Chapter 8

"You're doing what?!" Jack exclaimed.

"I'm taking a bit of time off." Harry said. "It's not like you really need me anymore and I'll still be in orbit for your missions, since I'll be working on Prometheus."

"Does that mean you'll be teaching someone else how to pilot the Sphere?" Jack asked, hopefully.

"Bill will be handling transportation for you, sending you down. You can just take portkeys back up." Harry denied. "I'll be working on the Sphere for a couple of things I want to try. There's also a bit of a fun project I've been hoping to get to at some point." he smiled.

"Fun project?" Jack asked.

"Fun for me. Terrifying for our enemies." Harry's smile grew into a vindictive one.

"Why do I feel the need to relocate to another part of the galaxy?" Daniel asked.

"Oh, come off it!" Harry scoffed. "I've been very careful." he finished.

"Well, there was that incident with the new control mechanism you're working on." Daphne pointed out.

"I just forgot to disconnect the link." Harry said. "How was I supposed to know it could activate the targeting functions when I wasn't even looking through the system?"

"Maybe because you designed the system?" Daphne asked, lifting one eyebrow.

Harry harrumphed playfully. "How can I argue with you when you're being so logical?" he asked.

"What did you do?" Jack asked interestedly, a bit of a smile already appearing on his face at the obvious game they were playing.

"I was making a targeting system that can function for non-magical people." Harry said. "I realise it would be easier to simply use magicals and intent-reading magic, but I also know that that won't always be an option, so I created a helm that had a system that follows eye movement. I took the idea from a device that the Tok'ra use for navigation."

"A head-mounted heads-up display." Daphne supplied. "Or HUD."

"Yes." Harry agreed. "Either way, while it should work fine for normal people, apparently it is quite sensitive and my magic seems to make the connection due to my having basically built the system and my understanding of it, so it stayed connected with me even without the display up." he explained.

"What happened?" Jack asked, again.

"When lunch arrived the other day, I lifted the HUD from my eyes and when I looked up, lunch got hit by the test weapon." Harry said. He'd learned from his near-misses. He only ever added the truly offensive weapons to his devices after he knew that they worked as they should. His idea to make this targeting system came from inspiration he got from both the Asgard targeting systems and the Tok'ra HUD devices. He'd also thought about the need for better targeting technology for the ships. If they were going to get attacked, they'd need to be able to hit hard and quick.

"What weapon?" Sam asked, out of interest. She always wondered about how he ended up avoiding disaster, considering his capabilities.

"This one just sprayed a beam of water." Harry said.

"At high velocity." Daphne murmured.

"That was only one time." Harry rebutted. "I fixed that ages ago. The water in the system was just a bit too compressed."

"Just a bit?" Daphne asked. "Can you spray me with it, right now?" she challenged.

"Of course. As long as I don't set it to the high velocity setting." Harry said. "Otherwise it would go right through you."

"And how fast is high velocity, exactly?" Sam asked.

"No idea." Harry said. "Fast enough to cut through an inch of steel like a hot knife through butter."

"And that was an accident?" Daniel asked.

"Well, no." Harry said. "I knew I was making a strong water-jet. I just didn't know how strong. That wasn't the point of the experiment, though. I was working on a theory about transporting electricity from place to place using only directed water streams. It turned out there were too many factors to counter, including the purity of the water."

"Clean water does not conduct electricity." Sam nodded. "I thought you'd know that, though." she asked.

"Well, clean water can still conduct other forms of energy just fine. The cleaner it is, the better in some cases." Harry said, grinning at Sam.

"Stop that." Jack said. He knew that grin. Harry was making her curious on purpose, just to tell her the information was off limits. "What's this project you're working on?" he tried to redirect the conversation. Sam had already made a request for some time to work on her own projects.

"I'm starting work on a fighter-jet, but one made specifically for space." Harry admitted. "That's what the HUD is for. I'm thinking a two man system, with one gunner and one pilot." He turned to Jack. "If you're interested, I could always use the help…"

"Why not me?" Sam asked, with narrowed eyes.

"Because you're a girl." Harry said, with a straight face. When Sam looked about ready to explode, he started chuckling. "Because you are working on your own project. Jack just wants to go fishing. I'm thinking he'd enjoy being one of the first people to use one of the new systems. A much better use of his time." he relented and explained.

"You should know that Harry doesn't think a woman is less capable than a man." Daphne said.

"Usually more so." Harry agreed. "You've got a naturally high pain threshold, you are capable of focussing on more things and you look good in a bikini."

"All positives we can all agree on." Daphne nodded. She looked Sam up and down as she did so and Sam instantly looked uncomfortable again. Then Daphne smirked at her.

"Why do you insist on making Captain Carter uncomfortable?" Teal'c asked. He had no problem with taking a bit of time off. He could use the time with his family and catching up with Bra'tac, who had been quite successful in bringing a large portion of the Jaffa of Chulak under the banner of the Alliance.

