Avatar vs. Terminator
By Q42
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Heh, I just couldn't resist mixing my two favorite James Cameron movieverses. :P
John Connor and the Human Resistance defeated Skynet on Earth. So, the Machines sought another world. Another timeline. One in which the natives would not even know of their existence … until the Machines attacked.
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Chapter 1:
Pandora, June 7, 2165
Timeline 283-C
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On the lush jungle moon Pandora, nighttime is anything but dark. As Alpha Centauri A sets each evening, the light reflected from Polyphemus suffuses the world with a soft blue glow. Then, sensing the decrease in light levels, every living creature on Pandora takes part in the most brilliant light show in the Galaxy. Even the plants glow with bioluminescence, bathing the area around them in green, blue, orange and violet.
Tonight, however, a new light appeared in the jungle.
Arcs of electricity flashed, outshining the glowing leaves. Some of the bolts struck dry bark, setting one unlucky tree aflame.
Then, from out of nowhere, a silver sphere expanded into being. Amid the glowing foliage, the alien object gleamed, mirror-like, its bottom just touching the forest floor.
As suddenly as it had begun, the phenomenon ceased. Where the sphere had been, a figure crouched on a patch of baked soil.
Slowly, almost tentatively, the figure uncurled, rising to stand on its four-toed feet. Had anyone been nearby, they would have seen a rather striking Na'vi woman step out of the glowing crater in the ground, her golden eyes sweeping quickly from side to side. In fact, aside from the fact that she had stepped out of a hole in space-time, the only unusual thing about the woman was her lack of clothing; not even a hair bead adorned her braids.
Looking about, the blue-skinned female slowly made her way toward a tree. Then, lithe and nimble, she leaped up into the branches. A few minutes' climbing brought her high into the canopy, above most of the other trees. From her new vantage point, she could see for miles across the sea of luminous leaves. Far in the distance, a cluster of white lights stood out atop a hill, casting a distinctly artificial glow: Hell's Gate, home to the handful of human beings who had been allowed to remain on Pandora.
The newcomer regarded the human colony for a few moments. Then, leaping from her perch, she dropped toward the forest floor, using the largest leaves to slow her descent. Landing cat-footed, the woman wasted no time, taking off toward Hell's Gate as fast as her long, well-toned legs would carry her.
The last battle of the Machine War would be fought here, in this time, on this world. And nothing would keep her from victory….
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A flash of white light, a burst of energy, and ten miles away, a lone figure lay curled on the ground, naked as a newborn and gasping for air.
))WARNING: CHEMICAL ATTACK IN PROGRESS
The crimson words flashed across his vision. The man's blue eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets, his chest heaving as he tried to breathe. "Wha … what the … hell…?"
))EXTERNAL FILTRATION AIDS UNAVAILABLE
))ACTIVATING HEMOLYTIC FILTRATION SYSTEMS
))ADJUSTING HOST BIOCHEMISTRY
))PLEASE WAIT….
The writhing man struggled to stand. His mouth, nose and eyes all felt as though he was breathing fire.
Then, suddenly, the pain was gone.
))ADAPTATION COMPLETE
))TISSUE REPAIR COMMENCING
The figure groaned, slowly rising to his feet. "God damn! What the hell was that?"
))ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION: 50% N2, 20% O2, 19% CO2, 5.5% Xe
))AIR PRESSURE 0.9 ATM
The man blinked twice, shaking his head until the text disappeared. "All right, that was freaky."
As he stood up, he surveyed his surroundings. It must have been nighttime, but everything – literally, everything around him – was glowing with crazy colors. It looked like he had wound up in some kind of radioactive jungle, where the plants acted like those funky constellation stickers that you put under a black light. Well, it could be worse, he thought to himself. At least these things look better than the bars on death row. "Now, just where the hell am I?"
"Tawtute! Ne kllte!"*
The man spun around, eyes widening in shock as three very tall, nearly naked, and very blue men dropped from the trees above, brandishing spears, bows and arrows. All three were dressed like they'd been auditioning as extras for Dancing with Wolves, but had been rejected due to their excessive height, tails, and just plain alienness. "What the—?"
"Ne kllte! Set!"** shouted the lead warrior, his enormous yellow eyes narrowed in anger.
"Uh, look, guys," said the human, backing slowly away. "I'd love to do whatever it is you're telling me to, but I honestly don't know what that is."
The lead warrior growled menacingly, advancing toward the human … then stopped dead in his tracks, his anger instantly giving way to a look of shock. "Jakesully?!?" he exclaimed "F'lu ke lu!"***
The man held up his hands. "Look, does anybody here speak English? You know, like good old American English? Because I really need to talk to somebody."
"You're right, you do need to talk to somebody," a strangely familiar voice called down from the trees. With a loud rustling of leaves and branches, a fourth blue giant dropped down to the forest floor, an enormous bow clutched in his hand. "First, you need to explain how you're breathing without an exopack. Second, you need to tell me how many other humans are here with you. And third…"
The alien froze just a few feet in front of the human, his eyes widening in astonishment. "Tom? Wha—?"
"Olo'eyktan, fyape tsatseng mune nga?"**** whispered one of the warriors.
All five men looked about at one another. The blue warriors were clearly freaked out about something, and the human was freaked out that they were freaked out. "Uh … hey, could somebody please explain to me what's going on? Who are you people, anyway? And what is this place?"
The English-speaking alien gave him a cautious look. "My name's Jake Sully," he replied with a slight Australian accent. "These are hunters of the Omaticaya clan. You're about half a mile from our Hometree, and however you got here, you made more noise than a hammerhead in mating season. Now, who are you, and why do you look like my twin brother?"
The human just goggled at Jake. "Wait a minute … twin? I'm not sure if you've noticed, buddy, but you and I aren't exactly related. I mean, there was the one time I stained my arm blue cleaning the bathroom toilet, but …"
Jake shook his head. "If you were Tom you'd understand. So if you're not him, just who are you, anyway?"
The human sighed, trying to keep from being overwhelmed by the weirdness of the previous five minutes. I'm in some sort of Day-Glo jungle, surrounded by giant blue Indians, led by a guy who thinks I'm his vertically challenged twin brother. This day is making less sense by the minute.
"The name's Marcus Wright," he replied. "And before you start grilling me, could you please get me some clothes?"
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Na'vi Translations:
* - "Sky Man! Get down!"
** - "Get down! Now!"
*** - "This cannot be!"
**** - "Chief, why are there two of you?"
Author's Note – If anyone actually knows how to write Na'vi, advice would be greatly appreciated. These translations were made using Na'vilator[dot]com, and I had to do some best-guesses for words and phrases the translator didn't have. Plus, I'm totally ignorant of Na'vi grammar and have no time to sit down and learn it. I just tried to put it in this chapter because Marcus doesn't know what it means – all he hears is some weird alien language. In the future, Na'vi speech will just be written in italics – Marcus may not understand it, but everyone else does.
Reviews, comments and suggestions are always welcome. Please, let me know what you think of the story so far!
~Q42~
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