Avatar - Forest of the dead
Posted: 2010-01-24 08:20am
In response to those Avatar bashing "fan" fics which have come up, I decided to write a short once off crossover. Try and guess which sci fi character it crosses over with.
Doctor Grace Augustine was dying. Not the most pleasant of sensations and certainly she never expected to be dying here. On Pandora. The world so alien, yet so amazing in its creatures. Grace had made it her life’s work as a scientist to study the wild life on this world, she knew the risks. From the flying banshees to the thanators, that was the risk one took when visited Pandora. Too bad she never expected to be shot by humans, her own kind.
Grace could sense her connection to Eywa as the Na’vi watched over her by the Tree of Souls. It was beautiful she thought. Nearby her comatose Avatar body was wrapped by the Tree’s bioneural connections as the Omaticaya prayed that her soul or her essence would be transferred to the Avatar. It was not to be, as she could feel herself becoming one with Eywa.
It wasn’t supposed to end like this. Grace and her team of scientists were supposed to be able to help negotiate a treaty with the Omaticaya so that RDA company could mine unobtainium. Not end in a shooting war with RDA laying waste to the Na’vi Hometree.
At least as when I die I get to experience being with Eywa. Her last thoughts were of the words of a human novelist who name eluded her in Grace’s confuses state. The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.
Then something wonderful happened. The strange sound filled the forest. It was hard to describe it, barely audible over the Na’vi’s chanting. It was an odd wheezing and groaning sound. Suddenly Grace felt her connection to her Avatar strengthen, as if some outside force was pushing her mind into the Avatar. Then she felt that force. Communicated with it. It was frightening, like a million stars had suddenly increase their intensity several fold. Yet the presence was also wonderful.
It wasn’t just communicating with her. The stranger was talking with Eywa, but Grace couldn’t grasp the conversation. As Grace’s Avatar opened its eyes for the first time in days, her thoughts were that the best laid plans of mice and men may often go astray, but the plans of demigods were another matter. Especially for this particular one.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“He is here. Oh God he is here”.
“Who is here” Jake asked. The elation of Grace being seemingly resurrected into her Avatar body was quickly drowned out by the thought that she may not be all there.
“The Lonely God. The Man without a Home.”
“The what?”. Jake was becoming increasingly puzzled.
“He has come. He has asked Eywa for permission to bring something to Pandora.”
“Ooookay.” Jake thought was best to handle Grace with kiddie gloves. The transfer had obviously not gone smoothly.
“What did Eywa say?”
“Eywa is still thinking it over”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jake got up slowly. RDA’s destruction of Home tree. Their killing of Na’vi civilians. Now this. Grace’s madness. Another ledger that needed to be squared.
Motioning for Tsu'tey to translate for him, Jake prepared to give the best speech of his life.
As Jake talked about sending the Sky people a message, about uniting the Na’vi tribes for the confrontation with the humans on Pandora, Grace knew that the Lonely God will do it for them. If only Eywa accepted the offer.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“The Natives are grouped by this structure. The so called Tree of Souls. This is their deity”.
Quaritch paused letting the sniggers build up among his troops of ex marines.
“We will….”
“Relocate soonish I should hope”
Quaritch had been about to say something along the lines of destroying Eywa and searing the defeat into the Na’vi’s collective consciousness when he was interrupted by a man and a woman who had someone gotten into his briefing room. He didn’t recognise them. They were certainly not one of his personnel, and they didn’t look like any of Augustine’s scientists, but he decided that was most probably who they were. He quickly waved away soldiers who had moved in to grab the duo. He could do with a verbal workout.
“Who..”
“Oh look Doctor. Toy soldiers.”
“Shush Donna, these people are quite serious”.
“Yeah. Attacking natives armed with bows and arrows with gun ships and giant robots. Bet you they feel pretty brave. What’s next. Squash a few ants”
That woman had the most irritating laugh Quaritch thought.
“Pandora is worse than hell.” Quaritch thundered. “Any one of these marines who have survive for months where every thing which crawls, walks or flies is trying to kill you is better than any of Augustine’s brain trust”.
“Lets not talk about hell because clearly you don’t have a conception of what it is. I am here to discuss your relocation.” The Doctor paused thinking back to the dying days of the Time War. Now that was truly hell. Hell which even the Time Lords could not survive.
