The Dragons Return

by viningc

Harry had a war with Earth but he had been given the gift of a lifetime, a place where his dragons and riders would be unconditionally safe. This story continues the trilogy by Bobmin356 and Alyx started at: /s/7591040/18/The-Queen-who-fell-to-Earth

28. Chapter 28: A New Star Is Born

Chapter 28: A New Star Is Born
11 Lindley St, Stepney, May 16, 2061...
Nylah stretched out luxuriously on the bed then turned to 'her' Brad. They had come home after the ceremony and for some reason, she had felt like showing just how loving she could be. For someone who was a Centenarian, Brad was … very energetic.

"Brad, what happened to the cut on my palm and to me at the end of our vows earlier?"

"The cuts in both our palms were completely healed by the magic of the bonding. Neither of us should even have a scar there. As for what happened at the end of the vows, you probably felt a little weak at the knees. That was magic accepting the bond and giving you a small part of my magic. You should now live a little bit longer and have fewer health issues … and be fertile much longer."

Nylah raised her eyebrows at him. "You mean …?"

"Yes, it's quite possible you are now pregnant. Is that a problem?"

She just smiled and moved even closer to make sure that she was. Her other question forgotten for now.

Spath's Weyr Conference Room, All Flight Leaders Meeting, July 7, 2061...
"Arnas, what's the weather like over our target area?" asked Harry.

Arnas Roberts, the Weyr Meteorologist stood to make his report. His hair was generously streaked with white now and, if he hadn't impressed, he would have long ago retired. Now, with the approximately extra fifty years that bonding with a dragon gave him, he was just a little over middle age at 82.

"The sky should be clear all day, what fliers back on Earth call CAVU, Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited. We couldn't ask for a better day to fly thread."

Harry looked out over the huge room. Today it was filled with Dragonriders only. Even the space normally set aside for dragons was filled with riders. Today was supposed to be one of the last, if not THE last, threadfall of this pass. If things went as they hoped, there would be no more threadfall on Pern after this pass ended.

"Mildred, can you add anything to what we already know?"

Arnas sat and Mildred Lupin, the Weyr Star Smith, stood. She had gained much from her bond with Remus. At 113 years of age, she still looked like a very well-preserved 50. It helped that she loved her work.

"It was really hard to see anything through the telescope on top of Spath's Weyr. We really need to put up an extra-solar telescope like we did in Earth's Solar System. Anyway, right now it's questionable whether or not we will see anything. I was able to make out some small reflecting bodies, but it might just be ice. If it is frozen thread, there wasn't much left. I estimate that this will be the last fall this pass."

"Thank you, Mildred. That's some welcome news. We will, of course, continue our flights, at least for the rest of this month, just in case. By the end of August, the 'Red Star' should be far enough in its orbit that any thread it has picked up will be frozen and we can initiate the plan AIVAS has helped us develop. We will be using all three of our existing Black dragons to coordinate at that time.

"For now, we have some time before we need to be onsite over Benden Weyr, so everyone go get something to eat and get some rest. Please make sure your riders were paying attention to our broadcast today. We don't want any mistakes, especially if this is our last threadfall. See you all in ..." Harry glanced up at the digital clock behind him. "... an hour and thirty-five minutes!"

Harry moved over to his office door and waited in case anyone had any last-minute questions to ask or information to impart. Today, however, everyone seemed more interested in the large buffet the house-elves had laid on for after the meeting. He finally entered his office and sat down at his desk. He started picking at the plate of food that Dobby had placed to one side as he looked through their plans for the 'Red Star'.

Benden Weyr, July 7, 2061...
Anyone on the ground would see layer above layer of dragons flying in precise chevrons. They didn't cover the entire sky, but there were so many they caused a distinct shadow on the ground. When a dragon reached the forward limit of their patrol area, they went between and started over again one level higher. The ones on the top level would start over at the bottom. It was the fairest way they had come up with to fight this threadfall. Everyone wanted to be the one to actually fight thread, but there were just too many dragons with too little thread expected. In all, there were 60 levels of dragons every 500 ft of altitude covering about 20 square miles above the surface. Not all dragons had riders, but they were all here ready to help defend their planet.

Suddenly there was a dazzlingly bright red streak of light coming down from the upper atmosphere. It blinked out almost as soon as it appeared.

"That was probably a small nitrogen/oxygen ice meteor," explained Mildred over the command channel before anyone could ask.

Several more of the same color but of varying durations appeared. There was even a brilliant orange meteor which Mildred explained was sodium. Finally, after about twenty minutes of light display over the massed dragons of Pern, the light show stopped. No thread had fallen today, after all, only space ice. After another hour, just to make sure, Harry called a halt to the evolution and asked the Benden dragons to keep an active watch for the rest of the day. Everyone else went home, some to Weyrs on Pern, others to Weyrs on Earth. It appeared that this pass, after 50 years of threadfall, was finally over.

Spath's Weyr Conference Room, All Flight Leaders Meeting, Aug 31, 2061...
AIVAS had almost total control over the presentation for this meeting. The computer was linked in, wirelessly, through the Wide Area Network (WAN) for the entire planet and could see what the rest of the planet could see. A single camera had also been installed that allowed AIVAS to 'see' the majority of the audience. AIVAS had designed the presentation to be comprised of multiple short, almost stand-alone segments with a pause after each one. Because of the limitations in the scope of the system, Harry held a remote button that he could use to let AIVAS know it was OK to start on the next segment of the presentation.

"As you can see from this graphic, the rogue planet you call the red star will be significantly farther from the sun now than we are. Therefore, its surface should be completely frozen. The advantage to you is that there will be no chance of any active thread attacking you when you land. All dragons need to be as equally spaced as you can be to minimize any deleterious effect on the planet of going Between. It would be of no use to us for the planet to come out of Between as a loose cluster of asteroids. It must retain its planetary integrity."

(Pause)

"This next graphic shows the rogue in its final position, after coming out of Between. Notice carefully the thrust vector directions and lengths. These must be met exactly if the rogue is to remain in a stable orbit. There is also a component that will give it a slight spin, similar to Pern. This spin would ordinarily give it a night/day cycle akin to that enjoyed by Pern, but the last action of your task will make this moot."

(Pause)

"After the Black Dragons have verified the final position of the rogue and that has been verified as closely as possible via telescopic observation, all dragons will form a line at the terminator and proceed to turn the surface into molten everglow rock in the indicated high-temperature range, just shy of vaporizing the rock. Advance at the best pace of the slowest dragon to maintain the line. The line of dragons should continue for 30 minutes and then return to Pern to recharge their lungs with air before going back and continuing."

(Pause)

"This will be a grueling and time-consuming task. Basically, you will be turning the entire planet's surface into a vast lake of molten rock which will eventually seep all the way to the rogue's center. Thus, in effect, you will be creating a new star, though a vastly underpowered one. This ends my presentation."

Harry looked out at his audience and couldn't see any fear or concern. Everyone was determined to do their best. He then started his final instructions. Harry's eyes glazed over. 'Dragons, hear me,' he called. Every dragon on the planet fell silent at Harry's call. The riders could clearly hear him in their minds, through their dragons. His voice pulsed on the wave of power that carried it to every dragon on the planet bonded and unbonded.

'It will be my ultimate responsibility to ensure there are sufficient breaks so no dragon or rider becomes exhausted,' said Harry. 'In order to do that, I am relying on every dragon, bonded and unbonded, to let me know well before you become too tired to continue, especially for the last phase of our task. It is much better for everyone to stop and take a break than to lose even one dragon because they didn't want to be a weak link. If you are feeling tired, I can guarantee there are probably hundreds more who are feeling the same.

'I will be maintaining constant vigilance during the entire time we are on location. I am fully prepared for this to take as long as is needed, breaks for air, meals, and rest included. We will not finish this in an hour or even a day. We need to be prepared for this to take … as long as it takes. We are basically converting an entire planet slightly smaller than Earth's moon into a new star. That will not happen overnight.

'The only ones not helping us are those crews assigned to ambulance crews and Weyr Security back on Earth. It may take us a little longer to finish without them, but their jobs are too important to allow them to help. The task is so big, that their added numbers wouldn't speed things up measurably in any case.

'Each time we take a rest break, I want the five hundred center-most dragons in the line to move to the outer two ends of the line, as those dragons in the center will have the longest distance to go, therefore the hardest job. We must function as a well-trained team in order for us to complete this task safely. And I know we can do this safely. I trust my dragons!

'I will be relying primarily on Mary Potter/Linoth to coordinate the other Black Dragons: Filan Ayax/Lanolth and Emma Potter/ Besalth for the first part of our task. They are the only ones who can convert to and from coordinates and jump images. Once Mary has the final solution for each step, she will pass it on to me for approval and I will give the go/no go command. If I say "Go", Linoth will then flash the proper jump images and exit vectors to all other dragons for execution. Once the rogue is verified in its final position, we will come back to Pern for an extended rest break before we start on the last.

