It had been one week since Loki whisked Harry away in mid-teleport.
The star ship Harry was on was still in orbit around Earth.
During this week Harry had remained restrained on Loki's idea of an examination table, and he was only allowed to awaken when the tiny alien wanted some conversation. He told Harry that apparently it was a very lonely existence, being an exiled scientist. He allowed Harry about an hour's consciousness a day, during which he would also manipulate the restraining field, giving Harry forced exercise, it also served for some very mind blowing conversations…about things that most Earth scientists would be drooling to discover.
Harry had obviously deduced that Loki was a member of an advanced alien race, hundreds if not thousands of years beyond humanity in technology…and eventually Loki told him what they called themselves…the Asgard.
And, as it turned out, Loki was wholly responsible for all the alien abduction stories to emerge since the mid nineteen forties. "Your species had split the atom…and that is a very rare thing to achieve, especially with the current situation in your galaxy. It attracted my attention and I've been interested in your species ever since."
This, of course, led to a whole bunch of other questions to explode in Harry's head. Such as why?
"I'll answer this question," said Loki eventually, "because I am fully aware of your abilities and powers, how I know this I will not say, that is for you to find out, but I want to obtain your honest co-operation and not try to escape, it is rather taxing on my ship's energy reserves to keep you suppressed."
That at least answered the question of why Harry couldn't use any of his power ever since he had been transported aboard.
"To put it simply," continued Loki, "the Asgard are a dying race. We have achieved a form of immortality in that we have developed the technology to transfer our consciousness to a newly grown organic body."
"Clones?" guessed Harry, biologists and genetic scientists were researching in that direction, he had read.
"Indeed, we reproduce totally through a form of enhanced cellular meiosis," said Loki.
"I take it you lost the ability to do so through the other way…" said Harry delicately, as Loki most obviously did not have any visible external reproductive organs, and walked around with no clothes.
"Quite," said Loki looking somewhat uncomfortable, "as such making a copy of a copy, over time causes…"
"The law of diminishing returns," interrupted Harry, he was somewhat familiar with this; he did an extra credit biology project and had used High School books to do it.
"Indeed," said Loki, "as such we developed a way of introducing artificial mutation into the cloning process, to allow nature some leeway again, but we are reaching the limits of what our technology is capable of."
"So you're researching humans to find clues to solve the problem or at the very least stave it off somewhat," stated Harry. "So why would you be exiled for doing this?"
"Because the Asgard High Council was unwilling to do what was necessary to save our race," said Loki angrily, or at least Harry assumed that the expression on the Asgard's face was something akin to anger, "they balked at the kidnapping and the non-lethal invasive procedures to retrieve samples for study."
"Is that's what you've been doing to me?" asked Harry, frowning.
"Yes," said Loki, "I've simply been inserting microprobes into certain organs and taking a relatively miniscule sample. The green balls of light you see around you are medical scanners."
Harry wondered why he did not feel more upset at this. Technically, Loki was performing all sorts of medical tests without his consent. He was certainly angry, but it was somewhat tempered with how accommodating Loki was being, he even transported up some of Harry's favorite foods and fed them to Harry using the restraining field…it almost felt like someone else was using his hands to cut the food and bring it towards his mouth…where of course, Harry would take over, since his head was allowed to move freely.
Of course, this didn't mean that the instant the little alien made a mistake that Harry wouldn't capitalize on it and try to make his escape, but as yet, no such opportunities had arisen. Harry had decided to play along with Loki and try to gain a measure of trust from him…with it, would come a little more freedom and perhaps the means to affect an escape. So there was rather a method in Harry's madness in not resisting more overtly.
The next mind blowing question that Harry got answered was rather a whopper.
"What did you mean by 'the current situation in the galaxy' and that for a species to split the atom was rare?"
"Oh," said Loki, looking up from a strange curved pedestal that seemed to be flashing readings from the medical scanners at him. "I was referring to the Goa'uld."
"Can you explain more?" said Harry, trying to keep irritation out of his voice.
"The Goa'uld are a parasitic species," explained Loki, "in the last ten thousand years they have become one of the more influential and dominant forces in your Galaxy. Their natural form resembles something like a…snake, I believe is the closest word to it. They burrow into their human hosts through the neck or mouth and twirl themselves around the spinal column and extend tiny probes into the brain…essentially controlling the human. The Goa'uld are in every sense of the word, ego-maniacal, powerful and have an overwhelming desire to gain more power."
