Chapter Fifty-Three: Show and Tell
Monday, 13th November 2000 - Loop Day 101.
Seber resolved into place in the meeting room, the holographic form now becoming almost second nature to him. He quickly noted that the others were all present and several of them smiled at him or nodded in his direction in silent greeting, which he returned.
"Welcome everyone," Harry said. "It's that time of the month again." A few of the others chuckled, though the reference seemed to elude Seber. Though it did not bother him. It seemed that, despite speaking his native tongue, these people of Earth had many strange references in their communication. "So, who wants to go first?"
With the floor open for topics, Seber glanced at Luna who met his eye and nodded. "I'm happy to report that so far, every one of the crew transfers has been completed without any further issues. Now that they have a guide."
Seber smirked as he glanced at his former first officer, seated next to him. Technically she no longer held that rank, as she was no longer a part of the crew aboard the Aurora. Her body had immediately ceased functioning once her consciousness had left it. As has all the rest who had followed thus far. Now alive only in the Mind Palace while their deceased bodies remained in the stasis pods aboard the Aurora.
Trebal spoke up. "Everyone is settling into the Mind Palace well. We've created a few entertainment areas inside for recreation, but for the most part, they seem quite keen to research and study. After so long spent relaxing, they want to actually do something."
"Quite understandable," Richard said, and they all seemed to agree. Ten thousand years of the same dream had taken a toll on their desire to muck about. "Any regrets so far?"
Trebal shook her head. "None that have voiced them. But we're still very early in the process. Everything is new and different so far. Minds may change once monotony sets back in again. But we'll just have to see. Atlantis has a lot more processing power than the Aurora, and has millions of years of data to draw from. So the kinds of things we can reasonably fabricate within are nearly infinite."
"I'm glad it is going so well." Harry acknowledged with a genuine smile. Seber was glad that it was this group that had located them drifting out in space. He hated to wonder what might have become of them all had they been left out there much longer. Or whether any of them would have survived at all. "How far through the list are we?"
Luna leaned forward this time. "It takes anywhere between three and five hours for a consciousness to fully transfer. However, with more and more people within the Mind Palace to help them acclimatise on arrival, Lia is free to begin a new process almost immediately. And with Seber helping to activate the transfers from the Aurora's side, we have an almost constant stream going. So far we've imported fifty-six crew members completely intact."
Luna's proud smile was matched only by Trebal. "Things are truly beginning to come together in here. I'm very glad we accepted the offer."
"In fact," Seber said, leaning back in his own chair which somehow this interface actually allowed his 'body' to feel. "Seeing the success of the process, several of those who had chosen otherwise have decided to take the plunge as well. Another twelve have elected to join the roster of the transfer. Including three who had chosen oblivion."
"We're very glad to have them," Hermione noted, and the entire group seemed pleased that the success was spurring more to join in.
Harry seemed to be thinking hard of something for a moment before he nodded to himself. "At this rate, the remaining one hundred and ninety should take around a month or so to complete. That's not bad at all. Have the crew remaining aboard the Aurora decided what they're going to do once the process is complete?"
"For the time being," Seber replied, "they seem content to continue enjoying the environment. Presently, the only defined plan I am aware of is that there is a big 'going away' party planned by the ones remaining aboard for those choosing to move on. So we would appreciate it if there was a way for all of us, including yourselves, to attend that within the Aurora Environment. However, given none of those who remain will be command crew, they will not be able to access the Aurora's direct control interface. So I will be disabling that link as my final act as Captain before making the trip myself. They will be silent passengers aboard the ship until they each choose to disengage. Though they will still be able to appear as holograms within the ship."
"Do you think it would be worth training them to operate the ship?" Carson asked, seeming genuinely interested in the question itself rather than what it might offer.
"Most of those choosing to remain are not remotely trained for such operations," Seber replied. "Most of them handled damage control or basic security. A few are medical staff. While I've no doubt they could be taught, it is also not why they're choosing to remain. They've become so enamoured of the environment that they are willing to choose it over continuing existence. They will remain within until their bodies can no longer sustain them. Then, they will pass on."
He let his head drop as he considered the more than one hundred crew he had already lost to the mission and entropy. And that when this process was completed, he would have lost more than half of the five hundred and thirty-two crew that had been aboard when they set out from the city all those years ago.
