Blue Magic

by Lerris

Duty was all she had ever known. She was surprised when her grandmother had asked for her help. The Abriel led the Humanking Empire Abh wisely for close to a thousand years. She had a legacy impossible to meet, but she was determined to try, and if that meant piloting experimental ships for her empress, so be it. She would do her duty. [Lafiel,Harry]

20. Chapter 20

Lafiel woke, tied to a chair and stripped to her underclothes. Someone in a cloak that obscured their face and gender said in an obviously distorted voice, "Good morning."

Lafiel smiled and said, "Good morning to you."

"Good, I see you are not easily phased. Most would be, but for our purposes this is better."

"What do you want?" asked Lafiel.

"Many things. Many things. How about where you were born for a start?"

Lafiel smiled.

"Things can become very unpleasant for you if you do not cooperate."

Lafiel smiled wider. It was not a comforting smile.

The figure said calmly, "The people who direct me would prefer you not be harmed excessively, though fortunately we have a very talented healer, so that really doesn't limit us much."

"If you believe I will be intimidated you are mistaken. I will die screaming before I will betray my honor, my family, or my friends." Her words dared her captor to do their worst.

Her captor burst out laughing, and then she removed her cloak revealing a pink haired young woman. "I like you girl."

"What?" sputtered Lafiel.

"The headmaster knew you were not taking possible threats seriously, so arranged for myself and Professor Moody to catch you."

Moody's peg leg hammered at the floor as he came out of the next room.

He said, "You can let her go now."

"You removed my clothing?" Lafiel whispered darkly.

"Actually I did," Tonks said. "Nothing personal, but you wouldn't take this seriously if we didn't add a little drama."

Tonks used her wand to free Lafiel.

"And what lesson was I supposed to learn?"

"Constant Vigilance!" shouted Moody.

Moody summoned her robes and they floated over to her. She quickly slipped them on, finding her wand and her tablet in her pockets.

She said, "I think you for your lesson. It may be that we have been neglecting needed skills. Would you be available for a lessons?"

Moody considered her question before nodding. He then looked over to Tonks and she backed up a few steps. "What? I'm an Auror now. I can't be spending time babysitting."

Lafiel arched her eyebrows and smiled. "Perhaps I could interest you in a Batou match? I haven't had a game myself in some time."

"You're putting me on. I'm like four years older than you pipsqueak."

"Now would be a good time," Lafiel said. "I suddenly feel the need to work on my frustration with my captor."

"Fine!" snapped Tonks.

"Not fine," said Moody. "I haven't eaten yet. We will head out after breakfast if you want. You do know your missing classes right?"

Lafiel shrugged.

They headed out after they eat, having managed to leave in the time between classes. Lafiel, Tonks, and Moody powered the Ball's anti gravity environment and expansion charms before dropping inside, or rather floating once they hit the null gravity space.

Moody said, "We are here to have a match, but I think not with those bat things. Use your wand, and no rope."

Lafiel said, "This area isn't intended for magical combat."

"Stunners then. That should be sufficient for now."

Tonks was tumbling mostly uncontrolled. Lafiel had been very careful in her motions and was sticking to the walls with a sticking charm on her feet. Moody did the same.

Tonks complained, "Hey, how am I supposed to fight in this?"

Moody said, "Figure it out. Consider it your training."

"Hey, can I get one of those flight suit things?"

Lafiel said, "Sure, we can make you one, but that will take a week or two."

"Get on with it," yelled Moody.

Tonks tried summoning Lafiel, but she dodged while using the sticking charms on her feet to stay glued to the wall.

Lafiel tossed a stunner back at Tonks that she managed to shield.

Moody said dryly, "I did say stunners only."

Tonks shot another stunner, but Lafiel dodged that and retaliated with a stunner that easily tagged her since she was floating uncontrolled in air.

Moody shot an enervate at her and summoned her to him.

Tonks woke up and looked around blearily.

"You lost to the 5th year."

"What, that's absurd."

Moody said, "And yet you lost. Why is that?"

"It's this stupid room thing."

"Yes, it is, but you accepted the terms. I even modified them to benefit you a bit, so what lesson have you learned?"

Tonks said, "Don't let your opponent pick the battlefield if you can help it."

"Bingo."

Lafiel said, "Let's try that again. I was unsatisfied by my performance."

"Why is that?" asked Moody.

"I did not know how to properly account for a Bajou match that was not a Bajou match. I compromised by simply sticking to the wall. It was the best I could do at the time, but I think I can do better."

Tonks said, "Fine, but how does this work? Are we still sticking to stunners?"

Lafiel suggested, "How about a knockback to push your target away. Summoning to bring them closer. The Ventus spell can send a blast of wind to disorient. You could recover by casting Aresto Momentum on yourself. Stunners still work to end it. Shield charms to block. Ventus could also probably be used to move you around. Let me test it."

She cast several non verbal wind spells causing herself to be pushed around the null gravity space, before twisting and casting one that directed her back where she was, then using the sticking spell on her shoes to stick to the wall. "That works."

"Agreed," added Moody.

"Good, Let's begin."

"Hey wait a second," yelled Tonks even as she started dodging.

Lafiel won again in very short order, earning a glare from Tonks and a grin from Moody.

"Alright girl. My turn, well after a bit of practice."

Moody spend half an hour figuring out his bearing. He seemed particularly delighted that his bum leg meant very little here. Lafiel took the time to practice as well.

She lasted ten minutes.

"Old age and treachery always beat youth and exuberance."

Lafiel agreed. "That is often true, but not always."

"Oh?" he asked. "When was it not true?"

Lafiel sent a spell, not at moody, but at the shell. Instantly the zero gravity ended and the space collapsed, causing moody to impact the cushioning charm without harm, but this also gave the more prepared Lafiel time to get off a stunner which connected.

She landed near him and enervated him.

He looked up at her. A sour expression was on his face.

She said, "I'd say now it was not true."

She held out her hand to help him up.

He took it grudgingly before grinning. "I like you. Maybe I'll take you as my next apprentice."

Lafiel smiled.

Nymphadora huffed. Then she said, "So how are we going to get out of here?"

Lafiel said, "We'll I could send a Patronus to get help."

Moody said, "Was that really your plan?"

Lafiel shrugged. I could design something with temporary runes to get out, or I could levitate Tonks, she could levitate me, and we could easily levitate you."

"Let's see your runes girly."

Lafiel pulled her bag out of her robes and opened it from the very small size large enough to pull out a large tabloid sized sketchbook.

She said, "I'm going to have to use a lot of magic on this to make it work as I don't have the proper materials. The runes will fail, but they should last long enough."

"Define long enough," Madeye said.

"A few hours probably. Enough time to get out anyway."

She pulled out a fountain pen and ink and started writing out runes in a spiral pattern, starting at the center. Around the edge more runes were included in what almost looked like a decorative pattern. She then used her wand to enlarge the paper to almost four foot wide and then transfigured it to a circular section of wood several inches thick. The transfiguration took several minutes. Beads of sweat beaded on her brow as she finished.

Madeye whistled. "That is an impressive bit of power for your age. I don't think Tonks could do it, since that was almost pure conjuration at the end and I'm betting it will last a lot longer than two hours." He pulled his own wand out and cast several spells on it. "Yes, that is good. I can barely sense the transfiguration residue."

"I wanted to minimize it. Adding uncontrolled magic to runes is something we are taught not to do for good reason. Since I couldn't avoid it entirely I focused on making it as real as possible, imagining every grain of wood as closely as I could."

"That you did, but what about the runes? Ink probably won't be sufficient at that scale."

"I'll carve them with transfiguration using the ink as a pattern. It shouldn't make things any worse."

Madeye nodded as Tonks looked on. After a couple minutes to catch her breath Lafiel took her wand out and began converting the ink marks to proper rune carvings. It took her the better part of fifteen minutes to accomplish that. She then filled each with ink from her expanded inkwell, letting it soak into the wood.

Tonks said, "That is some kind of special ink I take it?"

Lafiel said, "Not really. It's stuff we use for class. It works for runes for a little while. It has a little of my own blood in it to make it compatible with me, but it is mostly just regular ink. It's just what I have here."