“Our what?”
“Pandora. This planet has a giant neural connection among itself. You ever notice that. Oh that’s right, you are too busy playing toy soldiers to discover whats in front of your faces. Just like with the Ood. Anyway, it’s a sentient planet which has agreed for me to umm, relocate some nasty critters here. Its perfect for them. Plenty of forest, and in a parallel universe with a small gap for me to come through. Anyway, you primitives are threatening my operation.”
The gall of this man. Telling them what they can or cannot do. Parallel universes? This man was clearly deranged.
“RDA’s mandate here is to get us some unobtainium. I am sure if you weren’t stuck in some book you would be aware of how valuable this is to humanity.”
“Helps with FTL communication.” The Doctor waved his hand dismissively. “ I have seen better. Let me guess. Soon you will be saying that because its so valuable its essentially for humanities survival even though you guys were doing fine without it.”
“Like oil” Donna chimed in.
“Yes like oil. Useful stuff, but not essential. Certainly not at the cost of destroying the home of the indigenous species. You humans will just have to accept a lower standard of living. Kind of your own fault actually, but your population stabilises to a more sustainable level things will become better. Now who was it that said something about population. Oh that’s right Malthus. Nice fellow he was…” The Doctor trailed off.
“We tried to negotiate in good faith. I even used non lethal force. In return the Na’vi has fired their arrows at us. Arrows tipped with a neurotoxin which kills within minutes. We have shown incredible restraint here. We have..”
“Was that after you destroyed their Hometree.” The Doctor’s voice had suddenly become menacing. For a moment even Quaritch was taken aback. However he reminded himself that he was in control. He was master of his own destiny. So lost in his own thoughts Quaritch almost missed the Doctor’s next question.
“Did you ever hesitate before you gave the order to destroy the Na’vi’s home. Bows and arrows against gunships? Did that voice in your head ever tell you to stop?”
“My conscience?” Quaritch’s derision was matched by laughter in the crowd. “Next you tree huggers will be telling me to do a song and dance with the natives and all problems will be solved.”
“I wasn’t referring to your conscience. I am talking about FEAR. Because if it is alright for you to take what you want because you are stronger, then it follows that its alright for someone stronger to do the same to you. When it is humanity’s turn, when it is your turn, will you cry like the Na’vi did? Beg for mercy. Will you fight futilely against the coming of the night. Does that frighten you? That someone might be stronger than you. Stronger than Man, the undisputed master of air, sea, land and now space.”
“Nothing is absolutely right.” Quaritch replied. “However should someone try to force us from our homes you can be hell sure we will put up a hell of a fight, and they shouldn’t attack us without expecting it.”
“Ah, so might makes right. The same justification uttered by scores of dictators throughout time and space. I am so not impressed.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, Doctor, if that’s your real name..”
“Actually my real name would be quite hard to pronounce…”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I have several squadrons of ex marines right here. If we truly believed might makes right, then you just made a big mistake mister. Because I have the army. How many troops do you command?”
“Well now that you mentioned it, a few hundred actually. I would have bought millions more, but any more than that would most probably upset the balance of nature on this world.”
The Doctor’s reply was greeted by vacuous laughter.
“What army? You expect us to jump at shadows, just because you say so?”
“Oh, oh.” Donna murmured.
“Count the shadows Mr Quaritch. Before you only had two shadows, now you have three.”
“Throw him in the brig.”
“Last warning”.
“Get him out of here right now. I have a war to fight.”
Those were Quaritch’s last words as the Vashta Nerada made short work of him. Where before stood Miles Quaritch, head of security on Pandora, now stood an skeleton. Soon the whole human base on Pandora would feel their hunger.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Jake, something has happened.” Max was nearly panicking on the communicator.
“Some stranger came, called himself the Doctor and then started slaughtering the people on the base. I don’t know how he does it. What ever weapon he uses, it destroys all organic matter. Only the skeleton remains. Quaritch and Selfridge are already dead. Me and all other scientists are gathered here.. Oh god they are here.”
Jake could see it, but he couldn’t believe his eyes. The thing before him was wearing the clothes of a marine, however all that stood there was the skeleton. Shadows were starting to stretch out from it.
