The Core

The next morning welcomed them with flashing lights. Lights on the closet they had found their suits in, to be more precise. The closet was no longer empty. There were some kind of spacesuits. They were thin and flexible, with removable helmets and gloves. Further inspection revealed a few miniature lights mounted on the suits.

The next thing that started blinking was the food assembler. It started spewing packages of food - as soon as they removed one, another started to appear. There was even more of bottled water and some other items, like refreshing wipes.

"What are we supposed to do with so much food and drink?" asked Hermione.

"I guess we are going somewhere. But how are we going to haul it?" replied Harry.

As if to answer his question, the door to the simulation room opened. Harry peered in and saw that the door on the other side was opened as well.

"Well I'll be dammed," uttered Harry.

"How is this possible? Why is it letting us go?" pondered Hermione.

Harry looked beyond the door and returned with some kind of a cart. It had no wheels though. Instead, the underside of it was made of some kind of a material that hovered less than a millimetre above the floor. They filled the cart with the food, visited the bathrooms and then donned the spacesuits. As they walked past the capsules, Hermione looked over her shoulder one last time.

"Strange." she said. "I'm going to miss this place. It almost felt like home."

Harry disagreed, "Don't be ridiculous, we would go insane here. It's just an interchange station. Maybe the system is letting us go because we stayed longer than is healthy."

Behind the door on the other side of the simulation room was a corridor. There was an alcove on the left side where the cart had been parked. There were a few more carts but those were inactive.

There was another door at the end of the corridor. Harry and Hermione stood in front of it for a while before they noticed a button. The door parted in the middle and the halves slid sideways. They entered what looked like an elevator cabin.

"Are we going to go up or down?" pondered Harry, already suspecting what the answer was.

"I don't think we made our way this deep just to go up again," answered Hermione.

The lift started its descent, gradually accelerating. The two travellers could only guess at their speed from the amount of time for which they felt the gravity lessened. Harry groaned after five minutes in which they felt no de-acceleration.

Finally, they felt the floor pressing against their feet and the lift started to slow down. Then it came to a stop and the door opened. In front of them was yet another corridor ended by a door. Behind it was a small chamber with second door on the opposite side. The first door remained opened while the second one wouldn't budge. Harry looked around and saw a button on a wall.

"Helmets on?" he asked and nodded towards the button.

"I guess. To be sure." agreed Hermione.

"What about our supplies?"

"They are sealed well enough. Personally, I don't think the atmosphere there will be unbreathable."

"You are right. This doesn't look like a heavy duty airlock and there would be some kind of a warning."

Once their suits were sealed, Harry pressed the button. The door behind them closed and the one in front of them opened. They found out that they could talk to each other through the communication systems in their suits.

On their way, they encountered two panels which looked as if they could be opened to reveal a passage behind them. However, there were no visible means to open them. They agreed that they probably led to maintenance areas and that only the builders had been able to open it.

They reached another airlock soon enough - a heavier one this time. There was a metallic decoration next to the switch which formed a pictogram advising them to seal their suits. A minute later, they arrived at what looked like a final door. There was some kind of a sign written on it in a language and alphabet they didn't recognize. Under it was once again a pictogram urging them to seal their suits. They pressed the button on the door and entered.

There was a large hall. The ceiling was about five meters high. The most distinctive feature was the opposite wall. It was made of some metal resembling bronze. It didn't feel very metallic to touch though - just like with the black material before, some kind of mineral was part of its composition.

There was a huge gate in the wall. Once they got closer, a familiar picture started to glow on the gate - the riddle of circles. It was much bigger though and about three meters high. The markings in the circles were a subset of the final picture they saw in the room they were teleported in. These culled markings formed circular patterns and none of them overlapped between the circles. As a result, it wasn't possible to deduce the correct configuration from them.

Another problem was the lack of means to operate the riddle. However, Harry and Hermione gave no thought to that because there was some kind of device attached to the gate. It was made of some kind of bronzish metal (without any mineral additions). Its design told them that it was placed there by the builders of the station they just came from. There was a mechanical version of the riddle set in exactly the same setting as the glowing lines above. Hermione turned a few of the circles and the glowing image responded but nothing happened apart from that.

"I think you are just supposed to set the correct combination," suggested Harry. "No puzzle here."

Hermione nodded and turned the remaining circles. The image above them flashed briefly and then the wings of the gate parted and started to open inwards. There was a hallway. It was just as high as the antechamber they were in and just as wide. It was dark there, the only source of light came from the light in the antechamber.

"Shall we?" asked Harry.

"What choice do we have?"

"Well, what if there is something ancient behind this gate. Something... hungry!"

Hermione walked forward and Harry followed, pushing their supplies. A few meters into the corridor, they were suddenly startled as reflectors started to light up. They were positioned by the walls and illuminated the walls and the ceiling. Upon closer inspection, it was obvious that the builders of the simulation room left them there. There were no cables and no obvious source of power. It crossed Harry's mind that they were powered by magic.

"You know what this looks like, right?" asked Harry as they slowly continued forward.

Hermione was about to answer when the massive gate started to close again.

"Dammit!" cursed Harry and made for the tightening opening.

"No! Let it be!" shouted Hermione.

Harry hesitated and stood still before the closing gate for a moment. Then it was too late and the gate slammed shut.

"Great. There's a chance we won't be able to open it if we need to go back," he complained.

"Well, first we need to reach our goal. Then we can start considering our way back to the surface," claimed Hermione.

Harry sighed and returned back to her.

"What were you saying before?" she asked.

Harry briefly recollected a comic he had found in a park once a told her, "Well, you know how it usually is in the films. Some ancient ruins on an alien planet. Some stupid corporation comes there and starts digging and placing reflectors and other equipment there. Then they disappear. Then marines come and start investigating. Then they start disappearing too..."

Hermione rolled her eyes and made no answer. Instead, she went to inspect the walls. They were covered by decorative relief patterns.

She turned back to Harry and spoke, "Well, as I see it, there wasn't just a single culture of builders but at least two or three."

"Go on," prodded her Harry when she paused.

"The oldest (so far) builders have built this place for reasons that are unknown to us. Then they disappeared. The second builders either found this place or knew the first builders personally. They have built the auxiliary station to enable them to travel here more conveniently and to serve as a base for exploration of this place. The base has been warded from apparating or portkeying in - anybody who would try would end up in that second room. Only the authorized people knew how to reach the station. Perhaps they had to use special portals from the very beginning."

