Banned because for those of you who actually care about my little novel project, do you think this is a good hook to post to DeviantArt?
A NOTE ON POLITICS
They Chose To Remain takes on a lot of political messages. Some of them are blatantly obvious, and some of them might not be so clear, but many of them can seem a little bit beyond the mainstream to most people- I try not to pay too much attention to party platforms and come to a position I think to be best for each individual issue, but my analysis of world events often puts me rather to the left of mainstream America, a bit less so on economic/environmental issues and maybe more than a bit more so on social and foreign policy, and I think this work reflects that.
I don't think the world of They Chose To Remain is the world we live in today. It's not even a direct allegory for the world we live in today. Instead, I've taken all of the negative trends of society and run them to their reasonable extreme. What I'm doing is using hyperbole to carry the beliefs and rhetoric of real people and movements to their logical conclusion, and thus showing what I see as their flaws.
You probably won't agree with me. You'll probably think I'm stark raving mad, and you have every right to do so (no pun intended- I hate puns). But hear me out. Because a lot of the ideas I'm proposing simply aren't said very often in the American political environment. And so I think they need to be considered, studied, and given a good, thorough peer-review. Sure, it's political. But a lot of great writing is political. I can read Ayn Rand and appreciate it, even though I don't agree with everything she suggests for a civilized economy, because Ayn Rand is a good writer, and she explains those ideas well and puts a position up for consideration that was for a long time neatly shunned from enlightened political debate.
Who knows? Maybe I'm actually wrong about some things. But if so, what's the harm in talking about it? I'm not screaming about some apocalyptic dystopia, and I'm not advocating any sort of violent insurrection, for my ideas or against them. I just want to make you all think.
In case the giant blue aliens didn't give it away, this is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to a real person, living and/or dead, is purely coincidental (except when it isn't).
INTRODUCTION
“I don't think this book of mine is ever going to be finished. I must have written five thousand pages by now, and thrown them all away. If I ever do finish it, though, I give you my word of honor: there won't be a part for Frank Sinatra or John Wayne”
-Kurt Vonnegut
Why [(am I writing)/(did I write)] They Chose To Remain? Well, to begin to answer that I would have to start with James Cameron's AVATAR. I saw it on New Years' Eve in 3D at the local chain-owned theater along with my family, and sort of liked it then. Sure, it had the bare minimum of a plot and some wonky tree-hugging undertones, but the visuals were incredibly stunning, the science at first glance checked out, and it seemed to be coming from the right (left, actually) place politically. It was better than Transformers by quite a margin, although certainly no District 9, so I'd just watch it, maybe add the soundtrack to my YouTube history, and be done with it, right?
Wrong. The more I thought about AVATAR, the more I realized it left me deeply, deeply dissatisfied. For a while I just ignored it, and went on about my regular business. But something always kept pulling me back. I started thinking about that movie. I even started coming up with imaginary situations, things like What if “Dr. Max” turned out to be a terrorist?, What if a third species of alien showed up? or Wouldn't it be fun to give the Na'vi the gift of technology, capitalize on their hatred of Humanity, lead them on a mission of revenge, and take over the world? (Most of my thoughts eventually devolve into “take over the world”).
But I didn't do anything, until it came time for me to embark on my second Model United Nations conference of the year, six hours away in Champagne, Illinois. My co-delegates and I got to watch a movie on the bus ride there, and, surprise surprise, the coach picked AVATAR. I watched it, and I realized something interesting. The movie was making me mad. Not just Transformers II-this-movie-sucks level of mad, either, but conspiracy-theorist, enraged-militarist, somebody-is-putting-a-nonsensical-opinion-in-the-form-of-scientific-fact-and-people-are-LISTENING mad.
And that's when it hit me. What was bothering me about AVATAR was not that it was a badly-made movie, or that it was such a good movie that posed any sort of a threat to District 9, but that it was such a colossal waste. I realized that the universe Cameron had created was actually fairly deep and open to all sorts of exploration, but that he had bought into and was promulgating an idealized “noble savage” idea that I really, really, really did not like. I have a number of issues with AVATAR- some are technical, some are aesthetic, some are moral, and all of them will be touched on in due course, but this fundamental message of forsaking modern civilization and living in “harmony” with nature is something I simply can't abide.
That was when I decided to write a better AVATAR. I would use that universe to its full potential, and force my message of technocracy, nihilism, and human empowerment down everybody's throat. And I would do it in style. I would do it with depth. I would do it right. Because I am always right. And so They Chose To Remain was conceived.
My objectives in writing this are simple. There are a number of messages I want to get across- my protest against the noble savage movement is obvious, of course; as a feminist, I took the liberty of screwing around with gender role whenever possible; and I've kicked criticism of the military into overdrive, even more so than I would normally do on account of the nearly universal pro-military cant in today's politics. However, I've also decided I want to touch on themes and issues I find interesting such as guilt, power, unusual technical/scientific questions, and the like, and I took the liberty of monkey-wrenching Cameron's universe in unusual ways- characters who I liked and thought got unfairly punished have their roles magnified and their fortunes improved, while those I felt were unfairly rewarded are now going to watch happy ever after start to unravel. Contrating with Cameron's fairy-tale style, TCTR is somewhat gritty. Although I have absolutely no qualms about using violence, profanity, or (heaven forbid!) a little sex if the message or aesthetics calls for it, I also am aware of the fact that I am publishing, to the public, publicly. Therefore, I tend to constrain myself to the general level of content one might find on cable television, making the thing essentially PG-13-rated.
