"This is big, Dr. Grace; we could be on the brink of the greatest discovery in over twenty years since we've been on Pandora!" Max practically shouted, his eyes dim from lack of sleep, but a radiant strength could be seen in his gaze, the result of a huge discovery. "I used the new satellites that arrived two weeks ago. At first, I couldn't find anything apart from the static and the uselessness of the images, whether optical, sensory, radar, or thermal infrared—the vortex made those images unusable."
"Even the biofrequency enhancement didn't help at all, but then I tried with the low-frequency spectral cameras and sensors via sound, and voilà." His face shifted to the side on the screen, while images appeared on the far right of the screen. "This... Are you sure there's no error?" I asked. The images Max had sent me didn't make sense. While the panorama couldn't be seen very clearly, structures, shapes, and even a bit of the layout of what could be the Subaiya's home could be discerned, and it was far more incredible than I had thought it would be.
"That seems to be..." "Hallelujah Mountains," I didn't let him finish, being very surprised. "Yes, exactly. They form a perfect circle; according to the measurements, its diameter is forty kilometers, with a circumference of one hundred twenty-five kilometers. It's something enormous; I don't know how we hadn't come across it? And to think it's only forty-seven kilometers from the base."
"Yes, that's what worries me. Quaritch won't be happy with another newly discovered Na'vi clan," I shared my thoughts. Only God knew how many confrontations had occurred in recent years between humans and the Na'vi. "That's not all," Max said, and a hint of concern passed over his face, which made me hesitate. "What happens?"
Max looked around, as if afraid of being overheard. "The images showed a certain thermal aspect; it's not very clear, but looking at the images, it could be a clan with more than twenty thousand members." My God, there were barely more than four thousand people in Hell's Gate, whereas the Subaiya clan exceeded that number five times over.
"Don't talk about this with anyone; delete the search and mapping histories. No one can know about the Subaiya clan for now—not until we know more about them. If Selfridge or Quaritch find out about them, they might incite a direct approach or one bordering on violence, and I don't think this Subaiya clan will be easy to deal with." After thinking things through clearly, I strongly instructed Max to maintain complete discretion on the matter, then ended the call.
The investigation may have been astonishing, but that didn't mean there wasn't a risk of damage control. I, more than anyone, knew the danger the Na'vi posed to the RDA's purpose on Pandora—a purpose I was against. That's why I had committed to creating bonds, communication, bridges between both sides, in order to stop the bloodshed between the two parties.
The Na'vi knew Pandora in ways that humans had never known or would ever know Earth. Even without them, Pandora itself was a death trap for us; anything that didn't look terrestrial was an enemy, both for the fauna and the flora. That's why even Quaritch, being direct and brusque, hadn't devised an attack against those Na'vi clans with which the mining bases had had problems.
So, taking the firm decision to get involved in this, I contacted Trudy, who didn't take long to answer. "Dr. Grace, don't tell me you've already gotten tired of a sabbatical trip?" Using my self-control to not say something sarcastic, I told her the reason why I had called her. "I need you, Trudy; I have to do an expedition to the vortex sector. Pick me up at the school."
That made her frown, and I could already guess what she would complain about. "Dr. Grace, the vortex area isn't a safe zone. That sector is unmapped; we don't know what you might find there. If something happens to your avatar, Quaritch will get angry, and I'll get harsh reprimands because of this; they might even send me back to Earth."
"None of that will happen; trust me. Now come pick me up." With that said, I cut the communication, and a sigh escaped my lips. I knew it wasn't safe to go. If it was true that the Subaiya didn't even accept other Na'vi in their territory, they would undoubtedly try to kill me upon considering me a dreamwalker. But I trusted that they would be reasonable enough to let me speak first, and if that didn't happen, well, I might be waiting five years for another avatar to be sent from Earth.
With that introspection done, I finished eating my lunch, brushed my teeth, and entered a genesis chamber. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in my avatar body, lying in a hammock I used to rest at the school. While the Omaticaya allowed me passage to the clan, they didn't allow me to sleep in the Great Hometree, which was why I rested at the school.
There were no classes today; several of my students were in their initiation rite. Tsu'tey and Neytiri were two of them, so I set about organizing things in the link module in the mountains.