"And the ruins in Egypt?" asked Harry.

"Well, I guess the culture of the second builders started to crumble as well. So they have turned the station into some kind of a test and a guide for those who would follow in their footsteps. And finally, the third builders came. They were descendants of the remnants of the second builders or of their followers. They have built the ruins in Egypt and possibly other places around Earth. The sole purpose of those ruins was to test anybody who would want to come through."

Harry scratched his scalp and summarized it, "So, right now, we are in the ruins built by builders who came before builders who came before builders. Nice."

"I wouldn't call this place ruins. Just look at those reliefs - the edges are still sharp. While this place is obviously very old, the passage of time left no mark on it. Then again, the fact that the AI at the station still works is equally impressive."

Harry nodded and then grimly said, "Let's go."

They followed the big corridor until they reached a circular room. There were signs of the presence of the second builders but there was only one other exit. They assumed that some of the panels on the walls could open, just like at the station.

The other corridor sloped down steeply. The second builders actually installed narrow steps on a side. Harry and Hermione used it to descend while they held onto the cart next to them so it wouldn't run away from them.

After getting almost a hundred meters lower, the corridor levelled up and was ended by another gate. There was a hydraulic machine left by the second builders. They activated the machine and it applied some pressure against the gate. That seemed to activate the gate in turn and it opened.

"I guess the first builders weren't human, don't you think?" asked Harry.

"I'll have to think about this," replied Hermione. Not that she saw any other explanation (given the age of humankind).

They entered a cavernous hangar-like space. There was some kind of a cabin placed by the second builders next to a wall on their left. There was something far more interesting in the back though. They didn't see it right away. To be more precise, they did see it, since it was impossible to miss, but they thought it was a part of the hangar.

The object was huge and cylindrical in shape. It had four meters in diameter and was at least ten meters long. They couldn't see its entire length though since one end of the object was disappearing into a wall - or into a circular opening in the wall to be more precise. The lower part of the object was also hidden to them, it was sank into a ditch in the floor.

There was some kind of a contraption next to the cylinder. It was a rod, about two meters high. On top of it was attached a massive sphere.

"What is it?" mused Hermione.

Harry made no answer and strode towards the object, leaving the cart by the cabin. He inspected the big object with his eyes first and then with his hands. He couldn't find any clues about its purpose nor any means to interact with it. Finally, he approached the ball on the rod and reached up to it.

"Be careful," warned him Hermione.

"Always am," replied Harry and touched the sphere.

The strength of the mental probe that hit every piece of his memory at once was almost too much for him. It was like those chambers at the station of the second builders but much more powerful. While the chambers had to load their memories sequentially, the sphere touched everything at the same time. He had a feeling that the sphere wasn't built by humans.

When Harry opened his eyes again, he saw Hermione's face looming over him. She helped him to sit up.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Well, you collapsed and there was that strange sound," she answered.

"What sound?"

"Like an acoustic pulse under water. Though I'm not sure if it was a real sound."

"How do you mean that?"

"Well, it sounded as if I wasn't wearing the suit. Maybe it wasn't carried by air but by a mental wave."

Hermione paused and then added, "Also, the sound sounded like a... refusal."

"Refusal?"

"Yes. A firm, short pulse. The tone started higher and ended deep. You know what I mean."

Harry was silent for a moment. "I see. I think you are going to need to touch it as well," he said finally.

Hermione wasn't keen at the idea and replied, "Maybe later, after we talk. Let's look at the cabin first."

The cabin had an airlock so they were able to remove their helmets once inside. The interior offered two retractable bunks (positioned above each other), a small table and three chairs. There was also some kind of a toilet in the back of the cabin. Further inspection revealed that the waste went into a container which could be detached from the outside. There were two spare containers next to the cabin.

"OK, what are we going to do?" asked Harry after he described what he felt when he touched the ball.

"Well, I believe that it's that big cylindrical object that should interest us," theorised Hermione.

"Do you think we need to get inside?"

"I saw no entry on that thing. Or anything else of interest for that matter."

"I guess that's where the sphere on the rod comes into play."

Hermione decided to try it as well. They donned their helmets and returned to the cylinder. She touched the sphere and experienced the same mental probing as Harry.

"Well?" she asked when she came to herself.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened," he informed her.

"No sound?"

"None. It seems it does not reject you."

"Or it ignores me."

They returned to the cabin and rested for some time afterwards. They grew restless soon enough though and decided to try their luck once again. They touched the sphere both at the same time. The mental probe was much more milder this time around. Probably not because their brains grew more accustomed to it but because the system remembered them and didn't need to perform such a deep scan again. The sound of rejection was once again the only response they received.

Hours later, Harry and Hermione were still stuck in place. For whatever reason, they didn't pass the muster of the first builders. Or Harry didn't at least. They even considered returning back to the station of the second builders and consult the virtual Dumbledore. Harry also hinted that he could return alone, which could possibly allow Hermione to pass. He quickly added that he felt uncomfortable with letting her to continue on her own.

Hermione made her own comment to his proposal, "I don't think it's a good idea either. While the inner system might let me through, the outer one probably wanted you to come with me. I believe the AI left by the second builders cares about what's happening on the surface to some extent. Also, it let us go on so it must think that we are ready and that we need to hurry."

"So you believe that the purpose of the simulation room wasn't to test us but to prepare us?"

"Maybe the chambers before the entry to the living area were meant to test us. Once it scanned our minds, it knew that we were worthy candidates."

"What if it merely sensed our irritation and allowed us to see this so we could understand why were those tests necessary?"

"And what exactly have learned by coming here? Sure, there is a nice shiny ball out there but we still have no idea what it wants."

In the end, they decided to spend at least two days there and try to crack the test before trying whether the road back was still open to them. As they lay in their bunks that night, Hermione kept pondering about what the sphere could possibly want from them. It was clear to her that one of the requirements was their willingness to fight against the corruption of the wizarding world. Then again, there was corruption in the non-magical world as well, so why were the wizards singled out?

The next obvious quality were the lengths to which they were willing to go to achieve that. The thought troubled Hermione. How could ruthlessness and cold-bloodedness be considered a quality? Especially since the third builders had put such an emphasis on logic and reason. Maybe she was reading it wrong. Maybe it wasn't about the things they were wiling to do to their enemies.

