Flight of the Oracle

alive out of this entire sector of space. Chukwus wrath had no bounds or morality.

”The dark energy reactor just blew. ” Massive explosions rocked the already unstable surroundings just moments after Oracle saw it happen. ”Weve lost the interdimensional bridge. ” Oracle closed her eyes and braced for the backlash of psionic energy that had been released and was about to run through her unshielded mind.

”Haka… ” Marcus just couldn give up on her. ”Im going to get you out of here. ” Shaking her head with her eyes closed she just wanted to let herself go, give up and accept the end of her entire species.

”If the dark matter containment for the tangible reactor fails the matter-antimatter reaction will obliterate everything within a sector. ” It had been so long since someone had called her by her given name and not by her title that Haka had forgotten what it was like to be a person and not a minor deity. ”The shockwave will blow through the next three levels of existence and tear at least one veil. ” Defeat coursed through her veins and begged her to succumb.

”We can still save you. The emergency transport…quickly…this way! ” Without waiting for her reply, Marcus was dragging Haka off in another direction while the universe burned down around her. Everything Haka had ever known in her life was ending. Even if they did survive, how could she go on?

”You don understand… ” Haka fought loose from his grip. ”If we transport directly to the other side, the explosion will be able to flow through our temporal wake and breakthrough after us. We would cause a catastrophic failure of the primary veil. ” Not intending to give up so easily, the guard grabbed the beautiful womans hand once again. ”Everything would end. Both halves of existence would die when the matter and antimatter universes collide. ”

”Then well transport to one of the alternate realities on this side. ” Oracle smiled at the thought.

”Mmmm…meet another you? ” She teased despite the morbid circumstances. She tried sounding sexy, something shed never mastered in over three-thousand years of life. But a little joke amid the soot and ashes was her only saving grace right now. ”Breaking the ultimate taboo and travel through alternate possible realities; or sudden and painful death? ” The sentence came out broken as the woman ran through the smoke and destruction. One of the routes her escort had chosen ended at a caved-in wall where molten hot rock oozed through the breach.

”Will he be able to follow us? ” Business as always, Marcus would not be distracted by levity as he backpedaled quickly to take another possible route.

”Theres no historical evidence that he has an interest in the alternates. But the only way to keep him from immediately following us is if we leave the antimatter half of existence. He can go anywhere on this side he wants. But Chukwu will have to return to Eiden and start out from the center for the other side. ” Haka snorted derisively. ”Some God! He can even transport himself between the two halves of reality. ”

”However… ” Her tired voice continued as the woman rested briefly against a wall. ”…No Alluran has ever left the two causal timelines that border the primary veil. Its the biggest taboo. ” Smoke stung her eyes and Haka hacked and coughed convulsively for a moment before continuing. ”I don even know if there are Alluran in the alternate realities. Mother would know, but shes the Allura. Shes the one who fixes the breaches caused by tampering with the timelines and the fabric of reality. ”

By the time the battered woman had finished the statement, they had reached the emergency transport room. Heat damage had disabled the locking plate and Marcus was already pulling the maintenance panel apart to work the override.

”What aren you telling me Haka? ” The voice was tired and hard. For the first time since the siege had begun, her guardsman was letting the frayed bits of his sanity show through with the roughened edge in his voice.

”The only place that he couldn follow us to at all is the Chronos Vault. It is a place outside of space and time. Chukwu can exist there. He can even conceive of the place. Its a remnant from a prior universe. A good idea of yours to go there. ” Sighing in frustration, Haka continued. ”But we still have the problem of the blast following us. ”

Shoulder deep in the mechanics of the wall access panel Marcus cursed, and then grunted in triumph. With a click and a hiss the door unlocked. Extricating himself from the innards of the base the guard joined Haka as she tugged on the manual lever to open the heavy blast-proof door.