the ceiling, and down into his body... You know, that feeling when you suddenly wake up from a horrible dream of falling, and it feels like your soul falls back into your body.

He had those dreams pretty often. Every time he woke up just before hitting something, he only "knew" was there, but hasn't yet seen in his dream. He always fell with his back against the "ground". Or whatever it was. He covered his head with his hands, and wiped away the drops of sweat, sneaking from his forehead, into his eyes. "Damn!" he said in an annoyed tone. "What are those dreams good for?" he asked into thin air. Obviously, he didn't get an answer.

He threw his legs over the edge of his bed, and lit a smoke. Inhaled, knowing that it was bad for his lungs, and exhaled in a long sigh. The dreams had begun to get on his nerves. He couldn't remember what they were exactly about, but they weren't nice. And they didn't progress from the first time he'd had those dreams. The only thing he was aware of, was that the scenery changed from dream to dream. Always ending in the same, monotone manner... It felt like someone or something was trying to get his attention. But he didn't know where to turn.

He missed his older sister.  She was on some distant planet in the Alpha Centauri system, doing her usual research. Or was it a moon? He couldn't remember now. Seemed so long ago when he'd said goodbye to her in the RDA complex. That was the last time he saw her. He was a soldier, back then. Fighting for reasons, he honestly didn't understand, and didn't care for. Orders were just that. And they were to be followed without question. When his sister left earth, he decided that he was done with orders. Done with the killing of people, and risking his ass in the process. Ironically, he got a job at RDA, when he decided to leave military life and start a new life as an engineer. The same company that "took" his beloved sister away from him.

As long as he could remember, she had been doing research, as the scientist she was. Many thought of her as a "nerd". Never had time for anything else. But she had always been there to tease him, make fun of him, kick him, and talk to him when he was down. Things that siblings do. But now? Now she was too far away to be there for him... And he really needed to talk to her. He needed her to drag him up, from that hellhole others referred to as his life. Or what was left of it.

He dumped the rest of the smoke in the ashtray, and looked at the alarm clock on the small table by his bed. 3:47 AM. He stood up, stretching his body, and collapsed on the floor when his lungs reminded him, that he was too sick to smoke. It was getting harder and harder to breathe normally, as the weeks went by. And they still didn't know what was wrong, other than his lungs were in a bad state. Jim himself was blaming the smokes, and the pollution of this god forsaken place he lived in. Slowly he regained his breath and raised his body into the bed. "Oh Sis.... I wish you were here." His last whisper before he went back to sleep.

Chapter 2

Spoiler

Chapter 2. Time to work.

The polluted air of the city, hit him like a sledgehammer as he opened the door to the outside. Again it was hard to breathe, and he felt that burning sensation of fire in his chest, that'd sent him down on the floor last night. "Why me?" he asked himself, knowing the answer to his silly question.
"Because you've smoked 30 cigs a day since you were twenty?"
She had been watching him closely, as his "attack" went on.
"Gab? Sorry..." he said in a low voice. "Didn't mean to show how bad it really is"
Gabrielle looked into his eyes. "How bad is it Jim? Please tell me!"

He looked at her and her long red hair hanging down over her shoulder. Her green eyes, and her freckles she hated more than death itself. She was slim, but surely not starved. And she had the curves you would expect on a 25 year old photo model, despite the fact that she was in her late thirties. She was his colleague at work, helping him out on the CAD drawings for RDA's newest invention in space travel. They had just completed the project, and in a few weeks, the workers would have finished the real deal, and he was up for the first trials. If he lived that long.
"It's bad Gab. Really bad. But even I don't know HOW bad. Hell not even the doctors do."
"Jim..." She paused for a few seconds. "Have you tried to talk to Dr. Harris? He's a 'god' in lung diseases I've been told."
"Dr. Harris? The Dr. Harris in the bio labs?", Jim asked with a voice not covering his astonishment
"Yeah." Gab replied. "He was a renowned doctor at the Claire Memorial Hospital before he got to work for RDA"
"Hmm. Yeah. Guess he was 'available' when the economical situation demanded the shutdown of the hospital. Like many of the other doctors and scientists working for RDA."
"Yeah." Gab laughed. "We are all in the same boat there. Leftovers from the shut down companies, that didn't have the money to pay for RDA's playtime with unobtanium."
"Not in public Gaaaaaaab!" Jim said in a low voice, while they went into a cab.

Although many probably had figured it out by themselves. The sudden raise in taxes, the promises of a new earth, and a new living standard for all humans. Those were but a faint fog in Jim's memories of the PR propaganda that RDA had managed to pull off almost a decade ago. Companies emptied their bank accounts, to get a slice of the unobtanium cake. But many didn't expect the first ISV to explode before reaching Saturn. A fault in a valve, and a short circuit was all it took to remove 1000 tonnes of ISV and about 200 humans, from existence. Everything went dark on Earth after that. If it wasn't bad enough as it was. So many had put everything on that RDA horse, who died before finishing the derby. How RDA had managed to get back up on a new horse, was beyond his comprehension. And better left alone he thought.

Gabrielle had shut tight after Jim's remark. She smiled at him, with a playful glimpse in her green eyes. Well knowing she was close to letting the skeleton out of the closet. She knew what happened back then. Her whole life was torn apart by that faulty ISV. She was one of the unlucky company owners, who saw a slight change of wealth in her investment in Unobtanium. But she soon learned that nothing came her way. Other than a VERY empty bank account, and a horde of angry shareholders. She had, like everyone else unlucky with their gamble, unwillingly accepted a job at RDA, when they tried to win the hearts and minds of the public back. Not that they had it in the first place, but they were the only company that had the resources, and means to put Earth back together.
As she accepted the offer from RDA, she also accepted to keep her pie hole shut, about anything that could harm their reputation. Not that it would make it worse than it already was.

Jim looked at her, as if to expect some response from his remark. She looked back at him in the same way. "Well..." Jim said. "I am NOT in that boat. I wasn't 'left over' from anywhere, except my education." He laughed out loudly, and again his lungs reminded him to get a hold on himself.
Gabrielle looked at him, clearly not happy about his condition. When she had met him, almost 5 years ago, he was all laugh and fun to be around. She loved him for his jokes, including the practical ones, and his ability to make her mood chance for the better when she had a bad day. Damn, he was the reason she could get to work every day. And to see him fade away like this, was too hard to comprehend. She put her hand on his shoulder. "Jim. When we get there, please go see Dr. Harris. If not for yourself, do it for me. Pleeeeease! I can't stand seeing you like this. It hurts!"

Jim nodded between the spasms of his pain. Sure, they were colleagues, but they had tried to 'make it work' between them. But when he got ill he abandoned the thought of him and Gab together. Like he was afraid to harm her in the process, by dying at a young age. There was another thing, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Like something deep in his mind, told him not to go down that path. Now he felt bad hurting her by being ill, and it saddened him to know that there was nothing he could do to make it right. Other than go to Dr. Harris.

The cab stopped on the black tarmac in front of the complex. Jim pulled himself together and got out of the cab. Gab helped him along, while she smiled softly at him. He saw her smile and heard himself say "Not buying it Gab... You ARE worried like hell. Just like me..." He stood and they walked in the direction of their office.

Chapter 3

Spoiler

Chapter 3. The doctor can see you now.
The main hall of the complex, was made from various gray and black materials. Mostly steel and concrete and glass. To the left of the entrance there was a desk, with a young girl behind it. Answering phones in a male storm of ringing, her voice could be heard; "RDA Inc. How may i help you? (pause) Hold on, I'll push you through. (click) RDA Inc. How may i help you?" Again and again and again... Jim was more than happy to sit on his ass, working it off in the process of drawing tech stuff, for others to manufacture and build. He just couldn't put himself i this poor girls shoes... Not for a bit would he be able to handle the pressure, she obviously was under.

Gab pulled him with her. "Come on Jimbo... Let her do her work. The last thing she need, is you staring at her." She said in a teasing tone... "And believe me... I know how it is when you stare."
They laughed at the situation and this time Jim held back, trying not to put himself in any more pain this morning. They entered their office, and switched on their computers. Gabrielle looked at her friend and colleague. "Jim... Go... Now please... I'll cover your white ass if the boss comes around."
"Ok. ok. I'll go." Jim replied seriously. Not sure whether to cry in pain, or cry in distress for the doctors 'would be' answer.

Jim looked over the board of names in the Bio Lab. "Harris, Harris, Harris" he whispered while moving his eyes over the board. "There it is. Dr. B. Harris, Office A-3" Jim headed in the direction of Dr. Harris' office. He knew the place he usually worked in, but this complex was huge, and the Bio Lab was like a totally new world to him. He knocked on the door with the name Dr. B. Harris labeled over it, and the number A-3 on the sign next to it. "Come in please" he hard from the inside of the office. He pushed the handle, and entered Dr. Benjamin Harris' office.

"Ah! You must be Jim. Just got a call from Gabrielle. Said you were on your way to see me." The doctor smiled comfortingly to Jim. Jim smiled back in proper response to this warm welcome, while they shook hands. "Yes i am Jim. That silly little bugger can't seem to keep her mouth shut!" he laughed.
"That's probably a girl thing" the doctor replied in a joking manner. They both knew that it was a common joke between men, but also that it was far from the truth.
"So what can i do for you, Jim?" the doctor asked, with his smile still on his face. It was nice to see, that even though he had years of stress and work pressure on him, this man was full of sparkling energy, and eager to help others. His face was wrinkled a little, the hair was almost white, and his stature was... well. Let's just say that his BMI wasn't where it was supposed to be. Well over to be more specific.
"Gabrielle thinks big of you Dr. Harris." Jim answered, while the doctor interrupted him with a little twist of his hand.
"Ben. Call me Ben... All this Dr. Harris, i hear all day."
"Well She has asked me to see you about my lung disease. No one can tell me what's causing it, or how bad it is. But it sure feels like it's growing worse each day." Jim looked at Ben, with uncertainty written in his face.

Ben looked at him. Relief and a twisted form of joy was present within this old school doctor, whose specials were lung diseases. Finally somebody has asked of him, what he really graduated for in the first place. Here at RDA, he was but a mere scientist, exploring and investigating an atmosphere 4.6 light years away. Trying to help engineers making better Exo-packs and maybe someday, be able to produce nano machines, to help people breathe the toxic air of Pandora. A waste of time in the doc's own opinion, but needed to get him food on the table. And he certainly knew what he talked about, when it came to nano's. Had used some of the techniques at the hospital, on a poor girl, who tried to commit suicide by inhaling pure carbon dioxide. She barely made it, but she survived. And got a severe damage to her lungs and the areas around them. They had tried something radical to help her. And she was willing to do almost anything to help them, help her. As she once said to Ben in private.
"Ben... Remember why i got here in the first place. I wanted to die. So if i do, i won't blame you or anyone else. I got what i wanted.... If i don't die, i have helped maybe many other people in similar conditions. And with that in my mind, i will again be able to live my life." Her words still stood clear in Ben's memories.

They made nano's to detoxify the tissue, and to get rid of the destroyed tissue. Then they added nano's with repairing capabilities to try and regenerate the lost tissue. It worked. She was now living a normal life, still her lung capacity was lower than before, but it was still at 97% of her original capacity. Only when she had been exhausted to the extreme, had she collapsed in the hospitals gym. But so did the nurse, trying to keep up with her. Ben smiled by the memories of this magnificent patient. He still had contact with her, not for tests, but for friendship. And she was forever in his heart as the one who made him fight for his paycheck at that time.

"Well Jim." Ben answered. "She thinks big of me, no doubt about that. But she has her reasons for doing so. And I'm certainly happy that you came to see me."

