Chapter Twenty: New Ground
Thursday, 2nd December 1999.
Neville gazed out over the edge of the mesa, staring at the mass of green far below and wondering what other incredible finds awaited beneath the dense canopy of the trees. According to the information stored in the obelisks, the Alterans had named this planet Verda, a name he thought very appropriate given the view. Vulta had been sent out in every direction and had been mapping out the planet for several weeks now. Verda itself was slightly larger than Earth but the tiny drones had proven up to the task of mapping its surface.
All of the planets of what they had now nicknamed the Lal Ring, the planets that Ganos had severed from the main conmeatas for storing Myrddin safely, had received similar treatment as they began to explore them more fully. They had categorised the spin of the planet and now knew their current location to be somewhere in the upper temperate zone. Not too hot or cold for long-term visits. So far they had only finished exploring the caverns and gathering all the materials together for consolidation in the vaults under Aether.
He turned to face the now reconfigured mountaintop and smiled. Luna had tweaked the insides to better match their new home on Earth and it was now quite comfortable for an extended stay. He and the Patil Twins had been here for a few days now, inspecting the readouts from the survey and assessing Verda's suitability for long-term habitation. The results had been interesting, to say the least.
The planet showed ancient signs of mining in areas on a nearby continent that the vulta had begun to explore in more detail, but the mines were almost entirely depleted. They were fairly sure that whoever had once occupied the planet, had long since abandoned it when it no longer remained of use to them. Pinpointing its location in the galaxy had shown it to be out of the way of just about everywhere they knew other species to find useful as well, making it an even better option as a major off-world base for their activities should they need one.
It was the signs of rather large predatory animal life in the jungles below that was keeping them to vulta exploration for the time being. That and it being the very purpose for which the small drones were created. Luna had been excited at the opportunity to inspect the new creatures but had been convinced by Harry and Hermione that they needed to finish a full survey before they made any excursions so they knew what they would be encountering.
The other odd part they'd discovered was that, in spite of the fact the planet was larger in diameter than Earth, it had a lower gravity. Only by 0.01 G, but it was fascinating enough that the Patils had dedicated their efforts the past few days to figuring out why. It seemed to be less dense than Earth even though it had a far greater ratio of land to seas than their home planet.
While there were thirteen large oceans on the surface, almost sixty percent of Verda was made up of multiple large disconnected continents. It was fascinatingly similar to Earth in some ways while also being so alien in others.
"Got it!" Parvati cheered, and Neville stepped into the refurbished cavern, now full of the same pale walls of the Alteran design he was becoming familiar with.
"Got what?" He asked, the girl looking up at his approach.
"It was terraformed." She smiled in reply.
"Really?" Padma asked, ducking out of a nearby room, rubbing her eyes. Neville smiled at her, assuming she had been taking a nap while her sister worked.
"According to these readings, yes. This planet was never meant to support an oxygen-rich environment. Someone terraformed it a very long time ago. Before human evolution had even begun on Earth. That's why it's less dense. It's made of almost entirely different minerals."
"And yet, we can breathe here just fine. The temperature is perfect for human habitation. And it is covered in carbon-based plant life." Neville noted, glancing to the small lab he'd spent most of the morning in looking over several samples they'd recovered of the local flora.
"Exactly. It appears that they introduced massive quantities of carbon and other key elements in a paste into the environment, spread it out over the surface and then applied some form of energy to it to kick-start natural evolution. The plants grew out of the paste and the atmosphere changed as they grew and evolved over about six thousand years."
Padma smiled at her sister. "Nice work. But that seems a terribly inefficient method for terraforming a planet. That would be multiple generations of every species we know that would be capable of such a feat. Why would they let it take so long?"
"Stability. According to the older entries I've found in the database, the Alterans tried many methods for terraforming and this is by far the most stable for long-term conversion. It's probably how they did it on multiple systems. The faster the conversion, the less stable it will be for long-term change without constant monitoring and correction. Especially if the original atmosphere and make-up are totally alien to the desired result. This place was beyond toxic to carbon-based life beforehand."
