A Avatar

The next morning, Jake, Norm and Grace entered the liaison room to their liaison units, Arthur walked beside them as Jake shuffled behind in his wheelchair.

"So, how much liaison time have you logged?" asked Grace as she manned some controls.

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

She nodded, looking at him approvingly.

"That's good," then Grace held out a hand to point to the links; "you're there, and you're here." The Marine made a sharp turn to roll over to said unit. "How much have you logged?" The tone wasn't curious, but Jake didn't let that put him off.

"Never, but I read a manual" Jake mused, looking at the machine that looked like a cross between a coffin and an MRA scanner, the medic turned to him in awe, but it wasn't the commendable kind.

"Tell me you're kidding."

Jake pressed a few fingers into the mint colored padded interior for a gentle splash, and smiling amused commented; "This is great." He chuckled, getting up with a snort, he always liked the viscoelastic feeling, as he grabbed his legs to pull them up, Grace reached over to help him. "No, I've got this."

She shrugged and turned around to activate the link.

"So, you thought you'd come out here, to the most hostile environment known to man, with no training of any kind, and see how you did?" The way she said it, Jake stifled a laugh, but the smile still showed. Maybe, it was a stupid thing he was doing, but he took what he got, it was no longer a question of why, it was a question of why not?

"What was going through your head?" She finished.

"Maybe I was sick of doctors telling me what I couldn't do." He looked at her, Grace looked back at him wordlessly, something that wasn't completely stupid came out of her mouth for the first time.

"Biometrics are good," said a woman wearing headphones, as she typed on a keyboard in front of a glass monitor the screen in question showed a 3D scan of the Avatar's brain activity.

"Link three is up," Max said.

Jake leaned back on the cushion that had a dent in the shape of a body.

"Keep your arms in, hands in," Grace pulled some wires across his chest, Jake lifted his head to look at him curiously. "Head down," she pushed him down, but he couldn't help but lift it back up. "Down."

The Marine had no choice but to admire the machine from where he stood. "Just relax and let your mind go blank," she hovered over him, keeping her hand attached to the bonnet latch.

"That shouldn't be hard for you."

The bonnet lowered and closed with a click.

When he opened his eyes again, he woke up in a completely different room in a completely different body, his vision so blurry he could barely make out the colored clouds around him, what he could make out was a woman's voice calling his name in drawn out echoes. "Jake, can you hear me?

The med tech watched his expression intently as another shone a torch in both eyes, with both wearing oxygen masks.

Their pupils shrank as they caught the light. "Pupillary reflex is good." after that, someone snapped their fingers outside their ears, which twisted at the sound.

"Penna response normal. How are you feeling, Jake?" A woman leaned over, he gave them both a dazed look.

"Hey, guys." replied Jake as he smiled in a goofy manner.

"Welcome to your new body, Jake." The male tech smiled, without hesitation, Jake looked down at himself, he raised his arms and wiggled his fingers, his hands were blue and somewhat long.

"Woah-ho!" he gasped.

"Good," the female technician continued. "Are you feeling dizzy or numb?" he couldn't be bothered to answer either of those questions when he was so focused on getting used to his body.

Norm was on the gurney next to him, and he'd already managed to sit up for coordination exercises, for God's sake.

Jake had to take this to the next level, he wanted to check out something he'd wanted to check out ever since he'd heard he'd be remotely piloting a new body, so using his arms to support himself, he sat up.

"Well, if you want to sit, that's fine." She added.

"Well, fine. Relax." The male technician reached out a hand behind him unconsciously, "Take it easy, Jake."

Jake for his part saw his legs, strong, and more importantly, still functional, wiggling her toes, he laughed in amazement at the sensation, he could actually feel something down there, her flat ass on the gurney, thighs, calves, feet, everything.

"Holy shit." He breathed excitedly.

"Aw, are you wiggling your toes?" the woman mused as Jake continued to twiddle his toes excitedly.

"Good, good, that's great," added the male technician. "Distal motor control is good. Good, Jake."

"Do you feel any numbness or pain?"

Fuck this! He'd had enough of sitting when he could be outside, running, turning to the side and planting his feet on the ground, he enjoyed the feel of the cold, hard ground, it immediately alarmed the med techs, who frantically ordered him to stop.

"Woah, woah, woah, take it easy. Slow down."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, okay?"