Before Harry could even digest the horror of this, Loki went on as if he were merely discussing the local weather.
"The first Goa'uld inhabitation of a human host occurred when the Supreme System Lord found a young boy in Egypt and afterwards that Goa'uld began to masquerade as the supreme god for that particular civilization's faith…humans called him, Ra."
"You're telling me all the ancient Egyptian gods were actually the Goa'uld?" asked Harry incredulously.
"Indeed," said Loki, looking down into his console, "in fact, various Classical cultures on your planet have been influenced by them. However, the Goa'uld were not happy with just Earth, they wanted more. So, they took humans and placed them on other inhabitable worlds to use as slaves. When the Goa'uld were finished with a planet, they didn't bother relocating the slaves and just left them there to fend for themselves, but the Goa'uld keeps tabs on the technological development of these displaced human civilizations, and whenever one is deemed to be too advanced…they are attacked and wiped out."
Harry took a few deep breaths trying to take this all in.
"But what then about Earth? Surely our current level of technology is a threat to them?"
"Yes," said Loki, "but the Goa'uld are unaware of Earth at the present moment. Interstellar space travel still takes years between destinations, at least for the Goa'uld." Loki seemed smug as he said this. "And five thousand years ago there was a successful rebellion by the ancient Egyptians against Ra. They managed to secretly stockpile an arsenal of Ra's advanced weaponry and fought against his Jaffa (the Goa'uld's warriors). They forced Ra to leave in his ship…and they buried the only means with which the Goa'uld could efficiently project their power onto Earth…the Stargate."
"The Stargate?"
"The Stargate is the legacy of the most powerful and ancient civilization to evolve in this Galaxy," said Loki. "The Asgard has no name for this civilization, as their rise and fall is a mystery lost to the ravages of time. We call them, the Ancients." At this, Loki looked up and narrowed his large eyes at Harry. "The Stargate is a device that the Ancients placed on each world they terraformed in this galaxy. It allows near instantaneous transportation between worlds that have an active Stargate. You step through it and you are demolecularized and your matter is sent through subspace to reappear at your destination. As such it was a much more efficient way of moving across the galaxy."
More revelations accompanied Harry and Loki's discussions, such as the Hyperdrive, and he went into more detail on the Stargate. Though most of the theoretical science flew right over Harry's head, he understood the gist of it and what the Stargate was principally made out of, the powerful mineral called Naquadah; which was also used by the Goa'uld in most of their space-faring and weapons technology, in fact, the mineral was so valued by the Goa'uld that it was even present in their blood.
It was at the end of the week though, that every single plan Harry had dreamed up to escape was rather neatly thrown out the window.
Loki had once again revived Harry and another series of examinations was due to begin. However, even before the little green scanners could come out and surround Harry, a strange-pitched sound began to resound within the room. Harry briefly saw Loki moving as fast as his tiny legs could carry him towards another console, outside of his range of vision. The little alien was muttering in a language that had to be Asgard, but Harry did not need to understand that Loki was really angry and irritated, and what passed for Asgard invective was passing his gray lips.
Loki had once again revived Harry facing the large window out into space, and he was treated to a fantastic sight.
Space above Earth was rippling and twisting. In the center of it was a rather beautiful dark purple mass of energy that was swirling and crackling with lightning, star light was being distorted around it…and from within a huge starship swooped out of it; the ship was made of a combination of wedge and hammer shapes, two large wedges were vertical and Harry guessed that was where the engines would be, the two wedges were joined with a central gray hull that tapered to a large hammer shape, this time in the vertical.
Harry was amazed at the sheer technological might it would take to construct a ship like that. And it was the first time he had seen a Hyperspace window in action.
The Space Shuttle would be swatted like a bug against this thing, thought Harry.
Space behind the giant ship returned to the normal inky blackness of void. More invective passed Loki's lips. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw a holographic screen appear out of nowhere and on it was another Asgard, this one slightly different than Loki, but it was very subtle, and this Asgard was wearing some sort of pendant. Clearly it was somebody important.
Loki and the other Asgard now proceeded to into engage into a visibly heated argument. It lasted for almost a minute, and ended when Loki emitted a string of harmonic sounds that visibly shocked the other Asgard…and the connection was cut.