'Let's go!'

Harry broke the connection and he heard an echo of many thousands of dragon voices acknowledging his orders. Within minutes, almost the Entire Dragon Nation was airborne over Pern. Seconds after that, having verified the jump coordinates given him by Mary, Harry gave the "Go" command for the first time. Almost twenty thousand total dragons blinked out of Between above the frozen surface of the rogue planet. Never had so many dragons been able to jump securely to coordinates given by a Black Dragon. The usual procedure on Earth was for the Black Dragon to jump to coordinates and then pass visual jump images to those supposed to follow.

The three Black Dragons carefully spaced themselves equidistant around the terminator and landed, placing all their feet firmly on the ground and digging their claws into the rock surface. Thousands of other dragons, bonded and unbonded, Earth-standard and Pern-standard followed their lead. The surface of the planet became covered in dragons. Anyone looking from space wouldn't have been able to see them, but they were spaced for optimal effect.

Again, the Black Dragons agreed on the final position, Mary passed the information on to her father, and he again gave the "Go" command. Almost instantly all dragons, almost 20,000 of them, and the planet they were holding disappeared Between.

Spath's Weyr Observatory, Aug 31, 2061...
Mildred saw the planet disappear on her monitor and quickly entered the command for the telescope to skew around to see the new position. It should take longer than the normal 2.6 seconds for the heavy, inertial load to change position, but by the time the telescope steadied and returned a picture, the rogue planet should be centered on the monitor.

The telescope finally stabilized and returned an image of … a distant star! Mildred felt faint as the blood rushed from her head in shock. Many of the families in the room watching the huge repeater screen didn't understand what appeared to have happened, but a couple of non-rider wives screamed in fear, causing an outburst of questions from others. Many just looked at the screen not realizing what this seemed to mean.

Mildred looked down at her controls and read the coordinates the scope was pointed to. Just as the connection to AIVAS opened, she realized her mistake and quickly pressed a different button. She must have accidentally pressed the wrong one in her excitement. The telescope skewed again and finally came to rest with the rogue planet firmly centered in its view. The dragons had accomplished their first task. They had just moved an entire planet into a different orbit!

Pern System, Rogue planet, Aug 31, 2061...
They all came out of Between and Harry didn't at first see any difference. Then he noticed that the stars 'had moved'.

'Mary, a confirmation we are in our final position would be very reassuring right now.'

'We seem to be in the proper location according to our dragons. I'm just waiting for visual confirmation from Pern. It will take a while for them to re-orient the telescope. It shouldn't be more than a few minutes.'

From his observation post above the planet's surface, Harry looked down at the broken, scarred surface of the rogue planet. He could see crevasse and fault lines, fractures, and meteor impact craters. The surface was a real mess and not a touch of atmosphere or even dust apparent anywhere, only larger or smaller broken fragments of rock. While they waited, Harry had Chekiath fly down to the surface, right on the terminator next to Mary.

'Cheki, Linoth, would you please create an everglow pool right here.' Harry requested. The dragons complied and there was soon a sizable, slowly expanding pool of everglow rock on the barren plain.

'Confirmation from Pern,' said Mary.

'Dragons, hear me,' Harry called. 'I am having to make a change to our plan. I want every dragon to go airborne and memorize the section of the planet just below you. There are some quite deep crevasses crisscrossing this surface. I think we will need to convert their depths and possibly walls before we can move on to the rest of the planet. As soon as you are finished, jump back to Pern. We will combine images into a rough map of the surface and decide where and how many dragons need to concentrate on the deep fissures. Eventually, we will come back and form a line centered on this everglow pool.'

Harry and Cheki rose to map their section of the surface. He wouldn't break his connection until he sensed that all dragons were back on Pern.

Spath's Weyr Conference Room, Aug 31, 2061...
Harry sat silently in meditation as he reviewed the dozens of relevant images from different dragons. He mentally connected them, calculated the surface areas of each, and determined how many dragons it would require to finish quickly. He came out of his meditation to see the other Weyrleaders lounging on the chairs in the room waiting for him to finish.

"I think I have come up with an acceptable plan," said Harry as the others gathered around him. "First, spread the word that we will restart early tomorrow morning after everyone has had a good chance to rest."

Spath's Weyr Conference Room, All Flight Leaders Meeting, Sept 1, 2061...
Harry started as soon as everyone was seated, "After discussions with the other Weyrleaders, we have decided we need to alter our original plan somewhat.

"Initially, Operation Red Star was going to simply turn the entire planetoid into a large everglow object. Now, Operation Red Star, Phase 2 will change for a number of reasons. First, we need to thoroughly search the planet for any remaining artifacts that would point to past visits of other intelligent species. Second, we cannot do that while remaining completely out of contact with the planet's surface, so our first task is to ensure that no thread remains on the surface, anywhere. Since we've moved the planet's orbit there is a distinct possibility that some thread may get warm enough to become somewhat active. Because of that, it is imperative that all dragons are wearing protective armor. It will not only protect them from the cold and vacuum of space but also protect them from accidental contact with thread. The suits will also have Protego Thread runes on the bottom as well as the top.

"The last phase of Operation Red Star will not commence until after we have completed Phase 2 and may well change depending upon what we find. We will be forced to delay our next visit to the 'Red Star' planetoid until all required resources are available. We have plenty of time now, I would rather wait and make sure my dragons are safe than rush and take the chance of one or more getting injured or killed.

"Operation Red Star, Phase 2 now calls for sweeping the planet with simple dragon fire to destroy any thread that remains on the surface, but leave everything else intact. That can be done without actually touching the planet's surface, but we are still going to delay until we have sufficient Dragon armor for all dragons.

"All the non-magical riders will look for surface threats or anomalies like artificial structures. The magical riders will also look for threats but will attempt to sense, magically, any deeper chambers that might have remained protected from thread. To aid in that, I have asked for some Goblin volunteers to be a part of the magical riders. Their flight suits will have specially modified helmets which are virtually obscured so it is not readily apparent they are on the surface. Their special magic, developed after centuries underground, will be a great help in finding any hidden chambers. They will be riding on some of our unbonded dragons. We just haven't been able to come up with a way yet for Gringotts' dark-adapted dragons to be able to work in an environment where there are no limits, like walls or ceilings.

"We are removing two hundred dragons from the line of advance. Those two hundred will be composed of a bonded Dragonrider pair and an unbonded dragon in teams of two. The riders will fly in the Wingman position and keep an eye open for any possible trouble while allowing the two dragons in the team to coordinate between themselves and the other teams to accomplish the task assigned. They will be responsible for cleaning the floor and walls of the two largest crevasses with dragon fire. You will start and stop in conjunction with everyone else, otherwise, you will be independent of the line of advance.

"One of the crevasses is really huge, hundreds of miles long and several hundred feet deep, so you will have to maintain your own advance in order to finish the rest of your task. Once the crevasses are finished, you will split into half and each half will take one of the poles to work on them. If my calculations, based on areas to cover, are correct, we should all finish up about the same time.

"All leaders are to make sure their subordinates get copies of the plan and know where their efforts are needed. Everyone is to study the plan while we have this downtime to come up with possible problems or improvements. That's all I have at this time. Are there any questions?"

A spirited discussion followed, but little change was contemplated. After the meeting broke up, Harry headed to his office to attempt to help Daniel get some paperwork accomplished. The very first report he drew out of the courier's pouch made him realize the date. As he worked on the reports with the active portion of his mind, a part of his mind was remembering other times in the past relating to his children, specifically Albus Orion Potter, his youngest son … so far.

Joensuu Weyr, Earth, Chapel of the Green Lady, July 31, 2032...
Albus Potter and Alisson Ward, a witch from Albus' class at Hogwarts, had decided on a bonding ceremony at Joensuu, because Albus insisted on including his dragon. Alisson wasn't a Dragonrider, but she was willing to at least try the odd ceremony as it was so important to her Albus. Before the bonding, Silinoth had called Alisson 'Avid Limpet' because she was always so happy and excited around Albus she didn't want to let go of his arm. After the bonding, surprisingly, Silinoth used Alisson to refer to Albus' new wife. Evidently, the bonding caused Alison to be recognized as at least an honorary rider.

Harry had 'gifted' Albus with almost all the Potter holdings on Earth along with a substantial one-time increase in his vault account to help maintain them. Harry only kept back three vacation homes for the use of all Potters. Even those, he asked Albus to maintain scheduling or rental if they weren't being used by an actual Potter.

Albus and Alisson spent most of their honeymoon in and around Joensuu. Shortly after, Albus requested to adopt an unbonded dragon into his family so Alisson could experience dragon flight on her own. Alisson wasn't too sure about it at first but soon declared that "Flying with a dragon is better than flying on a broom, much faster, and you don't get bugs in your face!"

Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Aug 12, 2038...
Harry, Hermione, and May had arrived at the hospital only a few hours after their son, Albus. His wife, Alison, was due to give them a grandchild any moment now and they had traveled from Pern just for the occasion. Sometimes it was good to be a Dragonrider!

Hermione and May were taking turns keeping Albus distracted by embarrassing him. They kept remembering anecdotes about his own infant years. Episodes of explosive diarrhea, painting his wall with the contents of his diaper, etc.

"You girls do realize that if you keep this up he may decide not to give you any more grandchildren."

They just looked at him as if to say, "Yeah, right!" and continued to distract Albus. Their tension was relieved periodically when the doctors allowed Albus to visit his wife during her calmer moments. They could all hear Silinoth laughing at his rider's discomfort. Brilonth, their 'adopted' female Antipodean Opaleye had more empathic things to say about the pain Alisson was going through, but she was nowhere near as aggressive as female dragons who were actually bonded to their female riders.

After Alisson had been in labor for nine hours, she delivered a healthy, magical baby boy, Harry Remus Potter. Harry Remus had announced his displeasure at being born by trying to shut down all the power in the hospital, but Dr. Sheppard had been quick with applying a temporary accidental magic block, so there was only a momentary flicker.

In the years to come, young Harry Remus always wore a Dragon pendant which was to become very important when he got older. Since they always lived in the magical world, usually at the main Potter Manor, Albus insisted on training his son up to know as much about his magical heritage as his non-magical. When he got home from mundane school he started learning from tutors about magical subjects. One of the first things he was taught was Occlumency so he could learn to better use his mind. With his parent's help, he had mastered it by his sixth year which definitely aided him in remembering everything he would need to know in later years.

Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleader's Office, Sept 1, 2061...
Harry had a smile on his face as he remembered the harassment his wives had put Albus through, but it had definitely taken his mind off his worry for his wife. He finished up the last of his paperwork and just sat for a while reminiscing. Then he remembered something that removed the smile and replaced it with a frown. Why did people always try to attack him or hurt him by attacking his family?

Potter Manor, Oct 31, 2048...
"Thanks for coming, Dad," said Albus. "H.R. should be home from visiting his friend soon and you can talk to him about it. For now, I have a copy of his memories that may help."

Albus brought out the family pensieve and added a silvery strand from a small stoppered vial. He touched a rune on the side and the memory started playing above it.

Memory of Harry Remus Potter, Oct 30, 2048...
Harry Remus Potter, known to his family as H.R., was hurrying along the deserted hall, anxious to get home. He was supposed to learn some new wandless magic from his father tonight and he was eager to start. Suddenly he felt someone come up behind him out of one of the doors he had just passed and mumble something in his ear. He felt a slight lethargy and didn't resist as his arm was grabbed and he was hauled into the classroom.

He noticed that his friend, Sarah, was in the darkened room already, sitting tensely in a chair with three other figures behind her. He couldn't quite make out their faces for some reason and knew that if he were to look at the one beside him the same would be true. He saw that Sarah was now looking at him hopefully.

"OK, Potter, here is what you are going to do. You are going to take all your clothes off, then take all her clothes off, and you are going to rape her."

Harry just stood there. He felt a slight urge to do what the voice told him to do but knew it was wrong and his training in occlumency and his growing magical power allowed him to ignore the slight urge. Then he heard clearly for the first time what the one next to him had been saying earlier, "IMPERIO!" The urge to obey intensified a little bit for a short time before it again dropped down to nothing. He heard all four figures say it to him with a bit more of an urge, but still nothing he wasn't able to overcome with his training.

"What do you think went wrong, Crabbe? It isn't working."

"I don't know. We did everything my father said to do. It should have worked and we could have taken movies of them and posted them on the Internet for everyone to see. I guess we just obliviate them both and send them on their way for now. I will talk to my father and we can try again after the weekend."

Harry heard them say "OBLIVIATE!" but it had about as much effect as the imperius had, next to nothing.

Potter Manor, Oct 31, 2048...
"What do you think, Dad?" his son asked Harry as the memory went dark.

"I recognized the name used. Vincent Crabbe was in Hogwarts at the same time I was. It's entirely possible this is his son and he's trying to get back at me for some imagined slight from school. I think this is a bit much for some imagined slight, but Crabbe and Goyle were never the smartest ones in school.

Albus and Harry talked about Harry's short tenure at Hogwarts until H.R. got home. One of the first things they asked was why he hadn't been wearing his Dragon Amulet. He shamefully told them he had taken it off for some reason and forgotten to put it back on.

For the next two days, they both gave H.R. intense training in various defensive magics, including confundo, depulso, stupefy, and the more aggressive attack magic, diffindo.

They both tutored H.R. until he was able to use any and all of the spells wandlessly and silently. Harry also taught his grandson and son some of the tricks he had developed over the years to beef up his mental defenses and some ways to turn an attack back on his attacker.

Since the Amulet H.R. wore only stopped attacks and didn't return them to the attacker, he was encouraged to wear it, but pretend he was affected by any spells cast on him. Then Harry did something he probably shouldn't have done, he gave his grandson a small personal magical accumulator keyed to his magical core. It more than tripled his apparent magical power and could be called on any time needed. They even gave H.R. a Dragon Amulet for his friend.

Monday morning Harry and Albus sent young Harry off to school and anxiously waited for his report when he got back.

Potter Manor, Nov 2, 2048...
Harry and Albus were sitting quietly when Albus got a call from his son on his cell phone asking for help at the school. Albus side-along disapparated with Harry near to the school and then ran to where H.R. said he would be waiting for them. When they got there, Harry's grandson led them into a scene of carnage.

H.R. had not seen Sarah all day, so was unable to give her the protective amulet. After school was over, H.R. had been grabbed just like last time, except this time he was protected and was pretending to be affected. The big difference was that, when he walked into the room, Sarah was lying on the floor naked, her clothes in tatters around the room, and one of the other three boys was just getting up from being on top of her. Both the other boys had their clothing only partly straightened after pulling up their pants. H.R. had gone berserk and cast an over-powered depulso at the three in the middle of the room which had caused them to flip over some desks in the room and break their necks.

When he turned to look at the shocked boy next to him, he had seen that boy's zipper was still down so, in his rage, he cast a diffindo at his target, ending the other boy's chances of ever fathering any offspring. By the time Harry and Albus arrived, the boy had already bled out. Sarah was still crying softly to herself, but H.R. had found a cotton sheet from the school nurse's office to cover her.

'Cheki, get Dr. Sheppard here right now,' said Harry angrily. 'I don't care what has to happen for him to arrive, but I want him here in the next five minutes!'

By the time Dr. Sheppard arrived, Harry and Albus had repaired the girl's clothes and gotten her dressed again. Dr. Sheppard healed her body and removed all the major physical damage from the attack, leaving just enough so there would be no doubt that she had been raped and by whom. Most of the magical world was still unfamiliar with DNA evidence. He was unable to completely remove the mental damage, however. She was never quite the same after that and had started to shun her previous best male friend, Harry Remus.

The mystery of how four young unknown students were found dead in the school classroom was never explained or discovered by the non-magical police who were called in the next day when the bodies were discovered. The real heartbreak of it all was that Sarah was forever afraid of others and became very withdrawn and there wasn't anything any of those involved could do to make things right.

Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleader's Office, Sept 1, 2061...
Harry blinked back tears of anger as he came back to himself in his office. He had caused dragons to time jump when they brought Dr. Sheppard to the school, he just wished he had seen enough leeway to be able to stop the entire attack from happening. He had led a team of Aurors against the fathers of the four boys involved and they learned that the fathers had been teaching their sons dark magic. Harry's evidence, including memories copied from his grandson, was enough to convict all four to a death sentence. Harry would give all that up to give Sarah her previous life back and his grandson was still very introverted, though his dragon, after he impressed November of 2055, had helped somewhat.

H.R. had gone back several times afterward to try to help Sarah, but she always shivered uncontrollably when he was near her and screamed once when he touched her arm. Albus and Harry had done their best to explain to her father what had happened and he was happy that the four responsible had somehow paid with their lives, but, not being able to tell him about magic at the time, they couldn't quite go far enough.

He had a sudden epiphany, they weren't just trying to bully two teens, they were trying to muddy the Potter name. They didn't need to rip her clothes all to shreds to rape Sarah, they were making a statement. Killing her and making his grandson watch would have driven him insane. Then they could kill him and leave him with the body thereby 'proving' he had done the deed or they could have released him and connected him to the young girl's murder in some other way. He couldn't allow them to win, even as much as they had in death.

He felt so stupid, why hadn't he thought of all this years ago! He would contact Albus and suggest they hire a mind healer for the girl. Magic was now known by the non-magical world, maybe there was still something they could still salvage. Maybe His grandson hadn't lost his best friend after all. First, they had to convince the girl's parents there might be hope after all.

"Jeofrey, Operation Red Star is still tentatively scheduled to restart no sooner than 12 September, right?"

"That's correct, Weyrleader. Is there anything you need in regards to the Operation?"

