20 Chapter 20

"It is your choice Director." Harry stood in front of his holo-tablet that he'd positioned on a nearby tree for his communication with Hells Gate (Mining base).

"I wish it was that simple Mr More. There are company regulations in place that state…"

"War or Peace! Those are your only options. If you persist in this mania you will succeed in only uniting the Navi across this world in a common goal – Your destruction."

"I'd like to see those savages try." Quaritch challenged. Turning to Selfridge, "Give me leave and I'll rescue those science folk and leave a reminder to these savages that will echo through their racial memory."

"Don't be a fool! I have already secured their release, any violence from here is nothing but senseless murder." Harry seeing Selfridge look to Quaritch for support, decided to use his most powerful trump card. "Think about the optics of this back on Earth. Your Shareholders. Either be the hero negotiating with natives or the villain slaughtering the innocent."

"Negotiate?" Quaritch spat, the word tasting foul in his mouth. "More like capitulate. Next, you'll be wanting us to dress like them and roll in the mud." Quaritch pulled the screen closer to him, scanning over Harry with a critical eye. "Looking awfully comfortable with those savages, Mr More. Let's hope you're not going soft." Harry could see Quaritch finger his knife meaningfully.

Selfridge finally looked intrigued by Harry's offer. "You say they've agreed to let them go, what are their terms? Food, Shelter, Medicine? Just tell me what the blue monkeys want?"

"They want none of those things. They will release them if you agree not to send anyone else here again. Should they be caught trespassing again, it will be death by execution."

Selfridge nodded, and rightly so. He avoided a costly military strike, made some good publicity and all he had to was make a promise.

"Mr More you may inform their leader that I accept. If they release them, I'll hold off the dogs of war."

Harry nodded his acceptance. As he was turning the screen off, he could hear Quaritch threatening bloody retribution.

With the imminent war solved, Harry turned to his other mystery.

Why was Quaritch so keen to recover these Avatars?

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"Can't you at least take the restraints off now?" Rai moaned to Harry as he sat before them in their cell. The Avatar drivers had returned to their bodies soon after Harry had secured their promised release.

Harry shook his head. He had not even asked the Tsahik, feeling that their discomfort was a small price to pay for their crimes.

"What were you thinking!" Harry berated the Avatars. These had been his friends, for whom he travelled many miles to save only to find out their stupidity was to blame for all of it. To blame for nearly sparking a war.

"It's just a tree Harry. Just because the Navi sees their God in them doesn't mean they don't hold scientific value. I thought you would have applauded our exploration of Pandora's flora?" Willow shot back. She had always been an overachiever, willing to ignore moral considerations to advance science.

Harry's hand twitched, wanting ever so much to release the storm of rage building inside his heart. Gritting his teeth, he tried to remain calm.

"You don't understand what you nearly did. The damage would never have healed. Those trees are sacred for a reason! Scanning would already be an insult to the tribe, but a cutting… You're lucky they didn't slit your throats."

Looking at four blue figures, uselessly struggling against their bonds, he couldn't help but ask again.

"Why?"

Rai, one of the first friends he made on base tried to defend their actions. "I have been tracking Grace's research for months. Her data shows signal transduction between the roots of neighbouring trees. An electrochemical communication like the synapses between neurons. We were able to trace these signals to a focus point. That was how we found their special tree.

Harry could understand their enthusiasm. Knowingly or not, they had uncovered a fraction of Eywa's biology, but their thinking was still too limited. Too human.

"You were going to desecrate a sacred spirit tree!" Harry exclaimed in anger.

Rai, quick to anger responded in kind. "If you throw a stick on Pandora, it's going to land on some sacred fern or something. They're just trees for Christ's sake!"

One of the other Avatars on the team, who Harry was not well acquainted with chose that moment to speak up.

"Look man, we understand what did was wrong. We should have asked first, but look here man, this presents a great opportunity."

Harry glanced around at their prison and wondered what reality he was seeing. "Opportunity? What part of this is an opportunity? It's a fucking miracle it didn't start a war you… you…" His English started failing him. Spending so much time speaking Navi, English now felt like his second language.

"Skxawng!" (Moron) Harry finally settled with.

The Avatar had clearly missed that lesson in Navi and looked confused before carrying on. "You're in good with the tribe, maybe you can persuade them to give us a cutting."

"Skxawng!" (Moron) Harry repeated, his feet lashing out to kick the stupid Avatar.

"Harry enough!" Looking at Willow, Harry didn't know what to do or feel. He had secured their release, but these fools still saw everything as black and white. Plants and animals. Life and Death. Trees or Gods. "When are we getting out of here? The accommodation hasn't been quite up to my standards." The joke sailed over Harry's fury, not able to bring himself to laugh.

Tracking the sun's position in the sky, Harry finally focused on the task at hand.

"Not long. The tribes' leaders are meeting, when that is done, I will lead you out of the forest."