"We will ensure that they will be remembered, Captain," Trebal said, and when he glanced up he noticed the rest of the council seemed in full agreement. The Aurora would live on, and her crew would too, in those in the Mind Palace and the memories of those here.
"You can be sure of it," Harry said resolutely. "I've asked Luna to design a monument that we can construct on Verda that will represent them. Every single one of the crew that set out on that mission shall be named on its surface. Your input would be welcome."
"Thank you," Seber replied, leaning back in his chair.
Harry remained focused on him for a moment before his eyes moved to Trebal and Luna who shook their heads. Indicating the topic was finished. "Alright, who's next?"
"Progress is achingly slow," Richard said, his eyes also glancing at Seber for a moment. "But we are sifting our way through the Asuran coding. Neville has helped me isolate and identify about six thousand unique command groupings in the datastream so far. Including ones that govern self-replication, the overall growth of their numbers, their learning capabilities… and the reason they are sitting around on Asuras doing nothing."
This seemed to garner everyone's attention immediately.
"It was hard to figure out its purpose at first as it seemed wildly different from the rest of the code we'd sorted through. But eventually, we figured out why. These commands are not native to the Asuran coding made by the Lanteans. It was inserted by a third party."
"Meaning just about any other command could have been changed, as well." Harry mused, looking concerned.
"I don't think so," Richard said. "This command in particular disables a single prime directive of the Asuran code. The need to attack the Wraith. Thus, it has an obvious source; the Wraith themselves."
"You believe, after reconstituting themselves," Trebal interjected, "that the Asurans went to war with the Wraith."
Richard nodded. "We've seen signs that the number of Wraith in the galaxy is far lower than was recorded by the city during the Siege. The Lanteans disabled most of the sensors when they left, so we don't know how long it took the Wraith to break the siege, but I doubt they lost any numbers simply sitting in orbit. I know that many of them are sleeping, and we're still a long way from checking the entire galaxy. But a prolonged engagement between the Wraith and the Asurans would definitely account for those lowered numbers. And in a war of attrition against the Asurans, my studies show even the cloning facilities would not give the Wraith an advantage."
"So they retaliated the only way they could." Hermione mused. "They figured out a way to disable the one command that they knew the Asurans had. The need to fight them. And without that reason to be out in the galaxy, they retreated fully to their homeworld and have sat there ever since."
"I don't have absolute proof, but the theory does match most of the evidence available to us. And the nature of the inserted code bears syntax similarities to the small snippets of code you've managed to pull from the Cruiser. Plus, I can think of no other source that would have any reason to disable a directive to attack the Wraith."
Silence fell for several moments as they all considered the facts they knew about the galaxy. It seemed extremely unlikely any other group but the Wraith would have decided to end such a war. Seber himself had seen how effectively these machines could wage such a war.
Hermione finally broke the silence. "So, I suppose, we should ask the same question that came up with that old satellite. Do we reactivate the command?"
"Sounds like what we need," Ronan said, and Seber was hardly surprised.
The man seemed eager for any reason or opportunity to strike at the Wraith. "They would be a formidable attack force, but at what cost," Trebal noted.
She was too young to have experienced the experiment first-hand, but she and Seber had discussed some of his previous struggles over the years and she knew of the disaster he had witnessed.
Seber sighed before he spoke. "The last time a council in this city attempted to use the Asurans as a weapon against the Wraith, it ended in disaster. Even with the limitation not to harm Lantean life in their code. And if changes have been made to the code to disable one directive, we cannot rely on any of the others to remain in place."
"Also," Cyla said, joining the conversation which was unusual. "While they are not attacking the Wraith, the Asurans seem to self-contain themselves to Asuras itself. Keeping the potential problem they may pose restricted to a single world. There is already an enemy we don't know how to deal with spread across this galaxy."
"If the Asurans were at war with the Wraith at some point," Luna said, looking thoughtful, "perhaps what we really need is not them, but Asuras itself."
"You think the forces they used may still be on the planet?" Trebal asked.
"No. Neville has scanned that planet completely. There is no sign of any assault craft. I would assume that they broke them down and reused the material elsewhere in their city. But the facilities that produced them may still exist. And even if they don't, a planet known to be avoided by the Wraith at all costs, covered in advanced Lantean technology, would make a sound home base."
"Atlantis alone not enough for you?" Harry asked the waify girl with a broad smile and she responded only by poking her tongue at him.