"No, Jeofrey, I suddenly realized I have some extremely important business to take care of on Earth. Can you please arrange with Daniel to handle any appointments I may have for the next week to ten days?"

"Yes, Sir. May I know where you are going in case someone asks?"

"I'm not quite sure at this time, but Albus Potter on Earth will probably have a good idea at all times. I am definitely going to ask May to go with me and Hermione as well if she can get away, but I definitely need May."

With that, Harry strode out of the office towards his quarters where he could start packing and, hopefully, send word to his wives that he needed their assistance on a more personal project regarding the Potter family's reputation.

Potter Manor, Sept 2, 2061...
As luck would have it, Hermione was able to easily rearrange her schedule to go with him, but May absolutely refused to go because of her overbooked scheduling. Harry finally had to order her and Katie Bell to go with him as The Weyrleader. Katie didn't fight it. If Harry needed her, then she would go. Her assistants would just have to handle what they could until she returned and she would pick up the pieces when she got back. May, however, was another matter.

"May, please, I need you there. It may mean the difference between a half death trying to hide in a mind filled with fear and life in the sun. It will also help clear a dark smudge off the Potter family name."

"I don't care! You have Hermione and Katie going with you, why do you need me!" she shouted at him, for daring to interrupt her extremely busy schedule.

"Have I ever asked you to do something out of purely selfish desire? I have looked at your schedule. I agree it's important, but I feel what I need you for is more important. I can't explain until we are there and there are others who can help give their perspective."

"NO! I will not go, my husband, on some stupid, nonessential road trip!"

Harry looked sad, but he stood tall and said, "Maybe not for your husband, but The Weyrleader requires your presence on this trip and you will go. Consider this a Weyr Order. You will go if I have to truss you up like a turkey and carry you across my lap on Chekiath when we jump. I will order Trath not to take you anywhere but where I tell her to take you. Is. That. Clear?"

'Trath, you would not follow such foolish orders, would you?' May asked her dragon.

'The Weyrleader has spoken. If your mate had asked, I might have fought that, but not The Weyrleader.'

Suddenly, May felt a cold shiver down her spine. Her dragon was siding with Harry and Harry was never this forceful about anything! She now knew she could not fight this trip, but he'd better have a damned good reason why she had to go!

Potter Manor, Earth, Sept 2, 2061...
Harry had everyone together at the Manor. He had even thought to call in Joddy as elf magic might be able to help where their own magic couldn't and Joddy was now a seasoned Dragonrider. He had Albus play back their stored memories of that dark time. At the end, Hermione, May, and Katie were all in tears at the fate of poor Sarah.

"But why show us this, Harry," asked May. "It's thirteen years old. Surely there is nothing we can do to change things now, even if we could have back then!"

"H.R., didn't you say Sarah seemed really connected to animals? Kittens, dogs, things like that?" asked Harry.

"Yeah," said H.R. "She would go all soft when she saw a kitten. She talked about wanting to become a Vet one day."

Harry just looked at May and saw her suddenly understand why he had insisted she join them. She wasn't sure it would help, but she would do her best to try. H.R. was also her grandson. She had to help him if she could.

"We have to contact her parents and explain to them what we couldn't back then. We are magical and the attack on their daughter was performed by deranged Dark Wizards to attack our family. That they failed and paid the price with their lives isn't the important thing here but that we now believe we may be able to help Sarah, is.

"Albus, do you know how to get in touch with them?"

"I remember where they used to live. H.R. probably does as well. Their names are Aaron and Gracie Davidson. How do you want to handle this?"

Harry looked at his miserable grandson and had another epiphany, "You more than liked her as your best friend, didn't you, H.R.?"

His grandson looked at him with a haunted stare. "I still love her, I just can't go near her without her screaming. I want to help her but can't go near because I make things worse and it wasn't even my fault!" He was almost in tears now.

Harry looked at his grandson compassionately. "We will find a way around this and bring her back to her right mind. Work with us and we will all bring her back to you, safe and whole."

H.R. broke into bitter tears as Harry took his grandson in his arms. He wished the four teens were still alive so he could kill them all over again … slowly.

'It will be alright, My Rider,' said Ranarth. 'The Weyrleader has never let us down!'

Everyone present heard H.R.'s dragon. Harry fervently hoped that this didn't turn out to be the first time.

The Davidson Residence, Friday, Sept 2, 2061, 1800 hours...
Ranarth had set down outside the Davidson residence and remained invisible much earlier. H.R. wanted to be there so he could talk to both Sarah's parents at the same time. He was wearing a well-tailored business suit over his flight suit, so he would appear normal to the two mundanes. When he saw the car drive up and an early middle-aged, careworn man get out, he thought he recognized Aaron Davidson. He got down from Ranarth's back and calmly approached the man before he had gotten very far from his car.

"Mr. Davidson? Mr. Aaron Davidson?" asked H.R. quietly and as calmly as he could. He didn't want to spook the man, he was there to help … he hoped.

The man looked up with a grim visage and hopeless eyes. "Yes, that's me. What can I do for you?" All he really saw was a well-dressed youngster who should still be in school but was wearing a well-tailored business suit. He hoped he wasn't one of those salesmen who had hit the neighborhood recently. He had enough on his mind without having to fight off a rabid sales attempt.

"Sir, my name is Harry Remus Potter. I was your daughter's best friend back when she was in school. My grandfather has recently contacted me and thinks we can help your daughter. I was hoping to talk to you and your wife about it, if I may."

Aaron looked more closely at the young man. He did look familiar, but he was way too young. His daughter was now 23 and this young man looked like he should still be in school! Still, what was the harm? Nothing they had done for the past thirteen years had been able to break through his daughter's horror. She even flinched when her own father came near. It was heartbreaking.

He just nodded his head numbly and gestured towards the door to his house. When they arrived at the door, he unlocked it and walked in, calling out to his wife as he did so, "Gracie! We have a visitor who wants to talk to both of us about Sarah."

'They are both almost not there,' said Ranarth to H.R. alone. 'They sorrow so much for their daughter.'

'Let's hope we can help change that,' replied H.R.

They met in the living room. H.R. explained that there was a lot they weren't able to let them know about back when Sarah had been attacked. He and his family came from a most ancient line of wizards, witches, and mages. They had a long list of enemies and some of those enemies had attacked Sarah with the idea to get back at his family. It had taken a while for the horror of the attack to settle, but now his grandfather, one of the few great mages in the world, thought there was a chance that they could help his daughter using magical means … if they would allow it. What he didn't say was that if they didn't, he was prepared to obliviate them and kidnap Sarah if it meant a better life for her.

Her parents sat there, stunned, for a while and then started asking questions.

"How do we know you are who you say you are?" "Is magic real?" "How can it help our daughter?"

They talked well into the dinner hour while H.R. desperately did his best to convince them. Finally, Gracie, realizing how late it was, said, "It's getting late and I'm afraid I've let our dinner get old. Even so, you are welcome to partake with us if you don't mind cold spaghetti."

"I have a better idea," said H.R. "Why don't I call in someone to bring a nice hot meal to us right here where we sit. Remember, I told you I was a wizard. We have other magical creatures who live and work with us. There is one just waiting for my call to help if he can."

At their unsure nod of assent, H.R. called, "Joddy."

The Davidson's almost jumped over the sofa so startled were they when Joddy popped in.

"Rider Harry called?"

"Yes, Joddy. I was hoping you would be able to bring us a nice Filet Mignon dinner for four, with all the trimmings." He looked at Gracie and asked, "Will Sarah be able to eat that? It's been so long and I've been so out of touch, that I just don't know."

"She will, but I will have to cut it up into bite-sized portions for her."

H.R. turned to Joddy and continued, "Four meals, but one cut up it into small, bite-sized portions." He held up his hand to stop the elf from leaving just yet.

"Do you mind if my grandmother comes to help Sarah eat while we continue to talk?"

"Of course not," said a confused Gracie.

H.R. turned to Joddy and continued, "Bring Rider May with you when you return, please."

"Yes, Rider Harry. It is my pleasure to help." Joddy popped out and just as Aaron started to ask another question, he popped back in with the four requested dinners and May Potter on his arm.

The Davidsons' eyes got absolutely huge at that. May just smiled, took one meal, and started up the stairs to Sarah's room. All had been coordinated via dragon speech. Joddy handed out the large plates of steak, baked potato, and broccoli and then disappeared. The meals were piping hot.

Gracie jumped up to grab utensils and place settings when Jody returned with everything they needed and left again with a sly grin at H.R.

As they sat down to eat, the questions and answers continued, but at a slower pace as they needed to eat between questions.

"My Grandmother is a Healer and a Veterinary Doctor, but she doesn't work with small animals, she specializes in dragons."

At this bombshell, Aaron almost choked but quickly recovered. Harry's idea was to acclimatize them to magic and magical animals as quickly as possible to allow them greater freedom of access to Sarah. It seemed to be working. Already the Davidsons seemed more comfortable with the subject.

