Project E2
Madam Pomfrey entered the room, a number of scrolls set tidily in her arms. "Good, no one is here yet." She stated, more to herself then to anyone else. "One of your colleagues brought up the subject of what he guessed you were going to propose, and so because I have taken care of Harry's medical concerns since he was ten it is my obligation to be here."
"It is not my place to protest your presence, however I may need to bring your expertise the fore during the coming conversation." Umos replied gently as he set up a holo projector in the middle of the room.
As Umos finished preparing his microcomputer, Dumbledore apparated into the room. "Everyone should be arriving momentarily." He informed, quickly conjuring up some chairs.
For purposes of speed and accuracy it was decided that a portkey would be the best form of transportation to Dumbledore's office, and so Umos had a bit of a jump when a group of people simply appeared in the room. Arthur and Molly Weasley were there, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Minerva McGonagall, Remus Lupin, Hagrid, Fleur and Shara had come along.
Once everyone had taken their seats and looked more or less composed Umos stepped up and introduced himself. "I am Umos, head priests of the Paagrio clan, brother of Borkan, uncle to Homer and Raj and also Harry's priest."
Hermione who looked like she had been hit by a bus couldn't help but ask the obvious. "Is he going to be okay!?"
"Yes my dear, he will be, one hundred percent, and if you let me…far more then that." He replied calmly.
Knowing that he was at going to be okay the inquisitive part of Hermione stepped in. "What do you mean by more?"
"This is the reason you are here dear." Addressing the entire room he began with a bit of history. "Yes Mr. Potter will be perfectly fine, but I wish to make him more so. Right now his condition is stabilized, he has lost part of his shoulder and arm, but we can reattach these without too much trouble, the cuts are clean and there is no mangling. With the help of the magical priests he will be as good as he new within a few weeks." Seeing some of the tension leave the room he continued. "When I finished my schooling over a hundred twenty years ago I had an idea. For the first little while I merely researched it, as a sort of hobby, but as the years went by it became more then that, until finally when I had my own laboratory and staff I put this hobby into a full project. I must admit that things were going extremely well, beyond all expectations, however upon implementation we found that everything began to fail with catastrophic results. After running thousands of tests and adjustments we still were not able to make any of the aspects work. The Yautja bodies simply refused to accept the organs and transformations, our bodies were unable to adapt. And so after long deliberation and even more tests and trials I was forced to close the project down, with the only problem being implementation. Everything else worked flawlessly, in theory and simulations. Although the project itself was closed down I still kept it as a hobby, refining it over the years, perfecting it, researching it, praying to find a way to implement it. Then one day, less then two years ago something most unexpected happened. After taking a tissue sample from the subject I did careful analysis, and finally I implemented one of the projects aspects." Umos stopped talking, leaving the room in silence until Mr. Weasley broke it.
"Well did it work?" He asked.
Umos smiled. "Mr. Potter has absolutely perfect vision, better then anything that can be done by anyone except for me."
"You used Harry as a test subject?" Hermione asked a little too coldly.
"Yes and it worked flawlessly. I implanted a very small slug like organ at the base of his brain, which then gave the hormonal and genetic stimuli needed for his eyes to respond to optic-therapy. Then a little laser calibration of the nerves and he was far better then anything a human could hope to achieve." He quickly explained.
"And you want to run your whole project on Harry, is that it?" Hermione asked catching on.
"Precisely, but allow me fully explain before you make any sort of judgment." With a small nod from Hermione, he began a much-rehearsed speech. "The fundamental goal of this project is to create a super being, in our case a super human, superior in every way such as…"
Homer cut him off, knowing the lecture that his uncle was about to go into, it would last at least an hour and the sum of all points was rather simple. "I am sorry to cut you off, but I know where you're going and a lot of it won't make sense once you start getting into the scientific part of things. To summarize what Umos was about say. Harry has been very lucky to come out alive against a Predalien, but if Umos were allowed to work on Harry, then when he was done with him the Predalien would be lucky to come out alive against Harry with only a knife for a weapon. And if any of you are wondering the project has no official name, its simply called The Project, but those who have worked on it call it E2, or Enhanced Evolution."
"Generally speaking yes, that is correct, however it is now officially named E2 as of a few months ago." Umos said with an appreciative look.
"Now what will you be doing to Harry?" Madam Pomfrey asked. "What kind of medical procedures?"
"The process involves the implantation of fourteen separate organs, followed by some chemical therapy, and with magical help as well as the rate at which the body adapts this should take only a few weeks. During these three or four weeks Harry will be in a controlled coma, with various chemicals and nutrients helping to accelerate and stabilize various processes. Following the implantation of these organs a quick information charge will be carefully uploaded to his brain that will ensure he knows how to use everything properly, along some other various bits of knowledge."
