SBS Episode: Ginny Ascendant
Episode Number 17
Synopsis: A world with, yet without, the Gold and Silver trios is found, a world that has ancient secrets.
Sponsor: Wet Willie's soup shop. You'll always be satisfied with a wet willie.
Episode begins...
Harry walked into the briefing room at the Granger Institute, setting his coffee on the table he waited for the others to arrive. He would be working with Chubs again which made him happy, she always had a rather blunt but effective way of dealing with a problem. Hecate would be the other member of the team so that would be fun.
"Hey babe. I heard you got a new Granger girl around?" Chubs asked entering the room and hopping on the table next to Harry with a broad grin. Her thick thighs straining the uniform material.
"She's 12 years old Chubs. Not even going to go close to there." Harry rolled his eyes at the woman's chuckle.
Patting him on the cheek she said, "I never thought you would. So how is she doing?"
"She is a stack of books with legs and is more focused than even our Hermione at getting caught up and learning everything she can." Harry proudly said.
"Plus according to Mia she has become rather close friends with a certain William Potter." Hecate said walking in grinning.
"Ohhh. So dish girl. Like father like son?" Chubs eagerly.
Hecate and Harry looked at each other before shaking their heads, "Given the world she came from had magically enforced marriages and a breeding program I'd say there isn't much to dish about." Hecate explained.
"Oh damn. So when do we go through and put boot to ass?" Chubs turned to Harry.
"You don't. That would is on a observe and report status only." Hermione primly declared walking into the room, clicking on the smart screens with her wand. "Besides this world is a lot more curious."
"Yeah but kicking the ass of that other one sounds more fun." Chubs protested shifting to sit in the chair beside Harry. Harry looked at Hermione with an I told you so smirk.
"When and if we determine that action is required I will definitely consider you for the team." Hermione said.
"Sweet!" Chubs declared.
"Alright so what's so odd about this one?"
"We scanned the dimensional energy signatures before launching a probe. We detected the usual suspects, however when we send the probe through to locate them, it cannot locate them on the Earth." Hermione said pointing at the various scanner results.
"Are they in a pocket dimension or something?" Hecate asked.
"I don't know." Hermione replied.
"So who's missing?" Harry frowned as he looked at the report that had appeared on the table in front of him.
"Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Neville, and Luna." Hermione rattled off, "The Gold and Silver Trios."
Harry made a hunh sound, "The temporal offshift says its 2001 there. So that should be real prime of life stuff going on with them."
"Any other weird stuff?" Chubs asked. "The report says they still seem to have the secrecy act."
"Yes. So what we're going to do is send you and Hecate in to look around Hogsmeade and London while Harry does the bodyswap with the local counterpart." Hermione said.
"Lovely. Sounds like fun." Harry said, "Well let's get going."
…...
Harry woke up on a soft bed. There was a slightly antiseptic aroma to the air as he sat up lights turned on.
"Harry wake up. I need you in the control center." Ginny's voice called from a speaker by the door.
"Control center? What's going on?" He looked around the room quickly and wondered what was going on. The room looked like a small hotel room, with his and what he hoped was Hermione's clothes hanging in a closet. A small desk with a mirror in front of it was along the wall opposite the bed.
"I don't know. Hermione and Luna are trying to figure it out." Ginny said again.
"okay I'll be right there." He said sighing. So far this was not telling him anything.
Looking in the mirror quickly he saw that his eyes were still the normal emerald green, just without hiding behind glasses, while this Harry's scar was a faded pale thin line.
Pulling on a gray tunic that had the Gryffindor crest on his left breast over some shorts he decided that as urgent as Ginny sounded he should hurry.
Leaving the room he found himself in a corridor that did not change his opinion of a hotel, although a boat of some kind was starting to climb the possibilities list. There was a soft brown carpet on the floor with soft fuzzy green walls. The ceiling was a pale blue-white light panel that cast no shadows. There was doors on each side of the corridor which ended in one direction at another door and in the other in a large empty room. Hearing voices faintly coming from that direction he turned and walked quickly.
There was a spiral staircase just inside the large oval room which had a shiny black table that looked like polished glass that had grown from the floor. Hearing the voices from upstairs he began to climb, wondering if he would have time to explore later.
He entered an oval room with consoles along the wall. At the front of the room a bright yellow star hung with the inky blackness of space surrounding it. A raised central oval had a large pure black egg in the middle of it that was displaying a lot of things he did not understand but since Hermione and Luna were looking and pointing at them they apparently did.