"Because it's funny." Daphne said. "She expects to be treated differently as a woman. Until she stops overreacting to every little thing, that won't stop."

"De-sensitization?" Sam asked, incredulously.

"You're teasing her about being a woman, until she stops reacting to it?" Daniel added.

"That, and it's funny." Harry agreed.

OOO

"How's that feel, Jack?" Harry asked as he flew them around in an asteroid field. They were following a device which was linked to a snitch, which was flying on a miniature version of the asteroid field against a smaller Sphere, which moved like the Sphere. Harry wasn't an enchanter, but he could use quite a few tricks, so he'd used this indirect system to emulate a battle in space. At least, a battle where you were giving chase. The test was for Jack, after all. He could also release a few Bludgers, which worked in a similar fashion. Test weapons which sent a pulse of magic into the target, would disable the Bludgers for a time, just as the Snitch kept count of successful hits.

Jack was strapped into a seat, which was connected to a framework which allowed for full 360° movement at his direction, all while keeping his gravity down, relative to his own alignment. He had the latest iteration of the HUD on his face, which projected the image into your head, while your eyes were closed. The left hand controlled his alignment on a flat surface, even as the control was in direct communication with your mind, by means of Harry's advanced learning diamond.

The flat surface had a wide variety of functions, but all of it was gesture dependant. Spreading your fingers zoomed in, while pinching them zoomed out. Your thumb could lock onto a target and navigate on the locked on target, all while keeping perfect sync with the moving target. The fingers all had other functions, like keeping the orientation of the target correct if it turned and features like showing an image of what you were seeing on one of the forward displays.

The right hand controlled your view and your firing controls. It could cycle through different views, to see energy emissions, heat, infra-red and even some forms of invisibility. It could fire a variety of weapons, but could also send and attach a magical recording disk to a vehicle. The weapons were limited to one, at this moment, but normally there were options like firing lasers, bullets, rockets, a banishment beam (which was basically just a more damaging form of laser, since it cut by friction and pressure, rather than heat), magically produced fire (if you could get the beam through an enemy's window), water jets for short range, portkey based storage disk technology and some other things. Harry tended to add things as he went.

"She handles like a dream.�� Jack said, smirking as he easily controlled the foreign controller. "I've been locked onto the target for most of the time. The only difficulty I'm having…" he said, as his seat swirled around when the snitch decided to backtrack past the ship, as it loved to do, "is when it does unexpected things like that." he said.

"You're not used to the mechanics of space-flight, nor the difference that magic makes." Harry said, as he flew between the asteroids easily and shot off after the snitch again. He'd missed this game. The obstacles only made it more fun.

"How do you keep everything in mind?" Jack asked. "These asteroids are moving strangely with no indicated patterns."

"That's from earlier." Harry said. "My practice with the Bludgers caused a bit of chaos. They tend to fly through things as they try and bash you to pieces. The asteroids around here used to be reasonably still. I had to put up a barrier to keep the asteroids in place." he finished. He'd put up one of his latest developments. A laser-based defence shield. The same one that had almost cut through the moon, if he hadn't put up a large illusion of a mirror to reflect the laser carrying the magic.

Because magic was more difficult in space, he'd used magical lasers, to carry and empower an illusion which functioned much like the original Project Black Light. This, custom-made spell, though, created a barrier, since the spell in use was a reflective shield. It would send any physical objects directly in the opposite direction of its impact, with equal and opposite force. He'd realised that, since light bounces off illusions, an illusion of a mirror could reflect a laser. That had made his life a whole lot simpler.

The problem with this specific spell, was that it basically worked like a banishment charm, but considering the speed of laser (light speed) and the amount of power which had built up from being powered constantly for an hour, while Harry tested it, meant that there was a high likelihood of something really, really bad happening if the light, which he had accidentally lost control over, had made it to Earth.

The fact that that was the direction of the laser, seemed like a very, VERY, scary coincidence. Harry didn't believe in coincidence, which was why they were testing the new control system on the other side of the galaxy, on the other side of a black hole. Should a laser escape the confines of the array, it would simply be sucked up by the black hole, if it was somehow aimed at Earth again.

"Let's give those a test next." Jack said, as he continued controlling his view to stay focussed on the target. Every now and then they'd lose sight of the thing, as it flew behind an asteroid, since the Point Me spell in use used a laser to maintain its aim. Without line of sight, the spell simply could not function outside an atmosphere.

"How many shots till you've reached target?" Harry asked Jack, as they swerved over and under Asteroids, with Harry trying his best to fly in such a way as to not allow the snitch to break the connection. The fact that he mostly succeeded and had yet to hit something, impressed the hell out of Jack.