Jim could barely hold his urge to cough. Something in this air here on earth was making his lungs irritated beyond comprehension. They hurt, burned and contracted in uneven patterns. His chest followed the insane movement created by his lungs. He couldn't hold it anymore. He coughed at an insane rate and strength. He collapsed and fell on his hands and knees, just in time to see blood spatter on the floor underneath him, before he lost consciousness.

[Unil stä'nìyu]

Chapter 4

Spoiler

Chapter 4. Dream zone
Gabrielle rushed through the corridors of the RDA complex. She had just received word from Ben, that Jim was in the infirmary, after collapsing in front of him. Her eyes were damp, and her legs too slow. Or at least they felt like that. If it took her 2 minutes to get there, it were 3 minutes too late in her mind. Finally she reached the infirmary. She slammed the doors open and scanned the room for some kind of trace of Jim. She saw him lying in a bed, with tubes and wires all over his body and breathing support helping him, to some extend, to live.

Ben saw her distress the second she came crushing through the door. He saw how she rushed over to Jim, lying almost lifeless in the bed. He couldn't help noticing, that she was more that just a colleague of Jim... She seemed like his girlfriend, but not quite. His sister maybe? Ben didn't know and wouldn't ask. It was none of his business but it was nice to know, that the girl he pulled from the darkness in the hospital, was caring for other people and even felt their pain. He walked to her and hugged her. She cried like a little child, when she asked. "Will he be ok, Ben? Please tell me he will be ok!" She covered her head with her hands, as if she didn't want him to notice her crying. Silly thing to do, when it was so obvious, but totally human.
"I don't know Gab. I really don't know. Not yet. He's very unstable. Even with life support he's slipping in and out of consciousness. I would like to put him into medical coma, but i don't know if it could kill him."
"Please Ben... If anyone can do anything, you are the one who can." Gabrielle sobbed and finally pulled herself together. "He was..." She stopped, caught herself in the thought that Jim was already dead. "He IS like a brother to me. From the first time i met him i felt like he knew me, and i knew him. It'll be a terrible loss to me, if he dies. He's...." She stopped. Looked at Ben's face, searching for a reaction to her words. He gave her a little comforting smile. "He's the only family i have..."

Ben found a chair for her, and placed it next to Jim's bed. "You can stay with him, Gabrielle. He need to know you are here. It'll keep him from letting go. I've seen it hundreds of times. Just yell if something happens. I'll be right next door." He padded her shoulder and left her alone with Jim. Slowly closing the door behind him, as he left.

"Jim... Oh god, Jim. Why didn't i ask you to see Ben sooner." She held his hand, and leaned towards him, put her head next to his. "What's going on in there?", she looked at his closed eyes.

"Jim!" A voice from a far distance was calling his name.
"Oh my god!" Jim said in his dream. "Here we go again." thinking he was asleep and dreaming this awful dream again.
"Jim?" The voice again. This time closer. He turned his head. No one to be seen, but the scenery began to take shape around him. He stood on top of a cliff. A blue sky, with a few fluffy clouds came into view. More began to emerge. More mountains, now some of them had forests on them. Big lumps of forest, and big trees for a forest.
More mountains emerged out of the fog. Waterfall on one of them caught his attention. He followed the water with his eyes when he noticed something odd. The mountains seemed to be... "Flying?!?!?!" Jim squeezed his eyes trying to focus. Floating mountains? Hanging in mid air. "What the f*** have we done this time!" Jim said to himself, thinking that it was some man made natural disaster.
"Jim!?! Is that really you?" He knew that voice. He turned around, remembering that this was the part where he usually fell off the cliff and into his bed. Didn't happen this time though.
"Sis? Is that you?"
"Sure it is numb nuts!"
Jim couldn't believe what he saw. Right there, just 10 feet away, his older sister came walking towards him.
"GRACE!" He ran as fast as he could, and they collided in an intense family hug.
"Grace! Oh my god i have missed you".
"Same here little brother. And i still do." She looked, seriously, at him. "Something bad has happened. Really bad."
"Bad?" Jim looked at Grace's face. Her eyes, her reddish hair,  the freckles which wasn't as sharp as Gabrielle's. Gabrielle. Just now it landed in his mind. Gabrielle looked somewhat like his own sister. Just a few years younger. No wonder he felt wrong about being her boyfriend.
"Not now James Augustine. Not now. It's too early for that."
"But how? I mean, I'm dreaming on earth and....s***... This isn't real is it?" He asked. Almost crying in disappointment.
"It's as real as it's gonna get, I'm afraid. I have tried for days to reach out to you. But you always fell off that cliff."
"Which reminds me... What's different this time?"
"You didn't fall? Tell me Jim. Are you really asleep... On earth i mean?"
Jim suddenly paused for a few seconds. "This isn't earth? I know it's a dream, but i thought..." Grace stopped him mid sentence.
"This" she said with the biggest smile and happiness in the universe. "is Pandora! Welcome to my world Jim." She spread her arms, as to point in every direction at the same time.
"Pandora?" Jim tried to remember where he heard that before. "Pandora! That's where RDA sent you, right?"
"Yes! And i love it here! I wouldn't change it for anything!"
"I can see why, Sis. I really can."
His eyes rolled over the breathtaking scenery. The floating mountains, the dense rain forest behind Grace, the blue sky. Everything was extremely clean and neat. No stains from pollution, or garbage to be seen anywhere. Not that he would expect that, but it was so much nature to grasp in one look. He smiled, and felt like a million bucks. Happiness couldn't be better than this. He felt strangely at home, in this place.
"I really wish this wasn't a dream." Jim said looking at his sister.
"For me, it's not. And neither for you I'm afraid. Something is not right about you, Jim." She held his head in her hands, and stared into his eyes.
"Try to remember Jim. What happened just before you fell asleep?" Grace's voice was soft as the warm breeze what went by them from time to time.
Jim tried hard. "I was at work. I work at RDA. Gabrielle, my friend and colleague, asked me to go see a doctor. She was worried about my lung disease. I ... Oh s***!" Jim looked like he was falling apart! "I'm DEAD!"
"No!" Grace picked up the ball, before it rolled. "You are NOT dead. I can feel it. But you..." She closed her eyes. Rapid eye movement under the eyelids. "You're in a coma?" She looked at him, as she wanted him to explain.
"It's a long story..." He suddenly remembered what happened at Ben's office.
"Try me Lil'bro. I have all the time in the universe!"
She walked slowly towards the forest, signaling Jim to follow her.

Chapter  5

Spoiler

Chapter 5. Friendship i dark times.
Gabrielle suddenly woke up. Something moved next to her. For a moment she thought it was Jim, who finally came back, but she almost cried when she saw Ben instead. Not next to her, but at the other side of Jim's bed.
"Good morning Gab." Ben smiled a comforting smile at her.
"Morning Ben." She replied on auto pilot. Still too groggy from her dream of Jim and his sister. Why was it, that she dream about them? She hadn't even met his sister before. She had asked about her one time, when she and Jim chatted after work. But she had never seen her.
"Ben?"
"Yes Gab?" he replied while taking some blood samples from Jim's left arm. "What is it?"
"Do you know about Jim's Sister?"
Ben's smile faded. "Yes. And no."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Gabrielle asked in a demanding voice. She needed answers now. Not the whole, 'i heard some rumors' package.
"Well... I pulled Jim's medical journal last night. Found out his real name, and his family, and one name stood out in clear memory to me. Grace Augustine. Jim's older sister. She's said to like plants, better than people and wrote the book on Pandorian Flora and Fauna. She's Currently working on Pandora, in the Avatar program. Ever heard of it?"
"Not really. But the Pandora thing i know. He told me once how sad he felt when she left for Pandora."
"Why do you ask?" Ben sensed something had happened while he was away.
"I had a dream. Saw Jim and Grace talking to each other in front of some floating mountains and a forest."
"Hallelujah." Ben replied.
"Sure, but what for?" Gabrielle didn't get that this was the name of the floating mountains of Pandora.
"The Hallelujah Mountains. That's what they are called by us. They stay float due to extreme magnetic fields on Pandora, and the high amount of Unobtanium within those mountains. I'm not a geo-guy Gab. Just what i've heard. But they exist. On Pandora."
"Ooooo-k......" Gabrielle took a few secs to let that settle in. "Do you have access to Grace's file? I would love to see how she looks."
Ben walked to a console in the far corner of the infirmary. Tapped on it. "Gabrielle? Meet Dr. Grace Augustine. Ph. D. in biology, and a very high ranked member of the Avatar program. For what i know, she leads it."

Gabrielle was petrified. That image of Dr. Grace Augustine, was exactly the same as the woman she saw, with Jim in her dream. So he was the younger brother, of a very renowned scientist. And didn't even tell her? She laid that to rest. He had his reasons. For all she knew, he was simply too sad about her departure, that he would rather forget the reason for it.
"My god Ben. It's HER! The hair, the face, everything." 'my god. She looks like me. Just a little older.' Gabrielle thought. Now she knew why he had almost refused to take their relationship further. She could only imagine, how hard it was for him.
Ben looked at Gabrielle's pale face. "How long since you had something to eat?" he asked.
"Too long i think."
"Come." He said. "Let's go get some food. And you'll need to get some things from your apartment, if you wanna stay here with him tonight."
She nodded, and unwillingly left Jim in his bed. One last look at him, before the door closed slowly.

Ben started to talk about Jim when him and Gab was eating. The little cafe right next to the complex, was a nice and cozy place. And a nice break from the concrete box, they called work.
"I took some samples earlier. Ran some test while you grabbed your stuff this morning."
Gabrielle listened to Ben's voice. Trying to figure out whether to smile of cry.
"It seems that his lungs aren't in such a bad shape, as I thought."
"That's a relief." Gabrielle sighed in relief by the doctors words. "But why is he knocked out cold then?"
"Well, his lungs work like they should. No problem there. But it seems they pick up the wrong things from the air. Like the pollution here on earth. It has build up poisons in the lower part of his lungs, and are now slowly let out in his blood."
Gabrielle tried hard to understand what Ben was telling her. "So why is he out?"
"Because his body can't handle the toxic waste in his blood. His extreme coughing in my office yesterday, was actually his own body's last try, to get rid of the poison before it went into his blood."
"Damn! What do we do?" Gabrielle stopped him before he could finish.
"Please Gab. Let me finish this. It seem that the only thing we can do for him right now, is to try to help his body 'clean up'. It takes time. And I'm afraid I don't know how much time."
Ben's face was in a sad mood. Gabrielle looked at him, while her next words just slipped over her tongue.
"He reminds me, of me. Just that he didn't ask for it. But couldn't we just introduce nano's to him. Like you did for me?"
"We could actually. But that would only help for a small amount of time. A few weeks at most. His lungs simply suck up the pollution faster than the nano's could get rid of it." Ben leaned towards her. "But I like your thinking Gab."
She smiled. "Need a nurse, Doctor?" she asked as a joke. Knowing that she didn't have the education for anything in that direction.
"Actually, I do. And I was about to ask. I hear you are mostly done with your project, and I can ask for your help. That way you can keep your paycheck, AND be with Jim without loosing your job."
"But honestly Ben... I don't know the slightest thing about being a nurse." She was uncertain, yet flattered by Ben's proposed job change.
"It's not all syringes and tablets you know. What you showed last night, is what hospitals in reality desperately needs. Caring. Love for people in hard situations. And..." he didn't get a chance to finish.
"Hope!?" She finished his sentence with a question.
He nodded confirming at her.
"Just tell me. And you'll be in my staff right away."
She stood, meal finished, and looked at Ben, still sitting with his elbows on the table, and his hands folded before him. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
He laughed at her sudden change of mind. From uncertain to rock hard, in a blink of an eye. But that was how she was. She had been like that when they found out how to save her, back then.
"Ok. Let's go then. Thanks for doing this Gab. It means a lot to me, but even more to Jim."
"When darkness comes, and your life falls apart. Then you'll know your real friends."
They left the cafe, and walked side by side, back to their concrete box.

