The Oracle

 The Oracle lowered the helmet and lifted the Telemachus Orb. At her touch, the orb came to life, losing its pearlescent sheen and becoming clear. Stars formed within it. Stars, then galaxies, it seemed to him.

“What do you see?” he asked. His head was swimming now, the images in the orb dizzying him, his legs threatening to give way beneath him.

“Can you see it? The way to the star?”

The dials on the helmet turned slowly, moving to a new configuration. The power tube leading to the Oracle’s much glittered as the energy flowed through it.

“I see nothing but the star,” said the Oracle. “I need time, for the path to become clear.”

The dial moved again, and the patterns in the orb swirled.

“You may want to be seated,” said the Oracle. “This will take time.”

He fell into the seat behind him, his legs collapsing beneath him. His vision had gone, all he saw were blocks of colour, red, green yellow, back to red. He breathed out, slowly, trying to clear his head.

“Please,” he began.

“Please?” said the Oracle. “Now we have found our manners? I don’t recall that when you took me from my home, when you threatened me, put your phase pistol to my throat and put me in the hold of your ship. Now, in this place, at this time, you say ‘please’.”

He shook his head again, his vision still swimming, his thoughts confused. Had he done that? Threatened her, brought her here against her will? Had his greed,  his lust for the star made him do that? What had he become?

“Please,” he said. “The way. And you can take the orb, keep it.”

“I see clearer now,” said the Oracle. “I see the path, I see it lead to the star, but it does not go from here. It is not your path.”

The energy tube glowed again, and the dials turned, and the images in the orb swam once more.

“Your path ends here,” she said. “The star is not your fate.”

“No, no, that can’t be,” he gasped, “No…”

He tried to stand but his legs betrayed him. His body felt drained, months of searching, wandering across the stars, all the hyperjumps, he felt all of them now. So tired. His vision gone completely now, no lights, only blackness. He tasted steel in his mouth, pain creeping across his body.

“You bring me to this place a prisoner,” said the Oracle. “But this will not be my prison.”

The orb changed again, becoming pearl-white and the dials on the helmet clicked as they moved back into place. The Oracle lifted the helmet and placed it back on the metal stand.

“I will keep the Telemachus Orb,” she said, standing and walking to where he lay slumped in the chair. “It is the least I deserve for my troubles. And I will take what it showed me, the path to the star, and I will take your ship and go to where the path to the star is. Then I will take the path, and I will go to the star and receive what it can give me. Then, and only then, my payment will be complete.”

He tried to lift his head, but his neck was agony, his spine like hot steel.

“How…”

“How? He asks me how?” aid there Oracle. “The Telemachus Orb. It isn’t just a tool for scrying. It is a portal, it allows my kind to draw energy from others, from you. You stole it from another of my kind, though I’m sure you didn’t know it. You gave to to me for your own greed, but in doing so, you have merely given me the power to avenge your crimes.”

“My crimes?” he gasped. 

“Your lust for the star blinded you,” she said. “The orb tells me as much. You have killed, stolen, destroyed lives to feed that lust. You deserve this fate, you have earned it.”

She walked to the door, taking the key as she opened it.

“This will be your prison now. The place where you shall atone for those crimes,” she said. “And when you have atoned, I shall return, with the gifts the star will give me, so you will know what you have lost, what your lust for riches has given you.”

The door closed, the key turned and he was left alone.