The Scientist's Daughter | Neteyam x Reader

Chapter 2: The Lab

As we all began walking off of the ship, we started to take in our surroundings. There were huge machines everywhere, the place looked very similar to Earth in my opinion. It made me sort of sad to see that we were destroying another beautiful place with our machines and tools.

I looked around and immediately saw a huge tractor, the size of a house roar past on muddy wheels. I noticed something sticking on the tires. They were arrows. They appeared to be much bigger than any arrows I had ever seen. They must be from the native species located on Pandora.

A human operated walking machine 4 meters tall began to walk past me, patrolling the perimeter. It was heavily armored, ready to fight anything that was brave enough to attack it.

I looked farther back to see there was a wall of forest located behind the outer fence. It stood hundred of feet high, something that I didn't ever see in New York City. This was a completely new environment for me besides all of the technology and machines.

We quickly walked faster, trying to avoid the noise and chaos around us. Finally, we arrived at the building that I assumed contained the lab.

"Before we bring you to the lab, you need to have the speech from Colonel Miles Quaritch. It's required, unfortunately. So let's all walk in and take your seats," one of the men stated.

Norm and I walked in side by side and looked around to see some people had already arrived, seated patiently. There were machine drivers, engineers, miners, geologists, scientists, military personnel, and many others. Each of them eager to continue their mission on Pandora.

"You are not in Kansas anymore..." A man in the front of the room stated. This must be Colonel Quaritch. He appeared to be rugged and somewhat handsome in a way. He had a scar that ran from his scalp down to his jaw on the side of his face. On one of his hips, he carried a fairly large pistol. I would not want to mess with that guy.

"... You are on Pandora, ladies and gentlemen. Respect that fact every second of every day," Quaritch continued.

He looked out the window, raising his hand and pointing at the treeline that I saw before arriving in the building.

"Out beyond that fence every living thing that crawls, flies or squats in the mud wants to kill you and eat your eyes for jujubees."

I began to get uneasy at the thought of the creatures located in that forest. Everything here was so different, the people, the plants, the animals. I was bound to get killed if I went into that forest alone.

"We have an indigenous population of humanoids here called the Na'vi. They're fond of arrows dipped in a neurotoxin that can stop your heart in one minute. We operate... we live at a constant threat condition yellow."

I looked around and saw that everyone had stone cold faces. Most of the people in this room were going to be out in the forest every day, this was something they had to be prepared for.

"As head of security, it's my job to keep you alive. I will not succeed. Not with all of you. If you wish to survive, you need a strong mental attitude. You need to follow procedure."

This continued for a few minutes longer. He went on and on about how we need to stay cautious and prepared for anything that may lurk in the forest. Some people were bored with the lecture, and others sitting on the edge of their seats. Eventually, he finished his safety brief, letting us leave to go to where we belonged.

Norm and I stood up and made our way down the corridor to the lab. There were people roaming in both directions, looking for rooms, luggage duffels, and cases. We continued to walk until we came to a door that had Bio Lab displayed on a sign off to the side of the door.

"We're here to drive these remotely controlled bodies called avatars. They're grown from human DNA and mixed with DNA from the Na'vi," Norm explained to me as we walked around the lab. All of this was completely new to me so it was going to take me a while to understand everything that we were doing.

As we walked, I noticed another scientist standing near two shipping containers. The shipping container closest to us had its sides removed revealing an amino tank. We both stopped and stared in awe. There was a figure floating inside of the tank, which looked very similar to a woman, except it was very large and blue. It had a lemur-like tail, skin that was cyan-blue, and long black hair that was drifting around the liquid.

"So the proprioceptive sims worked pretty well," Norm said to the other scientist.

"Yeah, they've got great muscle tone. Give us a few hours, you guys can take them for a spin," the scientist responded.

Norm turned to me and saw the confused look on my face.

"Oh Y/n, this is Dr. Max Patel, he's in charge of overseeing the process of synchronizing the minds of humans with their avatar bodies," Norm stated excitedly.

"It's very nice to meet you, doctor," I said, holding my hand out for him to shake. He extended his hand out to shake my hand gladly.

"It's nice to meet you too Y/n but please call me Max. I'd rather be on a first name basis since we'll be spending the next few years together," he said kindly. "I'm going to help you to the best of my ability to make sure you know everything you need to know here."

"I look forward to that, Max," I replied with a smile.

I looked back at the figure located in the tank. The figure's sleeping face began to turn toward us. It had ears that were very similar to a cat's and a nose that was long and animal like. Despite all of that, it looked like me.