Jack manipulated the control, which seemed like the most natural design he could imagine, considering how it was giving him constant feedback directly in his mind, he zoomed in on the tiny display, which was on the target, and started rotating in sync with the target, before flicking a finger on the right control panel and an image appeared in the corner of the large display. The number stood at over two hundred hits. "Enough." Jack said smugly.

"Fuck me sideways!" Harry laughed. "Well done, Jack!" he cheered. They had been at it for only about twenty minutes and this was Jack's first time controlling the system.

"Well, it is something you made." Jack said, as the 'Snitch' deactivated and disappeared. "Bludgers?" he asked hopefully.

"No, it's time for a switch first." Harry said, as he got up, completely ignoring the approach of a large asteroid. Jack had noticed however and had attempted to access a real weapon, rather than the simple laser-tag system Harry had come up with, with a benign laser just needing to make contact on a target area. He was happily surprised when the weapon system was active and he obliterated the asteroid, cutting it in half, while the whole thing crumpled in on itself and shot away like it had just been turned to dust and blown away on a wind.

"What the hell was that?" Jack asked, incredulously.

"Defensive magic." Harry said, looking at where the asteroid used to be.

"Defensive?!" Jack asked. "That wasn't the same thing that almost hit the moon was it?"

"The same." Harry nodded. "Now you know why we don't play with this kind of thing near home anymore." Jack just looked at Harry. Harry sighed. "The spell used in that weapon is technically a shield, meant to bounce things back at the same speed as they hit the shield. I had to modify it so that it had a radius around a laser. The problem is, lasers move really fast. The magic does what it always did and hits the matter at the speed of light, bouncing the matter away, at theoretically, twice that speed…" he explained.

"Twice the speed of light?" Jack asked.

"Well, I don't honestly know what happens to the matter, but I suspect that it gets disintegrated, since it reaches a speed where physical matter should not be capable of maintaining its molecular structure." Harry said. "One way or another, that weapon could slice through planets. We won't be using that one lightly."

"Why did the entire asteroid disappear then?" Jack asked.

"The vacuum left by the dispelled molecules and the 'aura' of the effect sucked the rest of the matter in and blasted it away, which then sucked in more, etcetera." Harry said. "If the asteroid was mostly metal, it would likely just have cut through. That asteroid was likely mostly ice."

"Friction, melted and vaporised." Jack said, as he caught on. Damn! He'd hoped that Harry had been joking about the cutting the moon in half, thing. "You aren't making any more of these, are you?" he asked, worriedly.

"What do I look like, an idiot?" Harry scoffed. "The only person who can cast that spell is me. The only way you get to use the spell is if I pre-load it. The only ship capable of using it will always be this one. The only way I ever authorise its use in our own galaxy is if I'm the one shooting it and if we're pointing away from any planets or moons."

Jack sighed a shuddering breath. "That's probably for the best." he agreed.

"Jack, there's a reason I showed you this." Harry said, as he reached into a pocket and pulled out a card. "This is one charge of that spell. I need to know that if there's ever a need for us to split up, that there is someone with the ability, but also the humanity, to know when its use is necessary."

"You're giving me that?!" Jack asked, his face going pale. The weapon in Harry's hand could put nuclear warfare to shame. "Harry, you can't give me that. If someone got their hands on it… I don't want to be the one holding the trigger to the end of the world."

"The spell, as it is now, is reasonably harmless." Harry said. "It needs to be cast a very specific way, to have the effect it just had." he explained. "You're holding just one small part of the hole. My family will know how to use that properly, so if you ever need to, they'll do the rest."

Jack finally accepted the card, but quickly put it away under his pistol holster. Jack was soon sitting in the Captain's seat, where a similar control system was now under his hands. There were a few differences, like the fact that he could only see through the forward display and a few displays arrayed around him for reverse, sideways and up and down views.

The movement controls were some of the most responsive he'd ever had the pleasure of experiencing and he was very happy to note that, while he was on the captain's seat, he could feel the ship moving. It was no large amount of g-forces, but it was enough to feel like he was part of the ship. He suspected it was done that way on purpose, so that it didn't feel like a video game. He'd noted a similar effect in the weapons position. He knew he was upside down at times. He could somehow tell when he was looking towards the rear of the ship even though it just looked like a black Sphere, with no clearly defined directions.

The Captain's seat was definitely a place of power, though. Not only could he feel the ship and its movement, he could also feel when tiny asteroids hit the sides of the ship. It was as if he was the ship. Like its hull was his skin. It was both strange and exhilarating. When he started flying them about, Harry took up the gunners' position and put on the HUD, closing his eyes. The 'Snitch' appeared and Jack started flying them after it.

There were a few times when they collided, as Jack became used to the controls, but the ship was fine. He could tell it had suffered no damage, like he had seen it for himself and not noticed one scratch. "She handles like a dream, Harry!" Jack crowed, as he lost himself in the chase.

