Chapter Text
“Oh jesus fucking christ I think I’m dead.” The soldier next to him groans, dragging himself out of the cryopod and unceremoniously vomiting everywhere. He looks like he’s dead - pale skin, bags under his eyes, greasy and matted hair. “Do not ever go into cryosleep while still drunk. Oh my fucking god. This hangover has been brewing for six years. Put me out of my misery.”
Gary is too busy trying to dodge floating vomit as he crawls out of his own cryosleep pod. Eugh. The entire vessel shakes as they enter the atmosphere, flames crawling up the outside of the shuttle. The small, tiny little reinforced window is engulfed in orange as they descend, obscuring the view of the planet below.
Vomit floats just a little too close to him and he is forced to flee, scrambling away from his cryosleep bed. Gross. He manages to keep himself vomit-free the entire descent, until finally they land on the planet and gravity sets in, making the mess stationary. Alarms blare as the doors open, ramp descending onto the tarmac.
Masks drop from the ceiling and Gary barely remembers his training from six years ago to grab his and press it against his face, letting it seal. He clips the battery pack to his belt, then hustles over to his locker, grabbing his dufflebag. Soldiers all around him are doing the same; fumbling with air purifier masks, trying to get into lockers. Cryosleep makes it hard to do the fine movements, especially with fingers. Gary had set his lock to 1111 for that reason.
Dufflebag slung over his shoulder and mask on his face Gary heads for the exit, stepping out of the shuttle and onto the tarmac.
For the first time in six years the sun touches his skin. It doesn’t feel like six years to him of course, it was a mostly dreamless sleep that felt no different from passing out in his bunk after a long day of work. He didn’t even age in cryosleep, which is really good because Gary is not ready to be thirty two yet. Still he does noticeably perk up under the sun, as if his skin had been missing it all this time. Which is such bullshit he is probably burning already.
Soldiers are flooding out from the shuttle behind him so he picks up the pace, marching forward blindly. A huge vehicle rumbles past him like some sort of mechanical titan, wheels twice as tall as he is and a shovel wider than an entire building held inches above the ground. It’s a bulldozer big enough to topple sky scrapers. Gary stops and gawks as it rolls past. What could they even need something that huge for?
“Keep it moving!” A loud, harsh voice orders, and Gary forces himself to move again, blindly following the ground forward only for a hand to grab him and pull him away. “Not you, you’re coming with me.”
Finally he gets a glimpse at the woman ordering him around; tall and muscular with blond hair tied back in a short ponytail. Her face is aged by years in the sun and with plenty of stress. She’s dressed in jeans and a plain olive green shirt with a long white lab coat draped over it with the name Doctor Laswell embroidered on it.
He remembers that name - the woman who had recruited him back on earth. He hadn’t met her in person before now. Honestly she doesn’t look much like a scientist. More like a soldier, like him. He doesn’t say that, though. In fact he doesn’t say anything, just keeps his head down and follows after her.
“You’re going to want to move fast around here.” She barks, practically jogging across the pavement. “At least when you’re in this body. Everything on this planet will try to kill you, you have to be faster than that if you want to keep your head.”
Gary casts a wary glance at the huge concrete walls surrounding the base and picks up the pace. It’s not that he doesn’t trust them, of course. They have to be secure for the government to be bringing in more people. Still he shudders.
There were rumors about Pandora. It was all anyone was talking about back on earth; lush forests, lively oceans, and clear skies. All things that had long since disappeared from the earth. Seeing it in person is an entirely different thing though. The stories couldn’t do justice to just how clear the sky is, how bright it is. The world feels so open, not the crowded megacities that took over most of earth where he had spent his entire life.
“Through here.” Laswell orders, holding the door open to one of the buildings. Gary follows through into the airlock, letting the door slam behind them both. It’s crowded and cramped, barely room for the both of them. A loud hissing fills the airlock as it is drained. “The air here is very similar to earth’s, but the atmosphere is denser and there are a lot of extra gasses that we can’t breathe.”
Gary nods along with her, filing that away with a dozen other unrelated facts about Pandora that he has been given.
“You can survive for about five minutes without your mask.” She continues, as the lights flash green and the second door opens, letting them into the building itself. She tugs off her own mask and Gary follows suit, taking a deep breath of recycled, stale air. “So don’t ever lose it. There is an extra every five feet as per regulations, in case something happens, but you can’t always count on making it in time, ok?”
“Uh, ok?” Gary stammers out, suddenly forced to speak. He’s awkward, voice rough from lack of use. He wasn’t planning on losing his mask. Is that a real problem around here?
“This one is you.” She introduces, walking up to a huge tank filled with fluids. Gary hesitates, chewing on his lip.
There is a huge blue body floating in the fluid, curled in on itself. It looks like it’s sleeping; floating there with its eyes closed, peaceful expression on its face. But the most shocking thing is that it looks exactly like him.
It’s hard to see the resemblance with the differences; blue skin, black hair, a long braid that goes all the way down to his waist. But it’s there. They have the same face, save for the catlike nose and ears.
“This one is mine?” Gary repeats. He presses one hand against the tank, expecting it to be cold. But no, it’s warm. That makes sense.