Both Harry and Hermione dreamed that night. To be more precise, Hermione did - Harry had a scar-vision. He saw Voldemort ruling his realm with an iron fist, revelling in the cruelty of his reign. Voldemort still had enemies among wizards for the time being but Harry wondered where all the destructive power of his followers would be turned to once that meagre opposition was destroyed.

Hermione's dream was inspired by the virtual missions they went through. She relived the destruction of the Ministry of Magic and then dreamt on about fighting whatever was left. The dream didn't account for Voldemort because Hermione wasn't aiming that high. All she wanted was to destroy the front he was using to cover himself - the magical society. In the end, she found herself in a world where nothing that wizards took for granted existed. Magical schools, shops, floo network, Aurors, Quidditch - every survivor of the purge found himself in a vacuum. As the dream was ending, Hermione asked herself whether she really wanted to live in such a world. There was only one answer: if it was necessary, she would do whatever it took to succeed.

They pondered their dreams when they woke up. They ate their breakfast in silence even though Hermione already knew what she had to say to Harry. The final requirement of the first builders was so simple that it could be described by one word: sacrifice. It was logical - it would be hypocritical to be willing to commit atrocities on the others and yet unwilling to sacrifice anything yourself. It probably took her so long to realize it because she had acknowledged that as obvious already.

A paradox occurred to her: the system deemed her capable of sacrifices and yet refused Harry, who was the most selfless and fearless person she ever met. What it could possibly be that Harry was lacking in this department? He was willing to die for the cause - something that even Hermione would prefer to avoid. She shared her observations with Harry once they left the cabin.

Harry pondered aloud, "Strange. What is it that you have that I don't have? We were in this together from the beginning. In fact, you've got so much more to live for and hence so much more to loose."

"Let's concentrate on the time before the beginning and all the other times we weren't together." suggested Hermione.

"Well, that's what I'm talking about. You had a family when you were growing up, I didn't."

There was a pause. After a while, Hermione made a proposition, "Let's touch the sphere again. Both of us at the same time."

"What good will it make? We still haven't figured out what it wants from me."

"Maybe something's going to be different this time. I would give us a hint."

In the end, they approached the rod and raised their hands. Harry nodded at his companion and they both touched the ball. The result wasn't much different from the last time but the tone was slightly different (at least Hermione claimed so).

They seated themselves next to the cabin to recuperate from the mind probe. After some time, Hermione voiced her theory again, "Let's focus on what I've said earlier. I grew up with my parents, you grew up with the Dursleys. However, both of us were different from our peers because of our magic and thus somewhat lonely."

"Somewhat? I'm sorry, Hermione, but that's an understatement."

She contemplated it for a while and then spoke, "You know maybe that's it. As I see it, there are two possible options. It's possible that the system considers me more willing to sacrifice something because I'll still be left with things to live for when all is done. You on the other hand..."

Harry frowned as Hermione trailed off. He asked after a moment, "And the other option?"

She stroked her chin and answered in an uneasy tone, "Well, it's possible that the problem are your feelings towards muggles. I think it's quite obvious that the AI at the station is on their side."

"Well, I only ever received mistreatment from them but that doesn't mean I would pick some pure-blood maniacs over them."

"This is about sacrifice, remember? Would you pick the non-magical people over yourself?"

Harry paused for a moment and then answered, "Well, it crossed my mind that this trip was without a return ticket. However, if this helps to bring Voldemort's downfall, then yes, I am willing to die for this."

Hermione nodded and then continued her theory, "And now we are getting to the core of it. We might return back to the surface or we might not. That's not the point however. Back to the differences between us. If I understand this correctly, the first home you ever knew was the magical world."

"Yes, Hogwarts."

"See? It wasn't like that for me. I already had a home in the non-magical world. I might be different than muggles but I can still relate to them more than I do to wizards. Magic was never something that defined me. I rather always considered it as something interesting to be examined, from a scientific point of view. Unlike you."

"What are you implying?"

"Think. The first and second builders had much larger knowledge of magic, science and technology than us. We can assume from the simulations at the station that whatever this is, it's meant to protect humanity from wizards. So we are back to the main question: are you willing to sacrifice all the things that are special in your life?"

Harry didn't answer. He paced around a little and contemplated something. Then he turned to Hermione, pointed his finger at her and asked, "Wait a minute. Do you actually believe that the sphere wants me to reach some kind of an internal conviction?"

"Uhm... Yes?"

"Doesn't that sound kind of weird to you?"

"Not so much, considering everything. Why?"

"If I just reach an internal conviction and the sphere lets me through, what will prevent me from changing my mind later?"

"I'm sure the builders though about that."

Harry stood up after a minute or two and proposed, "OK, let's try it."

"I don't think it will work yet but yes, let's."

They touched the sphere and though they were rejected once again, the rejection tone changed even further than the last time.

"What now? Shall we return to the station and go through more simulations?" asked Harry.

"No, I don't think so. The system let us through because we couldn't learn anything more from it. I guess we are too advanced to consider those simulations as anything more than glorified computer games."

Harry nodded and then went inside the cabin without another word. Hermione remained outside at first and examined the huge cylindrical object. She was unable to find anything of interest and got tired of the futile effort after some time. She entered the cabin to see how her friend was doing.

Harry was cleaning himself with a refreshing wipe at the moment and hastily "zipped" his under-suit when he saw her entering. Hermione opened a bottle of water for herself and tossed another to Harry. He took a few swigs and then climbed on his bunk to rest and think. Hermione considered leaving again when Harry told her, "You know, if you have any suggestions, I would like to hear them." Obviously, he had no idea how to proceed.

"Very well, let's talk," replied Hermione.

He propped himself on his elbow and asked, "Am I right to assume that you still don't wish to continue on your own?"

"Yes. I would feel more comfortable if you accompanied me."

"So be it," agreed Harry and lied down again.

There was a moment of silence and then Hermione asked, "Is this all about the Dursleys?"

Harry laughed darkly and retorted, "Who else? Don't you think that if I loved them as much as you love your parents that I wouldn't sacrifice even my own magic itself to save them?"