"You mean, like in the movie the Matrix?" Hermione asked, a little skeptical and unbelieving, she was looking for any possible catch.
"I am sorry I have never seen this movie, would you care to elaborate?"
"Well they basically stick a needle into your brain and then upload data to it and then you just know stuff."
"Well yes, but we don't do it in such a barbaric way. It requires some therapy, and brainwave pattern changes, and that's it really, no needles or anything like that."
"What about Harry, as in, will he still be the same Harry?" Hermione asked concerned.
"Oh of course, he has already had it done to him before, how else do you think he knows our language and how to fight so well? As for the physical effects there will be nothing negative to come out of it as soon as Harry learns to control himself" Umos replied with a chuckle, it really was funny how little humans knew about biotechnology.
"Oh…okay."
"Now, about these organs, what exactly are they?" Madam Pomfrey asked, curious to know as to what was to actually be implemented, unlike Hermione she was naturally far more interesting in the medical aspect of things, her medi-witch curiosity running at an all time high.
"There are fourteen organs, as I've stated already, and I'll give you a brief over view of each of them." Umos said turning on the holo projector where a blue see through human form was displayed. "Phase 1, Secondary Heart. The simplest and most self-sufficient implant. The secondary heart is capable of boosting the blood supply or maintaining full life functions even with the destruction of the recipient's original heart. The Phase 1 implant enables the recipient to survive low oxygen concentrations and traumatic injury." The holo projector focused in on the chest cavity, where it appeared among a few other major organs, itself highlighted with a red tinge.
Phase 2, Ossmodula appeared above the human form. "This is a tubular shaped organ whose small size belies its complex structure. The Ossmodula monitors and secretes hormones affecting epiphiseal fusion and ossification of the skeleton. At the same time, the specially engineered hormones encourage the forming bones to absorb ceramic based chemicals administered in the subjects diet throughout the projects process. Two weeks following implantation, this will have caused considerable strengthening of the long-bones, extreme ossification of the chest cavity caused by growth of the ribs forming a solid mass of inter-laced bone plates and a general increase in the size of the recipient's skeleton."
Phase 3, Biscopea. "This organ is implanted into the chest cavity. It is small, approximately spherical and, like the Ossmodula, its primary action is hormonal. The presence of the biscopea stimulates muscle growth throughout the body." As Umos explained the holo projector focused in on where the organs were located, and what they would affect, showing an approximation of how much the recipient would grow in overall size."
Phase 4, Haemastamen. "This tiny organ is implanted into a main blood vessel. The haemastamen serves two purposes. It monitors and to some degree controls the Phase 2 and 3 implants. The organ also alters the constituent make-up of the recipient's blood. As a result, the recipient's blood is considerably more efficient than ordinary blood, as it has to be when you consider the extra biological hardware the recipient ends up carrying inside him."
Phase 5, Larraman's Organ. "This is a liver shaped, dark, fleshy organ about the size of a medium sized nut. It is implanted into the chest cavity along with a complicated array of blood vessels. The organ generates and stores special 'Larraman cells'. If the recipient is wounded, these cells are released into the blood stream. They latch onto leucocytes in the blood and are transported to the site of a wound. Once in contact with air, the Larraman cells form a skin substitute of instant scar tissue, staunching the flow of blood and protecting any exposed wound area. Basically this will allow Harry to heal almost instantly."
Phase 6, Catalepsean Node. "This brain implant is usually inserted into the back of the skull, the pea-sized organ influences the circadian rhythms of sleep and the body's response to sleep deprivation. Normally the recipient sleeps like any normal man, but if deprived of sleep, the catalepsean node 'cuts in'. A man implanted with the node is capable of sleeping and remaining awake at the same time by 'switching off' areas of the brain sequentially. This process cannot replace normal sleep entirely, but increases a recipient's survivability by allowing awareness of the environment whilst resting."
Phase 7, Preomnor. "The preomnor is a large implant which fits into the chest cavity. It is a predigestive stomach that allows the recipient to eat a variety of otherwise poisonous or indigestible materials. No actual digestion takes place in the Preomnor. Individual sensory tubes assess potential poisons and neutralize them or, where necessary, isolate the Preomnor from the rest of the digestive tract."
Phase 8, Multi-lung. "This is another large implant. The multi-lung, or 'third' lung, is a tubular grey organ. Blood is pumped through the organ via connecting vessels grafted onto the recipient's pulmonary system. Atmosphere is taken in by means of a sphincter located in the trachea. In toxic atmospheres, an associated sphincter muscle closes the trachea and restricts normal breathing, thus protecting the lungs. The multi-lung is able to absorb oxygen from poorly oxygenated or poisonous air. Most importantly, it is able to do this without suffering damage thanks to its own efficient toxin dispersal, neutralisation and regeneration systems."
Phase 9, Occulobe. "I have already done this to Harry, and it basically improves eye sight."