"Glad you approve." Harry said, controlling the weapons and firing away at the moving target.

Jack was realising that Harry had some serious talent. He couldn't maintain line-of-sight with the snitch, even though the ship showed him where the snitch was on a display, as long as it was within a certain range of the ship. It was part of this particular game. He needed to choose the route. The 'Snitch' was also free to go where it wanted within the designated play area.

Harry however, hadn't seemed to lose sight of it once. The fact was that he'd mounted a recording disc the moment he could and had been using that to maintain a view of its movements. It was within the rules he had set for this particular game, since he'd be able to do that with a real enemy. It took him five minutes to reach the 100 point mark, which had been Jack's original goal, but he'd been having so much fun he hadn't wanted to stop.

Harry made the ball disappear again, before activating the first Bludger. "Now it's time to dodge." Harry smirked.

OOO

The next mission to occur, hit them as a bit of an oddity. A different Doctor Samantha Carter along with Major Charles Kowalski, who was the unfortunate soul to die after a Goa'uld infected him early after the start of the Stargate Program, stepped through the Quantum Mirror, asking for asylum. Their world had apparently fallen to the Goa'uld. Apophis, specifically.

Harry had no problem offering them a place, but had had to contract the information of Harmony away. It turned out that there were no magical people who showed up to help them, in the reality that they were from.

They were interrogated for a couple of hours, as per standard operating procedure, before they were introduced to the SG-1 Team. Their Sam was fascinated, but the one from the other world, Samantha, took one look at Jack and nearly started crying. It turned out that the attraction the two felt for each other, but resisted, due to military protocol, was not such an issue when Samantha wasn't part of the air force. In her world, she had been the one to figure out the Stargate. Doctor Jackson was never contacted, or didn't exist, for whatever reason.

It turned out that Samantha had married her Jack O'Neill. The poor woman had lost the man a few days prior their decision to leave their reality.

That wasn't the worst of it, though. It seemed that there was some sort of problem with Samantha staying in their reality, since there was a living, breathing Sam already in it. Something called an entropic cascade failure. As far as Harry could figure, it sounded like they were affecting each other and that the foreign body, Samantha, would eventually break down and die. The only solution was to send her back to her reality, where the Goa'uld had taken over.

Harry was not happy about that, and resolved to do something about it, but he would also look for a solution for the woman.

He went first to the Asgard, who unsurprisingly, knew about this sort of thing. The quick and easy solution would be for a clone to be made in the current reality, with all her knowledge. That would apparently interrupt the process and allow for both to exist, but the problem with that was that the original Samantha would still technically need to die.

Harry didn't go for it. He'd be looking into it later. First, he and Jack would go on a bit of a rampage.

Going through the mirror was easy. Entering the Sphere and shrinking it once they were inside was similarly easy. Killing the enemy was a pleasure. The entire SG-1 Team, Samantha and Kowalski watched in fascinated awe, as Jack took gunner position and started laying into the enemy. This time they did not spare Apophis or any of the Goa'uld. They straight up killed every single one of them, for all the death that they had caused on the planet.

Then they spent a day travelling to the addresses that they knew of and killed a whole bunch of System Lords, ensuring that nobody ever saw where they came from, when they used the Sphere and flew through the Stargate. During this time, Teal'c learned how to take the gunner's position as well. He had complimented Harry on the design and the ease of use, while those who watched stared in awe at the fact that he had said it while destroying two Ha'tak with two concentrated shots, directly through the hull and into the bowls of the ships, where Teal'c knew their reactors were.

There had been a sizable army, which one of the System Lords had been gathering to likely attack one of their rivals. Teal'c had attacked the whole lot and taken them out with a smile on his face. When the army was destroyed, Jack insisted on retaking his position and Teal'c easily vacated and returned to his own seat, where some of the original weapons systems were still located. Unfortunately for Jack, they never did see another army of that size.

Harry remembered to take at least one of the Ha'tak into storage for this world's SGC. They'd need to defend themselves in the future, after all.

Samantha was amazed at the fact that Harry had a DHD on-board the Sphere and could seemingly power and dial the Stargate with relative ease and speed, all from the comfort of the pilot's seat, even though he usually left it up to Daniel and Sam to decide where they should go next, while Daniel did the actual dialling.

Sam and Samantha were spending most of the time discussing the differences of their worlds, while explaining what they had learned. They didn't think Harry could overcome the problems of cohabitating the same timeline, but Harry already had an idea about that.

It seemed that there was no magical world in this alternate timeline, which Harry found strange. While the magical world tried not to interfere, he'd always thought that the world would be a much different place without magic having apparently ever been there. Asking still revealed that Merlin was a known fictional character, so Harry wondered if this world's magical populace had simply moved away.