When they'd finished their meal and Joddy had cleaned the dishes and left them on the kitchen counter as a reminder, H.R. asked, "Would you like to meet my dragon?"

The two mundanes were so bemused by now they just nodded their heads in the affirmative.

As they walked out the door, they looked at the wooded clearing across the street from their house and wondered when a bronze statue of a dragon had been erected there. It was sitting like a huge dog with its long tail wrapped around its feet and its head high over their two-story house. Suddenly a head with eyes as big as they were looked down at them and grinned showing a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. Gracie squeaked and fainted and Aaron just goggled at the sight.

H.R. deftly caught Gracie before she could hit the ground and suggested, "Why don't we go back inside, it's getting a bit cold and it doesn't look like your wife is all that interested."

Aaron just nodded as he turned to re-enter his house and his suddenly too weird life.

Meanwhile in Sarah's bedroom...
Sarah had initially been alarmed by the stranger entering her bedroom but had quickly been lulled into calmness again by May's calm, obviously feminine voice. Soon they were sitting together as if they'd known each other for years. May used the time to feed her bits and pieces of potions hidden in the meal. Soon Sarah had swallowed enough calming potion that a man could have entered the room and she wouldn't have even noticed.

"Joddy."

"Yes, Miss May," answered Joddy as he popped into the room.

Sarah looked mildly interested at the small, odd little creature that appeared in her room, which was all she could manage with the amount of calming potion she had been dosed with.

"Would you please go ask Princess Catherine if we may have one of her older, weaned Kneazle kittens for the patient we had discussed earlier?"

"Of course, Miss May." Joddy disappeared but didn't return right away.

Downstairs...
"Mr. and Mrs. Davidson …," began H.R.

"Please, call us Aaron and Gracie," interrupted Aaron Davidson.

"Of course, in that case, please call me Harry or H.R. which is what my family calls me. I know I have revealed a lot of information to you tonight, but there is a lot more, even yet. We, my family and I, want to take Sarah to a place where we have a more controlled environment where we can work on trying to help her overcome her incapacitating fear. It will only take seconds to get there … or back …, but we thought you would probably want to come along if you decide to let us try. At no time do we want you to feel pressured into anything or be afraid, but Sarah has been ill for a long time and we have no idea how long it will take to reverse her condition if it's even possible.

"We have a major project that is on hold right now while we wait on additional resources and we wanted to try to cure Sarah before we had to go back to this other project on about the twelfth of this month. If you say no, I will leave contact information in case you change your mind. If you say yes, you need to bring only enough changes of clothes for about three days. Room and board will be provided, as well as educational or entertainment opportunities as you desire, while there. I hesitate to ask this of you so soon, as you don't really know me, but I still consider Sarah my best friend and want to help her.

"Would you be willing to trust us and go with us to a place where we can try to help Sarah?"

Aaron looked doubtful, but Gracie looked hopeful. Thirteen years and she had never been given any kind of hope from any of the doctors to whom they had taken Sarah. Surely, no matter what happened, it couldn't make things any worse, could it? She looked at her husband pleadingly.

"What do we need to do?" asked Aaron.

"Just pack a bag for the two of you. My Gran will pack something for Sarah as she is already in her room. Once you are packed, we will step outside where our transport will be waiting for us."

In Sarah's bedroom...
May quickly picked out three casual, but sturdy outfits for Sarah, along with some nightclothes, all of which she placed in her belt pouch. Then she got Sarah dressed as if for a day outing. Just as she finished, Joddy popped in with a curious Kneazle kitten in his arms.

May looked over at the kitten and said, "Hello, little one. I don't know if anyone explained to you what is happening, but this young girl has suffered from mind terrors for the past thirteen years and we are going to try to help her. Before she was attacked, she had a particular love of small animals and I thought she would love to bond with an intelligent Kneazle. Would you be willing to try to help us?"

The Kneazle listened intently to May's explanation and then looked at Sarah, who was looking at the Kneazle with interest. The Kneazle jumped out of Joddy's arms and jumped up on the bed next to Sarah. Sarah immediately began gently stroking the Kneazle.

"Well," said May, "I think we are now ready to go. Thank you Joddy. We will all be heading for Dragon Isle if you want to meet us there. Sarah, shall we go downstairs and introduce your parents to your new friend?"

Joddy disappeared, Sarah stood, and the Kneazle kitten jumped up on her shoulder and nestled in under her hair, looking out next to her chin on Sarah's left side.

Downstairs, 2100 Hours...
When Aaron and Gracie returned after packing a small overnight bag, They found May, Sarah, and what looked like a small kitten waiting for them. May smiled at them and explained, "This is a Kneazle, a magical creature that is quite loyal to anyone they bond to. They are also more intelligent than any animal other than humans, and in some cases, even more intelligent than some humans. She understands human language even at this young age and reacts best to requests. Though she cannot talk as humans do, she has ways of making her wants to be known. She, like all her kind, is extremely clean and will use the toilet if given access. She seems to have accepted Sarah, at least for now, as a companion. As such, if she senses a threat to Sarah, she will react to either get rid of the threat or let someone else know the threat is present."

Aaron and Gracie just nodded their heads and looked bemused, which was pretty much par for the course as the day proceeded.

"If you will step outside, out transportation awaits," said H.R.

As they walked outside, they saw what looked like a large, fairly streamlined, metal building on thin legs with a door folded down at the back forming a ramp into the interior. Harry had provided one of the new ambulance bodies fitted with carpeting and six comfortable chairs as a temporary transport for this operation. H.R. took their suitcase and led the way on board. Everyone except H.R. moved inside and sat down. H.R. closed the door …

Dragon Isle, Main Cavern, 0900 Hours...
… and re-opened the door seconds later. The Davidsons were confused, thinking something had gone wrong. After all, there was no apparent way for the large metal structure to move, but when they got up, they could see they were no longer in the UK. It had been late night when they'd entered the building, now bright daylight showed outside the structure.

"Welcome to Dragon Isle," said H.R. "This is the Dragon Nation's point of contact between Earth and Pern. It is also the location of a very well-equipped hospital where we will be trying to help Sarah. We are in the middle of the Pacific, or UTC-12, so it is now 0900 hours in the morning while it is 2100 hours in the UK."

H.R. handed the Davidson's bag to Joddy. "Joddy here will take your bag to your quarters for now. First, I want to get Sarah settled and I'm sure you will want to see where she is going to be. It won't be that far from where you will be staying, so you will be able to visit quite easily. I will let Rider May, my grandmother, lead the way from here because this is as much her hospital as it is the Dragon Nation's.

"After that, I will give you both what we call a dreamless sleep potion. Take it after you go to bed and it will make sure you sleep until tomorrow morning. We use them all the time to overcome the alterations to our circadian rhythms resulting from trans meridian travel."

"You mean jet lag, don't you?" asked Aaron.

"I suppose so, but we didn't use a jet, did we?" asked H.R. with a grin.

"No, I suppose we didn't. Good trick that. It must be driving the airlines up the wall!"

"Actually, we 'license' the technology to them. We provide the actual transport, they provide the ticketing, waiting rooms, etc which we don't want to get into. It works out well for everyone, but we only allow its use for long-distance travel. Otherwise, there would be an awful lot of smaller airlines that would be driven out of business."

"What happens if Sarah isn't better by Monday? I hate to leave her here with just Gracie, but I will need to go back to work."

"Do you? Will you do any good there while you are worried about your daughter? We routinely use satellite cell phones and I would be happy to allow you to use mine to call and arrange some time off if you want. Think about it and discuss it with your wife. We are nothing if not flexible. If you feel you must go back to work, We can drop you off in front of your house at any time you wish to allow you to go to work as you normally do. If you are going to do that, I recommend you go to sleep normally, without the potion, and just get used to being up during the night for the next two days. That way, when we take you back, there will be no 'jet lag' to worry about.

"If you decide it's better to stay, we will have to be finished by the 12th in any case, though when our Operation is complete, we can come back to work with Sarah further, if necessary. Whatever you decide, there is always someone up and doing their normal job 24/7, as we have business contacts all around this world and Pern as well."

"Thank you. I will talk to Gracie about it and get back to you. Speaking of which, how can we get in touch with you or anyone else here?"

"Call for the young elf who brought our dinner tonight. Just call his name and he will appear. He has been relieved of his normal duties while we are working with Sarah because we figured you would need some kind of 'on-call' liaison."

"Thank you, I will remember that."

By now, May had led them all into the hospital where Harry would be trying to delve into Sarah's mind to find out why she was so withdrawn. Aaron and Gracie easily recognized a modern hospital, but there were many things that were initially confusing, like the huge trolleys. May saw them eyeing the dragon carts as they passed and explained, "We are a pan-species hospital, that means we care for any and all intelligent species on two planets. If a dragon gets hurt, it would be kind of hard to carry them from place to place by hand. We use these self-propelled carts for any being too large for a standard human size cart."