She said, "I'm about to start activating these. I only plan to make one trip, so if your leaving with me, hop on when I tell you to. If not, I'll go get some help and reactivate the room."

"I'll be there."

"Me too," added Tonks.

She waited a bit more time for the ink to dry and set before starting to touch each with her wand and fill each with power, starting at the middle. The circle of wood slowly started to come to life with lavender colored magic. Ten minutes later she finished and stood in the center, motioning them to join her.

The other two hopped on, even as she sat down touching either side of the disc with her hands. Moody and Tonks also sat down.

The disc rose smoothly and they were soon out, but she kept going, picking up speed. A few minutes later they were drifting through the doors that an amused Headmaster was standing beside before letting it come to rest on the great hall's floor during the end of the lunch hour.

Moody laughed again and got up, heading over to his spot on the faculty table. Tonks followed him over and sat beside him. Plates appeared before both.

Lafiel got up and went to sit beside Harry, but the headmaster coughed.

She turned back to look at him, then at her contraption, before calling out, "One free dangerous highly transfigured flying thing is here, if anyone wants it."

Bathsheda was the first to react. She jumped up and said, "Ignore Lafiel. You will not be flying on anything transfigured. We are going to put this somewhere very safe." She then started levitating it and walking out of the great hall. Lafiel started to head towards the table with her friends.

The headmaster walked with her a few steps before pausing to ask, "And if someone didn't do that?"

"I'd have had to fly it away, though it should have been safe enough, for awhile."

"Good transfiguration by the way. I'd point out you could have got by with much less effort, but ignore me, I do crazy things."

"I'm curious how long it will last," admitted Lafiel.

"And I'm quite sure Bathsheda will determine that. I'm also quite sure she isn't about to tell you, at least while your a student here. We try not to encourage reckless behavior."

Lafiel nodded.

"If you duplicate it, I would ask that you make sure to do so outside of Hogwarts. While I suspect it would have lasted quite a bit longer, there is a reason they tell you not to do what you just did. Also do not fly it beyond the first day."

"I know. I looked into the instability and the interactions. This was safe enough, but there wasn't enough information to be absolutely sure beyond a few hours."

"Your guess?" the Headmaster inquired.

"Most of the mass is fake, but it is, I think, a well done fake. The runic scheme relies on the flow of magic interactions through the fake material, which despite my best effort will disrupt the magic in the transfiguration over time. This will make the runic scheme fail, likely in an unsafe way. My guess is it should last a couple weeks of flying perhaps an hour a day, but as it is it will probably fail while your in the air..." She trailed off.

The headmaster considered her words. They were about at her table now, even despite how slow they were moving. He said "I suspect that number is reasonable, but it could also fail much sooner, or possibly not fail at all for months. Some of these things are very hard to predict."

Lafiel said, "I thank you for your advice."

He said absently, "If you ever need advice on a subject your not already an expert on, feel free to stop by."

"After lunch?" she asked.

"Don't you have classes?"

"History of magic is not particularly useful. I usually use the time to read actual history books."

"Very well, I'll see you then."

The rest of lunch was requests for flying boards. Hermione mentioned a five galleon price, which dissuaded most. They still got twenty orders. Hermione glared at Lafiel who shrugged. Before they finished lunch she asked if the team would walk with her to the Headmasters office afterwards, mentioning some questions she had for him. Hermione mentioned History of Magic. Lafiel mentioned not actually caring about that class. The others agreed, which left Hermione in a small huff, though she seemed to actually be looking forward to skipping it.

---

On the way there Harry asked, "What is this about?"

"I was hoping the Headmaster would answer some questions for me."

"And us?"

"The questions affect you, or could affect you, if you wanted them to."

Harry considered rephrasing his request, but suspected he would get no better answer before they reached the door.

---

The headmaster looked at his best students as they crowded around his office. He sat back. "What can I do for you?"

Lafiel said, "I wish to know how to travel forward safely in time approximately one thousand years."

"You what?" gasped Albus as he stood.

"My trip here utilized a combination of magic and technology. We didn't know that then, but I know it now. It is also not something I know how to control. I can return to where I was in space, but not in time. I need forward time travel."

"You are serious?"

She nodded. He sat back down.

"We'll I don't think anything based on a time turner is going to help. Those allow you to go back in time a few hours. Maybe you could manage a few days, but I know they don't work going forward."

Lafiel said, "If we had their construction details and rune sequence we might be able to figure out something."

The headmaster sighed. "Do you know what happens to people that play with time?"

"No," she admitted.

"Neither does anyone else. They cease to exist when a mistake is made. I think it is the number one cause of death for unspeakables."

Hermione said, "Relativity. A moving clock runs slower. As you approach the speed of light your own personal time slows down with respect to surrounding space."

Lafiel's eyes widened. "I remember learning about this in theoretical physics, but there is no practical way to generate the energy and shielding to move at speeds fast enough to matter. It was a curiosity only. Everybody uses planar space to traverse significant sections of space."

"But if you could do that, would it work to get you home at the right time?"

Lafiel pulled her tablet out and thumbed it on. "Ship, calculate the relative speed in normal space required as a percentage of the speed of light to arrive at Lakfakalle at the time I left."

"99.998% of the speed of light would have to be achieved and sustained to do this. No ship or technology exists that would facilitate such a request."

"Compute an indirect course. Allow up to three years to lapse for those onboard. Assume the technology will exist. Recalculate."

"99.5%"

Lafiel sighed. "I'm not giving up, but the energy and technology required to even build such a ship are probably impossible. We need another way, well or a way to tune how much time dilation occurs. This is going to be a lot of work."

She turned to the headmaster and asked, "Can we get the notes on how time turners work?"

"No, I'm not going to help with that. First get your Newts. You are all smart enough to manage them this year if you really want to, then I may introduce you to an unspeakable who may agree to work with you, or may not."

Lafiel nodded, satisfied with having a course of action.

Albus asked, "Would you really leave us? And the rest of you?"

Harry said, "I'm going with Lafiel."

Luna said , "Dibbs on the window seat."

Daphne said, "I will probably go, if it looks safe."

Hermione said, "I don't much want to leave my parents, but perhaps they can come too? I'd have to ask them."

Lafiel said, "I'd welcome their company, though perhaps not them having a key to my door."

Hermione and Harry both blushed furiously much to the others amusement.

Harry said, "I think Nadia and her dad may come as well."

"Her dad?" Lafiel asked.

"She didn't say that to everyone else I take it?"

They nodded.

"We'll Captain Nemo is her father. I was talking with her in the mirror the other night and she mentioned it casually."

Lafiel said, "We'll they are both welcome to come. My plan was to take their ship, though building our own was also a possibility. None of this may work. I could duplicate what got me here, but I have no way to improve it, and I can not remotely afford to become even more lost. The next random jump could kill me. It also would be impossible to take anyone with me with that approach."

The headmaster said, "Perhaps you would care to explain how you got here?"

"I can't. I honestly can't. Planar space drives are classified and I cannot disclose the technology, let alone the even more classified Linear space theory is based around."

"But," Harry said, "Nadia said you could disclose things if we were citizens of your empire."

"I can't ask you that. It is a permanent. You would be essentially enrolling yourself in the Abh military chain of command, to which I am at the lowest possible level. Only the Empress could release you from that. There is a good chance she would release you. She is not unreasonable, but I can make no promises. You would have to protect any classified knowledge for your entire life."

"Who said you had to ask?" responded Harry.

Luna added, "If we are to do this, we need to do this together. Daddy can come right?" Lafiel nodded.

Luna asked, "And there are cute blue haired boys there too?"

Lafiel said, "Space is a wonderful and sometimes terrible place. Yes, there are many Abh boys who might find you quite appealing. Many are also of regular Earth origin, and there are countless variations."

Luna said, "We'll that works, and as for your Empress, well she doesn't have you under mind control does she?"

"What? No! The Empress would never sink so low."

Luna smiled. Hermione said, "I think you proved her point. Serving someone you are proud to serve, and would not even think of disobeying, even back here when she may never find out, well that is not a bad thing is it."

Lafiel said, "It is not all roses. We control half of the galaxy, but there are other groups, the biggest of which calls itself the United Mankind."

"Tell me about this other group," asked the Headmaster.

