The Unknown Gate

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.

— T.S. Eliot, from "Little Gidding," Four Quartets

The first battle for Pandora ended with the human occupation being ousted from the planet by a massive gathering of the Na'vi clans.

The second battle for Pandora was fought by a much smaller group, against much larger odds. This is their story.

Prologue

The only Valkyrie shuttle within four light years sat on the ramp at Hell's Gate, preflight checks underway in the cockpit. In the shattered remains of the control room nearby, a human and a Na'vi avatar were in deep conversation.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Jake, it's the only way. If you let them control the news there's no hope for you here."

"Isaac ... you know what they'll do to you if they find out."

"I'm the only one who can do this. They think I bleed RDA gray. They don't know I'm with you."

"What you're giving up... this is a bigger sacrifice than I can possibly imagine."

"I can't let them come back and take this away from you. People have to know."

The pause was heavy with emotion too dense for words. Finally the human spoke.

"I have to get on board now. Goodbye, Jake. The people of Earth will see this. I promise." He rose, lugging a weighty info-pack.

Four hours later, the Valkyrie docked with the ISV Venture Star, and Parker Selfridge queasily pulled himself into the larger vessel. He did not do well in free fall, but on this occasion he had been nauseous even before the shuttle took off. He made for the communications room. The supraluminal communicator was both the fastest and the slowest transmitter ever made. Fastest, because it could transmit faster than the speed of light over interstellar distances using the principle of quantum entanglement. Slowest, because each bit that was transmitted took twenty minutes to send while the transceiver synchronized with its mate on Earth, a rate that made semaphore seem like broadband. Therefore the RDA Communications Department had developed several hundred "speed codes," common messages denoted with single short numbers that were listed in the official codebook for interstellar vessels.

Selfridge had given much thought to the message he was going to send and still didn't have a good idea. But the first part was not in question. Despite the length of time it took to send each bit, the RDA supraluminal communications protocol wasted a certain amount of bandwidth: no routine transmission was allowed to contain a sequence of more than six 'one' bits. Because if a sequence of eight ones was ever sent from Pandora, it would be a speed code with a very special meaning.

Evacuation.

Selfridge ordered the code sent.