"Not all the time, no. But it's not like every moment's a life-or-death struggle either." The military had been convinced Pandora was a death world, the scientists, a utopia for the Na'vi. Black and white. No wonder neither of them could see eye to eye, with each other or the natives, when the truth is more somewhere in the middle, in the shades of gray.

Jake shakes his head a little. "The forest is... it's something else. Trees that're hundreds of meters tall, birds and lizards and shit Earth hasn't had for decades, and everything glows in the dark. Even us," he adds with a laugh, gesturing at himself. "Actual fruit trees, meals that you gotta gather or hunt yourself, not reheat some rehydrated farm-grown algae slop. And if you leave 'em alone or know enough signs to avoid 'em, the local predators won't bother you most of the time either. It's a life you gotta work for, not just sit back and let someone else do all the heavy lifting. Maybe it's not for everybody, but it's way better for me than what I had back on Earth."