Something nibbled at her mind as he said that. She shook her head and spoke, "OK, let's summarize it. The sphere wants us to have the best interests of the non-magical population of this planet. We have to be willing to sacrifice anything, including the magical world and magic itself, to achieve this. And it goes without saying that whatever it is that we shall find, we must not use it for our own purposes."

"Do you think that using whatever technology lies further will suck us dry and leave us as squibs?"

"Would that be a problem?"

Harry laughed and then cried out, "Are you nuts? We are probably going to die here anyway!"

Hermione laughed as well and commented, "I saw that film as well."

"What film?"

"Oh, never mind."

They remained silent for a time.

"Do you know what bugs me most?" asked Harry.

"Huh?"

"What we are doing is bound to make the Dursleys extremely happy."

"Yes. They are going to profit from it. But so are my parents so that averages itself out. So what matters in the end is this: many pure-blood wizards are going to be quite pissed off. Remember this: who placed you with the Dursleys? Who made you return there again and again? Who forbid you from using magic there? Who let the Dursleys know about this? Who made the Dursleys hate magic so much? Do you get my point?"

Harry glared at her and growled, "Don't. Do not try to shift the blame away from them."

"Calm down. Remember what we saw in that spy vision. Whatever happens, the perfectly normal world the Dursleys loved so much is probably gone."

Harry didn't answer and started to suit up instead. Hermione followed him outside. He approached the sphere and reached to touch it. He changed his mind when his fingers were mere centimetres from its surface and pulled his hand back.

They spent some more time examining the hangar and the huge cylindrical object. Not that there was much left to examine. Harry looked at the place where the object was disappearing in the wall. The space between the object and the insides of the hole was less then a millimetre wide so he couldn't see anything in there.

"What do you think it is?" he asked and nodded towards the object.

"I don't know. It's possible that this is our goal and we just need to use the sphere to activate it. Or maybe it's a safe and what we need is inside. It could also be just another transport further."

"To a base built by builders who came even before the first builders? Nice."

In the end, there was nothing else to do than to try their luck again and touch the sphere. Harry was quite sure that his point of view didn't change during the last few hours. So, it came as a surprise for both of them when the experience turned quite different soon. It started with the usual mind probe. Then, instead of being let to collapse to the floor, Harry and Hermione felt their hands being glued to the sphere. They hung on the surface of the ball as the mental probe returned, deeper than ever before. They felt some artificial presence poking through their minds. It was different though - different from mere reading. Both of them felt some kind of finality from it before they lost their consciousnesses.

They awoke on the floor some undetermined time later. Their heads hurt like hell and their bodies ached from being suspended by their arms and the subsequent nap in uncomfortable positions. The sat up and looked around groggily. Harry was gathering strength to say a few choice words when he saw it.

"Holy crow, look at that," he told Hermione. He wanted to make it sound more like an exclamation but he was too weak for that.

Hermione followed the direction he was looking in and noticed it as well. The surface of the cylinder had been completely smooth before. Not any more. There was a thin seam on the side of the cylinder. It formed a square about four metres big.

Hermione tried to stand up but the vertigo she felt convinced her to give it a while. Instead, she thought about what happened with the sphere.

"Have you felt it? It wasn't just reading our minds," she said.

Harry shook his head and agreed, "You are right. It almost felt like..." Harry paused and then realized that he somehow knew the answer. "It was some kind of an unbreakable vow," he finished.

Hermione just nodded.

Harry theorized further, "But why all the trouble? If it could just bind our minds..."

"I think we had to agree to this voluntarily, just like with the unbreakable vow. Once we did that, it didn't matter whether we were truly convinced or not. Now the system can be sure that we won't do something stupid, that we won't change our minds."

Harry finally clambered to his feet and a step towards the seam in the surface of the cylinder. It sensed his approach and another seam divided the rectangle in two vertically. Hermione stood up as well and grasped on the rod to support herself.

"Is happening what I think is happening?" uttered Harry.

The whole square started to move outwards from the cylinder. Once the twenty inches thick plate was fully above the surface of the cylinder, the rectangles parted and slid to the sides. There was another layer underneath but it was already moving. Finally, the most internal door unlocked with a hiss and moved inside a little before rolling up. The interior of the cylinder was opened to them.

They shared a glance and briefly considered getting some rest from their ordeal first. Their curiosity got the better of them though and they walked in. They saw immediately that the second builders had been inside as well. The cylinder itself had been obviously built by the first builders.

The cylinder narrowed towards one end so the shape of the object was more bullet-like. The length of the interior was fifteen metres but Harry and Hermione suspected that the real length was considerably bigger. They believed that part of the object was barred to them because they noticed a panel at the back of the internal space. The panel was similar to the ones they had seen back in the circular room and assumed that it could be removed to access some internal machinery of the object. At the front (the narrow end) was something that looked like a control desk. Only, there were no visible control elements. Harry surmised that the first builders controlled their technologies with their minds.

The interior also contained elements which had been attached by the second builders to the superstructure of the first builders. The "cockpit" area sported several seats equipped by seatbelts. Their orientation was rather strange. The backs of the seats were on the floor so a person seated on one of them had his knees upwards and his head pointed toward the back of the object.

On the floor between the rows of the seats was a ladder which led to another contribution of the second builders. A closer inspection revealed that it was some kind of a living module similar to the cabin outside. The dimensions were much smaller though - the module was shaped like a curved plate, no more than meter and a half thick. Its walls were quite thin. It was "glued" to the wall on the opposite side from the entrance. It had no airlock so the whole inside of the cabin had to be exposed to the outer atmosphere every time anybody wanted to get in or out. There were two sleeping berths and some kind of a toilet. There were also two empty cupboards. Everything had the same strange orientation as the seats.

"What do you make of this?" asked Harry.

"What do you think?" asked Hermione back.

"Well, it looks like some kind of a ship to me."

Hermione made no comment to that and kept looking around.

"Shall we return to the cabin and sleep on it?" asked Harry, still weary from the mind probe.

Hermione shook her head and said, "I think we can sleep here. Bring the cart from the cabin please."

It took them five minutes to move all their remaining supplies in the cupboards.

"How do we start this?" asked Hermione when they were done.

"Just strap yourself in, I'll join you in a moment," replied Harry.

While Hermione headed to the front of the ship, Harry made a quick detour outside and quickly brushed the sphere. When he returned, the door started to close behind him. First the outer ones, then the inner ones. When each layer snapped in position, it meshed seamlessly with the hull of the ship. By the time the plate that formed the internal door rolled down, Harry was already strapping himself in the seat next to Hermione.

