Letter
"Harry?"
"Yes Lotus?" Harry says absently while looking through a recovered Orokin terminal on the Orcus Relay.
"What is that?"
The that in question is a brown avian with large eyes, sharp claws, and a beak designed for rending flesh. It was also wearing a harness and had a leather tie around one foot.
"According to ancient Orokin records, it's likely to be some sort of owl. Though they don't have much about them on this terminal. I'm still trying to find a translation program that will work on this letter."
"Letter?"
"Yes, it was carrying a small scroll, the scanner says that it is made out of the skin of an animal. One that we have no records of in our databases. Neither does Simaris, in fact he offered me my pick of his offerings in trade when he found out about the owl."
Lotus is silent for a moment, "Harry, do you want to use the systems on Lua? They are still the originals that were there before I moved it into the void."
"There's an idea, thank you. Maybe they also have a record of the letter I was found with. Margulis used to tell me about it and how the original was being used to create new species for Earth." Harry sounds a little sad when talking about Margulis, though he does pack up and head back to his lander.
"I'm sorry I'm not her Harry"
"Don't be, I've had two wonderful mothers. Even when you were Natah the Sentient for a while, you were still my mother. Did you know that I never had my memory wiped, I don't think I've ever mentioned that before. I still remember the look on Margulis' face when I came out of the device that was supposed to seal them away, and then ran towards her shouting 'Mama'"
Lotus considers that for a moment, "I can imagine. You always were an odd one Harry. You had less issues controlling your void energies and were far more versatile in what they could do."
Harry laughs, "According to Margulis, my existence did more to upend their ideas about souls too. There were some theories before I arrived that they yellow light seen when they convert a cephalon is actually the persons soul. Apparently, I had a fragment of another person's soul in my head."
"I hadn't heard about that."
"Mum, my first mum, used to talk to me about her work when she thought I was too young to understand. Something about the control exercises that they had us learn allowed me to remember everything perfectly. Including when you stood up to Hunhow for us before you took on a human form. Listen, I've just arrived at my lander, give me a day and I'll see you in person."
As he hangs up on the Lotus, he looks at the lander and then at the bird that's perched on his shoulder, "Ordis, do you have any thoughts about how to get an owl onto the orbiter without using the digitisation beam?"
"Ordis wonders if the Operator is Crazy forgetting the docking door."
"Thanks Ordis, I had forgotten. Could you open it for me."
"Ordis will manoeuvre the lander so you can use the door."
"Thank you Ordis."
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When Harry saw the Lotus waiting for him at the landing site he transferred out of his Equinox Prime and launched himself into a hug, "Mother!"
"Ooof. Hello Harry."
"I've missed you. How are you adjusting to being the Lotus again?"
"It is, interesting. Why did you suggest I take up this name again?"
Harry leans back, "Margulis was a woman who's boots you were trying to fill, and Natah is the person that your family moulded. However, the Lotus is the person you chose to be. The name that you took on yourself. Why wouldn't I want to honour that? Every one of us has been shaped by the war, and you allowed us to be our own people, why wouldn't you expect the same?"
"Thank you."
"Besides," Harry adds cheekily, "You're more cuddly like this."
Natah smiles at the most accepting of her Tenno, her children as he disengages and opens the airtight cabin to let the owl out. Using all of her senses she studies the owl trying to divine its origins, and comes up blank. They then walk together down to the original labs that Margulis used. Loading the scans of the parchment and owl into the labs computers unlocks a previously secured section of the servers. There they find a lot of speculation on DNA divergence points, as well as a translation program for the ancient language the letter is written in. There are copious notes by Silvana about how the differences were enabling her to develop flora and fauna that would be resistant to the pollution that was plaguing the earth. Apparently, all of the things he appeared with were made from organic materials that had retrievable DNA. The last thing they find is thousands of pages of research on the soul using the fragment they extracted from Harry's forehead. As Harry gets lost in the research and speculation about his origins, she takes the time to make some nanites to sustain the owl off of the ambient Orokin energy.
To Natah, the most important find was the original specifications for her ancestors along with speculation on how they could have incorporated a soul into it. Later investigation would reveal that every single project in that part of the servers had been banned and destroyed by the Orokin leadership at the time. Additionally, all of the scientists involved were put to death the same way that Margulis had been, with the sole exception of Silvana who went missing on Earth, and was presumed dead.
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Harry was absolutely engrossed, and then he came to the research about souls. The more he read, the more he was sickened by what happened to his first mother.
"Mum."
Natah looks over from a mission briefing she's giving, "Yes Harry?"
"Thank you for killing the Orokin."
"Ah, er," She quickly turns back to the briefing, "Sorry to cut this short Tenno, the Grineer and Corpus are arguing about territory again and are willing to pay quite handsomely for your help. Pick a side, and if you see out the campaign then you'll get your pay." She then closes the call quickly before giving Harry her full attention.
"What brought this on."
"I've been reading up on the Jade Light. Those, those, corpus execs, were destroying peoples souls. Not just the Oro, but the soul itself. That's why their Oro, where they've survived in the past, didn't bring them back."
"Harry, have you read the letter yet?"
"I know what you're doing Mum, and no I haven't"
"Well, maybe we should read it together."
__________ School of Witchcraft and ____________
Headmaster: ___________ ____________ (Order of _______, First Class, Grand _______, ___ ___________, Supreme ________, International ___________ of Wizards)
Dear Mr Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at __________ School of Witchcraft and ________. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1 ___________. We await your owl by no later than 31 ______.
Yours Sincerely,
___________ _______
Deputy Headmistress
Harry shakes his head, "That's a lot of unknown words."
"What was written on the other side?"
"Oh, just the nav-coordinates of my location when the owl arrived. I checked that with Ordis as soon as I got the letter on board the Orbiter."
Natah nods, "Let us craft a reply, and send it on it's way."
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Minerva looks up as one of the long-distance school owls appears in her office while she's just sat down to do some paperwork. Which is odd, as she'd just sent off the last batch of school letters. Her eyes widen as the implication sinks in, this is the owl that she sent out with Harry's letter. It is with a sinking feeling that she retrieves the letter from the owls leg, as the only reason the owl would be that quick is if the letter was undeliverable.
She's reaching for her wand to vanish the letter before taking the news to the headmaster when her brain catches up to what her fingers are telling her. This isn't parchment.
Fingers trembling she opens the letter to see printed text in both English and an unknown language.
Dear Deputy Headmistress
We received have your letter, and have translated best as we can. Please could you provide coordinates for navigate us to find you. I am interested in attending your educational establishment, do you have a place where the downloaded buy the books?
We will also compilation need of your calendar and how relates it to your star system, as we share not the same.
Regards
Natah (The Lotus), Harry.
Sent at Tau-71324998 Rath-89423843 Vela-13024935 Lemos-24194340 Orion-65732041 Gro-27843519 from Sol, Milky way.
Clutching the letter tightly she scrambles around her desk, catching her thigh on the corner, and fair runs to the headmasters office.