:'(..

Chapter 10 - Conclusions Reached

At the Forest Preserve headquarters, a spirited debate was occurring amongst the gathered Board members. At issue was accepting the highest bid on the West Sector shops or holding out for a better offer.

The fact that the Board had an odd number of members guaranteed once a vote was taken, there would be a decisive outcome. Knowing this caused both sides to dig in their heels even more so than usual. Clare Moll, a high school social studies teacher, spoke first.

"We should just take what we can get. We're not going to get any other offers!"

"How do you know that?" retorted Brad Campbell, a local businessman. "The bidding is open for another two weeks!"

"The high bidder is threatening to lower their bid unless we accept" countered Clare.

"That's illegal!" spluttered Abby Sullivan, an attorney with a local practice. "They knew when the bid was submitted that excepting of clerical errors, no modifications were permitted. They signed on the dotted line!"

Kent Clarkson, a Forest Ranger and Ranger Policeman for twenty-five years before retiring, spoke up.

"We lose nothing by waiting, what's the hurry to seal this deal? The law is clearly on our side."

Hernando Sanchez, banker, pointed out that "If we close early, we'll have more time to begin rehabilitation of existing properties with the money we receive, whatever that amount is. We may be able to finish the reconstruction early and under-budget. The community always likes that."

"Yeah, and you'll be sued by anyone who was wanting to bid after we close but before the actual closing date that we specified" snapped Abby. "We're obligated to keep that posting open until the set close date. There's really not a discussion to be had here."

Kim Park and Shaunda Harris didn't say anything. As two of the three newest members of the board, with the least experience in matters both business and finance, they generally kept their mouths shut. They were surprised at Clare's outspokenness on this issue (the three of them were all newly-elected).

The fight over the tax levy had caused everyone to be on edge. Anything seemed to be pretext for a full-throttle debate these days. Though things rarely reached any level of incivility, the frequency of lengthy debates had risen sharply, much to the Board's dismay. Kent Clarkson and Hernando Sanchez were fully in favor of restoring the property-tax levy. Park, Harris and Moll all came in as anti-levy, though only Moll actually campaigned against the levy. Since then, Moll and Harris had softened their opposition in exchange for a discussion of reducing various fees charged to Forest Preserve users (boat rental, permits, camping).


Dr. Arnold Ross was busy analyzing the "sampLOLZ" he'd taken. He labeled them as such to both avoid suspicion (he always gave his samples weird names--no one then touched then) and remind himself what these samples were from. Culturing the cheek cells was tricky as they did not want to seem to grow on standard agar plates. Ross only had a limited number of the cells to start, and he wished to avoid going back to get more samples.

Analysis of the blood samples provided far more immediate results. The red-cell concentration was very high--almost 8 million per micro-liter of blood (by comparison, human females have 4-5 million per micro-liter). However, many of these cells contained a surprisingly low amount of hemoglobin compared to humans. Perhaps this was a figment of the alien's physiology, but it seemed remarkably inefficient to have many red blood cells with low hemoglobin content rather than fewer cells with a richer supply of hemoglobin.

This alien, Neytiri, had reported (and Dr. Ross had observed) tiredness, shortness of breath and muscle weakness. She seemed to be winded very easily, but did not look unfit. She'd also mentioned that she felt heavy, clumsy and uncoordinated. It would be easy to blame whatever event brought her to Earth for this, except that was weeks ago! Dr. Ross had not seen "Avatar" but now found himself sucked into a world he thought was entirely fictional. Fictional, except for the ten-foot blue woman who he had been asked to treat.

At first, Dr. Ross had been confused. These "Na'vi" had much more in common (at least on the surface) with humans than animals. Why did they not try to find a doctor of human medicine? Team Neytiri (Sarah, Steven and Lauren) responded that human doctors would have tried to pile on all sorts of "human" treatments which weren't known to be compatible with Na'vi physiology. Further, if they ever had to go see such a doctor at his or her office, it might cause a problem in the waiting room. A veterinary practice usually had far fewer people waiting around than Spirit of Her Holy Grace Hospital. Fewer people to avoid. It would also be easier to sneak Neytiri into the "large animal" treatment bay than to try to clear out the ER or "large patient handling room" at Grace Hospital.

