"Why did you chose me?"
"You what?" Rune raised an inquisitive brow at the pair as the man finished signing the message to her, almost choking on her cup of tea.
"I am Dylan O'Connell and this is Lysistrata Vasquez, we're part of the R-D-A Enrolment and Employment department. We are here to propose a potential job for you Ms. Chapman, on Pandora." Dylan signed the letters R-D-A out, as his partner, Vasquez talked, translating her words as she spoke.
"Pandora?" she signed, "Why do you want me for a job on Pandora?"
Rune could see Vasquez turning to Dylan and asking him what she was signing, to which Rune could hear, albeit muffled due to Vasquez whispering to be 'polite'.
"Well, actually, the R-D-A and the UN Xeno-Exploration comity actually got a request from Doctor Grace Augustine that you be put on the waiting list for the program before she left for Pandora, to which they agreed due to your qualifications and their need for them." He answered.
"Wait, Grace Augustine?" Rune asked excitedly, raising her voice out of her mood but also to make it easier to hear herself talk, "The Grace Augustine? As in the one in my books? The best Xeno-biologist to exist?!"
Dylan confirmed what she was excited over.
"How did she find out about me? Why are they interested?"
"Apparently, Dr. Augustine has read your theses papers before and they took her interest, that is what I have heard."
"Why did you chose me?" she signed back, unsure as to why said mining company was interested in her.
"To help document Pandora. To help scientists. The UN also want a full historical documentation of everything you can find out about the clan that they are studying there currently. We want you to work with Dr. Augustine to record the Na'vi and learn about them. I hope you've heard of the Na'vi, right?"
Rune nodded. She had heard of tales and seen images of the tall, blue aliens that inhabited the moon of Polyphemus, although she only knew a little about them, they sounded mythical.
"Also because you have an extensive degree in Anthropology, doing many postgraduate studies, alongside having attended an R-D-A funded University. And you have spent roughly six to eight years in the army, which is a skill that not many of our applicants have on their resume. It is quite impressive."
"Sorry, resume? I never signed up for this." Rune expressed irritation on her face.
"The application place in by Augustine was more of a person of interest application. It is completely up to you on whether or not you take up this deal. If you do, then it is a shortened period of two years of training due to the urgence of your potential arrival on Pandora-."
Rune cut him off, "What are the benefits?"
"Once your five years on Pandora are complete, you get full pay for your time there, which pays quite handsomely, alongside the benefit of being the first person to publish a complete history of the Na'vi and get sixty-forty of the royalties. Fully covered health care. Everything will be provided for you on Pandora including food, lodging, lab access, a workspace if necessary, and other equipment that the base will have. On the occasion that you do die, your pay will be given to a mentioned family member or group of your choice. We do have to legally mention to you that there is a chance that you may not come back from this mission."
Rune sat still for a few minutes, thinking to herself, weighing out the pro's and con's of the proposed job. It was a promised job with very good pay, but there was a high chance she could die, which she did not like the sound of. But, she'd also get to leave Earth for a couple of years and get to explore Pandora, not to mention, getting to meet the Na'vi and study them and write a book about them. It was only five years, but she'd get to do a lot. But the final con was the RDA. Why should she help them colonise some out-of-system planet and steal their resources? She'd heard about what goes on in Pandora, the beasts that would eat you alive and plants that could rip the skin off of you. But she'd also heard about the skirmishes between the company and the natives, it sounded an awful lot like past events that happened on Earth.
But, if she did go, she could maybe prevent those things from happening, keep an eye on the RDA and interfere if necessary. Her planet may be dying and she definitely wants to have a second chance at life, but Rune would never want it at the price of a species not bound to Earths fate. She was soldier, and a good one. She protected people, well she tried to. She was also a scholar of Anthropology, she knew where and when the human society messed up and doomed themselves and their mother, Earth, to a long and painful death.
She'd made up her mind.
"I'll do it." she said, extending a hand for a pen and the contract that she had seen in Vazquez's bag.
Dylan shook her hand instead and then grabbed the paper and pen on a clip board, and opened it, "Some quick questions. Do you have any direct family that we should know about?"
