The Apple Alder Tree: Part One
Hermione confidentially stepped out of the Ford Anglia and instantly found that they had parked in the middle of a group of people, all of whom were far too busy to notice a girl and a man appearing out of thin air. The air was somehow like air-conditioning, all stale with no real life, and added to this uncountable amounts of bright flashing machines covering nearly every surface.
`No ones attacking us with spears so I'm going to guess that we're…oooh…' Hermione said looking around as a guy removed a white and silver thing from his pocket and inserted it into the wall close by `about Forty thousand?'
`Close' Harry said brightly looking around the place in interest `203,996 A.D to be precise. August'
`How's that even close to close?' Hermione asked simply looking around in surprise, according to Harry this was by far the furthest in the future she had ever been, and the idea unsettled her slightly.
`Its not, but it is nice to be nice' Harry said pointing at a middle aged woman approaching the machine she had seen another man use `that's a cash machine'
`How does it work?' Hermione questioned noticing that the machine didn't give cash out.
`About one hundred and fifty thousand years ago Apple bought all the banks' Harry explained as he led her through the crowd, taking her hand in his `so they turned ipods into these amazing little devices, they are the ultimate credit card…as well as a mobile phone, a fan, screwdriver amongst other things'
`So where are we?' Hermione asked, completely accepting of Apple taking over.
`Are you giving up our little game?' Harry teased.
`Of course not!' Hermione said looking around `Well, judging by the use of the green lights everywhere I'm thinking we're in…Tokyo?'
`Oh…so close!' Harry said dramatically as he led her deeper into the crowds.
`So where exactly are we, and what disaster are we going to get ourselves into?' Hermione asked.
`I'm trying not to be too insulted by that!' Harry said in mock hurt `And why don't you go look out of that window?'
`What for?' Hermione asked casually as she walked over to it. It was more of a wall of glass than a window as it took up an unordinary amount of wall. She tried not to look out of it yet as she didn't want to ruin the surprise. She knew it must be night time as no sunlight was coming through the window, but as she reached it she found her breathe had been stolen from her as the scenery unfolded in front of her.
`That's planet Earth' Harry said softly as he stepped quietly next to her. She had always seen the images of the planet on the television, in magazines and on the big screen, but seeing it with her own eyes made every detail so much richer, so much stronger, like actually standing in the Sistine Chapel and seeing God looking down at you from Michelangelo's clouds.
`It's so much…more…' Hermione said gasping as a sliver of sunlight made its way over the northern rim of the globe.
`Real?' Harry said with a smile.
`I was actually thinking scary' Hermione said turning quickly to Harry.
`How come?' Harry asked raising an eyebrow at her.
`Its just seeing the planet just now I realized that everyone I have ever known is dead down there' Hermione said with a strange lack of emotion in her voice for she knew that they weren't really `My mothers grave is probably somewhere down there'
`They don't have graves anymore' Harry said with a chuckle `and before you start planning your mothers funeral you have to bear in mind that she's expecting you to visit next week'
`I know that, it's just doesn't it ever weird you out?' Hermione said taking one last glance at Planet Earth before turning back to the busy street in front of her `so where exactly are we?'
`Were on a space station' Harry said taking her hand again and leading the way `Space Station Aguilera'
`Like the singer?' Hermione said in amazement.
`Named after her actually' Harry said looking around in an exaggerated way.
`After Christina Aguilera!' Hermione stuttered out in disbelief `the singer?'
`Kinda…' Harry said simply walking along `It's actually named after Christina Aguilera when she became the President of America…much better leader than singer'
`Wow' Hermione said shaking her head `I travel through time and see the planet from a space station but that is truly the weirdest thing I've ever heard…so why have we come here then?'
`Isn't showing you the planet in 200,000 whatever enough?' Harry said chuckling to himself, Hermione raised an eyebrow at this answer so Harry carried on `Ok ok, I admit it!'