"We must flee," said Loki and Harry saw the Earth was rapidly tilting and but a moment later disappeared completely…the lights in the room dimmed slightly…and Harry saw out of the window, space folding and twisting again…Loki was opening a Hyperspace window!
"Hey! That was my home! Take me back!" screamed Harry. Loki's ship suddenly shot forward into the mass of purple energy…there was a blinding flash…and Harry saw out the window that they were now moving in a seemingly endless tunnel, made out of hypnotic blue swirls that passed by the ship at an alarming speed.
"I had no choice," said Loki, coming back into view of Harry. "But I will not give you up so easily! You are the find and opportunity of a lifetime! Thor will need to be more creative to catch up with me." Harry had no idea who Thor was, and at the moment he didn't care. Loki had explained the Hyperdrive to him in brief detail, and by now they were already a hundred light-years from Earth.
"I don't give an effing about that, I thought you were going to send me back when you were finished?" shouted Harry angrily and half-desperate.
"I lied," said Loki shortly.
Harry could only gape at the Asgard in numb disbelief and his mind latched onto his only hope, "But I will surely be missed back home, and not to mention this Thor will eventually find you?"
"No one will miss you back home," said Loki smugly. "You see, a few days ago I surreptitiously transported a sample of blood out of your body while you slept in your house. From that I was able to grow a clone of you. Then when I captured you I simply switched you for your clone and copied your all of your memories into the clone. And, as for Thor, knowing him, it would take him quite a while to find me and even if he did corner me I would dump you on his lap, and escape in his altruistic attempt to help you."
Before Harry could even come to terms with that, Loki said, "Thor has forced my hand though, I will need to move up the pace of my tests, and for that we need to move to the next phase."
Harry couldn't keep from gulping in nervousness at the eager glint he saw in Loki's large black eyes.
"And w-what would that be?" said Harry, trembling.
"Well," said Loki, falling into his boring lecture voice he had been using whenever explaining something to Harry, "it's all good and well to study an advanced human such as you in your early adolescent stage…but what I am most interested in is an adult specimen. And since Thor is in pursuit that leaves me with but one option…Goodnight."
And before Harry could blink…he was unconscious.
Harry had no concept of time when he was put under by whatever device Loki was using. He still had a sense of self, but it floated in a vast darkness seemingly greater than the Universe itself. But when Harry awoke, he was surprised to find that his limbs responded to his mind's command. He jerked upright and felt a thin, gray blanket fall off his body. He was lying on a rather comfortable bed, but while it felt nice, visibly it looked horribly uncomfortable; a mere man sized protrusion that seemed to slide out of the wall of the room he was in.
And Harry groaned when he saw the clear signs of Asgard design on the walls. He was still Loki's prisoner it seemed. Harry returned to pondering the mystery of the bed; he pressed his hand down towards the hard flat surface and was surprised when he found some sort of soft resistance pressing against it; it was as if there was an invisible mattress on the protrusion.
But Harry lost all interest in it when he noticed his hand. It had changed. His fingers were longer and thinner than he remembered, and there were slight hairs growing out of it. His eyes slowly traveled up his bare arm and again he found it way more muscled and longer than he recalled…at this point Harry was freaking out slightly.
He jumped off the Asgard bed and belatedly saw that he had not a scrap of clothing on, his nakedness took a backseat though to when he saw the rest of his body; visible pectoral, abdominal muscles rippled as he moved, his legs were tall and muscled too.
Then the gravity of what Loki had done hit him full in the face.
"He aged me!" said Harry to himself, thinking furiously on how that was possible. Loki had said the Asgard had cloning technology, could that be used to age a naturally born human? Of course it could, he thought dimly. If he could create an eleven year old clone of me in a few days.
Harry tried to walk and promptly ended up tripping on his own feet and falling onto the cold floor. Angered at his prat fall, Harry muttered, "My balance is all whacked out." So Harry spent the next boring few hours getting used to his older body. He estimated he had been aged ten years or so by Loki and soon enough he actually found it quite cool. When he was young it had long been a fantasy of Harry to think of himself as older, as everyone was bigger than him. He imagined if he could just turn into an adult he could leave the Dursleys and strike out on his own, he would never have to tolerate a beating from Dudley again.