Those were the exact words he needed to hear to do exactly that: get ahead of himself, as his blood pumped with adrenaline, his body prepared for the most energized sprint of his life, his tail wagging violently, he balanced his weight on his feet and slowly stood up.

"Jake, you need to sit down. We still have some coordination tests to run-" The female medical technician ran in front of him, but he didn't even notice when her imposing height made her impossible to see. "-You need to listen to me and sit down."

"Guys, put him back on the gurney, now," Max instructed by the window, he watched anxiously as the scene grew more heated by the second, Jake for his part never listened, instead continuing to stagger back and forth to steady himself. "Shit."

His tail wagged uncontrollably, smacking into the faces of the med techs. "Sit down, Jake!"

Alarm bells went off in everyone's head.

"Get your ass back on the gurney, now!" Ordered the male med-tech. "I don't want to sedate you!"

"No, it's okay! I've got this." Jake held out his hands protectively as he stumbled, he was actually walking alone! "Haha, take a look at it!"

"Come on, Jake." Max retorted, adding this heatedly, hoping to somehow get through the Marine's thick, albeit empty, skull. "They're actually going to take you out. Just sit down!".

"This is too dangerous!" exclaimed Max.

Jake slammed into the window with a hand on it, causing the scientist to take a step back.

"This is great." He grinned mischievously, eager to take a literal leap into the open air, he gave the room one last look before he left, crushing the medical equipment on a cart with his tail in the process. "Whoops. Anyway." He staggered to the door and pushed it open almost ungracefully. "Hahaha...!"

When he stepped out, he was immediately overwhelmed by a blast of fresh air, the glare of the sun was blinding, but after squinting for a few moments, his eyes adjusted to the scenery, a huge outdoor gym with basketball courts and obstacle courses was packed with other Avatar users.

"Come on, you don't have any skills."

He continued forward at an awkward trot, nearly colliding with two others playing offense and defense. "Whoa!"

"Sorry!" Jake extended a hand towards them apologetically, picked up his pace and continued trotting down a dirt road, Norm chased after him with poorly coordinated trots, the two med-techs following close behind him with red faces.

"Jake, we're not supposed to run!" Norm called, his pleas for him to come back faded as he got further and further away, running faster and faster until he burst into a full run.

Jake laughed in amazement, his heart pounding in his chest with a euphoria he hadn't felt before: he was running! He was running as fast as the wind could carry him, slamming his strong legs into the ground, crushing the soft, wet ground beneath his feet. He had never felt more free.

After a minute or so, he skidded to a stop like an ice hockey player would.

"Still got it." He gave a half-smile. Looking up at the bright blue sky, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply into the sweet air. "Oh, that's nice..."

"Distal motor control looks nice," a woman mused, forcing him to look straight ahead.

A female Avatar dressed in a burgundy tank top and brown shorts approached him with a smile, her voice was so familiar, but what gave her away was her facial features, Jake flashed a look of astonishment.

"Grace?"

"Who were you waiting for, you fools?" She plucked a plump purple fruit from a bush and tossed it to him.

"Think fast!"

The marine caught it with ease and took a generous bite, rich, earthy juices exploded in his mouth, dripping all over the lower half of his face, but damn it was good. "Agh... Whoa...!"

That night, he slept in an open-air hut with dozens of other Avatar users - in his opinion, not the most luxurious form of accommodation, as it was outdoors and infested with clouds of flying insects under hanging lamps, fortunately, there were mosquito nets for that problem. And, sure, the windows may have been nothing more than transparent nets, but at least I could see the mesmerizing sunset outside.

If I tilted my head back a little, I could also see the huge gaseous planet, Polyphemus, in the sky.

The scenery here was breathtaking, and he hadn't even left camp yet!

As he made himself comfortable in his bunk, he discovered a bunch of wriggling, worm-like pink locks sticking out of the bottom of his hair braid.

"Come on, everybody. Calm down." Grace walked down the hallway as she shooed away the remaining human scientists, all in their white lab coats and oxygen masks, she towered over them, like anyone else wearing an Avatar body. "All right, gang, lights out." When she saw Jake playing with his body parts, her scolding wasn't long in coming ; "Don't play with that, you'll go blind."

That's a little weird," muttered Jake, who put it away shortly before lying down on his mattress.

"Come on. Scram." Once all the supervising scientists had left, Grace closed the sliding metal door and locked the tent for the day, then, turned off all the lights. "Lights out! See you at dinner, kids."