She explained about the time a dragon had caught something and had not been able to stop sneezing. It sounded funny now, but the nurse who first encountered the problem had to regrow all her hair! A short time later after walking down a wide corridor, they came to a huge opening in the wall.

May turned to the Davidsons and said, "This is both where you will be staying and where we will be attempting to help Sarah. This large area filled with sand is a dragon bed and you will be staying in one of the dragon apartments. If you notice, there is a walkway to the side where you may enter the smaller apartment in the back without walking on the sand. The smaller apartment is where riders normally stay when either a dragon or its rider, or both are admitted. The smaller apartment has been set up with three bedrooms, each with its own ensuite and a common lounge area.

"Sarah will be in the bedroom closest to the entrance so we do not disturb you with our traffic to and from her room. If you like, we can arrange for the wall between your bedroom and hers to allow you to watch her when anyone is with her. That way you can see what is going on, but not be underfoot if we have to move fast for some reason.

"All the bedrooms have been fitted with silencing charms, so you will hear nothing outside the room unless the wall has been turned one-way transparent. Then you will hear any discussion going on in Sarah's room. That will only happen if someone is in the room with Sarah, so you won't be able to watch her sleep unless you physically enter her room during downtimes. Any questions?"

Aaron looked at Gracie and noticed how tired she was, so said, "No, not at this time. Let us get used to the routine and we may have some later though. Right now, I think my wife and I need to get some sleep."

"That makes sense," said May. "We will not activate the wall today while you are asleep, then. I hope you find your accommodations comfortable. When this was first built everything was a little primitive since everything is carved out of what is basically volcanic rock."

When Aaron and Gracie walked into their bedroom, they were amazed. They had been expecting something quite minimal, what they saw would have stood up well next to a five-star hotel room. Most importantly, the supersized bed was so comfortable they almost fell asleep before they took their potions. Before they laid down, however, they talked about whether or not he should go back to work while Sarah was here and they finally agreed that he would stay until they all returned. Wherever Sarah went, so would they all.

Dragon Isle Hospital, Sept 8, 2061...
Aaron and Gracie had settled into a routine of sorts. They would go to the common kitchen for breakfast, attend one or more lectures on dragons, Pern, or the Dragon Nation, eat lunch, and then watch as Harry sat silently at the foot of Sarah's bed as he used his magic to try to find that kernel of self that was Sarah. It had taken them a while to reconcile the fact that this young man who looked like he could be H.R.'s Uncle was in fact his grandfather. Even more amazing was that he was a very powerful International, no, Intergalactic, leader, yet he was taking a personal interest in their problem.

The first time Harry had entered Sarah's mind, he made the mistake of calling to her. That had just set her to screaming so piercingly that he thought he was going to go deaf. He had quickly pulled out and was surprised to see that she was still apparently sleeping peacefully. He thought she would have awoken anyone in the entire Weyr so loud did she seem to be.

The second time, Harry asked May to join him through Trath. He relayed what he wanted to do and helped her to do it. It was decidedly awkward because May wasn't magical, but something just seemed right about having May help instead of Hermione. Perhaps it was because May wasn't magical and neither was Sarah. That time all they could hear was a steady crying with the occasional wail thrown in and it was all so unidirectional that nothing they did could help them to find Sarah's center of consciousness. Until they could find that, Harry didn't think they would be able to help her.

The third attempt Harry had asked Hermione to help and it was almost as bad as when he'd first called out to Sarah. Somehow she sensed that Hermione was different and reacted as if she too were an enemy.

The fourth attempt Harry had tried using only Trath, but Sarah just ignored any attempt and just cried non-stop.

On the fifth attempt, Harry had asked the tiny Kneazle kitten if she would be willing to try to help. She had sat on Sarah's chest purring while Harry tried to link her into Sarah's mind. This time there was no wailing and the crying was quieter as if she wanted to hear something, probably the purring. Otherwise, it was still a failed attempt.

Yesterday and today, Harry again linked with May but had the, as yet unnamed Kneazle kitten purring on Sarah's chest. Harry had not tried to engage Sarah at all, he had just tried to find her. Finally, Trath said, 'Weyrleader, you have been in trance for almost eight hours. Chekiath says it is time to stop for the day.'

Reluctantly Harry slowly came out of his trance. Never had he been so frustrated and discouraged. He should be able to do something, anything, but nothing he did made so much as a dent. By God, … wait, perhaps there was a way after all. Harry finished emerging from his trance and stood. Joddy quickly handed him a thick, sweet nutrient drink so he wouldn't pass out from hunger like he'd almost done the first day.

Harry turned to May, "I don't think there is anything I can do, but there may yet be someone who can help."

May looked at him questioningly and Harry responded, "The Pern Mother."

May dragged him into a close hug and said mentally, 'Go, quickly, and explain to her what the problem seems to be. Ask if she would be willing to help. Return as soon as you have her reply. We are all starting to get discouraged. And … thank you, Weyrleader, for dragging me along kicking and screaming. You were right, this is more important than anything I was doing.'

Harry gave her a quick kiss and disapparated out to the main caldera where Chekiath waited for him, leaving May to explain to the others. If the Pern Mother agreed, they would all be going to Pern tomorrow.

The Pern Mother's Cave, Sept 9, 2061...
May led an almost somnolent Sarah as H.R. followed silently as ordered. If anything needed to be said, May was the only one who was allowed to talk. They made the long trek up to her tree in solitude. All other visitors had been cleared from the cave and the tunnels leading down to it so that Sarah would not have to chance to hear a male voice.

Once they reached the tree, May, again as ordered, reached out, touched the tree, and said, "We have arrived, Pern Mother."

The visible aspect of the Pern Mother appeared and said, "You have done well, child. Please seat the girl with her back against my tree, facing her young man. He needs to sit on the ground facing the girl but under no circumstances is he allowed to move or say anything until I am finished. Even if the girl seems to be in desperate need of help, even if she screams and/or cries, he is to remain immobile and silent. To do otherwise may cause what I am going to try to not work. Do you both understand?"

May nodded and looked at H.R., who nodded as well. The Pern Mother then told May to sit next to the girl with their knees touching but leaving a clear line of sight to H.R. When they were in the exact position the Pern Mother wanted, she began. She entered Sarah's mind and quickly found her center of self. She determined what had caused Sarah to withdraw from life all those years ago and knew what had to be done. It would be painful for the humans but they would heal.

Just to be sure, she caused H.R. and May to be paralyzed. They would not even realize it unless they tried to move, but they had to silently witness what was going to happen and be available to help start Sarah's healing if this worked.

The Pern Mother re-entered Sarah's mind and grabbed Sarah's consciousness. She forced her to relive her torture of 13 years ago but to remain conscious and not withdraw. She didn't even notice that her cave was rent with a high scream of extreme pain and torment. Both H.K. And May twitched but managed to do as ordered and remained still.

Now the Pern Mother pulled H.K.'s memories of the event and joined Sarah's memories to them. She saw how he was also a victim, not, as she had believed all those years, a participant. She knew his rage at what had been done. She was the one who killed the four boys. She was the one who quickly fetched a sheet to cover her nakedness. She was the one who cried at what had been done to her love.

While the Pern Mother had been working on Sarah's mind, she was also working on her body. She removed the physical scars caused by the cutting hexes and salt, she replaced tortured and disfigured skin with soft, smooth, blemish-free dermis. Once she was completely finished, the last thing she did was cause Sarah to look straight ahead of her at the one she now knew loved her still. Loved her enough to take her to another planet where she could get the healing she needed. Loved her so much he could never have betrayed her as she had thought.

Sarah leaped to her feet and ran towards H.R. as the Pern Mother released the paralysis. H.R. was knocked over onto his back by the force of Sarah's lunge for him, but neither really noticed, they were too happy to have rediscovered each other. Quietly, the Pern Mother told May why Sarah had been so withdrawn so she could explain it to the others and then told her she was now allowed to return Sarah to Earth.

Dragon Isle Hospital, Guest Apartment, Sept 9, 2061...
May gathered all those that had been involved in Operation Heal Sarah, including Joddy, into the apartment's lounge. After everyone was comfortable, with an obviously happy, healthy, and very much in love Sarah almost clamped onto H.R.'s arm, May began to explain.

"The boys that attacked Sarah were following orders from their fathers. They imperiused her so she could do nothing, but made her very aware of what was going on. They slowly cut away her clothing using cutting hexes. Into the inevitable cuts to her skin, they rubbed in salt so it would sting. As her clothing was removed, they made her watch as they shredded it so she would never be able to put it on again and then they all raped her, a couple of them more than once.

"When they brought H.R. in, it didn't appear to her that he was a prisoner. She thought he was a willing participant. That, more than anything else that had been done to her was what caused her to retreat from the world. The one she loved more than life itself appeared to be a willing participant in her degradation.

