Earth,
Inside a secure chamber on the Belize Base. It was a secret underground room with all kinds of sanitiser sprayers meant to activate the moment any motion is detected. It was supposed to be the place where Magnus was going to appear.
A small window looked inside the big room, behind it sat Emma, Severus and Magnus' family.
*POP*
He arrived with the apparition, his breathing was hard and his body ached like hell. The answer was clear, an ordinary wizard can not apparate to the moon, he will die in the middle even before he leaves the atmosphere.
He waved his hand at the people behind the window while his suit got sanitised. "The moon is pretty and scary, everyone."
"How are Rag and Bobby?" Grace asked him.
"As always, crazy and stupid. They are probably waiting for me, I will head back now, see you later," He waved his hand and this time used the portkey to head back to the moon.
...
He returned to the moon, still feeling the effects of the apparition. Ragnar and Bobby helped him.
He warned them, "It's not a good feeling, and this means that it took a lot of magical power for me to do it. A normal wizard might not even reach the moon and drop dead in the middle, only for his body to explode. Portkey is the only normal way any ordinary wizard or muggle can teleport to the moon." He fell to his knees as soon as he return to Moon.
"That's great, this means we can effectively control the means to reach the moon. With portkey, everything can be logged, if people could just apparate to here then it'd have created a lot of problems." Ragnar said. It also made a lot of sense.
*Sigh* "Let's start setting up the base so we have a place to sleep," Magnus took a long breath before getting back up.
The three walked to the rocket. Ragnar had the idea to joke with the rocket at that, "Haha, look, our rocket is like Moon's penis,"
"Wait, then... if a guy on Earth says the moon looks so beautiful, he's gay?" Bobby added.
Magnus burst into laughter, "Hahaha... and what about guys who say they're gonna pluck the moon for their love."
"They be plucking nothing but Moon's dick at this point," Ragnar added, laughing together.
Putting aside the jokes, they quickly got to work. One guy climbed back into the rocket to start unloading the cargo, the other two transported it near the crater's edge.
Magic was one hell of a thing, they didn't need any heavy machinery to lift objects. They easily dismantled the parts and welded the entire living unit. It was a big cabin with two windows, a pressurising chamber door, solar panels on the roof, antenna dishes and also a water tank on the side.
It was made to allow them to research inside while providing a safe space to live without the suit. For now, it was a simple single unit, and soon, whole complexes will be made to house dozens of people at the same time.
Once they were done making the unit, they decided to call it a day and take some rest. Inside, they ate frozen food that was microwaved, then went to sleep in the bunkbeds. Magnus, just for security, cast a bubblehead charm inside the whole cabin, so even if something happens, they won't die.
"Good night, or morning, whatever you want to call it," Magnus yawned.
"It's morning back at home," Bobby said.
"Night in Japan. The sense of time as day and night is invalid here," Ragnar argued.
He was right, "Good moon, then, I guess." Magnus fell asleep. He too was tired today.
...
Their alarm clock rang, the sleep of 6 hours was over. Today they were going to survey the whole crater and then collect a few samples from the places they felt they'd get the most minerals.
Ragnar stayed in the lab as he had already gotten some samples. Meanwhile, Magnus took out Emma's experimental broom to test it out. At the same time, he'd be using Bobby's geo-sensing and X-ray equipment to map the crater.
"Okay, I'm ready. Wait for me here," Magnus kicked the ground and flew up. The broom Emma had designed was a single unit like a car, it was as if a motorcycle turned into a car but only for one rider. Most of the frame was made of strong steel and glass to give visibility.
~Nice, due to more magic in space the speed at which the broom can fly has increased.~ he noticed. The broom was the same old model that was used on Earth, the only new things were the enclosed pressurised chamber.
He flew directly over the crater, he had to fly over this dark black ditch without illuminating it as magic may mess with the muggle instruments.
...
He spent an hour or so flying over and operating the small machines, he mapped the entire crater and also checked the floor. After returning to the base, they started analysing the data.
Meanwhile, Ragnar was already done with sand testing and gave his report, "As expected, there is oxygen content. But to extract that, all processes require high energy input, between 2-4 megawatt-years of energy to produce 1,000 tonnes of oxygen. While oxygen extraction from metal oxides also produces useful metals. So, I guess we will need to bring your fusion reactor whenever it's complete.
