Pandora's Call

Chapter Four: Everything Is Blue

Zora stood next to Mark as the main shuttle door opened. Feeling the Exo-Pack on her face made her feel trapped, afraid if she moved too much she would breathe the toxic air outside by mistake. Everyone walked in a single line out of the shuttle and walked towards the giant metal building. Looking around at it, it looked like a fortress filled with turrets, anti-landing spikes and watch towers. Mark and Zora exchanged side glances but stayed silent. Walking into the building Mark and Zora made their way to the lab.

"Hey, this must be our new Avatar driver and lab doctor." A voice called out.

Zora turned to the voice and was greeted by a tall bald man in a doctor's coat.

"So glad you guys finally made it. I'm Benny but everyone calls me Bull. So much shit has hit the fan since you've been under. Damn Na'vi are going feral out there. One of our own stole his Avatar and led some sort of war, we lost a lot of people and things are tense. They forced our old main base back to Earth. So we're hoping with our new swing of drivers we can help restore it." The man explained.

"Someone stole an Avatar?" Mark asked.

"Yeah, honestly the RDA is trying to sweep it under the rug. We aren't allowed to really talk about it." Bull quietly stated.

"All I know is when tensions came up with the Na'vi before this whole war thing they started sending troops out around the time you guys were probably put under." Bull added.

"I'm supposed to have a meeting with Colonel- uh- Quartich?" Zora asked.

"Oh. Uh. Yeah. He's coming around. He should be here soon. Probably just getting used to his new body." Bull said scratching his head.

"New body?" Zora asked confused.

"Quartich was in the war with the Na'vi. He died, but they backed up his memories into some harddrive and sent it to Earth where his Avatar body would be planted with his DNA and memories. His Avatar- or he- I don't know what to call it but he'll be here. Come see your Avatar." Bull stuttered, he waved his hands and walked towards the Lab.

He walked to a back wall and put his arms out,

"Tah-Dah!" He whispered.

"Holy shit she's giantantic." Zora said with her eyes wide. She placed her hands against the glass looking at her Avatars face. So delicate yet strong, Zora could see the similarities between herself and her Avatar. Her color was dark blue like the forest Na'vi, with stripes that outlined every curve of her body. The bioluminescent dots formed an almost bird-like wing span on her forehead.

"You get to take her out tomorrow, we're sending new drivers to a camp a couple klicks away. There you'll be able to see a controlled version of Pandora." Bull said tapping the Avatar pod.

'

"Mark, does your head hurt from all the information they threw at us today?" Zora asked, laying down in a small bunk bed.

She waited for a reply from the top bunk but only heard snoring. She sighed and put her hair up into a bun then set her head down on the pillow. After a few hours of tossing and turning she rolled on her back and stared at the top of her bunk. She whipped the covers off and grabbed her uniform that consisted of cargo pants and a tanktop with a jacket that had "Avatar Driver" sewn into it and made her way to the bathroom. She changed and looked into the mirror and took her messy bun and changed it to a high ponytail. She turned off the light and left the barracks walking towards the lab. She saw her Avatar being removed from the tank and placed into a separate room with scientists wearing exo-packs.

"You're up early." Bull said from behind Zora.

Zora jumped a little bit and turned around.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep." She said rubbing her head.

"Yeah, I remember those nights. It's tough the first couple of days." Bull assured her.

"Well, your Avatar is ready to go. Do you want to start the process?" Bull asked.

"Of course." Zora said.

Bull lead her over to a handful of Link Chambers. And pointed at one that was open. Zora walked up to it and sat on the corner of it swinging her legs into the cut out slot.

"It's like sitting on Jello." She commented.

"It's something about keeping the human body comfortable, keeping temperature averaged and some other stuff I didn't read on. Just lay down and let your mind go blank and you'll wake up over there." Bull giggled.

Zora laid down as Bull placed the harness over her body and closed the link door. Zora looked around being reminded of being put into Cryo. She sighed and closed her eyes.

"Zora, can you hear me?" A muffled voice said.

Zora opened her eyes and looked at the woman standing beside her. She noticed her eyes tuned into the smallest features on her face. Looking around her vision was sharper than she remembered and her hearing could almost hear the man standing in the corner observing.

"Hey Zora how are you feeling?" The woman asked.

"That is a very bright white outfit." Zora said, almost squinting at the scientist. She realized her voice was slightly deeper than before.

"Yeah that's normal, you'll get used to that. Let's go ahead and sit you up." She said, trying to help by holding Zora's arm with 2 hands.

Zora sat up and examined her hands, taking in every small detail. The scientist handed her a mirror and Zora laughed at how small it looked.

"You'll get used to that too." She laughed.

Zora looked at her Avatar face for the first time and couldn't help but trace the lines of her bioluminescent dots and smile.