Recaps

Chen Changsheng visited Hell's Gate with Grace, learned the Avatar technology research, and considered how to recruit her. The chapter ended with his reflections on how Earth's growing reliance on virtual reality was causing its civilization to stagnate.

• Grace met Chen Changsheng at the Na'vi tribe and invited him to visit her laboratory, while Eytukan watched him leave with concern.
• Chen Changsheng and Grace traveled to Hell's Gate, where she showed him the Avatar Incubation Pods and introduced the research department's work.
• Chen Changsheng rapidly absorbed the Avatar research materials and decided Grace was the kind of talent he wanted to keep.
• Grace explained that the existing Avatars had been assigned and that the base needed to grow another batch before more drivers arrived from Earth.
• Chen Changsheng reflected that Earth's virtual world had spread beyond its original purpose as people and leaders ignored the cost of relying on it.

Chen Changsheng discussed Pandora’s Soul Tree with Grace before taking Manager Parker to Hell’s Gate’s server room and installing the Red Queen. The Red Queen began reviewing the base’s records and extending her access, supported by computing power from Chen Changsheng’s jump ship.

• Chen Changsheng and Grace discussed the Na’vi and Grace’s belief that Pandora’s forest was conscious, but ended their conversation when she grew tired.
• Chen Changsheng woke the sleeping Manager Parker and ordered him to take him to Hell’s Gate’s server center.
• Chen Changsheng connected himself to the servers and uploaded the Red Queen.
• The Red Queen began examining Hell’s Gate’s stored information and reaching into accessible systems, using extra computing power from Chen Changsheng’s jump ship.
• Chen Changsheng decided to return to the research department to study Avatar technology.

Chen Changsheng pursued research into creating an Avatar body for himself and considered whether digital souls could be transferred into flesh-and-blood bodies. Meanwhile, Quaritch prepared Hell's Gate's combat forces for a possible war with the Na'vi, whose tribes were also unsettled.

• Chen Changsheng left Manager Parker waiting while he stayed in the research department and learned that Avatars were ownerless shells until controlled.
• Chen Changsheng arranged for Grace to help clone an Avatar embryo and began studying how to transfer a digital soul into an Avatar body.
• Chen Changsheng concluded that a digital soul with a deceased person's memories would not be the original person, and he postponed practical tests until he had a suitable Avatar body.
• Grace shifted her research to Chen Changsheng's interests as his funding boosted the research department.
• Colonel Quaritch planned to gather Hell's Gate's combat-capable personnel and prepare to use its ammunition against the Na'vi.
• The Na'vi tribes remained unsettled as humans made plans against them.

Eytukan enjoyed the quiet on Pandora while Jake Sully became the Na’vi’s main human contact, though he could not reach Chen Changsheng. Chen began preparing an experiment to download a digital soul into an Avatar body, recruiting Colonel Quaritch as the test subject and ordering Grace to grow bodies for selected mercenaries.

• Eytukan saw the peaceful forest and believed the Na’vi had found a suitable path forward, while Jake Sully gained status as Chen Changsheng’s messenger.
• Jake assured Neytiri that he would handle things, even as Parker considered resuming mining and Quaritch proposed striking against the Na’vi.
• Chen Changsheng decided not to use Jake as the subject for his digital-soul experiment and chose Colonel Quaritch instead.
• Chen offered to sponsor the mercenaries’ access to the virtual world, and Quaritch agreed to participate in the experiment.
• Chen instructed Grace to cultivate Avatar bodies for the selected mercenaries, leaving her to carry out work she believed would harm Pandora.

Chen Changsheng created and tested Avatar bodies, exploring their neural-linking braids and three brain hemispheres as potential vessels for digital souls. He concluded that the bodies had strong potential, while anticipating the digital souls’ coming transition into physical reality.

• Chen Changsheng used an embryo to create an Avatar body and transferred his consciousness into it.
• Chen Changsheng created a second Avatar body and connected their braids, experiencing the intense pleasure of the neural link.
• Chen Changsheng took NZT-48 and tested the Avatar’s three brain hemispheres, confirming their high drug resistance and capacity for enhanced brain activity.
• Chen Changsheng compared the potential of humans, synthetic humans, intelligent life, and other beings, and awaited the digital souls’ reincarnation into physical bodies.

Colonel Quaritch mobilized mercenaries to attack the Na’vi, and Grace failed to negotiate with Chief Eytukan before the troops arrived. Eytukan had Grace and Jake Sully seized, while Neytiri’s confession that she and Jake had slept together sparked a fight with Sutey.