Of course, this didn't mean that Harry was not angry about the whole thing…he had been somewhat looking forward to the whole being a teenager deal, going to school, perhaps dating a few girls, and the like. But that whole phase had just been swatted away thanks to a conniving alien.
One of the walls to the side of the room gave a beep and began to part. Harry had hastily gathered power into his hands, readying to blast Loki with a Blasting Spell should the treacherous Asgard walk through. He relaxed slightly though when he saw, not Loki, but what looked like the Asgard called Thor walk calmly into the room. The obsidian pendant on the small alien's chest glinted in the artificial light of the room.
"Greetings," monotoned Thor, bending his large head slightly. "I mean you no harm." The alien stared pointedly at the glowing magic coalesced in Harry's hands.
"I got that line from Loki, too," said Harry, now registering the deep baritone of his own voice.
"Unlike, Loki, I have not kept you in a restraining field, nor will I keep you confined," said Thor easily. "My name is Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet, and I will allow you free reign on my ship, the Beliskner."
Harry weighed his options for a few moments and then relaxed his hands, letting the magic dissipate. His nakedness now reared to the forefront of his mind and he looked for the blanket that had covered him on the Asgard bed, only to find that both blanket and bed had disappeared into the wall.
"Uh…you wouldn't happen to have seen my clothes?" asked Harry, trying to look nonchalant as he covered his manhood with his forearm, trying to make it look like a relaxed pose.
"I apologize," said Thor, "but Loki released you in this fashion in an escape pod, just as I was ready to catch his ship with a gravimetric trap. Your pod was on a direct course for a sun. I was forced to break off and rescue you…Loki escaped."
"I guess he was finally finished with me," said Harry with a sigh.
"On behalf of the Asgard people, I apologize for the actions of Loki, he does not represent the will or intent of the Asgard," said Thor, bowing again. "I am now obligated to help you in any way that I can, but by what name can I address you?"
"My name is Harry."
"Very well…Harry, now what help do you desire or wish?"
"I don't suppose you can de-age me, and arrange for me to replace my clone, on Earth?" I asked hopefully.
"Unfortunately, that is not practical," said the Asgard, looking sad. "A clone's ageing can be sped up but not reversed, a Tlalok cannot be turned back into its ingredients." Harry was totally unfamiliar with the metaphor but guessed it was like saying you can't get the individual eggs out of an omelet. "And you are not aware of how much time has passed since you were kidnapped by Loki."
"How long?" said Harry blearily.
"Six of your Earth months," said Thor succinctly. Harry only closed his eyes in response and could feel a slight headache coming on. "And even if we could return you to your former age, your clone has been on Earth too long. For you too replace him now would not work. Your experiences have been too divergent."
"Do you have anything that resembles clothes then?" said Harry next.
"As you have seen, Asgard do not need to wear clothes, however…" Thor trailed off and spoke into an odd triangular device that was emitting a soft inner light and it was marked with Asgard symbols all around the edges. There was a flash of white light and a whooshing sound, and a circular plastic container about a foot in height appeared in front of Thor.
The container was filled with a chrome liquid like metal substance that was swirling inside it as if it was being constantly stirred.
"I can offer this as a temporary substitute for clothes on such short notice," said Thor. "It is what Asgard use when we want to work in the vacuum of space or hostile environments, while still being very comfortable to wear, in fact I doubt you will even feel as if you are wearing it."
Harry eyed the container warily but then shook his head to dispel his paranoia, he needed some form of clothes and something would be better than nothing. "What do I do to put it on?"
"Simply remove the lid and touch a finger to the substance, the suit will do the rest," explained Thor. Harry did so, and slowly inched a finger into the chrome liquid. The liquid felt, almost like nothing, there was a slight pressure on his finger to show that it was there, but it was practically featherlight. Then the chrome liquid began to snake all over Harry's hand…it advanced further…up his arm, down his chest and back, soon Harry's body was totally covered in the mass of chrome. It was expanding and contracting and swirling, as if trying to find every curve on Harry's skin and molding itself to it perfectly…and soon enough, that's exactly what it did.
Below the neck, Harry now wore something like a form-fitting chrome catsuit that covered his hand and feet as well; he was relieved when he saw that the suit had hidden his privates to a reasonable degree (as if he was wearing tight boxers).
"Pretty cool," said Harry.