Based on reading the (now questionably) fictional Pandorapedia, Ross noted that the gravity on this moon was lower than Earth's, 80% of it in fact. If a life-form was exposed to a higher-gravity environment than it was used to living in, at some point the life-form should begin adjusting in certain ways. For example, increased muscle mass would be expected since the daily task of moving was suddenly made more difficult. It would be akin to wearing arm and ankle weights 24/7. Though nothing was written about the exact levels of oxygen in Pandora's air, Ross inferred it might be higher than Earth's. If this was true, it would explain the high red-cell counts. Similar to people who trained at high altitudes for marathons, Neytiri might be experiencing an oxygen shortage. If that was true, then she would require greater quantities of hemoglobin, which came from iron.

Most of the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. If all these assumptions were true, Neytiri was weak because of the high gravity and insufficient iron in her diet to compensate for the thinner air. Iron supplements would fix this! Ross placed an order for high-concentration prescription-grade iron supplements.

ZZZZZZZZT! A paper slid out of the printer. Ross thought nothing of it. All orders were recorded both to the computer's hard drive (PDF) and printed out as a hard-copy.

Chapter 11 - Union

After a long discussion with lawyers from the businesses making the bid and the Forest Preserve's own legal department, the Board voted to keep the bidding open.

"We essentially voted to obey the law, which we shouldn't have to debate like this" sighed an exasperated Sullivan. This set off a small consternation from other members, along the lines of "Stop rubbing it in that you were right."

Kim Park spoke up, which was a rare occurrence. "It's over and done with. There's nothing to be gained by endlessly talking about the past. Just let it go! We agreed on this decision, let's follow it."

The rest of the Board agreed, for once. Packing up notepads and laptops, they adjourned for the day.

Dr. Chet Chambers did one last round of the animals in the Recovery Ward. As one of the four founders of Chambers, Aleema, Ross and Erickson Veterinary Hospital (they'd only noticed that the names spelled out "CARE" after the name had been finalized), Chambers was the "last one out" today. To keep morale up and as part of the "I'll do what you do" policy, at least once a week, one of the founders would do the opening and another would do the closing. Though the four doctors received the largest paychecks (at least twice that of the second-highest paid employees), they tried not to let it go to their heads. This was part of it.

Walking into the office area, Chet noticed a single sheet of paper sticking out of the printer.

"High Concentration Iron Supplements - Horse - 50mg"

He was confused. "We don't have any horses right now" he muttered. Why would Dr. Ross order supplements for horses? It wasn't even a "courtesy order" for a friend or family as no one in Ross's immediate family had anything to do with horses, and none of his friends (that Chet knew of) rode. It wasn't that much money either, seven dollars. What was odd were the overnight shipping charges ($25). Whatever Ross needed this for, he needed it now. Chambers wasn't about to question his colleague, and opened the door at the front of the practice and headed to his car.

The iron supplements arrived the next day. Ross brought them to Neytiri's latest hiding place, Sam Fisher's house. Sam's wife had died after a long battle with cancer a few years back, so the sixty-five year old lived by himself. Sam owned a much larger house than one person could ever practically use. A federal judge (now retired) who'd married rich, Fisher lived large. His wife's investments paid handsome dividends, which is where he got the money for the Escalade. On a whim, Sam bought a Tesla Roadster as well. Having had four children, the large house was useful years ago but since the kids moved out and his wife Sherry passed away, the place felt empty.