Rune shook her head, "Brought up in foster care, my parents died when I was around a year old. No known direct relatives."
He sent her a genuine sympathetic look this time before filling that out on the contract, "Any boyfriend or husband that we need to contact and compensate, etcetera."
"No, I haven't really had the time for relationships in my life," she then pointed up the the raging magenta and orange flag, "Also."
"Sorry, yes." he mumbled before scribbling away, "Do you have any pre-existing medical conditions that need to be recorded?"
"As you can clearly tell by now, I'm half death in my right ear. I use a hearing aid to assist, although it only helps a bit." she indicated to the ear in question, which, like a fair portion of the side of her face, was covered in burn scarring. The ear also had a large chunk of the bottom lobe missing.
Dylan continued on with the questions, only stopping a few times to shake out his hands from exhaustion. After a few more questions, Rune retrieved her half charged hearing aid to give the poor mans hands some rest, to which he was grateful for.
"Ok," he said, extending the y, "I'll give you the contract, all you need to do is read it, sign the below sections and we're good for business."
Rune grinned at him, taking the clipboard and pen, "Doesn't sound too complicated."
She read through the contract, making sure to thoroughly go over each paragraph and the fine print to avoid any loop holes or unforeseen tricks. A few sections caught her eyes, which she made note of to ask Vasquez and O'Connell about.
"What does it mean when asking for permission for the use of my genetic material for the development of an 'Avatar'? And what's this 'Avatar-Driver' training?"
Vasquez stepped in, "The RDA wants you on board as an Avatar driver, it'll help you be able to collect information from the Na'vi more easily."
Rune still deadpanned at her, confused by what the older woman was talking about. It didn't really make sense.
Vasquez sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose, "An Avatar is a genetically made Na'vi that the RDA and scientists have produced for the use of Avatar drivers. Each Avatar driver has a specific Na'vi avatar that only they can use due to the fact that the Avatar is a Na'vi version of their driver, they have the same genetic material as you, only a bit modified. You connect to the Na'vi through your conscious, transferring through neuro-links. They're you, but bigger, better, buffer and a whole lot bluer. It'll be easier to gain the trust of the Na'vi if you look like them after all."
"That doesn't sound too bad, very interesting too. I'd like to get to learn about how they work." Rune admitted, the idea of learning new things making her rather eager to start the program.
With that, she continued to flip through, reading and signing off sections until she reached the final page which she wrote her flared insignia. She also wrote down in the secondary pay group on the chance of her death, that her payment be invested into a trust fund for the kids at the foster home she grew up in and donated to.
"Done." she handed the paper to Lyristrata and flexed her hands out.
"Thankyou Ms. Chapman, the RDA is ever so grateful of your sacrifice and contribution to the supporting of their mission and the saving of humanity." Vasquez praised, layering on the sweet talk.
Rune scoffed under her breath, the RDA was far from saving Earth.
"When does training start?" Rune inquired.
"Next week," Dylan told her, "We'll be in contact with your current employers by this afternoon to inform them of your new job and to get you moved to reserves up until you're shipped out to Pandora."
"How long will I be training for?"
"As I mentioned earlier, two years, it's shortened due to the fact that a space opened up for you for the next ride to Pandora. You're a quick learner though, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I learnt Spanish, Tok-Pisin, and Auslan pretty easily, so I think so."
"Good, we'll see you next week." Dylan stood up with Vasquez and walked towards the door, giving Rune a business card as he went past. It had the address for the training institution and what time she needed to be there. The institution was owned by a second party obviously, RDA didn't seem like the type to own such a thing.
"You definitely will. I'm looking forward to learning all about Pandora."
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What did you think?
Also, any sign language will be in underline, just to mention.
I hope this chapter was good enough, I did rush it because I'm at school and have to be working on my many assessments because I graduate next year and need to do A-grade work to get the ATAR I want. Because I want to be a Pharmacologist or do Ancient History, :3
Anyways,
if you want, please consider to favourite this book and maybe follow me for any future works!
Bye mates!
~ Luv the Lady Artemis