40. Jake Sully

May 19th year 2154, currently 17:11, location Hell's Gate.

Dr. Max Patel was showing the new arrivals, two young men, the part of the base reserved for the Avatar program, more precisely the Bio-Lab, both new ones having seen their Avatar already.

One was a thin man, Norm Spellman, a Ph.D. in Anthropology and Xenobotany with a certification in Xenolanguage on top of it. 

Having dreamed all of his life to be here and trained for years for it to become a reality, and lucky enough to be chosen among the several hundredth young minds. Overqualification was the bare minimum to have the possibility to be here with an Avatar. 

He was speaking enthusiastically about a book on Pandora to a man in a wheelchair looking around broadly, half listening to the scientist's words, this was Jake Sully, a discharged Marine. 

He was paralyzed from the fifth lumbar vertebrae down to the legs, and everything in between he couldn't move or feel, all thanks to a spinal injury he got in Venezuela. Though being a war veteran didn't come with insurance for such injuries and even if easily healable it needed money, an exorbitant amount of it. One he didn't possess.

Max suddenly spoke, presenting to the two Dr. Grace Augustine, she was standing around an aisle looking over data on an holotablet and a lit cigarette between her lips, the woman not being deaf or blind had already noticed them.

Sighing while running a hand over her hair as she walked toward them, Max presented Norm and was on his way to do the same as Jake but was interrupted as she spoke to Norm that then shifted to Na'vi. 

<Not bad you still sound a bit too formal though. A problem only time here will fix.>, Grace praised. 

<I have still much to learn.>, Norm nodded at the compliment while Grace's mood turned for the worse as her attention shifted to the crippled Marine.

"This is Jake Sully.", Max presented the second new member pushing his back against the earlier mentioned aisle, he was prepared for what was to come under the poor sod. 

"Ma'am.", Jake said cordially and gave his hand for a handshake which went completely ignored.

"Yeah, yeah, I already know you. Not the Ph.D. who trained years to be here, your brother, the one I wanted and should be here but beggars can't be choosers.", she said, forced to look down at him.

"He is dead, I know it's a big inconvenience to everyone. Sorry to disappoint.", he responded sarcastically to her remark, annoyance hidden on his face.

"Do you have at least a modicum of training in labs? Ever used a gas chromatograph, or do you even know what that is?", she asked, voice laced with a mix of anger, annoyance, and frustration. Though she stayed composed, mostly, it wasn't specifically to him she was angry at but it still spilled.

"Negative for the three, sorry to disappoint Ma'am.", he responded plainly and mechanically, keeping constant eye contact.

"Any actual lab work at all?", she breathed in and out, calming slightly the storm brewing inside, she asked further not having much expectation for the incoming answer, outside of knowing he is a war veteran, ages, and other minor aspects such as blood type there wasn't much.

"High school chemistry… But I ditched.", he answered plainly and that's what broke the camel's back. She had low expectations for him even if his twin brother was a genius from the little she got and Jake managed to still disappoint.

"Ya see? Ya see? They're pissing on us without even the courtesy of calling it rain! A fucking dropout trigger-happy ashole!", she snapped before storming off to Slefrdige.

She was aware whatever she would say will enter one ear and go out from the other but that mattered little as of now. Nobody would have been happy to get the equivalent of a mole in their team, because that was what he was even if he doesn't realize it.

"That went smoother than I anticipated…", Max mumbled but it was loud enough for Norm and Jake to hear and earned a raised eye from the latter.

"You sure?", Jake asked amusedly, not believing the scientist one bit. His first impression of the xenobotanist wasn't the best.

"Trust me, when she learned of the situation it was worse but I hope you forgive her for her less than gentle behavior. It's just a lot is going on… And it has been for quite a non-insignificant time and most of the pressure is on her.", Max explained further, his words unknown to the others included more than the Na'vi and RDA conflict.

The ex-Marine gruffly nodded, he had got treated worse, way worse many times. Someone rude he just met won't faze him much, if at all.

The next few days for Jake were one of the most interesting in his life, driving his Avatar being at the forefront. It was more than surreal, being in control of a new, stronger, taller, new senses, new appendages, and bluer body was mind-blowing.

And he could walk again, but it wasn't his body, it was an exceptional feeling, almost like a dream but there was a clear distinction between his Avatar and his body. 

His first outing in Pandora's forest, a mission where he served as a guard for Norm's and Grace's Avatars on the ground while they did their sciences.

This simple mission turned into a fiasco thanks to his ignorance and after being chased by a giant six-leg hairless carnivore for an unknown amount of time where a long fall and the loss of most of his equipment were involved.

Thereafter he was chased again by similar if considerably smaller creatures, to which he would have died if a female native didn't save him of which he later learned the name, Neytiri. 

This led from one thing to another and after going to her home, a giant tree, the biggest he ever saw, he became her student of sorts. 

He didn't understand why or how but it happened and this seemed to displease Neytiri. 

This meeting with the Na'vi was significant and met with surprise, it got him a personal mission from Colonel Quaritch; to, somehow, convince the Omatikaya to get out of their Hometree. Jake accepted it without an ounce of hesitation.

And not even two days later, he, Norm, and Grace with the latter two Avatars, his Avatar still sleeping in the Na'vi clan, were escorted by an experienced pilot to Site 26 on Grace's order. 

This was for reasons Jake wasn't sure of but what he knew was that it made Norm beyond euphoric, like a kid in a candy store and he perfectly understood why. 

The sight was supernatural beyond his comprehension of what should be possible etc, it is one of the most fabulous things he ever had the chance to lay his eyes upon, only coming second to the sight of this moon from outer space.