"I hardly need to. They are basically what this society might look like if Voldemort won. Well they are not that bad to each other, but they believe we are some evil abomination that must be destroyed, just because they don't like how we modify our genes and have children in artificial wombs."

A couple were surprised at that, evidently not having known.

Hermione said, "So in all these centuries we have learned nothing?"

Lafiel said, "I'm afraid not. The S-particle research is what we called the bit of quasi controlled magic used to send us back, but even then there was only a handful of us with the potential. I'm not sure if the United Mankind has magic users, but I had never heard of magic before coming back here."

Albus said, "Your saying that magic is gone in the future?"

"I don't know. All I ever knew about was the few of us were special and could operate the technology. I was the strongest so when the Queen asked. I volunteered."

Luna said, "They could be hidden."

"What of Earth?" asked Hermione.

"Earth eventually destroyed itself. The details are murky, and at least the people of Earth were able to spread to the stars. I'm sorry, but it is far in the future. I don't believe we can change it. "

"You can't," the headmaster said gravely, "Were you to succeed in doing a change incompatible with the leeway time travel allows, you would be erased and the change reverted. That's how it works."

Hermione asked, "How do you know its safe to do anything?"

"I don't, but as I have no inputs to the contrary, I'm simply acting within Imperial law and trying to get home, helping those I can along the way."

"Wait, if we leave for your time, won't it possibly erase us?"

The headmaster sighed. "Seeing as we don't have examples of successful travel into the future it is hard to say with any certainty, but the papers I've read seem to suggest it is backwards time travel that has the risk. We simply don't know how to do forwards time travel."

Hermione said sadly, "Yes, in the grand scheme of things we probably don't make that big of an impact."

Lafiel said, "I wouldn't be prepared to bet on that. Either way, the decisions to become Abh is a personal one. The Empress is, I think, a good person, as are those who serve her, but ultimately if you come to my time, you will probably either have to remain hidden from all or end up joining either the Humankind Empire Abh or the United Mankind. Some think the United Mankind is the greatest threat the Abh have ever faced. I know, from verified recordings, how they treat Abh they capture. It is a sick thing that I will not describe."

Albus said, "I'm assuming that any that come with you would not be allowed to join the United Mankind."

"My recommendation would be to prevent it, using all necessary force."

He added, "That is not surprising. And how do you think the United Mankind would treat witches and wizards?"

"My guess is you would be treated as Abh are treated, as something vile and unnatural. They would kill you if they could, or worse. Some, no doubt would try to keep you alive and subvert your powers for their benefits. It is thought that much of the United Mankind's government has been based on hate of us for so long. It is, we suspect, how many in their government got into power."

"So what is next?" asked the Headmaster.

"I'm planning to buy a bunch of equipment, ask Nadia for a ride to a nearby solar system, and begin work on creating an antimatter fuel plant along with creating other such technology. It will probably take at least a year to be ready, but that is my next big step. Come to think of it..."

She tapped her tablet again, "Computer, add to the current tasks lists information on known useful meteorites and their likely positions, with the goal of possibly harvesting needed raw materials directly."

"Requirement has been anticipated. A large meteorite named Sixteen Psyche is in orbit between Mars and Jupiter should partially serve this purpose. Others are under consideration. The main problem is utilization of such a find. 16 Psyche is 140 miles wide."

The headmaster said, "So your not remotely ready to attempt time travel in any event."

Lafiel blinked. "No, of course not. The risks are incredible, but if we don't begin the work, we will not ever get done. I wonder if we could setup some kind of magical travel between here and that asteroid."

Hermione gasped. "Your not thinking of taking a portkey there are you?"

"No, but it might be possible to cut it up into blocks and portkey back part of it. No, that is probably useless. We have no way to refine the material. Best to just go with the original plans of buying what is needed for now."

Daphne asked, "Would you be able to portkey enough of it to sell and turn a profit?"

Lafiel asked the Headmaster, "What is the limitation on size and distance for portkeys?"

He said quietly, "I'm about to impart a secret. I suggest you not spread it around." They all quickly promised not to. "Portkeys are regulated for a reason, mostly because ministries hate unregulated magical travel, but also because if you don't know what your doing they have the potential to be lethal. A portkey takes something from the item turned into a portkey, thus weakening the material. We generally use something old we would ordinarily throw away. Socks become thinner. Old tin cans might spring a leak. It is always a small thing. In the case of a large chunk of rock, you would use the rock itself and I'd be the one creating the portkeys."

"Not that we don't appreciate your help, but why is that?" asked Lafiel.

"Because the only way to make this work is to deliberately create the portkeys without the bit that makes it safe for people. That much should just work. I'm not about to teach you the port key spell, before you get your newts, let alone help you memorize one you might use in mistake and die from."

"Well," Daphne said, "There is a possible source of money. I presume the Goblins can deal with selling it off. The dwarves will no doubt buy some, and some will end up in muggle factories. I suspect the Goblins will charge 20% or so, but that is still a good use of our time. How big of chunks do you think you could send back?"

The headmaster mused. "Perhaps a cubic yard or maybe two at a time? I could maybe manage 100 of those in a day, if others can slice them up."

Hermione did the math, "That works out to be about three hundred and fifty thousand pounds a week, or about seventy thousand galleons."

Lafiel said, "It should be worth a lot more than that. Your assuming Iron I assume?"

Hermione nodded.

"Ship, what is the likely composition of the asteroid?"

"A scan exists from our in system approach. It is 70% iron, 14% nickel, 8% copper, 5% gold, and the rest is uranium and trace metals."

Daphne said, "We are going to be so rich."

The headmaster said, "I'm going to claim 10% for Hogwarts, though I'll probably share with other schools, hospitals and such if it is really a lot."

Lafiel said, "Sure. So when do we want to go? We would need to contact Gringotts and arrange a place to portkey all this stuff and a contract."

The headmaster said, "I'll talk to Ragnok, get the details worked out. He may want to send someone along to help, in which case I'll take less. I'm guessing Saturday would be the earliest. I really should insist on permission slips."

Lafiel said, "Ship connect me to Nadia."

"Lafiel? Everyone? What's up? Is the link to Blue Water working well?"

"I honestly haven't checked on it. I was interrupted this morning. No, we are calling for something else. Is the Nautilus ready for a trip between Mars and Jupiter. There is an asteroid there we'd like to mine."

Nadia started typing on her own interface. "I'll have to confirm with Captain Nemo, but I don't see a reason why not. I have already increased the effective size of our water storage tanks through the use of runic expansion charms. We should be able to use super-heated steam as propellant, though leaving the atmosphere may require the full team. We also managed to get an original Atlantian design for radar diffusion working. When did you want to leave?"

"Saturday morning if all goes well?"

Nadia said, "Your talking about Sixteen Psyche I presume? I have the scans from your ship. It is very impressive. How are you returning the material? Trips in Nautilus are possible, but the weight would make it a great deal of work and then more work dealing with wear and tear on systems."

The headmaster said, "Hello Nadia. Are you a daughter of Atlantis?"

"I am. I am the last."

"I am sorry for your loss, but glad that you are okay. To answer your question, I will portkey chunks back, though the Goblins may want to have their own people come."

"I'm not opening the Nautilus to those I do not know. You can come. Samantha may come of course and her master I suppose, but that's it."

"I understand."

"I assume you will not object to some of this material being redirected to our island? It will take time, but I am working on recreating some automated machines that could help process it for us."

Lafiel said, "We could do that, or we could just let the goblins sell it off and buy the refined material. Whichever you want we will do."

"I'd prefer to rebuild our ability to rebuild from scratch. I believe you will need that as well." Lafiel nodded.

Nadia asked, "Will you invite Fleur and Victor as well? I'm not sure they need money or material, but perhaps they would like to come?"

"Of course," Lafiel agreed.

Harry rubbed his hands together in excitement.

Luna rolled her eyes and Hermione smiled at Harry's eagerness.

The headmaster just grinned. He said absently, "Minerva is going to be so annoyed with me when she someday finds out what we did."

They looked at him puzzled.

"What? You didn't know that Minerva was a bit of a speed freak? She'd own a Firebolt if she could afford one."

Harry laughed.

Albus asked, "There is one more thing. Lafiel had previously mentioned anti-matter fuel? What is that?"