"There is one thing…" Willow started, not sure how to ask for more in this situation.

"What…" Harry could feel his teeth grind together. This was the exact reason he distanced himself from humans, he wanted peace, not politics.

"Our equipment. You know how Selfridge will get if it's lost. Can you get it back for us?"

Taking any reason to leave their company, Harry agreed he'd ask and walked away, wishing to be far away in the arms of Sukal.

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Not sure who to take his request to, Harry first found Ra'sar. He had laughed and led Harry up the Sky tree to where he knew the clan leader was.

Finding the Olo'eyktan (Leader of the tribe) feeding his Ikran, Harry passed on the request.

"Take their Demon things away. We want nothing of theirs to pollute of land."

Ra'sar again took the lead, nimbly jumping from branch to branch to descend the tree, with Harry trying his best to keep up. They quickly found the pile of technology looted from the Avatars piled on the floor outside a nearby shelter. Being left out in the rain, leaves and water now marked the equipment whose cost Harry knew would run into the millions.

Taking a handful into his arms, ready to transport it back to its owner he paused. Ra'sar seeing his friend's reaction was concerned.

"Harri, what is wrong?"

"Bastards!" Harry's fury exploded again, not believing what he held.

It seemed the Avatar's crimes weren't limited to destroying the tribe's link to Eywa, they wanted to find something more valuable to the company than scientific advancement.

Unobtanium.

In Harry's hands lay a resonator. Judging by the size, it was far more powerful than those he had seen before. He could imagine that when placed on the ground, the machine would be able to detect Unobtanium even dozens of clicks away.

The true purpose of their scientific mission, now clear to him. Willow and the others weren't on some sort of diplomatic mission, they were the forward scouts. Gathering data of new sectors of land to tear down and extract their metal prize.

Whatever the cost to the natives.

This was the true purpose of Quartich crusade, he wanted to know which tribes had settled on large deposits. Which tribes he would have reason to destroy. The shareholders may dislike the bad press, but the profit from such a haul would soothe their black hearts.

With sickening horror, Harry remembered how far the group had travelled. How many Navi tribes they had visited? Each one could now be a target. Each one is now under threat of being bulldozed.

"Harri?" Ra'sar reached out and touched his arm, shocking him back to reality.

"It's not good Ra'sar." Not sure he had the words, he sent Ra'sar to gather the Olo'eyktan and Tsahik. They had to be informed. Whatever the outcome, this tribe, and all the others would need to prepare for what was coming for them.

War, it seemed, was back on the menu.

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Hiss!

The Olo'eyktan barred his teeth, his hand gripping further on his spear.

"And you still want us to release these demons? After placing a target on our home?"

"I've destroyed what I could. I don't think they were able to send the scans of your tribe back to base. As for the Avatars, nothing changed. They need to be freed to avoid a war. A delay if nothing else." The rest of the tribes weren't so lucky, the team had been pinging back data from every tribe they visited.

The duplicity of his former race just reinforces his desire to be done with them. He could no longer identify with them. They had gone too far this time.

The Tsahik spoke up, her voice soft and sad. "Yet young Harri, you tell us to warn those tribes, warn them that the humans are coming to take their home, to destroy their sacred trees?"

"Yes wise one. Whatever promise we have today, they will come. At first, they will ask, persuade or barter. But when that fails, as we know it has every other time, war will come to the Navi."

Hiss!

Harry shared their fury. "I tell you this, great leaders, not to start a war, but to give you time to prepare."

"We will consider your words. The council of elders will need to be convened. Now, Harri, it is time to remove this blight from our land. Take the demons away."

Silently agreeing, Harry reached into the resonator and with a single movement, yanked the circuitry out. Walking out to a nearby fire, after moving the Navi further away, he tossed the machine in. The fuel cells caught fire shooting flames high into the sky before calming down.

All that remained was the charred remains.

The data was destroyed.

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Catching one of the Avatars who had started to slip off the branches was becoming tedious. He couldn't help but think back to his first days as an Avatar. Was I ever this feeble?

The scientist had finally been released and Harry was tasked with escorting them off Navi land. Not being able to land his rotorcraft near the tribe, he had to guide them through the forest.

"We… need … a break…" Willow panted out. The whole team seemed near collapse, so Harry pointed to a nearby tree on which they could rest safely on. Harry's mind found it hard to reconcile this image of Willow, who had so frequently crushed him on the obstacle course with her avatar now.

When he had returned their equipment the Avatars, they had made a big fuss about some of it being absent. They had remained cagey about the resonator, not directly asking for it, but refusing to leave without it.

The betrayal only stung more as they tried to deceive him too.

Harry took a perverse pleasure in presenting the burned wreck to them, claiming some Navi youth has thrown in the fire in retribution for their actions.

"Come." Harry commanded. They had rested long enough and he had no wish to try and navigate the jungle at night with his current company.