"Taking Asuras would be very difficult," Natalie noted. "We know they have hundreds of potentia powering that city. And we know better than anyone the power of Lantean offensive and defensive technologies."
"That is not a fight we could possibly win militarily," Seber said, the pain and anger he felt at his own people's complete failure to rectify the problem millennia ago surely plain for all to hear. "Not with these numbers. Even though the experiment showed signs that the Asurans were, at the least, sentient… I believe the only true solution to the danger they pose is their complete destruction."
He noted that Ronan looked disheartened that the former military crew were the ones arguing against using the Asurans against the Wraith, and he did sympathise with the man. However, he did not continue to pursue the argument. Instead, the man glanced at Harry and simply sat back in his chair. Whatever the two had discussed in Avalon the week before seemed to have had a profound effect on the gruff ex-soldier.
"From what we have been able to garner in the little we've categorized, they do seem to share some startling similarities to the forces the Asgard are at war with. It is possible that turning them on the Wraith could result in a similar situation long term." Richard explained.
"Personally," Harry said after a long moment, "I think it's too dangerous. The Wraith have already shut down the command once. Activating the Asurans could backfire in so many ways, I do not think it is worth the risk. If we were already engaged in battle with the Wraith, it might be a more tempting option. But right now, it just serves as a way to wake the Wraith and prepare them for war. A war we are still woefully unprepared for."
Seber glanced at Ronan once again and was surprised this time to see that the Satedan seemed to be agreeing with the assessment. The last thing he wanted was to wake the Wraith as a whole. Or give them a reason to prepare for the coming assault that they all knew Ronan was planning.
"Agreed." A few other voices came from around the table and the matter seemed decided for the time being.
"For now, we continue to research both problems," Harry said, glancing at Carson who nodded, then Ronan who dipped his head once. "With Earth still out of contact, I'd rather we take our time and have to choose between a hundred different viable solutions than rush at one with questionable results and have it bite us in the arse."
All the council members quickly agreed and with that topic seeming to be sorted for now, Neville shuffled in his seat and brought up a map of Pegasus.
"The scans have continued and we've mapped about twelve percent of the galaxy so far. I have been focusing on the planets already in the database, to get our information up to snuff. Most of those planets have gates, which makes things much faster. We did have a small incident though."
He paused as the map focused on one small area deeper into the core of the galaxy. A small star system came into focus, but there was no real data listed on any of the small planets shown.
"A vulcator was sent to this system, but before it could begin taking any significant readings beyond the number of celestial bodies in the system, something blew it to pieces from beyond its sensor range."
"Ok. That's concerning." Hermione said. "Are you certain it wasn't the Wraith?"
"Certain? No. Any further data it may have scanned of what attacked it was destroyed with it. And this system does not appear in the database at all. It was one of the reasons I decided to send the vulcator. Most systems in the galaxy are at least noted in the database."
"An absence suggests it was removed for a reason," Trebal said.
"Exactly. Given even Asuras was still in there, it made me wonder what exactly was worth removing entirely."
"A curiosity, to be sure. But I'd say it's yet another system to stay well clear of for now. If whatever is there can detect a cloaked vulcator, we can't be sure we'd be safe to venture there in Vir either." Richard added.
"Agreed. As resilient as our shields may be, we do not need to be picking fights with something that wants us to stay away. Which system was that vulcator in last?" Natalie asked.
Neville checked the log for that particular device, as it would have dumped its records to Atlantis before making the jump. "Small system nearby with a slumbering Hive on one of the worlds. Nothing else of note beyond a few small craft dotted around the world as well. It seems that each… 'carrier group', for lack of a better term, sleeps together."
"Well, at least if whoever it is tracks the path, they'll only run into some Wraith for now." Harry mused. "Set up a warning around that system for the time being. Unless it holds the secret superweapon answer to the Wraith or Asuran problems, we're probably best avoiding it for now. Anything else of interest?"
"A couple of worlds with interesting populations, such as Belkan and Manaria." Neville nodded at Ronan who smiled at the reminder that more of his people lived. "But also a couple of interesting technological finds. Mostly ruins of old civilizations now left abandoned. But we also detected a handful of old Lantean outposts. Taranis, Doranda, and what appears to be a buried cityship on Kahan."
That definitely drew Seber's attention. "I was under the impression all the sister ships had been lost and destroyed."
He glanced at Trebal who seemed equally as interested.