[Unil stä'nìyu]

Chapter 6

Spoiler

Chapter 6. Avatar in distress.
It was around five in the evening, when Ben and Gabrielle came back into the lab, adjacent to the room where Jim was. Gabrielle started to unpack her few items, she had brought from her apartment earlier that day, and Ben was preparing to run a few more samples, before he would go home and get some rest. He had been working for the last 48 hours. Not something he did often, but he had done it before.

Jim was lying in his bed. Everything was quiet, except from the humming of the machines connected to him. He was still far out, and no sign of him coming back anytime soon. His face was like an empty shell. Only the mask revealed a speck of live, when he exhaled causing condensation on the inside. His eyes were still. No movement of any kind. He almost looked like an empty cocoon, ready to be occupied by whatever came his way.

Suddenly, his eyes started to move. Slowly moving from side to side, then up and down. They stopped at the uppermost position for a few seconds, then they moved rapidly, as he reentered a deep form of dreaming. It looked like a normal REM-sleep, but the movement was far more intense.

"Come on now. Hurry up!" Grace laughed at him, trying to cope with the dense forest, they ran through. He had never seen her this active. She had always been sitting, looking into a microscope, and talked about things, of which he didn't understand a tiny bit. Only when he needed a kick in the ass, or the loving slap when he had been rude to her, had she been 'active'. He laughed silently as the memory passed by.
"What are you laughing at?" Grace asked in a sharp voice, not stopping her movement forward.
"Nothing." Jim answered. "Just that I haven't seen you this active before."
"People do change, don't they?" she laughed. "Many things have changed since I came here."
"So what are we up to?" Jim asked curiously.
"There's things I need you to know. But you'll see."
"Damn! These trees are BIG!"
"Yeah. That's because the gravitation here on Pandora, is less than on Earth. Everything is taller here. Even the animals."
"What are we up against here?" Jim asked, soldier mentality suddenly kicked in.
"Relax marine. You're not in a war zone here."
"Hmm... Hope not. I left that life a long time ago."
Grace stopped. "I know." she said turning to look at him. She signaled him to be quiet. There's something I need to show you Jim."
They sneaked closer forward underneath some huge leaves. "Over there." Grace whispered, pointing forward.
A tall blue figure came into view between a patch of plants, Jim only could recognize as orange spirals. The blue humanoid was about 10 feet tall, and carrying a weapon. Looked like a marine.
"What the hell is that?" Jim whispered, but Grace stopped him and signaled him to be quiet.
The tall guy touched one of the spirals, and it looked like it was sucked down into the ground. Jim let out a faint laugh, at the sudden amusement of this strange plants behavior.
He looked as the tall guy touched another plant, also disappearing into the ground. Then the third plant, but this time the whole patch disappeared into the ground, and a big animal was revealed.
Jim looked at it. waiting for it to charge the poor blue fellow, who has placed his weapon in position to fire. It looked like he was talking to someone, but Jim couldn't see anyone other than the blue marine. To Jim's surprise, he lowered his weapon and waited for the animal to make it's move.
The animal was beyond huge. It had two sets of front legs, giving it six legs in total, and it's head reminded Jim of a Hammerhead shark. Only this was far bigger.
The animal started to hit trees on either side of it. Splinters flew around, and whole trunks shattered by the impact of this huge hammerhead. Finally after making several sounds, that resembled those of an angry elephant, the animal charged the blue marine. To Jim surprise, the marine ran straight at it, arms wide, yelling at it. It stopped, and withdrew from it's position.
Jim watched as the blue marine confidently held his position, but then he noticed something behind the blue marine. Something big, with teeth, black like the night itself!
The blue marine hadn't seen it yet. He still thought he was the man of the day. Until the big predator was right behind him, and let our a roar, which echoed through the forest, and leaped over the marine. It landed in front of him, turning towards the big hammerheads, who withdrew in the presence of this angry predator.
It turned back to the marine, and they stood there looking at each other. Again it looked like the marine was talking to someone, but suddenly he ran, and so did this frightening set of sharp teeth, followed by it's big, black body.
"What the hell was that about?" Jim whispered. "Who was that guy?"
"He's an Avatar. Driven by a Marine by the name of Jake Sully." Grace answered.
"An Avatar? And what's that exactly?" Jim remembered something about that, but only what he had heard in the news. Made a big mess, and he didn't think any of it was ever done.
"An Avatar is a clone, or a hybrid, between humans and the natives here on Pandora." Grace answered. "I know what you think... But no. They did it. Even though they didn't want the public to know about it."
"Did you have anything to do with it?" Jim suddenly remembered Grace talking about stuff like this, when he overheard a conversation she had, before she left Earth.
"Yup." She replied. "I lead the Avatar Program. Don't look so sad Jim. It's not that bad. Not at all. We have learned a great deal about this place, because of Avatars. Don't think we could have done without them"
"And this Sully... I have read something in the news about a guy named Sully. Think he was a scientist or something."
"That was the marines twin brother. Was killed a week before he was to travel here. RDA did the math, and sent this marine instead. Because they could save 20 billion dollars, by linking him to Toms avatar."
"Tom Sully. That's right. But why not get another scientist?"
"Because avatar and driver need to be genetically compatible. Since Jake was Tom's twin brother, he could link to his avatar. Hence RDA saved the 20 billion dollar bill, of making a new avatar for a new driver."
"So why did you need to show me this?" Jim asked.
"It's a piece in the puzzle you need to complete. Don't worry Jim. More pieces will follow."
"No problem, Sis... I just don't get why?"
"You'll see. When time comes." Grace replied as they got back on their path, leading further into the forest.

They stopped in a small clearing in the forest. Grace looked around, made sure they were alone. She turned to Jim, and looked at him with a curious look.
"So tell me. What happened? Why are you in a coma all of a sudden?"
"I'm sick Grace. Not the normal flu. I'm not sure what went wrong, but it might be because..." Grace finished his sentence.
"... you have smoked 30 cigs a day since you were 20." She laughed.
"DAMN! You sound like Gabrielle!" Jim said annoyed.
"I know. But tell me what happened."
They sat down and Jim explained what happened.

Jim's eyes was all over the place, as Gabrielle and Ben entered the room.
"BEN!" Gabrielle shouted, rushing to the bed where Jim was laying.
They looked at his eyelids, and saw the insane speed of his eyes under them. "This is MAD!" Ben said, almost frightened. "I have never seen such intensity during REM-sleep, and certainly not during a coma!"
Just as Ben was about to lift Jim's left eyelid, and look into his eye, the movement stopped. Jim's eyes centered in the lids and held their position. No more movement was to be seen. Only his mask, and the machines, revealed that he was still alive.

Chapter 7

Spoiler

Chapter 7. Where are you Jim?
Gabrielle looked into the microscope. Most of what she saw, was beyond her thinking. Ben sat next to her, explained to her, what they were looking for. He had just started the last tests for that day, and he hoped that Gabrielle would look at them, when they were done. He showed her some pictures on the console next to the microscope.
"Now what you would look for, is something similar to this." he said, showing her a picture of a sample, seem through a microscope. "See all those green and purple spots? That's our bad guy."
"Ok" Gabrielle nodded.
"These red and white ones, are normal for his blood. They NEED to be there. What we want to do, is to find anything that can turn those bad guys, into good guys."
"Meaning what exactly?"
"Try to introduce different chemicals into the samples. Lets them spin for about twenty minutes, and put them under the scope. If you end up with red, white and blue ones, you have found the cure."
"Just like that?" Gabrielle was a bit astounded by the simplicity of it.
"Pretty much. The problem is not to find something that works. But to find something that will KEEP it that way."
"So what you say is, that I need to recheck the samples tomorrow?"
"Yup. And the day after, and so on. There's no idea in trying something, that might wake him up, just to let him down once again.
"I can see your point, Ben."
"Another thing is, that you can't use any and all chemicals  to get your result. You might find one that works for this particular problem, but it can kill him in the process." Ben looked at her, with stone cold eyes. She had never seen him with this look. Almost if he warned a little child about NOT playing with fire.
"I understand. If I find anything, I'll make sure you check it"
"Yes Gab. I will. Remember that we are two to do this. And if you are in the slightest doubt about it, let it rest, and I will look at it. Ok?"
"Sure Doc." She replied with a little smile. "I could get used to this, I think." she said
"Yeah. Quite interesting isn't it?" Ben was almost proud of her, willing to do this. "Well I need to get some rest. I'll see you in the morning Gab. Remember to get some sleep yourself, right?"
"Sure. I'll just check a few more, then I'll go to bed."
Ben laid his hand on her shoulder. "Nice to have you here. See you tomorrow."
"Sweet dreams." She said as Ben left the lab.

As the hours went by she tested the remaining samples. She couldn't help thinking out of the ordinary. As more and more samples turned up negative to the introduced chemicals, she began to add more, and more toxic ones. Nothing worked the way it should. She did find one chemical, that actually worked, but when she took a second look under the scope, all the red and white dots, were transformed to purple. But the green were now blue instead. Thinking it might be important, she noted the chemical added on a piece of paper : "Hydrogen Sulfide"

Another one turned up as partially positive. Still had the white and red ones, but some of the purple ones were turned into blue. Still, the green ones remained unchanged. It was still a clue, so she noted the chemical of that one too. "Carbon Dioxide"
"Hello there, old friend" she said to herself, when she looked at the last chemical.

She began to turn off the machines in the lab, getting ready for bed. It was almost mid night, when she turned off the lights, and did her evening ceremonies. Brushing teeth, and the like. She changed to her pajamas, and silently went to Jim's room. She slipped into the bed and pulled a blanket over both of them. She put her head next to Jim's on the pillow, and look at him. She touched his forehead, gently, and let her fingers run slowly down to his ear. Tears in the corner of her eyes, revealed how hard it was to see him like this. She felt as if he was drifting away from her. Like he was trapped somewhere, and couldn't find his way back to her, and to the real world.

She began to talk to him. Just to ease herself, and let her feelings out. She didn't expect him to hear any of it, and didn't hold back.
"Oh god, it hurts to see you like this, Jim. Where is the man I love so much? This is not you. This is an empty shell of something, that was you. Please. I beg you. Don't let go, you hear?"
She was fighting the tears.
"I know now why we couldn't be together like a couple. I reminded you of her, right? Even though you didn't tell me, I could tell something was wrong. But you never stopped being my best friend. My soul mate."
She raised her head, and rested it on her arm. "Why do I have to live like this? Always being happy, only to be kicked in the ass, by fate itself. What have I done to deserve this?"
She couldn't hold back her tears anymore. She didn't cry loud, but the tears kept coming, and landed  on the pillow right next to Jim's head.
"I love you Jim. I love you as a friend when you are near me, but when I am alone I dream about me and you together. This is my promise to you: I WILL find something that can help you. If I fail, I will rather die, that live the rest of my life I grief of loosing you."
She cried loud now. No one could hear her, so she let loose. All the thoughts, all the sadness, all the pain. It had to get out. And it was all waiting in line to do so. She felt lighter with every tear, that rolled down her cheek, to form a drop and fall to the pillow. It took almost half an hour for her to clean out her emotions. She slowly put her head down on the pillow, and looked at Jim's face from the side. She wiped the tears away, and focused on his ear. "Where are you, Jim?" she whispered as she slowly drifted into sleep.