"Other minerals are Hydrogen, Iron, Titanium, Aluminium, Silicon, Calcium, Magnesium. Next comes the Rare Earth Minerals, as you guys know, Britain is not gifted with these, China, California, India, Brazil, Australia, South Africa, and Malaysia are. So our hope is this moon. Of course, Helium-3 is abundant here. Carbon and nitrogen are also present, these can be helpful in the future when we create an enclosed biosphere for farming here.
"Not to mention, the moon sand is like a natural cement that can be used in many different ways. In short, mining the moon can be the most profitable thing in the world for us, all we need to do is plan and create a well functioning efficient mining and processing system. Of course, we will need to bring other countries on board."
This was the end of Ragnar's report. Magnus and Bobby silently thought about this. They already know about all these things from scientific speculations. For the coming few months or even years, Moon was going to be a cash dumb, as it will take time before they truly start gaining something in return.
"Alright, let's start with the initial mining then. Ragnar, you two start extracting resources, Bobby, you put extra focus on Helium-3, we need the Fusion Reactor, without it we can't do anything else. Wait, what about water?" Magnus remembered the most important resource.
Ragnar flipped a few pages, "Oh, that, yes we got a lot of that here. Especially on the poles. As long as we can come up with an effective way of extracting water, we won't have to worry about going thirsty on the moon ever."
It was very calming, "Good, I will go and start gathering samples from the entire moon. Apparating around the Moon for me is not a problem, even if it's the Dark Side. We need to map this fat stone boy entirely so we know where the biggest mineral deposits are."
"Be careful, man. The dark side of the moon will be extremely cold." Bobby warned him.
"Haha, don't worry, with my magic amplified, I can literally obliterate this giant rock if I want. If I was on Mars though, then I would have been much more careful," Magnus flew away with that.
For the next four days, the three worked as much as they could. They could remain on the Moon for months if they wanted to, but then it would become too shocking for the muggle science community. The fact that they were able to build the first structure on the Moon that can be called a base was shocking already.
The next time another mission is sent, the rockets will have a lot of items related to long missions. Not to mention, Magnus will send wizards and muggles who know. There will be two missions, one that will be in front of public eyes, most of the time 3-5 people will go through the rocket. Meanwhile, with the help of Portkey, at least 10 people will go at a time.
All the heavy equipment, expansion of the base and more items will be sent from Portkey. But above all, the best thing about Portkey was the fact that in case of an emergency, immediate help can be sent.
Earth,
Inside a secure chamber on the Belize Base. It was a secret underground room with all kinds of sanitiser sprayers meant to activate the moment any motion is detected. It was supposed to be the place where Magnus was going to appear.
A small window looked inside the big room, behind it sat Emma, Severus and Magnus' family.
*POP*
He arrived with the apparition, his breathing was hard and his body ached like hell. The answer was clear, an ordinary wizard can not apparate to the moon, he will die in the middle even before he leaves the atmosphere.
He waved his hand at the people behind the window while his suit got sanitised. "The moon is pretty and scary, everyone."
"How are Rag and Bobby?" Grace asked him.
"As always, crazy and stupid. They are probably waiting for me, I will head back now, see you later," He waved his hand and this time used the portkey to head back to the moon.
...
He returned to the moon, still feeling the effects of the apparition. Ragnar and Bobby helped him.
He warned them, "It's not a good feeling, and this means that it took a lot of magical power for me to do it. A normal wizard might not even reach the moon and drop dead in the middle, only for his body to explode. Portkey is the only normal way any ordinary wizard or muggle can teleport to the moon." He fell to his knees as soon as he return to Moon.
"That's great, this means we can effectively control the means to reach the moon. With portkey, everything can be logged, if people could just apparate to here then it'd have created a lot of problems." Ragnar said. It also made a lot of sense.
*Sigh* "Let's start setting up the base so we have a place to sleep," Magnus took a long breath before getting back up.
The three walked to the rocket. Ragnar had the idea to joke with the rocket at that, "Haha, look, our rocket is like Moon's penis,"
"Wait, then... if a guy on Earth says the moon looks so beautiful, he's gay?" Bobby added.
Magnus burst into laughter, "Hahaha... and what about guys who say they're gonna pluck the moon for their love."
"They be plucking nothing but Moon's dick at this point," Ragnar added, laughing together.
Putting aside the jokes, they quickly got to work. One guy climbed back into the rocket to start unloading the cargo, the other two transported it near the crater's edge.
Magic was one hell of a thing, they didn't need any heavy machinery to lift objects. They easily dismantled the parts and welded the entire living unit. It was a big cabin with two windows, a pressurising chamber door, solar panels on the roof, antenna dishes and also a water tank on the side.
