LOG-005."Out of the way-out of the way! Excuse me! Move!"It wasn't often that Grace missed important events. Part of her job was to keep on top of things like that, whenever possible.Sadly she couldn't be everywhere at once, so being told that she'd effectively slept through an entire first contact situation with an entire different clan while teaching Sylwanin and Neytiri pronouns was…well.Disastrous was a decent word for it. God knew what that moron Selfridge, or worse, that lunatic Quaritch had done in her absence.So it was with only a slight hesitation at the feebleness of her merely human body that one Grace Augustine practically raced through parts of Hell's Gate's domestic sections, before finally coming to a stop near one of the assembly rooms.Breathing in slightly and once more lamenting her lack of proper Na'vi lungs, Grace took one glance to confirm the designator above the door was the same one that had been relayed to her by one of Quaritch's thugs, before shouldering her way inside."I'm here! I'm here-I...I…huh?"The sight that met her eyes was…novel, to say the absolute very least. For several reasons, actually."Augustine! About damn time you showed up. You know it says a lot that I had to step up and handle this, right? I mean ain't diplomacy your department?"Parker's usual irritating drawl was there, of course. But nothing could take the woman's eyes off of the frankly fascinating specimen currently standing in the center of the room.With a burrito in her hand. And what she was pretty sure was an air fryer under one arm-focus!"Selfridge, shut it. Hi! I'm Grace, it's an honour to-"The usual slip from English to Na'vi mid sentence came naturally these days, even as Grace's gaze roved across the peculiar local's form. Pale, incredibly so, actually. If it weren't for the slight blue tinge, she would have almost called it white. And the hair-"Oh, English is fine, actually. It's nice to meet you, mister Selfridge here was actually telling me a little about you before you got here."Blinking at the sudden interruption to both her thought process and meticulously curated Na'vi style greeting, Grace focused back on staring at the tall, burrito wielding woman's eyes.Beautiful things, with a pearlescent sheen that felt borderline alien compared to the usual gold that she'd gotten so used to over the years."Oh, has he now? And…I'm surprised you know our language, actually. You speak it rather fluently! You'll have to tell me where you picked it up from! And how did you…"Grace slowly trailed off as both human man and Na'vi woman bumped burritos together, finally noticing the pair of marines sitting nearby, their weapons holstered and similar food also held in their hands."I-I'm sorry, the burrito party is kind of throwing me off here. Why…are we having one?"Her metaphorical hackles raised as Selfridge shot that usual condescending smirk of his, waving his meal back and forth through the air, in stark contrast to the Na'vi currently vacuuming her own food next to him."Opal here-that's her name, by the way, has come a long way from Pandora's southern coasts to meet us. She and her clan are looking for medical aid. Quaritch had some medics check em over, and the results were apparently bad enough that we were better off waiting for you to finally wake up from your little nap in order to come take a look."Taking a bite, the man chewed for a moment, before swallowing and waving his burrito at her."Your welcome, by the way. You know, for establishing first contact with a whole new clan? One that's going to pay us back with some valuable insider knowledge in exchange for our generous assistance! Ain't that right Opal?"The words earned a quick nod from the Na'vi in question, who was quite literally in the process of licking off her fingers as she did so."Mhm-yep. I can explain a whole bunch. Medical attention first though, seriously. We're lucky no one has seized up since we got here."Eyes widening slightly Grace stepped forward, ignoring what she was pretty sure were two queues hanging from the woman's head for a moment and focusing on what was important, for now at least."Seized? Your people are having seizures?"Those pearlescent eyes stared at her for a second, before Opal (what a unique name for a Na'vi!) sighed, bringing up a hand to scratch at the back of her neck."Most of the clan…what's left of it at least, are in your hospital. You might want to sit down for this, it always takes a bit to explain…"—"You were certainly right about the heavy metal poisoning, I'm afraid. There's long lasting effects all throughout your body, ignoring your self described mutations possibly interacting with it in a strange manner. More interesting is the fact that I'm actually picking up trace deposits of unobtanium in your blood stream. I frankly didn't even know something like that was possible, really."Lying down on an honest to goodness bed was…amazing, after who knew (I knew, actually, the answer was nineteen) years spent without access to a mattress. Even if the feeling of tubes going into my body was slightly uncomfortable, alongside the mask strapped over my face to supply me with the right kind of oxygen."...Makes sense. I always knew there was something wrong with the water. Even before the algae came along. Clan leaders never listened, though."Better than what the humans had to deal with though. They'd die in five minutes if they went outside without one. I could last for significantly longer in their environment without collapsing."Well, they should have. Simply put, you're going to need stomach pumping. Skin cleansing. Full symptomatic care. The works. Your whole clan too, since they likely have the same issues. And that's not even getting into the unobtanium. I genuinely don't know how to fix that. Or if it even needs to be fixed, for that matter."Breathing in another lungful of Na'vi compatible air from my mask, I did my best to ignore the way the doctor's eyes continued to trail along my body, as if I were some kind of particularly interesting bug, instead idly bringing up a hand to scratch behind one of my ears."Well…I can't say this isn't exactly what I was hoping for. Better than what I can do, at least. Herbs and spices aren't exactly useful for this kind of stuff."The statement earned me a slight snort from the woman, even as she turned away from staring at me to glancing over the computer looking setup hooked up to the side of my bed."Mm. There's also…one other issue. How isolated was your clan again? And if you could tell me the general population numbers you had before the deaths started-"Grace froze as my tail gently slithered out and slid against her arm, gaze turning back to regard my now deadly serious expression."Miss Augustine, please be very honest with me. My clan was…small, even at our prime. And we did not interact much with others. Do you think…"There was a slight cringe in the doctor's own features, one that was enough to draw a pained moan from my lips as the same hand I'd used for scratching purposes palmed my face."Oh no…""It's not that bad!""I'm inbred!""I'm almost entirely certain your…unique features, have nothing to do with that! They're just too specific!""That doesn't change the fact that my parents and their parents and their parents were probably siblings!""...Okay that's technically almost definitely true but-""Augh!"