"Is there any risk of reversion at this point?" Neville asked.
"Not according to the readings. This star is entering the sweet spot of its life cycle. The planet has abundant natural life that has reached an incredible balance. I don't think it's possible to find a more naturally balanced planet anywhere."
"Definitely sounds like a permanent facility here would be a wise choice. If for nothing else but a great place to kick back and relax for a few days." Padma noted, staring out the opening, the view no longer obstructed by the metallic ring of the porta now that they had replaced it with a newer model embedded in the back wall of the facility.
"Oh yeah, I'm going to be spending a good bit of time here." Neville agreed, standing beside her and looking out into the greenery once again.
ϟ
Tuesday, 14th December 1999.
Hermione watched two more shake their heads as they exited the room. Of the twenty-three applicants that they'd initially short-listed with Poppy's help, only four remained in front of her. Most had left immediately upon seeing their young age. Another chunk the moment they informed them they would need to sign a secrecy contract and would have any memories of the job removed if required. This last couple had departed upon being informed they'd be quarantined for the entire period of assessment, beginning the moment they signed the contract. At least three weeks to begin with.
"So…" The middle-aged woman opposite drew her attention back from the doorway.
Hermione looked over the four remaining applicants and nodded, waving her wand over the table slowly, revealing the contracts sitting in front of the four. They silently read through them before three signed at the bottom and the last stared at her for several long moments.
"No, I shan't be signing that." They said before they too stood and left the room.
"Right. Well, if you're all committed we've one last hoop to jump through." Hermione said as she conjured three blindfolds on the table in front of them. "As I said before, secrecy is paramount at the moment."
The three looked at one another before the woman who had spoken, a healer named Summer Canis who had seemingly found every applicant that walked out amusing, silently reached forward and placed the blindfold over her eyes. Her two companions looked slightly unsure before they too followed suit.
"Excellent," Hermione said before she tapped the command into her remote and the four of them were beamed to the smaller conference room at Aether. "If you'll please stand."
The three stood uneasily, though this time Hermione was fairly certain it was due to lack of a major sense rather than hesitance. Summer still had a huge smile on her face as Hermione walked around the table to stand beside her.
"Please join hands and I shall lead you to our destination." She gently took Summer's hand, the instinctive flinch of the elder woman expected without her sight.
Once they had all linked hands, she turned and slowly led them towards the transport closet in the Atrium. But it only took a dozen steps before Summer spoke once more. "This is definitely the most interesting job interview I've ever been to."
Hermione smiled at the comment and noted soft mutters of agreement from the other two applicants as well. "I assure you that we have a good reason for the secrecy. And we're more than prepared to make it worth your while, payment-wise."
"Why do you think I'm still putting up with this?" The male applicant, Leo Fearn muttered.
A younger Hermione might have been annoyed at such a statement, but older Hermione had endured things this man couldn't even imagine, so she easily let it slide. Instead, it was Summer who spoke once more.
"I'll admit, the remuneration on offer was what first caught my attention. Then it was the name offering the role. Normally Poppy would be enough to convince most, but I admit my curiosity was caught by your own name."
Hermione faltered for a brief moment as the group arrived at the cabinet. "My own?"
"Please," Summer smirked broadly. "While the general public may be unaware of the particulars, what we do know is that one of the brightest students Hogwarts has ever seen disappeared with Harry Potter for almost a year, infiltrating the Ministry, Gringotts itself and Hogwarts before working together to take down…" she paused for a moment and took a steadying breath, "Voldemort."
Hermione was impressed that she said the name aloud. Even though more than a year had passed since the second defeat of Tom Riddle, most were still afraid to say it. "We had a lot of help."
"And yet still so incredibly modest. Knowing when to ask for assistance is an admirable quality in ones so young."
"Can we please get on with it? I don't like being unable to see." The final applicant, Aurora Horn, muttered, looking a little twitchy.