"Have you explored it yet?" Luna asked.
"I sent a dozen vulta this morning. Kahan was only found two days ago. It's hard managing the scans proactively while also helping Richard with the Asuran code." Neville explained.
"We can help with that," Trebal said. "The crew are eager for things to do. Some of them may have had hobbies that might lend well to some of the tasks you are trying to achieve. Astronomy and coding for starters."
Harry glanced at those around the table, checking for any objections. "I see no reason not to accept their help. If you want to arrange it, we would welcome the assistance, I'm sure."
The others all nodded and Trebal smiled before nodding herself. "I will see to it. With the direct access to the database of the Palace, they can monitor the data in real-time as it comes in."
"Is Kahan in a Wraith-travelled area?" Natalie asked.
"Not that the scans have noted. The initial scan shows the city must still have some level of power. And the vulta I sent detected a ferrum was fired towards a nearby village just before the meeting this morning."
Seber looked to Trebal in disbelief. "There couldn't possibly be survivors." He said.
"To have survived this long in a contained group… No." Trebal replied. "They would have to have interbred with the human populations. Anything else would have resulted in catastrophic genetic degradation by now. They would be incapable of operating the city."
"We are proof that the required gene can be passed down a long way." Harry mused.
"So they may not be Lantean at all. Simply squatters with the right gene." Richard said.
"I suppose it is very possible." Seber sighed, dismayed at the momentary thought that there may be other living Lanteans out there somewhere. "I would like to think my brethren are more civilized than to enslave a population of humans like that through the threat of force."
"It would explain why the Wraith avoid the planet though. A ferrum would rip through their hull like it wasn't even there. Especially with their complete lack of shielding." Luna added.
"Some trade," Hermione said, obviously disapproving of the methodology in use by whoever inhabited this cityship.
"We should investigate it soon. Just need to double-check that the shields on Vir can block the ferrum energy signature first." Richard said.
"Agreed," Harry said. "A resource like that is too valuable to ignore. What of the other two?"
Attention turned back to Neville. "Taranis is of interest. It is a geothermal facility perched on a dormant supervolcano. The structure is vast, but the volcano is showing the vaguest signs that it may shift from dormant to active again in the relatively near future."
"How relative?" Natalie asked with a smirk.
Neville shrugged. "Not really my area. I've always been more interested in what grows in the soil, than what is under it. But the computer seems to think anywhere in the next five to one hundred thousand years."
"So not an immediate concern," Hermione asked, her expression matching her mother's.
"Not immediately, no. Unless someone turned the outpost on at maximum power and left it there, agitating the magma chambers, it should survive a good while longer. But of note is that the vulta exploring the facility is detecting a faint ping on the same frequency as the Aurora."
"That would make sense," Seber said, drawing a few odd looks. "Taranis was a dry dock. It wouldn't be that unlikely for there to be a ship in the hangar."
Everyone began to stare at Seber like he had said something unbelievable. He didn't think it was that odd that his people had left several dry docks and other such facilities lying dormant when they abandoned the galaxy.
"Right. We'll have to give that a look in at some point soon too." Harry acknowledged. "What about Doranda?"
"Doranda was the site of an experiment being tested in the late stages of the war," Trebal said, surprising the group again, including Seber. "My cousin was among those working on it. She was so excited, always commenting that had it worked, it might have just won us the war. Though I could never really see the benefit myself."
"If it was so incredible, why did they abandon it?" Richard asked curiously.
"Because it failed catastrophically. My cousin, and every other scientist working on the project, along with half the population of the capital city of Doranda died when it malfunctioned. It was a 'promising' new power technology based on experiments done millennia ago in Avalon from before we first discovered potentia. It had the potential to provide as much power as the universe itself.
"Doranda was chosen as a test site because the Wraith were encroaching on that territory. It was figured that sooner or later they would attack the planet. An outpost was built with this power source inside and a repeating plasma cannon was situated on top. I remember visiting it once, and it certainly looked impressive."
"What happened?" Luna asked softly.
Trebal swallowed and Seber realized this sorely affected her. Not only had it killed what remained of her family, but he now recalled that Lia had been born on Doranda. One of the few Lanteans born away from Lantea during the years of the war.