Getting up, I proceeded to gather all the necessary equipment: radars, radiofrequency readers, and communicators with the base—even a weapon, which I always carried with me. While the equipment wasn't fully functional because the vortex's electromagnetic and spectral field prevented it, it would still help me know where I was, in addition to providing knowledge and serving as a notepad to document everything I might find on my expedition. One could never be too cautious. As Quaritch liked to say, we weren't in Kansas anymore.
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"If something happens, I'll take all the blame, Trudy," I said to the woman piloting the Samson over the vast jungle of Pandora. "That's the least I expect, Doctor. It still surprises me that you're going alone this time. Pandora isn't a pretty place to get lost in alone. If you've forgotten, you can ask Quaritch how he got his scar," Trudy replied with her strange humor, which made me shake my head.
I had thought about bringing one or two of my researchers with me, but the situation wasn't optimal. I didn't know if I could keep my avatar safe; I'd have enough on my plate without having to watch over the protection of two other bodies worth over a hundred million dollars. "We'll go to northwest sector 2-75A," I told Trudy, who couldn't help but sigh. She still seemed opposed to the idea of taking me to the vortex area. But my decision was made, so taking my tablet and jotting down things, I lost myself in the time of the trip.
After two hours, I looked away from the tablet to see the landscape of Pandora. I'd been on the moon for years, and yet it never ceased to surprise me every day. I discovered new flora; every morning, the cameras installed in the jungle showed me the harmonious behavior that the jungle's fauna caused.
Even the cute Prolemuris, a creature similar to Earth's extinct monkeys, contributed their bit to the balance, since with the simple act of swinging on the tree branches, they removed dead branches and cleaned the tree bark, making new tubers fall to the ground and from them sprout new fauna.
Pandora was simply a great clock, where everything was connected, and each part did something unique and different, which made Pandora function at its maximum expression. It was a level of unity and connection that hadn't been cataloged in any other place discovered by humans in all the locations outside the planet that humanity knew until now.
Outside the ship, several Banshees could be seen walking on some sporadic plains—that was something new I had managed to see, an event that had been happening for only two or three months.
While Banshees were pack animals, they stopped being so when they left the Hallelujah Mountains in search of prey, as the competition became fierce. But only three months ago had many Banshees been documented, in groups of more than twenty or thirty.
The fierce beast made use of numbers to hunt, thus managing to hunt large Hexapedes, even succeeding in hunting several Sturmbeests—animals that until now only great flying beasts like the Great Leonopteryx or the Thanator could do.
Demonstrating that their strategy had worked well, for even these wanderings had managed to protect them from Leonopteryx attacks.
The important thing about it was that those behaviors had been evident in the vortex areas, which spoke of unknown changes that had increased my love for science.
Several minutes later, Trudy's voice came over the helmet's loudspeaker, informing me that we were arriving at my destination. Anxious for what might await me on my path into the jungle, I watched through the window as the ship descended, while the wildlife was scared away by the rotor noise.
When the ship had fully landed, I grabbed my backpack, strapped it to my back, and then exited the ship, while Trudy, who hadn't turned off the boat's engine, spoke to me over the communicator. "You'd better get your blue ass in a safe place so you can get out of the coffin you're sleeping in and explain to Quaritch why I brought you to this area without authorization!"
"Don't worry; I'll assume all the blame. Besides, what would you do, lock me in my room?" I replied, dismissing her concerns and waving goodbye to her as I walked toward the jungle.
With my gaze forward, I kept walking, while listening to the ship taking off in the distance. Once the rotor noise was no longer heard, peace returned to the jungle; the branches and leaves of the great trees began to sway with the wind again, just like the sound of insects and rodents could be heard once more.
This was what I loved most—this peace, a term forgotten in the place I came from. Here, in the heart of Pandora's jungle, far from all human activity, I felt free again. Too bad it ended when I woke up later in the genesis chambers and discovered I had to keep being human.
But it wasn't time to get distracted, so I began monitoring the perimeter. Although the console I was using was being interfered with by the magnetic field, it was still capable of detecting heat sources and movement. Which could keep me safe long enough to fulfill my task here, at least.