After sorting his Christmas gifts, Loren left his room and joined his parents to prepare the Christmas dinner. This year's holiday would be just Loren and the Angus couple; Hermione was taking the Grangers on the Knight Bus to visit Mrs. Doris and spend Christmas in the countryside.
Honestly, Christmas didn't mean much to Loren, but he still went through the motions with Angus and his wife. In the end, his parents gave him a present—a personal computer—which genuinely surprised him. He hadn't expected his parents, who were already easing into the wizarding world, to buy a high-tech Muggle toy. Loren's gift to them was two sets of the latest magical notebook. After Christmas, once he had the magical satellite into orbit, those notebooks would be able to connect over long distances. To reach his full envisioned functionality, though, he'd have to wait until the Hogwarts server was up and running.
He also prepared a set for the Grangers. As for Hermione, he had a brand-new broom for her: a Nimbus 2001—the best you could buy on the market—and he'd tweaked it so that, in overclocked mode, it could hit Firebolt-class performance.
Finding his parents sleeping soundly, Loren didn't wake them. He left a note on the table and slipped out. Today, he intended to place his hand-built magical satellite into Earth orbit—the first step toward a networked world.
It was the 1990s. Science had progressed to a certain point, and there were already more than a thousand satellites around Earth, but they wouldn't cause Loren much trouble. He'd designed this magical satellite from the start for high Earth orbit. By his reckoning, there were only around two hundred thousand witches and wizards in the Harry Potter world; a single geosynchronous satellite would more than cover global communications needs. At present, because of technical and economic limits, satellites up in geosynchronous orbit were relatively few.
Loren first dropped into the small world to load the magical satellite and a Vanishing Cabinet into his personal storage, then pulled out the magical spacesuit he'd prepared. He might be half-psionic and unafraid of space, but raw exposure wasn't exactly comfortable. A magic-augmented suit would give him an envelope of air, protect him from extremes, and cost little—why not?
For other countries, launching a satellite was complex and delicate, with concerns like safety, equipment reliability, weather, orbital insertion and station-keeping, international cooperation and regulations, and data security. For Loren, none of that was a problem. He'd hand-built the satellite with alchemy and a deep knowledge base, and it had passed stress tests; its safety was solid. He would also be doing a direct assist—personally hauling it to orbit—so weather and launch windows didn't matter. As for international regulations, well—if those countries could barely detect wizards at home, good luck spotting a satellite Loren cloaked with magic.
Suited up, he drew his Firebolt, cast an Invisibility Charm, and shot skyward. The Firebolt lived up to its title as the wizarding world's fastest broom; under Loren's unrestrained magic it hit its peak speed of fifteen hundred miles per hour in short order.
Soon he'd reached 25,510 meters. That was the Firebolt's practical ceiling at normal performance—about 25 kilometers, still far short of satellite orbit. Civilian airliners cruised in the stratosphere; you could say a Firebolt's stock capabilities were only just catching up to Muggle passenger jets.
Loren then sheathed himself and the broom in magic and began overclocking. As speed climbed, altitude followed, until he reached 100,408 meters—roughly 100 kilometers. That result exceeded his expectations: in overclocked mode, the Firebolt could carry him to the Kármán line. But that was as far as the broom could go. Beyond this, Loren had to rely on other means. He was aiming for geosynchronous orbit at about 35,786 kilometers; only at that height could he provide true global service.
Braving searing temperatures and Earth's pull, he stowed the Firebolt and began making chained Apparitions, checking his altitude from the magical suit's telemetry. For safety, he limited each jump to about a thousand kilometers, which meant roughly thirty-five casts to reach his target. Longer jumps without an array or special tools would make even him uncomfortable. Up here, a mistake meant his only fallback would be the Vanishing Cabinet to return to Earth.
After spending a great deal of magic—and dodging several satellites—he reached geosynchronous orbit. It was quiet there, not as crowded as it would be decades later; even at maximum scan range, he didn't spot a single bird.
Placing a satellite wasn't simple even for Loren. If he simply pulled it from storage, it would start "falling" immediately. He first had to give it initial velocity—about 3.08 kilometers per second—to keep it circling Earth. He was nowhere near the level of Raven 12345, who could swat the Moon itself and push it along. For now, he relied on magic to hold the satellite steady, then used the Banishing Charm to send it flying. Yes, that's right—a little "banish" jinx. Crude, but with precise calculations and a massive portion of his magic, it did the job.
Once he confirmed the satellite's velocity was stable on-orbit, Loren took out his magical notebook, ready to ping Hermione and make the wizarding world's first network call. He opened the notebook, tapped an icon like a little comet, and a list of names rolled up—Hermione's was pinned to the top, of course. He tapped her name; "Connecting…" appeared.
Hermione, who had just returned from the countryside on the Knight Bus, was at home reading and wondering where Loren had gone—he was usually around at this hour. She felt a strange pulse from her beaded bag, reached in, and pulled out the magical notebook Loren had given her. A page she'd never seen before popped up:
"Loren is requesting a call. Accept?"
"Can you hear me?" Loren's voice came first.
"Loud and clear. Where are you, Loren? Why is it so dark behind you?"
He glanced at the feed and saw the all-black background. Oh. He adjusted his orientation and, in Hermione's view, the darkness shifted until a pale blue sphere filled the frame.
Stunned, Hermione needed a moment to process. "Oh my—Loren, what exactly are you doing? What is that behind you?"
"I'm outside Earth, tuning the magical satellite. And that behind me? That's Earth!"
He adjusted the framing again so the notebook faced the planet dead on, and for the first time Hermione saw the Earth in full.
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