"The nature of the project meant it was patently unstable. Trying to pull energy from this universe like that creates random exotic particles within the chamber. They interact with this spacetime in ways that cannot possibly be predicted and they do not obey the laws of the universe. The Wraith arrived, and the order was given to power the weapon. Even against the scientists' severe warnings that they were nowhere near solving the issues with the project.
"Almost immediately upon feeding energy into the weapon, the exotic particles wreaked havoc on the containment field, irradiating the scientists. They were weakened, almost to the point of death, but they could have escaped and returned here for treatment. But once the weapon finished off the Wraith fleet in orbit, it turned on the next nearest target. The city around it."
Trebal paused, obviously hurting at remembering the loss of her homeworld and the last of her family. "Rocie and the others managed to shut down the system, but they were exposed to even more deadly radiation in the process. When help finally arrived, it found them all dead or dying. In the most horrible ways imaginable. Radiation poisoning is not a pretty way to die."
The council looked horrified, and he could understand why. Despite how sorely they had needed something in those final years of the war, it sounded like the council had ordered corners cut on this project to get it ready in time. And ignored the warnings of those operating the project itself. Never a sensible option.
"The project was scrapped and all Lantean forces pulled back from Doranda. When another Wraith fleet arrived a few months later, everything that had survived the incident was destroyed. And with the gate having been moved into space during the experiment, to prevent the Wraith from gaining quick access to the outpost, the Dorandans had nowhere to run. It was a slaughter."
Everyone was silent, unable to think of anything to say to Trebal. What could one say? The silence reigned until Trebal herself broke it by sighing heavily.
"Sorry. It's hard to remember. I was born in that city."
"I'm so sorry," Hermione whispered, as the closest person to Trebal's seat, and the woman nodded her thanks.
"You can make it up to me by never making those kinds of decisions as a council," Trebal said with a cheeky grin, seemingly squashing the memories once more and getting back to business.
"Deal." Harry offered. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I think we break down the outpost. Potential or not, it just sounds too dangerous. With the Potentia growing on Verda, we are certainly not hurting for power. And unless this technology can provide something infinitely stronger than the beam weapon already aboard Vir, I see no reason to explore it."
"And I don't much like the idea of leaving something like that intact for someone else to stumble across." Natalie agreed.
"A vote," Harry said, raising his hand.
The others soon followed suit, but Seber noticed that Harry was still watching Trebal. It seemed that she was being given the final say, regardless of the unanimous nature of the vote thus far. When she glanced up and saw she was the centre of attention, she paused before raising her own hand as well.
"It's settled. At our earliest convenience, we will visit Doranda. Break down the outpost…" Harry paused for a moment. "And build a memorial in its place."
This got Trebal's attention in a big way. She was stunned at the offer. But the rest of the council just smiled and nodded in agreement.
"I'd like you and Luna to work on the design you would like. Doranda should be remembered. I don't want to speak ill of the dead, but given most involved seemed to ascend, I don't think I am. The former council seems to have had a bad habit of burying or running away from their mistakes. I do not want us to repeat that behaviour. We need to learn from our history. Or we are doomed to repeat it. Perhaps, we can consider the planet as a site for our first new colony in this galaxy as well."
Again the group nodded their agreement with Harry's statement and Seber was impressed by their desire to learn from not only their own mistakes, but those of others as well.
"To hopefully look to slightly happier things, the scans of Avalon have not yet yielded anything quite so painful," Natalie said, giving Trebal a reassuring nod. "It would seem that the Goa'uld and the Wraith have had similar effects on their respective galaxies. Most planets visited only have small settlements of humans or Jaffa, centralized either around or very close to the gate itself. Many of the worlds feature mining operations, and the ones that we've explored with depleted mines tend to be left alone, abandoned and ignored for daring to become useless to their ruler.
"We have found another handful of planets to be inaccessible. But I cannot say if they are part of the anomaly or not. There are other reasons for a gate to refuse a connection after all."
"Nothing of note so far beyond the general lay of the land then?" Richard asked.
"Not so far, no."
"I don't know whether to be happy or sad about that," Carson said, and the group seemed to agree.
It implied that the entire galaxy was under the heel of these Goa'uld.
Natalie continued. "The only real thing of note I've discovered so far is that Earth and Verda are in a small section of territory that the Goa'uld seem to care nothing about. As the region seems mostly devoid of naquadah. The nearest planet with a stargate that they had any interest in was Abydos. And that seems to be an outlier in and of itself."