Lafiel said, "It is the single most powerful substance in the known universe and is usually made artificially by harnessing the energy of a star."

Hermione added quietly, "It would be like comparing petrol to nuclear power, save it is another step in that scale."

The headmaster's eyes widened. "And your going to make such a thing?"

"Imperial law forbids me from making such a material on the surface of a planet, and common sense would as well. There is still enough left on my ship to take that asteroid and shatter it. It is as concern, but the ship has already converted it to a stable state, and if the ship is threatened it is programmed to escape this planet and fly into a star. Failing that it will execute a flight program to cause the least damage possible in the circumstances. It will not, under any circumstances, permit being captured. The death toll from detonating would be minor compared to a civilization that might choose to use such weapons on each other."

The headmaster mused, "I'm surprised you even landed with such a thing."

"Normal protocol would have indicated I jettison it, before having to land on a low technology world like this, but I was without any support whatsoever. That decision could still result in imprisonment for me, though I think the Empress will forgive it. If we produce any antimatter, it needs to remain off of Earth, and if I can get a suitable off planet base my craft will be moved there as well. I am taking this very seriously. I have no intention of accidentally being the one that leads to the Earth destroying itself even sooner. I would do anything to prevent that occurrence."

Hermione asked, "Is there nothing we can do to stop what will happen in the future?"

The headmaster sighed. "Not now no. The main thing is to not change anything you know will happen, but you don't know how it happened do you?"

Lafiel replied, "I don't know no. There is a lot of information in my ships computer, but most of it is technical. Knowledge of the exact chain of events that led to Earth becoming unfit for human life is not known, or at least I was never taught them. Harry and I did start filling a pensive with some memories that I hoped to send to where the royal family and only the royal family would get it. The Empress's actions let me to believe she had knowledge of some things, and it has been a legend in my own family that they knew things that guided our people."

Albus asked, "You're family?"

"The Empress is my grandmother. I am third in line to the Imperial throne. That everyone involved in my trip recommended I abort, but my grandmother still wished me to do it, convinced me this was true, that perhaps they do have knowledge of things, perhaps knowledge I provided. Abh do not ask other's to sacrifice without cause and I know my grandmother cares for me deeply. There had to be a reason behind her actions."

"This is a mess," muttered Albus. "It would be crazy to base any future decisions on any of this."

Luna said softly, yet clearly, "The loop is closed. What is must be. The arc of time may save remnants of the children of Atlantis. The child of hope shall return to a time of pain. Magic's light is the light of hope. It must not fade..."

Albus said, "Do not reveal what you heard or that Luna gave a prophecy. Beyond that, it looks like our path is set. We will journey to the asteroid on Saturday if all goes well. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how serious this all is. Prophecies rarely if ever are that blunt, even if they are usually never really understood until after they take place."

They all nodded soberly.

"One more thing," Albus said to Lafiel, "If we are going to that asteroid, which still seems insane to me, should we maybe park your ship there, or at least move it? This antimatter stuff concerns me."

"The antimatter has been converted to stable state, which isn't perfectly safe, since it requires active effort to keep at that state, though can be transported for short periods. The major danger is somehow scientists getting control of it, or blowing themselves and a lot of other people up. I'd prefer to keep access to the computer since it has been useful."

She looked at everyone, trying to get an idea of their thoughts. "How about I move it to the island we warded? It can sit under water there and still be inside the wards. I'll lose access to the data networks it has been monitoring, but I don't think I still require them."

Albus said, "That sounds reasonable. I take it your will have to take part of Friday off to do this?"

"Technically it is capable to make the trip itself, but yes, in practice I would need to be there just in case anything went wrong. I'd also prefer a copilot, in case there is ever need for another to fly it."

All the hands went up other than Hermione's. Hers was almost up.

Amused, Lafiel said, "How about you Hermione?"

"Me! I didn't raise my hand." She lowered her hand the rest the way.

"We'll I thought about picking Harry as probably the best natural flier, however in order to use the neural interface you need to have a very ordered mind, which would be you or Daphne."

Luna said, "Darn."

Lafiel said, "You may be brilliant Luna, but I suspect it would take more training for you to learn the system." She sighed and nodded.

Hermione hesitated. "Why me then?"

"You were more cautious and less certain. Great care must be taken when moving a spacecraft powered by antimatter in the atmosphere. It is not like crashing a broom. The consequences would be dire."

"You should take Daphne. I've known her for years. She is more cautious than me. I've got in the habit of just charging in, and controlling a ship that could possible destroy a small country scares me."

"If you are sure?" Lafiel asked.

"Yes. I still want to learn though."

"We will have to create a trainer, but that will take time." She turned to Daphne. "We'll if your willing, let's meet after classes..."

Daphne nodded solemnly.

"You can meet in my office. I can apparate you there. Somewhere near Harry's house I take it?"

"No, it has moved a long way from there. I can recall it, but it would be better to go closer to where it is, which is a fair ways south."

"You can find it on a map then?"

She nodded.

"We'll I'll see you too then."

---

Daphne could not believe she was going to fly a space ship. Well it was apparently a really small spaceship, but it could, on its own, exit the atmosphere and fly around. She was pacing as she changed her clothes. Just what kind of clothes did you wear on a spaceship? She put on some of her only muggle clothes, and made sure she had some with pockets, including one that had a small expanded pocket that she shoved in an emergency potions kit, bandages, money, a bit of emergency food, water, and a notebook. It was basically her bug out outfit, should she ever have to get lost in the muggle world. Her dad had helped her assemble it, since you could never be too careful. That last war had proven that.

She still couldn't believe they had apparently avoided another possible war before it started. She checked herself over as Tracy came in.

"What ya doing?" her friend asked.

"Going to help Lafiel with a task of hers."

"With your bug out outfit?"

Daphne cursed ever discussing this outfit with anyone.

"Yea, its basically one of my few muggle outfits and we need to head into their world for a bit."

"To do what?" asked Tracy.

"Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

Daphne glared at her.

"We'll you haven't changed at least, or at least not much. I think that glare was faster, maybe."

"Has Astoria changed so much?"

"A bit, but I can't tell if its because the pipsqueak doesn't have a potential death sentence over her, or if she is really in love." She rolled her eyes at the last.

Daphne glared. "If he even thinks about..."

"Then Astoria will make sure you never find out. She is not stupid Daph."

Daphne glared again, wondering if the spaceship had those laser things. They would work for Draco, wouldn't they?

Daphne glanced at the clock in their room. She said, "I have to go," and then left without a another word.

She met Lafiel in the Headmaster's office. They were pouring over a large map. It seems they were heading for a forest, if the pin meant anything. She asked, "Where is your ship?"

It will navigate to this location underwater then we will get in when it surfaces.

"It is still amazing it can do all that. It seems quite smart."

"No, Lafiel said. It is well programmed to perform a great variety of tasks yes, but not truly intelligent. That was forbidden long ago."

"Why is that?" asked Daphne.

"Would you create something that carried to its logical end could decide you are no longer needed?"

Daphne's eyes widened. "That is possible?"

"Yes. Certainly. The computer in my spacecraft is far more complex than a human mind. We could have had true AI centuries ago, or at least that is the belief. We choose to prevent it. The other great empire in the galaxy has the same belief. It is not there they hate us. They hate that we are a genetically modified species, that we sometimes change the genes of our children and not just to remove defects. They lie much about us, since the changes we make are limited. They also resent that we try to prevent the kind of military build up that will lead to interplanetary war."

"And you," asked a curious Headmaster.

"I am what is known as a child of love. Yes, I was grown in an artificial womb, but it was from a couple who loved each other a great deal, and they did not modify my genes further. They said there was no need. Most are born this way." She shrugged.

"But if someone wanted to do something weird they could?" he probed.

"There are legal limits to such technology. The child's welfare must be considered. Modifications of our natural blue hair to red could be permitted for instance, but it would be ridiculous, so no one would try. Now if someone tried to make their child grow super short or tall, that would be limited, as would weird non human things, such as extra arms or things like that. They would be unfair to the child and dangerous besides."

"So you are saying that the group that hates you is hating you for things you more or less don't do?"

Lafiel said, "Yes. It is most vexing. They seem not interested in truth or learning. They just use our differences as a reason to go after us, or at least to make us the enemy, lest they have to address other issues. I suspect, based on that warning of Luna's that we may be at war with them by the time we return."

