Z1, Destiny Unveiled

by EagleRay

Four Months have passed since the events of Origins. Zachary Neldeb has begun to craft an invention that will catapult him and his allies into their Destinies. But I wonder if he knows that?

2. Gates and Crystals?

The Zachary Chronicles – Destiny Unveiled

A/N: As always, if you have any questions, comments, or criticism, please don't hesitate to let me know. It'll only take a few minutes. Thanks again.

And a great big thank you to Solanaa, my beta reader. Thank you for putting up with me.

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Chapter: 02 – Gates and Crystals?

Rating: T

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Monica's eyes slammed open and she immediately launched herself out of her bed and into a low crouch with her back pressed against the nearest wall.

Her breathing was harsh and laboured, her pulse thundering in her ears and drowning everything else out. She tossed her head jerkily when strands of sweat-drenched crimson hair fell in front of her eyes, searching constantly through the shadows for something—anything that could be a threat.

Nothing.

The young woman forced herself to breathe out and empty her lungs completely before slowly drawing it back in the same way. Calm. Controlled.

It took a few long, stressful moments, but Monica finally felt her heart-beat recede gradually back down into her chest where it belonged. Slowly, her windpipe released its stranglehold on her trachea. After two minutes, Monica gathered her wits to herself and swept her blue-eyed gaze through the darkness that enveloped her. She was in her bedroom.

Home.

Safe.

Awake.

Straightening from her place in the corner, Monica took a moment to tense all the muscles in her legs and arms before relaxing them again and feeling the tension and strain drain away. Her eyes fell upon the green glow of her alarm clock.

5:42.

Monica reached her arms up high over her head to stretch carefully as her mind drifted back to the dream she had just woken from, helpless to prevent the sudden chill that seized her spine in an icy grip, nor the wave of tingling goose bumps that sprang up along her arms.

It was the most frightening and vivid dream...vision...whatever that she'd ever had, and the redhead almost found herself cursing Zachary Neldeb and their friendship for whatever part it had played in passing the young genius' dreams from his mind to hers.

Almost.

But no, Monica knew it would do no good to lay any blame for what was happening. Despite his ingenuity, Zack had as much control over the dreams as he did over the rising of the sun.

Relaxing a little bit more, Monica quietly padded over to the heavy tan curtain hanging just to the left of her bed and drew it back, revealing the rest of her basement apartment. After securing the curtain to the ceiling with a wide black sash, she made her way to her kitchenette and filled her kettle to start on what would probably be only the first of quite a few pots of tea she would need to drink before she truly calmed down.

The mornings after her more foreboding dreams were always like this.

While she waited for her water to boil, she leaned her elbows on her small round table and finally let her mind drift back to the dream again. In spite of the terrifying, unsettled feeling it had left her with and despite the cryptic words, it was actually one of the most informative visions to show itself to Monica.

She had long since given up on dismissing the visions as merely her overactive—and apparently nocturnal—imagination amusing itself. Ever since meeting an entire race of creatures that had been experiencing the same dreams for longer than human civilization had existed, Monica had stopped brushing of the dreams and had even started documenting them in a journal she kept in her nightstand.

She had filled three journals in the four months since meeting Janine and her Raptors, none of whom appearing to be even remotely extinct.

"So," Monica went back to her bed to retrieve her journal, setting it down on the table when the kettle whistled at her. "I don't know what Zack is getting us into, but it's apparently going to be big—really big, with far-reaching consequences. I wonder if we're ready for it." She poured the water from the kettle into her teapot after sprinkling a modest amount of loose leaves into it.

Five minutes later, Monica sat at her table writing furiously. And in between occasional sips of tea, her pen danced frantically across the pages of her journal to record every detail—every thought—from last night's dream.

She had learned many things last night and into this morning. Too many things for her to be able to think about at this very moment.

And so, she emptied her mind and soul onto the white lined pages, filling it to bursting with everything that she had dreamed. She barely even paid attention to what she had written, choosing instead to rocket her pen across the paper as swiftly as she could. There were just too many thoughts and images and reactions swirling all through her consciousness to focus on what actually made it onto the crisp, clean sheets.

There would be time enough to read it later.

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"We are ready to begin the test, Zack."

Turning away from the game of chess he'd been playing against Anna on the machine shop's computer terminal, Zack looked over to see Lucius making his way across the room to rejoin the rest of the group by the still idle standing ring.