[Unil stä'nìyu]

Chapter 8

Spoiler

Chapter 8. Introduction to the Na'vi
"...And the next thing I know, I'm hearing someone call my name."
"My god Jim. I didn't know it was that bad. I remember you told me you had a bad feeling about it, but that it turned out this way..." Grace stopped. "I wish I was there for you, when you needed me, Jim"
"Yeah... I wish that too. But let's not go there ok? s*** is exactly that, and neither of us can turn it into gold, right?"
Grace laughed at Jim's last comment. "No. We certainly can't."
There was a few minutes of silence between them. Grace sat in front of him, her legs crossed, and picked some plants from the ground. Grass like plants. She didn't examine them, as she would had it been of scientific importance, but just picked them to keep her fingers busy.
"You know what?" Grace stopped the grass picking, and looked at Jim.
"What?"
"When I picked these plants, the whole forest sensed it."
"Say WHAT? Are you on medication or something?" Jim was a bit out of sync with her right now.
"No. Not a bit. But this is what we know. You need to understand this. Otherwise it will be hard for me to make you understand what happened here."
"Grace..." Jim looked into her eyes. "Why is this important? And why is it important to ME?"
"Because when you come here in about six years, you will need this knowledge, to do what fate has chosen for you."
"Get here? I am here. Only in a dream, but that's possibly the closest thing I could get to it. Even if I wanted to come here, it would be hard in the extreme to convince RDA to take me. And then I would need an Avatar right? And then..." Grace put her fingers over his lips, stopping the waterfall of words escaping from his mouth.
"At ease, Ranger Rick." She laughed. "Come... There's more you need to see."

They walked slowly through the forest. It was dark when they reached their destination. They look from a distance, and saw the blue marine from before. He had wrapped his shirt around a stick, and  soaked it with sap to use it as a torch.
"This was his first encounter." Grace said in a low voice. "And his first BIG mistake. Lighting a fire out here, does the opposite of the expected. A lot of the beasts here, are actually drawn towards light. And if that light includes a free meal, they are sure to collect." She laughed silently.
They could follow the marine through the forest, and so could the viper wolves, sensing that dinner was served.
Jim looked, almost in fear. Grace noticed, and put her hand on his arm. "Relax. Nothing bad is gonna happened. We are safe here. What ever happens, DON'T run in to help him. You can't do anything to change the course of these events."
They saw the marine light the torch, and swing it around to reveal a pack of angry and hungry viper wolves. They charged him.
"Damn, Grace. He's getting killed!" Jim was uneasy with the situation. Reminded him of his time in the little jungle on earth, where him and a few others did a mission. They were attacked by the wildlife, and barely made it out in one piece. "That's something you can't prepare for. Not when they attack in packs."
"Take it easy, help should be here like... NOW!"
Another blue figure came jumping into the area. Yelling a high pitched scream, and firing an arrow mid air, striking the wolf who was about to bite the marine in his throat.
"What the f... Damn she's fast! And agile like... a cat?"
"True." Grace nodded. "We humans are thought to be related to apes. The natives here, are thought to be descended from a cat like creature."
"I didn't notice her before she came jumping out of nowhere." Jim was amazed by this young girls swiftness.
"Jim. What you see before you, is the 'princess' of the local Na'vi clan. She's a very skilled hunter, and a very good teacher. And a vital part of what I'll show you later on."
He nodded, it was clear to him that Na'vi was the name of the natives.
"Na'vi roughly translates to 'the people'" Grace answered, like she knew he was about to ask.
"So she is not an Avatar. That explains the lack of the 5th finger." he laughed.
"Uuuuuh! You noticed that? I like it." Grace confirmed his attention. "Come on. We have to follow them."
They went after the two. Obviously they didn't get along very well. Jake, as the marine was called, grabbed the girls arm, trying to get her attention. Which sent him to the ground, by a swing of her bow. She was angry, Jim could tell. Her gestures towards this Avatar wasn't nice in any way. She stood before him, almost leaning over him, as to give him a lecture of not-so-nice sentences. Jake got up, standing, looking at her as if he wanted to know something. After a short while, she turned and moved on. He followed her over an enormous tree root, suspended almost 200 feet above ground.
"Hurry, Jim. This is very important. We have to get closer." Grace dragged him with her. "Don't worry. They cant see us."
Jim was about to ask "why?" but never got the chance, as they stopped only 15 feet behind the marine.
The Na'vi looked up into the air, and so did Jim. Funny white things came falling, slowly down towards Jake. They resembled jellyfish from the oceans of earth, but these floated through air, instead of water. As one of them came close to Jake's hand, he hit it as if he was trying to move it away from him.
"Ftang nga!" the Na'vi girl said and grabbed his arm.
Another white thing came close, and he used the other hand to lash out for it.
"NO!" She said grabbing his other arm. "Atokirina'" She said looking at him, as if he did something VERY bad.
"Atokirina'" she repeated softly as the jellyfish began to settle down on his arms. She released his arm, and stepped a few steps backwards. Looking at the white jellyfish floating down, settling down on his shoulders, head and arms.
"Wha.... What are they?" Jake asked, and looked at one, sitting in his palm.
"Seeds of the sacred tree... Very pure spirits." she answered puzzled by what she saw.
"Uh hu..." was the only thing he could say, trying to keep as steady as possible.
The girl smiled and looked, still puzzled, but very curious about what she saw.
After a short while, the seeds moved on. She almost whispered; "Aungia."
"What was that all about?" Jake asked, and looked at the girl.
Jim looked as the Na'vi girl suddenly changed her attitude towards Jake. From being hostile towards him, she now seemed more friendly. Not that she was beginning to like him or anything, but something had happened. Something Jim couldn't quite put his finger on, but it was obvoius even to the untrained eye.
"Come." she said as she went further into the forest.

"That's what I want to know, Grace. What WAS that all about?" Jim looked at his sister.
"That was the seeds of the most sacred tree in this forest. On this moon perhaps. This might be a heavy thing to understand now, Jim."
"Try me, Sis... I have all the time in the universe." He looked at her smiling. She looked at him, knowing that she had used the same phrase to him when she had asked about his coma.

[Unil stä'nìyu]

Chapter 9

Spoiler

Chapter 9.  The clues.
"Gab?" Ben softly whispered into Gabrielle's ear. "Time to get up, sunshine."
Gabrielle opened her eyes. "Morning Ben." she said, still drowsy and half asleep. "God, this is too early."
"Better get used to it, Gab." Ben laughed. "I'm quite eager to hear what you found out last night."
"Oh yeah. The samples." She smiled, with confidence written all over her face. "I did find something. Just don't know if it's any good."
"Get dressed, and we'll look at it together." Ben left the room, to leave her to change.

"Coffee?" Ben asked, holding a cup of fresh coffee into the air, while still looking into the microscope.
"Please! Thanks!" Gabrielle took the cup, and consumed a mouthful. "Whoa! This is strong stuff!"
Ben laughed. "Sure is... Designed to keep you going for the next 12 to 15 hours."
"So that's your secret, eh Doc?" Gabrielle teased him.
"Damn!" he said, stood upright, and looked at her. "You blew my cover... Might as well sleep now then."
They laughed at themselves, making fun this early in the morning.
"What time is it, anyway." Gabrielle asked, yawning.
"5:30 AM. I know, it's a little late..." Ben said, looking into the scope again.
"LATE! Are you out of your mind? I'm virtually DEAD before 7:00."
"Well, welcome to your life as a zombie then." Ben teased her.
"Wake me up at 8:00." she said and went past him to get her lab coat, placing her fist on his shoulder, in a friendly beat.
"Hahaha. You wish."

She stood by the end wall, getting her lab coat on, and watched this old doctor, looking silently into the microscope. There was no doubt he was looking at her samples from last night. He raised his head, and looked at the piece of paper, she had written chemical names on to, the night before.

"Interesting." Ben concluded. "Very interesting indeed."
"Is it any good, doc?" She asked, walking slowly towards him.
"A little early to say, but you definitely found something."
"Yup. And including an old friend, remember?"
"I saw that too. Just didn't want to bring it up. Seems like it haunts you, even to this day?"
"Yeah... Got a few shivers down my spine myself when it was revealed."
"This was a solution?"
"Yeah. Didn't try the gas exposure. Wasn't quite sure how to do it."
"We should try that, for sure. But nice that you didn't ruin this by trying something you wasn't sure about." Ben smiled.
"You're welcome." she said, looking at his face.
"Do you have the slightest idea of what this could mean?" Ben took off his glasses. Looked at her waiting for an answer.
"No. Not at all."
"Well. I won't reveal anything... Yet... But this could turn up to be more important that any of us can imagine."

She look astonished at the doctor. Still he seemed calm beyond comprehension. If she did find something that important, he obviously didn't want to break it to her right now. She followed him closely at they prepared the samples for gas exposure.

"So what do we do Doc?" She asked.
"We put the sample in here. Then we let in some gasses. The goal is to find the right mixture, of both of them. So we let in a little, let it settle, and look at it. Then if it's still not quite good, let some more at it, settle, look. Until we find the right amount of gas, to neutralize the toxins."
"So we do that for both gasses, or just one at a time?`"
"One at a time to start with. When we have an idea of what the completed mixture could be, we do a combined test, with both gasses, in a mixture found in the single tests."
"Ok. I got it. Let's get to work." She was eager to find out more.
"I like you." Ben said, placing his fist on her shoulder, in a friendly beat.

It was about 4:00 PM, when Ben decided to get something to eat. Gabrielle didn't want to leave the lab, but Ben insisted. They went to the cafe, where they had been the day before.
"Actually," Ben said finishing his meal. "I'm quite impressed by your results back there. Not many with that little experience is able to find what they are looking for, in those samples."
"Thanks." Gabrielle was flattered by the doc's words. "But that only because I have a good mentor."
"Haha. You think I'm GOD for Christ sake. I may be good, but even I can make mistakes. And I couldn't see what you saw, the first time I looked into a microscope!"
"I'm flattered" Gabrielle admitted. "But remember the driving force here. I'm not just doing some lab work. I'm trying to save my best friend!"
"I know. And that's a very good thing. Let me ask you, would you be able to keep that driving force, even if it wasn't Jim?"
"Hmm..." She thought about it. She liked the work already, quite interesting. And very different from what she had done before. The force was Jim, now. But the thought of just helping others, made her more happy that any other thing. "Actually, I think so Ben. I really do."
"That's very nice to hear. Look. I have to attend a meeting in about an hour. I'll leave the rest of the testing to you. Can you handle that? Are you confident enough?"
"Yes, it's quite a challenge, but I think I can do it."
"It's the combined test, remember. Hydrogen Sulfide at about 0.05% and Carbon Dioxide at 17%. That's what we found in the single tests. You might have to use more of one, less of another or something like that. But it's actually a blind shot, which one to lower or raise. Trial and error is the way."
"I can do that I think. How long do you think the samples should rest?"
"Not very long. Five to ten minutes should do the trick. It's gasses and they tend to do the job faster than solutions."
"Roger that Doc." Gabrielle smiled. "I'm on."

They left the cafe. Ben went to his meeting, Gabrielle to the lab, eager to get to work.

