Kea Am'a

1-1:'Aku

Returning to the avatar shack from an excursion, an exploration of the forest for any sign of her sister, Sanuìti or Mele returned to her human body.
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Heavy. This body feels heavy. The lid of this casket-like chamber is hard to push open now. It gets harder and harder every week.

I've been doing this for two years since she disappeared. I thought I'd find something more than a shoe by now but Alan must've dropped a shoe while running from something. It's just his normal everyday shoes.

I pry myself away from the link bed and into the set of hallways. It's like a labyrinth if you don't know what you're doing, but after years of living here, it's like second nature. I pass scientists, only the few in the base. The rest are security personnel and the newbies.

The place I'm staying in is like an apartment instead of the bunks, and that's because my parents specified for living quarters that suited them and here, in this rigid base, they are the managers, the bosses.

Sliding the door open, I was shaken from my train of thought by my mother's face.

"No."

"No what?" I slipped my shoes off and met the cold tile of the floor as I moved to the kitchen. A smoothie doesn't sound bad.

Mom practically buzzes across the floor like a bee towards a flower.

"Don't tell me anymore of what you find out there- in fact, just give up. I can't bare the thought of her being de-"

"Don't say that. That word." She looks up at me with a shocked, blank expression.

"You have to accept it. They're gone and there's nothing we can do." She sets down her work materials that she was prepping to go manage the avatar program.

Something warm touched my back. I almost jumped, it was just dad.

"No matter how much it hurts, birdie, your mother is right. You can't hold onto her forever." He gave me a good squeeze before letting me get back to my smoothie making.

"I'm not holding onto her."

"That's not what Dean said." Mom crossed her arms and plopped down on the couch.

"Well, tell Lieutenant Shit-stain he can go fuck himself." I pushed the bottom on the blender and held down the cap and watched as the protein powder, iodine tablets, iron tablets and preserved fruit blended into a sweet-frozen mud.

"Are you done now?" Dad sat down next to Mom on the couch.

"Yeah, if you mean done as in blending." I grabbed the mug Dad usually uses since it's first come first serve.

"Well, you are done. After Lieutenant Stainton told us about that stunt you pulle-"

"Stunt? I was just passing by the barracks."

"No, let me finish. After you went snooping through their files on Ke-on your sister, we've decided to send you to Hell's Gate to be watched by Grace. You'll be their medic since you have the training for it. This way, you'll be able to get your mind set on something other than your sister or those savages-"

"Isaiah." Mother said sternly after swatting his hand.

"You know what they meant to her." She hissed, "regardless, if you run into real trouble, we'll pull you right back here. You're my daughter, and we think this will be best for you."

"So, is that it? You're just going to send me away- they're hiding something, I know it!" I remember what I saw.

"We will not argue about this, this is final. You'll work for your stay here or we'll send you back to earth."

"Isaiah!" Mother raised her voice.

As they began to argue, I slipped out of the living room and into my room. It's unavoidable.
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Instead of coming to them in a convoy of armed trucks, they made me drive the buggy. The buggy is just any normal car, rebuilt with a metal cage instead of a body. Not the best, but it keeps out the viperwolves.

As soon as I had arrived, someone had requested my presence.

"Hey, I'm Trudy, Colonel Quaritch wants to see you."

She's a taller woman, tanned, wearing aviators. Her flight suit is wrinkled but it's clean. Her disposition is calm, cool, chill even.

"What about?"

She began walking with me.

"I don't know, but I'll be there with you since I'll be joining you back to help you settle into your bunk, we're bunk-mates." She grinned.

"Cool."

The thumping in my chest was nauseating.
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"So you're the one Dean was whining about."

Quaritch is a scarred, old man who is on the edge of his prime.

"I'll admit, I was a trouble maker." I scratched my scalp anxiously. Standing still is not what I want to be doing.

"Now, I don't want any trouble Reed. I need to know if you plan on being trouble."

"I don't want to be. I'm here for the job and I'm going to keep my team going."

"Good. You're excused."
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Instead of sitting through another lecture about the rules I already know, I decided to visit the biolab.

It was huge, in needle hills, they're mainly military since the Meitayolo' clan was massacred. But this, was new. Rows of people working on samples, machines I've never seen before.

"Norm, avatar driver." I heard someone say behind me.

"Oh, sorry, I'm probably in your way." I sidestepped out of the way of the guy with the buzzcut.

"It's okay." He said, "I'm Jake."

"Hi, I'm Mele, but call me Sanuìti or just S."

"A name from the natives?" He asked.

"Yeah it's a funny story but a long one."

Jake's gaze shifted to the tanks behind me. He admired his, he looked a little emotional.

"It looks like him."

"Looks like you, this is your avatar now, Jake."

"Whose avatar was this?"

"Long story." Jake looked away, "what about you, you're new here too, where's your avatar?"

"I've had mine for a while now. Yours have four fingers, mine has three."

"Really?!" Max stepped closer, I know him from overhearing his introduction with Norm.

"Yeah?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Can I take a look at it sometime?"

"There should be a file on it in your database, but if there's anything you want to add to it, feel free."

He scrambled for his tablet.

"Oh I forgot, we should meet your team's leader."