`Knew there had to be some sort of reason!' Hermione said triumphantly `You woke me up in the middle of the night by the Ford Anglia shaking through time!'
`I was a little obvious, wasn't I' Harry said stopping still and looking at her as she nodded and grinned `I was sifting through the time turner vortex when a huge amount of power pretty much jumped out at me from it!'
`By power do you mean magic?' Hermione asked.
`Not necessarily' Harry said brightly `every living thing and many others have their own power, its just magic is a very popular and common one that we deal with…the plastocrese wasn't magic…and King Richard wasn't even alive'
`So it's something else?' Hermione asked.
`Well…' Harry said running his hand through his hair in concentration `how about we just say that it's something extremely powerful'
`Ok, something powerful jumped out of you from the Ford Anglia' Hermione said rattling of the information `How did we end up in 203,996 A.D?'
`Seriously Hermione, how do you remember dates like that but not to go wandering off alone?' Harry laughed in amazement.
`Because I listen when others are talking' she said nudging him.
`Doesn't sound worth the effort' Harry said brightly walking on down the street `So this …thing… jumps out from the time turner vortex and literally sends me flying to the floor! I cant explain how amazing that is! For something… a person, animal or event…to dent time and space in such a gigantic way that it sends such an extremely powerful ripple throughout the very essence of time!'
`Sounds like the very last place anyone else would want to be' Hermione said looking up at Harry who seemed as giddy as school kid at this turn of events.
`So I located the signal from the power flux' Harry carried on like Hermione hadn't said anything `did a little jiggery pokery…'
`You did jiggey pokery?' Hermione teased laughing.
`I'm a doctorate from the University of Jiggery Pokery!' Harry said laughing `And what I learnt in the three years during that course got us here'
`If we just followed it how did you know what this place was called then?' Hermione asked.
`I didn't' Harry said pointing at a large sign on the wall that stated Aguilera Space Station Floor 12.
`It's always some sort of trick with you, ain't it?' Hermione said throwing her head back and laughing `so what is our plan, you going to do a bit of jiggery pokery magic and find the source of whatever s going to try and kill us?'
`Now lets not get on the idea of something trying to kill us just yet…' Harry said happily `in case whoever is going to try is listening in on us already'
`Because giving them any ideas wouldn't be a good thing' Hermione laughed.
`It wouldn't help' Harry said as brightly as ever, Hermione loved how confident Harry always was talking about matters of life and death, it somehow made her feel safer than if she was someone who was more cautious.
`So what new impressive magic are you going to be showing me?' Hermione asked rolling her eyes as Harry grinned at her words.
`The amazing magic of conversation' Harry said as he let go of her hand and strolled over to a woman who was inserting a white card into the wall.
`Hi' Harry said tapping her on the shoulder. The woman spun around instantly and Hermione saw that she must have been in her mid twenties, long brown hair and a perfect complexion. Hermione figured that she must have owed a lot of this to the time she was born in, although she figured she might have just been jealous.
`Hi?' the woman said confused looking at the pair of them. Hermione looked down at herself and realized why the overlooking was happening, she was wearing nothing but a simple yellow v neck and jeans, Harry in his usual black fitted clothes and glasses, while every other person on this space station was dressed exclusively in suits, very similar to the ones form the 21st century although with much more flamboyant silky materials.
`I see you have the new ipod, what gen is that?' Harry asked in a very curious and friendly voice, Hermione had to wonder at his acting skills sometimes.
`It's the millionth gen' the woman said eyeing Harry extremely closely.
`The millionth!' Harry said amazed turning to look at Hermione `what are the chances of us falling on such a round number?'
`I guess it's very slim' Hermione said pointedly trying to bring Harry back to his acting as the woman seemed to be getting more suspicious `my one has a 60 gig memory, what's yours?'
'60 gig?' the woman said, her eyes flashing onto Hermione's `you couldn't even hold memo-song on that!'
