【 CHAPTER ONE 】

WARNING: mentions of violent things that might be uncomfortable for some readers.

RUTH CARSON would have rather found herself dead than remain on earth for the entirety of her life. If she were doomed to remain in the prison she was born in, she would have taken her life. Somehow, the 'most hostile environment known to man' was more preferred than the shell that humanity calls home still. 

The cities on earth were nothing near what she'd been told they'd once been, somewhere around seventy years or so in the past when they didn't meld into one another to form mega-urban areas that stretched across states. She'd been told that once, cities had only ranged within a certain mileage in any direction, with some definite end that eventually turned into what they called suburbs and country.

Things that remained as words alone now. Those no longer existed on earth. If any area was not occupied by living spaces, corporate facilities, or any other necessary establishment, they were used for facilitating the production of food. If it could be called that. Most of the "food" grown in these areas was so genetically modified and typically lab-grown that it brought a different slew of problems to the world's population in the form of health risks and shortened life spans.

Such congested living also brought worse dangers. Being a woman was far from safe, not if you couldn't afford proper protection. The black market alone brought the risk of being kidnapped to have one's organs taken, while the human-trafficking 'industry' had grown bold enough that the world's governing bodies no longer fought against it. Corporations ran earth now and laws were often far too grey to entirely justify.

Ruth could remember the suffocating dreadfulness of living in the cities of earth. Cramped, heavily trafficked, dirty beyond belief and not a hint of fresh air or true green in sight. Those factors alone had been enough to convince her getting through college was worth it, that the years she spent busting her ass even in high school would send her somewhere better. It had been the truth.

The last tether she had to her home was long gone by now with the death of her grandfather, who'd passed shortly before she was due to ship off for her six-year-long trip across the stars.

The only significant figure in her life, Ruth had nothing else to fight for, nothing else to put all of her focus and efforts to stay afloat toward. She still grieved for him every day, but the transition to life on Pandora had been almost effortless because of his absence.

After graduating at the age of seventeen and immediately pursuing her dream of a doctorate in biology and picking up complex xenobotany, somehow, someway, Ruth Carson scored a gig with the Avatar program, one that ninty-nine percent of trainee intakes failed. A program funded by the Resource Development Administration.

Life since she'd arrived to Pandora had found color, new meaning. But the ghosts of the past often lingered to haunt her. They intruded on her sleep, her bit of respite from hard work. This morning was no exception. Nightmares of her life on earth had chosen to appear in her sleep the night prior.

Whenever the memories of the life she left behind intruded on her rest, she'd often wake to a feeling of dread, thinking she'd somehow never left Earth for Pandora.

Ruth sat up from her pillow with a groan, the rough, not-so-much to her liking bedsheets gathering on her lap. She rubbed away the sleep from her eyes and gazed with squinted vision around the small room she'd called home for a little over three years.

As barren and dull as the living quarters she'd been given had been when she first arrived, she'd managed make it hers. A few gifts from the Na'vi made it more colorful, including a tapestry, a decorative piece of jewelry far too large for her human body to wear and a few drawings the children from Grace's school house had given her, drawn in crude crayon. Little gifts she cherished more than any of her other personal belongings.

Pulling away the sheets, Ruth forced herself from the bed and padded along the cold floor over to where her sink stood against the wall, a small mirror reflecting her face as she flicked the light on.

Green eyes, ash blonde hair. As much as she was appreciative of her jovial looks at the age of thirty-three and often stressed, Ruth lamented her desire to be in her avatar body. The place she preferred to be. For good.

Her other body was far stronger, more lithe and attuned to the moon she now called home. Her contract with the RDA called for a five and half year trip both ways to get to and from Pandora, as well the minimum six year length of her work on its own. Yet, she was still trying to find a way to never leave. The extend her stay on the moon indefinitely, if that were a thing. Corporate was strange about its rules, apparently.

After promptly washing her face, brushing her teeth, and brushing her hair and securing it into a braid, Ruth donned her typical outfit of any workday: cargo pants, usually of the black or green variety, a t-shirt, and her lab coat. She found that the tactical boots the army grunts wore were far more comfortable than she'd ever expected, therefore she'd tactfully acquired some for herself.