“No. You cannot have them.” A man stood there armed with a strange metallic wand, for want of a better word.
The being that was once a marine paused as if daring the Doctor to challenge him.
“You know what I am, and what I can do.”
Without a word the skeleton turned and walked away.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“The man called the Doctor, if man is the right word to describe him. He looks like us, speaks our languages, walks like us, but he isn’t like us. The fact that he can breath in Pandora’s atmosphere without a mask proves it”. Jake paused recalling the events of the past few months.
“When I first came to Pandora, Quaritch warned me that this was worse than hell. He was wrong. I saw those creatures the Doctor bought to Pandora. These Vashta Nerada. The Na’vi now call them the Shadows that hunger. Tsu'tey and a few of them are started to domesticate them. They now call themselves the Shadow priests. They are our most potent weapon should RDA return. He has also given me a weapon in case they come back. Its called a coderain signal. Apparently it causes the copper in our weapons to become excited or something. Long story short, human guns won’t work when its activated.”
“A few scientists will travel back to Earth. They will tell the authorities what RDA really tried to do here . A few will remain here among the Na’vi. Grace is better now. Now that the Lonely God has left. She is already writing a new book and hopes one day to have it published. Its called Avatar or something like that. What a corny name. But hey, its her story. Maybe one day they will make it into a best selling movie.”
“The Doctor says we will may see him again one day. He tells us to look up.”
“This is the last video log I am going to make. After tonight it won’t matter. Jake signing off.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Epilogue
The humans will return to Pandora two more times. The first time they again tried to mine unobtanium. First with bribes, then with force. With the aid of the coderain signal and the Vashna Nerada, the Na’vi made short work of their expedition force.
Twenty years later the humans returned with more military force. The captain ordered a orbital bombardment of Pandora. To the natives it would seem like a big explosion occurred in the sky. To the humans the gasp of disbelief could be heard when a strange blue box blocked their mass driver. Even more amazing was when the box latched onto them with a tractor beam. But weren’t such things the stuff of science fiction. Within a few minutes the human ship was back in Earth’s orbit with a message blazed across several communications networks.
LEAVE PANDORA ALONE. I WILL BE WATCHING.
Doctor Grace Augustine was dying. Not the most pleasant of sensations and certainly she never expected to be dying here. On Pandora. The world so alien, yet so amazing in its creatures. Grace had made it her life’s work as a scientist to study the wild life on this world, she knew the risks. From the flying banshees to the thanators, that was the risk one took when visited Pandora. Too bad she never expected to be shot by humans, her own kind.
Grace could sense her connection to Eywa as the Na’vi watched over her by the Tree of Souls. It was beautiful she thought. Nearby her comatose Avatar body was wrapped by the Tree’s bioneural connections as the Omaticaya prayed that her soul or her essence would be transferred to the Avatar. It was not to be, as she could feel herself becoming one with Eywa.
It wasn’t supposed to end like this. Grace and her team of scientists were supposed to be able to help negotiate a treaty with the Omaticaya so that RDA company could mine unobtainium. Not end in a shooting war with RDA laying waste to the Na’vi Hometree.
At least as when I die I get to experience being with Eywa. Her last thoughts were of the words of a human novelist who name eluded her in Grace’s confuses state. The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.
Then something wonderful happened. The strange sound filled the forest. It was hard to describe it, barely audible over the Na’vi’s chanting. It was an odd wheezing and groaning sound. Suddenly Grace felt her connection to her Avatar strengthen, as if some outside force was pushing her mind into the Avatar. Then she felt that force. Communicated with it. It was frightening, like a million stars had suddenly increase their intensity several fold. Yet the presence was also wonderful.
It wasn’t just communicating with her. The stranger was talking with Eywa, but Grace couldn’t grasp the conversation. As Grace’s Avatar opened its eyes for the first time in days, her thoughts were that the best laid plans of mice and men may often go astray, but the plans of demigods were another matter. Especially for this particular one.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“He is here. Oh God he is here”.
“Who is here” Jake asked. The elation of Grace being seemingly resurrected into her Avatar body was quickly drowned out by the thought that she may not be all there.
“The Lonely God. The Man without a Home.”