The ship shook, as the clamps around her were unlocked. Then it shook again, as it began moving.

"I guess we aren't going to teleport this time," commented Hermione.

"I hope we have secured all the supplies well enough," remarked Harry.

The ship kept moving. Harry and Hermione estimated that it left the hangar completely already. Then they felt that the ship started to tilt its nose down.

"Now I understand why everything is sideways here," commented Harry.

"Aye. It seems we are going ever deeper," replied Hermione.

"Well, it won't be much longer before we penetrate the Earth's crust," remarked Harry glumly.

"I believe we can safely consider this craft as magma-proof."

The ship was completely vertical before too long. The back of the ship became "up" while the front was "down". The ladder was needed to reach the living module which looked like a swallow nest from the new perspective. Harry and Hermione noticed that the acceleration wasn't as big as they expected which hinted that they weren't in a free fall.

After long minutes of descend, something changed. They slowed down a little. Harry was about to say something to Hermione when they were suddenly dropped. They yelped in surprise from the sudden feeling of falling. It lasted only a moment, then everything trembled as the ship hit something. That something was fortunately yielding but Hermione cried in pain nevertheless.

"I've bit my tongue!" she complained.

"All the way through?" asked Harry absently. He was turning his head around, looking for signs of structural damage.

"No," answered Hermione.

The ship started to lean again and if it hadn't been for the seatbelts, they would have fallen from they seats "forward". Then they started to move again and the ship righted itself (its nose was pointing down again). It felt strange. It didn't take them long to realize that they were flowing in something - something thick. The ship also wasn't completely steady as it had been before the drop.

"Do you think the same thing I'm thinking?" asked Harry. He had a good idea what they were flowing in.

"I need water," stated Hermione instead of an answer.

"You can't leave the seat now! It's not safe!"

Hermione had to agree with Harry - there were turbulences around. They were small for the most of the time but they managed to tilt the ship sometimes. Also, the ship was sometimes jarred as it scraped against something solid, though that occurred only rarely. Harry looked around for some harnesses that would secure the passengers while they climbed the ladder but it seemed that the builders expected the travellers to be strong enough not to need them. Then a thought occurred to him.

"Hermione? Do you think we could do magic here?" he asked.

"That would be a little difficult to test since we don't have our wands."

Harry grumbled in response and thought about their options. His thoughts were interrupted when Hermione added, "And don't you think about actually trying something, I don't want to get stuck here."

They sat in silence while they endured the bumps on the road. They finally got to recuperate from their ordeal with the sphere. It was almost two hours later when the turbulences started to abate and they didn't feel any impacts.

"OK, I'm going up! I need to pee anyway," resolved Hermione.

"If you must. Be careful though. I'll remain in the seat, in case something happens."

Hermione nodded and started to unbuckle herself.

"Hey, wait. I don't see anything around here to secure people when they aren't in their seats but it's hard to believe that the builders wouldn't think about it. Maybe there's something in these suits to prevent you from falling if we suddenly crashed into something?"

Hermione tried to find something but lost her patience soon enough. She vaulted over the side of her seat and grabbed the ladder. Harry watched her as she reached the module and climbed inside.

"The air should be good now. Taking the helmet off," reported Hermione to him through her suit.

"OK, stay in contact." replied Harry.

He heard her moving around and opening the cupboards. Afterwards there were some strange sounds and cussing which led him to believe that she was trying to operate the toilet.

"Everything OK in there?" he called. She made no answer, she probably couldn't hear him.

"I'm done, Harry. Unless you need something here, I would like to lie down now," she reported after some time.

"Are you sure? What if the module comes loose and falls off?"

"Then there's a pretty good chance that it will fall on your head and crush you."

"Very well. Keep the suit on and the helmet near though."

There was some more rustling and then silence. Harry tried to make himself comfortable. At first, he thought that he shouldn't fall asleep but then he realized that there was no point of staying awake since there were no indicators on the dashboard that he could observe and since he would wake up if they crashed into something.

He woke about three hours later, a little bit stiff. Hermione was calling him.

"Everything's OK down here, I've just taken a little nap. Would you mind if I came up?"

"It's little cramped in here. Wait till I get down. I want to try something anyway."

The something she wanted to try was the feature of their suits Harry had talked about. She found out that the boots and gloves could be "magnetized" to attach themselves to the material from which the ship and the ladder (and the "dock" of the first builders) were made.

"Well, this could help if the ride got a bit rockier and you weren't in a seat," commented Harry.

"Yes. Though I don't think it's there specifically for this purpose."

Harry narrowed his ayes and asked, "Do you think we are going to need it in our destination?"

"Well, I think it's safe to assume that we are under the crust now." started Hermione.

Harry interrupted her, "OK, stop right there. I think I need to take a leak on this."

"As you wish. Make sure not to mess things up in there."

Harry returned about an hour later. He didn't get back in his seat though and continued all the way down instead.

"Do you intend to try to control this ship?" asked Hermione, not very thrilled about such an idea.

"No, I just need to stretch my legs a little," said Harry as he let go of the ladder and stepped on the control desk.

"I hope your boots are off," reminded him Hermione, fearing a possible interference with the controls of the ship.

"Don't worry," said Harry as he sat on an edge of the desk. He though about climbing even lower. Instead, he turned is head up and asked, "So, what do you think is our destination?"

"Well, the boots and gloves point on a low-gravity environment."

"Yes, that much is obvious. Though in our case, the low gravity environment doesn't mean space."

"No, it probably doesn't."

Harry shook his head, as if he didn't want to believe it, and then said, "So we are actually going all the way to the core?"

"Not necessarily."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there's a zero gravity in there but there are other possibilities."

"Such as?"

"Well, this ship is just a little transport boat - it can't possibly do what we need it to do. So I guess we are headed for something bigger that floats in the area of low gravity. Maybe a bigger ship or another station. It would be hard to build something that would withstand the temperatures, radiation and pressure of the outer core but not impossible with everything that we have seen so far. It's also possible that our destination is actually space."

"Then why are we going down?"

"I don't know, maybe there's some kind of a portal which needs the energy from the radioactive decay inside the planet."