Both girls were wearing gray tunics as well. Only Hermione was wearing light green leggings underneath her tunic while Luna had nothing at all under hers but herself. Neville sat at console in front of the windows wearing a gray tunic and black leggings. He seemed to touch things on the console every so often. Ron stood behind Neville watching Harry with a curious expression. This Ron had a slight scar long the left side of his face that went from his eyebrow to his jaw.
"So what's going on?" He asked.
"Ginny picked up some kind of wormhole or high energy disturbance on the habitat deck. I know its your birthday but I thought you should be aware of this." Hermione said pointing at what must have been an internal schematic.
"Did you figure out where?" he asked, wondering if they had detected the transfer wormhole.
"No. I'm sorry harry. It happened so fast that by the time I was aware of it, it was already gone." Ginny's voice came from the black egg it seemed like.
"Oh. Okay." he replied, looking closer at the girls he wanted to try and figure out which of the two would be the most likely to not freak out. Usually that was Luna, although this Hermione seemed to be the science investigator type. "Maybe Hermione and I should go check things out?"
Luna nodded, "That might not be a bad idea. We don't know for sure what it could have been."
"Did anyone get injured?" Harry asked.
"No. It was like it was a non-event. I barely felt it. And even then it was only like a slight itch." Ginny said in a worried tone. "I don't like weird stuff."
Luna patted the glass dome gently, "I know dearie."
"Some birthday eh Harry?" Hermione asked as they went back down the stairs.
"Better than some." Harry had to admit, feeling that the local Harry would have felt the same.
"Let's start in the forward Observation and go backwards from there." She suggested pointing at a door on the opposite end of the oval room.
"Yeah fine by me." Harry replied following her.
Once alone in the room Harry looked through the seven large windows that were pointed at the star ahead of them, "Wow. I'm in space."
Hermione frowned at him, "You've been in space for the last four years Harry."
Harry took a deep breath and shook his head, "Your Harry may have been but I'm not him."
Hermione looked at him, "You want to explain that Harry?"
"The energy signature was my soul exchanging places with his thanks to an ancient Atlantean device my Hermione and Luna figured out how to work." Harry explained sitting in a chair that looked like it had grown out of the floor.
Hermione sat in one facing him that Harry did watch grow out of the floor. "Soul transfer?"
"I'm from another dimension, another parallel reality, that is a few years ahead of your apparently. And one that went down a completely different path it seems like." he said waving towards the vista outside the windows.
"Yeah right pull the other one." Hermione said doubtfully.
"No. I think he's telling the truth Hermione." Ginny's voice came from the wall. "I scanned his bio signature, his magic doesn't feel like Harry's. Or at least our Harry's."
"I mean you no harm. The organization I belong to is interested in peaceful exploration, trade and basically getting to know each other. See what happened. See if there is anything we can do to help." Harry explained.
Hermione frowned at him. Ginny though said, "How could you help?"
"I'm not really sure. I'm more of the first contact, explorer guy. The Hermiones and Lunas I know are more of the brains of the outfit." Harry admitted. "Besides I don't even really know what you might need help with."
"Oh." Ginny's voice sounded thoughtful, "Maybe if I showed you that would help?"
"Uh maybe." Harry replied, noticing Hermione looked surprised.
"Are you sure Gin?" Hermione asked.
"If they have the ability to transfer souls around maybe they can get me out of this thing." she huffed.
Harry's suspicions were starting to get closer to confirmed as he looked around the walls. Everything was soft and angular, very organic looking. "Ginny's the ship?"
"Yeah. I sat in the wrong chair about five years ago and ever since then I've been stuck. Its not all bad but its taken a lot for all of us to get used to it." she said with a sigh.
"Oh. I take it that you can't just unplug yourself?" Harry asked looking at the speaker on the wall.
"Not very much. Come on back up here and I'll show you." Ginny said with a sigh.
…...
Harry and Hermione came back to the top deck. The others were looking at Harry with varied expressions from suspicion written on Ron's face to curiosity on Luna's. Neville seemed to be rather calm and placid about the situation as usual.
Ginny's voice cleared her throat, "Uh. Are you friends with a Ginny on your world?"
"Several. The one native to my world is married to Neville, while others have various partners, including some mes." he said. "They're all nice people."
"Oh okay. Well try not to get too disgusted." she said. "I'm not very pretty."
"I've uh. I've seen quite a bit so far." he said.
"Okay. Well here's the point of no return." Ginny said as the black egg began to hum and retract backwards. The displays going out until it had shifted and moved to reveal a body that might have been a pretty red head at one time.