[Unil stä'nìyu]

Chapter 10

Spoiler

Chapter 10.  Caught in the act.
Jim and Grace walked through the forest. Grace seemed to know where to go and Jim didn't want to argue about it. He didn't know where to go after all. So why not use his sister as a pathfinder?
"Now Sis. Would you be so kind as to explain the basics to me?" Jim asked.
"Alright. What do you want to know?" Grace asked. She didn't stop moving forward.
"Well, the thing you said about the forest sensed it when you picked the grass for example?"
"Hehe. Alright then. You see, what we found out, was that the roots of the trees are connected to each other. Just like neurons in the human brain. So is the roots of the other plants here."
"And?"
"Each tree has 10 to the 4th connections to the trees around it, and there are 10 to the 12th trees on Pandora. That's more connections than the human brain!" She turned and looked at Jim, with a big smile on her face.
"So?"
"It's a network Jim. A global network. The Na'vi can access it at sites like this one and store or restore data. Like memories, the thoughts of their ancestors." Grace opened her arms. "This is Utral Aymokriyä, The tree of voices."
Jim hadn't noticed where they went to. But when Grace stopped, they stood between some weird looking trees. They looked ancient, and long tube like tendrils hung down from their branches. They, like many of the other plants Jim had seen, seemed to be aware of him and Grace' presence. When he stood there between the tendrils, they began to curve in his direction. As if they wanted to  reach out for him. "Hmm... Sounds a little scary... But quite handy I think" Jim said, looking a little scared at the tendrils.
"Don't worry. They won't bite." Grace teased him.
Jim made an ugly face at her, telling how bad that joke was. "Connect to the network? How exactly is that possible?"
"Their queue. It looks like a long braid of hair, but it's actually an extension of some of the nerves in their brains. Avatars have them too. They walk up to these trees and simply hold the queue's end towards the tendrils. The nerve endings wrap around the tendrils and connect, literally, to the network." She looked at Jim for a moment, almost certain that he would laugh at her. Didn't happen though. Instead he was paying attention to her, as if he was waiting for her to tell more.
She continued.
"Now, the network is believed to be some kind of entity. Eywa. Their goddess, made of all living things. Very much like Earths Gaia. An endless well of knowledge. The Na'vi call that the energy of the forest. Energy that runs through every living thing. That energy is only borrowed, and when their time comes, the energy must be returned."
"That's when they die?" Jim asked, just to get a word into the conversation.
"Yeah. They become one with Eywa. Remember the sayings about Gaia? That when you die, your soul returns to Gaia, and the knowledge you got in your life is absorbed. If you gained enough knowledge, your soul is one with Gaia. If not, you are reborn, to gain more knowledge."
"Heard about it, but never thought that it could be THIS literal! I mean, they LITERALLY connect to their goddess?" Jim was fascinated by this fact. That something, call it religious, could be so close to you, that you could actually touch it.
"Pretty much. Come this way Jim. We have to get to Hometree." Grace began to walk and Jim followed her, trying to get a hold on all this information.
"So, they die. And becomes one with Eywa, thus returning their energy. That energy is actually their souls?" Jim was trying to figure it out and this was his best way to try to understand it.
"Yes. That's why they can hear their dead still live, when they connect to the trees. Hence the name, Tree of Voices."
They stopped. Grace moved some large leaves aside with her arm. "This is Hometree. Home of the Omatikaya clan. This is where it all began. The 'wrong' avatar in the 'wrong' place."
Jim looked between the leaves and nearly tripped by the sight before him. This tree was larger than any other tree he had ever seen. It was beyond huge and still bigger than that. "Oh my freaking god!" was all he could say.
Grace laughed at him. She remembered how she was blown away by it the first time.
"Now this is maybe one of the most important moments in my little show. Come with me."
They walked towards Hometree, as the riders came back. With Jake captured, and the Na'vi princess walking with him, as if she had captured him. Jim was a little puzzled about this.
"No. Don't think about that. It's not important." Grace said, as if she had read his thoughts.
They went into hometree and stood in the back. Not too close and not too far, from where the center of attention was.
"This is where it begins. Jake actually was lucky, and they let him stay with them. They want to study him, and he want to learn about them. Now, this was the ORDERS he got from Miles and Parker. I didn't know about those orders until it was too late. But I don't think that it could have changed anything if I knew about his secret mission."
"Miles? Parker?", Jim didn't recognize those names.
"Miles Quaritch. In charge of security and an a****** to the bone. Gets a kick out of killing, destroying or otherwise make life a b**** for people."
"And Parker?"
"Parker Selfridge. The boss here. Trying to pull all of the unobtanium out of the ground and don't give a damn about what is in the way. I'll get to that later."
"Hmm. Sounds like a war is gonna happen when those two are together."
"Yes. That too, I'll get to later. But. Don't judge Parker too hard. He is a corp. a******, and his reason for being here is money. That and nothing more. And the money pays for the Avatars. Sadly he unleashed a fierce predator, and couldn't stop him."
"Hmm. Sounds like something really sucked around here."
"Yeah." Grace said. Careful not to reveal more about that part of the story.
They looked as Jake was talking with Mo'at. They could easily hear what was being said, and Jim was quite interested in their language already. This time, he had a very hard time trying to get anything useful out of the conversation in Na'vi. It was like he couldn't separate the words from one another.
"What are they talking about?" he asked.
"Haha. Don't understand Na'vi Jim? Well. They decided to let him stay. They wanted to teach him their ways. And the Princess is gonna teach him. Her name is Neytiri by the way. The lady talking to her, is her mother. Mo'at. Her father, Eytukan, is the clan leader, Mo'at is the spiritual leader, like a shaman or matriarch. She speaks the will of Eywa and..." Grace stopped. "s*** Jim... There's something wrong... Whatever happens, keep your mouth shut!"
Jim looked surprised. He looked around and saw that everyone stood still. Like time had stopped completely. Only Grace and him was still able to move and talk. He looked at Grace. She looked straight at something. He followed the direction of her eyes and saw Mo'at walking slowly towards them.
"Grace? What's happening?" Jim was a little surprised about this.
Mo'at was standing before Grace, looking down on her. She kneeled down, so their eyes were in line, and looked straight into Grace's eyes.
Grace broke the unbearable silence. "Oel ngati kameie, ma Mo'at" she said.
"Oel ngati kameie, Grace." She paused for a few seconds, trying to figure out what was going on. "What is this?"
"I am very sorry. It was not my intention for you to find out about this." Grace said, "And certainly not that you had to see me in this body."
"That does not disturb me at all Grace. But what is going on?"
"Mo'at. This is my younger brother. He isn't here."
Mo'at turned her eyes towards Jim. He could actually feel them penetrate him, like she saw right trough him into his very soul. "What are you called?" she asked.
"Jim." he answered. Just waiting for her to tell him to get lost.
"And why have you come here?"
"I haven't. Grace put me here. In a dream."
Mo'at looked at Grace again. "How is this possible?"
"Jim is in a coma. He's is like an Avatar, sleeping, and can't wake up."
"How can this be?"
"Jim and me was very close back on Earth. We had a bond, like the bond you have with Eywa, but we couldn't bond with each other while awake."
"Oh. I see. So you dream to each other?" Mo'at seemed quite interested in this kind of bond, that wasn't physical in any way, compared to tsahaylu.
"Yes. But even that way, it's quite hard to 'speak' to each other the way Na'vi does."
Grace looked at Jim before she continued. As to check if he was ok and still breathing.
"This wasn't possible before Jim became like a sleeping Avatar, and I became what I am now." Grace said looking back at Mo'at, hoping she wouldn't reveal that Grace was with Eywa.
Mo'at looked at Jim. "Are you ready for what comes?"
"How can I know? As I don't know what is coming?" Jim asked in reply.
"He's is not ready, Grace." Mo'at said, looking straight into her eyes.
"I know Mo'at. But he will be. In time. He has to." Grace said, almost sad.
"I know. We will speak again, Grace. And Jim... Try to understand what she is saying. When time comes, you will know if you are ready. We cannot help you if you cannot help yourself." She paused again for a few seconds. She stood up, "Eywa mengahu!" she said, leaving in the same quiet manner as she came.
When Mo'at was back at her 'spot' between the others, the time resumed. Like the last ten minutes didn't exist at all. Jim was a bit frightened about all that. And also because Grace seemed uncomfortable with Mo'at coming to her in the first place.
"Wha.... What happened?" Jim asked, trying to get a hold on reality once again.
"Something we would've been better without. It seems Mo'at 'connected' to the tree of souls. Even so it must have been pure luck, or the fact that she's a Tsahik, that made her able to see us like this."
"So you don't know for sure?"
"No... There's much I don't understand even now. And it's possible that I might have pissed off the wrong souls by showing this to you..."
"So you get your ass on the line?"
"Kind of. But don't worry... You still need to see the things I will show you. Call it fate, call it a favor. Or whatever you prefer. You just need to know what happened here."
Jim thought about it for a moment. He could feel his sister growing impatient, like she was unsure if he would get all the details before they would be 'disconnected' from this dreamlike state of mind.
"What was that about me, not being ready?" he asked, almost afraid to get the answer.
"I have chosen you to do this, Jim. I couldn't reach out to anyone else on earth. Believe me, I tried. But you are the only living person I have ever been related to on the spiritual plane so to speak."
"Yeah I know. You were always there for me... Helping the little irritating brother."
Grace laughed, and shook her head.
"No Jim. I was there for MY BROHTER! And he was there for me. Even though he didn't know it then. Believe me Jim. I had a very hard time deciding whether to go here or not. Simply because I knew you were alone when I left."
"So you decided by yourself? I thought you were forced here because of your job."
They began to walk away. But as they did Jim looked back at the crowd of Na'vi one last time. He put his eyes to rest on a young Na'vi female. He couldn't say how old she was, but she looked like mid 20s compared to Mo'at, or Eytukan. To his surprise she looked back at him. She smiled a very well hidden smile. Her lips moved like she said something.
Grace sensed something as Jim looked at the girl. She just barely got to see the girl say something to him. "Come on bro. Let's not disturb more souls here."
Jim followed hos sister out of Hometree and in the direction of a small cliff, overlooking the forest.
"Who was she? The girl." Jim asked.
"Don't know." Grace answered quickly. "But I will find out. The fact that she actually saw you, makes her unique to the others. Mo'at was understandable, because of her insight into Eywa, and the fact that she knows me. But this?"
"She's not a sahik?" Jim asked.
"Tsahik, Jim... God you need to work on this. Please, when you get here, go talk to Norm... He can help you with that." Grace laughed as they walked further.
"But to answer your question. No, she's not a Tsahik. Not even an apprentice of the Tsahik. What she is, and what her status in the clan is, I don't know. My guess is that she's a huntress, but I'm not sure about it."
"But..." Jim wanted answers, but Grace stopped him.
"No... I can't tell you any more about her... I honestly don't know."
They continued in the direction of the small cliff. As they went closer, Jim could see a small cave at an offspring, right over the treetops. He figured that this was their shelter for the night to come.

[Unil stä'nìyu]

Chapter 11

Spoiler

Chapter 11. The perfect mix.
It was well past 8:00 pm. Gabrielle sat silently, looking into the microscope. She could hear the faint sound of footsteps in the corridor, just outside the lab. Finally the office people and cleaning team, decided to call it a day.

She sat upright on the chair and looked up from the microscope. She didn't look at anything, but thin air. Her eyes went blank as if she wasn't present in her body for a few seconds. She finally pulled herself up and went to the 'gas chamber' to try a new combination. She almost had it. Just a little more and it should be ok. She punched in the numbers of the two gasses in question, and listened carefully as the chamber was sterilized, and the new mix let in.

