Not the End

4 - The Lab

-- One week later--

At the base, the sun is always shining. The forest allows in light, but there is nothing like full sun, I love the feeling of sun all over her skin. Lately I have been talking to Norm a lot, he is helping me learn more about the technology that let humans sync into their Avatar bodies. Today he is going to show me the room where Grace's avatar is kept. 

"Good morning!" Norm greets me at the door. "You aren't the only visitor today. The whole gang is here!" He says dorkily, making me giggle. 

"How often do you get in your avatar?" I ask norm as we make our way through this maze of a building. 

"Well, really only when it is necessary, I don't know, I like to be human around humans, I guess." He says, kind of uncertain. 

"That makes sense to me." I reply, shrugging.

"Okay, here we are." Norm opens the door with a grand gesture. I slowly enter the massive room, there are a bunch of the gel beds around the room, like in the pod at the battlefield. In the middle of the room, there are a bunch of desks, up a few stairs, lies Grace. She is in a giant glass tank with blue liquid, hooked up to a bunch of wires. On top of the tank sits another young Na'vi, maybe a season or two younger then me. She is staring down at Grace. I look between the two of them, realizing they look eerily similar. We walk around the tank, where there is another human boy, covered in blue stripes, dresses like a Na'vi. He even has his hair in dreads... I try not to stare.

"Safi, this is Kiri and Spider. Guys, this is Safi." Norm introduces us. I give them a small, close lipped smile.

"Uh, hi." I say, distracted by the mystery lying in front of me.

"Hello, this is my mom." Kiri says, gesturing to Grace. I smile and nod, but inside, I am full of questions.

"I have heard wonderful things about her." I say to Kiri, looking at Grace as I walk closer to the tank.

"Yes, she is wonderful." Kiri says, hugging the glass.

"Well the biggest mystery about Grace is how she managed to give birth after she passed, which we have been trying to understand, well, since Kiri was born." Norm says, stroking his chin. Kiri jumps down off the tank as Norm starts one of Grace's video logs, before walking away to talk to Max. I pay more attention to Grace's avatar twitching in the tank than I do the video, until I see Lo'ak walk over. He watches the video for a few seconds, before a smirk appears on his face.

"So, who do you think knocked her up?" He says with a straight face. I stare at him wide eyed, the human boy laughs. "Pretty sure it was Norm." Kiri turns angrily. 

"You do not deserve to live." She states, looking between the two of them. I am staying out of this. 

"No, I mean, think about it right? He's the teacher's pet. He's out at the lab with her all the time." Lo'ak explains to Kiri, the weird human kid is still smiling. 

"I would kill myself." Kiri says, "I would drink acid."

"Bro you're right he's like in every shot." Spider speaks up. "Look! Like, he's giving her looks!" He covers his face as he laughs. 

"Hey." Kiri says to Spider angrily, his stops laughing and loses the smile instantly. 

"See, I'm thinking, their two avatars go out in the woods..." He pauses, bringing his hand to his chest. "All alone..."

Kiri shoves him back and shouts, "Gross!" Lo'ak laughs, he and Kiri smile at each other. 

"Guys." Spider chimes in. "Sometimes, it's not so great to know who your father was."  They all go silent. I hold my breath, the awkwardness is crazy. Why are they hanging out with this guy? Kiri stares at him sadly, Lo'ak looks almost disgusted. "Whatever. Don't even remember him." He mumbles, turning to face the tank. I pretend I was watching Grace the whole time.