I borrow a few ideas from a few different places, all of which deserve credit here. They Chose To Remain is rife with allusions to the dearly departed SyFy channel series Battlestar Galactica, which also served as my main source for tactics, technologies, and military protocols along with the very well-done Halo series. Some characters and concepts are inspired by the Myst games as well- particularly Riven and Exile, and readers will find a not-quite-occasional reference to Orson Scott Card's Enderverse. I borrow a lot of other things from a lot of other places, but it is simply not practical to name them all here. Rest assured that I will give credit where credit is due in annotated versions of the work.
Lastly, this novelloid would never have been possible without the patience, indulgence and attention of my friends and family, who have stepped up in roles as editors and consultants on nearly every issue imaginable. However, as of this time I have yet to procure consent for their names or aliases to be included in publicly distributed versions of the work. This will soon be changed.
And with that, I'll finally shut up and let you get to the actual story.
They Chose To Remain
(Formerly: “The AVATAR Fanfic For People Who Didn't Like AVATAR”)
By Admiral Sakai
Prologue
Trenethanh'shinam River, Sector Zero/Sector One Border, Pandora
06:18 Hours Hell's Gate Time, August 31, 2154
COUNTDOWN: 306 Terrestrial Days Remaining Until Orbit
The gas giant the Humans had named Polyphemus sank low into the canopy, its feeble reflected starlight lost amongst the luminous riot of phosphorescent mushrooms below. Two figures stood in the narrow cleft created by the river as it wound its way through the forest. On the east edge stood a Na'vi man, his bright, quick eyes raised towards the sky and the first bright stars, wearing only the scant loincloth and leather bandolier of a hunter, his cerulean skin indistinct against the diffuse glow of the jungle. His counterpart stood on the far bank. He looked not at the stars but at their hazy reflection in the water's algae-slicked surface, and was covered from the neck down in the highest-quality petroleum Kevlex armor, the jungle's glow finding no purchase on its burnished polymer. Where the hunter was lean and muscular of build, his companion's thick, half-mechanized gear could not disguise the unnatural gauntness of his frame or the sickly greyish coloring of his skin. For a time, the two imitation Na'vi did not speak, until at last the dark-suited one looked up and interrupted the other's reverie:
“This is where history will be made, it seems.”
The hunter gazed upward for a time longer, then focused across the river. His voice was strong, commanding, sure: “In more ways than you know, Doc.”
“More than either of us, perhaps. The disruption of the superconductor trade can only serve to make Earth that much more unstable... and desperate. The next ship that comes here... we must be ready for a hard war to keep what we have won.”
“And we will be. Aywah is on our side, Doc. And I won't let this place die, I won't let it become another Earth. I'm ready. We're all ready.”
“Likely it will not come to that. My associates and I are somewhat more numerous than you think. In total, five hundred of us have chosen to cut off our ties to RDA and remain here on Pandora indefinitely, for the express purpose of protecting this planet from any further abuse by our... estranged compatriots. We too are preparing... it would surprise me if your warriors ever even see the shuttles.”
The hunter's eyes took on a distant, blank look, as he muttered more to himself than his companion, “The shuttles..... the planes with the bombs..... that's right...... I had to come down in a shuttle........”
The dark man heard him, of course. But he merely filed the information away and showed no sign of having noticed anything untoward. Instead he nodded, and continued “Although I'm unsure as to what form our defense will take, I am fairly confident in victory. Of course, there are other matters to discuss...territory, for one. That was, after all, the purpose of this meeting, was it not?”
Now the hunter resumed his old confidence. “The agreement we talked out after the assault should do. The remaining Human personnel can leave on-board the next ship after they acknowledge our sovereignty, or remain behind on the base, which will remain in Human control...”
“... but the lands surrounding it outside this river delta belong to the Ometikaya. Both races will remain within their respective territories,unless given express permission to cross.” The dark man finished. “I drafted this armistace myself, if you recall. It should do nicely as a more permanent settlement.”
“Can I be sure that the others will hold to your bargain? The Company never cared about their word...” the hunter's eyes filled with pain and rage. The dark man nodded in understanding, and spoke calmingly. He almost seemed sincere: “We aren't connected to RDA. They're as much our enemy as yours. If they return, we fully expect to be imprisoned... if we are fortunate. The Humans remaining here have, for reasons lost on me, chosen to place a great deal of power in my hands, and I will not reject my responsibility to them. You can value my word.”
Apparently satisfied, the hunter turned back to the jungle. Before he vanished into the depths, he raised his hand in a salute, and spoke in Na'vi: “Goodbye, Dr. Arzethian. May the All-Mother smile upon our agreement tonight.”
The dark man remained behind for a minute longer, once again contemplating the stars reflected in the river's phosphorescent waters. Then he, too turned back to the jungle, retracing his path to the mining base that had become his home, his armor's obsidian plating darker than his own indistinct shadow. As he left, he mused for the benefit the trees and the fungus and the night birds going about their small lives around him: “It's not the forest we will need to convince”, he whispered, “of that I have no doubt”. Then the jungle by the stream was an unbroken skein of light once again.