Perhaps, when their world's Statute of Secrecy came into effect, this world's magical population went to another reality or dimension. Or perhaps they moved onto an island, which they expand like he does with Harmony, all veiled behind a Fidelius. That didn't answer the question about what happened to muggleborn magicals, but Harry was hardly going to spend the time here to figure it out. If this reality's magical world had abandoned the mundane, they could continue living in isolation for all he cared.

Meeting the Asgard again, but for the first time in this alternate timeline, was very interesting. Harry having brought a gift from his world's Thor, in the form of one of their magical ZPM batteries and instructions on how to combat both the cloning issue and the Replicators, meant that this Earth suddenly had a very grateful and powerful ally. This reality's Thor took the gifts with gratitude and, after looking at some of the data, requested they stay for a bit, while they produced something to send back to their own timeline's Asgard.

That would need to be the end of their involvement, though, since they had spent two days already, and Sam was starting to feel out of sorts, being in the alternate reality for almost as long as Samantha had been in theirs.

"Are you sure you can't stay?" alternate General Hammond asked.

"Sorry, sir." Jack said. "We've done what we can. We need to get back before Captain Carter starts… cascading."

"Entropic Cascade Failure." Sam said, while Samantha just smiled sadly. She knew her Jack was dead, but having to say goodbye again was killing her.

"Don't worry Samantha." Harry assured her, having seen the look. "I've got an idea on how to make a bridge you can use to come visit and a possible solution that will bypass this whole 'cascading' issue." Samantha still smiled sadly, but nodded in thanks. "Now, remember to keep the Mirror in the warded room. Only the people I added will be able to enter or exit that area. I need to do a bit of work, but I suspect you'll see me again real soon."

"We'll be real happy to have you, Mister Black." General Hammond said, with a bit of enthusiasm for the magic man that had basically saved their entire planet with his magical technology. He was planning on making the VIP room just a bit more 'V', for the off chance that Harry would want to spend a bit more time there.

"Please, you can call me Harry." Harry said. He realised he had made a huge difference here, but he was both disgusted in having not found magic here and excited about his new project.

They were soon through the Mirror again and Harry pissed Jack off by simply leaving, when they had to stay behind to debrief their General Hammond. Harry smirked back, before he closed the door, having waited for Cooper to exit as well.

"One of these days, he's going to request monitoring on the team, so that he never has to sit through a debriefing again." Cooper said, as they walked through the Transport Tunnel.

"He's free to ask, but he'll still need to explain his actions and write up a report." Harry predicted. He suspected his girls would want to put him through much the same thing. He'd not been at home for two days after all. He didn't mind sharing with them and appreciated the affection. He'd need to give Daphne a more detailed report so that she could adjust his schedule for the upcoming projects.

When Hermione got a bit too insistent on details, the other girls tended to give her a look and she'd back off. She'd never fully outgrown the bossy side of her personality. Her thirst for knowledge had only increased. Hermione had also realised that Harry was smarter than she considered herself. She knew her memory was stronger, but Harry's mind was wired differently. He could look at the function of a device and just fill the gaps of his knowledge through trial and error until he could copy the effects he wanted.

Hermione was currently trying to make something she'd only heard about. Phasing. The Tollans had technology that allowed them to move through walls. Hermione knew that Harry had phasing down as a project he'd like to attempt one-day, but it was down a long list of other projects. Harry tended to work on what was necessary and fun first, before something that he wanted to explore for interest's sake only. She was struggling with the concept, but she refused to give up and believed that she'd be able to apply it someday soon. She was tired of using only Harry's inventions to make new things. She wanted something she could put her own name on.

OOO

By the time their next mission was supposed to start, Harry was too busy with his project and Cooper, along with Victor Krum, who had decided to join the team in Harry's stead for a couple of missions, since he'd recently joined the wolves for the opportunities offered in Harmony, went down to the planet, while Bill monitored and Harry stayed in his lab. Victor had hoped to become a ship captain, or at least a pilot, but apparently there was a waiting list and he'd need to 'up' his other skills and experience to be considered.

When the team returned a few hours later, Harry was on the lido deck, having lunch with Daphne. "Hey, guys!" he exclaimed. "How was the mission?"

"Early Christian settlement." Daniel said. "They are at a medieval level of technological development, but the priesthood rules."

"Their head priest had a weapon he used to punish people, saying it was the will of God." Jack said. "Then there was the Unas."

"Unas?" Harry asked. He knew of the creatures, but hadn't seen one since the cave where Teal'c and Jack had been sent on their first visit to Cimmeria. "They have Unas here?"

"There was only one." Victor said, smirking as he lifted his personal lightsaber. "Now there are none."

"I still say, I should have been the one to do that." Jack grumbled. He still didn't have a lightsaber, but he suspected that if he asked nicely, maybe Harry would give him one for his birthday.