"Excellent," The young blond turned back to the terminal for a quick glance at the chessboard and speaking into the headset hanging from his ear, "Do you want to pick this up again later, Anna?"

It was only a moment before the A.I. Responded by wiping the chessboard clean and printer her reply out on it. I was three moves away from winning, anyway.

"Sure," Zack turned away from the terminal and started going over some of the connections between it and the ring, "You just keep telling yourself that. Now, show me the calculations for all the coordinates you've managed to plot."

Anna's face appeared on the terminal's display, pouting faintly, Are you doubting my calculations?

"No," Zack refuted easily, "I just want to verify them. I'm sure they're fine, Anna, but it would be reckless of me to not at least take a look at your work and confirm your results."

The image's unearthly green eyes rolled expressively. You say that as if this entire experiment were not already an exercise in recklessness. Do you even know what this machine will do?

Zack hesitated for only a moment. "I have some idea," he glanced around quickly at the Raptors scattered around the massive, warehouse-sized room—all of whom appeared to be quietly observing the activity surrounding the young inventor's Invention 237, some more subtly than others. "From what I understood of the series of dreams that lead to this design, it's a transportation device. In many of my dreams, I stepped through the standing ring and appeared instantly in another space on the other side."

Even as he spoke, one of the doors on the West wall of the room swung open with a soft creak and three additional Raptors came stalking through, making no attempt to conceal or even disguise their outright stares at Zack and his machine. It looks like word has spread of today's experiment. Not even a minute later, another door opened and another pair of Raptors strode in as Zack read Anna's reply with a nervous smile.

You mean to say that this is a Stargate? The bodiless face on the screen raised one eyebrow in disbelief.

"Yes and no," Zack started reading through Anna's calculations as she displayed them up on the screen. "The transportation physics are similar, in that a body is dematerialized upon entering the Gateway and transported as energy, but it doesn't require a Gate at the other end."

That is odd, Anna's head tilted to one side curiously, How does the body get reassembled correctly on the other end?

"It uses a crystal of some kind." Zack replied distantly as his examination of the calculations scrolling across the display came to an end. "The calculations look good, Anna; great work."

Thank you, the computer's avatar beamed excitedly at him before becoming serious again. What type of crystal do you require? Do you have it, or do we need to put this experiment on hold again?

"No, I don't have the crystal, but I know who does." The dark blond-haired man looked around while trying to ignore the growing crowd, searching for one face in particular. "She should have been here by now..."

"Forgive me please, Zachary," one Raptor weaved its way out of the small crowd, their dark olive colouring blending in quite well against the other greens, yellows, and greys of the others. "I would have been here on time, but...a family matter detained me."

"I understand," Zack bowed his head slightly in greeting. "It's good to see you again, Janine."

Janine bobbed her own head in return, "And the same." Shuffling her feet slightly, the Ancient Saurian, Chieftain of her entire species, took a moment to survey the still growing crowd. "The news of your test today has travelled far, Zachary. I did not expect so many to attend." Nodding quickly to herself, The amber-eyed Raptor shrugged off the brown leather satchel she was carrying and extended one arm for Zack to take it from her. "Here is the item you requested, though I do not know what good it will do you."

"We'll see," Zack smiled thinly as he felt his heart start to beat faster with his anticipation. Here it comes, he thought, another invention almost completed. "But first," he hesitated momentarily, still not completely certain of where exactly the boundaries lay between the Alpha Claw and himself. "If you are willing, can you tell me what delayed you today?"

The mainly olive-and-lemon-coloured Raptor sighed gently. "You needn't worry about it, Zachary; it is the same old disagreement that has been repeating for many centuries now—more often since your coming to this place, of course."

Zack nodded his head, a small noise of understanding escaping him. "Samson still sees me as a threat then, does he?"

"You are a threat," Janine replied sharply without hesitating, but her eyes remained calm and cool. "We simply cannot agree on how much of a danger you are to us."

Zack finally accepted the satchel from the Raptor leader and thought about what he had learned so far about Janine's family.

