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On the Surface
Harry concentrated on the basalt boulder in front of him. It was dark colored, almost black, with streaks of red and yellow mineralization so small he could only see them when he looked close enough to reach out and touch it with his gloved hand. Desmond stood several meters behind him, ready to react to any unexpected side-effect of the magic Harry was about to perform. Their rover was parked over one-hundred meters away, tucked away in a depression between two long mounds that Desmond claimed were compacted dunes consisting of sand and even smaller fines. Harry, not nearly as scientifically minded or experienced as his friend, yielded to his opinion.
The boulder was large, nearly three meters tall and twice as wide near the base. Harry was attempting to carve out a hollow in the side by vanishing the material in such a way that it wouldn't crack the exterior. It was a delicate process, or so he explained to Desmond who had started pacing after the first fifteen minutes Harry spent staring at the boulder. He'd considered just blasting it for a moment, but memories of the brittleness of the surface regolith and the extreme temperatures that would occur in the future caused him to put some serious thought into it.
"Couldn't you just magic it back together if it cracks?" Desmond had asked.
"Rocks and metals tend to lose their natural strength when you use magic to repair them. They become brittle and weak if exposed to extreme stress."
It wasn't the only candidate they had for converting into a cache. It was their first attempt, however, and Harry wanted it to go right the first time. The plan was simple: create various shelters and caches across the surface of the planet so that in case of emergency any colonist in danger would be able to stop and resupply or take shelter. The summer dust storms could coincide with the initial manned surface surveys in several months and Hiroko had strongly suggested that while the two of them were out exploring, they should hollow out as many boulders or crater walls as they could, especially with Harry's magical ability accelerating their ability to construct them.
Harry finally exhaled and pointed his wand at the boulder. He ignored Desmond's sigh of relief that the wait was over and attempted to vanish a quaffle sized chunk of the boulder. The portion he was aiming for was about a meter off the ground, almost waist height, and when it disappeared a few small pieces from the top of the empty sphere crumbled and fell slowly to the ground.
"It doesn't seem too stable," said Harry as he peered intently at the hole that was continuing to crumble bit by bit into the tiny cavern he had created.
"Can you make it stick together?" Desmond's voice whispered through his helmet's intercom.
"I could use a permanent sticking charm, I suppose. I don't want to risk using magic to hold it together, though. I still don't know how spells might act differently here."
"What about fire? You can create fire, am I right?"
"Sure, but I don't know how hot I can make it."
"Might as well try, eh? Worst thing that could happen is it doesn't work and we have to figure out another way to stabilize the inside."
Harry nodded in agreement, not realizing Desmond couldn't see the movement, and focused again on the boulder. He pointed his wand at the small cavity he had created and cast incendio with as much force behind it as he could. A stream of fire shot out from his wand at the boulder, so bright that Desmond had to turn away while Harry closed his eyes and hoped for the best. He kept the spell up for almost ten seconds and then opened his eyes to see what affect the fire had had.
The small cavity was no longer losing pieces or crumbling at all. A few stray crumbled bits of rock that had been about to fall were melted along the newly stable circular wall, creating an uneven if smooth face. Desmond slowly walked up to Harry and stood next to him in silence for almost a minute as the two stared at what Harry had done.
"How hot can you get that fire?" asked Desmond.
"I have no idea."
"Well, it's at least 1000 degrees. I don't suppose the melting point of basalt would change so drastically on Mars that a regular fire could create obsidian..."
Harry tuned out Desmond as his friend muttered to himself about various melting points and the creation of igneous rocks on Mars, which was geologically inactive by all indications. He interrupted with a warning.
"I'm going to try and expand it now. We're going for one cubic meter of space here, right?"
Desmond backed away, still able to see the afterimage of a stream of fire from Harry's first attempt, and told him to proceed.
After several more evanescos, reductos and incendios, the interior of the boulder resembled a smooth, rounded obsidian bowl laid down on its side. Occasional swirls of olive green, oxidized red and sulfuric yellow-green decorated it at random. Harry summoned the fragments of rock that had been blown out of the boulder and reassembled them as best he could into the shape of the missing side that he had obliterated. He melted the inside of it, determined to make it as sturdy and solid as possible. The new door, looking close enough to the original exterior so as not to be noticed, ended up with a low enough weight that Harry or Desmond could slide it open on their own with a bit of effort. Overall, they accomplished a good amount for about an hour's worth of work.