The body had merged with the chair as the arms and legs appeared to have melted into the throne, her body had been partially absorbed by the throne, pulsating tubes protruded from the eye sockets, mouth, throat, chest and lower areas of what might have been Ginny. A few traces of lank dull red hair hung limply from a skull that had thousands of thin needle like wires burrowed into the exposed skull. A whiff of something biological like stale sweat wafted out of the bay before the fans removed it.
"Whoa." Harry whispered sotto voice.
"I warned you." Ginny said.
"So do you think you can do anything about that?" Ron hissed finally in a gravelly voice.
"I don't know. There is a golem that is a very good recreation of a Ginny that died we rescued from a world. We might be able to recreate that or a clone of her original body. I don't know." Harry said. "We'd probably have to go back to my world to find out."
"And just how would we do that?" Ron huffed.
"I told you guys there was that one set of circuits I wasn't sure what they did but it felt like it was another way of traveling. In a sort of non-direction direction."
"Yeah but you said you didn't know where that coordinate set went." Luna replied.
Shutting the egg Ginny said, "Maybe those are extra-dimensional coordinates."
"You don't know?"
"The ship was not exactly working right when we took it over." Ginny explained.
"How did you acquire this anyhow?" Harry asked waving around. "I doubt there was a used spaceship lot sitting around."
"We were in the Department of Mysteries being chased by the Death Eaters when we ran into this thing. We got separated and Ginny sat in the chair to catch her breath. The next thing we knew she was being eaten by the stupid chair and this thing was waking up." Neville explained in a calm and even tone.
"That's not entirely how it happened." Ron huffed, "I was carrying her and dumped her in that thing. I'm responsible for her to be stuck like this."
"RON!" Ginny's voice sternly reprimanded him, "We've been over this. It could have been anyone."
Ron frowned as he sat in a chair heavily.
"I don't mean any offense but how long have I been here?" Harry asked the room in general.
"Fifty seven minutes." Ginny replied.
"Okay. I'll be swapping back in a few moments. I'll talk to Hermione when I get back home. I'm sure your Harry will have a lot to tell you as well." Harry said.
"Okay. Thanks in advance Harry." Hermione said hugging him. Harry was just enjoying the hug when the tingle of dissolution hit him.
…...
"Wow. So what did he tell you?" Harry asked sitting up.
"A lot. Their Ginny's a spaceship?" Hermione asked to confirm the statement.
"Yeah she thinks she can travel inter-dimensionally but would need to confirm the coordinates." Harry replied stretching.
"Great. Well they'll go back to their Earth and then rendezvous with you. You'll give them the coordinates for here and then we'll see what we can do." Hermione said.
"Okay. That should take a bit." Harry said.
"About six hours." Hermione said incredulously.
"Six hours? They were in another solar system." Harry said open mouthed.
"I know. But apparently she can travel faster than light." Hermione said, "You'd better jump over to that world that way Chubs and Hecate know whats going on."
"On my way boss." Harry said heading for the equipment lockers, "By the way. We don't have one of those things in our Ministry do we?"
"Not that I'm aware of but I sent Padma to go find out." Hermione said. "Plus I'm trying to get the world's governments to talk to me about this."
"Okay. Good luck on that one." Harry snorted.
…...
Harry found Chubs and Hecate in a room at the Three Broomsticks. "Hey how's it going?"
"Okay. We hit Diagon and Hogsmeade here. Wow. Things got weird after they vanished."
"They didn't vanish. Ginny got merged with some kind of bio-spaceship. They're on their way back from the other side of the galaxy and should be here in a few hours." Harry explained.
"DAY-um!" Chubs exclaimed. "Well the official story is they got killed by the Death Eaters and the Big V himself. So Dumbledore went on a big ass roaring rampage of revenge along with his Order of the Phoenix and ended the bad guys forever. Tossing all of them including the big V through the veil."
"There is a rather large memorial to them by the gates to Hogwart's." Hecate added.
"Okay. So this world considers them dead." Harry said, "That will help."
"So we're going to have another group coming home with us?" Chubs asked.
"Well why not? They can explore our galaxy just as much as they can this one. If they really want. At least with us they'll have a home to come bac to." Harry pointed out.
"Okay. We should probably relocate to the Conistone Moors or something. Someplace out of the way and coordinate with Hermione." Hecate pointed out.
"Good idea." Harry nodded as they prepared their plans.
…...