Daphne asked quietly, "Shall we get going?"

The headmaster agreed and asked them to follow him through the flu to Mrs. Figgs house.

After they arrived, they walked out of the boundary of her property and behind some trees before apparating to a forest.

Lafiel said, "That is a horrible ways to travel."

Daphne laughed. "Just think, with a bit of training you could do that yourself."

"Would it work in space?" she wondered.

"Possibly," the headmaster agreed, "but who knows? Now, which way?"

Lafiel pulled out her tablet and soon was leading them to the river. When they got within a hundred feet and they were about to lose their last cover she said, "When I heat the engine up and cause it to come out is the greatest chance of discovery. I think I know enough to setup the muggle repelling wards with Daphne's help."

Albus mused, "Your not concerned with the detectors catching you?"

Lafiel looked puzzled. "We removed the trace some time ago, and it is highly unlikely there will be detectors out here."

The headmaster laughed.

Daphne blushed furiously.

Albus said, "I can set some up if you want, or simply watch your work. Your choice."

Daphne said, "We will do it. Practice under supervision can't hurt."

The headmaster nodded, as he absently conjured himself a plush chair and pulled a book from somewhere.

Daphne said, "We'll these need to last what an hour or so?"

Lafiel nodded.

"We should use only spells then, but I don't know the specific spells. I do know how to rune write in air. I can show you if you don't know?"

"Please."

Daphne started a bit away from where the headmaster was and with her wand started writing runes in air. After a bit Lafiel took her other hand and felt the magic she was using. She did the next one, and after a few failures she was writing lavender tinted runes on her own. They ended up alternating as they continued to write runes every few feet.

Daphne said, "I'll cover the river if you can levitate me. I didn't wear my flight suit."

"I didn't either. I didn't want to risk the magic inside the ship. I'll levitate you when your ready."

Daphne nodded even as she began to float in the air over the river. She drew the sigils. It took longer with floating but she soon had them and then was moved out a few feet where she repeated them. She covered a total of twenty feet before she felt herself turn. She continued on for another fifteen minutes of painstaking work before being floated back tot the ground.

Lafiel looked exhausted, but glad.

The headmaster was looking at her with concern. He said, "You could have taken a break you know, or just let me finish them, or even asked me to take over the levitation."

"I'm fine. If I don't push myself when things are easy, where will I be if things aren't easy?"

Albus nodded. "That was still a very difficult task you did. Suspending that much weight for that much time."

"I know, but the ship can fly itself if it needs to, so I should be able to rest on the way back."

The headmaster conjured a goblet and filled it with cold water before holding it out. She drank greedily. Daphne got a similar goblet.

Lafiel pulled her tablet out and said, "Launch permission granted. Minimum observation mode. Just land near us so we can get in."

"Confirmed. Thawing anti-matter fuel. Fuel thaw will be complete in one minute. Estimated time of arrival is two minutes fifteen seconds."

"You don't actually freeze it do you?" asked Daphne.

"Freezing is part of it, though there is more to it than that, but freezing is quicker to say."

They soon saw the water disturbed. The craft rose out of the water all black and aerodynamic. It had a blended wing body that looked a bit like X-48B prototype, save that the engines at the back looked more like those out of a rocket. It was also small enough that a canopy covered the occupants in a shimmering field of power. The craft touched down a few feet before them.

Lafiel said, "The people here are allies. Countermand countermeasures and unlock the cockpit."

The shimmering covering vanished, even as Lafiel reached up and grabbed a wing, gently guiding it to the ground. She got in and levitated all the used supplies she had not yet got rid of down in one pile, then the few unused supplies she put in another. She asked the headmaster, "Can you vanish the empties and save the rest?"

"I think I'll keep both. Going through a little alien trash sounds fun."

She scowled and then shrugged. She then opened a bag and pulled out a desk chair before lowering it into the area she cleaned out.

Daphne said, "I take it you didn't plan for passengers?"

"They removed the original seat for more supplies. I didn't want to transfigure one this close to technology, if I could avoid it. My computer found a muggle one that would work with a few changes, but it hasn't gotten to Gringotts yet, so, this is what I have."

Daphne said, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It doesn't matter." She sat in the seat she cleaned out before saying, "Computer please configure for training operation with safeguards. Make additional overrides available to my tablet interface."

"Confirmed."

"Daphne, you're seat awaits."

Daphne hesitantly walked up the planes wing and carefully climbed into the front seat.

"There should be a generic interface diadem under the front seat. See if you can pull it out. Ship, set language to English. Display how to wear the diadem and answer questions related to standard flight training."

"Confirmed."

Daphne took the generic diadem out of its small pack and after looking at the screen settled it onto her head in what she hoped was the correct orientation. "Is this correct?" she asked.

"Interface is positioned correctly. Connections to the ship remain," said the ship.

"Before you do that," Lafiel warned, "I want you to bring your occlumency up to full. Once you connect we will lower it. Your goal is not to do anything. You won't be able to direct the ship in any event without the interface connecting to your left hand, and I don't want you activating that till your used to the neural link."

"This is safe right? I mean I'm not quite like you."

"There are many levels of safeties. Not all humans can use the link, but most can with practice. Yes, this is one of the areas we tweak our genes for, but it is not required. You will not be harmed, but you might experience headaches during and afterward, and you might not. It varies."

"We'll I'm ready I guess."

"Then connect the little chain like earrings as the screen shows."

Daphne was dubious as she connected one, then another clamping down hard on her occlumency. Suddenly she could see, she could see all around them, feel the wind on the aircraft, the warm sun on her skin. She could see the old Headmaster looking at them with pride and a bit of envy, and so much further as her mind began to harness the information from the sensors the ship had so casually at its availability.

Lafiel said, "I want you to continue like this for another ten minutes or so, then disconnect the interface. If you have no negative reaction after another ten minutes or so, we can try the rest of the link."

"This is amazing. I feel like I'm a bird that just needs to open the cage to fly."

Lafiel grinned. She said, "I'd let you actually fly, but staying off radar is our goal, so we will have to swim. It's not as fun, but it is still quite fun."

"I can't wait."

"Ship, are their any problems with the pilot link?"

"New pilot is responding in the second tier. No problems are detected."

"Second tier?" Daphne asked.

"That is very good. I did slightly better, but many Abh hit there. I'm surprised you are able to do so well so quickly."

"It may have something to do with you effectively being my parent."

"Doubtful," Lafiel said. "While your genetics underwent a significant shift, your brain was already mostly formed. A simple genetic change would not be enough to get you there, not unless it was years ago, and even then it would only be half."

"I still can't wait to fly this."

"Computer check for an addictive response."

"Check is negative."

"Is that really a concern?" asked Daphne.

"It has happened in the past, but it is fairly rare. The computer will monitor for that and any other possible problems. It was merely precautionary. You should disengage the link now. Just touch where you placed the triangle connections and they should release."

Daphne did and she immediately sagged.

Lafiel asked, "How do you feel?"

"Tired. Like I just was up for hours."

"That is a normal response. Computer, go ahead and begin a stealth course for the island. Daphne's mind needs to rest."

"Confirmed."

The engines flared gently to life as the craft rose a few inches from the ground and slipped into the river before vanishing from sight.

On the ground Albus Dumbledore decided to finish reading his book. It was a nice night and there was no great hurry. He called a few house elves to tear down the wards away from where he was sitting and continued to read.

Lafiel said, "How long is the route going to take ship?"

The ship replied, "The route will take approximately ten and a half hours."

Daphne chimed in, "Ten hours? How are we going to go to the bathroom?"

Lafiel laughed. "You will love that part."

"I hope all your ships aren't this cramped."

"They are not. This was only for proving the new technology. We had to keep it small or the technology failed entirely." They watched as fish passed them by.

Lafiel added, "You can ask the computer and it will display anything within its sensor range. It's not as interesting as the link, but it works."

Daphne said, "Ship, show me the bottom of the river as we pass by."

The screen in front of her illuminated to show her the river floor, consisting of soft round rocks and seaweed.

Daphne said, "I'm curious, why are we moving relatively slowly? I assume it is to prevent detection, but I wasn't sure."