The plan for the boulder after this was simple enough for Harry and Desmond. They merely had to drive away and find additional suitable candidates for alteration. Hiroko claimed that she and some of the farm crew would use several scheduled excursions in the future to stock and organize their system of caches. The two of them weren't privy to the farm team's ultimate plan, but it was obvious Hiroko did not intend on cooperating with the United Nations Organization Mars Authority, or UNOMA. Harry remembered a moment from a conversation the two of them and Hermione had had back on the Ares.
"Hiroko was more focused on her studies when we met," Desmond had said as the three of them sat in Hermione's cabin on the Ares. "She wasn't as driven, not until the selection process was announced. We were in Cambridge together, for awhile. It was a cold climate compared to our homes, so we helped keep each other warm. She had not traveled much outside of Japan when we met and bit by bit she started reading some books that weren't related to her classes. I did the same, but my sense of disorder is more of a natural result of growing up in Port-of-Spain. It was chaos everyday. Hiroko never talked much about her family or Japan. When she mentioned it, it was always with a sense of disappointment. Like there was a wasted potential there."
"Do you think the two of you bonded over your political views?" Hermione had asked in the blunt, analytical way that Harry had come to know and accept and that Desmond didn't seem to sense as insulting.
Desmond snorted, doing his best to keep his laughter at a volume consistent with the whispered conversation they were having. "Oddly enough, she never agreed with me about that. Several of our debates, that's what I call them, were related to our conflicting views on collectivism. At least that's where it started."
Harry grinned inside his helmet as he remembered various discussions between Desmond and Hermione. Her sense of order was offended by Desmond's intentional, almost fanatical, disregard for authority, though the encouragement of societal upheaval was a characteristic they all seemed to share. Their agreement on their end goals led to the three of them becoming quite close over the ten-month voyage as they discussed the future of Mars and magic.
Harry and Desmond made their way back to the rover, which was under a special glamour spell to appear as just another boulder, and cycled through the airlock. The two of them ate a quick meal of noodles, Desmond speaking the whole time of different uses for magic in construction and concealment.
"Does it make you tired to use so much magic?" asked Desmond.
Harry finished chewing and took a moment to examine his physical and magical strength at the moment. He felt slightly tired and a bit over-extended magically, but not exhausted.
"Yeah, but not as much as it did on Earth. At least I don't feel as tired. It's strange, because I never used incendio, that fire spell, for any purpose close to that. It was always used either against someone or in short bursts to start a small fire. Reducto and evanesco the other spells, aren't difficult."
"Are you hungrier or thirstier than normal?" Desmond continued his questioning, reminding him of Hermione.
Harry shook his head. "No, I feel normal. Less tired than I've felt for a long time, actually."
"Hypothetically, how long do you think you could work on something like what you did today?"
"You mean on something bigger?" asked Harry.
Desmond nodded once, his eyes locked onto Harry's as he waited for the wizard's response.
"Probably two or three hours at a time. I think it depends on the material and what exactly we're trying to do," said Harry.
"Once we get those excavating robots out here, and 'Roko manages to sneak one away, we will build some amazing places!"
They finished their meal, discussing the future and how magic would be a part of it.
They continued driving east. The rover had enough fuel, combined with the solar panels, to drive entirely around the planet at the equator. They had no desire to test its stamina, however, and the two of them were planning on driving only twenty-five hundred kilometers away from Underhill before turning back. This would still be the farthest any of the colonists had traveled on the surface until Ann Clayborne's proposed expedition to the North Pole a few months in the future.
Each day, they would stop the rover near large boulders or crater walls and go outside, where Harry would attempt to carve out a space large enough to be useful for their purposes. After several days, Harry began using more delicate, deliberate spells that resulted in faster and more uniform spaces carved within the rocks. The two would then spend several hours walking around and taking small samples for Hermione to test when they returned to Underhill.
Dinner became one of the highlights of the day as Harry delved into his memories to focus on the tastes, smells and textures of different foods and meals he had enjoyed throughout his life. He would attempt to mimic them in the transfigured meals that always started off as bland, emotionless, microwavable sustenance. Harry was fairly certain that his attempt at curry was nowhere near accurate, but Desmond only smiled and offered that it was still tastier than instant noodles or nutrient bars. Neither of them ever left food on their trays. The amount of energy, both physical and magical, they were expending each day was tremendous. Just getting in and out of their walkers consumed more calories than an average day back on Earth would have.