They had played a three-handed game of telephone as Harry relayed with Hermione who had exchanged with her counterpart to get thship Ginny to follow Harry's signature down but soon the large teardrop shaped dark hulll was silently gliding in for a landing.
Bright lights suddenly clicked on as she extended her ramp. The local Harry came walking down the ramp hurriedly, "Hey we better move quick. Ginny says she messed up on the entry and the government radar picked her up. There's fighters in-bound."
Harry Chubs and Hecate rushed aboard. "Okay, we're all in." Harry declared.
"Ginny?" Harry called out.
"Already lifting off, four Eagles in bound, they are active on their radar." Ginny recited.
"Okay, you're a spaceship. Can't you do something?" Chubs asked thin air.
"I don't exactly have a weapons system on this thing. All I can do is fly, but not too fast in the atmosphere. It hurts." Ginny grumpily replied. "So just sit down and buckle up as I get creative."
The two Harry's arrived on the control deck as they saw the tactical display projected on the front windows. Four jet aircraft were coming in from the south at a high speed with their weapon radars on full power. Ginny was spiraling upwards and out over the ocean.
"They're calling on the radio for us to identify ourselves or they will fire." Ginny said.
"Have they got a weapon lock?" Harry alpha asked as they saw the jet's closing, but only barely as Ginny began to accelerate.
"Uh. I don't think so." Ginny replied uncertainly.
"What about that other drive type, do you have it online?" Harry asked standing beside the black dome with his hand gently resting on it.
Ginny said in a surprised tone, "Uh yeah. But I don't know if that is what you think it is."
"Well now is as good as any time to find out eh?" Harry said gently.
The ship seemed to hum for a moment as a power built, "Okay. I have the drive coils fully charged but where do we go?"
"I guess feel the energy signature of myself and my two friends. Can you figure out the path to get there?"
Harry felt a slight flutter of energy cross over his as Ginny made a humming noise that was organic not electronic, "Yeah I think so. Uh oh they are focusing their radar on me."
"Ever pull off a Wronski Feint?" Harry asked.
"No. But Why not now?" Ginny's voice replied with some excitement as the windows stopped showing the darkening sky and began to show the ocean as they dove. Even with the artificial gravity being provided Harry felt the flipping jumble of the maneuver.
"Any time now." Harry said as the sea rapidly rose to meet them.
Ginny said, "Ready, steady, now!" Pulling out mere feet over the waves there was a cascading tumble of lightning bolts that spun in purple arcs over her form before it seemed to fade from the world in burst of bright light.
The fighter pilots circled for a brief moment then shutting their weapon systems off turned back towards their base trying to figure out how much paperwork they would be filling out.
…...
The fishing trawler Lucky Lucy was slowly plodding along with its nets out when there was a sudden crackling explosion of purple lightning just off their port bow. The thunder from this display reached them seconds later as a large, dark brown, teardop, sort of like a watermelon seed shot out of the boiling electrical aura into the setting sun.
The crew paused to stare open mouthed as the teardrop skimmed the waves for a brief moment then slowly circled around for a few moments before steadying its course and heading south.
The Chief Mate ran onto the bridge, "Cap'n did you see that?"
The captain put his coffee mugon the shelf beside his control station shaking his head. Reaching under his seat as more of the crew milled behind the first mate he pulled a bottle of clear liquid out to add to his coffee, "No, and neither did you."
"But sir!" the mate tried to argue before the captain handed him the bottle.
"We've been at see too long. Let's head back to base and get some rest. Haul in the nets Lars we're going home." the Captain tiredly ordered before turning back to the wheel.
The first mate looking at the bottle in his hand decided that maybe getting back to his wife a few weeks early would not be a bad idea. "Aye sir."
…...
Ginny sounded like she was enjoying herself, "THAT WAS FUN!"
"Hellyeaz!" Chubs enthusiastically agreed.
"Yeah sure. Glad you enjoyed it." Hermione panted from one of the seats she was gripping tightly.
"You can let go of the seat Hermione. I'm operating on a stable, normal flight. Communications with flight control who are aware of me." Ginny quickly said.
"How did you get in contact so quickly?" Their Harry asked.
"I managed to link into Harry's comm unit." Ginny said as Alpha Harry held up his wrist.
"Oh." Harry replied, "So now what?"
Harry Alpha looked down, then tapped the comm unit, "Hi hun. Every thing ready?"
"Yeah it is. How was the trip?"
"Bloody Wicked!" Chubs called out from beside Harry Alpha. "This girl can move!"
Ginny made a chuckling noise through her speakers.