"First come, first served." Victor smirked, putting his lightsaber away and sat down. The holster he had could only be opened by himself. He'd had it enchanted, at cost, but he considered it worth it. The lightsaber was one of his prized possessions. Very few people on Earth had fully operational ones. When a sandwich appeared in front of him, he tucked in, with the rest of the team soon following suit.

"As an early Christian settlement, the Unas was the perfect creature to use as a minion of the 'Devil'." Daniel said. "Apparently he was unaware that Sokar was under new management and was still gathering 'sacrifices', which the head priest was in charge of selecting."

"Since when did the Christian church condone of human sacrifice?" Harry asked.

"Well, technically-" Daniel started, but Jack interrupted.

"Let's just say that this particular flock had the wrong kind of shepherd." Jack said. Daniel scowled at Jack.

"And the Priest?" Daphne asked coldly, with a flinty look in her eyes.

"He's currently enduring the Tests." Cooper said, with a vindictive smirk.

"Cooper gave the man horns." Sam said. "After removing the ring he was using to access the system that he used to suppress the people."

"Good." Harry nodded at Cooper. He didn't know what the tests were, but he suspected the man was not having a grand old time. He turned to Sam. "What's the ring do?" he asked.

"Calls lighting from the sky." Sam said. "The uniform's protections were enough to stop it, though, so I'm guessing it works like an area-effect Zat, to knock people unconscious."

"Cheap." Harry scoffed. It could be a nice effect, especially to use on God-fearing folk, but he could do more with little effort.

"Something like this could be very useful to us." Sam said, after a sip of butterbeer.

"Keep it, then." Harry shrugged.

"Harry, could we do something about the living conditions of these people?" Daniel asked.

"Land?" Harry asked. Daniel knew the rules.

"Enough to sustain a large growth-rate." Daniel supplied quickly.

"Food?" Harry asked.

"They've got some fields and livestock." Jack said.

"With just a bit of knowledge, we can increase their quality of life with relative ease." Daniel said.

"Fine." Harry said. "You've got my vote, but you have to convince the General, before I set up a Transport Tunnel here."

"So, we're burying this gate as well?" Jack asked.

"Nah, I'll be taking it away." Harry said. "We want to open one of them up anyway. This world is far enough away from other systems that I doubt anyone would spend the energy to come here, looking for these people."

"Why do you want to open it up?" Sam asked.

"To see if we can make something similar." Harry said. "With a bit less risk, of course. I still don't like the things, but if I can figure out how to create and sustain a similar wormhole, and add in a bit of magic, I could likely apparate through the connection and make instant intergalactic, personal transportation a possibility."

"You just want a chance to make a new index, don't you?" Cooper asked, with a smirk.

"You spend too much time with me." Harry said, shaking his head. It was true though. The Indexes he'd built over the years had started becoming a great big collection of knowledge. He had even started adding his collection of movies to an index (he'd taken the time to purchase them legally, once they became available), which could be accessed from anywhere, as long as you were given access. Live video feeds to worldwide locations were on yet another index. The library index now had such a large collection of books that it exceeded any other collection of data they had gathered to date, by a large margin.

Parvati's clothing designs had their very own Index along with an illusionary display for testing and design. The original idea was actually a spell that had existed already. Incorporating it into a live model view with moving models and the ability to update the colours and designs in real time, while still in the design phase, was all Harry though.

Harry's rune Index was, similarly, an idea that he had come up with. Instead of having to carry notebooks with his original ideas, he simply stored them in their original size so that he could use his wandless magic to trace and apply the runes nearly effortlessly. All he needed to do was open the Index, find the design and apply it. The fact that he copied the runes from working rune clusters, meant that he always knew it would work. There was a bit more to it, with directions and sections showing what needed to happen in what order, but it still made a massive difference.

For the new wormhole program, however, if he could create a way to use the same principles as the Stargate for targeting, along with a subspace network index, he could seed not just stars, but galaxies with subspace transmitters for easy connection to whole new StellarNet systems.

"You want to make an Index?" Sam asked.

"It's one of my first trade secrets." Harry said. Sam looked frustrated, but Harry continued. "I make magical databases with functions, features and connections. The Comms use one of the first Indexes I ever designed. It's basically a magical interconnected network."

"Like the internet?" Jack asked.

"If the internet could send physical items." Harry nodded. "Or host interstellar travel, or connect to other intergalactic networks with instant communication. Then yes, like magical internet."

"And you want to create your own Stargate network, controlled by an Index?" Sam asked.

"Something like it, but smaller, more reliable and likely portable." Harry said. "Like taking a Stargate with you through the Stargate, but with another one available at your original location." He hadn't figured it all out yet.

"How would you even do that?" Daniel asked.

"Magic." Victor shrugged, having finished a second sandwich and now enjoying a tall glass of water. The water on the planet they had been on was not clean. "I enjoyed this mission." he said. "I will do it again." he decided. He'd lost most of his accent, but he still sometimes fell back on certain mannerisms of his original tongue.