Born more than two millennia ago, it was a surprise that Janine had not managed to have any more offspring than she had. In all that time, she had only given birth to thirteen children. Her firstborn and successor to the leadership of the tribes was Samson, who had been born sometime in the 2nd century B.C. He had been followed by Persephone and Adonis, both hatched together shortly after the beginning of the Common Era. Three more clutches of hatchlings had followed after that, born at around the fall of the Roman Empire, the beginning of the Hundred Years' War, and just after the turn of the 18th century. Those hatchlings had resulted in nine of Janine's remaining children, and her youngest child had been born a few years before World War I.

The trouble that had delayed Janine's arrival that day was an ages-old argument between herself and her firstborn. The elder Raptor's family had filled the role of Alpha Claw since long before mankind had fist drawn breath, and ever since humanity had entered the time-line of the Earth, the leaders had directed the tribes on their current path—that of observation and non-interference where humanity was concerned. They had, in fact, become singularly adept at concealing their identities from the world, primarily through the use of their naturally gifted talent for shape-shifting to blend in side-by-side with humans all over the world.

Janine was leading her tribes along a path that had been in place since the very dawn of human civilization, and she had been forced to defend her throne for it many times in the past.

Even to her own offspring.

From what Zack had learned—from the Alpha Claw herself and from overhearing other conversations—Janine and Samson's disagreement dated back all the way to the heir's adolescence. As far as Zack had learned from Janine, Samson was most definitely not on board with his mother's attitude of coexistence and concealment. Samson's view of the status quo was so strongly opposed to this, in fact, that there had existed an abysmal rift between him and Janine for more than a thousand years. Their relationship was so distant, that before the past few months—before Zack had even become aware of the Omega Facility and its occupants—it had been more than 300 years since the two had even spoken to each other, and their last words had degraded to a heated argument.

According to some Raptors Zack had spoken to, were it not for an interruption by Janine's lieutenant or Beta, the mother and son may have even come to blows over the matter, invoking an ancient tradition that gave Zack chills anytime he thought of it.

Zack was fully aware that Janine and her family didn't take the throne of the tribes by baking cakes for the previous leaders, but through an honour duel. He didn't know precisely what the conflict had been, but Janine's ancestor had challenged the previous Alpha Claw and won the leadership of the tribes for himself and his descendants—or until the challenge was laid once more.

Janine had told Zack about half-a-dozen honour duels—only two of which ending in a death—she had been obligated to fight to defend the direction in which she was leading the tribes. Zack was pretty sure that, in all the centuries since she had taken on the mantle of leadership from her father, there had to have been far more instances where her leadership was brought into question. On the other hand, no one said that a disagreement had to result in a duel; Janine struck Zack as a very capable and clever leader and she was highly respected by the Raptors that Zack had met in this underground facility. She could easily have peacefully resolved a hundred conflicts for every one duel she had fought in the past millennium-and-a-half.

"I'm sorry, Janine." Zack shifted the satchel on his shoulder while glancing down nervously.

That long olive-green head tilted oddly to one side, "Whatever for, Zachary?"

The human shrugged uncertainly. "I don't really know. It just felt like the right thing to say," he took a moment to think about it. "Your son hasn't spoken to you in so long, and now that he is, it's only to fight and argue with you. It doesn't seem fair, and I want you to know that it was never my intention to—."

"Enough," the Raptor's voice was neither loud nor threatening in any way, but sharp enough that Zack stopped immediately. There was also the very clear fact that if a creature with the ability to disembowel a human in one motion wants you to stop talking, you should stop talking. "You may be the catalyst that has caused Samson to break our long silence, but you are not the cause of our disagreement. Samson has held his belief since he could understand the world and form his own opinion of our place in it. He is a Terra through and through, and despite our conflict, I could not be more proud of him."

Zack raised one of his eyebrows, "That's surprising; most parents are disappointed when their children rebel."

"Most human parents do," Janine corrected him before amending quickly, "And many of our kind feel the same, but my father raised my kin and I to be true to ourselves and I have chosen to pass that on to my own offspring." She circled around to glance at the slowly growing crowd around them. "As proud as I am of those of my children who honour me by following in my footsteps, I am equally proud of those who have forged their own paths. I have taught each of them to think for themselves and to follow the path they believe in, and I am proud of each of them."

"I am sorry for assuming, Janine." Zack tracked the Raptor's movements with his eyes. "I would love to learn more about your people, if that is all right."

"Perhaps another time, Zachary." The saurian rounded back on the young inventor, pinning him with her unblinking, yellow eyes. "For now, let's see if you and your computer have succeeded where the rest of us have failed."

