From the remote monitoring terminal, Rei Ayanami calmly recorded the telemetry. "Connection is stable. Physiological indicators are normal, and motor nerve adaptation is performing well. The target is exhibiting severe emotional fluctuations, characterized by extreme excitement."
Asuka curled her lip, tossing in her own commentary. "He's acting like a little kid who just got a new toy. Is it really that big of a deal?"
She couldn't fathom such an obsession with a mere biological body. After all, she had been dealing with far grander "bodies" like the EVAs since her childhood.
Shinji Ikari, however, spoke up softly. "He... he hasn't walked in a very long time. I can understand how he feels." To some extent, Shinji could empathize with that desperate yearning to feel "normal" and "whole."
Aboard the Pioneer, Osiris watched the real-time footage and data streams feed across his console. In his eyes, Jake Sully's sheer ecstasy over regaining his ability to walk merely exposed a profound flaw in the man's willpower—a nature easily driven and manipulated by base desires. To Osiris, a person who could so easily let their core stance waver just for a bit of sensory validation was practically guaranteed to become a traitor.
"Log all of his behavior during this adaptation phase," Osiris commanded. "Pay specific attention to his interactions with RDA personnel and Dr. Augustine's evaluation of him. Focus heavily on exactly when and how he begins making contact with the external environment."
The success of the initial link was only the first step. Next, under Grace's tutelage, Jake Sully would begin learning to control the Avatar body and gradually venture out into Pandora's wilderness. And that was precisely what Osiris was waiting for—the catalyst that would force Jake's trajectory to intersect with the Na'vi world.
A few days later, Jake was granted permission to conduct adaptive exercises within the fenced training grounds on the perimeter of the base. He ran like a wild horse breaking free from its reins, sprinting and leaping with abandon, thoroughly relishing the pure freedom this body granted him.
His performance was scrutinized by multiple parties through the training yard's surveillance network, as well as by the cloaked micro-drones deployed by the exploration team. Colonel Quaritch saw a potential scout; Parker Selfridge saw a corporate asset successfully activated; Grace Augustine saw an unruly student; but Osiris saw a chess piece slowly rolling down a pre-calculated groove.
Osiris knew that according to the "script," Jake would soon "accidentally" slip away from supervision during field training, encounter Pandora's apex predators, and ultimately be rescued by the Na'vi. That would mark his true infiltration into Na'vi society.
"Notify Rei's squad," Osiris ordered via his secure line. "Elevate the surveillance priority on the peripheral zones of the Omaticaya clan. Put a direct lock on Neytiri's movements. The moment the 'accident' occurs, we need to grasp the situation instantly and evaluate the psychological impact it will have on Sutai's small faction."
He stood rigidly before the main display screens, where the Pandoran jungle loomed with an ethereal, predatory vibrancy. Jake Sully was finally in position. The gears of fate were accelerating.
As the mastermind concealed in the shadows, Osiris had already completed every preparation required to intercept this chess piece and drop it into his own grand strategy. He would not only use Jake to draw out the radical resistance elements, but he would also ensure that this time, Eywa would never have the opportunity to launch a desperate, ecosystem-wide counteroffensive to overturn the battlefield. Every variable had to remain beneath his absolute control.
The progression of events followed the exact trajectory Osiris had mapped out through his core memory fragments.
During a nighttime wilderness adaptation run, Jake Sully's Avatar body was abruptly ambushed by a Thanator. Amidst the frantic, chaotic pursuit through the brush, Jake completely lost contact with the base. He was forced to fight for his life, entirely isolated within a lethal jungle. He wielded his Avatar body clumsily, looking thoroughly pathetic as he scrambled to fend off various smaller Pandoran predators.
Finally, just as he was about to be swarmed by a pack of Viperwolves, an Omaticaya hunting party materialized from the dark. Leading them was Neytiri, the agile, fierce daughter of the clan chief, Eytukan.
Neytiri and her companions effortlessly dispersed the Viperwolves. She stared down at this bumbling "Dreamwalker," whose awkward behavior was utterly alien to the surrounding environment, her mind a mix of deep suspicion and intense curiosity. Prompted by the guidance of Eywa—claiming she felt the deity's direct attention focusing on this precise event—she decided to bring the lost Dreamwalker back to Hometree.
High up in the canopy, hidden among the dense foliage, the exploration team's camouflaged micro-drones captured every second of the encounter and beamed the footage back.
"Target Jake Sully has established contact with the Na'vi. Rescuer confirmed as Neytiri, daughter of Eytukan," Rei reported flatly, routing the live feed directly to the Pioneer.
On the screen, Jake was looking up at the towering blue humanoids. His gaze lingered on Neytiri's wild, striking features and sharp eyes, appearing both terrified and utterly captivated. He tried to stammer out a few basic Na'vi words that Grace had drilled into him, but to little effect.
"Hmph, so the 'hero rescued by the beauty' play begins?" Asuka remarked, a subtle hint of mockery lacing her tone as she watched the display. "Look at the way that guy stares at the alien woman. Disgusting."
Shinji focused more on the tactical display. "That sector... it's not far from where Sutai and her people usually operate. I wonder if Sutai will find out about this."
Osiris stared at the real-time display, his eyes utterly cold. Jake Sully's blatant, undisguised fascination and readiness to embrace a xenos species only reinforced his initial assessment: the man was a textbook traitor.
Yet, this was exactly what he needed.
"Trace the exact route they take back to Hometree, and log the treatment Jake receives within the clan," Osiris commanded. "Rei, have your squad stand by. The process of Jake being integrated by the Na'vi will inevitably trigger internal friction within the tribe. This is our perfect window to deepen our alignment with Sutai's moderate faction."
He switched frequencies to Mann's channel. "Mann, what is the reaction at Hell's Gate regarding Jake's 'disappearance'?"
Mann responded almost instantly. "Colonel Quaritch is absolutely furious. He attributes this entirely to Grace's poor management and Sully's sheer recklessness. He has dispatched search parties, but their search radius is heavily restricted. Dr. Augustine is frantic; she insists Jake is still alive and has likely made contact with the indigenous population. As for Selfridge, his stance is to wait and see, provided the Avatar asset itself isn't permanently damaged."
"Excellent," Osiris noted with a cold nod. "Keep monitoring them, but do not intervene in the RDA's search operations. Let Jake 'study' among the Na'vi a little longer."
Just as Osiris anticipated, Jake Sully's arrival inside the Omaticaya tribe caused an immediate uproar.
Traditionalists like Eytukan and the aggressive Tsu'tey were profoundly distrustful of him. They viewed him as a sophisticated new ploy by the Sky People and vociferously argued for his immediate exile or execution.
However, Neytiri stood firm on the signs of Eywa, insisting this Dreamwalker was different. Furthermore, after communion with Eywa via the Tree of Souls, the Tsahík, Mo'at, also detected a faint, shifting "possibility." She eventually swayed Eytukan into granting Jake a chance. He would be allowed to learn the ways of the Na'vi, and in doing so, prove whether he possessed any true worth.