Just as she was beginning to leave the room, she halted at the doorway as her eyes caught the photo she cherished yet lamented over. A picture with a handful of the Omaticaya children, grinning and embracing her as they'd taken a photo at the school Grace had started. A plethora of memories flitted through her mind, good and bad.

It was closed now. She didn't like thinking about it.

Continuing out into the hall of the dormitories, Ruth navigated the many halls that would eventually lead her to the bio-lab, where she worked everyday.

Along the way, she snatched a mug of creamed coffee and a muffin from the cafeteria before finally making her way into ambient glow of the tech and other light producing items in the lab.

They were supposed to launch some new avatars that day, she recalled, after remembering the debrief the day prior.

"Dr. Carson?" An unfamiliar voice said, causing her to turn mid-sip of her coffee, the lip of the cup still against her lips.

It was a tall lanky man, brown hair and weird-looking beard. At his side, a man in a wheel chair looked up at her with a strangely familiar gaze. Military cut and all, she immediately knew this guy had to be prior service, if the USMC letters on his t-shirt hadn't already given it away.

"Yes?" She asked, lowering the coffee cup. The one standing was likely one of the new arrivals, but the wheelchair bound one she unsure of. "Who is asking?"

"Norm Spellman, I'm one of the new lab intakes. I've read your studies on Pandoran fauna and other. . ." He paused as the man at his side gave him a look as if to cut the long introductions and gushing admiration. "Sorry. We're both avatar drivers. We were told to report to you," he stated, referring to him and the man in the wheelchair at his side.

"I don't recall hearing about a paraplegic in the manifest," Ruth muttered as she set her coffee and muffin on the nearest flat surface and crossed her arms. She looked between them both with raised brows.

"Sorry for the inconvenience that I'm not my brother," the man in the wheelchair said icily to her. Fair enough. "He couldn't make it."

A stroke of worry hit Ruth as she finally realized it had been Tom Sully that had been projected to arrive today. They'd been colleagues in school, but after he'd chosen to pursue some deeper training that included a more intensive dive into xenolinguists, Tom stayed back on earth for a while longer before she went into cryo and made her trip through the stars. She had been vaguely informed at one point or another that he had a twin brother. Ruth hadn't seen him since.

"What happened to Tom?" She asked more gently this time, after internally regretting her prior rudeness.

"He was jumped. Didn't survive the scrap," Tom's twin replied bluntly, lip thin.

Hit with a wave of momentary sorrow and guilt, Ruth collects herself and nods with a frown. Her heartbeat reflected her reaction to her old friend's death, quick and dizzying. "Tom was a great guy. Top of our class. My condolences...?"

"Jake," he finished for her, finally giving her his name.

"Well," she sighed. "I'm Ruth, as you already know. Feel free to use it, but Carson works fine as well. Now, as for the avatars," she beckoned them to follow her deeper into the bio-lab. The change in subject would hopefully change the atmosphere that had settled over the three of them.

They made their way toward the massive embryonic tanks that held the large bodies of the avatars that were for Jake and Norm, which they would be taking out for their first drive likely by morning.

Stopping near the tank that held Tom's avatar, Ruth frowned as she gazed on its features.

He'd been a good friend to her in the years they were in school and the sight of Jake being the uncannily identical twin he was made it harder to believe he was actually gone.

She watched a moment as Jake looked at the floating body, entirely intrigued by what he saw. She couldn't blame him, it would be expected of anyone. The first time anyone saw what Pandora had to offer was amusing in itself.

"Looks like him," Jake half muttered, a look of grief clouding his eyes as he watched the body twitch in the synthetic amniotic fluid of the tank.

"Looks like you," Ruth corrected him. "This is your avatar now."

Jake turned to look up to her. "I take it you have one too?" 

