Chapter Nineteen – Hyperspace
Thinking he could get a little ahead before they left, Harry spent some time in his ship using the NaviComputer. What he found was interesting. As it turns out, Earth, which is located in the Milky Way Galaxy, was nowhere near the galaxy where Harry grew up. In fact, the other galaxy was very far away. There were other galaxies much closer.
This would be a problem due to the need for intergalactic travel and the time it would take to get to the other galaxy at sublight speed. There were no known hyperspace routes to get there, not to mention the distance was staggering. This would explain why Earth was never found on any of the maps when he was searching for it.
Harry sat down with Lisera and explained what he found.
"That is a problem, Harry, but there's a theory about using hyperspace without the need of specific routes. If I can work out the specifics it will be possible to travel using the hyperdrive rather than at sublight."
"How close are you?"
"Too hard to tell but I'm likely not close at all. It's really advanced programming. The NaviComputer would have to do calculations it's never been designed to do. Many techs have been working on this problem off and on for years. The need for travel outside the galaxy is practically non-existent though, so that slows down the research as well. But, it would still be nice to use hyperspace where no lane existed. The discovery of new habited planets would go a lot faster."
"What if I travel back to Coruscant then went into the future to see if they've figured it out?"
"That might work but shouldn't I come with you so at least one of us understands what we find?"
"Funny," Harry said with straight face. "I supposed you're right though. I doubt I'll understand all of it well enough."
"Exactly! So, when do you want to go?"
"Now."
"Wait! I have to change and so do you."
Both of them had taken to wearing Muggle attire due to the comfort. They were both currently wearing jeans, t-shirts, and trainers. Harry waved his hand at himself and did a switching spell and suddenly he was in his normal black outfit with high boots suited for Coruscant.
"Smarty-pants! Can you do me?"
"I thought you'd never ask."
Lisera rolled her eyes and smiled.
"I walked right into that one, didn't I?"
"Oh, yeah!"
"Never mind. I'll just go and change my clothes the old fashion way."
Lisera started to leave but Harry grabbed her arm.
"Hang on a second."
"What?"
"I can switch your clothes out for you but I need to know which one to use from your closet. Otherwise, you may end up starkers."
Lisera just stared at him. She knew he wasn't done yet.
"I'm willing if you are," he said smiling. "Want to give it a try?"
"You would love to see me naked, wouldn't you?"
"Is that a rhetorical question?"
Lisera rolled her eyes and started walking off. Harry grabbed her arm again.
"Hang on a second, Lisera!" Harry said with a little more exasperation.
"We're never going to get out of here if you keep stopping me," she replied turning back to him.
"I can take us there quicker and once you show me which outfit you want to wear then I can switch it. Next time, I'll be able to do it by memory."
"Well, I suppose if there's a possibility of me being naked from trying this, then it would be better if I'm in my bedroom."
"Even if I'm in there with you?"
"I suppose sacrifices have to be made," she said with a sigh.
"Oh goody!" Harry said with a big smile.
"However, if you mess this up on purpose and I end up naked in front of you then that will be the first and the last time you will ever see me naked. Got it?"
Harry lost his smile. "You sure know how to ruin it for a guy."
"Let's go, Magic-Man," she said grabbing his arm.
Harry teleported them both up to Lisera's room where he was tempted, but did try to get it right the first time and switched her clothes out for the ones she was holding up beside her. He even got her shoes switched at the same time.
Lisera felt her breast area then patted a few other places as she looked at herself in the mirror. She turned back to Harry.
"Did you forget something?"
Harry thought about it for a second. "I don't think so."
"What about my… what's the word you use? …Knickers? Did you forget my unmentionables? I don't care to go without them."
"No. I did a switching spell and I didn't think you needed to change your knickers, although I can do that if you need me too. I just need to see the ones you want to wear."
"You didn't purposely make my knickers disappear when you changed my clothes?"
"No," he said with a look of confusion on his face.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure because that would be impossible. I did a switching spell for the items I could see which only included your outside clothing. That spell can't vanish your knickers, plus I wasn't even including them in the spell."
Lisera smiled.
"What?"
"Just checking."
Harry just stared at her for a second as comprehension settled in.
"You mean… you still have your knickers on but you were just winding me up?"
"Yes!" she said with a grin as she walked away from the mirror and toward the door.
Harry smiled and waved his hand. Lisera stopped and turned around slowly. Harry was holding her knickers in his hand. She glared at him hard.
"Harry!?"
"Are you sure you don't want to go commando today, Lisera? As I'm sure you can tell I can make that happen at any time, especially when you're being cheeky."
"I'm very sure, Harry," she said slowly. "Now put them back… please?"
"Well, since you asked so nicely, I guess so."
Harry waved his hand and her knickers were back in place. Lisera felt her hips to check.