"No pressure, then," Zack shifted the bag off his shoulder and reached inside to draw out something cold and hard.

It flashed in the light as he held it up to examine it. "Do you know anything about where this came from, Janine?"

Janine tilted her head, "To be honest, I'm shocked that you even knew of its existence. Not many Raptors know that the Alpha Claws have passed this down through the generations, and those that do know would be very unlikely to pass that knowledge to a human."

Rolling the long, heavy crystal in his hand, Zack considered everything that had happened up to this point. "I saw this in my dreams." He ran his fingertip along one of the longest facets of the bright blue crystal. The crystal was about thirty centimetres from end to end and ten in diameter. Completely flat at one end, the crystal actually appeared to be a bundled collection of long, faceted, cylindrical crystals that were a little less than two fingers thick. The cylinders around the outside were the shortest at about fifteen centimetres, and lengthened the closer they got to the center until reaching the very longest cluster of cylinders that spanned the entire length of the crystal.

"A dream?" Janine stepped back half-a-pace, tilting her head to regard the young man uncertainly, "You had a dream about the Jewel of the Creators?"

"Not just about the...jewel," Zack raised his left eyebrow at the term before pushing on, "I dreamt about this device too," he motioned to a pair of Raptors close by who reacted by carrying over a table that Zack had prepared for today. "I dreamt of the significance of this crystal and the device that your people have helped me build."

Janine clicked her tongue thoughtfully, "The fact that you dream the dreams of the Creators is still such a wonder to me."

Zack stepped up to the table and placed the crystal down on its end in the center of a painted grid that he'd set up on it. "From what I've been able to discern from my...visions, this Gateway taps into a vast network of conduits that exist in an alternate plane of our universe." Taking a second to make sure the crystal was sitting properly in the center of the table, Zack turned back to Janine and was surprised to see more than a few nearby Raptors watching his every move with intense gazes. "Uh...well, anyway—the network appears to span the entire galaxy at the very least, but the only way to access it is at specific nodes which are centred on formations of these crystals."

Zack imagined that a lot of eyebrows would have been raised at his last statement—at least, there would have been if any of the Raptors had eyebrows. "It would seem that this crystal," here he paused to tap his fingers against the crystal in question, startled to feel an electric tingle shoot up his arm from the contact. It hadn't hurt, but it had been sudden. "Hmm... This crystal, and others like it, probably give off some form of energy that your Creators had long ago managed to harness for their own purposes."

"The Creators?" Janine's question came at the head of a rising hum of low, indecipherable whispers from the rest of the gathered Raptors. "What do they have to do with this?"

Zack sighed under his breath. "Well, this really isn't something I wanted to talk about—not until I was sure—but I think I know the reason why I share the dreams of your people." At Janine's wary, but understanding look, Zack moved over to the Gateway's terminal and brought up the database of coordinates Anna had compiled from the information in his dream, only paying half his attention to the Raptors gathered in the room. "From what information I've gathered around the facility, I believe the beings that you call the Creators may in fact be the Xel'Naga."

Janine's amber-yellow eyes may have widened a fraction of a centimetre, but Zack couldn't be sure. "I will be honest, Zachary, it is not a theory I haven't heard before, or have you forgotten that many of our kind have found jobs at Blizzard Entertainment?"

Zack nodded absently as he continued reviewing Anna's work. "I do remember that, and it's actually just one factor in determining this theory of mine." Nodding again, but at Anna's calculations this time, the inventor turned to face the towering Gateway. "If I am right, the crystal that you and the leaders before you have passed down through the generations is actually a khaydarin crystal."

A low growl came from Zack's right as a pale green Raptor shoved their way out of the crowd. "You presume much, human—to think that you could know the minds of the Creators after spending only four months fumbling in the dark here."

Sighing, Zack closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath before addressing the newcomer. "Jonas. As always, it's an honour to be in your presence." He was being completely honest, but would not have been surprised if the grumbling Saurian received it as sarcasm.

Jonas was an ancient relic from a long-past era—even older than written human history. The old Terra tribe member had lived through at least three generations of the Lox-Harugar under the rule of Janine's family, and with that kind of age came a lot of old-fashioned philosophies and thinking. Jonas had been around to witness the fall of every human civilization to date, and it had probably all blended together to give the ancient Raptor a very dim view of humanity.

