CHAPTER 15 -

It had been three days since they had heard from Hermione and both Sam and Harry were somewhat nervous to know if Hermione was ok. They were sitting silently at the bay window in their own thoughts when a beam of light hit both of them and they disappeared. Sam and Harry found themselves in Atlantis's main foyer with thirty or forty men and women dressed in deep red military uniforms.

A very beautiful woman that looked to be about thirty or so years old stepped forward. She gave a slight bow. Harry looked at her tightly woven bun and at her brilliant blue eyes and then let his eyes travel down her very shapely figure. She then addressed them both "Greetings Harry and Samantha Potter. I am the Executive officer, Commander Alexis for the Alterran Warship Hestaphera and I was given the honor to escort you to Atlantis's Administrators office. Administrator Black is very anxious to meet with you."

Harry swore that the XO had a slight smirk as she said this. Harry and Sam both bowed to her and replied in Alterran "It is we that are honored by your sacrifices and your service to us."

Alexis had a million watt smile on her face as they came up to face her "Harry you make our race very proud as do your mates. Come with me." Alexis turned and began walking down a corridor while Sam and Harry followed.

Sam asked her "Commander this is Atlantis, correct?"

Alexis smiled "It is. Administrator Black has been working diligently to bring it back to its' full glory." Alexis turned back and smiled "This was my last duty station and it feels like home to me." Alexis stepped to a panel and pushed a button. Below was an obvious Alterran design Ship that had all kinds of activity around it. Harry watched in fascination.

Alexis looked on with a smile "She is almost repaired and like new. The constructor bots are very efficient at what they do." Alexis turned to them "That is our ship the Hestaphera."

Harry asked "How did you find Atlantis in Hyper space?"

Alexis looked at him "We didn't find Atlantis, Atlantis found us and saved us, administrator Black saved us." Harry looked at her with many questions but saw a smirk again that he was sure came to her face, just for an instant. "Come Harry and Sam for all the answers that you now have." Alexis said as she continued to a small stair case hidden by an alcove.

Harry thought they had entered an office building as he saw offices on his left and right with a bigger office set directly in front of him. The big office door was open and when they entered they found an older man on a balcony looking out at the stars. "Sam and Harry you're here!" an excited Hermione stated with happiness. She ran up and hugged Sam first and kissed her cheek as Sam latched on and hugged her back.

Sam smiled fondly at her "We were worried about you."

Hermione smiled at her "You missed me didn't you?"

Sam laughed at her exuberance "Let's just say the house is not as warm without your presence there."

Hermione giggled and then turned to Harry and she gave him a kiss on the lips and then hugged him. She looked up "I have many surprises for you."

Harry took some hair and moved it behind her ear "You mean besides the fact you found an Alterran warship and saved the crew."

Hermione frowned "I wasn't able to save them all. I lost twenty percent of the crew before I found the ships healer and she helped me bring the rest out of stasis."

The older man stepped up behind her "Hermione, I keep telling you it was not your fault our own healers could do nothing for them. You helped those that you could."

Hermione scowled "It doesn't mean that I have to like the result."

Alexis smiled "You will make our race proud once again." Alexis got Harry's attention and pointed to the older man "This is Captain Brax of the Hestaphera."

Harry stepped forward as the Captain gave a bow. Harry reached out his hand "It is very nice to meet you Captain."

Captain Brax smiled "I have heard much about you young warrior. I hear that you are the one we should thank for all of this."

Hermione pulled Sam and Harry to a conference table "I have so much to tell you two."

Once all of them were comfortable Hermione sat between them and held their hands. "When you returned to earth I was just about to activate the hyper drive when I found a flashing beacon at the edge of our scanner field. I pulled up the identification of the beacon and found that it was the Hestaphera, an Alterran ship.

I immediately moved Atlantis toward the ship. When I first viewed it, it appeared to be a derelict and an abandoned. I was able to bring it into the cargo bay and then had it scanned. I was surprised when I found two hundred and thirty-five life signs onboard.

The constructor bots began to repair the ship as it landed in the cargo bay. It took me two hours to get on board and when I found their power modules all but one was depleted. The last one was barely holding on. I recharged two immediately and the third twenty minutes later.

The ship alerted me that eighty stasis pods were in critical condition. It took me many minutes to figure out how to fix them and by that time fifty-five had expired. I finally initiated the emergency procedures to evacuate the pods.

I had two hundred and thirty –five very disoriented Alterran's to deal with. Healer lilent finally came to her senses and helped me to get them to medical for a check out and then I was finally able to get them food and water so they could recover faster. It was a mind numbing blaze of activity for the next eighteen hours.

Alexis broke in "She was amazing and finally some of us notice how tired and pale she looked. We had to force her down for some rest before she passed out."

Captain Brax continued "Those that were able began to look over the ships systems and began to repair those that were down or disabled. Last night we were able to bring the last system to a fully functional status."