"That is all it is. The stealth directive tells the computer to avoid being seen. This is the velocity it calculates to do so if I don't give it some direction to go faster or modify its default risk acceptance criteria. If you like, you can sleep, but I recommend reconnecting to the link in a few minutes, then doing another ten minutes, but only if you feel up to it."

"I'm definitely not missing that. So, ten minutes on, ten minutes off."

"For now, if after a few times you are less tired at the end we can extend it a minute or two."

By the time they got to the ocean Daphne was managing twenty minutes on with ten minutes off. Lafiel asked, "Are you ready to try the rest of the interface?"

"Sure."

"Computer configure the arm interface for a new user at minimal levels. Set for auto learning mode. Store learning results as new pilot. If I am confirmed killed execute standing orders. If I were to be captured on unavailable, obey orders by her that do not conflict with Imperial law or any of my previous or subsequent orders."

"Confirmed."

"Thanks. May I ask what the standing orders are?"

"You can ask the ship."

"Ship, what are your standard orders."

"If the primary operator is killed prevent technology from falling into the hands of a low tech world like this. This is a core level command entered into the system at the time of creation. The mostly likely form of this command, if required, is flying directly into the local star."

"Ship what is your max speed?"

"The max possible speed this vessel is capable of in an atmosphere is approximately mach ten. Underwater this is greatly restricted though. Speeds in excess of two hundred miles per hour are theoretically possible in this environment."

"How fast is mach ten?"

The computer responded, "Mach ten is seven thousand six hundred and seventy three mile per hour."

"In space?" she hesitated to ask.

The computer responded, "This would depend on the region in space. If background matter was minimal, this craft could reach about fifty percent of the speed of light, however that level of propulsion could only be sustained for about four minutes before overheating. Ten percent of light speed can be maintained until propellant reserves are exhausted, which would take about twenty four hours with what is left.

"Propellant?" asked Daphne.

Lafiel preempted the computer's response. She said, "It's just ultra pure water. We have tried various different propellants, but water is cheap and simple. We don't just flash it to steam, but to extremely high temperatures which creates massive thrust for minimum propellant. It also has the benefit of not being harmful to a planet."

"This is why you came up with that design we used for the Nautilus right?"

"Correct. I am not allowed to produce antimatter on this planet. It would be very difficult in any event. We need to have a star nearby to supply the energy. I thought the magical reactor would be a replacement. It works, but..."

"Ends up with us stuck in the engine room."

"Yes. I think it will be fine for getting to and from the asteroid."

Daphne said. "We'll, I think I am ready to try the other thing."

"Okay. Just flip up the cover for your left arm and set it in there then flip the cover down."

Daphne reattached the diadem to the ship interface then after a moment flipped up the cover and carefully put her arm in place before hesitantly pushing the cover over it. Her fingers naturally fell in place on several keys placed for that purpose.

Lafiel said, "Eventually you will learn to basically forget about your arm while it is in the interface. For now just focus on moving the ship. It is set not to let you move very fast, and it is in training mode so it should prevent you from crashing. I'm here too, but at this point you are basically on your own. You can see what your doing with the neural interface. Things are slow in the water and the controls will not make big changes until the computer judges you ready, then it will respond more quickly. Watch for this."

"I understand and thank you for this opportunity."

Daphne continued to move the ship in all directions, then in slow spins, then in circles, and even in a spiral. Thirty minutes in before her speeds suddenly started to speak up. She recovered quickly and then started using the new speed. Twenty minutes later the speed bumped up again and she quickly adapted.

Lafiel said, "Take a break Daphne. Let your mind rest."

Daphne said, "Ship, can you take over?"

"Confirmed. Course and speed resumed."

She used her other hand to release her arm and swung it around a few times.

Lafiel chuckled. "You do get used to it. Trust me."

"I do. My arm on the other hand." She trailed off.

"I believe I kicked the training chair the first time I got out of it."

"I can believe it. How long does the pins and needles take to go away?"

Lafiel said, "It should be about ten minutes or so. Just make sure you don't try it again until your arm feels completely normal."

Daphne said, "I think It's getting better. This is weird. How long do you keep this stuff turned on?"

"The only way for a human to react fast enough in combat is this kind of system. Normally we would only do deep immersion for the actual duration of combat though. I've only done it in training, but I know in actual battle conditions it is hard on the pilot, but then dying is worse."

"What level I at now?"

"It should be normal mode, which is used for normal non complex flying. Deep immersion is two levels more advanced. It forces your brain to process data faster, to react quicker. You could probably sustain your current level now indefinitely, but it is too early to attempt it."

"It gets worse?" Daphne asked with a surprise

"Yes, when your dealing at weapons that travel at an appreciable fraction of the speed of light you must react quickly or you are dead. Sensors and distance help, but fast reactions are still required."

"Do you think I'll be able to do that someday?"

"There is no way to tell. Your initial adaption is promising. There are also many positions on a ship that do not require the pilot interface, or may just use a lower level of it. Deep immersion is only used when required. The mental strain can cause damage that is difficult, but usually possible to heal. I did use deep immersion during the initial flight test for all the good it did, but the computer kicked me out after I arrived in the past and I have not gone deeper than you have since."

"So, if I knew what I was doing and practiced I could take this kind of ship right into space?"

"Yes, though we don't have the fuel to waste now, and the chances of being detected are significant, given this has no stealth ability at all."

"I can wish though."

Lafiel mused, "We could probably make an aircraft similar to this with a runic engine."

"Wouldn't that take a lot of magic and concentration just to fly it? That flyer we made in Atlantis seemed greedy enough."

"Brooms do not, and that circle thing I sat on did not. Magic can nullify most of the weight, which makes it a lot easier. We didn't have time to redo the flyer, but even it would have been better with work."

Daphne said, "But with those, you wouldn't experience things like the interface provides would you?"

Lafiel said, "Technology is a problem to duplicate. Muggle technology could make some of it. I've got my ships computer working on a way to use muggle technology to build some of our technology that can then be used to create still other pieces. Nadia is working on it also, and has much of my technology base to add to hers. I'm hoping there is enough in Nautilus to begin to produce the machines that will build other machines. This could take years, though I hope not."

"I'll help."

"I know. I need to figure out how to allow everyone to learn at least some parts of what they need to know. I was thinking more muggle computers in the workshop. That way we only need to run the one generator. They won't work with everything, since I'm limited to what I could put on there, but there are many skills with computers and technology that people coming to live in my time will need."

"Just let me know how I can help."

"If I provided you a list of the kinds of computers we need can you or your father get it purchased?"

"Sure. They can't be that expensive."

"I'll get you the specs on the one we have in the workshop. Anything comparable should work. Ideally you or your father would need to find an expert to get recommendations from. A half dozen like that will work. We may want to buy the best that is available later though in a way that does not draw excessive attention."

"I'll get with Granger and figure it out. Her parents may help too. We should probably just buy the best now unless the cost is ridiculous. Are there any other considerations?"

"If they are for later use on a ship, we will probably want to find a common design that is small, powerful, and easy to replace. I do not know what that is, but it is important that most, if not all of them are the same, or at least will do the same things, so we can swap one for another."

"What other things will we need for the ship?"

Lafiel said, "It really depends. If we can just take the Nautilus and go then we still need space time bubble generators and anti matter based engines. Well anti-matter based engines aren't an absolute requirement. The fusion design Nadia and Captain Nemo are working on will work. The bubble generators are, however, a requirement. Those are not easy to make, and entering a Sord that isn't tamed is not easy in the best of times. But it is doable."

"What is a Sord again?"

"They tend to be near stars, but not always. They are connections to the planar universe. Distances in the planar universe are much shorter, so a trip inside it and exiting out another Sord can move you across the galaxy relatively quickly. Weeks instead of potentially centuries. The planar universe is not like here. We die and our ships are annihilated if they enter a Sord without the protection of a space time bubble generator. Of course this craft is a little special. It can't enter the planar universe on its own but it has the rare ability to survive there with its pilot without a separate space time bubble."

"Why not install that on the Nautilus?"

"This ship was partly grown in a lab. It is an extremely advanced technology that I couldn't hope to duplicate, and I checked that knowledge is not in the ship's computer. I don't even understand how this ship could live in planar space without the shielding. It goes against everything I was taught. I just know it can."