"Indeed," was all Thor said, "it has an artificial intelligence matrix woven into the design of the molecules, and will respond automatically to any pressure or atmospheric change, and toxic substances you might suddenly be exposed to in your environment. It can easily absorb and withstand a few Jaffa Staff weapon blasts and makes you impervious to the Goa'uld Zat'Nikatel."
"Loki told me about the Staff weapon but what is a Zat…Nik…?" asked Harry in confusion.
"The Zat'Nikatel is a hand weapon that looks like a coiled serpent, it fires an electric energy blast that will stun most life forms, however, a second consequent shot within five minutes will kill, and a third disintegrates."
"Ouch," said Harry wincing, appreciating the chromesuit even more.
"Now we must move on to your situation, this will be a life changing decision on your part, so I will not expect your answer now, Harry," said Thor gravely. "As I see it, you have three options."
"The first, you can stay with the Asgard, I will deliver you to an Asgard protected planet in this Galaxy, where you can learn of science and technology and train your advanced human abilities under an Asgard mentor I have in mind; her name is Heimdoll." Harry's wasn't sure he was imagining it or not, but he was sure he heard fondness in Thor's voice. "The problem with this is that you will only have Asgard companionship and it will be lonely for you, but you will learn of the broader Universe and its mysteries. Eventually, you may find yourself a calling and pursue it."
"Your second option, would be to live with a suitable human culture on another planet. There is one such culture the Asgard know of but maintain little contact with. They call themselves the Tollan. They have a much higher technology than Earth, by about a thousand years or so. The Goa'uld are slightly less advanced than the Tollan, so you would be relatively safe there. You can be taught there in their understanding of science and any direction you choose. The problem here is that you cannot openly practice your powers. Despite their advanced technology the Tollan are not much different from normal Earthlings in terms of evolutionary development, you would be even more of an outsider to them than you already are."
"Your third option, will be to return to Earth, and live a life in another country of your planet, and again learning as you would have originally. You risk discovery, however, should you return and with the level of immaturity and paranoia in current Earth governments that would not bode well for you."
Harry was frowning and so many thoughts zoomed in his head that he was sure he had burned out a few neurons. He could only say one coherent thing at the moment.
"I need more information about the choices," said Harry pensively. "Can I use your computer to get that?"
"Most certainly, Harry, follow me."
888888888888888888888888888
Harry sat in an uncomfortable backless chair, in front of him was a curved silver pedestal and a few meters in front of him hovered a large holographic display. The silver pedestal still had Asgard writing on its edges, but Thor had converted the majority of the pedestal into English and even had a smaller version of a standard keyboard at the bottom right.
Thor had already called up the relevant data Harry needed though and so Harry only used the pedestal to scroll through the information. Only when Harry wanted to branch off on a tangent line of research would he have to attempt to use the controls, but Thor was hovering patiently at the edge of the large database room should Harry need help.
Harry spent the next two hours browsing through information on the Asgard and Tollan cultures. It was quite detailed and fascinating stuff. The one conclusion he did come to about the Tollan though was that they tended to be a bit too pacifist for Harry's tastes. Though it was a sign of a mature and enlightened society to not put too much effort into weapons research and development; the data he was seeing on the Tollan said they put hardly more than a token effort into it, and focused more on passive technologies; power generation, medical technology and so forth.
Harry shook his head and sighed. He had read Sun Tzu's Art of War a year ago in the public library and the Tollan attitude was a recipe for disaster.
The Asgard while not sharing this attitude, had moved themselves into a corner with this cloning reproduction thing, as evidenced by Loki.
Harry also researched the situation in the galaxy as a whole. And he was rather appalled by what he was seeing. He knew from Loki that the Goa'uld were a dominant force, but it finally hit home just how dominant they were. Seeing how the galaxy was divided amongst the various competing System Lords made him frown grimly at the screen.
Finally, Harry turned around to face Thor. He had decided it was best to just make the decisions quickly and not agonize for days and hours over it, he didn't know if Thor would put up with him for that long.
"I've decided," said Harry softly.
"Indeed," said Thor, inviting Harry to elaborate.
"I think I will choose a combination of choices one and three," said Harry thoughtfully. "I will spend as long as it takes with Heimdoll to educate myself to Asgard standards and explore and master my powers to the best of my ability. I'll also want to explore the galaxy through the Stargate occasionally." Harry paused gathering his thoughts.