• Chen Changsheng decided to promote the Avatar Program on Earth while Colonel Quaritch prepared his forces at Hell’s Gate.
• Grace noticed the mercenaries mobilizing and persuaded Manager Parker to let her negotiate with the Na’vi before they attacked.
• With Jake Sully’s help, Grace met Eytukan, who ordered their capture after hearing that the humans were coming again.
• Neytiri tried to protect Jake Sully and revealed that they had slept together, enraging Sutey and shocking the priestess and Grace.
• Sutey drew his dagger to kill Jake Sully, but Neytiri stopped him and Eytukan ordered the warriors to restrain Sutey.

Jake Sully sought Chen Changsheng’s help when Colonel Quaritch prepared to attack the Na’vi, and Chen ordered Quaritch to leave them alone. Quaritch obeyed but planned to disgust the Na’vi in retaliation.

• Eytukan chose to tie Jake Sully and Grace to wooden frames as Colonel Quaritch arrived with his army and prepared to attack.
• Jake held his breath until his consciousness returned to his original body, then rushed to Chen Changsheng’s laboratory and broke the glass to wake him.
• Chen projected himself onto Quaritch’s command ship and ordered him not to harm the Na’vi, saying he still had a use for them.
• Quaritch argued that the Na’vi posed a threat, but Chen dismissed his concerns and ended the projection.
• Jake returned to the consciousness transmitter to control his Avatar again, while Quaritch obeyed Chen’s order but planned to offend the Na’vi through their worship of Soul Tree.

Jack Sully and the Na'vi realized the mercenaries were attacking the Soul Tree, but Colonel Quaritch destroyed it before they could arrive. As Pandora's creatures surged toward the sacred site, Chen Changsheng successfully revived Colonel Quaritch in an Avatar body and began examining him.

• Jack Sully told Eytukan that Chen Changsheng had ordered the mercenaries not to harm the Na'vi, but the Na'vi realized the aircraft were heading toward the Soul Tree.
• Eytukan gathered the Na'vi and rushed to defend the Soul Tree while Jack Sully and Grace remained behind.
• Colonel Quaritch ordered a barrage of long-range weapons that destroyed the Soul Tree, awakening the forest and drawing creatures and Na'vi toward the site.
• Jack Sully's Avatar body responded to the Soul Tree's destruction, and he called for his Mountain Banshee and charged toward it while Grace remained tied up.
• Chen Changsheng sensed the forest stirring and used the Biological Computer to revive Colonel Quaritch in an Avatar body.
• Chen Changsheng began a comprehensive examination of Avatar Colonel Quaritch, who agreed to cooperate.

Colonel Quaritch fought the Na'vi and Pandora's creatures while Chen Changsheng examined his resurrected avatar and tried to reach the Soul Tree. With the Soul Tree burned to ash, Chen Changsheng had Colonel Quaritch connect his braid to a nearby smaller tree for the experiment.

• Colonel Quaritch ordered the aircraft to retreat and prepare for battle as Pandora's creatures and the Na'vi flying unit attacked.
• Chen Changsheng examined Avatar Colonel Quaritch, who learned that his original self had died in a conflict with the Na'vi.
• Chen Changsheng learned that Hell's Gate had no usable aircraft and that the Soul Tree was in danger, so he carried Colonel Quaritch toward it.
• Chen Changsheng found the Soul Tree's main trunk burned to ash and gave the nearly dying Colonel Quaritch Life Essence.
• Chen Changsheng ordered Colonel Quaritch to connect his braid to a smaller tree, and Colonel Quaritch did so and groaned with his eyes closed.

Chen Changsheng connected to the Soul Tree and discovered that Planet Pandora itself possessed a young, unconscious planetary will. After assimilating the Soul Tree, he learned that replacing the planet’s will would require devouring its network of connected nodes across Pandora.

• Chen Changsheng absorbed Avatar Colonel Quaritch and saw that the Soul Tree’s connection had filled him with a command to destroy human aircraft and drive humans from the forest.
• Chen Changsheng connected to the Soul Tree himself, ignored its command, and followed its neural network while searching for the source of its data.
• Colonel Quaritch and the remaining mercenaries retreated to Hell’s Gate, where they repelled Pandora’s life-forms and the Na’vi; Eytukan died and the Na’vi lost half their fighting strength.
• Jake Sully connected with a seduced Phantom, becoming the fifth Phantom Knight in Na’vi history and beginning to transform into a native life-form.
• Chen Changsheng discovered that Pandora’s forests, oceans, mineral veins, and other features formed a young planetary consciousness, then assimilated the Soul Tree without the planet noticing.
• Chen Changsheng learned that he would need to devour the Soul Tree-like nodes across Pandora to replace the planet’s will.