Neytiri had brought some life to it, but because of Sam's frequent fishing trips, she could not live here long-term. Neytiri had been placed in the guest room with the curtains drawn and a soft light on. Her condition had continued to deteriorate, which distressed Sarah and Steven greatly. Steven and Sarah, however, were forcibly removed from the immediate situation by their departures to their respective colleges. Lauren took what few personal days she had in order to care for Neytiri upon the departure of the Team's two youngest founding members, but with only a week of vacation Lauren would soon be removed from the picture as well.

The growth of Team Neytiri had thankfully been slow. However, they couldn't just write the existence of an alien that they'd shown to a small number of other humans off as some kind of trick. Team Neytiri would have to be somehow "weaned off" of the few visits they'd been allowed to have. Of course, that could create a problem, since the other (newer) members would think they were being excluded for some unjustifiable reason. Sarah and Steven were leaving for college tomorrow, so it was imperative for them to figure out a quick solution.

Dr. Ross had administered the iron supplements, but from samples taken the next morning, things didn't look like any improvements were being had. Her physical condition had not improved, and the signs of malnutrition had become more pronounced. Steven and Sarah called an emergency meeting of the Team based on this turn of events. In addition to the police, Lauren, Sam, the fishermen, Dr. Ross and the people that had blundered into the situation at the park, five members had been added. Everyone arrived at Sam's house by noon. Had anyone known of the fight that would result, some would have argued that the whole meeting was unnecessary.

The idea that Neytiri was going to be sheltered away from everyone ran counter to the entire purpose of the Team. For over two hours, a heated (and sometimes less than civil) debate occurred around Sam's dining room table. In the end, Sarah and Steven were happy to go to off to college. The team wasn't going to splinter, but relations had definitely been impacted negatively, perhaps permanently. Four members quit, or tried to. They were reminded that "what was seen cannot be unseen" and hence, they were part of the Team until death. These four resolved to have nothing further to do with the Team.

Dr. Ross was perpetually the bearer of bad news with this enterprise. But that is why he was brought in, to advise on the medical health of this strange creature. Whether that health was excellent or poor, he was not going to hold back his opinion.

"Hey!" Ross ensured the tone of his voice was sharp enough to grab everyone's attention, but not angry sounding or confrontational. He waited until absolutely everyone, including the four who'd chosen to sever their connection with the Team were facing him. He had a hard time finding the words, even though they were simple to say.

"We may never meet like this again. Given what I have observed in my samples, I think…I think…" Ross choked on his words. He knew what he had to say. Screwing his courage to its sticking point, he finally blurted it out, without saying what he meant directly in English or Na'vi. He didn't want to.

"Eywa ngahu, ma tsmuke."

Chapter 12 - Endgame

The entire Team stood in shock. It took perhaps twenty seconds for reaction to show. A combination of wailing and screaming took over the room. Some fell to their knees, while others collapsed into each other. While the phrase technically meant "Eywa be with you, my sister" it translated more as "Good-bye, my sister."

Denial kicked in right away. Voices spoke in a frenzied storm.

"We should get another opinion!"

"He treats animals, what can he possibly know?"

"Someone did something wrong, someone had to have screwed up!"

"Call 9-1-1!"

"F--k the secrecy, take her to Grace Medical!"

Though the chants in Na'vi which were shown in the movie were short, as soon as one person started others began to follow. Joined together in one swaying mass, they repeated as best they could the prayer issued by Mo'at asking for Eywa's intercession on behalf of Grace.

It took perhaps fifteen minutes to calm everyone down enough to have an orderly discussion. Even then, conversation was interrupted by the occasional sob or sniffle.

"I don't know how Neytiri arrived here" began Dr. Ross, "but she is clearly not of this world and cannot survive here much longer. The iron supplements I gave her should have started showing an effect on the density of hemoglobin in her red cells by now, but the cells have actually shown a decrease in the amount of hemoglobin."

A broken voice spoke: "So what does that mean?" Any thoughts of cutting replies ("Try English" or "Quit with the doctor-speak") were forgotten in the gravity of the moment.