"So if we find any Goa'uld activity in that area, we can act with relative impunity," Harry noted.
"Yes. I am sure if they continued to lose craft in the area, the System Lords would eventually investigate in force. But for the time being, we seem to be out of their way."
"That's good to know. With satellites now in orbit above K'Tau, Vanaheim, Fensalir and Tier, we are on our way to discouraging attacks on the Protected worlds. Integrating enough for all the systems that I want to cover will still take a few months, but it will be steady work. Hopefully, we can get them all deployed before the System Lords become aware of them. That will keep anyone from encroaching on the territory for a while."
Hermione smiled at Harry before she spoke up. "We might be able to learn more once I figure out the halo for Qetesh. So far, tests with Sirius have proven very successful. While he has requested he remains confined until we are absolutely certain of them, he's quite chatty now that he has control again."
Harry seemed bothered by some of the present discussion, but Seber was not fully aware of the specifics of the experiment to know exactly why. He did glance at Luna and the silvery band around her own head. It was strange to know that one of these parasites was sitting so close.
"If progress remains steady, we should have prototype models ready within a month."
"That's good to hear," Carson said, smiling at the younger girl. "We could definitely use your help back here with the interface. This Wraith technology is proving very hard to crack."
Hermione nodded in acknowledgement but allowed the matter to drop.
"Speaking of Sirius," Natalie said. "We had a good long discussion about Qetesh's plans, and it seems she was planning on forging a magical army and attacking the SGC. Which would be very bad for obvious reasons."
Seber was still quite unfamiliar with Earth and her customs, so was unsure why this would be such a terrible thing, but everyone else at the table seemed very concerned.
"Upon further reflection, we came to agree that given the rapidly advancing state of non-magical technology, and their ability to detect that which once was hidden from them… It might soon become necessary for the Statute to be retired."
The entire group looked pensive and Seber wondered what this Statute involved.
Harry leaned all the way back in his chair and exhaled slowly. "That would definitely be something we'd need to discuss once Earth is back in contact. We all know what the Statute is, but I think we are all too young and inexperienced to understand its true effect. Even Aurora would know more than we do."
"I would very much like to get Flamel's opinion on it," Hermione said, drawing a few odd looks from her friends. "What?"
"Dumbledore told me that Flamel was dead. That without the Philosopher's Stone, he would run out of Elixir and die."
"That would surely have been the case if they destroyed the Stone," Hermione replied with a soft smile. "But I am fairly certain that the Stone Dumbledore had was a fake. That whole situation was too risky otherwise. We made it through all of those traps and we were only first years at the time. I may be wrong, but I believe that if we have Merlin scan the Earth, we will find both Nicolas and Perenelle alive and well. You don't make it to over six hundred years of age without learning a few tricks. And you saw Quirrell. Riddle at that point was no real threat to someone as talented as Flamel."
The others nodded, though Seber was now well and truly lost in these completely Earth-related matters.
"Sounds like something we can't do much about until access to Earth is re-established." Richard groaned, and Seber knew he was still upset that the others had made it impossible for him to fly any of the now several ships in their possession to the trapped planet.
"Indeed," Natalie said, glancing at her husband before continuing. "Sirius says that Rol does not know of any dead man switch protocol that Qetesh left in place should she go missing. It seems her plan was to infiltrate somewhat slowly, get enough of her loyal goa'uld into the right heads, and then set up such a system. Then if she went missing, she would at least have the satisfaction of knowing Earth would suffer retribution."
"That certainly sounds like the handful of Goa'uld that I had the displeasure of meeting," Elizabeth stated suddenly, having apparently woken from the short nap she had been having during the meeting. No one ever commented on her weariness, all of them understanding how rough being ten thousand years old must be. Especially outside of stasis. "Egomaniacs, the lot of them. And prone to destructive responses when not given what they want."
"I guess that is just one more reason to be grateful that Merlin couldn't join us on Verda. Earth will always have someone watching out for these kinds of things. Maybe we should have him constantly scanning the populace for any signs of goa'uld infiltration, and to beam them instantly to a holding cell if he finds them outside of SGC custody." Neville said.
Harry tapped on his remote. "I'll make it a priority to request that of him the moment we're back in contact. Anything else?"
"Only that while I've gotten what I can biologically out of the Wraith captives," Carson said, "the interface is still a long way off. However, I have begun several new lines of research into medical resolutions to the Wraith problem in earnest. We'll just have to wait and see if it yields any viable results."