"I definitely don't want the Goa'uld to find Earth either. I want to protect my world. Does the Asgard have any intelligence on the Earth Stargate, is it still buried?"
"My ship's sensor records should be able to tell us that," said Thor and he stepped forward and his long spindly fingers danced over the pedestal. Harry berated himself that he should not have been surprised that Thor could also work it in English. With a brain that large, Thor could possibly have mastered dozens if not hundreds of languages. Up on the screen a large sensor image of Earth appeared. "These readings were taken as I confronted Loki in Earth orbit," explained Thor. "It is searching for the characteristic Naquadah signature of the Stargate."
A single cross-hair was dancing over the image of Earth and quite suddenly it settled on a spot in the North-American continent.
"So they have found it," commented Thor. "Our last reports said that it was still buried in Egypt."
"When was this?"
"The last Asgard ship to do a scan of Earth passed this way ninety years ago," said Thor.
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the bloody Americans have it," said Harry with a grunt.
"It is located in what appears to be a military storage warehouse near a city called Washington D.C.," said Thor further. "They have perhaps not deduced how the gate system works yet."
"Can anyone connect to the gate?" asked Harry nervously.
"No," said Thor, and Harry let out a breath of relief. "The gate is unpowered."
"That simplifies things," said Harry. "Anyway, I do want to eventually return to Earth, maybe for a visit only."
"Very well," said Thor bowing again. "I'll set a course for Heimdoll's location, please feel free to spend the journey here, you can also use this pedestal to call for food supplements." And with that Thor walked out of the database room and the door closed automatically behind him. A few minutes later, Harry saw out the small window the starfield begin to blur into lines as Thor's ship turned on its axis and then settled back into pinpricks of light as the ship settled on it new heading.
The space ahead abruptly folded and turned purple in maelstrom of energy and a moment later they were in Hyperspace again.
The journey took eight hours, and it was then that Harry discovered the perils of Asgard cuisine. In retrospect Harry should have known that what an Asgard considers food would be vastly different to a human, even an 'advanced human' as Thor called him. The computer delivered by transporter a plate of what looked like different colored cookies in various basic geometric shapes. Harry had always liked chocolate flavor so he picked up a round, brown shaped cookie and bit into it…only to promptly spit it back out onto the silver plate in disgust. It tasted like extremely potent liquorish. Harry told the computer to take the plate away and he set about trying to get the computer to more accurately approximate human food.
He didn't manage to get rid of the different colored cookies, but did manage to change the flavor to a tolerable pumpkin-pie like taste.
Harry spent the last hour of the journey comfortably ensconced on an Asgard bed he had the computer deliver for him, and faced the small window, letting the swirls of Hyperspace and the hum of the ship lull him into a brief catnap.
A change in the hum of the ship shook him out of it and he saw that they had exited Hyperspace and were approaching an Earth-like world. There seemed to very little landmass on this world, it was mostly water and what land there was, was arranged in an archipelago. Harry imagined that the beaches would be heavenly to walk on.
He turned though as he heard the doors to the room part open again.
"We have arrived at Heimdoll's location," said Thor. "It's an underwater complex she lives in, near one of the larger islands in the northern hemisphere of the planet."
"It looks lovely from here," said Harry.
"It is indeed an aesthetically pleasing world, I thought it would merit your approval," said Thor. "Are you ready to leave for the surface?"
"Sure," said Harry, feeling rather uncertain, but trying not to show it. "Where are we headed first?"
"We will first be transporting to the base of the Stargate on this world, so that you can Teleport yourself there if you need to," said Thor.
"How do you know I need to see a place before I can Teleport there?" asked Harry curiously.
"Simple logic, Harry," said Thor in a chiding tone. "Just as an Asgard transporter cannot work without destination coordinates, so you cannot Teleport without a firm idea of where you want to go."
"Oh," said Harry feeling stupid. Thor brought forth the triangular jewel device in his hand again and stroked it with one finger. There was a whooshing sound again and Harry found himself enveloped in white light and the world twisted away from him into a void of white…his consciousness was aware of the journey as he sped towards the planet at mindblowing speed…and not a moment later the blinding light was back and Harry felt his feet on solid ground again…the light disappeared and he blinked to regain his vision.