It was made to allow them to research inside while providing a safe space to live without the suit. For now, it was a simple single unit, and soon, whole complexes will be made to house dozens of people at the same time.
Once they were done making the unit, they decided to call it a day and take some rest. Inside, they ate frozen food that was microwaved, then went to sleep in the bunkbeds. Magnus, just for security, cast a bubblehead charm inside the whole cabin, so even if something happens, they won't die.
"Good night, or morning, whatever you want to call it," Magnus yawned.
"It's morning back at home," Bobby said.
"Night in Japan. The sense of time as day and night is invalid here," Ragnar argued.
He was right, "Good moon, then, I guess." Magnus fell asleep. He too was tired today.
...
Their alarm clock rang, the sleep of 6 hours was over. Today they were going to survey the whole crater and then collect a few samples from the places they felt they'd get the most minerals.
Ragnar stayed in the lab as he had already gotten some samples. Meanwhile, Magnus took out Emma's experimental broom to test it out. At the same time, he'd be using Bobby's geo-sensing and X-ray equipment to map the crater.
"Okay, I'm ready. Wait for me here," Magnus kicked the ground and flew up. The broom Emma had designed was a single unit like a car, it was as if a motorcycle turned into a car but only for one rider. Most of the frame was made of strong steel and glass to give visibility.
~Nice, due to more magic in space the speed at which the broom can fly has increased.~ he noticed. The broom was the same old model that was used on Earth, the only new things were the enclosed pressurised chamber.
He flew directly over the crater, he had to fly over this dark black ditch without illuminating it as magic may mess with the muggle instruments.
...
He spent an hour or so flying over and operating the small machines, he mapped the entire crater and also checked the floor. After returning to the base, they started analysing the data.
Meanwhile, Ragnar was already done with sand testing and gave his report, "As expected, there is oxygen content. But to extract that, all processes require high energy input, between 2-4 megawatt-years of energy to produce 1,000 tonnes of oxygen. While oxygen extraction from metal oxides also produces useful metals. So, I guess we will need to bring your fusion reactor whenever it's complete.
"Other minerals are Hydrogen, Iron, Titanium, Aluminium, Silicon, Calcium, Magnesium. Next comes the Rare Earth Minerals, as you guys know, Britain is not gifted with these, China, California, India, Brazil, Australia, South Africa, and Malaysia are. So our hope is this moon. Of course, Helium-3 is abundant here. Carbon and nitrogen are also present, these can be helpful in the future when we create an enclosed biosphere for farming here.
"Not to mention, the moon sand is like a natural cement that can be used in many different ways. In short, mining the moon can be the most profitable thing in the world for us, all we need to do is plan and create a well functioning efficient mining and processing system. Of course, we will need to bring other countries on board."
This was the end of Ragnar's report. Magnus and Bobby silently thought about this. They already know about all these things from scientific speculations. For the coming few months or even years, Moon was going to be a cash dumb, as it will take time before they truly start gaining something in return.
"Alright, let's start with the initial mining then. Ragnar, you two start extracting resources, Bobby, you put extra focus on Helium-3, we need the Fusion Reactor, without it we can't do anything else. Wait, what about water?" Magnus remembered the most important resource.
Ragnar flipped a few pages, "Oh, that, yes we got a lot of that here. Especially on the poles. As long as we can come up with an effective way of extracting water, we won't have to worry about going thirsty on the moon ever."
It was very calming, "Good, I will go and start gathering samples from the entire moon. Apparating around the Moon for me is not a problem, even if it's the Dark Side. We need to map this fat stone boy entirely so we know where the biggest mineral deposits are."
"Be careful, man. The dark side of the moon will be extremely cold." Bobby warned him.
"Haha, don't worry, with my magic amplified, I can literally obliterate this giant rock if I want. If I was on Mars though, then I would have been much more careful," Magnus flew away with that.
For the next four days, the three worked as much as they could. They could remain on the Moon for months if they wanted to, but then it would become too shocking for the muggle science community. The fact that they were able to build the first structure on the Moon that can be called a base was shocking already.
The next time another mission is sent, the rockets will have a lot of items related to long missions. Not to mention, Magnus will send wizards and muggles who know. There will be two missions, one that will be in front of public eyes, most of the time 3-5 people will go through the rocket. Meanwhile, with the help of Portkey, at least 10 people will go at a time.
All the heavy equipment, expansion of the base and more items will be sent from Portkey. But above all, the best thing about Portkey was the fact that in case of an emergency, immediate help can be sent.