"Alright. Well the hanger is set up and we have some biomass for her to fuel up with."
"Good because I'm definitely getting hungry." Ginny declared. "5 minutes out."
"See you soon hun." Harry Alpha said as they prepared for the landing.
…...
Once Ginny ship had arrived and been parked in the hanger she extended her landing gear and ramp.
Hermione Alpha came aboard along with Lavender Brown and Jean Granger the medical tech. Once the introductions were done Ron shook his head, "Just how many Hermione's are there in this place?"
"Oh a few." Lavender said with a smile, "Harry neglected to tell us if you had a Lavender Brown on your world."
"Yeah we knew her. She's an okay girl." Neville said.
"We usually are." Lavender smiled.
"So now what do you want from us?" Harry asked. Looking as his crew stood on one side of the control room while the people from Alpha stood on the other.
Lavender stepped forward, "Well we'd like to take all of you to our medical center for a check-up, general health tests and such. Then you can come back here. We've already got the trucks downstairs working to get the biomass pumpers hooked up to Ginny's intakes. Meanwhile Jean and Hermione will work on figuring out what we can do to help you Ginny."
"Oh. After that we can come back and stay with Ginny right?" Ron asked worriedly.
"Yes of course. The only reason would be if there is a health or other issue that would require a stay in the hospital." Lavender replied.
"Okay." Harry said. "Thanks. We better go with you then."
"Sure. Whenever you're ready." Lavender cheerfully said observing everyone as they left. Ron the last one, almost reluctantly as he rubbed the black done with a pained expression.
Once it was just Hermione Alpha and Jean alone in the control room Ginny said, "Thanks. This biomass is good. Rocks are nice but this is great."
"Good. We weren't certain from what your Harry told us would be good but we figured a biological component might require complex hydrocarbons." Hermione explained sitting in one of the crew chairs.
"You sound so much like my Hermione." Ginny said, "This is amazing."
"So can you show us your true body?" Jean asked. "I'll need to take some biopsies and remote scans to see what's going on and what we can do."
"Okay. Harry explained a lot of it." Ginny replied, "Er my Harry. How do you keep each other straight?"
"Well I use my middle name." Jean said, "Hecate uses her nickname as does Chubs. Other than that we just sort of figure it out as we go."
"Oh." Ginny said then seemed to take a deep breath, "Well here goes."
The dome opened and the two Hermiones looked into the pod. "Well that's new."
"I know pretty ugly eh?" Ginny sighed.
"Not really. Just different." Jean said working gently. "So do you feel this?"
"I feel everything. My internal senses are kinda amazing. I know when my friends have their periods. I can tell when they have sex. I can tell the difference between the two of you and the other Hermiones including my own. The two Harry's." Ginny said trailing off, "Sorry. I shouldn't brag."
"Oh this isn't bragging. We're really interested in you. To be honest this is the first we've ever encountered of a situation like this." Hermione A said in a friendly manner, "So do you know everything you can do?"
"I know there are things that haven't been repaired yet, and I don't think it was really supposed to have a human in here. So there's stuff I know I should be able to do but can't for one reason or another." Ginny said in a glum tone.
"Well we will do all we can to figure out how to get you out of there and if we can't we'll see what we can do to make your life as good as we can." Hermione A promised.
Ginny sighed, "Thanks."
…...
Harry had escorted the new arrivals to the medical wing of the Institute, handing them off to the staff he went to the lounge to relax until they got done with their examinations.
Seeing Ginny Golem in the lounge he smiled, "Hi. How are you doing?"
She turned, "Oh hi. I am doing well as always."
Sitting beside her he asked, "So how's Jade?"
"She's fine. She's in physical therapy right now so I came here to watch tv." she said with a smile, "I never got to watch shows before I came here and its so fascinating how many programs there are."
"Ahh. Yeah, and with the multiverse we can get the same show with all kinds of alternatives." Harry agreed.
"I know." She agreed. "Although some of them are rather odd."
Harry nodded, "Oh yeah. The one world with Benny Hill as the Doctor was different."
"Was that the medical program?" Ginny asked.
"No the guy with the police box." Harry replied.
"Oh. I liked the version with the guy named Gambon." She replied.
"So have you figured out what you're going to do other than watch Tv once Jade gets out fo the hospital?"
"No not really. I got my sentient rights confirmed. But I'm not sure what I can do. I don't have magic and I look like a fifteen year old. So what is there to do?" she replied with a shrug.