He was standing in a large clearing of sorts, which was surrounded by forest green palm trees. Off to one side, and visible beyond the trees was a long white sandy beach. Waves crashed onto the beach in a rolling crescendo of beautiful sound, which Harry felt he could listen to all day. The ocean beyond that was just as beautiful, it was so clear and blue that it felt unreal. Except for the Stargate this island had clearly been left untouched by anything resembling intelligent lifeforms. Adding to surrealistic feel of the planet was the clear blue sky with a single sun slowly climbing upwards…showing that it was morning, and two moons were visible as well.
"Thor, is there intelligent life on this world?"
"None have evolved yet," said Thor. "And thus far there have been no confirmed report of Naquadah on this planet, as such, the Goa'uld would not be interested in it. And this Stargate is unknown to the Goa'uld. The Asgard obtained this world Stargate address from salvaged pieces of the Ancient's Repository of Knowledge."
"Repository of Knowledge?" asked Harry curiously.
"It's the sum of knowledge that the Ancients had before they moved on from our little corner of the Universe," said Thor. "To give you some idea of how vast it is, the Asgard have been studying the nine percent of the total volume of the Repository for as long as I can remember, and we have barely scratched the surface."
Harry shook his head in awe, trying to imagine that amount of knowledge and understanding, and failing.
"What is Heimdoll studying here, if I may ask?" asked Harry next, his eyes scanning the surroundings and memorizing.
"Heimdoll has two specialties, theoretical physics and biology," replied Thor. "At the moment she is studying a sea life form we believe may develop into a sentient species. She is also a member of the Asgard genetics council and was principally responsible for expelling Loki for his crude methodology."
"Then she and I will get along fine," said Harry with a grin. Thor regarded Harry for a moment and said, "Do you have a firm picture in your mind of this location?"
Harry nodded, and Thor thumbed the jewel device in his hand again and with another whoosh and flash of transport, they disappeared.
They reappeared in a room, which Harry now associated with Asgard design; matt black and gray floors, transparent artfully designed frosted doors, with control pedestals occasionally dotting the room. The only obvious difference Harry saw to every other room on Thor's ship was the view outside the large curved window…a blue ocean was beyond it; the occasional bubble would sprinkle upwards and strangely shaped fish would glide past looking almost like Manta Rays, but not quite. Harry heard the sound of what had to be whale song also, but logically he knew that the closest whale was over a thousand light-years away on Earth. He could also hear the relaxing sound of the waves crashing through the ocean, and he judged that they were not that far from the island he and Thor had just visited.
Harry heard the tell tale swishing of the door open and he spun around to face it. Walking over the threshold was another Asgard, again looking slightly different to Thor in the way they gray skin pigmentation was patterned, but this Asgard did not have the High Council pendant. Harry tried to study 'her' for obvious signs of being female, but gave up after a few moments, not wanting to be rude by staring too intently…
"Ahh, and here he is," said a strangely high pitched voice, and that was the only female attribute Harry could lock on to in his mind. Harry thought Heimdoll sounded a bit like an overly maternal Aunt in her tone of voice. Heimdoll paused a few feet in front of Harry and looked him up and down appraisingly. "Hmmph," she said, "Loki was always good in speeding up growth factors, and I certainly hope that clone he supplanted you with is up to the task. He was always a little bit lacking in his cloning technique."
Harry began shift uncomfortably. Heimdoll was staring at him almost as if she was a cook surveying a meal made by a rival chef. "I think I better give your genome a look though, no telling what mistakes Loki could have made."
Thor cleared his thin throat and Heimdoll was snapped out of her appraising of Harry.
"Oh," she squeaked, glancing at Thor. "I do apologize…Harry, where are my manners, I tend to get a bit carried away in my work. Let me introduce myself, as you have guessed no doubt, my name is Heimdoll, and I will be your teacher for the next few years."
"Pleasure to meet you," said Harry, bowing his head awkwardly.
"The pleasure is mine, I assure you," said Heimdoll. "It's been a very long time since the galaxy has seen one of your kind walking amongst the stars. I'm rather eager to see what you can do with that highly evolved mind of yours."
"So am I," quipped Harry uncomfortably.
"Good, good," said Heimdoll, "now if you will excuse Thor and I for about fifteen minutes or so," she grabbed the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet by the hand and pulled him ungracefully out of the room, "Thor and I need to discuss certain matters of mutual interest."
Harry frowned as the door closed behind the two Asgard, and he wondered belatedly if relationships between the two sexes amongst the Asgard were much the same as between the human sexes.