Harry thought for a while and then said, "Wait a minute." He climbed back to his seat and once he strapped himself in, he continued, "If it truly is the last option, then there is a real possibility that we shall meet the aliens who built this!"

"If there are aliens involved, then we don't have to meet them at all. Maybe they are extinct. Maybe our destination is an automatized installation on Moon or Mars."

"Are you crazy? A race that has technology to build a magma-submarine wouldn't bother with the said submarine if they wanted to get somebody to Mars! They would simply build a starship!"

"Hmm. You are right. Either our destination is inside the Earth, or really far away from it."

"Still, it's little hard to imagine a planet core as launching point for starships."

"True."

They rode in silence for the next few hours. Harry knew better then to sleep but drowsing seemed all right for as long as they shifted occasionally. Gradually, the ride became smoother as the nature of the magma around them changed. It took them some time to notice though.

"What do you think this means?" asked Harry after they "observed" this for a while.

"That we left the upper mantle? We can't be sure since we don't know our velocity but it's probable," answered Hermione.

"So there should be no more bumps?"

"Well, there are still turbulences. Especially in the outer core, if that's where are we going."

They resumed their silence again and just sat in their seats for several more hours. Hermione seemed bored while Harry kept looking around.

"What is it?" she asked him when she noticed it.

He turned to her and replied, "Well, as we get deeper, the gravity and viscosity decreases but the pressure increases, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, I'm just thinking about all that pressure and heat."

"That's nothing compared to conditions on the surface of the inner core. The temperature there is same as on the surface of Sun and the pressure is millions of atmospheres. I though we talked about it already - this shuttle won't go anywhere where it wouldn't survive."

"Yeah, I know. Still, this feels like a big, hollow nut just waiting to be crushed."

Hermione looked around all the redundant empty space and commented, "Well, the second builders could have filled the space more. A few seats, a toilet and two bunks? I feel like I am inside a silo."

Harry nodded and then asked, "How long is this going to take?"

"I would say days from the time it took to penetrate the upper mantle."

"In that case, I think I'll move in the module. I won't see this emptiness in there at least."

"Hmm. It's going to be cramped but I would like to join you."

"Shouldn't somebody stay to keep watch?"

"On what?"

"True. Let's go."

It was cramped indeed but they managed to get themselves in their bunks all right. Hermione complained about not having any books to read. Harry asked her to be silent and turned the lights off. As he was falling asleep, he tried to pretend that he was in a cabin on a ferry.

Their hunger was their only measure of time in the next few days. Hermione insisted that they should eat only when they were truly hungry. They also established that even though they were staying in the living module for most of their time, at least one of them should always keep the space-suit on (in case something happened and the module was damaged).

They rehashed their theories about the builders. It was clear to both of them that the first builders weren't human. Harry was determined that they were aliens. Hermione thought that it was also possible that they were from Earth and either left or went extinct.

Finally, the turbulences started to increase in temper. The effect of those on the passengers was heightened by the fact that the gravity was steadily decreasing so even a slightest jolt could send them flying against a wall. Harry and Hermione opted to return to their seats.

"Do you think this is the outer core?" asked Harry.

"It's possible. Still, it's not like somebody was here before. Everything we know about the Earth's interior comes from seismography and mathematical models."

Harry was silent for a while and started to look around again. Then he said, "You know, if we took our helmets off, would we hear the hull groaning under the pressure?"

Hermione pressed her palm against the hull and then replied, "Well, it's better not to think about it. I'm sure the builders did a god job."

Harry remained silent for a little but then he couldn't help himself and asked another question, "Hey, you said the outer core is liquid iron and nickel. So how does it come that our ship..." Hermione stopped him by threateningly raising her finger.

They sat in their seats for long hours. With their bodily needs letting themselves be known and the end of their trip nowhere in sight, they decided to make a trip back to the module. Hermione went first and then Harry after she returned.

"Do you remember how you asked me not make a mess up there?" asked Harry. Hermione glared at him icily. "I've spilled some water in there. I hope it won't short-cut anything," he explained.

The gravity kept decreasing and it started to dawn on them that maybe the shuttle intended to keep going down until there was nowhere left to go.

"You know, what if our purpose here is something truly epic?" mused Harry.

"What?"

"You know, maybe we are supposed to reach the center of the Earth where we shall perish and our consciousness shall merge with the spirit of Gaia!" He intoned the last bit dramatically.

Hermione just rolled her eyes and retorted, "The center of the Earth is unreachable. The inner core is solid and impossibly hard. Unpenetrable."

Some hours after that conversation, they were jolted as the ship came in contact with something solid.

"We crashed! We crashed into the inner core!" cried Harry in panic.

The tremors continued and Harry and Hermione were being jostled in their seats. They had no idea what was happening outside. Suddenly, it all stopped. There was one last tremor that shook the entire ship and then nothing apart from a feeling of acceleration which pushed them "upward" (toward the back of the ship). They dared not to unbuckle themselves while it lasted.

After some time, the state of low gravity returned. Their ride remained smooth, just like it was before the ship had been dropped into magma. Harry made a quick trip to the module and then Hermione, who remained there for the time being.

"How much further?" asked Harry through the radio.

"About thousand kilometres."

Something started to happen before they could cover such distance. They started to decelerate and then came to a stop with a slight tremor. They were clamped in something and turned into another direction. Once again, there was one last jolt and they started to accelerate again.

"I'm going down," Hermione called Harry.

"No, stay there. Just keep your suit on."

"OK."

"Hermione, do you realize it? There's some machinery out there! We are in the inner core and there's machinery!"

"Are you sure? Even after all we've seen, this is unbelievable."

As they travelled on, the gravity almost completely vanished. Once, they passed through an area which vibrated and they could feel it through the hull. Finally, they came to a stop. Harry sat still for a moment and then looked around. He yelped when he saw the door opening.

"What is it?" cried Hermione and opened the hatch of the module.

Harry unbuckled his seat-belt and with a slight shove of his hands, he sent himself towards her. There was darkness outside but not total. They thought that it was the light from ship's interior.

"I would like to make a quick trip inside and then we can go explore," said Harry and waited for Hermione to move.

The girl stared at the door in consternation for a moment. Then she snapped out of it and wailed, "The door is opened! The pressure! These flimsy space-suits can't hold!"

Harry grabbed hear and held her still while he looked into her eyes, "Calm down! The conditions outside the ship are same as they were inside. Now let me pass."