Before Harry could answer he heard his name called, standing he saw the version of Hermione who had come through with Ginny G walking into the lounge. She was still carrying her cane but not using it. She was smiling happily at him.
"Hey Jade. You're looking good." Harry said accepting the friendly hug from her.
"Yeah, sounding better too." Her voice had been restored to the normal tones of a Hermione.
"Glad the treatments are working out for you." he said.
"Yeah. They've got everything back working, even the internal plumbing." She said winking her good eye.
"Oh. Well. That's uh. Nice." Harry replied slightly awkward. "Well they are rather thorough."
Hermione laughed, "Alpha girl said you'd try and be noble."
Sighing with a smirk he asked, "I see. So you were hoping to have some help testing the effectiveness of the treatments in that regard?"
"Well maybe in a therapeutic situation at the very least." she suggested.
"I'll see what I can do." he said. Ginny G just shook her head.
"I know. You're busy trying to save the universe. Such a Harry thing to do." She said stroking his cheek.
He shrugged, "Its just what I do."
"So what do you think of the eyes? I think the one is a slightly different shade but everyone tells me I'm imagining things." Jade stared at him deeply.
Looking into her eyes Harry smiled, "I think they look just fine."
Laughing Jade and Ginny G sat chatting with him. Lavender the mind healer was walking past the room with Lavender the body healer when they saw that.
"Well good to see her feeling better." Lavender said with a grin.
"Yeah. I only hope she waits a little bit longer before getting pregnant. I just got that womb implanted a few days ago." Lavender II sighed.
"I'm sure you did a great job on it." Lavender said.
"Thanks. So these new ones. What did you want to talk to me about?"
…...
The next morning Harry entered the hanger with Ship Ginny in it. Climbing aboard after saying good morning to her he took his seat around their large conference table in the mid-deck lounge. The crew along with Hermione A, both healer Lavenders, and Jean were here.
"Good Morning. I take it Jade's feeling a lot better?" Hermione smirked.
"Let's just say Lavender did a very good job on restoring her health and she was happy to show it off." Harry said sighing happily as he set his mug of coffee down.
"Thank you very much. I'll talk to her later about how well things worked. Which now that you're here we can get started?" Lavender II asked.
"Please." Hermione A said waving her hand for Lavender II to begin.
Activating a holographic projector she began, "Ok. We analyzed the DNA strands from your body Ginny. Unfortunately we cannot use them to clone you a new body as they have been altered by your merging with the ship. Instead of a standard helical structure yours has a dual helix. A sort of corkscrew? We think that has something to do with the alien species that developed the ship in the first place."
"Great. So now lab grown body for me then." Ginny grumped.
"Not necessary. We have several Ginnys on this world and they all agree they would be willing to allow themselves to be cloned to give you a body. The only problem is we would have to use the Avada Kedavra on the bodies to remove the animating force within them. Basically making them souless organic structures." Jean explained.
Ginny made a rather unpleasant sound before saying, "Nope. Not going to kill someone to save me."
"So you would be opposed to doing the soul swap if we could find a volunteer?" Hermione A asked.
"What and condemn someone else to this? No. I mean I want out but I don't want it to be at the expense of someone else getting put in here." Ginny declared.
"I still don't even understand why she had to be eaten by the ship anyhow." Ron grumbled.
Hermione A replied to that, "I spoke with Luna. She has the theory that Ginny's mind is working a lot like the CPU for the ship. That she's the central control unit for the entire ship's systems. Without her mind the ship goes into hibernation until another mind can be plugged in, sort of like our own bodies."
"That does sort of correlate with how I feel. I mean I don't have to think about going I just do. I don't have to think about look at that rock over there I just do it. I can feel my lungs breathing, I can feel my blood pumping. Its like I've still got a body." Ginny explained, "Which is really kinda funny with all of you inside me."
Crew Hermione nodded, "We have had to kind of adjust to knowing she is able to sense us at all times. A sort of tacit agreement that she wouldn't talk about certain things."
"Okay. Great. So if we get her out the ship breaks. Not my problem. Ron huffed, "I condemned her to be trapped in there. How about if I exchange with her? Do that soul transfer thing you guys have."
Ginny growled, "Ron. Shut up. We've had this argument. I'm going to stay right here rather than let anyone else be stuck like this. And it isn't all that bad. I mean yeah its kinda weird not having arms to put around someone, or legs to actually walk on a planet like that one around Tau Ceti but the way it feels to fly through space. Going faster than any broom. Its just amazing. And the way the world looks when I use the other senses. Its hard to explain."