“The what?”. Jake was becoming increasingly puzzled.
“He has come. He has asked Eywa for permission to bring something to Pandora.”
“Ooookay.” Jake thought was best to handle Grace with kiddie gloves. The transfer had obviously not gone smoothly.
“What did Eywa say?”
“Eywa is still thinking it over”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jake got up slowly. RDA’s destruction of Home tree. Their killing of Na’vi civilians. Now this. Grace’s madness. Another ledger that needed to be squared.
Motioning for Tsu'tey to translate for him, Jake prepared to give the best speech of his life.
As Jake talked about sending the Sky people a message, about uniting the Na’vi tribes for the confrontation with the humans on Pandora, Grace knew that the Lonely God will do it for them. If only Eywa accepted the offer.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“The Natives are grouped by this structure. The so called Tree of Souls. This is their deity”.
Quaritch paused letting the sniggers build up among his troops of ex marines.
“We will….”
“Relocate soonish I should hope”
Quaritch had been about to say something along the lines of destroying Eywa and searing the defeat into the Na’vi’s collective consciousness when he was interrupted by a man and a woman who had someone gotten into his briefing room. He didn’t recognise them. They were certainly not one of his personnel, and they didn’t look like any of Augustine’s scientists, but he decided that was most probably who they were. He quickly waved away soldiers who had moved in to grab the duo. He could do with a verbal workout.
“Who..”
“Oh look Doctor. Toy soldiers.”
“Shush Donna, these people are quite serious”.
“Yeah. Attacking natives armed with bows and arrows with gun ships and giant robots. Bet you they feel pretty brave. What’s next. Squash a few ants”
That woman had the most irritating laugh Quaritch thought.
“Pandora is worse than hell.” Quaritch thundered. “Any one of these marines who have survive for months where every thing which crawls, walks or flies is trying to kill you is better than any of Augustine’s brain trust”.
“Lets not talk about hell because clearly you don’t have a conception of what it is. I am here to discuss your relocation.” The Doctor paused thinking back to the dying days of the Time War. Now that was truly hell. Hell which even the Time Lords could not survive.
“Our what?”
“Pandora. This planet has a giant neural connection among itself. You ever notice that. Oh that’s right, you are too busy playing toy soldiers to discover whats in front of your faces. Just like with the Ood. Anyway, it’s a sentient planet which has agreed for me to umm, relocate some nasty critters here. Its perfect for them. Plenty of forest, and in a parallel universe with a small gap for me to come through. Anyway, you primitives are threatening my operation.”
The gall of this man. Telling them what they can or cannot do. Parallel universes? This man was clearly deranged.
“RDA’s mandate here is to get us some unobtainium. I am sure if you weren’t stuck in some book you would be aware of how valuable this is to humanity.”
“Helps with FTL communication.” The Doctor waved his hand dismissively. “ I have seen better. Let me guess. Soon you will be saying that because its so valuable its essentially for humanities survival even though you guys were doing fine without it.”
“Like oil” Donna chimed in.
“Yes like oil. Useful stuff, but not essential. Certainly not at the cost of destroying the home of the indigenous species. You humans will just have to accept a lower standard of living. Kind of your own fault actually, but your population stabilises to a more sustainable level things will become better. Now who was it that said something about population. Oh that’s right Malthus. Nice fellow he was…” The Doctor trailed off.
“We tried to negotiate in good faith. I even used non lethal force. In return the Na’vi has fired their arrows at us. Arrows tipped with a neurotoxin which kills within minutes. We have shown incredible restraint here. We have..”
“Was that after you destroyed their Hometree.” The Doctor’s voice had suddenly become menacing. For a moment even Quaritch was taken aback. However he reminded himself that he was in control. He was master of his own destiny. So lost in his own thoughts Quaritch almost missed the Doctor’s next question.
“Did you ever hesitate before you gave the order to destroy the Na’vi’s home. Bows and arrows against gunships? Did that voice in your head ever tell you to stop?”
“My conscience?” Quaritch’s derision was matched by laughter in the crowd. “Next you tree huggers will be telling me to do a song and dance with the natives and all problems will be solved.”
