Pandora's Call

Chapter Two: Are You Ready?

"Sully, Zora." A man called.

Zora looked up from her chair and grabbed her duffle bag. She quickly made way to the man in uniform. She set down her bag and looked at the man holding a sheet of paper.

"Here, Sir." Zora said, nodding her head.

"I need you to report over to this room, over here." He said pointing without looking up from the paper.

Zora looked at the open room and started to make her way through the lines of people to the room. Her footsteps radiating through the building against the metal walkway. As she looked around she noticed the different types of lines formed by people.

"Infantry, Computer Science, Pilot, AMP drivers. Geeze a lot of firepower going to Pandora." Zora thought to herself.

She arrived at the open room and knocked on the door.

"State your name." A voice said.

Zora turned towards the voice that came from a petite older woman. Zora walked over to her and looked down at her.

"Zora Sully." Zora finally replied.

The older lady shifted through some papers and grabbed out a single sheet. She looked up at Zora and tilted her head.

"You related to Tom?" She asked.

Zora felt a slight clench in her stomach as she replied,

"He was my husband."

The lady scoffed,

"Not on paper he's not, Tom didn't have any dependents written on his file, nor spouses." She said looking at Zora with a less than pleased look.

"He died on our wedding day. We thought filing the papers afterward would be more romantic, but the council won't let you marry a deceased person. Even if they already signed the paperwork." Zora replied coldly.

"Hmm. Anyways let's get this going. The ship isn't planning on being late to launch." The lady said. She walked over to the open door and closed it.

"My name is Nancy, I'll be your caretaker while you are in transit to Pandora. My job is simple: go over your file, some consent forms, and make sure that all of your files, money, and base profile is ready for you at Pandora while you're in Cryo." Nancy explained, as she walked to a small desk and pulled out a folder of papers.

"This whole interaction will be recorded for my files and your file on Pandora. Are you ready to begin?" She asked, sitting down at the desk and holding her hand to the opposite side of the desk.

Zora took the empty seat across from Nancy and nodded her head.

"Zora, I need a yes or no." Nancy replied.

"Yes, I am ready." Zora said, a touch embarrassed.

Nancy leaned behind her and pressed a button on a computer. A small red light appeared and Nancy nodded her head.

"Today's date, February 18th, 2152" Nancy spoke into the camera. She turned around and looked at Zora.

"Please state your full legal name, birthday, height, weight, eye color, any allergies, any medications, and your job title on your contract." Nancy said in one breath.

Zora took a second to process everything she needed to say.

"Legal name; Zora Sully-

Nancy looked up,

"You said The Council wouldn't let you be married." She said

"Luckily if you pay them enough money, they'll allow you to legally change your last name." Zora replied back with a tinge of disgust.

"Everything's about money nowadays. How sad." Nancy said, shaking her head. She waved to her hand for Zora to continue.

"Birthday, April 15th 2129, height 5'7, weight 158, eyes, blue, no allergies that I'm aware of.-" Zora breathed. "No medications, job title, Avatar driver/Science coordinator."

"Okay, checks out. Next I'm going to read you this form, I need a verbal consent and a signature here and here." Nancy said, holding the form and pointing to the empty spaces. She took a breath and relaxed her shoulders.

"The following contract with the RDA is as follows; The RDA is not held accountable for any side effects from Cryo, each Cryo ship will keep the soldier/driver in a frozen state for approximately six years. You do not age, dream, need food or water for this duration. Undergoing Cryo may cause; potential of not waking up and being in a coma like state, weakness, nausea, cell degeneration, and possibly death. Any of the following complications during the travel the RDA is not responsible for. Avatar driver's understand that their Avatar is property of the RDA, any damage to Avatar in potential combat is covered by RDA. If damage to the Avatar occurs under fault of the driver, the driver will be held responsible. Pandora is a planet with many undiscovered life forms and flora, if a soldier/driver becomes injured or deceased by these unknown sources under RDA command, RDA is not to be held accountable for the soldier's actions. At any time if the RDA deems a soldier or driver unfit to fulfill their duties they have full authority to send the Soldier or driver back to Earth. The RDA can choose to rearrange your contract as they see necessary, and add or change this form which will result in a new consent form reading and signature. If the soldier/driver agrees to these terms please state "I Y/N agree to the RDA's Consent Form" and sign the slots below."

Zora looked at the paper and signed her name. She slid the paper across the desk and looked at the camera:

"I, Zora Sully, agree to the RDA's Consent Form."

"Excellent, now that your forms are signed we can show you your Avatar." Nancy said, leaning back to turn off the camera.

She got up from the desk and opened the office door. Zora followed her down the hallway past the lines of soldiers from before and came to a Lab area. They walked into the open corridor and Zora looked around. They walked past a bunch of lab equipment and scientists making their first vlog about their journey. Zora admired how committed they were already to their work, she felt a slight wave of sadness knowing that Tommy never got to live his dream of going to Pandora. On top of losing Tommy she also lost Jake. Shortly after Tommy died, Jake took off without telling anyone. Zora tried for years to reach out to him and his old Marine buddies, but it always led to the same answer; "We haven't heard from him, we don't know where he is."

"Alright dear, it's not much but, here she is." Nancy said, snapping Zora out of her thoughts.

Zora walked up next to Nancy and peered into the large tank filled with a clear but blue liquid. Looking in, Zora examined the small Avatar.

"You look confused dear." Nancy said looking at Zora's face.

"She's beautiful but she's so small." Zora replied.

"Not to worry Zora, the next time you see her she will be fully mature." Nancy said proudly.

"Oh that reminds me, we need to take some final blood samples. We send a few with your Avatar for DNA processing and we keep a few here to study and send your workup to your Commanding Officer at Pandora." Nancy explained waving a lab tech her way.

"Hi, I'm Sebastian. I'm going to take some blood from you, we study how much people's levels change from when they leave here to when they arrive at Pandora. It's quite fascinating." Sebastian explained. He guided Zora to a chair and walked to a cabinet with a bunch of supplies. Nancy walked over and sat on a chair next to Zora.

Sebastian gathered the IV supplies and explained to Zora what the process was going to be. Zora barely paid attention and kept eyes on her Avatar. "God what I wouldn't do to see Tommy's Avatar." Zora thought.

"You knew Tommy?" Zora asked, getting out of her head, and looking over at Nancy.

"Not personally, I maybe had a phone call with him. I was mostly responsible for filing his death paperwork to the RDA and informing Pandora of his passing." Nancy explained.

Zora noticed that even though Nancy was a hard stubborn woman twenty minutes ago, she had a softness to her face when she spoke of Tommy off the recording camera. Sebastian took her blood and put each vial into a separate biohazard bag. He walked away out of sight leaving Nancy and Zora.

"Alright, are you ready to take a long nap?" Nancy asked.