"Sure thing, Vic." Harry said. "Just as soon as Neville and Hagrid have had their turns. Neville called dibs on the next mission and Hagrid really wants to see a planet with some natural settings. I'm thinking of sending them both through to Gaia. Neville wants to bring Ohper to his forest and Hagrid would likely find the Fenri cute." he shuddered at the memory of the supersized bug-creature.

"Wait, you want to send some of your friends on missions with us?" Jack asked. "Victor is at least trained, but that Neville kid-"

"Neville is as old as I am, actually a day older than myself." Harry interrupted. "He's also been trained in more of my tricks and magics than anyone else outside my family and future family."

"You'd be lucky to have him." Daphne added.

"Da." Victor nodded. "I remember him. He has improved with lightsaber?" he asked.

"He's never stopped training." Harry agreed. "Finishing out school did wonders for his self-esteem. He took over security from me and trained up a couple of younger-years to take over for him, when he left. They are like prefects, but with actual skills, instead of just responsibility. I think he said that the school intended to give them official roles, since I simply started doing things and Neville followed in my footsteps."

"I will challenge him again." Victor decided. He and Charlie had met up a couple of times. Their mutual love for the art had had them practice with their practice lightsabers until they had impressed Harry enough to give them their own, proper ones. These days, if you saw a red lightsaber blade, you knew it could turn deadly, since only red lightsabers had the actual blade, except for Neville's which was still green.

"Just, watch his next match first." Harry suggested.

"He's on a team?" Victor asked.

"He's the leader." Harry chuckled. "He only joined them a couple of months back. Now their team is quickly becoming the one to beat."

"He will never let me catch up will he?" Victor lamented. He remembered challenging Neville when they were at Hogwarts for the Triwizard. He'd been a seventh-year, in the best shape of his life, but the fourth-year Neville had defeated him without breaking a sweat. If he'd continued practicing since, he wondered who would be able to face him and win.

"Not if he can help it." Harry chuckled.

"Neville is the Jedi with the plants, right?" Jack asked. He'd caught a morning show once.

"Yup." Harry said. "The Jedi thing started as a joke. Neville and I had a couple of exhibition matches in school shortly after they saw the movies. He was a Jedi, and I was on the Dark Side. We never did finish that fight, now that I think about it…"

"Could you win?" Victor asked.

"Not without cheating a whole lot." Harry denied. Neville had been enhancing his own skills with magic for a long time and he could probably outperform a real Jedi at this point. Harry had once even caught him practicing casting a Confundus as a Jedi mind-trick, for show. "Neville is simply better than me at this principle."

"Finally, something he's not instantly good at." Daniel said.

"Oh, Harry's good." Daphne countered. "Neville is just one of the best. He has also never beaten Harry."

"But I cheat." Harry reiterated. "As for Hagrid, he's a gentle soul, but as a magical half-giant, he's tough as nails, strong as an ox and deadly with his Problem Solver. In a conflict situation he's the one you want at your back."

Daphne smiled at the memory of Hagrid setting off with Dumbledore to destroy the Dementors, on the night when the escaped Death Eaters attacked the ICW conference. "Those sunglasses." she sighed. "They make him look like a monster."

"As I understand it, Hagrid didn't make it into his own bed that evening." Harry chuckled. Madam Maxime had been very impressed with his actions in not only stopping but actually killing the seemingly immortal creatures.

"Problem Solver?" Jack asked.

"The first ever laser pistol Harry made." Daphne said proudly. "He was so excited to finish it, he did that instead of preparing for the second task of the Triwizard Tournament."

"You didn't even prepare for it?" Victor asked in disgust. He had been training constantly since he figured out the clue. He shook his head then and smiled. "They should have just declared you winner when you were chosen."

"But you and Fleur won." Harry pointed out. When Victor made to object, Harry continued. "That's the way the world remembers it happening and I'd be a fool to argue. Nobody likes a bad winner, Vic." Victor grumbled at that, but let it go.

"So, you are renting out your spot on the team to your friends?" Jack reiterated. He'd ask about the Triwizard Tournament later. He was also suddenly very interested in the term 'Laser Pistol'.

"He's giving it away for free." Daphne said, smirking at the man.

"Actually, he's doing you all a favour." Victor said. "I have certain skills and bring something else to the team. You can learn better about our culture with more exposure. I'm also learning what you do and it will get me the pilot position I want more quickly."

"You're a pilot?" Sam asked. She was a pilot, a Captain in the Air Force, an engineer and an astrophysicist. She'd not known that Victor was hoping to become a pilot.

"He was the world's best quiddich seeker for a few years." Harry said. "He decided to retire and come work for the wolves, after he lost the Snitch to another player for the first time in his entire professional quiddich career."