She stood there, stretching her soar body, and waited patiently for the gas mix to do it's thing. Again her eyes went blank and she almost froze. She was thinking, heavily, about what Ben had meant, when he had asked if she knew what she had found. She smiled, as her phone began to vibrate in her pocket. "Hmm... Speaking of which..." she said and answered the call.
"Gab here" she said automatically.
"Hi Gab, it's Ben. Listen, the meeting took a whole lot longer than I thought. So if you don't mind, I'll head home and get something to eat and sleep."
"Hahahaha. What? They didn't serve coffee at the meeting?" she asked teasing him.
"Sure they did. But that was NOT lab-rat coffee... It was merely colored water I tell you." He laughed.
"Gosh Ben! Then I understand why you're going home... Zombie." She teased again.
"How's it going back there?" Ben asked as he heard the beep from the timer of the 'gas chamber'
"It's coming along fine," she said pulling out the sample. "i think."
"Think? At this time of the day? Geez you're a hard one to crack." Ben joked. He honestly didn't want her to work that much, but he was glad that she did. But he had to go into the more serious voice to really make his meaning count.
"Gab, listen. I love that you work so much, but I am a little worried. Going on caffeine all day and most of the night, doesn't help anyone. You get my point?" He said in a serious, yet friendly voice.
"I know Ben. I just can't let it go. Not this close to the finishing line." Gab answered, expecting the inevitable lecture on sleep/work/spare time ratios.
"I know the feeling all too well Gab..." He stopped as he realized, that he couldn't talk her into bed at the moment. "Listen. I'll leave it to you. But please. If you feel tired do me a favor. GET SOME REST!"
"Hehe. That's the problem Doc... After the caffeine chock this morning, I'm not gonna get tired for the next 12 to 15 YEARS!" She laughed.
"You know what I mean. Anyway, what's the mix now?"
"0.06 and 18.6. And still not quite there." she concluded looking into the microscope. "But damn close I tell you." She waited for Ben's reply, but it was not there. "Ben?" she asked.
"Gab? Can you do me a favor?" he finally said, sounding so serious as if someone just died on him.
"Sure. What is it?" She asked
"Set the mix to 0.06 and 19.0, and put in a clean sample. Be careful NOT to contaminate it in any way."
"Ok. Like right now?"
"No like yesterday Gab. NOW This is too damn exciting."
She could hear the Doc had arrived at home. His dog was barking welcoming at him. "Easy boy, easy."
"Say hi to Max from me" she teased, making the new sample ready for gas exposure.
"I will. As soon as he calms down that is." Ben laughed.
"Ok. I'm exposing the sample now." she said, going serious.
"How long?" Ben asked.
"5 minutes. Is that ok?"
"Yeah. That should be fine. While you wait, can you please take a look at the samples from yesterday? The solution ones I mean."
"Sure, just a sec." She found the samples and looked at them under the microscope. "They're still the same. No change. No better, no worse. That's a good sign right?"
"Yup. Just wanted to make sure."
"So in theory, we could've been checking the WRONG gasses the whole day?" she was a bit puzzled, but not surprised.
"Yeah. Luckily that isn't the case. It's called making good use of the time. If it was indeed the wrong gases, it would be called a waste of time." He laughed.
"Have to agree on that one, Doc." She said, lifting her head from the microscope, as the timer sounded on the 'gas chamber'. She actually didn't like the nickname for the GET-U, or Gas Exposure Testing Unit. But it was quite easier to say 'gas chamber' instead. "Ok Doc. The gas exposure test is done."
"Good, Gab. Seal it INSIDE the chamber. So you don't contaminate it when you take it out." Ben said. Gabrielle could hear that he was growing just a little impatient with the waiting.
"Done." Gab said, removing the sealed sample and placing it under the microscope." Oh my god, Ben." She was amazed by the image she saw. "It's clean! It's freakin' clean!" She smiled and let out a silent "YESSSS!"
"Are you certain? Is it TOTALLY clean?" Ben asked. She could hear that he was happy about it too, but just wanted to be absolutely sure that he heard what he did.
"It is! Nothing else than red, white and blue in there!" She smiled as she lifted her head from the microscope again, leaning backwards on the chair.
"That's awesome Gab. It really is! Congratulations on your first BIG success!"
"Thanks! So what happens now?"
"I'll tell you. You put the sample to rest with the others from yesterday. Then YOU GET SOME REST!"
"Bummer... Was hoping to keep working for about a day or two more before sleeping." She teased him. But actually she was quite satisfied with the wish from Ben. She was tired and she still needed to be awake pretty early the next morning.
"Haha. Yeah I know. But you know I'll be in pretty early tomorrow."
"That's ok. Just bring me some REAL coffee."
"Haha. Sure will. See you tomorrow. Sweet dreams."
"Yeah. You too... Bye" She hung up. As she put the phone to rest in her pocket, she felt that urge to let her mind fly again. Like before Ben called her. She was really tired, but some thoughts still needed to be refined in her mind, before she could actually relax. She looked at the far wall. Out of focus and really thought about the outcome of the test. How could Ben be so sure about that mix? Not that she wasn't close, but he sounded like he was reading the numbers from a piece of paper when he told her what percentages to try. Like he knew them beforehand in some way. She couldn't let go of the feeling, that he knew something she didn't. Quite natural though. She was new and did not have the same experience that he had.

A few minutes went by, as Gabrielle just sat there, looking out into nothing. Finally she pulled herself together and got on her feet. She placed the sample with the others and took off her lab coat. Then got to the bathroom and did what she needed to do. Including a bath. She wasn't used to this way of life. Not always being able to shower every morning. But something in her mind told her that she needed to get used to it. Because that could very well be the future if she decided to continue the work Ben had introduced her to. She liked it. Not just because she was to help Jim, But because she found it interesting in a way no other job had been before.

Time was about 10:00PM as she went into Jim's room. She began to feel more tired and slipped quickly under the blanket beside Jim. She looked at him, like the evening before. But this time she felt happy. She felt that they, her and Ben, was close to something. Not that she expected to wake Jim up the next couple of days, but they had something to work with now. Something they missed just yesterday. She rested her head close to Jim's shoulder and put her arm over his chest. "You know, Jim. We might have found out what's causing this. And we might even have found out how to wake you up again." She smiled. "I feel very happy now. I can't explain why. But I really think you should know this." She knew he wouldn't answer. How could he. He was in a deep coma and probably couldn't even hear her. That didn't stop her though. If not for him, then for herself. She needed to let out some of these things. To get some peace in her mind. "I wish you could say something. Don't know how, but I wish you could." She paused for a few minutes. Just looking at him. It was probably only in her head, but she actually thought that he looked better than the evening before. It must have been her state of mind she thought. She was sad last night and might have seen him in a different way because of that fact. "Nighty night, sleepyhead." she said, smiling as she kissed his forehead, and let herself fall asleep.

"Gabrielle?" an echoing voice was all around her. She couldn't tell from where. It was more like a feeling than an actual voice. Like an unspoken word from within herself.
"Gabrielle? Where are you? I can't see you?" She shivered. Could that really be? "Jim?" she asked into the white fog which surrounded her.
"Where are you?" the voice asked again.
"I'm here!" she yelled, as to make sure she was heard.
"Oh! There you are." the echo faded as the figure emerged from the fog. The scene began to take shape. Gabrielle looked around her. Buildings began to just be there. Then a fence and beyond that, a forest. A very dense forest. She recalled seeing picture in the old history archives. Pictures of rain forests, but this was still very different. Much more different.
"Who are you?" Gabrielle asked, looking at the person in front of her. Pretty sure that it wasn't Jim. Not even male.
"Can't you see that? I thought that you knew me from the first dream." Grace said.
"Grace? Jim's sister?"
"Yup. Welcome to Hells Gate, Gab."
"Hells gate? Am I dead or something? I mean I have done some pretty nasty stuff, trying to kill myself, but isn't this a little too much?" Gabrielle asked a little confused, but still trying to make fun.
"Haha. You know what Hells gate is Gab. Jim and you worked on a project to throw a space ship here, so don't expect me to buy any of that." Grace said smiling at her.
"I know. Just a bit confused. Needed to cover my fears I think." Gabrielle smiled. "How's Jim?"
Grace looked at her. "How would I know? He's I a coma as far as I can tell, but beside that..."
Gabrielle stopped her. "Don't!" she said. "Just tell me what's going on here."
"Straight to business, eh? Ok then. He's sleeping now. In his dream. Even dreams need a rest from time to time."
"And you don't?" Gabrielle looked surprised as Grace.
"No. Not anymore... Gab... I need to tell you this, so you can understand. But I also need you to keep you mouth shut about it. Jim will know soon enough, but he has to figure it out for himself."
"Ok. I won't tell anyone."
"I'm dead Gab. Like not in my body anymore...." Grace looked sad. It was hard for her to keep this secret from her own brother. But still... He had to see before she could risk telling him. He would be all over the place and unable to think straight if he knew.
"Oh no... Please don't say that. It will break Jim to pieces. He feels very close to you as far as I can tell."
"He is. And actually that's why I was able to reach out to him like I do to you now. Sadly it had to require a coma on his part, to be able to do it."
"But we have never met before. And I'm not close to you in any way. How can you reach me then?"
"Because you are VERY close to Jim. Despite he is afraid to let you know." Grace stopped and looked closely at Gabrielle.
"Yeah. But he couldn't take it further. I wanted it, he wanted it, but something was in the way... You Grace... He felt wrong about it somehow. Maybe because I reminded him of you. I don't know for sure."
"Stop it Gab. Don't lie to either me or yourself. Sure it seemed like that back then. But do you think it's the same now?" Grace paused and put her hands on Gabrielle's shoulders. "He loves you Gab. More that he dares to say. I can feel it. Every time I mention you, he reacts almost instantly. He won't admit it though, but there is a reaction."
"Even so," Gabrielle said looking sadly to the ground. "how am I supposed to do anything about it? I won't be the one to push him over the edge on this, and risk loosing his friendship which means a whole lot to both him and me." A tear formed in Gabrielle's eye, and slowly escaped down her cheek.
"Oh Gab." Grace said trying to comfort her, and pulled her into a friendly hug. "I wish he would begin to see. Not in the physical sense, but in the spiritual sense. Then he will see you as you truly are. And he will see that I am not in his way at all. Never have been. Seeing him with you would actually have made me happy." She smiled and pulled a little away from Gabrielle to look at her face again.
Gabrielle started to cheer up again. She wiped the tears away, and looked at Grace. "You are so sweet Grace. Even if this is just a dream, you actually make me feel better about this whole mess."
"Gab. To you it's a dream. To me it's very much the only reality I can offer at the moment." Grace paused for a few seconds. "I am actually amazed Gab. You still haven't asked 'why' I am doing all this."
Gabrielle laughed a little. "No. Actually I haven't. Ok then. Why?"
"Grace smiled. I want you to know what happened here at Hells gate. I fear that there won't be enough time to show it all to Jim, so by showing you the events here, you can fill in his 'holes' and make the whole story."
"And I can get his part and make a whole story. Sounds cool." She smiled.
"Are you ok with this? It's an awful lot of information, and you WILL have the feeling of it being JUST a dream when you wake up. But you NEED to remember the importance of it all."
"So does Jim, right? Won't he be feeling the same thing when he wakes up?"
"Not exactly. I feel a very strong connection with him. As he accepts his coma as the reality. For now that is. He will wake up, and actually be sad that it was a dream, then slowly find you, with the help of you, that it is a lot more than that."
"Ok." Gabrielle went quiet for a little while, trying to think it through before she decided. "And if I can't do this?"
"Then we might all be screwed here. Everyone. Both human and Na'vi, spirits and Eywa. Everything will probably be blown to dust before we can even think of it."
"It's a lot of responsibility to put on me Grace. Even though I don't have the slightest idea what Eywa is, and don't know much about the Na'vi either. But I will try my best. If this can help Jim in any way, I'm in." She smiled at Grace.
"Ok then. Follow me."
They walked across the landing area of Hells gate, as the Vakyrie was revealed over the treetops.
"This is where it begins." Grace said and nodded in the direction of the shuttle.

[Unil stä'nìyu]

Chapter 12

Spoiler

Chapter 12. Something out of the ordinary.
Ben was wondering. He sat at the table in his kitchen, and haven't even touched his meal. There was something wrong about Jim. Something he had a slight idea of, but didn't know any details about. How could it be that Jim's lungs required a gas mixture, equal to that of Pandora? It could be pure coincidence, but Ben hardly believed that. In his mind, such things was too far away from reality to just be ignored. He had always lived in a world, where fact and fiction was very far apart. And here he had a fact, that resembled fiction in a too strange way. This could not be a coincidence. There had to be more in it than just a few hints, like the gas mix. He turned his head and looked at Max. "You are one lucky being. Don't have to think to be the lovely one you are." Ben smiled, as he put his plate on the floor to his beloved dog. "Eat up, or you'll get it tomorrow."

