The message from the mysterious Chrono-Weaver was a single, flickering candle in the vast, dark room of their hopelessness. It was a myth, a legend, a ghost story whispered in the dark corners of the galaxy. But it was also the only new lead they had.
The problem was, the "Axis of Time" was outside their protective, lawless bubble. To get there, the Odyssey would have to leave the safety of its tiny, chaotic island and sail directly back into Regent Vorlag's raging, orderly ocean.
It was, by every possible measure, a suicide run.
On the bridge of the Odyssey, the Matriarchs gathered around a holographic display of the bubble and the space beyond.
"The moment we stick our nose out of this bubble, Vorlag will know," Ilsa Varkov said, her voice a low, gravelly rumble. "It will bring the full force of its reality-bending power down on us. Our shields won't hold. Our engines will fail. We'll be a sitting duck."