"For the last two days my people have helped Hermione learn the city, how to access its knowledge base, how to status the Engineering section and star drives, and how to get help to repair any that fail." He added.

Hermione was smiling at them "We are actually about two miles above our house in Colorado Springs and fully cloaked. Not even radar can pick us up."

Harry interrupted her with a smile "You said our house. Does that mean you have fully accepted me and Sam and won't be going back to England?"

Hermione looked to Sam who smiled at her and then Sam answered "Did you notice that Alexis called her administrator Black?"

Harry looked uncertain "Yes and I was going to ask about it later."

Sam smirked "Well let me straighten that out for you. I get to be Lady Potter so I think it only fair that Hermione get to be Lady Black."

Hermione held her hand up to show him the Lady Black ring "Actually the last night we were together we said some things, if you remember? Magic has accepted that we are married.

Harry thought back and then remembered what he, Sam, and Hermione had said to each other. He then looked a little upset "I am so sorry."

Hermione looked upset "What?"

Harry realized "No, I mean I am upset that I didn't ask properly and I am extremely glad that you carry that ring." Harry kissed her hand "I could think of no other woman that I would want to carry on the Black name."

Hermione smiled at him "Sam said you would feel that way."

Harry smiled at Sam "Yes, well the blond is very perceptive sometimes."

Captain Brax seemed very happy "You know that in my time that we didn't marry, or join as it was known. Our society was much freer about our interactions with one another."

Alexis continued "If we created a friendship with others then it would often lead to a sharing of our essence. Some could last for years and even a lifetime but these were rare as people often came together and then moved on."

Harry leaned forward "This sharing that you speak of was that also known as blending?"

Captain Brax answered "Yes, it is a way for two people to experience their essence. It was a very profound experience with Alterran's. That usually only happened once or twice in our lifetime."

Sam looked at him "Is there any record of an exchange of knowledge or abilities among the partners who did this?"

Alexis answered quickly "No never. It was a way to experience each other for understanding, I have never heard of anything else."

Hermione sat up straighter and looked at them "Oh Boy something tells me we are dealing with a Potterism here."

Harry seemed miffed "A Potterism?"

Hermione smiled "Yes, when something shouldn't be possible but is because Harry Potter is involved, I call it a Potterism."

Harry nudged her "That is so wrong on so many levels." He told her in mock hurt.

Hermione stated with a smile "But so true!" Hermione then turned to the Captain and Alexis "So if I told you that Harry and Sam shared their essence with each other and before that time Sam couldn't utilizes Alterran energies but now she can and she registers as fully Alterran with all of Harry's memories, what would you say to that?"

Alexis turned to the Captain with a blank look "I have never heard of that."

That Captain replied "Neither have I."

Sam asked them "So if I told you that Hermione couldn't make an Alterran scanner work and then she and I shared ourselves but two days after she could and had mine and Harry's knowledge."

Alexis looked concerned "Sharing is done by the opposite sex and no knowledge is ever transferred. When Hermione was down in medical her DNA verified that she is Alterran, we know this to be fact."

Captain Brax added in "Besides she has knowledge of our society that only an Alterran would know, some of that is genetic memory and cannot be faked."

Harry sighed "What if someone had found an Alterran repository and had the entire contents downloaded into them. Over the last nine months this information has been slowly absorbed into their consciousness."

Alexis looked concerned "I would take that person to the medical wing and offer my condolences to his next of kin. The mind can only hold only so much."

Captain Brax blew out a breath of air "Or they could ascend and would no longer be on this plane of existence."

Alexis looked troubled at his answer "That is a myth."

Captain Brax shook his head "No, it isn't Alexis it is very real and many of our people have gone there. I know because my brother was one. I watched him turn into a being of light." Captain Brax looked solemn as he finished "The council did not deny it but they also never offered it as those that remained felt bad or not worthy as if something was wrong with them so they could not ascend. It was far from the truth."

Sam looked in thought "So ascending is just a higher level of existence?"

"We aren't entirely sure but we believe that is so." Captain Brax answered "Either way since we have a healer on board it would be wise to have a full work up done and to monitor any difference we note."

Harry looked at them "If we brought another in and performed the sharing that would work too wouldn't it?"

Captain Brax smiled "Yes it would and we could understand this better."

Hermione and Sam looked concerned as Sam said slowly "Harry I don't want to do this with anybody else.

Hermione added "Neither do I."

Harry looked at them "Nor do I. If my theory is correct then among the magical population of earth there is going to be someone that has enough DNA to be recognized as Alterran. If they are married we teach them the technique for sharing, then I would assume that we would see some similarities with our experience."

Hermione asked "If we don't?"

Harry sighed "Then we find a third couple and use the repository and then have them share."

Alexis seemed upset "How can you condone placing someone in danger like that."

Harry looked at her "Some would volunteer and as long as we tell them the risk what is the harm? I would never force someone to do this."

Alexis looked at him "Because of the increased risk they would be placed in."