"Like the Snitch you used with The Sphere?" Jack asked.

"What's this?" Victor asked, sitting upright with a sudden look of glee on his face.

"It's a tool I made for testing skills and developing strategies in short range vessels." Harry said.

"Will you let me try?" Victor asked excitedly.

"Harry has an opening in his schedule next week." Daphne answered for him. Harry always came back home with a smile after he trained in the asteroid field training location. "I'll slot you in for Wednesday evening." Victor smiled at her in thanks.

"I would like to join you also… if I may." Teal'c said. He'd really enjoyed using the weapons system on the Sphere, when they were in the other timeline. Maybe they could bring Rya'c, so he could give it a try. Bra'tac was pushing for the boy to follow in his father's footsteps, to become a warrior, and Teal'c couldn't be prouder that his son had decided to do just that.

"I'll slot you and Colonel O'Neill in as well." Daphne said, while Harry just smiled at her. He knew what she was doing. Daphne and the rest of the girls felt that Harry needed to spend more time on fun pastimes. The training field was one of those pastimes.

"And me?" Sam asked.

"You'll likely be too busy showing Samantha around Harmony next week." Daphne said.

Sam turned to Harry. "You found a way for her to come here safely?" she asked.

"I'm still working on it, but the first few tests worked out fine. She can still come here for a few hours without risking permanent damage in the meanwhile." Harry said with a shrug. "Solving it is my current focus right now, though." he added.

"How did you-?" Sam started, but Daphne was already shaking her head. "One day you'll ask me to help you with something and then you'll have to explain these things to me anyway." Sam huffed.

The meeting soon broke up and Bill had them back on Mars in just a few seconds. Teal'c split from the team to go home to his family. The rest, including Cooper and Victor went back to the SGC for their debriefing. For General Hammond to agree to Victor standing in for Harry, he wanted to meet the man. It wasn't unreasonable, really, even if the general couldn't stop them if he wanted to.

OOO

Harry was still testing his latest device. It was an interface of sorts. He'd learned, through his experience with his control system for the weapons systems, that there was a real-time response to input. The magical learning technology worked like a data input device, but for biological organisms instead of computer systems.

He was currently testing the different sensory inputs he could emulate. He'd still not found any limitations. He'd conjured a human arm, copied from his own, and connected it to the system. He'd needed to experiment quite a bit to get the correct input. By the end of the first day, however, he'd already achieved partial success. He'd been able to move the hand at the same time as his real one.

That experiment had only grown since. Harry had spent a day or two with the Asgard. Loki was really not a favourite of his, but he had no qualms creating a real clone of Harry at his behest. The alien was a scientist and loved learning about magic. He did not seem happy that Harry had insisted on having someone else monitor them, since he didn't trust the alien not to make a copy of him for himself to experiment on.

That clone was currently in Harry's lab on Prometheus, lying on an examination table, like a patient at a hospital, about to be operated on. It breathed and its heart beat, but it had no mind or consciousness, even if it was a complete copy, with a blank mind. Harry had successfully interfaced with the body, opening its eyes to look through them, feeling his own hand on the skin of its forehead. It was really weird, but also had much potential.

The idea of the body was for Harry to create an interface for the Samantha from the other timeline, to be able to visit from her own reality, into another body and have a full experience in this reality. The problem with the two minds being in the same reality shouldn't be an issue then, since the new body would have been created in this reality. Even if it did stop working, it would only risk the new body, not the mind behind it.

Harry still didn't know how the whole thing worked. If alternate Kowalski could exist in their reality, just because the local one was dead, that didn't affect the fact that his cells, however degraded, would still technically be in their reality. They had explained it to Harry as two of the same people existing in the same reality at the same time. Even if their history was different they were the same people. The mental intrusion into a reality not your own, broke down your physical body over time, to eject the foreign mind.

Even though that didn't make sense to Harry, if he could do what he was planning, he could turn the mind controlling the body into just a form of data. Harry suspected it had to do with a combination of the body, soul and mind, so if he could change enough factors, he'd be able to bypass the issue.

When he was ready for the latest test, he lay back on another bed and pulled down the HUD over his eyes. It wasn't like he saw through them, but pulling them down was how he activated the link and served as a visual confirmation that he was connected. It wasn't necessary for him, but it would be for normal people.

The eyes of the clone blinked a couple of times, but Harry was unable to focus. "Oh, right." he mumbled as he remembered his original body had bad eyesight. It made sense that a clone would have the original problem. He focussed on his magic, to conjure a pair of glasses, but nothing happened. The clone sighed, closed its eyes and Harry took off the HUD, only to realise that he had a pair of glasses on his lap. "Interesting." It seemed that his magic worked, but it wasn't being channelled through the link. He'd be able to sort that another time. For the time being he walked over to the clone and put the glasses on its head, before restarting the experiment.