“This one is you.” Laswell corrects, nudging Gary’s hand on the glass so that it is right above the avatar’s heart. The body in the tank twitches. “Made with your DNA, for you to pilot.”
“Strange, isn’t it?” Another new voice chuckles, causing him to whirl around. There’s a new man approaching from behind; massive, built like a wall of muscles with short shaved brown hair with a beard and mutton chops. “It took me a little getting used to as well. But now my avatar is as much my body as this one is.”
Gary glances between him and the avatar in the tank. He couldn’t possibly imagine that. Though that blue body might look so much like him, it’s still so different.
“This is Captain John Price.” Laswell introduces, grinning and shaking the man’s hand. “He is in charge of your task force.”
“You can just call me Price.” The man greets, extending his hand to shake. Gary takes it, surprised by how strong the man is gripping him. “I’ll be going in with you, then we will meet up with the other sergeant; John MacTavish.”
The three of them leave the tanks behind, heading for the lines of beds against the other wall. Scientists hover around them, looking between displays and tablets, adjusting measurements and speaking among each other using words Gary has never even heard before.
They dodge their way around groups of people, Gary nearly runs right into some tall guy in a lab coat who hisses some words at him that he doesn’t recognize. Somehow he makes it to the beds without running right into anyone.
It looks like a cryosleep pod. Like some sort of minimalistic, futuristic coffin with a lid that opens just enough for someone to climb in. The bottom of the pod is made of some sort of mushy, jelly like substance. Like if memory foam were more wet. Eugh. Cryopods don’t have that.
Price is already climbing into the bed next to him, tugging the lid down over him and closing him inside. Oh. That looks horrible.
“Don’t worry it isn’t so bad.” Laswell comforts him, urging him onto the bed. Reluctantly he climbs in, letting that sticky gel cling to all of his exposed skin. Oh that feels horrible. He shudders. This is fine, this is fine, this is so fine. “Once you’re in, you won’t feel any of this. Just close your eyes.”
The lid closes above him, trapping him inside, and his heart begins to race. This is fucking horrible. Oh god. It’s like being in a sticky gross coffin. He swallows thickly, fighting back panic. The cryosleep pods were bad enough. Gary sucks in a deep breath and squeezes his eyes shut. He will not panic.
Bright lights flood his eyes even though they are closed, his mind is filled with this loud buzzing sound like bees have invaded his skull. His heart races, he shivers. He feels himself begin to lift, like he is entering the atmosphere again, leaving him weightless.
Then just as suddenly as it began it stops; Gary slams back into his body, his heart begins to calm, he takes another deep breath.
It must not have worked. Maybe he panicked too hard and they had to pull him out of the link before it even completed.
It takes some effort to open his eyes, blinking rapidly to adjust to the light. Everything looks so small now, his ears lay flat and his tail whips behind him knocking things around behind him.
Wait.
He whirls around, eyes wide and ears pressed forward; a long blue tail tipped in a tuft of black hair whips around behind him, smacking into objects and people. And his ears! His hands find his ears, feeling how tall they are. It worked!
Gary leaps to his feet, smacking his head on the ceiling with a thump that sends him right back down. Pain flairs from his head, he presses a hand against it but doesn’t feel any blood. This is so amazing!
“Whoah, whoah, calm down there!” Price grunts, one hand on his shoulder. Gary looks and can’t believe what he sees; Price, just as big and blue as he is. Huge golden eyes stare back, and Price grins a fanged grin at him.
Gary just laughs. This is so amazing. He stands up again, this time ducking so that he doesn’t hit his head again. Scientists scramble out of the way as Gary crawls for the door, bursting through both sets of doors and into the world. Red lights flash as the airlock is broken, people rush for their masks, but he doesn’t care.
Bare feet hit the pavement, the sun shines on brand new skin. He takes a deep breath of fresh, crisp air for the first time in his life. Somewhere in the distance something is chirping, that must be on the other side of the wall.
Gary spins around, braid swinging behind him wildly, taking in everything. It’s all so vibrant, gorgeous in ways earth had never been for him. His chest heaves, his tail stands alert behind him, his ears are pressed forwards. He has a thousand new ways to express himself that he never had before. He thinks he might love it.
“Easy there, soldier.” Price chides, though he doesn’t really sound mad. Was it this amazing for him his first time? “You can run around when we get off base.”
“We’re going out there?” Gary asks, peering over the wall. He can just barely see the tops of the trees looming just beyond. All of the stories he had heard painted this world as dangerous. Gorgeous, but dangerous. Laswell had just warned him that everything out there wanted him dead.
That doesn’t make him want to go out there any less, though. He has been in his fair share of dangerous places over his eight years of service but nowhere near as beautiful as here. And in a whole new body nonetheless. It’s exciting.
“Way out there.” Price confirms, throwing one arm around his shoulders. Gary looks at him in surprise, their tails thwap against each other. “We are going to introduce you to the natives, we are working closely with them on this project. It is important that you are respectful to them and can work with them.”
Gary nods along with him, following after Price as he leads them away from the base, towards the air field.