Crew harry patted the wall he was standing near, "We know Gin. Besides it would be weird having you in Ron's body."
"It would be weird for me to BE in Ron's body." Ginny agreed unironically.
"Hey what about Ginny Golem?" Harry suddenly had a thought.
"What?" Everyone turned to look at him. He even had some strange sensation that the ship Ginny had focused her sensors on him.
"The one that came over with Jade,. She is still trying to figure out what she can or wants to do. She was told she was nothing but a machine, property, not a real girl. If there was some way for you and her to swap back and forth. She could take over being the ship while you get to have a body, even if its a artificially created one."
Lavender II, the body healer, looked thoughtful for a moment, "Her body is essentially functional, she has all of the sensations of a living being. Minus the biological processes."
"True. But the magical energies that function as her mental process, does it really count as a soul for the device's transfer ability?" Lavender asked.
"I don't know. But we could try if she wanted to."
"Wait a second!" Ginny called out loudly. "I said I am NOT going to trap or sacrifice someone else to get me out of this, not even a golem version of me."
"Okay. How about you build a copy of her that Ginny could download herself into?" Crew harry asked. Harry A acknowledged him with a good point expression.
Hermione looked at the healers, "Do we have enough information from Ginny G to do that?"
"The process of building a Golem is well known, it just hasn't been done very often as the animating force is rather limited." Lavender said thinking, "But if we use a modified version of the soul transfer mode from the gate device to allow for energy transfer."
"Right so the brain trust is going to be able to come up with a solution right?" Harry A asked grinning.
"I think so. It's not going to be quick, maybe a month or so." Hermione A said handing a data pad to crew Hermione.
"But no one could get hurt and no thinking person would get trapped in here to save me?" Ginny asked.
"No the golem would be a artificial construct. It would be basically a life-like mannequin that would simulate a person but would not be alive in the general sense of the word." Jean said. "No periods, no pregnancy, no need to breathe or eat."
"Okay sounds like a possible plan." Ginny said hopefully, "I can go with this."
Luna had been watching the hologram slowly rotating over the table asked, "Could you maybe install some of these?"
"These projectors. They would at least let us interact with her as a more familiar figure." Luna said, "Give us something to focus on for eye contact."
Crew Harry and Alpha Harry shared an expression as the Hermiones all sighed, "No, we are not going to put a giant red H on her forehead." Hermione A said in annoyance.
"Oh no. Yours likes that show too?" Crew Hermione asked with a groan.
Jean scowled, "Yes, the immaturity of Harry Potters seems rather universal."
Harry stuck his tongue out at her. Ginny and a few of the others chuckled slightly.
"Immaturity aside. I do like this idea. A golem body would let me get out and stretch my legs, as it were. I think I can separate my higher personality from the automatic part so the ship will even continue to function." Ginny said.
"It will not be quick to get this done." Hermione A pointed out.
"I've been stuck in here for six years already. A few more weeks is not going to make a big difference." Ginny said, "At least I finally have something to look forward to."
"Yeah but you'll still be int there. You'll still be a ship. How's having one fake body going to make difference? How's that going to change anything? What are we going to do? What are you going to do? What. How am I supposed to take care of you?" Ron broke down and started crying. Huge racking sobs as he curled on the floor.
Lavender jumped up, calling on her comm for a team to come to the ship as she rushed to his side. Everyone else stepping aside to let her and Jean work. Soon a team of blue and white uniformed medics arrived to help carry him into the hospital.
…...
"How is he?" the crew Harry asked as Lavender stepped out of the room.
"He's sedated. So you'll have to come back in the morning." Lavender said gently.
"What happened?" Ginny's voice came from a communicator on crew Hermione's wrist.
"He's been holding in a lot of guilt and pain over this. It finally broke." Lavender explained, "I think the idea that you are accepting being the ship hasn't set well with him."
A sigh came across the communicator. "No it hasn't. I didn't tell anyone but I've had to talk him down from doing something to himself. I knew it wasn't very likely that anyone would be able to separate me from the ship from the moment I woke up. I just let him keep the hope alive that we could so that he wouldn't. So he wouldn't do anything drastic."
"I see. Well. He'll get the best care we can give him. He's not the first person we've had break. Right now though he needs his rest and in the morning you can come back and check on him." Lavender said.
"Okay. Just take care of him." Ginny asked.
"We will. We'll evaluate him in the morning and see what course of treatment we can start him on. So don't worry." Lavender tried to sound reassuring. "We'll take the best care of him we can."