Hermione glanced back to the smirking Summer once more before she gently guided each of them inside the cabinet and triggered the screen, pressing her palm to the concealed scanner beneath it to provide the council override required to travel to the depths of the facility buried deep within the icy mountains. She still marvelled at the cabinets' complete lack of any sign that they had moved until the doors opened up. Even an elevator would give the sensation of movement as the motor lifted it up and down.
"You may remove your blindfolds." She said as she stepped into the foyer of the isolation wing. "This is where you will be staying for the next few weeks."
The three removed the blindfolds and stepped out of the transporter, taking in their surroundings silently. All three seemed perturbed that they had been transported away from their initial meeting place in some way they could not detect, as they had not walked as far out as they had in, and yet their surroundings had completely changed.
"The door to your left is accommodation. Each of you has a separate room, clothing has been provided. Food is available from the door to the right, and there are bathrooms in both the doorways on the back wall behind you. Should you require anything else, simply ask and it will be provided. Any questions?"
"Where are we?" Aurora asked immediately.
"As you have signed the contract, I can now answer that. We're in a concealed facility in Antarctica. You're here to help assess, and with any luck, cure an individual that was found down here of a horribly virulent disease."
"You found a living creature in Antarctica? Frozen?" Leo asked with disbelief all over his face.
"Yes," Hermione replied simply.
Leo turned to the other two and shook his head. Hermione ignored the gesture and walked over to the far wall, tapping on the instruments there that controlled the window into the isolation labs. The wall before them became immediately transparent and within four rooms, each separated from the next by over a foot of material, became visible. At the far end of each was a single stasis bed containing a humanoid figure, only one still in the embrace of the ice they had been frozen in so long ago.
"As you can see, there are four figures, but only the woman on the far left is still alive. Access in and out of the rooms can only be achieved through an isolation airlock to the left. You must apparate to each room, to ensure they are kept isolated. We've again provided clothing for whenever you enter the rooms. This virus wiped out an entire civilization of very advanced and clever people. Please exercise extreme caution around it. A full breakdown of what we know is available in the terminals in your rooms."
Summer and Aurora stepped up to the wall and stared at the people beyond. Leo was still frozen in place by the transporter looking at the figures in disbelief.
"We're hoping that magic can help cure this disease where traditional medicine failed. But its contagious nature is the reason for the isolation. Even the airlock door will not open if a trace of the virus is detected on you. Instead, it will open access to a second isolation area until you are cleared healthy. None of you can leave this section of the facility unless the full council approves your exit. We will not risk this disease spreading to the population of Earth. So, now is the time if any of you wish to decline the offer."
Hermione stood silently watching them for a moment as they digested the information. "Can we leave after starting?" Aurora asked softly.
"You may. We will move you to a separate isolation area to await a three-week quarantine to ensure you do not have the virus, but then you may leave. Though the memory clause will come into effect, and the secrecy clause already applies. You cannot tell anyone about this unless given approval by all eight members of the council."
"We're basically prisoners down here," Leo muttered.
"Not at all. You are highly recommended experts in the field of magical healing. I'll be honest with you, the people in those rooms are technically alien. They look like us, but they lived on this planet millions of years before we did. They built wonders and were a powerful space-faring species. If we can cure the woman on the left, and safely revive her… The possibilities of what we might learn are too wild to consider." Hermione felt her cheeks flush as the potential gains flitted through her mind again.
"How are we supposed to cure an alien species?" Summer mused.
"We've run basic genetic tests, and while they are different, there are a lot of similarities. So far, what we've been able to learn suggests magic should work on them the way it works with us. I've dabbled a little in healing, but I'm far too inexperienced to attempt such an important job."
"Explains the price tag though." Summer turned to face her. "I can see how this would be worth a hundred thousand galleons."
"Each." Hermione corrected and Leo turned to look at her again.
"Alright, I'm in." He stated, heading for the doorway leading to the accommodations, clearly intending to grab the best room available.