Phase 10, Lyman's Ear. "This organ enables a recipient to consciously enhance and even filter certain types of background noise. Not only is hearing improved, but also the recipient cannot become dizzy or nauseous as a result of extreme disorientation. Lyman's ear is externally indistinguishable from a normal human ear as all of the work done takes place far inside the actual ear."
"So we won't see Harry running around with funny looking ears." Homer added in.
Phase 11, Melanochrom Organ. "This organ is hemispherical and black. It functions in an indirect and extremely complicated manner. It monitors radiation levels and types bombarding the skin, and if necessary, sets off chemical reactions to darken the skin to protect it from ultraviolet exposure. It also provides limited protection from other forms of radiation."
Phase 12, Oolitic Kidney. "This red-brown and heart shaped organ improves and modifies the recipient's circulatory system enabling other implants to function effectively. The oolitic kidney also filters blood extremely efficiently and quickly. The secondary heart and oolitic kidney are able to act together, performing an emergency detoxification program in which the recipient is rendered unconscious as his blood is circulated at high speed. This enables the recipient to survive poisons and gases which are otherwise too much for even the multi-lung to cope with."
Phase 13, Neuroglottis. "Although the preomnor protects the recipient from digesting anything too deadly, the neuroglottis enables him to assess a potential food by taste. The organ is implanted into the back of the mouth. By chewing, or simply by tasting, the recipient can detect a wide variety of natural poisons, some chemicals and even the distinctive odours of some creatures. To some degree, a recipient is also able to track a target by taste alone."
Phase 14, Venom Glands. "Two of these identical glands are implanted, either into the lower lip, alongside the salivary glands or into the hard palette. The Venom glands works in a similar way to the poison gland of venomous reptiles by synthesising and storing deadly poison. The recipient is rendered immune to this poison by virtue of the gland's presence. The gland allows the recipient to spit a blinding contact poison. The poison is also corrosive. If Harry were say, imprisoned behind iron bars he could easily chew his way out given a few hours."
The holo projector faded and the normal lights in the room came back. "If you allow this I can begin the procedures within a few hours."
"What could theoretically happen?" Asked Madam Pomfrey, knowing that such a procedure would be hard on the body.
"Theoretically…" Umos stopped for a second choosing his words. "At the least headaches, which could be treated. At the worst…A complete mental and physical break down resulting in an irreversible coma or a crazed unstable lunatic. There is no indication that any of these could happen, but then again something might go wrong, and who knows. It has never been done before."
Everyone had a say in the matter, but ultimately it was Hermione's decision. To her the thought of losing Harry was unthinkable, and yet she had almost lost him. The chances of anything going wrong were apparently slim to none. The chances of him actually getting hurt in the future and dieing without the procedure were undoubtedly much higher. After having looked at all of the possible scenarios and weighing everything accordingly
Hermione answered with a deadly warning. "If anything happens to Harry I promise you that you will not live long."
Involuntarily gulping Umos replied. "I promise you my dear nothing will happen to Harry."
- - 6.5 Hours later - -
A section of the hospital wing had been closed off entirely; Dumbledore erected a wall closing off half of the wing and put up various charms, curses and spells on the room. Along with the added magical protection two of Umo's most fearsome looking guards stood outside the room, only letting in those that were allowed in by Umos himself.
The large partitioned off room was not crowded or distracting by any means. The multitude of medical equipment worked soundlessly, and at anyone one point in time there was only an average of a half dozen medical staff present. This usually consisted of Madam Pomfrey and an aid, along with Umos and his hand picked staff, all of whom were renowned priests and trusted friends themselves.
In a room that smelled of nothing, not even alcohol that added certain chemical properties to the air, in a room that was entirely clean, Madam Pomfrey worked tirelessly.
"Arm and shoulder reattached." Madam Pomfrey said, carefully inspecting the magical operation. "We got him to how he used to be, now its your turn."
"Adamantium enriched calcium please." Umos injected a whitish light gray substance into specifically marked points in Harry's body, each injected measured and precise
"How is the heart coming along?" Umos asked as he finished the injections.
"Testing complete. Heart replicated one hundred percent, ready for insertion." Said a voice.
"Vein construction completed one hundred percent, ready for insertion." Said another.
Carefully double checking the heart and veins Umos nodded almost imperceptibly, his brain working furiously to find a fault. "Beginning phase one." He said after not being able to finding anything wrong.
A/N. Okay I have been extremely busy lately, and writer's block didn't help. For those of you wanting ship-to-ship combat in space you're going to get some pretty soon along with a nice boarding action. I would like to thank Howard Adams who I have begun to collaborate with and who has really pushed me to get this damn chapter out there. Can't thank this guy enough for all of the ideas, support, and beta reading. Thanks again bro. The next chapter of Assassin should be coming out shortly.
-->