After awakening in a changed Pandora, Chen Changsheng found Hell's Gate abandoned and learned that humans and Na'vi had fought over the years. He restored the server room and met a group of young Na'vi, including a human child.

• Chen Changsheng found Hometree deserted and saw signs that humans had fought the Na'vi there.
• Chen Changsheng reached the ruined Hell's Gate base and used his body to restore power to its server room.
• Red Queen reconstructed the past: creatures had destroyed the base after the Soul Tree fell, and human reinforcements later drove the Na'vi away.
• Red Queen detected several young Na'vi exploring the base and began assessing its surviving systems.
• Chen Changsheng contacted Earth through the Virus Consciousness Network and approached the young Na'vi, discovering a human child among them.

Chen Changsheng encountered Jack Sully and Neytiri’s children inside Hell’s Gate and revealed himself to their parents over the radio. Jack agreed to come meet him at the base, where Chen planned to wait and reconnect with the Na’vi.

• Lo'ak, Kiri, Tuktirey, and Spider explored the forbidden human base and contacted Jack after finding its engine room lit.
• Jack scolded his children over the communicator, and Chen Changsheng interrupted to identify himself as Jack Chen, Jack’s former superior.
• Lo'ak drew his bow while the children recoiled from Chen, but Jack recognized his voice and asked where he had been.
• Chen explained that research at the Soul Tree site had delayed him for years and reassured Jack and Neytiri that he would not harm their children.
• Jack said he would come meet Chen at Hell’s Gate, and Chen said he would wait there and wanted to visit the Na’vi tribe.

Chen Changsheng cared for Jack Sully’s children while reviewing Earth’s worsening environmental crisis and the governments’ support for Umbrella Corporation’s Avatar Program. As preparations to relocate to Planet Pandora advanced amid political and resource disputes, Chen Changsheng resolved to secure the planet for himself.

• Chen Changsheng reassured Jack Sully that he would protect the children, and Jack asked Lo'ak and the others to stay with him until he arrived.
• Chen Changsheng befriended the children, had Red Queen create video games for them, and turned his attention to reports from Earth.
• Earth’s worsening pollution, falling population, and advances in automation pushed governments and elites to consider virtual life and the Avatar Program.
• Governments approved the Avatar Program, and Umbrella Corporation assembled supplies and trained the military for a move to Planet Pandora.
• Human factions argued over relocation and Pandora’s resources, while Chen Changsheng allowed events to unfold but remained determined to obtain the planet.

Chen Changsheng accepted Jake Sully’s invitation to visit the Na’vi’s hidden homeland and went with Neteyam to the Mountain Banshee habitat to find a mount. There, he spotted an unusually large Banshee that looked like his old mount, which also seemed to recognize him.

• Jake Sully and Neytiri landed at Chen Changsheng’s home and checked on the children before Jake invited Chen Changsheng to visit the Na’vi.
• Chen Changsheng accepted the invitation and rode with Jake to the Na’vi’s new homeland on a floating mountain.
• Jake left Neteyam to receive Chen Changsheng, while Neytiri went to scold her children.
• Chen Changsheng asked Neteyam to take him to the Mountain Banshee habitat so he could find a mount.
• At the habitat, Chen Changsheng recognized the largest Banshee as his old mount, and the Banshee fixed its gaze on him.

Chen Changsheng captured the Sky Dragon and absorbed the Willow Tree before settling his jump ship in a new treehouse on a floating mountain. Neteyam reported Chen Changsheng’s departure and feats to Jake Sully, who reconsidered the Na’vi legend about him.

• Chen Changsheng restrained the Sky Dragon as it tried to escape, then rode it away after telling Neteyam to return without him.
• Chen Changsheng arrived at the Willow Tree, absorbed it and the surrounding trees, and marked the fleeing Sky Dragon with special Biomass so it could not escape him.
• Chen Changsheng chose a floating mountain and grew a Shrouding the Heavens Willow Tree that used Pandora’s superconductive metal veins to lift the jump ship into its crown.
• Neteyam reported Chen Changsheng’s departure and his bare-handed capture of the Mountain Banshee to Jake Sully.
• Jake Sully recalled the Na’vi legend that Chen Changsheng had beaten a Mountain Banshee into submission and reconsidered whether it was true.

Jake Sully sent Na’vi riders to search for Chen Changsheng, who was near the Willow Tree. The Willow Tree had inherited the Soul Tree’s role in Planet Pandora’s living network, giving Chen Changsheng a closer way to understand the planet’s will.