"Before you leave, this panel here…" Hermione stepped back over to the wall beside the transport cabinet and indicated a panel that was a different colour to the rest of the wall. "Is an intercom that will allow you to contact any of us at any time. There will always be a few of us on site so long as you are here. If you need anything, just ask. It will be provided via a smaller cabinet in the isolation entry room. That and the isolation rooms are the only places where you will be able to apparate, every other room is shielded and the entire facility is shielded against apparating out, so I'd advise not trying. As I said, all of this is to ensure a horrible virus cannot leave this place."
"Sounds like an interesting challenge," Aurora added, surprising Hermione as she had been showing the most hesitation until now.
"I have high hopes. Once you begin, none of us will be able to enter the facility until you are done. So if you have any technical questions, call for Merlin."
All three spun at the name and watched as the familiar hologram shimmered into place beside her. Their jaws dropped in unison as they beheld the three-dimensional form of the mythical man so much of British society held in odd reverence given what the group now knew of his true origins.
"This is a hologram," Hermione explained, waving her hand through the image. "He cannot physically interact with anything, but he can go into the rooms and provide any verbal interaction you may require."
"Greetings," Merlin said aloud and the three seemed even more stunned.
Hermione smiled, nodded to Merlin and he disappeared once more. "If there are no more questions, I shall leave you to your work. Best of luck."
She paused for a moment, to allow their minds to reboot, and once she received a nod from them all, she turned back to the cabinet and stepped inside, returning to the upper levels of Aether with renewed hope that they may soon be able to speak to another living Alteran.
ϟ
Sunday, 19th December 1999.
Padma shuffled uneasily into the large cavernous space, the cabinet closing behind her softly as she walked over to the nearby bay where Harry was working over a terminal. His message had not detailed why he wanted to see her, but he certainly sounded chipper about something. And anything that could take her mind off the darkness she was wrestling with now that Parvati had gone off to visit with their parents for the week before Christmas when she would join them, was a welcome distraction.
Harry heard her approach and glanced up, smiling broadly at her. "You came." He waved her closer. "You're going to love this."
As she reached the edge of the bay, a holographic field appeared in front of her crisscrossed with red diagonal lines and a warning. She turned to ask Harry what it was about when the sound of the air charging with beam energy drew her eye back to the bay itself. Whatever was being integrated was huge, as tall as Hagrid and longer than three of the Hogwarts carriages laid in a row.
It slowly came into focus as the bright light departed and the air settled once more, the holographic field disappearing as well, making its purpose clear. It had been erected to prevent anyone from entering the space in which the system was about to integrate a large object.
Padma cast her eyes over the mostly cylindrical item now filling the bay, its curved flank was almost smooth, with very shallow ridges crisscrossing back and forth over its surface in a similar pattern to the designs on the floor of Aether itself. It was a similar colour to the porta downstairs and had a slightly pearlescent shimmer to the surface.
As she watched, Harry shifted beside her and the slanted solid front flared momentarily and suddenly she could see within the cylinder through a slowly widening circle. Harry clapped loudly, his wand perched between his palms, and seemed even happier all of a sudden. She looked at him curiously.
"The overall design was pretty interesting, but Hermione helped me and Merlin make a few changes. Apparently, Richard watches a lot of horror and sci-fi, and he says that windows in space are a bad idea, so we got rid of the weak point at the front of a glasslike material and used magic to make a portion of the metal shell see-through instead. Now the hull is uniform in strength all the way around. And she has plans to thoroughly work over the interior as well. We're umming and ahhing on the pods right now."
Harry looked very pleased, and Padma had to admit the vessel looked impressive, but she was unsure why he had been so keen for her to join him for this. "Good work. But if you've both got it sorted out, why did you ask me to come by?"
"Follow me." He said, heading towards the back of the ship.
She followed behind, glancing at the craft as the transparent spellwork slowly extended past the front corner and onto the side of the cylinder, allowing them to see out of the front corner as well. She noted that the rear of the ship was also slanted and had a ramp in the centre that had lowered to the floor that Harry was walking up.
