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JAKE'S POV -- enormous islands of rock are hovering a half

mile above the ground. They are overgrown with rainforest,

and straggly beards of vines hang down beneath them.

Waterfalls stream down the sides and dissolve into spray at

the bottom.

ON JAKE, staring in amazement. It is both awe-inspiring and

disturbing.

Trudy turns, grinning at Jake.

TRUDY:

You should see your face.

WIDE AERIAL -- the Samson is tiny as it approaches the

floating islands of rock. An archipelago among the clouds,

they cast great shadows over the forested slopes below.

JAKE (V.O.)

Yeah, so what does hold them up? Grace

explained it to me -- some kind of maglev

effect because unobtanium is a

superconductor, or something. At least

somebody understands it. Just not me.

CUT TO:

EXT. SITE 26 - DAY

A remote RESEARCH STATION -- TWO SHACKS and a few clusters of

instruments perched on a promontory near the Hallelujah

Mountains. The shacks are AIRLIFT MODULES the size of buses.

THE SAMSON LANDS, beating the grass with its rotor-wash. The

humans hop out, wearing MASKS.

They move toward the Shack, taking in the spectacular

panorama.

CUT TO:

59.

INT. SHACK - DAY

NORM and TRUDY assist JAKE with his chair as they cycle in

through the AIRLOCK. GRACE is already inside, starting the

GENNY. She turns on the lights and equipment.

There are 4 bunks, a clutter of science gear, and -- through

a short connecting corridor -- THREE LINK UNITS in the second

module.

As Grace powers up the Link equipment, Jake stops to look at

STEREO STILL PICTURES which are taped and tacked up around

her workstation.

CLOSE ON PICTURES -- Grace posing at the school with various

grinning children. There is one of her with two lanky girls,

a younger Neytiri and an older girl who looks much like her.

GRACE:

Jake, take number two, it's the least

glitchy. Norm, I need you to operate

Jake's link.

Norm glares at Jake as he passes.

JAKE:

Hey. You got a problem?

Norm turns to Grace, his frustration boiling over.

NORM:

I trained three years for this mission.

I speak the language fluently.

(he points at Jake)

He falls off the frickin' turnip truck

and all of a sudden he's cultural

ambassador!?

GRACE:

It's not our choice, Norm.

He glowers at Jake.

NORM:

Yeah, well I didn't come out here to wash

the dishes while you're on some

interspecies booty call.

He stalks off.

GRACE:

He can't go far.

60.

She points to Jake's link.

GRACE:

Let's get you in.

CUT TO:

INT./EXT. HOMETREE - BANSHEE EYRIE

LOOKING DOWN the central shaft of Hometree, 80 meters to the

ground. Villagers are ant-like.

Jake tries to keep up with Neytiri as she leaps up the core

trunk like a lemur. He climbs the last section, arriving out

of breath beside her. She leads him OUTSIDE, onto --

A large branch. Through gaps in the foliage Jake can see

other Great Trees scattered across the landscape, like

enormous umbrellas above the rainforest.

NEYTIRI strides out across the branch toward some kind of

STRUCTURE -- a WEB made of thick woven fiber. DARK SHAPES

clinging to it stir with a leathery RUSTLING SOUND.

Neytiri makes a series of TRILLS and CLICKS. One of the

shapes MOVES toward them, emerging into a shaft of sunlight.

A huge MOUNTAIN BANSHEE. Much larger than the forest

banshees, this thing is taller than a Na'vi with a 10 meter

wingspan. A leathery FWHOOP, like the crack of sails, as it

alights on the branch right in front of her.

JAKE:

Holy sh*t.

NEYTIRI:

Do not look in her eye.

Neytiri feeds it a large scrap of meat, which it SNATCHES and

gulps down. She murmurs to it and strokes its NECK.

It lets out a signature SHRIEK, and some of the others in the

shadows nearby answer.

Neytiri flip-catches her queue and gently connects it to the

Banshee's ANTENNA. It shivers and stretches its wings as the

neural connection is made.

NEYTIRI:

Ikran is not horse. Once shahaylu is

made, ikran will fly with only one Hunter

in the whole life.

She climbs smoothly onto the animal's back.

61.

NEYTIRI:

To become taronyu -- Hunter -- you must

choose your own ikran. And he must choose

you.

JAKE:

When?

NEYTIRI:

When you are ready.

The BANSHEE shivers with anticipation.

NEYTIRI:

Heeyaaahh!

Jake ducks as the great wings EXPLODE OPEN and the banshee

DROPS off the branch. It swoops down across the forest

canopy, banks hard, lets out a CRY and beats its wings in a

power climb.

Completing the bank, Neytiri directs the banshee into a close

SWOOPING FLYBY, and Jake instinctively ducks.

ON NEYTIRI -- flying in perfect fusion with her winged mount,

the rainforest rolling beneath her.

CUT TO:

INT. SHACK - NIGHT/EXT

STEREO VIDEO-LOG IMAGE -- Jake has just switched on the

camera. He looks tired.

JAKE:

Do I have to do this? I need some rack.

GRACE, behind him, looks up from her MICROSCOPE, scowling.

GRACE:

No -- now, when it's fresh.

JAKE:

Yeah, yeah.

(to camera)

The days are starting to blur together.

The language is a b*tch, but I figure

it's like field-stripping a weapon.

Repetition.

THIS THROWS US INTO A TEACHING MONTAGE:

JAKE AND NEYTIRI kneel together inside Hometree. Neytiri

touches her lips with her fingertips.

62.

JAKE:

Seyri.

She touches her nose, her ears, her eyes in quick sequence.

JAKE:

Ontu, mikyun, nari.

NEYTIRI stands next to him, correcting his position as he

draws a longbow.

BARKING commands, she SMACKS him on the shoulder, then the

elbow, repositioning him roughly.

JAKE (V.O.)

Neytiri thinks I'm some kind of retard.

HUMAN JAKE emerges from the LINK to see --

TRUDY and NORM caught IN THE ACT on Norm's bunk. Norm blushes

and Trudy waves, pulling the blanket over their heads.

JAKE (V.O.)

Norm's attitude has improved lately.

NORM works with JAKE at the small table in the SHACK kitchen.

NORM:

Thank you?

JAKE:

Ireiyo.

Norm comically exaggerates the pronunciation.

NORM:

Irrrreiyo. Irrrreiyo. You've gotta roll

the R, r-r-r-oll it.

Norm makes Jake repeat the word, getting more frustrated.

JAKE (V.O.)

It's good he's back on board, but he

thinks I'm a retard too.

TRACKING WITH JAKE'S FEET as he runs over rocks, leaping onto

a thick root, running on across the rough bark.

JAKE (V.O.)

My feet are getting tougher. I can run

farther every day.

63.

Neytiri leads him along a massive root, and soon they are

running 30 meters above the ground.

He sprints with her through the trees, trying to keep up.

She CLIMBS and LEAPS with the ease of a spider monkey.

JAKE (V.O.)

I have to trust my body to know what to

do. With Neytiri it's learn fast or die.

Neytiri LEAPS off into space, falling, falling until --

She catches an enormous palm leaf and, gripping it, allows

its DROOP to slow her fall. She lets go, plummeting, and

catches another.

JAKE FOLLOWS in a leap of faith. THE CAMERA PLUNGES with

him, from leaf to leaf, down and down in a dizzying kinetic

rush.

He drops down from the last leaf, landing next to her on a

game trail. He is exhilarated to still be alive.

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