"The Pern Mother forced Sarah to relive her torture in her mind, but she also forced her to remain completely conscious during the entire memory. Then she put Sarah inside H.K.'s memory just after he'd walked into the room and she was the one who killed the four boys, covered her body with the sheet, and cried bitterly that the girl he loved had been so brutalized. She now knew without any doubt whatsoever that he had not been involved except to rescue her.

"During her reliving of the memories, her screams were truly heartrending, being a combination of fear, pain, anger, and terror. They had forced her to be completely compliant but had also forced her to understand and feel what was happening to her. While they were torturing her, she was not allowed to scream, so when she re-lived it, her screams were a way of releasing some of her pent emotions. When she was reliving H.K.'s memories, her cries were more primal and almost terrifying, but when the Pern Mother finally released her, her cries and tears were of pure happiness. Even if I didn't know them, looking at them here today, I would say they are going to be inseparable. I hope no one has any problems with them getting married, because if they do, I don't think it will matter to these two in the least."

Aaron and Gracie just held each other and cried happy tears that they now had their child back after all this time.

Now it was Harry's turn. "As the nominal leader of the Dragon Nation, I am going to set aside a trust fund for Sarah so she can hire tutors to bring her education back up to the point it would be if she hadn't had this problem. I would do this in any case, because it's the right thing to do, but, since she's evidently going to marry into our family, it's what we would do for any other family member of a rider.

"I am also going to create an account for Aaron and Gracie that should allow them to retire right now if they wish and just spend time with their daughter again and her new family. I won't hear any arguments about it, because the Dragon Nation takes care of its own. I think I have enough time to do all that before we have to get back to cleaning a planet and turning it into a new star."

Spath's Weyr Conference Room, All Flight Leaders Meeting, Sept 12, 2061...
"All riders have now been issued their nine-hour air tanks. When we come back to Pern for the dragons to get another breath of air, you should probably stay on your internal air. When we come back for a rest break and to eat, obviously you will turn off the air tanks. The end of the workday will be signaled when the air tanks are almost exhausted. Weyr non-rider staff will ensure all the air tanks are promptly refilled, along with any extras for emergencies, for the next day.

"Except for today, I would like to try to get airborne every day at about 0800 so we can make a good start. Let's get ready for space! Operation Red Star, Phase 2 has officially commenced."

The Red Star, Sept 12, 2061...
None of the dragons could fly, they were on an airless planet, but they could all use telekinesis to move about. Harry tried not to smile as he saw various dragons, including Cheki, furl and unfurl their wings at odd times as their planet-bound instincts tried to take over and tell them they needed to be flying using their wings. To be honest, it was the first time he'd smiled since they had begun this operation. Was he being realistic? Could even almost 20,000 dragons actually blast clean a planetoid of this size in their lifetime?

So far they'd been lucky. Their first formation had proven too loose to be practical, so they had changed it "on-the-fly" as it were. Now, instead of a single line of dragons, they had formed half chevrons of six dragons. The line length was drastically reduced, but their coverage was now complete for any area they went over. It meant that the operation, if they could even complete it, would take six times longer than he had calculated. He had a feeling that, if they decided to turn the planetoid into an everglow mass, it would take even longer.

'Why so glum, My Rider? This will take as long as it takes,' said Cheki. 'We fought thread for fifty years. What does it matter if it takes a few more to ensure we never have to worry about it again?'

'Sorry, Cheki, I didn't mean for that feeling to leak out. I know it will take a long time, I guess I'm just anxious for it all to be over.'

'It will be over when it is over. At least we are moving a lot faster than when we first started.'

'True,' chuckled Harry. 'That first hour I despaired that we would be through any time this millennium, much less in my lifetime. When we came across that plain of frozen thread and you realized your flame didn't have to be near as hot and you figured out how to widen out the point of contact, that helped immensely.

'We measured the circumference of this planetoid at just over 5,500 miles. At our present rate of about three miles an hour advance, it's going to take us almost a year to finish just clearing thread! That's a huge job. Is it really necessary? Would it have made more sense just to go with the everglow option from the start?'

'You discussed it with your leaders and everyone agreed it would be too much of a missed opportunity not to clean the planet first and search for any signs of previous intelligent life. Why second guess yourself now?'

'Because this is just taking too long. There has to be a simpler solution. Why can't I see it?'

'Perhaps you are just too close to see any other way. Too bad we aren't closer to the sun, then we could just let the sun do our work for us.'

'That's it! You're brilliant, Cheki! If we can move the planetoid to where it is now, why can't we move it closer to the sun and give it a higher rate of rotation? Let seven or eight rotations go by and then bring it back here. Even the thread trying to hide in shadows wouldn't survive that.'

Harry switched to a private channel and called AIVAS to ask about this new thought. After a few minutes, AIVAS came back and agreed it could be possible if the dragons could withstand the heat and could do it without their riders. The increase in radiation would be lethal to humans with the protection they currently had.

Harry immediately called a halt to all operations, called a meeting for all senior Weyrleaders and their dragons for an hour after they got back, and had Cheki create an everglow pool to mark the place they'd stopped. In seconds they were back on Pern.

Spath's Weyr Conference Room, Weyrleader's Meeting, Sept 12, 2061...
Harry quickly explained the idea that Cheki had come up with and opened the meeting to discussion. All the riders were against it, including Harry, because it would potentially put their dragons in danger. All the dragons were for it because their riders would be safe and they didn't think they would actually be in any danger. Harry didn't want to put it to a vote, because there were more dragons than riders, counting the unbonded dragons.

"It took almost all our dragons to put the planetoid where it is now, but the Pern-standard dragons don't have scales. They would be in as much danger as a rider from radiation," said Harry. "Can the rest of the dragons even move it without those dragons to help?"

'That's easy enough to test,' said Cheki, taking charge of all the dragons. 'Scaled Dragons, to me,' he said as he went airborne above the Weyr.

'Linoth, coordinate with your rider while she is on the ground and we are at the Red Star. Ask her to give you new coordinates to move the planetoid an additional 5 forward in its orbit and give it double its rotation. Once you have that, pass it to me and I will pass it to all dragons. We will then move the Red Star.'

Mary made the call to AIVAS, who had been standing by with the new coordinates since he was paying attention to the meeting. Once Linoth passed the coordinate jump image to Cheki, he said, 'Dragons! Jump to the Red Star, land on it, get a grip on the surface as we did before, and, on my command, jump to the new jump location. JUMP!'

Suddenly the sky over Spath's Weyr was clear of dragons. After a few seconds, the riders heard Cheki give his second 'Jump' command and another few seconds later, he gave the command to return home. In all, from its original orbit to moving it to its new position, it took about five seconds. It took a while for the telescope to reacquire the new position of the Red Star, but when it did, it was exactly where it was supposed to be. The test was a success!

Cheki and the other Weyrleaders' dragons returned to the conference room. Cheki just looked at Harry and said, 'Ask AIVAS to calculate the new position for the Red Star so we can cook the thread off of it. We will go when it is available.'

Harry reluctantly placed the call. This was obviously something that Cheki felt strongly enough about that he was going to have his way. About an hour later, Mary received the coordinates for a translation from where it was now to its new, temporary location, nearer the sun. Ten seconds later all the dragons were back at the Weyr.

'That was better than the hot springs at Disko Island,' said Cheki. 'Quite toasty!' The other dragons agreed with him.

"Please promise me that, after you have retrieved the planetoid, none of you will do anything like this again!" pleaded Harry.

'As the Weyrleader orders,' Harry heard over his dragon link.

Spath's Weyr Hospital, Sept 13, 2061...
"This has got to be at least the fiftieth dragon I've treated for sunburn!" complained the nurse. "I didn't think dragons got sunburned."

Only the following day did the unexpected consequences of their trek closer to the sun become apparent. Every dragon that had been on the sunward side of the planetoid had gotten a 'sunburn'. Most of them just suffered through it, realizing it would eventually heal, but a few, enough to elicit comment, asked for some temporary relief.

When Harry found out about this, he looked at Cheki, 'Did you get burned too?'

'My color seems to reflect light better than others, I suffered no problems,' said Cheki, though he did seem to feel a slight tightness in his wings. 'I would not be averse to a good oiling, especially my wings.'

'Thought so,' thought Harry to himself. As he and Cheki went down to the Hatching Grounds, he passed the word for all riders to give special attention to their dragons today because of their day in the sun yesterday. He also called all the unbonded dragons in to be ministered to by Weyr Staff, house-elves, and riders when they'd finished with their own dragons. They were going to go through a lot of oil today.

Spath's Weyr, Sept 18, 2061...
Harry had ordered a modification to the Dragon Armor that would allow them to tuck their furled wings inside the armor for extra protection from the sun. Though every dragon said they didn't need it, Harry noticed that none refused the modification. The extra time wouldn't hurt. The planetoid had been given a rotation of twice Pern's, so the seven or eight rotations had been more than surpassed by the time the dragons were ready to go again.