Floating islands from car-sized to literal mountains, kilometers in height, and width most if not all connected by gargantuan vines, ever-present dense mist constantly replenished by giant waterfalls and so much more.

The site was situated on such a floating island and was composed of a small pod-like habitation for no more than ten people lost in the middle of the Hallelujah mountain. Completely cut off from the world due to the powerful magnetic field.

This brought to the present, one of the Link Units unsealed itself, the door slowly opening itself, groaning and repeatedly blinking Jake pushed his upper body up to then with practiced ease put himself on his wheelchair.

Moving himself toward the fridge he took a ration, a 3D-printed lasagna, before turning it in the microwave. He looked to his right and was met with a certain Auburn-haired woman whose entire focus was on a smartwatch.

"You know there aren't any signals here, right?", Jake said, earning a bored glance from Grace. 

This old smartwatch was something she seemed to always wear and from the look of it wasn't only to know the time and Max also had the same model. Though beside this he didn't really put any more thought into it.

"That wouldn't be entirely correct, we aren't actually deep enough in the magnetic vortices for us to be fully and completely cut off from the outside world. If that were the case we wouldn't be able to use the Link Unit.", she turned off the watch and explained.

She was waiting for Liam's message, one that arrived slowly but surely, literally bit by bit, and each bit gave another bit to let the devices know it was successfully received or sent. Slow and tedious but it protected against loss of data. 

Liam knew she was here, she said it while the three of them discussed potentially meeting in person with a time and the like. Mostly her in her Avatar with Liam.

A meeting that either would need them to fly to where the man is, which means making his existence known to someone else or him moving to a specific location, or a mix of both. Either of those prospects is in no way possible as of now. 

Liam didn't care that others knew of his existence by itself, he knew that it was inevitable, what mattered was when, how, and who. He wanted there to be a minimum of control until all turn for the worse, to prepare, she inferred.

Trust had started to build between the three but it was a great risk to be taken for him and them as well. It wasn't the man's paranoia, the only reason for it to be far from simple.

Norm was one of the potential people on the list however to be given knowledge of the Liam situation, even if she knew him for barely a week. He was more trustable than an ex-soldier. All that needed to be said, biased maybe, but factual, and Jake was simply not the sharpest knife she met. 

He wasn't a bad apple, far from it, he was honest, a bit too much at times, and had a big heart, she just didn't know him enough but one thing she knew however was that for him duty came first. He was and still is a soldier at heart.

And soldiers would do monstrous things even at the cost of their consciences and bodies. In that aspect, Jake Sully was a perfect example.

She was more surprised Jake's Avatar still hasn't become a porcupine. Or died due to slipping from a too-high place or died with the hundredth of other ways to stupidly die. He was exceptionally lucky.

Not omitting the fact Norm held no loyalty or interest toward anything besides Pandora and his passion. Coming here pretty much means abandoning everything back on Earth.

"A fraction of the frequencies still work, under circumstances, you wouldn't understand, I can give you that. Most of our equipment doesn't work very well if at all thanks to how fuck up this place's magnetic field is. Anyway… How did this dive go? Any good news or progress?" she furthered her explanation and asked with some excitement. 

An overall disappointment he might be, a reckless idiot that grossly crossed the line of courage to stupidity by a few kilometers he is as well. 

But as he is he is very important for the future development and betterment of RDA and Na'vi relationships, a fact Quaritch and Sefrdige both understood as well. 

Liam on that aspect wasn't much different, he interacted with the natives a lot, something that could be realized by simple deduction, the Olangi or one of the other horse clans she guessed. 

But Liam was in a fundamentally different situation, first, his interaction with the Na'vi didn't consist of machine guns nor did he force them out of their home for metal. The great plains were unscathed from any RDA's activities, Na'vi would hold a different view of anything humans are looking at or from human origin.

And not forgetting the most important aspect, it wasn't his war but one he inevitably will be dragged in. That she was sure of but won't actively push him on that length.

"Outside of getting bullied?", he said jokingly, opening the microwave he grabbed the plate and took a bite out of it with a fiberglass spork. This earned an eye roll from Grace.

"Hmm… I didn't mention it earlier because I didn't understand shit about the Na'vi language, it's still the case… But now I noticed their leader, Ouuleyktein and how was she called again? Tsahìk, with Neytiri and a few others, speak of an individual. It seemed to be a big deal… I think the name was <Lostes Chwaldes> or something. Not a clue on what it means though. Also, it apparently is from faraway lands.", Jake explained vaguely as he took more bites out of his food that could be compared to flavored digestible plastic.

"Horrendous pronunciation and without contact it's hard to tell you further… But it should translate to something along the lines of 'lone or, lost orphan or child', <Lost Child>, it's like this.", Grace said and Jake nodded.

Then her eyes slightly widened to ex-Marine confusion, she realized that she should have had earlier.

'It's him… Unless it's a legend I never heard before, which is extremely unlikely.', she thought, it both complicated and simplified the situation.

The Omatikaya knew of Liam Cram, this title with the mention of it being from far away and her vast knowledge of Na'vi culture zeroed the possibility to only two; either an unknown and significant legend for the Omatikaya and surrounding clans that now she only learned about or it was a certain lost 'human'.

There were other possibilities, there always are but extremely high chances were it was Liam and she will go with that hypothesis unless proven otherwise.

This title was appropriate for Liam as well, a 'human comparable to a child or an orphan, lost and alone. Anyway, she will ask later, but not in less than a dozen hours with how crappy the signal was here.

Ultimately she decided to play dumb while telling a half-truth, "Though, I must say I have never heard of such an individual with such a title. I would like to hear more about it if you come to hear more of it."

*

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