ꎇ꒒ꌩꀤꈤꁅ ꅏꀤ꓄ꃅ ꓄ꃅꍟ ꂦꂵꍏ꓄ꀤꀘꍏꌩꍏ (ꍏꃴꍏ꓄ꍏꋪ ꊼ ꂦꉓꌗ)

\\ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟚//

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The next morning Grace, Norm, Nate, and Jake approach their link units. Jake glances through a pressure window. In an adjoining chamber, Jake sees all three of their Avatars lying on gurneys, breathing in the Pandoran air. All three are attended by med techs in exo-masks.

"How much link time have you logged?" Grace asks Norm as they walk toward their Link chambers.

"Umm, about Five hundred and twenty hours." Norm answers, fiddling with his fingers.

Grace pauses for a second turning to look at Norm.

"That's good," She nodded approvingly.

"You're in there," She points at Link 2, and Norm heads toward it.

"You're here," She walks with Jake as they stop at Link 3.

"Nathan you're in 5," Grace comments, pointing to the Link Chamber two links down.

"Yes ma'am," Nate heads off.

"How much have you logged?" Grace questioned Jake.

"Like... an hour," Jake answers wheeling up to the chamber.

"Tell me you're joking." Grace slowly turns to look at the ex-marine.

"This is cool," Jake smiles as he squishes the fluid gel packs lining the unit.

"Let's do this!" Norm calls and both he and Nate excitedly jump into their Links.

Jake starts hauling himself across from his wheelchair. Grace reaches to help him but Jake stops her.

"Don't! I got this."

Grace steps back, hands raised. Jake drags himself into the unit.

"So you just figured you'd come out here to the most hostile environment known to man, with no training of any kind, and see how it went? What was going through your head?" Grace asked.

Jake meets her eyes with a defiant glare.

"Maybe I was sick of doctors telling me what I couldn't do." He chirps, causing Grace to turn to look at him with a displeased look.

Grace watches him laboriously pull his inert legs into the link chair by hand, silently huffing at the action. Jake settles into the warm gel foam as it seems to enfold him, he turns his head left to see if he can see Nate, however, His view is blocked by the lid of Nate's chamber lid. Grace adjusts Jake's biometric sensors, then lowers the upper clamshell.

"Just Relax and let your mind go blank. That shouldn't be hard for you." Grace comments cheekily as she pulls the Link hood down.

"Kiss the darkest part of my lily white~" Jake tries to make a comeback but the slamming hood muffles it.

"Initiate link."

The link tech touches some controls on a large monitor, and a 3D scan of Jake's brain appears. Regions of activity flow with complex shifting colors. Max pulls up the scan onto a hand-held monitor and walks to the gallery window to the room the Avatars lay in.

"That's a gorgeous brain. Nice activity."

"Hmm, go figure." Grace comments following after him.

"Alright, I'm going in." She then turns away and heads to her link.

Max watches a display showing the avatar's nervous system aligning with Jake's and Nate's, two ghostly networks of light merging. Inside Jake and Nate's minds, radiant streamers coalesce into a pulsing tunnel of light resolving into an overexposed, out-of-focus image. Two blurry faces wearing masks, appear in sight looking down, moving from side to side every so often. Golden irises pulse with life, the eyelids of the Avatars snapping open as the little black pupil expands and contracts into focus.