The Pilot from Olympus

Chapter 2: Questions

Lo'ak and Spider were doing their usual routine of messing about the reef, Tsireya and Kiri tagged along. This time they had gone further out than usual but the race had just been too much fun. Suddenly Lo'ak's ilu, Palu, flung to the left which nearly knocked Spider off.
"Where the hell is he going?" They both called, trying to hold on.
"Follow him, he must sense something going on in the water." Tsireya insisted while redirecting her ilu.
The group followed the dashing animal into the watery abyss until they reached a large parachute floating around a metal chair. Palu nudged at the site which revealed an unconscious woman but with no exopack or oxygen connected to her face.
"It's a pilot but there's no oxygen, we better tell the clan that they're getting closer." Said Lo'ak to the rest who just arrived.
Kiri felt a strange urge to see the dead woman. She climbed off of the ilu and swam over to her.Tsireya tried to grab her arm but couldn't quite manage to reach,
"Where are you going?" She called.
But Kiri didn't hear the protests of her friend and family; she was too focused on the pulse ruminating from the supposedly dead woman. "She's alive. How is it possible that she has no mask and a pulse?" She said.
"That doesn't make any sense, you must be feeling something else." Spider protested but feeling a twinge of doubt for some reason.
She didn't look much older than them and was definitely human but how on earth could she survive Pandora's atmosphere?
"We should bring her back to the village." Kiri insisted,
"Hell no! We can't bring an outsider, let alone someone who works for the sky people." Lo'ak said with Spider nodding next to him.
Tsireya looked conflicted, "She's probably injured, we can't leave her here to die."
"Why should we care if she lives?" Said Lo'ak. The now young man had grown cold towards humans who weren't the scientists back in the forest or Spider, Neteyam's death had taken quite a toll on the family and their perception of sky people.
Kiri frowned and looked at him, "Don't act cruel! She's a person."
They all went silent and looked back and forth at one another. "I'll explain it to my parents." Tsireya replied.
"They aren't going to like this." Spat Spider while unbuckling the chair's seatbelt.
"We can question her when she wakes up, figure out this breathing thing." Said Lo'ak who reluctantly helped to move the pilot. The only reason he was helping was to figure out how this woman could survive with no exopack.
They slung her over Kiri's ilu. She examined the pilot and noticed the writing on her helmet "Apollo -04" she said out loud by accident."What do you think that means?"
Spider's voice came from behind her. "Maybe it's the name of her aircraf-"
Lo'ak interrupted with, "If she's military then there's dog tags." Interrupting wasn't normal behaviour from him. Clearly this mystery woman indicated trouble and he couldn't grasp why no one else was concerned with her being so close to the clan lands.
The shore appeared and they moved the girl on to the dock. Kiri took off the helmet and unzipped the wet pilot's jacket to reveal an off white tank top which gripped the skin. 
"Apollo -04, 2151, OLYMPUS REGIME." She read from the dog tags.
Suddenly a light caught Spider's eye, it came from the wrist of the unconscious woman. He grabbed it to see a bracelet which he read aloud, "Oxygen 73 hours. What does that mea-"
"What is that doing here?!" Boomed a voice from behind the group. It was none other than Jake Sully, "Are you out of your minds? Did you learn nothing!" This wasn't a question rather a disappointed response to his own children's lack of discretion.
"Palu took us to her but before we even get there, look at her mouth."  Lo'ak tried to bring his fathers attention to the implications of not needing human oxygen. Jake's eyes widened; he clearly understood why they would bring her back to the village. "Bring her, explain to Chief Tonowari and everyone else exactly what you found."
Tsireya helped to lift the girl but she felt raised marks on her back. She moved part of the jacket where she saw long deep scars covering her shoulders. They placed her down and explained the whole story to the elders. It was decided that the pilot should be questioned but also restrained in case she fought back. Kiri and Tsireya stood watching them tie up an unconscious woman which felt wrong.
"Did you see her back?" Tsireya questioned her friend, "It's more scar than back."
Spider overheard and took the jacket off of their prisoner's arms. This revealed the series of healed lacerations that covered the victim. Hands found mouths trying to contain their gasps.
"That's from flogging." Said Jake,who was also stunned to see an injury so harsh to a young woman.
Kiri look perplexed and asked, "What is that, a torture method?" She couldn't understand what would warrant that while still keeping the woman alive.
"It's a punishment for something severe but it wasn't practised when I was young." He said.
Spider interjected, "What exactly would she have done?" He was nervous to think what kind of person they had just decided to hold captive. What if she was dangerous?
"I didn't follow orders." She said in a dreary voice as she came back into consciousness. "Apollo -04 from the OLYMPUS Regime. I'm a pilot."
Everyone was taken aback when a human who they didn't know spoke in near perfect Na'vi. Tonowari pointed a spear at her and said "What exactly does that mean, outsider?"