"That's better. Say, can we just leave from here?"
"Sure." Harry grabbed her arm.
"Wait! Don't you need to change me into something inorganic or something?"
"Nah, I've figured out that it won't hurt you."
"Are you sure?"
"Um… yeah, pretty sure."
"Harry?"
"Lisera," he said softly. Then he turned and placed his hands on her face, pulled her to him, and kissed her. "Do you think I would risk losing you?"
"You better not, because I want some more of that later."
"Just hang on to me."
"That, I can do."
oOo
They appeared in front of the Jedi Temple, a few steps away from the front doors but out of the path of anyone else. Lisera still had her eyes closed.
"We're here, Lisera. You can open your eyes now."
"That felt weird."
"Did it hurt?"
"No, just weird."
"Well, that's good."
"Where to now?"
"I say we go a thousand years into the future and check then."
"That might work."
"Hang on again. Here we go."
There wasn't a lot of change they could see but a few things looked a little different. They looked around for a while until they found a shop that sold hyperdrives and navicomputers. Lisera asked but the improvements had not been made yet.
They thought the Jedi Temple would likely not change where it sat over the years so popped back there instead of staying in an area that was more likely to change over the millennia. Harry took them another thousand years into the future. However, they were told the same answer.
With an idea to cut back on the time travel, Harry next picked a random number of years out of the air and travelled even further into the future than the last two times. When they started to go check the date, they were approached by a man who came out of the doors of the temple. He was obviously a Jedi. In fact, he wore the robes of the Grand Master.
"Pardon me," he asked. "Might I have a word?"
"Certainly, Master Jedi. How can I help you?" Harry asked.
"The Force showed me you were coming to my time. You are a time traveler or you not?"
"I'd be happy to answer your questions Master Jedi, if you could answer a few of mine?"
"I'll certainly try. Let me introduce myself. My name is Luke Skywalker and I am the Jedi Grand Master."
"That answers my first question, Master Skywalker. It's very nice to meet you. My name is Harry and this lovely lady next to me is called Lisera."
"Master Skywalker," Lisera said with a bow of her head.
"It's very nice to meet the both of you. Shall we continue our conversation in the temple?"
Harry and Lisera both nodded.
"Follow me please," said Luke as he headed back into the temple with Harry and Lisera following.
"It's been a few millennia since I was in the Jedi Temple, Master Skywalker," said Harry as they walked.
"That's an interesting way to put it. Has it changed much?"
"Some, but still mostly the same."
"Yes, we tend to be very traditional. Here we are. My office. Make yourselves comfortable." He gestured to some comfortable chairs.
"Thank you," Harry said as he and Lisera took a seat in two of the chairs while Luke took another one.
"You said you've been in the temple before. I take it you're not a Jedi, correct? I don't sense the force in you."
"Right. I'm not a Jedi. However, I have served with the Jedi and have even been trained by the Jedi."
"Trained?"
"Yes, my abilities enable me to mimic many of the same abilities of the Jedi. That allowed me to train in a similar manner, just not with the Force."
"Very interesting. Wait! What is your last name, Harry, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Potter."
"Harry Potter. I remember now. I read about you in the Archives. You were known as Captain Harry and you were a hero in the Mandalorian Wars. So you served with Revan?"
"Yes, and that brings me to another of my questions, Master Skywalker."
"Luke, please. It's an honor to meet you Captain Harry Potter. Your exploits in the war are well documented. Given the power you yield, I can see now how that was possible. Many who have read the Archives have doubted what you were touted as accomplishing."
"Oh, he's the real thing all right," added Lisera.
"I have no doubt, Lisera. What was your question, Harry?"
"I lost track of my friends Revan and Malak when they were captured by the Sith Emperor. I tried to rescue them but he was too powerful at the time for me and would not allow me to get close enough to him. He definitely had me stumped."
"That was Darth Vitiate. He was very powerful and lived a very long time, somewhere around 1500 years I believe. He was likely the most powerful force user to have ever lived. He had amazing powers at his disposal. It's no wonder you had problems with him."
"Would you allow me access to the Archives? I would like to see what happened to my friends."
"Yes, you may have access but I can give you a general synopsis of what happened. Would you like me to do that? Revan was and is a very popular figure in our history."
"Yes, that's very kind of you."
"Before we do that, can we get one thing out of the way?" With a nod from Harry, he continued. "Now, I saw you coming but I have no idea why I was given that vision. Perhaps if you wouldn't mind sharing why you are time travelling then perhaps I can see why I was given the vision."
"That's simple enough. Right after I gave up on trying to get past the Emperor, I received a message from my home world, which allowed me to return to it for the first time since I accidentally left at the age of six. I recently discovered that my planet is in another galaxy and it's far, far away from this one. We still can't do intergalactic travel very quickly so we are exploring into the future to see if anyone has figured out yet how to use hyperspace for those unchartered distances."