"You can spare me your patty patronizing, whelp." Jonas hissed disdainfully up at the silent Invention 237. "I am here to kill you when this experiment ends in disaster." At this, Jonas turned to glance sidelong at both Zack and Janine with smouldering orange-brown eyes. "It is clear that Janine will not do what is necessary for the security of the Lox-Harugar."

Janine's eyes narrowed and the Alpha Claw was replying before Zack could defend himself. "Tread carefully, Jonas. You and I have had this discussion before—do not do something that you will regret."

Jonas froze mid-reply, something passing behind his eyes too fast for Zack to catch; a memory? A thought? "I see that your vision has not changed, Janine." The burnt-orange eyed Raptor turned an unreadable look on Zack. "Is there anything you wish for me to tell your offspring when this...machine explodes in your face?"

Janine snorted lowly in her throat. "You have spent my entire life campaigning against the course my ancestors have charted for the Lox-Harugar. What makes you think any of my children will be duped by your false sympathy?"

Jonas sneered confidently at his leader, "I'm sure Samson would like to hear what I have to say.

"Then say it," Janine took a step forward to stand nose to nose with her elder, whom Zack was realizing was probably the Alpha Claw's primary opposition. "And say it whenever and to whomever you wish, but I will say whatever I need to say to my offspring myself."

The older Raptor stepped back slowly, eyes boring intensely into the slightly taller Alpha. "Very well, Janine." After casting another dark look at the tall machine in the centre of the room, Jonas spoke up one last time, "We will speak another time, if you survive."

With that said, Jonas whirled around and stalked out of the room.

"So, that was interesting," Zack smirked quickly at Janine before turning back to the table with the crystal.

"I apologize for Jonas, Zachary." The pale green Saurian took another step closer to Zack, lowering her voice discreetly, "I hope you understand that he does not represent our people. He and his supporters lose credibility with every decade that passes."

Zack nodded slowly as he made his way over to a thick roll of heavy cloth that had been placed on one of the nearby assembly lines. "You don't need to apologize for him, Janine; you can't control the thoughts or opinions of anyone but yourself."

"Even so," the ancient Raptor tilted her head down slightly, "His attitude is unacceptable, but he refuses to control himself. It has been this way since I inherited my place as Alpha Claw."

"I suspected as much," Zack chuckled quietly, unrolling the cloth package to reveal a large number of tagged, thirty centimetre, carbon fibre spikes. "He has the same attitude as many older people I have met before." He picked up the first of the spikes in one hand and a nearby lightweight crossbow in the other. "Many people, when they grow to a certain age, become less concerned with propriety and more conscious of their dwindling years and the need to leave behind a world they believe is right." A sly smirk crossed Zack's face as he glanced over at Janine again, "But I'm guessing it wouldn't be a good idea to share that comparison to Jonas."

"That would be a poor idea," Janine watched on warily as Zack stepped over to the Gateway's computer terminal, the crossbow and the first of the tagged bolts in hand. "What exactly does this test you are running entail?"

Zack laid his burdens down on the floor beside the terminal and then typed a few commands into the terminal to bring up an graphical interface that Anna had designed. There were a dozen or so fields for the data from the coordinates Zack and she had compiled. There were no labels for any of the fields yet, but that was what the test was for.

"We're going to test the gateway and try to analyze how it works exactly."

Janine snorted her acknowledgement, shifting her stance for a few moments. "Is it safe? Are you certain this test is wise?"

Zack paused what he was doing and turned to face his hostess. "I'll be honest with you, Janine," his voice was quiet and didn't carry any farther than the Raptor staring intently at him. "I don't know," he confessed under his breath. "I know I haven't said this yet, Janine, but I greatly appreciate the freedom you've allowed me to have here and I'm sure you've taken a political risk in doing so." Looking back at the past four months, Zack considered the various assumptions he'd made to reach this point in building his Gateway with Anna and the few Raptors who had offered their services. "If you believe the risks are too high, I am willing to delay this test until I and the others are more confident of the outcome."

Janine's intense stare bored unblinkingly into Zack's eyes as a sharp, explosive hiss expelled from her snout. "This is what I was afraid would happen." Pausing to glance around guardedly, the Raptor leader returned her glare to the human. "You have placed me in a difficult position."

"How so?" Zack took the opportunity to type a few more commands into the computer.

