𝐃𝐄𝐉𝐀 𝐕𝐔，𝗍𝗌𝗎'𝗍𝖾𝗒

𝗈𝗇𝖾

𝐉𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈 were sat on the ship arriving at Pandora. I always thought this moment would excite me. A new life. But I couldn't help but feel like I shouldn't be there. Not without him.

"Exo-packs on!" A voice spoke. I wasn't sure who he was, but he must have been some sort of head of the department. "Let's go! Exo-packs on!"

Everyone inside the ship tightened the mask securely around their head. "Remember, people, you lose that mask, you're unconscious in twenty seconds, and you're dead in four minutes!" The man reminded, making his way to the front of the ship. "Let's nobody be dead today! Looks very bad on my report."

He continued to yell orders at everyone, which they all complied with. Jake and I took the harnesses of our bodies. The ship opened, and the rest of the soldiers ran out, while I waited for the Sully to get into his wheelchair. He had lost his legs in the war.

There is no such thing as an ex-marine. You may be out, but you never lose the attitude. Jake always told himself he could pass any test a man could pass, which is what helped him to keep going. "Ready?" I asked him.

The Sully boy nodded in response, "Let's go special case!" The man yelled again. "Do not make me wait for you two."

Finally landing on Pandora, I looked around, taking in my surroundings. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it definitely wasn't this. There were ships everywhere and men with loaded guns in their hands.

Back on Earth, these guys were Army dogs, Marines, fighting for freedom. But out here, they're just hired guns, taking the money, working for the company.

I felt uncomfortable, it seemed that nobody around seemed to be there for the same reasons I was. I missed Tommy.

Luckily, I noticed before Jake went right into one of their robots. alerting him and helping him out of the way. "Look out!" The man inside spoke through the speaker, rudely.

I rolled my eyes, desperately trying not to give him the finger. "Come on, let's get inside," Jake said as I followed him in.

"This is going to be a long six years," I muttered to myself.

Jake and I were told to enter a small room with the other soldiers. "You're not in Kansas anymore." He told them like it wasn't obvious. "You are on Pandora, ladies and gentlemen."

I rolled my brown eyes. "No shit," I muttered, so only Jake could hear. The boy let out a small chuckle in response.

"Respect that fact every second of every day." The man carried on. He was in a camo uniform and had scars all over his body. "If there is a hell, you might want to go there for some R&R after a tour on Pandora. Out there beyond that fence, every living thing that crawls, flies or squats in the mud wants to kill you and eat your eyes for Jujubes." I scoffed, shaking my head. This man had no idea what he was talking about.

I had studied Pandora for years with Tommy. Always dreamed of going there, and I knew that it was nothing like how this man was describing it. "We have an indigenous population of humanoids called the Na'vi. They're fond of arrows dipped in a neurotoxin that will stop your heart in one minute. And they have bones reinforced with naturally occurring carbon fibre. They are very hard to kill."

I looked around the room and giggled at their scared faces. "As head of security, it is my job to keep you alive. I will not succeed. Not with all of you. If h you wish to survive, you need to cultivate a strong mental attitude. You have to obey the rules. Pandora rules."

Jake nudged me from beside him, "There's nothing like an old-school safety brief to put your mind at ease." He joked, earning a laugh in response.

"𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐄!" 𝐈 𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐃 around to see who was calling my name. It was Norm, running after us. I went through avatar training with him.

I smiled at the boy, "Hey, Norm! This is Jake." I introduced to which the boys greeted each other.

"You look just like him," Norm said to Jake. It was true. Jake and Tommy looked almost exactly the same.

"This is the bio lab," I told the Sully boy as they entered the room. "We're gonna spend a lot of time up here."

Norm went around greeting people but Jake and I stuck together, admiring their surroundings. "Here's the link room." Norm showed them. It was filled with different avatars. It looked amazing. "This is where we are going to connect to the avatars."

The avatars are grown from human DNA mixed with the DNA from the natives.

"Welcome!" Somebody greeted the group, shaking each of their hands. "Welcome to Pandora. Good to have you."

Jake chuckled, "They got big."

"Yeah!" Norm agreed, "They fully mature on the flight out. So the proprioceptive sims seem to work really well."

Max, one of the scientists, spoke up, "Yeah, they've got great muscle tone. It will take us a few hours to get them decanted, but you guys can take them out tomorrow. There's yours." He pointed to Jake's avatar, who reminded me greatly of Tommy.

Jake and I smiled to each other, "Looks like him." Jake said. I smiled in remembrance of the other Sully.

"No." Norm interrupted. "It looks like you. This is your avatar now, Jake."

The concept is that every driver is matched to their own avatar so that their nervous systems are in tune. Which is why they offered Jake the gig because he can link with Tommy's avatar, which is insanely expensive. But I didn't care, I was just excited to get to a new world. For a fresh start.

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄:
hiii how we feeling abt the first chapter??
im so excited to start this<333