Inside, the tube-shaped ship looked fairly comfortable, with padded seats on both sides, leaving a narrow walkway between them to a control panel at the front. She couldn't subdue the smile she felt at the impressive nature of all of this fancy technology. For years she had put her mind to mastering the complexities of magic, and Hermione had blown her mind when she'd first brought her into this little side gig.
Now she could already feel the back of her mind thinking up ways to improve the inner space of the ship using magic and she had a fair idea of what Hermione might have planned for the design as well. A mechanical whirr drew her attention back to the rear of the ship and she saw the ramp closing tightly.
"You might want to sit down for this bit. "I've, er, never done this before," Harry suggested, seated in the front left seat and twisting a pair of white frosted controls hanging from the control panel at the front of the small ship.
She quickly sat in the seat to his right and Harry flashed her a light smile again as the ship came to life around them, lights flickering on and the engines whirring up. She felt no change as the floor of the bay drifted away from under them as Harry guided the ship up into the air.
"Phew. That's a check on lift-off. I call that a good start. Speaking of…" He drifted off as he reached over his shoulder and pulled a long piece of wood from the bag on his outfit.
He dropped the broom into the space between them and it hovered in place. Padma gave him an uneasy look as she had never much cared for brooms as a means of travel. "What's that for?"
"Parachute." He smirked and he returned his free hand to the controls. The ship spun in the air and pointed towards the slanted end of the bay, the doors opening to allow it to pass as Harry slowly guided it forwards.
Even though she could see the bay around them shifting, Padma felt none of the forces she usually associated with flight. Her stomach was settled, there was no sensation of movement as air buffeted her face and body. And certainly, no lurching changes in gravity as Harry rolled the ship down and through the active porta.
"Where are we going?" She asked as their faces passed through the event horizon and shot out the other side too fast to see anything but the horizon of dark grey stone.
"Tenebris. It is part of the Lal Ring I've been wanting to have a better look at for a while, but the basalt cliffs aren't the easiest to navigate on foot. Beautiful though. And the weather makes flying on a broom difficult." Harry mused, nodding to the darkened sky around them.
Padma gazed out the transparent viewport into the heavy clouds before them, a light rain splattering over the front of the ship as it soared at considerable speed through the darkened sky. It took a moment before her eyes stopped flinching at the incoming rain splashing against the nearly invisible surface in front of them. "Is it wise to use such a tough-to-reach place for this thing's test flight?"
Harry smiled but didn't turn. "What's life without a little risk?" He winked.
Several moments passed as they flew through the dark environment, passing over a landscape so dark and dense it was impossible to make any of it out. "I bet this looks about how you've been feeling the last few days as well," Harry said suddenly, not taking his eyes off the view ahead.
Padma was slightly shocked at his words. She was sure she had done a good job of hiding the pain she was in at the moment. Not even Parv had mentioned her ordeal for a few weeks now.
"Trust me. I'm an expert at hiding feelings. Made me pretty good at sensing when my friends are doing it in return now that I've got a little less to worry about day to day."
Padma frowned. She wasn't really in the mood to discuss it, but Harry had cleverly avoided broaching the subject until she was basically trapped with him in a metal tube thousands of light years from home. One which was under his complete control.
"It's fine."
Harry laughed at her comment and she glared at him. "I'm sorry, I really am. I know what you're feeling isn't funny. It's just… that was my go-to for so long too. None of us are fine, Padma. And that's okay."
"I hate feeling like I'm a burden. Like you have to worry for me like a child."
Harry gently shook his head as he guided the vessel up above the clouds and into the twilight sky. "No one thinks you are a burden. You're our friend. We want to help however we can. But we can't help if you keep everything bottled up. Trust me, it doesn't make you feel any better."
"Was it really that hard for you?" Padma asked candidly, deciding it might help to distract Harry somehow.