"If I allow you to continue this test, I will appear reckless, unwise, and weak to the whims of a human." The olive-skinned Raptor shuffled her feet so that she stood closer to Zack as she spoke. "If I halt this project to allow for more certainty, I will appear weak and indecisive to Jonas' supporters."

"What if I could propose a balanced solution?" Zack spoke up quickly, before the Raptor leader completely vetoed the operation.

"Such as?" Janine's glare became less frustrated and more...cautious.

"There is little to no risk of a catastrophic failure; the worst that should happen is a power failure, and your databases have just gone through their half-year backup. In the unlikely event of an explosion, it would not be powerful enough to consume anything beyond this room." Zack paused to glance around at the crowd of onlookers. "Clear the room and leave only a skeleton crew behind—some technicians to run the test and maybe some guards for security and safety. You'll look wise enough to accept the advice and criticism of your opponents, but counter it with the decisiveness and vision to lead your people on towards the future. You balance caution with courage, listening with leadership, and if that doesn't please both sides, you at least don't unsettle either side to the point of rebellion."

Janine nodded throughout Zack's explanation before hissing quietly. "That was my assessment as well."

Taken aback, Zack stared for a moment before cocking his head slightly. "You were testing me." It wasn't a question.

"Of course I was," the Raptor Chieftain rolled her wide eyes at him, "Did you honestly believe that I didn't see the path out of this dilemma after more than a millennium as Alpha Claw?" The shorter sentient huffed quietly as she regarded Zack with her intense, unblinking gaze. "I have been watching you ever since you first discovered our facility. I have learned a great deal about you."

"What have you learned?" Zack smiled just a little nervously at the Raptor.

Janine clicked a quick string of staccato notes before replying, "We will speak later, but first," Whirling around to face the rest of the room, the olive-skinned Saurian broke off in a burst of clicks, hisses, and whistles that quickly scattered virtually the entire gathered mass. All that was left were the three Raptors that had been standing closest to the towering ring, and five other, larger Raptors who stationed themselves around the room closer to the walls and away from Zack's machine. "We should get started. For as much potential as there is in your project, there is only so long that we can afford to suspend Omega's normal operations."

"You're right, let's get this ball rolling," Zack turned back to the table and verified that he had set up the crystal in its place on the grid.

Once he was satisfied with that, he walked back to the Gateway's terminal and retrieved the crossbow. "Are the camera's up, Anna?" He spoke clearly into his wireless headset, and glanced over at the machine's computer terminal for the answer. The upper half of the display blanked out to make space for the A.I.'s reply

All 8 video cameras are operational and recording.

Nodding to himself, Zack looked up to see the indicated cameras anchored to the centre of each wall and at the top of the room's four corners. Glancing back quickly at his crossbow lying close by, Zack tapped out a final string of commands before stepping away from the computer terminal. "And, here we go."

As the young Inventor picked up the crossbow and moved over to the standing Gateway, he thought back once again on all the events and decision of the past four months—and even the years before that, which had culminated to this very moment. There was that tingle of sensation down his spine that always came over him just before testing a prototype. The excitement of a project nearing completion, the anxiety of the uncertain outcome, the hopeful optimism...

What if it worked?

What if it didn't?

But... What if it did?

The outcome will never certain unless...

Zack reached out one hand and typed the command to activate the Gateway programmed with the first set of coordinates from his vision—the first set Anna had plugged into their unlabelled GUI display.

For a moment, nothing happened and even the Computer terminal was disappointingly unresponsive to the commands Zack had just entered.

Then, there was a rapid series of cranks, accompanied by the grind of sliding plates as the towering frame of the Gateway came to life. The inside surface of the ring revealed itself to be made up of hundreds of interlocking metal plates as they each unlocked and separated from each other, sliding apart all around the inner circumference of the titanic ring to expose the array of energy emitters that were housed within the ring as the mechanized track they were installed on began to move, spinning slowly but gaining momentum.

There was a flash of light as a pair of emitters directly opposite one another flared to life, blazing a brilliant bewam of red light across the opening of the Gate as the ring of emitters continued to spin ever faster. A moment passed before another set of emitters fired up, this time burning a trail of green light across the Gateway as it continued to speed up its rotation.

Another instant passed before an intense beam of blue light had joined the first two, and then another red flare ignited. Then green again.