"Interesting, but I'm sad to say we still haven't figured that out yet. I know people work on that theory as much as they can but the logistics for that is phenomenal."
"It is," replied Lisera. "But we hope someone in the future has figured a way around it. Perhaps an upgrade to the NaviComputer, new hyperdrive, something like that?"
"Right."
"Did that help with your vision, Luke?" asked Harry.
"Not really," he said shaking his head.
"Sorry about that."
"I suppose it will take more time to sort it out, Harry. Now, can I tell you what I know about your friend Revan? You are still welcome to use the Archives if you wish to know more."
"Yes, thank you."
After Luke filled them in on what he knew about Revan and Malak, Harry went to the Archives to learn everything. Luke met them when they were done and ready to leave.
"Can I ask you a favor, Harry, before you go?"
"Sure."
"Would you mind coming back to visit me again? Perhaps I will have the answer for this vision by then."
"I can do that. How long should I give you to work on it?"
"At least a month but you can come back and visit me at any time."
"Thanks for the invite, Luke. Let me input the date and time into my datapad so I won't forget."
Harry pulled out his datapad and entered the information provided before he and Lisera bid Luke a good day and continued on their adventure. This time Harry decided to stop messing around and went several thousand years into the future to a date and time that somehow felt comfortable to him. Luckily, Coruscant still existed but the Jedi Temple looked like it had been rebuilt at some point.
They met the Jedi Grand Master for this time as well. His name happened to be Lucas Skywalker, a descendant of Luke's. He was quite interested in the fact Harry and Lisera knew his famous ancestor, along with Revan and Malak. The good news was they did have a new computer and hyperdrive system that did not need a hyperspace lane to use hyperspace. The newest hyperdrives were also a bit faster, they were told.
Harry had remembered to bring along plenty of credits so he could make purchases. Lucas showed him where he could go to purchase what he needed. According to what Lisera could find out, they had solved the problem by making a computer that could calculate and make adjustments faster than the ship could fly. It also took advantage of the objects it came across in space where in the past the ship would have flown right into them.
Now, the computer used the gravity wells of the planets and stars to its advantage causing the ship to go even faster through space. However, if a hyperspace lane was available then it automatically took it, always choosing the fastest path. The improvement was amazing.
The shocker?
The new computer and hyperdrive was not that expensive at all. The invention had been around long enough the price had dropped dramatically. They were actually overstocked with the parts and had a sale on. Harry decided to buy extra for his other ships. He shrunk them all down for easy carrying.
Loaded with what they needed, Harry decided to go back home by only adjusting the time by a few seconds in the past. He wanted to see what Earth looked like this far in the future. If it so happened that it no longer existed for some reason then he felt he could get them out of there quick enough. After he told Lisera what he was going to do, they left.
oOo
They landed back at Harry's manor and he was shocked to see it still looked the same. He imagined magic was at work to keep it this way. They had landed in the foyer so Harry walked over to the lounge and picked up the paper laying there. The date was the same from when they left earlier that day. He sat down heavily on the sofa.
"This can't be right."
"What's wrong? Other than nothing has changed, that is."
"We're right back to the same day we left but a few hours later."
"Did you make a mistake?"
"No, I purposely only adjusted the time by 5 seconds. How can we be back here on the same day we left?"
"Maybe you didn't travel into the future the first time, but into the past instead?"
"I thought that when I travel to Coruscant to our time, that I was going forward through time but I guess I could have got that wrong. Forwards and backwards feels exactly the same when you travel through time. It's the intent of where and when you wish to go. The calendar is different too between the two galaxies."
"It definitely felt different when we came here that last time. Before as we moved forward through time the feeling was longer. The further we went through time, the stronger the feeling. This last time the feeling was extremely short, almost non-existent."
"Since I only adjusted it by 5 seconds then it makes sense it would feel shorter. We traveled thousands of years into the future a few times and it felt different, stronger. That's what I feel when I go back home to Coruscant to our time. It's strong like thousands of years are passing."
"Are you saying that here on Earth, we are thousands of years into the future from the time we lived in the other galaxy?"
"I think so. I guess I just strongly believed I had to be travelling into the future due to the major difference in technology between here and there."
"What's up with that? Why is Earth so far behind in technology?"
"It's a different galaxy and we're not even close to anyone else in this massive universe. We just developed later here in isolation."
"Is that why you bought the speeders so you can start to bring Earth up to speed in technology?"
"Yes. If our contemporary in Coruscant right now is Lucas Skywalker then we need to get moving here and jumpstart the technology on this planet. They already know how to get across the universe fairly quickly. Who's to say they won't come calling? We need to at least look like we know what we're doing."
"It's going to take a while to be able to start building ships for the common person here."