The next day Harry had barely time to arrange his austere living quarters in the underwater lab complex which he begun to simply call 'Seaworld' (highly unoriginal but simple), before he was summoned by Heimdoll to discuss his schooling. He navigated the complex corridors of Seaworld by means of an Asgard jewel device, which he wore on his waist. He merely told it he wanted to go to Heimdoll and somehow the jewel device had accessed his retina and overlaid a holographic map of where he had to go; it was something that only Harry could see.
Another thing Harry found odd was the lack of other Asgard in the large complex, and now that he thought about it, he had not seen any other Asgard on Thor's ship either. There was only one answer he could think of to this, Asgard ships and places relied heavily on their computers to do most of the work a crew would. Harry recalled reading from the database that there were actually quite few Asgard in actual cloned bodies walking around, there were only enough to sustain their civilization, while the rest were kept in a hibernation by storing their consciousnesses. Harry supposed it was one way to stop the effect of genetic degradation in the Asgard genome.
Speaking of genetics, before Heimdoll allowed Harry to sleep that night, true to her word she gave Harry's genome a genetic examination, and she corrected what she considered 'flaws' in Loki's work by exposing Harry to a gentle red light that enveloped his body. Harry thought it was weird to think that she was rearranging his chromosomes while he merely stood there.
When Harry entered the main room he had appeared in with Thor again (it was a room Heimdoll simply called the laboratory), it was to find Heimdoll eagerly bouncing on her tiny gray feet.
"Greetings Harry," said Heimdoll in her matronly voice. "I see you're still wearing the…what did you call it?"
"Chromesuit," answered Harry. He didn't have the skill as yet to replicate other clothing from the Asgard computer, and he had to admit, he liked the feeling of it and it would be eminently practical to wear when he explored the galaxy through the Stargate.
"Ah, yes, chromesuit, it is a marvelous piece of engineering," said Heimdoll. "I've never had the occasion to use them myself, but it will serve you well. Now," she walked over to a pedestal near the large window with the underwater aquarium-like view. There was a whoosh of transport and a chair winked into existence a few feet in front of the pedestal, a moment later a 'C' shaped console winked existence around it. "Take a seat Harry."
Harry walked forward a bit nervously and took the seat surrounded by the console. He looked, but saw there was no control outlines as yet on the large console around him.
"Before we begin Harry I just want to give you a general outline of what I have prepared for you," said Heimdoll. "The first thing you have to learn and master completely before we even begin with other subjects is language. Or more specifically, three languages…Asgard, Ancient, and Goa'uld."
"Why?" asked Harry curiously.
"You must master Asgard, because it will be impossible for me to teach you physics and the other sciences, as English is far too simplistic and you can't possibly describe some spatial and time phenomena in English because of their complexity, the same goes for mathematics. Secondly, you must master Ancient, because it's the only way for you to truly read and understand the sections of the Ancients Repository that the Asgard have in our possession; it is from this that you will learn of and master your powers. And finally, you must learn Goa'uld because it's best to understand the language of the enemy, then you can know your enemy and then you can truly fight them; because it will be what you must do if you want to keep Earth safe."
"I will also teach you of the Stargate and its secrets, you will learn the gate addresses, you will learn how to pilot a starship or any type of smaller vessel that you might encounter." Heimdoll trailed off at that point.
"Is that it?" asked Harry dubiously.
"Somewhat," Heimdoll temporized. "You will perhaps find other tangents of study while I teach you, and you will be given time to explore these. This will most assuredly happen as you start to learn from the Ancients Repository. I also advice you to engage in daily calisthenics so that fine example of a male human body will not deteriorate." Harry felt his face flush at that remark.
Harry looked troubled after a while and Heimdoll noticed, "Is something wrong?"
"I don't want to appear ungrateful for your time and teaching," said Harry carefully. "But aren't you also busy with your own research?"
"Thank you for your concern, but it is unnecessary," said Heimdoll patiently, "my experiments have my constant attention while I am teaching you. And as I said yesterday, the Asgard are also gaining out of this exchange. We have never studied a human so far along the evolutionary line. So…shall we begin?"
Harry nodded sitting up slightly straighter as the lights dimmed slightly and a large holographic image appeared against the backdrop of the window. On it was displayed what looked like a weird 'R'.
"We will start with the Asgard alphabet…"