He was in and out in five minutes. Slowly, the two of them approached the door. In their nervousness, it took them a moment or two before they remembered to activate their boots and gloves. They turned the lights on and another feature as well - vision enhancement for low-visibility environments. They walked out of the shuttle.

They found themselves in a hangar similar to the one they departed from in the Earth's crust. The used material was different but the architecture and style was the same. However, the wall on the opposite side from the ship was missing and the dock opened into an empty space. Further inspection also revealed an interesting discrepancy in the structure of the hangar. It seemed that anything that had to do with the means of their arrival was much younger then the rest. Both the new parts and old ones had been obviously built by the first builders - just not the same first builders.

"The builders one-B planned for the second builders to lead somebody here someday," whispered Harry.

Hermione turned to him and waited for further explanation.

Harry continued, "At the beginning, the builders one-A have built this facility for reasons unknown to us. Back then, it probably wasn't possible to reach this place by the means we have used. Then something, probably emergence of our race, convinced their descendants, builders one-B, to provide access to this place for, let's say, emergency purposes. I'm not exactly sure why they used a shuttle instead of a portal but I guess their solution was simpler for some reason. When they were done, they took a group a people, some kind of Atlanteans, and taught them sciences. These people became the second builders and were tasked with building their own underground station right next to the one of their masters. They continued with their work after the first builders left - the sphere allowed them inside the shuttle but I think they were never themselves down here since we can see no marks of their presence. When it was all done, they continued with the upper part of the facility and started to make their legacy. They created the AI and the portal. Their group started to fall apart afterwards but their descendants continued their work and became the third builders. It's possible that they were not only in Egypt but in other ancient parts of the world as well - like China."

Hermione nodded and appraised his theory, "Well, that's one possibility of how it happened. There are others but this seems most plausible."

"The question remains, why have the builders one-A built this place in the first place, huh?" asked Harry rhetorically. It was something that neither of them had any clues about but they were sure that the place was powerful. Both of them were feeling it ever since their arrival. It was a feeling of a great energy, as if the place was saturated with it. They had no idea what it was or why they were able to feel it.

They took a few steps towards the edge of the hangar and peered over it. There was nothing. It took them a while before they thought to look up. There was a walkway.

"I believe we are upside-down," remarked Harry.

They activated the "magnetization" of their gloves, deactivated it in the their boots and sent themselves "up" with a light tap of their feet. Once they were on their feet again, they walked towards the walkway. It stretched into the darkness. After gazing into that darkness for a while, they realized that there was a small amount of ambient light. Still, they couldn't see anything concrete but they had a feeling that the space was enormous.

"This would be better with a rope," said Hermione, eyeing the walkway suspended in the void.

"Well, unless you brought one, we'll have to do without it. Look at it this way though, if you slip from the bridge, you won't fall anywhere," replied Harry and stepped on the walkway. Hermione followed him.

They walked for about a minute when Hermione saw something in the corner of her eye. She quickly turned her head but it was already disappearing.

"What is it?" asked Harry.

"I saw something red in distance. Something that glowed red I mean."

Harry gazed in the direction she pointed in.

"It's gone. It was covered by something big," explained Hermione.

Harry tensed and asked, "Like some kind of an animal?"

"No! An object. And from the way that patch of red was covered, I'd say it wasn't as much moving as it was revolving."

"Revolving? Like some kind of a cog in a machinery?"

Hermione shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Well, I have to admit that it's more believable than if all this space was empty. Because than it would be harder to compensate for all the pressure from the outside."

"All this space..." echoed Harry.

"Huh?"

"Hermione, how far was that red glow?"

"I have no idea."

Harry thought for a moment and then proclaimed, "Lights off. Let's try to adjust those vision enhancers."

After ten minutes of peering into the darkness, they weren't much wiser. The managed to catch one more glimpse of something in the distance - probably the wall of the cavity, red hot from the heat outside. Apart from that, they gained a distinct feeling of being inside of a gigantic machine.

"I guess it's a good thing it's so dark here," remarked Harry.

"Why?"

"Can you imagine what it would be like if we could see the vastness of this place? It would crush us! Now we can just pretend that this walkway is suspended in void."

"I'm not quite sure which one is worse..."

They started to walk again. The feeling of great energy everywhere around them persisted. They wondered whether the machine wasn't some kind of a power-source and what exactly was it supposed to power. While they walked, they saw all sorts of contraptions attached to the sides of the walkway. They couldn't fathom their purpose but most of them had some kind of spikes on them (to serve as antennas maybe). Perhaps they were some kind of control elements or transmitters?

It took them some time, with the zero-gravity and magnetized boots, but they finally arrived at a place where the walkway widened. What they arrived at was some kind of a platform suspended in the void. The whole structure was roughly oval in shape but it consisted of several smaller platforms actually. Some of those were circular, others had been built as a set of concentric rings. Harry and Hermione searched around the platform, not making any sense of what they saw.

"Is this some kind of a control centre? Some kind of a bridge?" wondered Hermione.

"More likely an engineering. Though I believe it wasn't used since this place was finished," theorized Harry.

"Well, whatever this is, they only way to control it is by your mind, just like the shuttle."

They reached the central part when their visors highlighted something for them. They shared a glance and then started to walk towards it. As they drew closer, they saw that it was just another control panel ("just another" being figurative since every panel they had seen so far was unique). They also found out that there was no way to reach their destination by walk since it was placed on a circular dais which wasn't connected by any walkway to the ring around it. They had to activate their gloves and climb to the dais using the struts which connected the dais with the rest of the structure.

"Something tells me that the first builders had no problem with zero-gravity. Maybe they had some kind of a natural propulsion?" mused Harry.

Once they stood on their feet again, they took a closer look on the panel. The first thing they noticed about it was the most anomalous element - some kind of contraption attached to it. They felt being drawn to it as soon as they saw it. They suspected that this draw had something to do with the sphere.

"Is this it?" asked Hermione incredulously. Harry made no comment.

The attachment seemed to be built by the first builders but it was tremendously out of place. Harry and Hermione stared at it for a moment. Then they started to examine it from all the possible angles. It was no use though - no matter how they looked on it, their eyes gave them the very same information every time. It was in their brains where the problem was. Harry and Hermione simply couldn't wrap their minds around it. They couldn't believe that this was truly what they came for. Still, the shape was roughly corresponding with what was commonly available in stores and the functionality was probably the same as well.