• Jake Sully recalled Chen Changsheng’s former influence and ordered more than a hundred Na’vi riders to search for him.
• The riders reported that Chen Changsheng was at the enormous Willow Tree, which the Na’vi revered as a miracle and could not approach without permission.
• Chen Changsheng understood that Planet Pandora’s will had treated the Willow Tree as the Soul Tree’s successor after Colonel Quaritch destroyed the Soul Tree.
• Chen Changsheng considered how Planet Pandora’s will might record history and direct its forests and other creatures, while struggling to control intelligent beings.
• Chen Changsheng reasoned that Planet Pandora may first have regarded humanity as a beneficial newcomer before recognizing the damage it caused.

Chen Changsheng used Willow Tree to connect to the Pandora Planet Will and planned to gain control over its perception. As Jake Sully and Sutey gathered rival Na'vi factions at Willow Tree, Chen Changsheng offered the tree as a new totem, while Sutey challenged Jake's right to lead.

• Chen Changsheng learned Willow Tree had become an organ of the Pandora Planet Will and planned to replace its remaining means of perception.
• Chen Changsheng revealed himself to the Na'vi and declared Willow Tree their new totem, offering his protection.
• Sutey arrived with his own Na'vi faction, and Chen Changsheng repeated his offer to both groups.
• Sutey accused Jake Sully of betraying the previous clan leader and questioned whether an Earth human deserved to lead the Na'vi.

Chen Changsheng revealed that the Willow Tree had replaced the Soul Tree as the source of the Planet Will’s presence, then gave Sutey the Na’vi clan leader position over Jake Sully. After Jake left the forest with his family, Chen Changsheng prepared a mission for him to investigate another plant on Pandora with a Soul Tree-like existence.

• Sutey challenged Jake Sully’s claim to lead the Na’vi, questioning his human identity and lack of the Soul Tree’s acknowledgment.
• Chen Changsheng opened the Willow Tree’s canopy to the Na’vi, who sensed the Planet Will and accepted the tree as a replacement for the Soul Tree.
• Chen Changsheng had the Willow Tree appoint Sutey as clan leader, prompting an uproar among the Na’vi and angering Jake Sully, Neytiri, and the shaman.
• Jake Sully chose to move his family far from the forest rather than live under Sutey’s leadership, and Chen Changsheng let them leave.
• Chen Changsheng began planning for human and Na’vi coexistence and decided Jake Sully would investigate another plant on Pandora with an existence like the Soul Tree.

Chen Changsheng expelled the Na'vi from the Willow Tree after it acknowledged Sutey, then turned his attention to finding another Soul Tree-like plant in Planet Pandora's ocean. He sent automated supplies and personnel to establish coastal and inland outposts, leaving Red Queen to oversee construction.

• Chen Changsheng used the Willow Tree's branches to bind and scatter the Na'vi and their Mountain Banshees, mixing the two groups as he cast them beyond the tree's range.
• Chen Changsheng discovered through Earth's consciousness network that humans had a whaling base on Planet Pandora, where they hunted tulkun for fat.
• Chen Changsheng identified an ocean plant resembling the Soul Tree as his next target, but decided to avoid damaging Planet Pandora while searching for it.
• Chen Changsheng ordered dozens of Star Enterprise sublight transport ships to drop supplies along Pandora's coast and begin building outposts with automated equipment.
• Red Queen took charge of the construction, while Chen Changsheng planned to travel toward the boundary between land and ocean.

Chen Changsheng created a Black Watch hunting squad and used it to attack the Na’vi settlements, leaving Jake Sully and his family scattered. As Chen studied Pandora’s will through Willow Tree, Kiri and the others arrived, and he learned that Kiri could contact the tree.

• Chen Changsheng created a global satellite network and fabricated Colonel Quaritch’s mercenaries, filling them with selected Black Watch memories.
• Chen Changsheng sent the hunting squad to attack the Na’vi, and the Black Watch captured most of Jake Sully’s tribe while Jake escaped with Neytiri and his children went missing.
• The Black Watch also defeated Sutey’s smaller tribe and captured Sutey.
• Kiri, Lo'ak, Tuktirey, and Spider visited Willow Tree, where Kiri sensed that it was not the Soul Tree.
• Willow Tree told Chen Changsheng that Kiri could contact it, and Chen Changsheng turned his attention to investigating her.

Chen Changsheng welcomed Kiri, Lo'ak, Spider, and Tuktirey into his treehouse, strengthened them, and sent them to Jake Sully on the Sky Dragon. Jake left Hometree with Neytiri and their family, while Chen Changsheng continued pursuing his plans and Sutey remained bitter toward Jake and Neytiri.