"Her blood isn't carrying enough oxygen. Internal organs are beginning to shut down" was the strained reply. "Her body is making a lot of extra red blood cells in an attempt to compensate, but it's not enough. It's like spreading butter over too much bread. The high gravity isn't helping, either."

Dr. Ross took another sample. It probably wouldn't do him much good, but he had a feeling.

Through this, Sarah and Steven's parents had shown up, angry that the two had not returned to their respective homes to leave for school. "You were supposed to be home by 2 o'clock!" snapped Sarah's irritated mother. "We've been waiting for you and you could have at least called" added Steven's father.

Sarah wanted to slap her mother for being so insensitive, but in the back of her head she knew her mom couldn't possibly be aware of what was happening.

Dr. Ross stood up, and introduced himself to the irate parents.

"I'm Dr. Arnold Ross. The reason your children are still here is because their very dear friend is most likely dying." There. He'd said it. He'd tried to avoid it, but these parents were only going to make a fragile situation fall into chaos if they were not quickly pacified. Vocalization of the word "dying" brought a fresh round of sobbing from the assembled crowd.

Ann and Conner Truebeck looked as if they'd been paralyzed. Here they were berating their child for being late. How insensitive could they possibly be? When Scooter, the family dog, had died, Sarah was distraught for a week. Regardless of regarding Neytiri as an exotic pet of some kind, they did understand that the loss of, whatever Neytiri was, would be devastating.

Robbie and Katrina Whitter were just as shocked. Steven hadn't really seemed to be the emotional type. When faced with situations like this, Steven usually became stoic and quiet. Instead, tears were streaming down his reddened and puffy face. He turned away from his parents, nearly tripping trying to get to Neytiri, who lay on the floor looking quite pitiable. Grabbing Neytiri around the shoulders the best he could (accommodating her 9-foot plus height), he pulled her into an awkward upper-body hug. She could barely muster the strength to turn her now-dull amber eyes to look at him.

"Chet, I'm kind of busy right now…no, I'm not at the office…I'm at a friend's on a housecall"

The low hiss of Arnold Ross on his BlackBerry caused everyone to look up.

"No, we don't have any horses, the iron was for…can we talk later?"

Chet had noticed something odd at the office, prompting the phone call. Odder than usual, at any rate. Arnold had left his computer unlocked (which was unlike him), and it was open to a website called "Avatar-Wiki." Arnold Ross was not a science fiction fan by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, he went out of his way to avoid the craziness surrounding that movie "Avatar." So why was he reading about it? And furthermore, what was with the "sampLOL" on his desk, open, and for that matter, the scribbled notes that seemed to be a summary of content on the page ("Pandora")? Had Ross finally cracked?

There was a long silence from Dr. Ross. Then "2203 West River Drive." The BlackBerry went back into his pocket.

"It can't hurt" he thought. One of the things Arnold liked about Chet was that he and Arnold complemented each other and filled each other's gaps. If one got stuck on a problem, the other would most likely come up with what the first was missing.

"Who did you bring in?" demanded Michelle. "We don't need vultures hovering over Neytiri!"

"Chet Chambers is not a vulture" responded Ross in a severe tone. "Regardless of the outcome here, having him look can't hurt."

Dr. Chambers literally didn't know what to expect. He'd just been told that "I need someone else to look at a patient I have" and little else. Yes, it was related to the horse iron supplements, but Ross hadn't said how. He also hadn't said why the house call was in the middle of the wealthiest section of the suburbs, where no large animals were even kept as per zoning laws.

And what this had to do with "Avatar" he had no clue.

...Keep writing... I can't stand these cliffhangers any more :(

Chapter 13 - Dodge

Arriving at the stated destination, Dr. Chet Chambers could not possibly be more lost. He was physically there--the GPS built into the dash of his Mercedes-Benz ensured that. But he was clueless as to what crazy Arnold Ross had gotten himself into this time. Ross was brilliant, that much was for sure. He pioneered several types of micro-surgery technique for use on small animals. Incidentally, these techniques were first tested on a baby raccoon found near a forest preserve. Two children had brought it into the office, and though Chambers had tried as gently as possible to explain to them that there was very little anyone could do, Dr. Ross took the raccoon anyway.