After their tenth day heading east, and Harry had transformed his seventh boulder into a potential cache, the two stowaways reached Chryse Planitia. The boulders shrank in size and increased in number until the rover, even with its industrial grade shocks, began to shudder and shake unless they actively searched out less rock strewn areas to drive over. The horizon, usually so close on Mars it felt like you could throw and rock and hit the ground beyond their sight, dropped away. A sense of familiarity itched at the base of their minds. Thanks to the bowl shape of Chryse Planitia, a large plain-like depression just over 1000 kilometers east of Underhill, the horizon reached distances of nearly 20 kilometers.
"It reminds me of Earth," said Desmond as he stared out of the windshield.
Harry only nodded, focused on avoiding the larger boulders that could potentially damage the rover.
"I imagine this will be a popular area for cities, once more colonists arrive."
"How long do you think that will take?" asked Harry.
"Who can say?" said Desmond with a shrug. "Eventually, though, they'll have cities and towns out on the surface. If Russell has his way, they won't even need domes or artificial atmospheres."
"You think terraforming will happen that fast?"
Desmond shrugged again. "I have no idea. I've seen predictions that it could take anywhere from 200 to 200,000 years. 'Roko mentioned Russell has a plan that could create a breathable atmosphere within a couple of centuries. That would require serious investment by some very powerful people, though. And with the help of more wizards like you it could happen even sooner."
Harry frowned at that, still focused on driving the rover. Desmond laughed at his friend's reaction.
"You don't like that idea?"
"Not really. I think the magical world is probably more corrupt and incompetent than the muggle world."
"Surely there must be some wizards and witches that you wouldn't mind joining us here," said Desmond, gently. Harry's disappointment with the wizarding world was a topic they had discussed many times in the year or so since they'd met.
"I suppose," allowed Harry, when he realized Desmond was waiting for an answer. The death of his children, wife and extended family, save Hermione, was a topic that he had slowly been opening up to with his friend.
"What about that Luna woman? You and Hermione haven't had anything bad to say about her."
"I don't see Luna abandoning her career. The search for mythical creatures isn't something that you can really complete."
Desmond chuckled, the descriptions of Luna from both Harry and Hermione had been so vivid that he could almost imagine he knew her himself. "What if you explained to her about the rich magical ecosystem here? Perhaps that would pique her interest?"
Harry laughed at that and brought the rover to a stop next to a relatively large boulder, though it was too small for them to transform into a cache.
"That's not a bad idea."
They quickly shifted the rover into sleep mode, shutting down the hydrazine motor and disabling the navigation system.
"Want to go out?" asked Harry. Desmond nodded and the two of them went through the arduous process of putting on their walkers and cycling through the airlock. They had gotten into the habit of taking a short walk during sunset, reveling in the experience of being out in the open. Free from the confinement they had been forced to endure during the long voyage to Mars and the first weeks hiding in closets and spare trailers, both stowaways spent as much time on the surface as they could.
Chryse Planitia was the most uniform expanse of land and rock within range of Underhill that they planned on visiting during this excursion. There were no hillocks or ridges for them to climb. Any craters that may have once existed in the area were long since filled in by fines, their rims eroded away by eons of ceaseless martian winds. With the horizons lengthened by the bowl like shape of the circular plain of Chryse Planitia, the sky seemed to have opened up. Harry felt like he could see at least twice as far as when they were in Underhill or anywhere since. He felt the desire to fly on his firebolt for the first time since the death of his family and it brought tears to his eyes that he refused to let fall.
Desmond seemed to sense his mood and was uncharacteristically silent. They walked in the same direction, but with a distance between them that neither grew nor shrank until the sun reached the horizon and the sky began to change to colors never before seen during and Earthly sunset. As it darkened, it became a rainbow of reds and purples, murky and opaque, with yellow and orange wisps of clouds kilometers above their heads still lit by a sun more distant and dim than their eyes had evolved to recognize as natural.
Even through the heating elements of their walkers, Harry and Desmond could feel the sudden drop in temperature as the sun finally hid behind the almost normal looking horizon. With a shiver that had less to do with the cold and almost everything to do with the sadness radiating from the powerful wizard he watched through the faceplate of his helmet, Desmond motioned in a questioning way towards the rover. He felt Harry nod, even though he couldn't see it inside his friend's helmet, and the two of them headed back to their transient home in silence.