Ruth grinned, pleased as she thought on it. "Of course. I'll be meeting you two on the outside once you've run through all of your diagnostic tests tomorrow. After that, we'll take sometime to get you familiarized with everything." She crossed her arms, her shoulder resting against the glass of the tank Jake's avatar floated in. "Now tell me, how does a marine end up in a multi-billion dollar program? Did you pursue a degree or something? Was there a particular reason beyond saving the money they'd spent on this avatar to bring you out here?"

Jake shook his head. "I was a dumb drunk before they approached me. I was told I can link with Tommy's avatar, I guess. Probably just didn't want to waste the money, like you said."

Ruth nodded as she began to realize what he meant. "Identical DNA, all that nonsense. It checks out." Jake nodded with a weak smile before looking back to his avatar.

Ruth sighed, saying, "Either way, Jake, you're the only one that can link with this avatar. It's up to you now not to let this five-billion dollar project go to waist," he gave her a look that suggested she'd put the weight of the world in his hands and she smiled. "Consider yourself very lucky, marine. Now go get some rack while you can. I'm sure that flight in early this morning was rough. The change in atmospheric pressure can have some affects on you. You'll get to have your fun tomorrow."

"For sure, Doc," Jake nodded. "I'll see you in the morning. But I'll hopefully be blue."

"You'll need a link chamber for that, guy," she jabbed jokingly and smirked before retreating toward the direction she'd left her coffee and muffin, beginning to leave Jake where he sat in front of the giant tank. "I'm just interested in you meeting Grace."

"Who's Grace?" He asked after.

Ruth chuckled as she began to disappear further into the bio-lab. "Oh, you'll see."

•••

EYES fluttering open, Ruth sat up in the cot she'd put her avatar to sleep in the night prior.

Today, they'd be integrating Jake and Norm into the avatar bodies. She was curious to see how they'd react, particularly the marine. Someone who had no training whatsoever for anything he was about to participate in. Some part of her was amused to see how things panned out.

Ruth grinned to herself as she pushed herself up, shoving her braid to her back and stretching her long limbs before swinging her legs to the wooden floor. She snatched her boots as she got to her feet, making her way to where she would change into day clothes. With her tail flicking behind her, she strode down the rows of beds of the other avatars, sighing contently.

She was always far happier in this body than the other. It felt familiar. Felt right.

Upon exiting the sleep shack, to her surprise, she finds that Jake, still in his medical gown, is just a crossed the small lot with Grace once she steps out into the light of day. A rough start indeed, it seemed. His tail was flicking in excitement before he caught sight of her. She smirks, wandering over. His ears peek at her presence, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Someone seems excited," Ruth chuckled to Grace, who shared the same amused expression. "And still in a gown."

"He came running out from the medical bay within minutes of completing the link like a damn lunatic. They didn't even get to finish diagnostics," Grace exclaimed to Ruth with a smirk, the beads of her braided strands of hair clinking against each other at her cheeks. "What a maniac."

Ruth recalled her first link with her avatar, the most exciting moment in her life. The exhilaration had been unlike anything she'd ever experienced. She couldn't blame Jake, yet he had decided to run out half naked.

"She was not excited to meet me once you left the lab," Jake said to Ruth, a shit-eating grin on his face.

"I'll admit I'm quite pissed to see Selfridge decided to send a grunt to my avatar program, but I suppose preventing the waste of viable resources works for now," Grace exclaimed with a roll of her eyes.

"Now you see what I meant about meeting Grace," Ruth taunted Jake. She looked him up and down, gesturing to him. "How does it feel? Your new body." She was sure it was liberating to be walking again.

"Amazing," Jake replied grinning, an enthusiasm about him she hadn't seen the day before. Already, there was evident difference in his demeanor. Like a fire had ignited again inside him after so long.

"Dr. Carson here is going to help get you get situated for today," Grace told Jake as she crossed her arms, gesturing with a nod toward to other woman at her side. "I'm going to help out Norm. Try not to run off on your own again, marine."

"We've just got to do a few things to get you attuned to your new body," Ruth told him. "I'll get him taken care of, Grace. Come on, Jake."