"A flip-switch?!" exclaimed Hermione again, even more incredulously then before.

What they saw was undeniable however. A flips-switch, and a very flimsily looking one to boot, was the central part of the contraption. The rest probably served as an interface between the switch and the panel.

"Yeah," whispered Harry absently.

"Excuse me but this looks like something from an electronic play-kit of a first-grader! That is, if you ignore how... alien it looks."

While the whole thing was of first-builder origin, it looked like it was meant to be used by humans. The thing was, a human would design the switch differently - whoever had made the switch, had not got a very good understanding how humans used their hands to handle things. Still, it was just a simple switch - Harry didn't want to imagine how a toilet for humans designed by the first-builders would look like.

"OK, the builders one-B wanted the humans to use it but they didn't want anybody down here, not even the builders two, until it was necessary - which it wasn't until now," pondered Harry aloud.

"Still, I can't believe that our goal is something that looks so... cheap."

"Well, considering how expansive everything we have seen so far must have been it's not so surprising that they ran out of their budget in the end..."

They stood by the control panel for a while, considering their next course of action. Both of them felt the compulsion which drew them towards the flip-switch increasing.

"What are we going to do?" asked Hermione.

"Flip it?" replied Harry.

"What if something bad happens?"

"Well, I guess we can always flip it back."

They stood motionless for a while.

"Well?" asked Harry.

"You are the chosen one - you do the honours," said Hermione.

Harry made one step forward and reached out, his index finger extended. Carefully, he applied some pressure on the flimsy stick of the switch.

"I think it's stuck," he said.

"Maybe it's just rusty. Let me look at it," said Hermione and took a closer look.

They fiddled with the switch for a minute or two. In the end, Harry pressed harder and the stick finally gave way. Harry overextended though and the stick snapped off when it reached the other position. It rebounded from the surface of the panel and started to float into the void. Harry and Hermione attempted to to catch it but their suits and magnetized boots didn't allow for quick movement.

"Don't let it get away!" shrieked Hermione.

"I'm not going to dive after it!" refused Harry.

They turned their attention back to the flip-switch and started to examine whether they could still flip the switch back. Their inspection revealed that it would be probably impossible even with the original stick. They decided to wait and see what happens.

"Harry, look!" exclaimed Hermione about two hours later.

Harry looked in the direction she was pointing in. There was a patch of red glow in the distance. It was slowly growing as the body that obstructed their view slowly moved out of the way. Their observation confirmed that the machinery around them was truly revolving.

"This is wrong. It moved faster before," noticed Hermione.

"Do you think we caused this? Maybe this other wheel turns at a different speed."

They watched as the patch of red grew bigger and subsequently as it shrank. They started to doubt that there was any point of staying at the platform and decided to return back. As they walked to the "dock", they began to feel that the great power around them lessened.

"What if we turned the whole thing off?" wondered Hermione.

"Then the shuttle will probably loose power and we shall never return to the surface. Of course, the living module and our suits will loose power as well."

"Well, we have always suspected that this might be a one-way trip."

Epilogue:

When the British prime minister woke up that morning, he subconsciously felt that something was different. He went through the usual motions and made his way to his office. He briefly glanced at the Death Eater charged with keeping an eye on him before he closed the door behind him.

As the morning progressed, the prime minister felt more and more free of his magical fetters. He didn't quite understand what it meant. Were they testing him to see if was willing to betray them? In the end, he decided to take a closer look at the Death Eater outside. One glance at his face was enough to convince him - the dark wizard appeared unsure.

Their eyes met. The wizard made one final attempt at casting magic and then lunged at the prime minister. There was a brief scuffle. Suddenly, the Death Eater was dragged of the prime minister and restrained by the chief of security. As his colleagues dragged the ex-wizard away, the chief of security turned his attention at the prime minister. No words were needed to understand that both men had had the same experience that morning.

"Learn what he knows," instructed the prime minister. "Though if this is happening all over the country, then the military will take him of your hands soon. As of now, we can consider ourselves in war with these... terrorists."

When he returned to his office, he started to make phone-calls immediately. His theory proved sound - the entire military leadership was free again. They agreed to make an emergency meeting of most of the people who knew about the existence of the magical world.

When the prime minister put the phone down, he stretched his neck and cleared his throat. He took a breath and then let out a deep, evil laugh.

About two years later:

A creature looking very much like a dragon appeared above the control platform in the core. A random observer would probably rejoice and exclaim that it was a warrior of the first builders sent to save the world. Alas, the dragon was a mere technician and a very low-ranking one to boot.

The technician looked around the ancient machinery and he would probably growl something like, "They aren't paying me enough for this." That is, if their economy used money. However, the fact remained that the technician was annoyed.

When the Earth node had gone off-line suddenly two Earth years ago, the main reaction of his superiors had been incomprehension rather than alarm. After all, the Earth was one of the more backwater nodes of The Network. Still, the problem had had to be fixed and so he had travelled to the nearest node and then had flown the rest of the way through conventional means. In the old rusty ship they had given him, it had taken quite a long time. At least he had used the time to take a nap.

It was clear to the technician that the core was in stand-by mode. If that was the case, had it been possible to restart the node remotely, rendering his two-year voyage unnecessary? He flapped his wings and landed on the central platform, deciding that it was a good place to start. He took out some kind of a device from his tool-belt and was about to head to a terminal from which he could run diagnostics and view logs when he noticed that something was off about the dais where the emergency controls were located.

Another flap of his wings carried him on the dais. He stared at the device attached to one of the panel in incomprehension. Further inspection revealed that the device was able to connect to the control panel and order it to issue the halt command. He wondered whether the builders of this node had forgotten their tools behind. Then the device had malfunctioned probably. Either way, it was a serious negligence and a possible security threat.

The technician shook his head, not wanting to dwell on the matter for another second. He tore the device off and connected his tool to the panel instead. Then he released two little spheres which flew off and started to scan the central platform for anything else that shouldn't be there. In the meantime, the technician ran the diagnostics, downloaded the logs, updated the firmware and performed other general maintenance. When he was done, he returned to his ship. Nobody would ever read the logs and the discovered device would be forgotten in a corner of the storage area of the ship.