`She means 60 zig' Harry said shanking his head sadly `She always messes up her numbers, poor girl had a nasty reaction to a memory download, lost all her grasp of maths… so what is your job on this space station?'
`Same as everyone else's' the woman said, her voice was that of when a person was s confused they answered without thought `we calibrate the Bluetooth for the ipod info'
`So you programme how it's downloaded or what is uploaded?' Harry asked interestedly.
`We do both and more, everything that the ipod does we sort out' the woman said impressively, Hermione could tell her sort a mile off, a career woman.
`So space station Aguilera is at the heart of all financial, political, media and professional communication and ultimately control?' Harry said whistling `Impressive'
`I like to think us more as the actual heart of the world' she said, slightly sticking her chest out as she gave this news, although Hermione couldn't help herself but think that this might have been as much about Harry as it was pride in her work.
`Just a heart that happens to be floating safely a thousand miles above the body' Harry said with discontent in his voice `has anything strange been going on in the last, say 6 months?'
`Um…Who are you two?' the lady said sharply, obviously Harry had finally pushed her too far in his relentless questioning `only authorized personnel are allowed on board'
`I'm…the Doctor' Harry said rather lamely.
`Doctor who?' she asked suspiciously.
`Oh…' Harry said searching through his jacket pockets for what Hermione knew must be his magic paper. He removed it and held it up for her to read.
`I'm sorry Dr. Potter, Nurse Granger' the woman said more friendly, her whole body seemed to relax.
`That's more than fine by us' Harry said brightly flashing a friendly smile.
`It's ok by me to, but I'm only a nurse after all, so it probably doesn't matter as much as the Doctor here' Hermione said flashing Harry a slightly angry smile.
`I'll let you know that you're a terrific nurse' Harry said with a sincere smile before adding in a voice of weighing up his thoughts `well I say terrific, more like average…well I say average…'
`So has anything strange been going on?' Hermione said nudging him as slyly and hard as she could.
`You probably know more about it than us' she said, her voice dropping slightly to more of a gossipy whisper.
`We no doubt do, but we'd like to know what you know…completely of the record' Harry said, bowing his head slightly and lowering his voice.
`Well the word is that something's in the airs…infecting people through the air vents' she said in a whispery voice.
`That doesn't surprise me with the amount of air con in this place' Hermione grumbled as she found the stale air seemed to be bearing down on her.
`And what happens to the infected' Harry asked ignoring her comment.
`Their taken away' she said `we don't see them again'
`To the hospital?' Harry asked casually.
`Did you say you were a Doctor?' she asked suspicious again.
`We just wanted to check that they weren't taken somewhere before they got to us' Hermione said helpfully making Harry smile at the quick thinking.
`I honestly don't know' she said, Hermione thought she could see a momentary flash of pain in her eyes but it was quickly replaced with friendliness.
`Well I guess we better get back of to work' Harry said offering her a friendly smile before turning to walk away, Hermione following his lead.
`Doctor Potter!' the woman called as they had reached only a few steps away.
`Yeah' Harry said facing her again.
`My names Claudia' she said with what Hermione figured was a little too flirty a smile `I'm manager of section B, if you have nay other questions I'll be happy to answer them'
`And I'll be happy to ask them' Harry said, Hermione disbelieving of what she thought was an equally flirty smile. With a little nod Harry turned and starting to walk away, leaving Hermione to stand still in slight shock for a second before almost jogging to catch up and fall in step with him.
`She was nice' Hermione said after a few moments.
`I thought so' Harry said brightly looking about the busy street.
`Obviously' Hermione said, making Harry shoot her a quick glance.
`This is it' Harry said stopping outside a large door, a red cross painted on a white background in front of it.
`Are you going in?' Hermione said a little bit of cold in her voice, she couldn't help but feel a little jealous at Harry flirting, however much it killed her to admit it to herself.