"Thanks." Hermione said as did Ginny.
…...
The next day Ron was sitting in a chair looking out of the window across the wide East Anglia landscape. The door opened and he ignored it until he felt a hand touch his shoulder. Looking up he saw the harry and Hermione he came here with. Hermione was wearing some kind of oversized bracelet.
"Hey Ron. They said you're feeling a little bit better." Hermione softly said.
"Yeah. A bit." Ron sighed.
"Well that's good you dork." Ginny's voice came from the bracelet.
"Ginny?" Ron asked frowning.
"Yeah. They installed a communications system that lets me talk to them. Pretty neat hunh?" she said.
"If you're happy." Ron flatly said.
"Hey buck up big brother. We'll get through this soon enough." Ginny said.
"No. No we won't. You're going to be a ship forever and mum and dad think we're dead and I just don't know what else to do." Ron said dejectedly.
"We were talking last night." Harry said, "Ginny agreed that after the upgrades are done that we work for the Granger Institute folks as explorers."
Ron looked up at him, "Explorers?"
"Yeah that whole boldly go stuff? Plus they are going to try and figure out a way to reverse engineer some of this without having to put a person in the box." Hermione said.
Ron twitched slightly, "Yeah that would be good."
"Hermione can you give Ron the bracer so I can talk to him, alone." Ginny asked.
"Okay. But remember what they said." Hermione cautioned.
"I know." Ginny agreed as Hermione took the bracelet off and handed it to Ron.
Once Harry and Hermione had stepped out Ron sighed, "Alright so what do you want to talk about?"
"Are you going to try and let them help you or are you going to push them away the way you have all the rest of us?" Ginny firmly inquired.
When Ron didn't answer she continued, "You know my microphones can pick up everything. I've heard your nightmares. You tried to hide me, to protect me. You couldn't have known the stupid pod would eat me. But I came out of it okay. I mean I'm a starship. How many guys can say their sister is a starship?"
"I really wish you were just you again." Ron confessed sadly.
"I am still me Ron. I may not look like I did. And I know our relationship as siblings is a lot different than I could have ever imagined but I've accepted it. I really wish you could."
"How can I accept any of this? How can I know what is real anymore? Nothing is the way I thought it would be." he wailed in a pained tone.
"I know Ronnie. I know. But we still have each other. We have our family. The six of us are family Ron. No matter what happens. I love you Ron, but you need help. Please let them help you. Please? For me?" she begged.
"Okay. I love you dork." She said cheerfully.
"I love you too bug." He said softly.
…...
"So how is our new friends settling in?" Harry asked sitting in the conference room.
"They're doing good. Ron is responding to treatment according to Lavender. Ginny is enjoying the attention. We've discovered some very interesting things about her." Hermione explained.
"Oh like what?" Harry asked.
"Well we think that if she had been a mundane she would have died. Her magic is what allowed her to survive integrating with the ship." Hermione said shaking her head.
"Lovely. Speaking of which have you heard back from the governments?" Harry wondered.
"Yes. All of them deny having any ships, technologies or other devices that have not already been turned over to the appropriate magical agencies." Hermione sarcastically declared.
"Right. Okay. Well we'll find out I guess." Harry shrugged.
"Yeah. But the holographic projectors and some other systems are going into her quite well. Magic integrates as long as we do not use certain of the Atlantean based crystal technology." Hermione frowned, "Which makes me wonder about the aliens that created the ship."
"Great another organization out there." Harry frowned.
"There really are not that many able to travel interdimensionally Harry." Hermione countered. "There are us, Elseworlds, Ginny the Ship, and Rogue Harry. Four out of 30 realities Harry."
"It still makes me a bit concerned. What's going to turn up next?" he huffed.
Turning to the datapadd on her desk she smiled, "Funny you should mention that."
Review Responses:
Hp Hg fan forever: Yes that world was not a very nice world. That Hermione will reappear in time.
TimeKeeper: It seemed a natural development of having a enclosed and self-contained society. A sort of cultural gap that their magical abilities would push. At least to me. History has done some of very interesting things with isolated cultures and their development.
OfficerDonNZ: True indeed. That world is rather disturbing. Which is funny as its based on historical cultural attitudes from the Victorian era...
kgfinkel: Magic can do some rather amazing things in canon. So the people of world 29 took it to the logical extension, at least where breeding was concerned as far as we saw. We did not see what else they could and would do. Think if Dr Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll, and Dr Moreau had magic and a government and society that rewarded them instead of punishing them...