Leaving Grace to take Jake back toward the avatar dorms, Ruth brought them to the jungle hut she'd just woken up in. As they entered, she lead him toward the storage room that had all of the extra avatar clothing and items, specially made considering their size.

"So, how did you know Tommy?" Jake asked from where he leaned against the door frame as she began rummaging through the folded clothing. Finding male specific shirts and pants for him to keep, Ruth also grabbed underwear, socks, and two pairs of boots. She grabbed a few other items along with a backpack before turning back to him.

"We were in the avatar program together. Different classes and I was ahead of him but we still trained together. I graduated before him so I was due to leave earlier," she sighed as she put the large pile of clothing into his arms, her golden eyes turning toward the ground. "I shipped off well before he did. I expected him here yesterday, actually."

Jake frowned, ears pinned back as he nodded. The use of his physical features betraying how he felt. "Yeah, me too."

"Tom was a great guy. I'm truly sorry for your loss," Ruth said to him sincerely.

Jake shrugged. "After almost six years in cryo, the time has passed. So will the grief."

"Time passed is not grief processed," she told him gently, to which he simply gave a tight nod.

She understood he likely wasn't up for talking on his brother much. She couldn't blame him. When he grandpa had passed shortly before her ship date, she'd grown numb too. And dealt with the grief in due time.

"To think, a marine in an avatar body," Ruth breathed a laugh to lighten the mood. "Never thought I'd see that combination. A deadly one at that. Perhaps you'll make an effective guard while we're in the field gathering samples."

"A five-billion dollar body guard?" Jake smirked as Ruth returned the smile and made her way past him into the hall. He followed.

"What other purpose would you have?" She asked as she strode toward the door leading outside. "Get yourself out of that gown. We've got things to do, marine."

Making her way toward the wrap around porch of the hut, Ruth left Jake smiling where he was, smiling while gripping his pile of new avatar-sized clothes.

•••

SURPRISED with Jake's efficiency in mastering the functions of a body he'd spent less than a day in, Ruth took him through an assortment of obstacles to help him gain awareness of senses and balance he didn't have before. She always marveled at the small, minute differences between the hybrid avatars and the Na'vi, their stride and movement, the five fingers per hand and toes per foot. His muscle tone would grow more than the average Na'vi over time thanks to the intermingled human DNA, helping him appear less lanky and small.

Ruth had watched Jake scale a rock wall, take a few laps around the exercise track and run through some basics of the fauna and flora of Pandora before they would venture beyond the safety of the barbwire walls and automated defense systems in the coming days.

Perhaps she was getting too much of a kick out of getting to tell a military dog what to do considering the real work would start tomorrow. They'd fly out to the field sites to gather some more sample and run some tests, with Jake pulling his watch over them for safety. She did appreciate the piece of mind.

Dinner had been leisurely, the avatars gathering under the dining pavilion where dinner was served by some of kitchen staff, humans. Ruth remained amused as she watched Jake look down on those serving their food, likely still intrigued by the height difference between them and normal people.

Grace was sure to introduce both Jake and Norm to everyone during their first dinner before they would put the avatars in the safety of their cots. Afterwards, dinner would be served again, only this time to their human bodies.

Showing Jake and Norm to the cots that would now be designated to their avatars, Ruth crossed her arms and leaned to one hip. Her tail flicked behind her in slight impatience as she waited for them to get situated.

"Waking up will be the same as when you initialized the link. Just clear your mind. Falling asleep works too. After that, we'll get you out of the link room and headed to dinner."

"Second dinner," Jake smirked as he lied his head the pillow on his cot.

"What time tomorrow will we be leaving for the field?" Norm asked her from where he lied halfway up on a propped elbow, the excitement evident in his sparkling yellow eyes.

She smirked. "0630, be at the bio lab ready to link. Afterwards, you'll get all your stuff ready here and we'll catch a flight out. Simple as that."

Norm nodded in excited understanding and Ruth bid them both a good nights rest before making her way toward her own cot. Once lying with her queue arranged comfortably for her to sleep, she found herself finding the most comfortable spot to doze off before finally drifting to the darkness that would send her back to her human body.