This time, Cheki's orders were slightly different. Instead of just jump, it was, 'Tuck! Jump!' He had made sure every dragon remembered to protect him/herself before jumping to the position so close to the sun. When they returned to the Weyr, they all said they were thankful they had armor on their feet, as the rock was quite hot, even for dragons. They all reported, however, that there was no apparent thread left on the planet. Pern had its Dawn Star back 60° ahead of the planet in its orbital path. As soon as the planet cooled, they would start searching for any leftover alien artifacts.

Spath's Weyr Conference Room, Weyrleader's Meeting, Oct 18, 2061...
Today was going to be quite a bit different from the start of this operation. The biggest difference would be that only a relative handful of Dragonriders and unbonded dragons would be involved. Somehow, cleansing the planetoid of thread and putting it into a stable orbit not that far from them, astronomically, had taken much of the urgency out of the process. They had plenty of time. If there was anything there to be found, it would eventually be found.

The goblins going with the humans had objected to calling the Planetoid the 'Red Star' for some reason, so one of the riders of Spanish descent suggested the object be called 'Roja' and the name quickly became popular. Today, the first expedition to Roja in a month was leaving for the beginning of their massive search effort. A massive D36 had been refitted with simple quarters for its goblin and human complement. Room was also set aside to hold two of the Gringotts dragons. Rebreathers for the dragons had been added to the top of the massive structure and a special extendable airlock hatch had been added to the bottom of the transport so the goblins could have immediate access to the planetary rock without having to go 'outside'.

The idea, put forth by the goblins, was that a group of humans would go out and bury various sensors, equally spaced around Roja. The sensors were quite simple and disposable, but, in their large number, would provide the goblins with all the information they needed about the sub-surface quality of rock. The disposable sensors were powered by small hot rock generators and had been fitted with human wireless technology so that all the information would be immediately available. A special, more delicate, and expensive sensor would be buried at the bottom of the airlock to enable the goblins to collect direct information.

The D36 would stay on Roja until Operation Roja was finished, but an additional D5 went along to ferry passengers back and forth between Pern and Roja as needed. The two transports had been fitted with airlocks that could be mated when they were next to each other, so no one needed to actually go outside onto the airless surface.

The final part of the goblin plan called for specifically sized explosions to be set off at carefully predetermined locations. They would be set off, one or two at a time, only when everyone was ready and recording all information. This would allow them to seismically locate any major anomalies. If they found any, they could move their base of operations nearer to investigate further. The plan called for them to set off the explosives, take and record readings, and analyze what they had before continuing. After everyone got used to the drill, they figured they could move about 250 linear miles along the equator each hour depending on what the analysis showed. If any major anomalies appeared, they would take additional readings and mark the area well so they could come back and investigate later. They were going to take all the base measurements before they investigated anything. The poles would be investigated last. Working eight-hour days with no delays should see them finished with all the analysis in less than a month, even if they found a lot of anomalies.

The sensors were set up to measure sound waves through Roja's rocks out to about 45° north and south of the equator. The small area left untested by the circular patterns of the tests would be covered when the poles were tested.

They found their first anomaly after eight days of taking measurements. There was a 'small' pocket of non-rock within two miles of the surface. After marking the area by the simple expedient of having the dragons fuse high color dyes into the rock in specific patterns, they continued.

On their 24th day at the south pole, they discovered a larger pocket of non-rock within about a mile of the surface. It was hard to tell from their rough measurements, but it looked like there might be a shaft, almost large enough for a Gringotts dragon to walk down. At that point, it was determined to investigate in the order of discovery.

On their 25th day, they discovered a huge pocket of non-rock less than half a mile from the surface at the north pole. This one had a definite corkscrew-shaped tunnel leading to the surface that was partially obstructed in various places. Now they had all their baseline measurements done, it was time to go back and investigate more closely.

Roja, Borehole 1, Nov 12, 2061...
When the goblins carefully breached the last rock barrier between them and the chamber, all they found was an empty hole. At some time in the past, the core of this planetoid had been molten and some of that molten rock had tried to make its way to the surface. This chamber was what was left when the molten rock retreated back to the depths. It left an empty, small, 500 ft long by 50 ft diameter lava tube.

Roja, Borehole 2, Nov 14, 2061...
The second chamber definitely had a smooth bored hole leading to it. Though parts of the walls of the shaft had collapsed, enough remained to make digging down to the chamber much easier and it was closer to the surface as well. When the goblins reached the chamber, they found pulverized rock shards which led them to believe that this had been a mine where someone was looking for something specific. What that might have been would forever remain a mystery because there was no trace of anything remotely valuable left in the chamber.

Roja, Borehole 3, Nov 16, 2061...
The third hole had always been the most interesting since its access shaft formed a spiral rather than a straight shaft. Over the years, the goblins had experimented with various forms of mining, especially after the return to intelligence of their dragons. One of those methods, a dragon drill, was a simple oblate metal container, comfortably large enough for two dragons to stand side by side.

The container was open at both ends with wheels on heavy suspensions all around its perimeter. A hole large enough to accept the forward open end of the 'dragon drill' and its wheels was vaporized in a suitable rock face. The drill was put into position so that its wheels were firmly engaged on the walls of the opening. Two dragons would then either freeze and allow the rock face to shatter and fall or they could melt the rock. Either way, the loose rock was fed to conveyors that ran between the wheels and deposited the loose or molten rock into cars behind the drill which removed the excess rock. It was a little slower than their fastest means of tunneling but was a lot less stressful on the surrounding rock.

A dragon drill was brought in and started on the spiral ramp leading to the third chamber. It made headway at about 4 linear feet a minute. The chamber was less than half a mile from the surface, but the length of the spiral was over four times this distance, so it took almost 45 hours for them to finally reach the chamber.

Roja, Chamber 3, Nov 18, 2061...
When they had almost reached the chamber, the goblins installed an additional airlock, big enough for two dragons, therefore more than big enough for the lesser human and goblin component of their workforce. The goblin Master Tunneler Brusk in charge carefully reached out with his magic and, almost molecule by molecule, removed the last stone barrier between the airlock door and the inner chamber. They did not know what they expected to find, but if anything at all remained, it would have to be fragile.

As the last of the inner rock slowly dissolved away, they could see through the large transparent inner door a strange sight. They could see a tall, incredibly fragile-looking, almost lacy construction of some sort. No one could decide what it might have been … or still was. At this depth, the heat the planetoid had suffered from its recent close encounter with the sun would not have affected even weak organic systems, so any damage to what they were seeing had to be simply from extreme old age. Whatever the construct had been, it was huge, as it filled a majority of the roughly ovoid chamber that was at least 2000 meters in length, about three-quarters of that in width, and half that in height. And it glowed with a strange cold blue light that made all of the chamber highly visible.

Several magically powered remote cameras were carefully apparated into the chamber and set to record absolutely everything they could. All the video feed was simultaneously being stored locally, on the modified D36 as well as being broadcast direct to the Dragon Net on Pern. Whatever this was, it was too fantastical to not let everyone see it and marvel at what it might have been, might have meant, in case something happened to finally destroy it for all time.

Once the cameras were operational, one of the other major finds was that the walls of the chamber were literally covered with bright shiny circles of some unknown material. An immediate analysis of the rock behind these circles showed that the circles were just one end of a null area that appeared as a cylinder about 4 meters long and a meter in diameter. There were literally thousands of them encased in the rock walls surrounding the chamber.

Finally, it happened. One of the cameras got too close to the fragile-looking structure and the watchers looked on in horror as the entire structure collapsed, starting from that single point of contact. To make matters worse, when the structure collapsed, the light went with it.

The camera that had started the collapse had been buried under what appeared to be very fine, glowing dust. When it burst forth from the slowly shrinking pile of pale blue embers, it had its own sparkling blue light etched out on its surface where bits of the original structure evidently clung to it. The camera was brought to rest on top of the now barely visible pile of dust and several of the cameras were positioned to watch the offending camera as if it were a prisoner being watched by wary jailers.

Other cameras were set to watch, through infrared, visible light, and ultraviolet sensors, the circles of shiny unknown material on the walls. A few cameras were set to watch the airlock now on the inner wall of the chamber.

After the excitement died down, everyone apparated back to the D36 and left the chamber to its dead secrets and the cameras ever recording and transmitting their findings. Between the surface of the dead planetoid were no less than three new airlocks, made of various materials, but all designed to withstand extremes of heat, cold, and pressure.

With the last of Roja's secrets now revealed, most of the workers returned to Pern, leaving the monitoring of the cameras to a small crew left on the D36. Among these direct observers were two Dragonriders and their dragons, as well as one of the remaining Gringotts dragons who felt interested in what was going on.

Most of the local observers were now focused on the gleaming circles of unknown composition on the walls. Almost nobody paid much attention to the small camera sparkling with a pale blue light sitting on top of the pile of dying blue sparkles.

FF_9879605_951581583 Page 25 of 25