"So your basically planning for every possibility?"

"More or less. Developing or rather redeveloping a technological base should be feasible between what we can buy, what Nadia can make and the knowledge in this ship. It merely takes time. Though I wonder if we shouldn't design with using magic from the very start. I previously was only replacing key systems, but what if we started going as far as magic would take us, then added technology on top of that..."

Daphne replied. "I thought you wanted to use the muggle generator to avoid relying so much on magic."

"I do, but I also think we should include the knowledge of magic into our design decisions. Sometimes it will help, but maybe not always. We want, when we use magic to use it where it helps the most. Just reducing weight would be a huge advantage to a ship in space."

"Could we apply that to the Nautilus?"

"Not easily. Nadia's people have the equivalent to the runic schemes we have been designing embedded in their hulls. It is designed and works well, as demonstrated by us surviving that trip. In fact, we should probably learn their form as well, if they will allow it. The fact that I have to ask people to swear an oath to a woman they do not know to remove limitations on information sharing does not help."

Daphne said, "Then don't."

"I'm not sure you understand. Granddaughter or not, she has a duty, and she will do it if it is required. No Abh is above the law, not me, not even her."

"We could swear to you, in exchange you swear back to us. Magically that is binding, and I'm sure we could come up with oaths that are sufficient."

"But that is..."

"Totally cheating. Why yes it is, but it covers you doesn't it?"

Lafiel said, "It would depend on the oath. You don't have to do this."

"Oh trust me, I'm not about to swear anything magically binding until it is reviewed by lawyers and everyone involved. What would be sufficient for your Empress?"

Lafiel sighed. "It won't be just to protect the knowledge. Your magic, all this, if we get back to my time will be a massive concern. She would want more, or she would want you hidden where no one will ever find you. One or the other. I have no problem swearing a magically binding oath of fealty for fealty, but if war is afoot, I could be ordered into it and if your not careful any oath you swear could drag you and all the rest as well."

Daphne said, "Have you ever heard the expression that it is easier to get forgiveness than to ask permission?"

"I've heard something similar yes."

"If there is a war, it is unlikely she is going to lock you up when you could be helping. Let me work on the oaths. I can get my father to help. We will help you, and if the worst happens and your locked up, well I suppose she will just have to lock us all up, but I don't believe she will do so. She would want the only magic users to be on her side, and in that we have bargaining space."

Lafiel said, "I do not entirely like this."

"And yet you know this would be a good deal for your people."

"True. Can I ask you to do me the favor of working out the details with everyone? I suspect I will not fully like what you come up with, but I am asking a lot."

"I will, and I promise not to make things harder than necessary. It is just I'd greatly prefer to have options, and yes I know with the possibility of war on the horizon we can't afford to make enemies. My family was neutral in the last war. It wasn't a brave position, but we did survive."

"I understand."

"Now, what's this about a space station? Fill me in."

Lafiel smiled. "The plan right now is to purchase a lot of steel shipping containers and probably portkey them to the asteroid. I'll send a picture to your display."

"A bit boring aren't they?"

"True, but they are a relatively cheap easy to buy commodity to start with. Once there we can stack them, seal air leaks and make a large base of operations. Later we may be able to portkey aluminum containers to start laying a hull for a new ship."

"What about air and such?"

"Probably need to use hydroponics to grow plants for air, is my guess. Making a place large enough to develop our own star ship is not going to be easy, but I think it will work if we go that route."

Daphne said, "We need more help."

"Probably," she agreed.

"Don't those muggle container things all travel from China on big barges or something?"

"I've no idea."

Daphne said, "I was just thinking if they did, maybe we could place a large order for a whole stack of them, filled with useful stuff, then pay Gringotts to manage the project arranging them into whatever shape you wanted."

"This could work, particularly since they could have their own people work on the asteroid. We would have to share more of the profit, but that shouldn't matter. I almost forgot. I need to send a copy of that prophecy to Ragnok. He has been fair to us."

Daphne added, "And if he and his people are motivated to come along, we could get some of the help we needed for less expense. We are going to need more than that though."

"Nadia and her father don't want a lot of strangers on her ship, though I think she would accept Garnok's team. They would be a good start. We may need to approach others. The staff, Nymphadora, Moody, Harry's godfather, others."

Daphne replied, "We need to make sure Garnok and Samantha come tomorrow if we can. They may be able to work out how to create a way back that doesn't require the Nautilus."

"Agreed. If your feeling up to it, I suggest returning to training, but extending your time a few minutes."

Daphne did so.

Lafiel said, "It is important to remember that the interface is also adapting to you. You will want to make sure the training information learned here is sent to future ships and such, otherwise part of this has to be repeated."

Daphne said dryly, "I think I'll remember." The second time her arm was pins and needles for almost eight minutes. After her arm was feeling a bit less pins and needles she asked, "So what is this about you and Harry and maybe Hermione?"

"Both are very good people that I admit I do like."

"Oh come on. That was said too coolly."

Lafiel answered a touch sharply. "It is inappropriate for me to potentially get in a relationship with them at this time. I shouldn't have slept in the same bed as them at Hermione's house."

"You slept with them?" exclaimed Daphne.

"In the same bed yes. Intimately no. As I said it is inappropriate."

"Why?"

"In order for them to learn what they need to know they have to probably accept me as their leader, and they more or less have, but we haven't formalized it. I cannot be in a relationship with those that I must command. If we get back, so there is at least someone above me, well things may be different."

Daphne said, "I'm sure no one would mind."

"And if I had to make a decision that was likely to or did result in someone's death? I could easily envision a situation where you are sent into someplace dangerous and killed. I would do my best to avoid it, but if the alternative is more than one death, I would have to ask you to go. But what if after I asked you, people asked why I did not ask Hermione to go? I know I'd ask myself that."

Daphne said, "I have watched you. You would make each decision as fairly as possible. I certainly don't want to die, but I know you would not spend my life cheaply."

"Of course not. That would be a insult to every Abriel in history and a deep one to my personal honor, not to mention your honor, your families honor and the Abh in general."

Daphne said, "I would like to bring my sister into this, and give her the choice of going when we journey to your time."

"Of course. I shall trust you to handle the details."

"Draco too probably," muttered Daphne.

"I was uncertain about him at first."

"And now?" asked Daphne.

"I am less uncertain."

"That was helpful."

"Unfortunately, a reputation for being untrustworthy in the past is not easily swept away. That his father was taken from him as a result of our actions does not help, even if he clearly deserved it. That being said, Abh believe in the potential of man to change and adapt. I do not fully trust him, but I am encouraged by what I have seen, particularly with your sister."

"Yea, that was more or less my analysis. Why couldn't she pick someone not Draco Malfoy?"

Lafiel laughed. She then looked at her display and smiled. "Computer estimate odds of detection increase if we head down to near the ocean floor and increase our speed by a factor of four."

"Detection odds will decrease, but energy usage to sustain ship will be significantly increased."

"What is your estimate of the additional depletion?"

"Anti matter fuel will be reduced by an additional .001%."

Lafiel said, "Allow the increase of speed at the corresponding depths to maintain at least the current detection probability."

"Confirmed."

"What did you do?" asked Daphne.

"When your ready, reconnect to the system and dive down. It will let you move faster if you are low enough. You don't have to go to the ocean floor though."

"But it said it would use more fuel."

"But only a trace amount, and your likely not going to spend the whole time on the ocean floor, so likely even less."

"If you're sure?"

"I am."

Daphne reconnected the neural and arm interfaces even as she leaned the aircraft down at a 45 degree angle and speed up to the maximum speed the spacecraft would permit. She went down almost a thousand feet before the speed stopped increasing then turned back horizontal, making sure to return to the indicated course. Fish were fewer in number, but still prevalent. It was only the advanced sensors of this ship that allowed her to see in the blackness of the ocean depths.

"Thanks," I like the faster rate.

"It is not a problem. Computers tend to be literal. Being another thousand feet down is a good thing, but such judgments and trade-offs are best left to the humans operating the systems."

Daphne asked, "Ship, can you slowly darken the rest of the displays while I'm connected?"

"Confirmed. Auto darkening mode enabled."