"Yes, but I'm sure the governments and military are going to want it all first. I have some time to work out the logistics to all that. I want you to be able to get the station finished before we get into more stuff to do anyway."
"I'd like to get it finished too. It sounds like you're going to have a lot more work for me."
"Oh, we're just getting started."
Lisera walked over and sat in his lap. She started playing with his hair and kissing him on the neck and cheek.
"What are you doing Lisera?"
"I need to go back to work since I have some hyperdrives and computers to install, but I wanted a little cuddle time with you before I do that."
"I see. Do you need me to do anything?"
"You could switch my clothes back to my jeans, t-shirt, and trainers for me."
Harry waved his hand and she was left in just her bra and knickers.
"Harry!"
"Sorry, you were doing that thing to my ear and my mind wandered."
She giggled. Harry waved his hand again and she was dressed in her jeans, t-shirt, and trainers.
"There, but just so you know, I like you better the other way."
"Thank you, Harry," she said kissing him on the lips.
oOo
"Master Harry?"
"Yes, Letty? What can I do for you?" Harry asked as he turned to his demure house elf.
"Who will take care of Miss Lisera while you are away? Who will help and clean for you? What about food?"
"Those are all good questions, Letty. Would you like to accompany us on our trip into space? Perhaps Benny would like to go too and cook for us. Although we may need to expand the galley so he'll have room to create his masterpieces."
"Letty would love to come and will tell Benny he is required too," she replied and started to leave.
"No, Letty. Benny will have a choice. I am not forcing him to go into space if he's not comfortable with it."
"Benny will want to come. Benny is young and will want to cook for you."
"Then tell him if he does want to come then he should find me when he's ready to take a tour of the ship and start preparing the galley for him to cook in. We'll get it fixed up right for him with plenty of storage for everything he needs."
"Yes, Master Harry. Letty will ask him now." She popped away.
Less than a minute later Benny popped in next to Harry.
"Master Harry?"
"Yes, Benny?"
"Benny would like to go with you on your ship."
"That was quick. Would you like to see it now so we can prepare the galley for you?"
"What is galley?"
"It's the kitchen. That's what it's called on a ship."
"Then yes. Benny will want to get it ready."
"Okay. Follow me Benny." They started walking toward the ship. "We'll need to expand it first so you'll have plenty of room. Then you can arrange things exactly how you would like them. Oh, and make sure you bring whatever pots, pans, and utensils you'll need, not to mention food, a few months' worth. You can just pop back and forth between the two kitchens until you have it all setup."
"Benny is excited to cook for Master Harry in space. Benny has never done that before."
"I'm excited too Benny. I was looking forward to exploring, but not to missing your cooking. Now, I won't have to."
"Benny will not let you down."
"I know Benny. You never have and I firmly believe you never will."
After Benny saw the galley and they decided on the size it needed to be, Harry drew the runes and powered them to expand it. As soon as that was done, Benny was a flurry of activity as he changed the galley to his liking. It quickly began to look a lot like the manor kitchen.
Seeing he was no longer needed, Harry left Benny to his work.
oOo
Lisera had taken care to install the new computers and hyperdrives into the ships so they would be ready. Finally, it was time to go exploring and see how long it would take to make it over to the other galaxy.
With everyone on board and ready to go, Harry started up the engines and did the standard checks. The way the end of the garage and roof opened up to let them out was amazing. The end sidewall tilted out as if on a hinge and lowered flat to the ground while the roof split down the middle then opened up and out as if on a lever on each side, exposing that end of the spaceport to the outside. You could see the hydraulics opening the roof as it pushed the two sides of the roof out and up out of the way.
Harry engaged the engines and lifted up from the floor. As soon as he had enough height, he moved forward out of the spaceport and into the air. He turned the ship around so he could see the spaceport they just left. It was very odd looking from that angle. From inside it was massive but looking at the doors closing from above, the doors were not that big at all and only covered part of the top of the garage, which looked fairly normal in size from the outside.
Harry turned the ship back around after he saw the doors were closed and with a boost of speed, he left and was out of the Earth's atmosphere in seconds. When they passed the moon, he used the NaviComputer to chart a course to Coruscant. His ship had all the known planets of the other galaxy saved on the computer so he wanted to see how far it was from Earth.
After the calculations were done, it was estimated to take approximately three weeks to make it to Coruscant. Harry was happy with that because at sublight speed they would have died long before they reached the other galaxy. It would have taken several millennia to go at sublight. Lisera told him they didn't just increase the hyperdrive a little either. The increase was substantial. The older hyperdrive would have taken about five times longer, she said.
The new computer was also capable of mapping every place it went even in hyperspace. After they made it to Coruscant, they would have a record of every galaxy, planet, star, or object they passed on the way there.
Harry engaged the new hyperdrive and off they went.