Harry nodded at her and took out his wand, waved it over the keypad on the door which instantly opened, allowing the two to go walking straight into the hospital.
Harry looked about him and spotted a Doctor standing with clipboard in his hand that he put down on the desk and turned to look at them.
`Hi, I'm Doctor Potter' Harry said extending a hand as he walked over towards the man in the white lab coat `and this is Nurse Granger'
`Nice to meet you both' the man said. Now that Hermione was closer to him she could see that his face would usually have been quite handsome, but at the moment it had the slightly pinched look of a man who had been awake for too many hours of stressful work `we could do with the extra hands around here'
`And we're more than happy to lend them' Harry said letting go from the handshake to look around the room `If you don't mind could you show us to the patients, I feel better when I'm put to work'
`I'm the exact same way' The man said smiling a sad smile and walking of to the lead the way through the pure white corridors `we have 142 patient in at the moment…'
`How many people on board?' Harry asked quickly as he sped up to fall in step with the doctor.
`1,500 members of staff, all live in' the doctor answered shooting Harry a sideways glance.
`Nearly 10% of the population?' Harry said shaking his head in either amazement or sorrow.
`That's just one of the problems' the man started to explain again `In the 2 months since the first reported case we are still no further towards an explanation even than we originally were…'
Hermione couldn't listen to his words properly as she sped up to be next to Harry. Even though she was a thousand miles above, and 200,000 years after her old life, memories from it still flooded through her brain. Memories of walking through surgically clean corridors day after day, only hope to cling onto in this artificial world. A hope that failed.
`…Since we don't know what the trigger was we have no hope of restoring them' the man said breaking through Hermione's memory `and all medical tests show that the effects are complete. Not a single neuron inclination has come from any of them in the whole time…not one!'
The three of them stopped in front of a door, laden heavily with metal which made it appear more of a prison door than a hospital. Harry watched carefully as the man pressed in buttons ion a large keypad before a noise like the whooshing of wind came from behind the door as it swung open.
Hermione took a step inside beside Harry as the man followed them, and she found herself in a large room, more like a school hall than anything else she could think of. And inside this school hall of a room was more than a hundred men and women, all walking about seemingly doing their own business.
`Now that's strange' Harry said softly, not moving from his spot.
`What is?' Hermione asked straight away in confusion, nothing about this room seemed the least bit strange.
`And you say no neural electronic impulsivities in the last 8 weeks?' Harry said walking cautiously into the room.
`Not a single one' the man said shaking his head sadly.
`What's wrong?' Hermione said following after Harry as he removed his wand and raised it to the middle of the room.
`This is definitely strange' Harry said softly looking about him `I'd like to say impossible but I keep on getting disproved with that word'
`Harry!' Hermione yelled slightly making his eyes snap onto her `What is going on?'
`Do you see all these people?' Harry said looking with his deep green eyes into hers.
`Yeah…' she said slightly distracted.
`None of them have any brain activity' Harry said consolingly.
`Their walking around' Hermione said pointing at them, but quickly saw that they seemed to be bumping softly off each other as they walked aimlessly.
`That's the strange part' Harry said putting a hand on her shoulder `they don't usually walk around'
`Who doesn't usually walk around?' Hermione said with trepidation as she thought she knew the answer. Harry looked around at them for a few moments, sorrow in his eyes and actions as he looked back at Hermione and spoke his next words softly.
`The dead'
*
Hope you enjoy the premise for this adventure (I'm liking this word), and also for the not so subtle reference to my favourite traveller!
By the way I don't use disclaimers (I don't like them as I think it isn't a very good start to a story!) so I'm going to take a moment to say: I don't own Harry Potter, Shakespeare, Apple or ipods, Back to the Future, Ford Anglia, Doctor Who, Greek Mythology or anything else I have used…so please please don't sue me! (I'm particularly thinking of the fantastic people at Apple here!)
Hope you like how things are going! If you don't let me know why…
Jms Granger.
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