Seber had to admit, as much as he would like to see the Wraith wiped from existence for all the pain they caused, this avenue was intriguing. So far as he knew, the Lanteans never tried such an approach against the Wraith. They always sought more advanced weapons or tactics once the threat became clear. Never biological warfare.
"Very good, Carson. Keep up the good work." Harry replied. "Anyone?"
The others shook their heads and Harry nodded, tapping his remote once again. "Then we can call it a day I guess. Nice work everyone."
ϟ
Friday, 4th August 2000 - Loop Day 102.
Molly Weasley groaned slightly as she leaned back on her heels, looking at the progress she had made. As much as she missed him dearly, Arthur's grave looked delightful with the small flowers beginning to grow out around the headstone where it sat in the beautiful little garden.
She had been far too distraught at the time, so she was immensely grateful to Charlie for his selection of the piece. The pale cream stone seemed to fit her husband so well. And the children had conferred to decide on the words now etched eternally into that stone.
Arthur S. Weasley - Loving father and husband
Born 6-2-1950 - Died 2-5-1998
If ever there is a tomorrow when we're not together, there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart, I'll always be with you.
While Molly herself was unfamiliar, the children had told her the quote was from a muggle book they had found in Arthur's shed. One she still hadn't found the courage to enter. Coupled with the odd desire listed in the man's will to be cremated, another muggle custom, and she thought that it provided a wonderful memorial to all the man had been.
A loving father of so many wonderful children. A fierce defender of the innocent. A little bit obsessed with their muggle brethren, which inspired her to use muggle methods to tend the memorial garden. And the other half of her heart.
But she blinked back the tears. Glancing at her watch, Molly noticed that she did not have time for that now. Instead, she stood and brushed herself down. Ron and Mary were coming over for a late dinner tonight after the game, and she needed to get to work preparing things for when they would arrive in a few hours.
Heading inside and setting her hands to the deeply ingrained tasks of preparing dinner for her family, Molly felt the worst of the weight lift. Dwelling on Arthur's absence always left her a little morose, and no matter what she did there was always a space in her chest that ached for the man she had loved so dearly. But the familiar motions certainly helped her to lessen the intense grief of it all.
In no time at all, she was well on her way to completing her tasks as a flare of light washed over the Earth so intense and brief one would scarcely be able to believe it had happened at all.
Molly blinked away the moment of confusion, as her mind had wandered on her. It appeared she was wasting the day.
She needed to get up and tidy the house. And after that, she had plans to head outside and tend to both Percy and Arthur's grave sites today out by the beautiful apple tree that they had all planted as a family shortly after Ginny's birth. A celebration of the completion of their family, now home to two of them forever more. Taken before their time.
Molly sniffed aside the wash of grief that threatened to take her. She had much to do today. Before Ron brought his lovely wife over for a late dinner. A thought that made her smile as she considered that the rest of her family were very actively living their lives and doing Arthur proud.
ϟ
Kingsley Shacklebolt sat in the Minister's office. Even though he had held the role of Acting Minister of Magic for two years now, he still thought of it as though it were someone else's. He was just holding it down while things transitioned after the end of the war. Eventually, the public would vote a more permanent figure into the role, and he could go back to the Auror department where he belonged.
Instead of dealing with all of these odd and compounding issues every day. Such as the one that had just bashed its way into the office. The door still swinging back from hitting the wall, hard.
"Hello, Saul." He said in his deep baritone voice. "How may I help you?" Kingsley asked, gesturing for his assistant Linda to shut the door and that he would see the impatient Unspeakable now.
"What are we doing about this?" Croaker demanded, tossing a scroll onto the desk and leaning his arms on the other side, staring at Kingsley from under the concealing charms woven into the hood they were wearing.
Kingsley remained calm as he unfurled the scroll, noting both the text and shifting images ingrained in the parchment. Things at the Department of Mysteries were always a bit odd. Croaker had been complaining about them ever since the incursion made back in '96. Apparently, some sections still had not fully recovered.
As he read the scroll though, Kingsley began to feel a certain amount of unease. The Time Room was experiencing some really odd behaviour. Time turners, what few they had been able to cobble back together since the incursion, had begun cracking. Leaking their dangerous Sands of Time out over the floor.