"Yes and no. What was expected of me was too much for someone as young as I was. You know about the prophecy?" He asked, glancing at her as she nodded. Hermione had told her one night a few months ago. "I was fifteen and had just watched my godfather 'die' the night I was told that. End of our first year, I killed Professor Quirrell by touching him while he was possessed by Riddle. Things were definitely rough at times."
Harry paused, nodding slightly to himself before he continued. "But, what always got me through it was my friends. I didn't face nearly any of it alone. They were always there, even if they weren't physically beside me. They always believed in me, even when they had every right to think I was mad. And we all believe in you too."
Harry turned to face her fully, taking both hands off the controls as the ship settled into a low orbit and a scanning program ran on the hud that flared up above the console. "I've shared a little bit with you of the things that Riddle accidentally sent to me during the year we were on the run. The horrors I've seen in his demented skull. I can only imagine what the kinds of things Anubis did would look like that he may have left floating around in your brain. And what I imagine, doesn't look pretty."
Padma felt the thick tears trickling down her cheek before she even knew that she was crying. The sobs came fast and heavy once she did, and she felt Harry slide his chair over and wrap her in his arms. Neither spoke for a long time as she allowed a small portion of the pain in her head and heart to spill out and it truly did help lighten the load. When she had managed to bring the tears back under control, she pulled away and Harry sat back once more.
"It's hard. Sometimes it will come out of nowhere. I've no real context for much of it, but there is so much pain. He murdered and tortured for fun. Dominated entire planets in order to deny their resources to his enemies, and allies. Some of the things I've seen…"
"None of that is on you though. Don't forget who you are. From what little we've shared in your time with us, I know you are far better than that." Padma nodded as he spoke, his words made sense. But it was hard to separate the strange flashes of foreign emotion and memory from her own, even though they felt completely alien when she looked back at them afterwards.
"I worry what will happen if they don't stop. Sometimes… I feel the drive to do bad things, Harry." Padma stared into his vibrant green eyes. She could clearly see what drew Hermione to the man before her. His gaze was full of compassion and understanding, and not just in a friendly 'I have your back' manner. He actually knew the pain she was feeling from personal experience.
"I understand exactly what you mean." She could see the sincerity in his statement and felt momentarily distracted as she wondered just what his experience of being partially linked to one of the evilest minds that Earth had seen in millennia had left behind.
"How do you cope?"
"I talk. To you, to Hermione. Sometimes to her parents. Neville is an incredible listener and he went through the wringer under Snape. There are people around you who are not only ready and willing to listen, they can understand at least a small sliver of what you are feeling. None of us came out of the war unchanged. Just look at Parvati. Would you have thought in your sixth year she'd be learning geology, astrophysics and exploring other planets for fun?"
Padma laughed at the difference in her sister, but the joy was soured almost immediately by the thought of the moment that had led to most of that change in her sister.
"Things won't get better overnight, Padma. The pain and the fear will be there for years, if Riddle is any guide. But so will we. Don't be afraid to lean on us when you need to."
Padma nodded again as his words penetrated her defences and settled in her mind. He was right. Neville had been abused horribly under the Carrows as he put himself on the line to protect others. Harry and Hermione had endured horrible things throughout their time at Hogwarts. Every single one of them understood loss and pain. And she doubted anyone on Earth had a better idea of the dark images that occasionally broke loose in her mind than Harry did.
"I'll try to remember that." She whispered, almost drowned out by the soft humming of the ship around them. "So, what do you call this contraption?"
Harry smiled as she tried to redirect the conversation once more, but this time she could see he knew his point had sunk in. "The database called them Navis Porta. Which makes sense as it's a transport that fits through the Astria Porta. I figured navis for short. Still got a few more tweaks to make, but I think it's a very good start."
Harry waved to the console in front of her and Padma turned to see another pair of frosted controls had swung out from under the panel in front of her. "Your turn to drive for a bit. Put it through its paces?"
She glanced at him before looking back to the viewport, her hands closing about the controls as the navis went into a sweeping turn back below the clouds and she felt almost as light as it moved under her command as they dipped back into the darkened clouds of the Tenebris night.