Daphne kept her focus on avoiding the fish while staying mostly on course. It was actually pretty difficult. She could seldom maintain the maximum speed and had left more than her share of dead fish behind. The fish death toll didn't seem concern Lafiel or the ship. She felt the impacts. Each one felt like failure, but she was getting better.

"Ship, are the impacts causing damage?"

"There is no damage occurring. The organic exoskeleton will also automatic heal minor damage."

Lafiel said, "Do not be overly concerned with your mistakes. Simply learn from them. You are doing fine."

Daphne said dryly, "The fish would disagree."

"Normally you would not be in an actual ship for learning, at least at this stage. My fish death toll would have probably been comparable, had I learned like this."

Lafiel asked, "Ship, are there any accurate flight simulators available in the muggle world?"

"Systems of various fidelity exist. All use fully manual controls. Almost all are created by individual people, but a few exist that are sold by companies."

"Transfer the information to my tablet, prioritizing by availability."

"Confirmed."

Daphne asked, "Do you think we can buy a muggle one?"

"I'm not sure. Perhaps. Ship how much would the best commercially available complete system cost now?"

"I do not have an active link to refine the search. Best available information suggests that they could cost four hundred thousand pounds."

Daphne said, "That's insane."

Lafiel asked, "Ship what is the price of a system that will do about eighty percent of the previous system?"

"Approximately one hundred thousand pounds."

"Still insane," muttered Daphne.

Lafiel responded. "It's certainly well within our projected income. We will have to look at the build versus buy decision. If it is useful, and we can just buy it, then that saves us time for other tasks. Unfortunately, just buying it may just be delaying us acquiring the skills to build our own. Either way, I suspect it is worth it. Harry may be able to pay for it short term and we could pay him back."

"We may already have the money in that company we made."

"True," Lafiel agreed.

Lafiel asked, "If the decision is buy one, then people are probably going to need to go into the muggle world and learn how to use it from the people selling it. That may cost more money, but is probably necessary."

"Count me in. I'm betting any of the others would as well. Heck, I could probably talk Draco into it, if he thought he would eventually be able to fly something like this."

"Something like this may not happen for quite some time, but muggle aircraft might be a possibility earlier. It might be helpful to learn on the more primitive craft so as to appreciate everything the more modern technology does for you automatically."

"I'm not certain Draco would appreciate it."

"He would if the modern technology failed, and knowing how it worked, or how to work without it saved their lives."

Daphne asked, "Does this thing even have manual controls? I don't see any."

"It doesn't. It was never expected to be a long term craft. Manual controls do exist in normal craft, to allow operation if the pilot is unable to use the neural link for whatever reason."

"So learning the muggle version should help?"

"Of course. I wouldn't have suggested it if I thought otherwise."

Daphne rolled her eyes and dodged another school of fish.

They were let out on their island a half an hour later. The ship returned to the ocean, found a stable shelf several hundred feet down it could rest on that was inside the wards.

They took a portkey back to just outside the Hogwarts wards and were soon inside. Lafiel suggested she get herself checked out by Madam Pomfrey, to which she readily agreed, even if it was late at night.

---

Madam Pomfrey blearily woke when the ward she had attached to the door alerted her to visitors. She saw Lafiel and Daphne walk in, apparently unhurt.

Lafiel said, "Daphne was exposed to technology she was unfamiliar with that may have caused stress to her mind and the nerves in her arm and spinal column."

"And you?" she asked.

"I am fine, but you are welcome to check if you want."

She ran a quick series of diagnostics spells against the first blue haired young woman and was satisfied with the results. They were still a bit weird, but that was normal for her. Then she ran a few more, and frowned at the results.

"Have you been using a lot of magic?"

"I levitated Daphne to setup temporary wards over a river. It took quite some time."

"We'll at least that makes sense. Go sit over on a bed and ask for some food. It will help."

She then repeated her scans on Daphne and also the tests for magical exhaustion. She ran the scans again, then sat in thought.

"Is their a problem?" asked Daphne.

Poppy said, "Your systems look like some variant of the cruciatus curse."

She saw Daphne's panic. "Relax, while I can see effects I do not see anything that should be treated."

"What do you mean?"

"If I give you a potion, then the result needs to be probably better than not giving you a potion. I could give you a small amount of anti-cruciatus potion to help your nerves heal, and it would indeed help."

"Then why not give it to me?"

"The benefits aren't worth it. Whatever you did is certainly within your bodies ability to heal perfectly without it, and repeated doses of anti-cruciatus could be less effective. My recommendation would be not to do what you did before."

"And if there is a good reason for what I did before?"

"Then make sure to come here after every time so I can monitor it. Now, what were you doing that did this to your nervous system? I frankly can't figure it out."

Lafiel asked, "Do you have a pensive?"

"I do. I find it helpful to determine what really happened to patients who are terrible at explaining."

Daphne said, "We aren't advertising what we did, but the headmaster knows. If you can get your pensive?"

Poppy went to an old cabinet and after fishing out a small key opened a small cupboard and pulled out the small intricately carved relic. She said, "It can take a single memory and is limited to about an hour."

Daphne nodded before she used her wand to pull out her memory of the first use of the system and placed it in. Madam Pompfrey touched it and was inside it for twenty minutes or so before leaving. She then checked her own self for damage. The others looked on.

"Most remarkable. For a minute I feared sympathetic damage, but I seem fine. Most remarkable."

"I was at it for hours off and on. Do you want to see one with my arm as well?"

"Yes please."

Daphne returned the memory to her head and extracted the other with the use of the arm interface. Poppy viewed that for another twenty minutes and again rechecked herself. "To think muggles would come up with such things. It was truly remarkable, but I am concerned with what I'm seeing."

"How so?" asked Daphne. "I thought I was pretty much used to it at the end."

"Can you show me that one?" She did so, firsts retrieving her previous memory.

Poppy stayed in for another ten minutes this time, before again scanning herself. She said, "I think you are fine if it doesn't get worse and if you keep coming to me to check."

Lafiel said, "There are settings that are considerably worse, but there should be no need to use them for years yet."

"I would prefer you never used them," stated the healer.

"We would never use them without cause. It would normally be for a combat condition where you have to respond quickly or you die quickly."

"I understand. I have put back together more than a few that have had battlefield healing done, because the alternative was worse. It doesn't sadden me any less each time. The headmaster says you are taking a trip tomorrow. I would request to go. I can ask for a temporary replacement from St. Mungo's.

Lafiel pulled her tablet out and asked to connect to Nadia or Captain Nemo. Captain Nemo face appeared. "How can I help you Lafiel?"

"We would like to add to the list Samantha, Garnok, and our healer Madam Pomfrey."

The captain said, "Samantha told me of her boss. I am fine with that, and if you approve the healer I am fine with that as well. Is there anything else?"

Lafiel yawned. "No. I apologize for possibly waking you again. I'll let you get back to bed."

"I sleep little these days," he said sadly.

"Can I help?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"I doubt it Madam. I have medicine and such that will allow me to sleep, but I cannot take more of it, or it may become toxic or have side effects."

"Then I will bring the usual non medical cures. Chamomile tea, while technically borderline may help."

"I would appreciate that. Thank you." The screen went black.

"You should have brought me to him before now."

Lafiel replied, "You are correct. I will apologize for my thoughtless actions tomorrow."

Poppy blinked. "I hardly think it is that bad."

"No, it is a lesson not to let goals interfere with seeing people and their problems. My father has mentioned this many times. I believe it is a failing he has always struggled with that he hoped I would not."

Poppy replied. "So many students are so much less considerate. I think you will do well indeed. When do we leave?"

"Nine I think. Do you have anything that will help us rest till then?"

"A glass of chamomile tea should be sufficient, but if not we can deal with that. I suggest you use the showers here and ask a house elf for anything else you need. Sleeping here is fine. I will wake you at 8:30 for breakfast."

"Thank you," they both said.

Lafiel asked, "Can you get a message to the Headmaster in the morning asking to confirm Samantha and Garnok for tomorrow, if possible."

"I will. Now shower, fresh night clothes, tea, and sleep."

The tea wasn't quite enough. A small sleep spell added was.

---

Author's Note: Reviews matter. I do not promise to make large changes, particularly if a bunch is written and it would be problematic, but sometimes improvements slip in. This chapter had one such.