Ross had occupied the entire surgical suite for six hours--thank heavens no one had come in with something else. In the end, the raccoon made a near-full recovery.

The Forest Preserve's nature center began sending its most badly-injured patients to Ross. Though his success rate was only in the neighborhood of 45%, it was better than a guaranteed 0% had these critically injured animals remained under the care of lesser-skilled veterinarians who'd written them off.

So Ross was a nutty philanthropist. That still didn't explain a rush-order of horse supplements or a house that had no apparent large-animal accommodations.

"I'm not going to find out anything by standing out here speculating to myself" thought Chambers. He pushed the doorbell. Ross opened the door to a house that seemed to have most of its lights off. Chet could barely see past Dr. Ross. In the fading but still usable light of this crisp autumn afternoon, such a lighting arrangement was unexpected.

"Do come in." Ross gestured toward a room behind him, where Chambers could see a single soft blue light. Stepping deeper into the house, he noticed people. Lots of people. He'd seen all the cars on the street and figured someone was having a party, but he hadn't thought much of it at the time. No one was dressed up, and he'd never seen any of these people before. He could swear he saw tears glistening on some cheeks, but chalked it up to the strange lighting. Finally arriving in the room with the blue light, Chambers nearly hit his head on the doorframe as he jumped. A large, blue, woman-like creature (who wasn't doing very well from the looks of her) lay on the floor, surrounded by still more people.

Turning to Ross, he hissed "What in God's name is that? Is this the reason for the iron supplements?"

Ross explained as quickly as possible what he'd found.

"You’re telling me that we have a sick alien here?" blustered Chambers. He'd thought Arnold Ross was a bit off his rocker saving small birds and mammals who bred like rabbits, but this was a record.

"You'll wake up in bed and go to work. This isn't happening. That James Cameron movie did not just take up residence in this house. This isn't happening." Chambers repeated this over and over in his head.

Still, even if this was a dream, that didn't alter the existence of a sick…giant person? Chambers understood why these people had called for someone other than a human doctor, but was still not sure what this "Neytiri" was.

"Do we know anything about Na'vi physiology?" He turned to Arnold.

"No, nothing other than this book here (he held up a copy of 'Avatar: A Confidential Report on the Biological and Social History of Pandora') and the website you mentioned seeing on my computer."

"Most of which was drawn from this book" he added.

"Well, I hope you don't mind me poking around your desk, but I looked at those cells in that dish." Usually, Ross didn't mind, but you never knew with his quirky projects.

"Did you find anything?" Arnold Ross could feel the "magic" of "the RoC" (which is what the others called Chambers and Ross once they got heavily involved in a project together) building.

"Yeah. And if that sample was from" Chambers gestured at Neytiri, "her, then you actually have a very simple problem. One we can fix with a trip to Walgreen's, most likely."

Sometimes, Arnold Ross went for complicated solutions when they weren't necessary. In his desire to be as cerebral as possible, he'd occasionally overlook the obvious since it was, in his view, "too easy." Or, he just wouldn't think of it, immediately jumping into complicated and technical resolutions to problems. This was such a case.

"So, what'd I miss, Captain Obvious?" This was another part of the repartee between Ross and Chambers. Ross was "Walking Cerebellum" and Chambers was "Captain Obvious."

"The cells won't culture because the cells are essentially dead. They don’t appear so because these, Na'vi, their cells are very resilient. I think if they were placed among living cells, they might come back to life."

Chambers wasn't being his usual "in-your-face-look-what-you-missed" self. "So, what, exactly, did I miss?" inquired Ross.

"These cells died because they could not use their ATP. Without magnesium, ATP is not biologically active. Cells need working ATP to function. My guess is that the Na'vi require far more magnesium than was found in the food we were feeding" Chambers paused. He'd forgotten the creature's name.