“I wasn’t referring to your conscience. I am talking about FEAR. Because if it is alright for you to take what you want because you are stronger, then it follows that its alright for someone stronger to do the same to you. When it is humanity’s turn, when it is your turn, will you cry like the Na’vi did? Beg for mercy. Will you fight futilely against the coming of the night. Does that frighten you? That someone might be stronger than you. Stronger than Man, the undisputed master of air, sea, land and now space.”
“Nothing is absolutely right.” Quaritch replied. “However should someone try to force us from our homes you can be hell sure we will put up a hell of a fight, and they shouldn’t attack us without expecting it.”
“Ah, so might makes right. The same justification uttered by scores of dictators throughout time and space. I am so not impressed.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, Doctor, if that’s your real name..”
“Actually my real name would be quite hard to pronounce…”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I have several squadrons of ex marines right here. If we truly believed might makes right, then you just made a big mistake mister. Because I have the army. How many troops do you command?”
“Well now that you mentioned it, a few hundred actually. I would have bought millions more, but any more than that would most probably upset the balance of nature on this world.”
The Doctor’s reply was greeted by vacuous laughter.
“What army? You expect us to jump at shadows, just because you say so?”
“Oh, oh.” Donna murmured.
“Count the shadows Mr Quaritch. Before you only had two shadows, now you have three.”
“Throw him in the brig.”
“Last warning”.
“Get him out of here right now. I have a war to fight.”
Those were Quaritch’s last words as the Vashta Nerada made short work of him. Where before stood Miles Quaritch, head of security on Pandora, now stood an skeleton. Soon the whole human base on Pandora would feel their hunger.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Jake, something has happened.” Max was nearly panicking on the communicator.
“Some stranger came, called himself the Doctor and then started slaughtering the people on the base. I don’t know how he does it. What ever weapon he uses, it destroys all organic matter. Only the skeleton remains. Quaritch and Selfridge are already dead. Me and all other scientists are gathered here.. Oh god they are here.”
Jake could see it, but he couldn’t believe his eyes. The thing before him was wearing the clothes of a marine, however all that stood there was the skeleton. Shadows were starting to stretch out from it.
“No. You cannot have them.” A man stood there armed with a strange metallic wand, for want of a better word.
The being that was once a marine paused as if daring the Doctor to challenge him.
“You know what I am, and what I can do.”
Without a word the skeleton turned and walked away.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“The man called the Doctor, if man is the right word to describe him. He looks like us, speaks our languages, walks like us, but he isn’t like us. The fact that he can breath in Pandora’s atmosphere without a mask proves it”. Jake paused recalling the events of the past few months.
“When I first came to Pandora, Quaritch warned me that this was worse than hell. He was wrong. I saw those creatures the Doctor bought to Pandora. These Vashta Nerada. The Na’vi now call them the Shadows that hunger. Tsu'tey and a few of them are started to domesticate them. They now call themselves the Shadow priests. They are our most potent weapon should RDA return. He has also given me a weapon in case they come back. Its called a coderain signal. Apparently it causes the copper in our weapons to become excited or something. Long story short, human guns won’t work when its activated.”
“A few scientists will travel back to Earth. They will tell the authorities what RDA really tried to do here . A few will remain here among the Na’vi. Grace is better now. Now that the Lonely God has left. She is already writing a new book and hopes one day to have it published. Its called Avatar or something like that. What a corny name. But hey, its her story. Maybe one day they will make it into a best selling movie.”
“The Doctor says we will may see him again one day. He tells us to look up.”
“This is the last video log I am going to make. After tonight it won’t matter. Jake signing off.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Epilogue
The humans will return to Pandora two more times. The first time they again tried to mine unobtanium. First with bribes, then with force. With the aid of the coderain signal and the Vashna Nerada, the Na’vi made short work of their expedition force.
Twenty years later the humans returned with more military force. The captain ordered a orbital bombardment of Pandora. To the natives it would seem like a big explosion occurred in the sky. To the humans the gasp of disbelief could be heard when a strange blue box blocked their mass driver. Even more amazing was when the box latched onto them with a tractor beam. But weren’t such things the stuff of science fiction. Within a few minutes the human ship was back in Earth’s orbit with a message blazed across several communications networks.
LEAVE PANDORA ALONE. I WILL BE WATCHING.