Running from the past

Running from the past: the meeting

In the morning, it was time for me to link up with my Avatar.

After getting some breakfast, I walked as Jake wheeled into the Link Room and sat in front of my unit while I waited. I looked through the adjoining chamber, the ambient room, and saw my Avatar laying on a gurney and being tended to by a med, as were Jakes and Norms avatars.

Norm was sliding into his link chair and already getting himself hooked up. It wasn't hard to tell that he'd done this before. Personally, I hadn't done any training and was a little nervous, but who cared?

Grace came. "Norm, have much Link time have you done?" she asked.

"About five hundred and twenty hours," he replied.

She looked at me. "How much time have you done?"

"None, but I read a manual," I replied.

She stared at me. Then at jake. "Tell me you're joking."

"I haven't either." Jake put his cent in.

"I'm not." I started hoisting myself into the Link bed. I saw her follow Jake to the one next to me as he lifted himself onto it. Grace tried to help, but he waved her hand away. "No, I've got this. It's fine."

Grace shook her head at Jake and glanced in my direction. "So, you just figured you'd come out here to the most hostile environment known to man, with no training of any kind of experience? What was going through your head?"

I smiled slightly and gave her a defiant glare. "Maybe I was just tired of doctors telling me what I couldn't do,"  he said, cheekily making me chuckle slightly.

She continued to watch Jake laboriously pull his crippled legs into the Link bed by hand and then she helped him get settled in. I waited until Jake went in before settling myself. The warm fluid gel packs that lined the unit actually felt very comfortable. part of me felt like I was part of a JELL-O mold.

Grace was kind enough to adjust the sensors over me and then began to lower the upper lid. "Just relax and let your mind go blank. That shouldn't be hard for you."

I nodded as I was shut in and I closed my eyes.

The feeling of having my consciousness transferred to another body was exhilarating. I could feel myself moving, yet my body remained still. In my mind's eye I saw streams of light in a tunnel and then everything became a blur.

Suddenly, I felt like I was waking up from being under anesthesia. My vision was blurry until I blinked a few times and I saw more clearly. Slowly, I sat up and looked at my Avatar body. It was so amazing, yet terrifying at the same time. There was a tapping on the glass. I looked up to see Max gazing  inside with concern.

"Jake, you're not used to your Avatar body! This is dangerous..."

But He wasn't listening. I watched in curiosity as he shakily stood, testing the strength in his legs. The doctors were telling him to sit down, so I gazed at them, surprised at how small they were. But then again, I we were about eight or nine feet tall now.

Something brushed against my arm and caused a crash. I looked to see that it was my tail. Wait, my tail? What the hell? Can I control it? How does this actually work? I chuckled in spite of myself and then watched as Jake began walking towards the door. I heard Max yelling. "Jake wait! We have to run some tests! You may not be feeling okay!"

He walked up to the glass and pressed his palm to it, smiling. "I feel great," I heard him tell  Max before running off.

Getting on my feet i slightly bowed to the, "I'll go get the idiot, so don't worry unless something explodes."I ignored everyone's protests to stop and I ran out the door after Jake.  The feeling of the sun on my face felt glorious. I looked around and saw the area was a compound for the Avatars.