"Neytiri" interjected Sarah.

"Yes. Neytiri. She didn't have enough magnesium in her diet, and the extra gravity compounded the problem. Her cells needed more energy to adapt to the harsh environment, but instead were getting less since she didn't have enough ATP. The requirement for more oxygen just placed another strain on her body."

"So, it's like trying to tow a boat trailer with a Yugo" interjected Bruce, one of the fishermen, in fact the one who'd pulled a gun on Neytiri only a few weeks ago.

"Essentially, yes, to use a rather interesting analogy" concluded Dr. Chambers.

Several people moved at once, and someone shouted "What are we waiting for? Let's get ourselves some magnesium!"

:'( :(

Argh! Now you made the cliffhanger even worse! Write faster or I will never forgive you!

Chapter 14 - Cures

"Now hold on a second!" Dr. Ross interrupted the crowd's exuberance. At least it wasn't bad news this time. "We're probably going to need a very large quantity of highly-concentrated magnesium to do this right. Yeah, we should get some from a store, but it would be better to order animal-grade supplements after that since it would be less expensive and possibly more effective."

The original team (Sarah, Steven and Lauren) hopped into Sarah's Prius. There was a Walgreen's about five blocks away. Arriving at the store, they dashed out of the car. Finding the supplements section, they grabbed as many bottles as would fit in their hands.

Unlike cold medicine (which could be distilled into methamphetamines and had been recently restricted in some states) there existed no restriction on purchases of magnesium supplements. The checkout clerk did give them a very weird look, to which Sarah replied "Uhh…horse problems!"

"Okay ma'am, that will be $337.81…" The clerk's voice trailed off. This was even weirder than that couple who came in to buy what seemed to be every box of condoms on the shelf. Thirty-seven bottles of magnesium supplements? "Weird, just ring it up and they will leave," she thought.

And leave they did. You'd think they were chased out of the store at the speed they left. Hearing a screech of tires immediately following, she figured "They must really be in a hurry."

Arriving back at Sam's house, the three nearly tripped over each other trying to be the first to get to Neytiri with the (hopefully) life-saving supplements. Neytiri was barely conscious, but was able to swallow three pills.

Now all everyone could do was wait. Sarah and Steven left (under protest) to return to their respective Universities. Lauren agreed to stay with Sam to care for Neytiri until her personal time at the Forest Preserve ran out in a week. The rest of the Team exhibited varying willingness to leave. In the end, Drs. Ross and Chambers, in addition to Allison and Michelle (being Dr. Ross's daughters) ended up staying with Sam. The rest dispersed on the promise of future visits "when Neytiri is better."

"Now" Dr. Ross cautioned, "this treatment will take time to manifest itself, but given the rapidity of the decay in Neytiri's health upon her arrival, I think it's safe to say that the turnaround should be similarly quick unless some kind of lasting damage was done."

"That we have no way of knowing about" added Chambers.

"I believe she is out of immediate danger" continued Ross, "so I don't believe we need to be here all the time. Here's my phone number in case something goes wrong…"

Lauren programmed Ross and Chambers into her phone. Hopefully she wouldn't need to call them. As much of a relief as it was to know Neytiri was (most likely) out of immediate danger, the question of where she should live had never been settled. Being a Friday, Lauren had only used one day of seven. She'd stay with her father and care for Neytiri until next Thursday. After that, she had no idea what was going to happen. She did know the bidding on the Forest Preserve property closed one week and six days from today.

"No" she thought. "I won't even bring it up. I'm not asking him."

As if on cue, Sam appeared behind her. "Something's bothering you. I can tell." He placed his hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"Well…it's just…I don't know where Neytiri is going to live. We can't just keep her in your house forever."

"And why not? I'm not using this space, hell no one ever will. I can put the TV in my office." Sam gestured at his 72" 3D HDTV. He didn't understand what was wrong with Neytiri living in his house occupying space no one used.