He went into his office. He had a direct linkup to RDA and he thought that some clues could be found within the archives. Although IF he could find a hint, maybe it would require a higher access level, or it would not be in those archives Ben could access... He could... No... That would be far too dangerous. Yet at least. But maybe later on, if the circumstances required it, he could ask an old friend to hack into the archives and get him some answers. But he didn't have the nerves to do it. Not yet. He needed to be more certain about what he thought happened.

He logged into the database, and pulled Jim's journal. Nothing was wrong. Although he did seem to have been at a hospital in Europe quite some years before. Ben tapped the details about that. Seems Jim was a soldier back then. Had been shot through his left lung. But that was fixed pretty good according to the journal. No one had found anything out of the ordinary in any of the checkups since then. He went on with the journal, tried to find ANY faults in his medical history, no matter how insignificant...

Gabrielle stood beside Grace on the landing area at Hells Gate. She looked as the massive shuttle touched down, gently against the tarmac. The ramp opened, and several people ran out and headed straight for the entrance. "Now what?" Gabrielle asked, not expecting anyone else to come out of the shuttle.
"Just a second..." Grace said, still looking at the ramp. "Ah. Here he comes."
Gabrielle looked and saw a man in a wheelchair, coming down the ramp. He had a mask over his face, like everyone else out here, and for a second or two, she thought it was Jim. But that was quickly ruled out by the fact, that he didn't look at all like him. "Who is this?"
"His name is Jake Sully. He's a former marine who, as you can see, is paralyzed from the waist and down. As far as I know he got shot back on earth."
"Ok. Sully... That sounds familiar in some way."
"Yeah. He had a twin brother. Tom. He was in the Avatar program, and was actually the guy that should have been here instead. Unfortunately he got shot a week before he was to ship here."
"Ah yes. I heard about it in the news. Made a mess because he was a pretty valuable scientist."
"Yeah. But we might not even be here now, if that hadn't happened." Grace looked kind of happy that Tom wasn't the one who arrived there. "Come on. Let's get a briefing."

Ben stopped for a moment. What was that? About a year ago, Jim was called in for a test. Something about a possible spread of viruses. That wasn't odd in itself. But the fact that only Jim was examined seemed a little off the line Ben thought. He searched the archives again, thinking he might have misspelled something. But nothing came up. Either that information was very well hidden or not in there at all. If they thought of something that could spread out, why haven't they examined Gabrielle too? She was the one working with him after all. She would be the first to get ill too, if indeed Jim was carrying a virus of some sort. She had never shown any signs of problems breathing or anything. Ben couldn't let it rest. For the rest of the evening, he constantly speculated what happened back then. Finally though, he went to bed, and got his beauty sleep.

They had just entered the mess hall, when Miles started his security briefing. They looked closely as he told the newcomers about the threats of Pandora. Grace and Gabrielle talked quietly while he kept jabbing around all those horrible things out there.
"Na'vi?" Gabrielle thought about that. "Very hard to kill? Why on earth, err I mean Pandora, would you want to kill the Na'vi? They are the ones belonging to this place after all."
"I love your point of view Gab. But as you so quickly observed, not everyone have that kind of thoughts about it. Miles here is probably the worst of them."
"Damn. I'm kind of beginning to feel a little nervous about all this." Gabrielle said, a little disturbed.
"Let's just say that we share that feeling. Well. That was done pretty quick. Let's go to the link room."
Gabrielle followed Grace through the complex, to the link room. As they walked, Grace explained to her, that time was a bit off the line here.
"The things I show you, are not happening that fast. Actually, from Jake heard the speech in the mess hall, and until he got here took about 2 hours. But I think you understand, that what I show, is the important things. All the insignificant stuff I simply leave out."
"Yeah, or I would have to dream for the next month or so right?" Gabrielle joked a little.
"3 months actually." Grace smiled. "And that's not a joke."

They both laughed a little, making the situation more easy to cope with. It was quite disturbing what Grace had to show her, and the she could almost feel the Colonels hate when he babbled all over the place before.
"Is it true Grace? Is it really that dangerous here on Pandora?" Gabrielle asked curiously.
"Let's just say, that it's most hostile environment know to man. If we had not grown those Avatars, we wouldn't have any research done at all. It's simply too dangerous to move around the forest as a human."
"Hmm. And yet... We chose to come here, and 'steal' unobtanium from this moon. Talk about greedyness on the big scale."
"Sure thing. But you have to remember, that it is the ONLY purpose for any of us to be here. If there wasn't any unobtanium here, we would not have been here. Sadly."
"Why not exactly? I mean, we could still learn a great deal about this place. It is the first place we find out of our own solar system, that harbors life after all."
"Yeah. But its extremely expensive to grow an Avatar. Not to mention the cost of maintenance on the link pods, salary to the staff etc. Without unobtanium to sell for a high price, none of this would be possible."
"Let's play 'what if'" Gabrielle said. "What if unobtanium was to be found elsewhere? Like on another moon with no life on it?"
"Hmm... That would have been very interesting indeed." Grace nodded. "But still, why be here then? Simply because of the research? RDA doesn't think this way Gab. At least I don't think so."
"Me neither. But my nature tells me to keep believing, that not everything or everyone, is only after money. Since the first writings in the caves of our ancestors, humans have always searched for answers. And since the discovery of our own solar system, we have thought of life elsewhere in the universe. Don't tell me that just because we are very good at destroying our own planet, we actually don't care about that fact?" Gabrielle looked at Grace like she wanted her to clear up that mess. But she just looked at her, smiling the widest smile she had ever smiled.
"I sure like you Gab. And you HAVE to be right. At least on some of it. But the people around here? I mean those who have anything to say, are driven by unobtanium. And nothing else."
"It's sad. Really sad. That just because we are killing ourselves, we forget why we looked beyond our own sun." Gabrielle looked away, while Grace followed her every move closely.
"Let's take another 'what if'" Grace broke the silence. "What if we indeed found this moon, but there wasn't anything valuable here, except from research?"
"As you just said. If the valuable stuff, like unobtanium, wasn't here. No research right?"
"Not so fast. If what you said before really have a meaning to us humans, we would indeed have researched all that we could. Simply because there wouldn't be anything more valuable to us than research. You see?" Grace looked into Gabrielle's eyes.
"Yeah. Probably. But still..."
"No more." Grace stopped her. "I like this thinking from you. But we have to move on. Things have gone really bad here. And we must do anything to stop it from happening again."
"Right." Gabrielle answered.

Ben woke up, suddenly awake. He was absolutely certain that he heard the alarm clock. But it said 2:23AM and he wasn't to get up until 4:30AM. He looked around his bedroom. Nothing unusual to be found. He yawned a few times, trying to get back to sleep, but he simply couldn't. Something deep in his subconsciousness had pulled him out of his sleep. And something kept him from falling asleep again. He felt awful. Like his own mind was trying to tell him something.

After a few minutes, he got up and dressed. No reason to lie in his bed, if he couldn't sleep anyway. He walked to the kitchen, to make some coffee and looked out of the window. He could see the little dim circle in the sky, called the moon. It was supposed to be full moon, and about 50 years ago, he would have been able to see it almost shine. But now? Now earth was so polluted, at least this deep in the city, that it was almost impossible to see it. "Sad." he said to himself, suddenly dragged back to reality by the smell of freshly brewed, very strong coffee. He grabbed a cup, and poured the coffee. He stood there silently sipping his coffee, trying to really be awake. Suddenly he kept still. Like he was frozen. Something had struck him, like lightning. "OH s***! THAT'S IT!" He yelled, and rushed to the office, grabbing the console and punching away like mad.

"Come on, come on," Ben said while skimming through the archives of his predecessor in the lab. He had been working for RDA for a few years now, but it wasn't until about ten months ago, that he was assigned to this project. The project to find other means for humans to breathe Pandoran air. It was far fetched. But maybe... Just maybe his predecessor did something out of the ordinary. He knew that the guy got fired on a ten minute notice, so he surely did something. But no one had told Ben what happened. Either no one knew, or they kept tight about it not wanting to risk their jobs. Understandable, but not helping Ben.

"Got ya!" Ben stopped. He looked closely at the console, reading about a project including the use of a virus to transform lung tissue, so that human lungs would be able to filter out the excess gasses, or the poisonous ones, and only 'take' the gasses breathable by humans. It said that the project was shut down, due to lack of test subjects.
"That's weird" Ben remarked. If they needed test subjects, there had to be a claim of such within the archives. None was found. To make it more suspicious, the day before his predecessor was fired, was the day Jim was call in for examination.
"Now what the hell is this?" Ben moved closer to the screen. He tried to pull more information from  the results of Jim's examination. But he didn't have the proper access level to view it. "What? I am supposed to be clear to all of his info. How else would I be able to take his work further?"
This was indeed very strange. Unless RDA knew something that would hurt them like hell should it go public. But he knew a lot of things that could do that. Why was this different?
After a few minutes, thinking this over and over, he finally switched off the console, and finished his coffee. He looked at his watch, 4:35AM. Time to think about work. He went to the kitchen, and put the cup into the sink. Locked up the house and left for work.

[Unil stä'nìyu]

Chapter 13

Spoiler

Chapter 13. The ex-marine.
Grace and Gabrielle stood in the middle of the link room on Hells Gate. They watched as people moved back and forth, being ready for the drivers to come out of link. A girl stood beside one of the link pods, punching away on the poor console beside it, as it slowly glided out of the unit. She looked very busy, running away in a hurry as the lid of the pod opened. "Ok. This is it." Grace said.

The lid opened and Grace sat up. She sighed and rested her head for a few seconds. "Who's got my god damned cigarette?" she asked like she expected it to be there already. Gabrielle let out a small laugh, which she honestly tried to hide, but to no avail. Grace looked at her as the one in the link pod continued to yell, swinging her legs over the side of the link pod. "Guys! What's wrong with this picture?" she said a little louder, waving her hand in the air. The poor girl who had been at the pod before, rushed to Grace with a lit cigarette. "Thank you!"

Gabrielle laughed out loudly.
"Har har har... So you think that was funny?" Grace looked at her smiling.
"I sure do... I mean, you seem to be a b**** if I ever knew one. But that's a completely wrong image compared to what I know about you. Both from now, and from what Jim has told me." Gabrielle still laughed a little.
"Very funny." Grace said as she turned her head in the direction of the door.

Gabrielle could hear voices approaching the door on the outside. "Grace Augustine is a legend." a man said. A man with a beard and glasses came in, quickly followed by Jake and another guy.

"That's Max, and the one next to Jake, is Norm. He too arrived a few hours ago. He knew Tom, Jake's brother, from Avatar training back on earth." Grace explained.

"She's the head of the Avatar Program," Norm continued as the three of them walked into the link room. "She wrote the book, I mean literally wrote the book on Pandoran botany." He explained to Jake.
"Well," Max said with a grin. "That's because she likes plants better than people."

Gabrielle giggled at that comment. Grace looked at her and shook her head slowly.