• Chen Changsheng met Kiri, Lo'ak, Spider, and Tuktirey in Willow Tree and brought them to his treehouse.
• Chen Changsheng fed and entertained the children, gave them Life Essence, and secretly strengthened their bodies.
• Chen Changsheng sent the children to Jake Sully on the Sky Dragon, using willow branches to make a protected riding space.
• Jake Sully and Neytiri waited at Hometree for their children, and Neteyam was brought there severely injured.
• After Neteyam recovered enough and Jake gathered supplies, Jake left with Neytiri and their family without telling his friends.
• Chen Changsheng watched Jake's departure as part of his plan, while Sutey resented Jake and Neytiri.

Sutey consolidated his rule by exiling Jake Sully and pursuing cooperation with humanity, while Jake’s family fled to the seaside and struggled to find acceptance. Chen Changsheng prepared a coastal base as Earth’s reinforcements arrived with the hardware and volunteers needed to launch the Avatar Program.

• Sutey accepted Chen Changsheng’s advice, exiled Jake Sully, and began training to negotiate with humanity while erasing Jake’s influence.
• Jake Sully and his family escaped the forest, traveled to the coast, and found that the seaside tribe distrusted him as a warmonger.
• Jake Sully secured a place in the seaside tribe by appealing to their sympathy for his five children.
• Chen Changsheng continued studying the Pandora Planet Will and accumulated a vast amount of Biomass.
• Earth’s jump ship arrived in orbit carrying storage equipment and a virtual world for the Avatar Program.
• Chen Changsheng prepared the coastal bridgehead base, and the first Avatar Program participants were set to come from the former Hell’s Gate staff.

Chen Changsheng oversaw the creation of a vast Avatar population on Pandora and obtained Tukun Oil from a human whaling fleet. After discovering that the genuine oil could extend cell division and that his exact replica was far less effective, he became increasingly interested in Tukun.

• Chen Changsheng established a base for over a million Avatars, who had been trained in the virtual world and adapted to their new lives as workers.
• The growing Avatar population drew the attention of the Na'vi and the Pandora Planet Will, but Chen Changsheng refused to satisfy the planet's curiosity.
• Chen Changsheng learned from newly connected communications that human whaling fleets had resumed hunting to supply wealthy Earth buyers with Tukun Oil.
• Chen Changsheng obtained genuine Tukun Oil and found it could extend cell life and increase the number of times cells divided without harmful effects.
• Chen Changsheng discovered that his precise replica of Tukun Oil was far less effective than the genuine substance and became more interested in Tukun's intelligence.

Chen Changsheng found the Coral Sacred Tree at Ancestor's Bay and studied it alongside Willow Tree to understand the Planet Pandora Will. After a little over a decade, he replaced the Will's senses and became its sole information hub, effectively taking control of Pandora.

• Chen Changsheng sent Red Queen to locate a tulkun pod and traveled by jump ship to the seaside tribe where Jake Sully was staying.
• Jake Sully's children told Chen Changsheng that Kiri had seen and spoken with Grace at Ancestor's Bay, and he learned the bay's location from them.
• Chen Changsheng discovered that the Coral Sacred Tree at Ancestor's Bay was the ocean's Soul Tree and deconstructed and reconstructed it to take its place.
• Chen Changsheng compared the Coral Sacred Tree's environment with the Soul Tree's and concluded that chaotic magnetic fields were key to the birth of consciousness.
• With Willow Tree and the Coral Sacred Tree, Chen Changsheng spent a little over a decade replacing the Planet Pandora Will's senses and becoming its sole information hub.

Chen Changsheng studied Tukun Oil and concluded that its long regeneration time made it a scarce resource, while he continued guiding Pandora and turned his attention to Earth. As humanity increasingly abandoned Earth for space and the virtual world, Umbrella Corporation proposed restoring the planet by evacuating its population, leaving Earth for Chen Changsheng to claim.

• Chen Changsheng captured a sentient Tukun and found that its intelligence resembled the Na'vi, while extracting Tukun Oil required drilling into its skull.
• Chen Changsheng failed to reproduce potent Tukun Oil with the Blacklight Virus and concluded that it required countless years to accumulate inside a Tukun.
• Chen Changsheng halted human mining on Pandora after learning that the planet's Will produced its magnetic field.
• People on Earth chose between living in the virtual world, remaining in reality, or moving into space as the planet's environment worsened.
• Umbrella Corporation proposed evacuating humanity and restoring Earth to an ancient natural state, and people accepted the plan as a way to escape the planet.