The Time Jar itself had destabilized to almost dangerous levels, apparently looking more like a plate of jelly being repeatedly slapped than a delicate instrument for measuring the passage of celestial time.
"It was not like this when I got in this morning, Shack. For fuck's sake! Look at the Jar!" Croaker panted, as though the man was terrified. "Sever, the stupid idiot, tried to use one of the Turners. He burned alive in flames of sand before my very eyes."
Admittedly, Kingsley was a little unsettled himself. For something to so heavily affect the Time Room and its contents like this in only a few hours… It was most assuredly cause for concern.
"I've got the whole team out in the field trying to pinpoint a cause. But it seems to be coming from everywhere. Like the entire planet is experiencing some… massive distortion of time itself." The man continued.
"What do you suggest, Saul?" Kingsley asked, laying the report down on the desk and fixing his gaze on the void under the hood opposite him. "I'm willing to offer any resources you need to resolve this. Tell me what you need and I'll have it allocated."
"I don't have a bleeding clue, Shack. I'm terrified. I know of no magic that could cause a distortion like this in such a short time. If it continues, the entire room might melt in on itself. Or explode. And it's the same in every Ministry I've contacted where they research time. Something is wrong with the whole damn planet."
Croaker collapsed into the chair in front of the desk and Kingsley considered their options. It was weird, but something about all of this felt familiar. But he couldn't for the life of him remember why, or where from.
Instead, he was left just as baffled as the head of the Department in question. Unable to do anything as a flare of light spread over the Earth and the day started all over again, not that either of them would remember it.
ϟ
Lily West giggled loudly as she stood inside of the curtain in her dad's bedroom. She could hear footsteps approaching, but she couldn't help the chuckles escaping as she found this entire endeavour fascinating.
She could feel that she had already hidden here several times, and yet the adults still never checked until it was a last resort. She could even hear her friend Big Ears mirroring her giggles from the other curtain on the opposite side of the window.
"Brother. Really?" Zoe Kissane said from the doorway and Lily finally broke out into full-on laughter as she slipped out of the curtain and onto the floor. She could see Princess Zoe standing in the doorway around the end of her father's bed as she rolled on the floor.
"Come on, sis." Big Ears said in his deep Irish accented voice. "It's just a spot of fun."
He swished the curtain dramatically, stepping out and making a tada gesture with his arms. Which only furthered Lily's own laughter. She really liked Big Ears, or Liam as he was really called. He was willing to be immature with her in ways a lot of her daddy's friends weren't. He'd even helped her put on a tea party last week. Before the birthday party on another planet.
"Come on wee one. We're supposed to be practising today." Zoe said, shaking her head at her brother and fixing her eyes on the wriggling form of Lily.
Lily's laughter quickly died down as she recalled today's schedule. When the Irish pair came to visit the large African homestead of the Eppers, Zoe would often try and teach Lily her native language; Gaelic.
Lily became still and quickly sat up, a broad grin on her face. She loved learning new languages. Grandpa Wizard said she was still a little young to start learning too much, even though he was already teaching her English and French. But Zoe was always willing to teach her whenever she came by.
"Yes please!" The wee child said, leaping to her feet and rushing past Zoe, out into the main room where Max, Doris and her father were seated smiling.
"Go on, kiddo. Zoe'll keep you busy for a while." Jack West said, watching her as she ducked into the study where she normally held such sessions with her tutors.
"Any day now, Max. She's chomping at the bit." Her father said, his voice muffled but still audible in the other room.
"I know. I've already started curating a lesson plan. Are you sure you don't just want to send her off to regular school next year?" The elderly scholar asked.
"Eventually, sure. I know that I keep her a little too isolated. She'll need friends her own age at some point. But she's too clever for regular school. She needs a delicate hand, and Zoe and I both know you're a good teacher, Max."
"Fine. You're the boss. So, you really think these kids need all of this?"
"Harry asked. You've had more to do with IFF and the like in your work contracting with the military. I just know how we used it. While you can explain the technical details to that lot."
Lily stopped eavesdropping as Zoe entered the room and pulled the door closed, looking at her with a smirk.
"Cheeky." The woman said as she walked over to the desk and pulled out the book she had brought along this time.
Lily just smiled at her and settled into her seat, ready to devour another lesson on the beautiful and complex language. She wasn't all that interested in her daddy's conversation. She knew she had already heard it. Though she could never remember the details. Only that there was something oddly familiar about it.