"There she is," Max said loudly. "Cinderella back from the ball. Grace, I'd like you to meet Norm Spellman and Jake Sully."
"Norm." Grace, now standing by the end of her link bed, looked at him. "I hear good things about you. How's your Na'vi?" Grace asked looking at Norm.
"Awvea ultxari ohengeyä, nawma sa'nok lrrtok siveiyi." he answered, in what sounded to Gabrielle like fluent Na'vi. Not that she would know anything about it, but at least he didn't seem to give it too much of a thought when talking.
"Tsun tivam. Aylì'u ngian nì'it skepek lu." Grace said in, to Gabrielle, just as fluent Na'vi.
"Zìsìt amrr ftolia ohe, slä zene fko nivume nìtxan."
Before they could do any more of their little chat they were interrupted by Max.
"Uh, Grace. This is Jake Sully." Max pointed at Jake.
"Hi." Jake put up his hand, ready to shake it with Grace's. She just looked straight at him. Like she was very well able to kill him in an instance. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know who you are and I don't need you. I need your brother." she said angrily, then looked at Max in the same manner. "You know. The Ph. D. Who trained for three years for this mission?"
Jake answered that himself, stone cold in his voice. "He's dead. I know it's a big inconvenience for everyone." He kept looking straight into Grace's eyes. He was a marine. No one would be able to take on this attitude against him without getting it mirrored on themselves. Even though she looked like she was ready to bite his head off, she still wasn't anything like a yelling Colonel.
Grace, at least, seem to think about it and changed her attitude a little. Instead of being plain evil, she changed into 'I know better than you' mode.
"How much lab training have you had?" She asked.
"I dissected a frog once..." Jake answered like he didn't even care.
"You see?" Grace turned again to Max. "You see? I mean they're pissing on us, without even the courtesy of calling it rain!" She turned and walked towards the door. "I'm going to Selfridge."
"No! Grace! I don't think that's such a good idea...." Max said as he ran after her and was cutoff mid sentence.
"This is such bulls***!" Grace yelled halfway towards the door. "Gotta kick his corporate butt. He has no business sticking his nose in MY department."
Max sighed and went back to Jake, put a hand on his shoulder. "Here tomorrow. 0800. Try and use big words..." He said and left the link room.

Gabrielle looked at Grace. She smiled back at her and turned around, following the other Grace. "Come on Gabrielle. We gonna miss my 'fun'" she said, referring to Gabrielle's giggles at her.
"Where are we going?" Gabrielle asked as they walked quickly after the angry Grace. She was almost running, and her white lab coat had a hard time keeping up with her body.
"To Selfridge. Didn't you pay attention?" Grace teased.
"Sure I did. But where's that?"
"No that. He. Parker Selfridge. The guy in charge of this place. This particular instance is not as important as some of the others. But I think you'll find it amusing. AND it does hold a clue as to WHY things turned out the way they did. Better than I can explain it to you."
They arrived at the control tower. A guy with black hair caught Gabrielle's attention. He was playing mini golf, on a small patch of artificial grass. The hole was a coffee mug, of course with the RDA logo on it. Seems that you just had to be reminded all the time, who you worked for. Not even your coffee break was sacred anymore.

"Parker!" Grace said. "You know, I used to think it was benign neglect. But now I see that you're intentionally screwing me!"
"Grace. You know, I enjoy our little talks." Parker didn't even look up from his game. He hit the ball and it went straight for it's target. Just as it was about to roll into the mug, Grace intentionally kicked the mug off to the side.
"Oops..." She said and it was obvious she didn't mean that. Parker looked at her like she really hurt his feelings. "I need a researcher. Not some Jarhead dropout."
"Well, actually I thought we got lucky with him."
"Lucky? How is this in any way lucky?"
"Lucky that your guy had a twin brother, and lucky that brother wasn't some oral hygienist or something. A marine we can use. I'm assigning him to your team as security escort."
"The last thing I need is another trigger happy moron out there."
"Look, look.. You're supposed to be winning the hearts minds of the natives. Isn't that the whole point of your little puppet show? You look like them and you talk like them, and they'll start trusting us. We build them a school, we teach them English, but after what, how many years? Relations with the indigenous is only getting worse."
"Yeah, that tends to happened when you use machine guns on them."
Parker paused for a few seconds. That comment slapped his face. HARD! "Right. Come here..." he said walking into his office, signaling Grace to follow him. He picked up a small gray rock from a magnetic stand on his desk, and turned to Grace. "This is why we are here." He said while holding up the gray rock in front of Grace. "Unobtanium. Because this little gray rock sells for 20 million a kilo. That's the only reason. It's what pays for the whole party. It's what pays for your science. Comprendo?" He put the rock back to the stand. "Now those savages are threatening our whole operation. We're at the brink of war and you're supposed to be finding a diplomatic solution. So use what you've got, and get me some results!"

Gabrielle laughed. Grace looked at her, smiling, and rolled her eyes. "This is going to get tough!" she concluded.
Gabrielle put her hand on Grace's shoulder. "Listen." she said fighting her laughter. "I think you're doing great. I know it's gonna be less fun somehow. But this contrast of what I thought of you, and how you acted here. It's just hilarious."
Grace Laughed a little. "Yeah. Keep on going honey... Then you'll get to know a much more different side of me."
Gabrielle smiled at that comment and finally pulled herself together. "Ok. What comes next?" she asked looking at Grace.
"Well. Actually I would like to show you Jake's first linkup. But I can't decide whether it's important or if I should show you something else." Grace seemed uneasy. Like she knew Gabrielle was in need of all the information she could put into her. Just that time wasn't on their side.
"Can't you just tell me? I mean if it's not THAT important then skip the show?"
"Very well then. We need to see Miles. I'll explain the minor things as we walk." Grace started to walk in the direction of the door.
"Ok. Miles... That was the military guy right?" Gabrielle asked.
"Yeah. Miles Quaritch. Head of security here. The Colonel that gave the briefing."
"Ah! Yes. I remember him all too well... What's he up to?"
"You'll see..." Grace was silent for a few minutes as they walked towards where the AMP suits were. "You know, at this point, Jake has linked to his Avatar for the first time. It's probably at that first linkup, I began to sense something in him. You see, when I asked him if he just wanted to come to the most hostile environment know to man, and see how it went, he just told me that he was tired of doctors telling him what he couldn't do. He didn't even want my help getting into the link pod. He seemed so determined on being able to do anything himself." Grace explained.
"Well, It makes sense somehow. He was a marine, he had the mental attitude and the will to do it. Probably 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' thing kicked in." Gabrielle said, thinking of how Jim had told her about his time as a soldier.
"Yeah, could be. Anyway he joined us, me and Norm, on a science mission."
"Ok. And this," Gabrielle pointed around her "happens after that mission?"
"No. It happens right before actually. A few hours before we leave." Grace stopped for a while. She seemed to think about what to say about it. Finally she broke the silence. "Actually I didn't know about what happened here before it was too late... But then again, it might not have turned out different anyway..."
Gabrielle looked curiously at all the hardware around there. AMP suits were lined up for maintenance and reload so they were ready for the next run when needed. She looked at a small room by the end of the AMP suit maintenance line. Inside was the Colonel, pumping iron. As she looked at him, Jake came wheeling past her, heading for the little room. Grace and Gabrielle moved a little closer, to make sure they could hear the conversation.

"You wanted to see me, Colonel?" Jake stopped in front of the iron pumping Colonel. He didn't answer right away. No hello's, or confirmation that he heard Jake in the first place.
"This low gravity will make you soft." He finally said, pushing the iron up. "You get soft..." he pushed again and put the bar to rest in the holder. He sat up and looked straight into Jake's eyes. "...Pandora will s*** you out dead with zero warning." He studied Jake's face, as if he wanted a reaction on that comment, then went on with the conversation.
"I pulled your record, corporal. Venezuela, that was some mean bush. Nothing like this here though." He paused for a few seconds, then a slight smile on his face. "You got some heart kid, showing up in this neighborhood."
"I figured it was just another hell hole." Jake answered like he couldn't care less.
"I was first recon myself." Miles stood up and walked towards Jake and the door. "A few years ahead of you, well maybe more than a few." Miles walked out of the small room and headed towards one of the AMP suits. "Three tours in Nigeria, not a scratch. I come out here..." He turned to face Jake again and pointed at his face. Scars from something with claws... BIG claws, that came just a bit too close once. "...day one. Think I felt like a shaved tale Louie?"

"Ouch!" Gabrielle remarked. "That's gotta hurt!"
"Yeah. But sadly not enough to make him scared... Now listen." Grace pointed her attention back towards the two men.

"Well they could fix me up. If I rotated back." He started to do some checks of his AMP, pulling something hidden by it's legs. "And make me pretty again." He turned and faced Jake again. "But you know what? I kind of like it. It reminds me every day what's waiting out there."
The colonel started to ascend the AMP. Jake rolled onto an elevator right beside him.
"The Avatar program is a bad joke. A bunch of limb dick science majors. However, it does present an opportunity, most timely and unique." The Colonel reached for the some buttons. "CLEAR!" he yelled, and started powering up the AMP.
"A Recon Gi-rine, in an Avatar body. That's a potent mix. Give me the goosebumps." He said while strapping himself in. "Such a marine, could provide me the intel right on the ground." He said while putting on the motion sensor gloves, which controlled the movement of the AMP's arms and hands. He turned his head and looked at Jake again. "Right in the hostiles camp."
"Look Sully. I want you to learn these savages from the inside, I want you to gain their trust. I need to know how to force their co-operation, or hammer them hard if they won't." He looked at Jake waiting for an answer.
"Am I still with Augustine?" Jake asked.
"On paper. You walk like one of her science pukes. You quack like one. But you report to me. Can you do that for me son?"
"O-yeah, Sir!" Jake smiled.
"Well alright then." Miles activated the AMP by twisting his left wrist fast. Then he stepped forward to show off some hydraulic brawling into thin air. Finally after a few punches, he turned the AMP and faced Jake, still on the elevator. He put his two ton arms to rest on what resembled the AMP's hips. "Son, I take care of my own. You give me what I need, I'll see to that you get your legs back, when you rotate home..." He lifted his right arm and pointed at Jake's unusable legs with a two feet finger. "Your real legs." he added.
"It sounds real good, Sir." Jake replied.
Miles shut the canopy of the AMP and walked away in the same direction from which Jake had arrived earlier. Nothing more was said.

"This is bad, right?" Gabrielle said with concern in her voice. "He seems to not even care what stands in his way."
"He's a trained killer." Grace said. "This is what he do. But things do get out of hand, as you will learn."
The two women started to walk. As they did Grace asked Gabrielle, what she thought of the events so far.
"It's quite straight forward I think. At least until now. We have an ex-marine, paralyzed. I would give ANYTHING to get my legs back. Can't say I blame him. We have an remarkably weird Colonel, who just doesn't give a f*** in what he has to do to get his way. And we have a boss, who doesn't give a f*** in what he has to do to make money. Though, I must admit, that he at least seems to dislike the war theme."
"Yeah maybe. But remember he needs to satisfy the shareholders. And they don't care how he does that." Grace looked around and then back at Gabrielle. "Tell me Gabrielle. How's Jim? The real Jim I mean."
"He's in a coma, as you already know. But not worse than yesterday. He's still alive. Just not aware." Gabrielle's face turned sad by the thought of the real Jim. Her very close friend, who was still far away from her, even if she was right beside him.
"Calm down Gabrielle. He'll be around again."
"Yeah. I know. It's just hard. I am trying to help him. And I actually think I have found a cure. But I need to be sure before trying it." She smiled a little.
"If you are as close as you think, we need to speed up a bit. Not with you, but with Jim. I need to show him some more, but I can't reach him if he gets out of coma."
"I know... You want me to wait a little longer to try the cure?"
"No. Please no. Every day he's in that coma, makes it harder for him to get back. Don't hesitate to try it. Just be careful."
"I will..." Gabrielle answered and looked away for a few seconds. "You know I..." She turned back to Grace, only to find that she was gone. Soon afterwards, Hells Gate started to dissolve as Gabrielle slowly woke up from her dream...