By this time, the inside tracked of the Gateway was spinning so fast that the beams of light appeared more as wedges, the colour each bleeding together and swirling to be indistinguishable.

Zack slowly became aware of a growing whine as the energy flowing through the machine continued to build and the now near-blinding white disc of light spun ever faster. Glancing momentarily at the computer terminal, he spoke up loudly enough to be heard over the growing noise. "Power stored is at eighty-five percent, the gate will have enough energy to activate soon."

Janine shuddered uncomfortably at the growing noise, her head twisting back and forth uneasily. "I suddenly feel less confident about this test, Zachary." The olive-skinned Raptor took a couple shaky steps away from the human and his machine.

"Don't worry, Janine," Zack countered with more certainty than he really felt was warranted. "At this point, if the Gate fails, it'll only cause a blackout in the facility. Your team's backups are secure, so the only risk is to the Gateway project itself." The dark blond-haired man looked around as the lights overhead began to flicker and dim sporadically. "It shouldn't be more than a few moments longer!" His voice rose as he fought to be heard over the growing din.

The noise grew to such a level, Zack had to abandon the console and cover his ears for what little relief it provided. But then he saw it:

Amidst the flickering and flashing overhead lights, the spinning disc of energy within the ring had remained constant. Now, it seemed as if tiny sparks of darkness—or less intense spots of light—were appearing and disappearing, flashing in and out all across the energy disc.

There came a tremendous crash, a concussive blast of sound that briefly shook the ground beneath Zack's feet, and then absolute, deafening silence.

Well, almost silence.

There was a quiet hum coming from the machine, but no other sound could be heard; it was a startling contrast to the deafening whine of just five seconds earlier. The white circle of energy was still in place, but Zack couldn't tell if it was still spinning or not. He couldn't see the colours of the initial activation emitters, but neither could he hear the rumbling of the emitter rail that had started the rotary motion to build the charge. It was a puzzling question .

"Janine," Zack spoke up quietly without knowing exactly why he was keeping his voice down. "Your hearing is more sensitive; what do you hear?"

Shaking her head slightly—perhaps clearing out her ears from the previous cacophonous clamour—the ancient Saurian whistled softly as she spoke. "I hear only the sound of the energy from the machine."

Filing that information away for later investigation, Zack returned to the computer terminal and read the information displayed. "Well," he turned back to Janine, "The power has stabilized, if the steady lighting is any indication, and the Gateway is active, so why don't we see if we can find out where it goes, eh? He bent to lift up the crossbow he'd laid down beside the computer terminal a few minutes earlier.

Janine nodded slowly, hesitantly. "I have my doubts still, Zachary, but we shall proceed."

"Awesome." Zack stepped over to stand in front of the portal. "Cameras are still rolling, Anna?" He glanced quickly at the terminal for the reply.

I am recording the test.

Nodding, Zack raised the crossbow to his shoulder and fired it into the centre of the brilliant white disc of energy.

There was a burst of sound, a snap similar to the arc of an electric spark or a Jacob's Ladder, and then a brilliant flash from the table fifteen metres from the activated ring.

All eyes turned to the table just in time to see a blaze of brilliant light slowly fading from the heart of the crystal placed there, and as the glare of luminescence faded, a single crossbow bolt was revealed to be lying motionless on the wooden, grid-etched surface.

Janine was the first to speak in the stunned silence. "While I am relieved that nothing exploded, I find that I am...underwhelmed by the results."

Already loading a second projectile into his crossbow, Zack turned a thin smile on the Alpha Raptor. "We've only just started testing, Janine." He turned and took aim once again, his lips twisting into more of a smirk, "I'm certain there's more time for something to go wrong."

Janine balked as Zack fired the second tagged bolt into the machine's blazing portal.

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A/N: I moved the format explanation down here. Please let me know if it would be all right to remove it completely.

blah – Anna's speech.

blah – Regular speech/Narrative.

blah – Thoughts.

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A/N: Thanks again to everyone who stuck around. As a bonus and a great big thank-you, I want to offer each and every one of you something. In this story (and the ones to come), if you want to know more about a particular subject/character or if there's a back-story or something that you want me to go into, feel free to let me know. Chances are, I already have plans to go into that later, but if not, I'll be starting a side-story of sorts once I'm a little farther into this series: Zx—The Untold Tales.