"The Na'vi live outdoors. They don't venture inside except for shelter from the elements. And I the neighbors would ask questions" Lauren finished.

"Well, she could live in a Forest Preserve. We have a hundred thousand acres of land that was closed to development, purchased by the county and turned into these 'green' areas."

Sam wasn't getting it. "And how would she eat? We've been literally spoon-feeding her! How do you think it would go over with the Rangers for a big blue woman to be hunting ducks and deer in the Forest Preserve? What about other people who she might run into?"

"She wouldn't run into any other people" Sam retorted. "I can guarantee you that." He held up a piece of paper. Lauren snatched it out of his hand and began perusing it.

It was a bid for the West Sector Shops.

"Awww, Dad!" Lauren couldn't believe it. First off, what even made him think of this, and secondly, did he realize that his bid was low? "$13 million isn't going to cut it. When I was at work, someone was talking about a $17 million bid."

"Honey, it may be low, but it doesn't matter if no one else is bidding." Sam crossed his arms.

"How can you be so sure? There was…"

Sam cut her off. "You remember what I used to do for a living? 'Determine how long the bad man's time-out was going to be?'" (this is how he'd described his federal judgeship to a young Lauren). "People owe me. The Chief of Police, the local DA, they owe me big."

"You're not telling me you…" Lauren stood slack-jawed. Had her father actually muscled people like the politicians of old?

"Those other bidders…had a, sudden loss of interest in the property" Sam concluded. "The guy who wanted to build condominiums found tax-evasion charges from ten years ago staring him in the face again, the auto-shop wannabe's record of selling stolen cars caught up with him and the office-developer's credit rating is suddenly under increased scrutiny." Sam looked at Lauren as if this should be a satisfactory explanation.

"Oh" he added. "I'm also making a $7.5 million donation on top of the bid for 'maintenance of preserves and programs' that will allow re-opening of the other boat dock at Blue Water."

Lauren couldn't believe it. Here was her father, who'd sentenced dozens of white collar criminals to lengthy prison terms, acting in a small way like the ones he'd put behind bars for terms as long as 20 years.

Sam's phone rang. "Yes? Right. Of course. I'll be right there." Turning to Lauren, Sam gestured to the door "I have to go meet a friend, I'll be back in a few hours." With that, Sam grabbed the keys to his Escalade and left the house. He did not return before Lauren decided to sleep.

The next morning, Lauren decided to check in on Neytiri to see if the supplements had any effect.

"Oel ngati kameie, tsmuke."

Neytiri was awake, and a tiny bit of the color had returned to her eyes. Speaking those words, however, seemed to drain what little energy she had, and her eyes closed halfway. It seemed the magnesium supplements were having the desired effect. Drs. Ross and Chambers (who had been given house-keys for the duration of Neytiri's stay) were deep in conversation, sitting on the sofa.

"So I ground up one of those magnesium pills" Ross was saying. "And put it in with another culture I got this morning. The cells didn't die within hours as they did before."

"Well!" Chamber's excitement was evident. "That offers significant support to the idea that the Na'vi require a much larger amount of magnesium to maintain ATP levels than humans do."

"That would also explain why Neytiri is doing better today." Ross turned to see Lauren listening in.

"Lauren! We are both pretty confident these supplements should turn Neytiri's condition around within a week or two."

Lauren began dialing Steven's number to share the news.

:D :D :D :D :D

Yes... I am now no longer prepared to kill you over this.

What would everyone have done if I'd actually whacked Neytiri after Chapter 11?

Call in Kestor's Army.

a fate worse than death.

I love this story.

Killed you... :P

I'm not done, never fear! I just don't write unless I'm "inspired" (meaning "I gotta write this NOW or else I'm going to lose its awesomeness!") I can't force myself to write as in "Must do at least one chapter of fanfic before anything else." If I do that to myself hte quality plummets.