Chapter 17 - Trapped

Jude looked at the book again. Although written in aurora-script, it had a number of easily decipherable drawings, all of the style of the image of the tower. They were generally shaded well, making the three-dimensional aspect of them obvious.

Many of the drawings were of kryon ships and weapons. Jude saw ships that looked like birds of prey, their main cannon hanging beneath the cabin of the ship. He saw guns he had never seen, usually built to what seemed like it would fit the kryon anatomy better. Still, many did appear that they would fit humans better.

He also saw specialized kryon plasma blades. He began to cry when he first saw them, thinking of Tyra for the first time in weeks. He wondered what had happened to her, and where she was now. He hoped with all his heart that she was safe.

And then he had another thought. He had been attacked by not one kryon, but three. It was unlikely that all three kryons would have missed boarding whatever ship they were supposed to return to during the invasion, or that they had lived this long in the house since the invasion.

Only one situation really seemed possible to him. There must still be a moderate-sized kryon population in the vicinity.

Jude's heart rose as he thought more about the situation. Perhaps these kryons had spent long enough from the rest of kryonity that they had lost their animosity towards humans. The chance was slim, but it was still a possibility. Perhaps they would be able to communicate, somehow, and work together to figure out exactly what happened before the war.

He looked through the Kryonomicon more. There did not appear to be any sort of human weapon or ship, and so he took it to mean that the image of the tower would mean that it was kryon-made. But why the kryons would build such a tower in the ruins of an earth city was beyond him.

An explosion disrupted his thought. He turned around, and saw a mass of smoke rising from what had been a stable piece of glass. Shards of glass fell from the sky. Jude ran for cover.

More shots rang out. Each one just missed Jude as he ran towards a building that was only about half-destroyed. He heard a voice behind him.

The voice was not very deep, and sounded asexual. He did not believe that the voice came from a human, as he would have been able to identify the gender of the speaker. The voice was not speaking in the common tongue, but instead was speaking in a language that sounded similar to that which the kryons had been speaking. Jude turned around slowly to face the speaker.

At first glance the speaker looked like a man. His hair was a flaming red, and light seemed to come from his silvery eyes. He was also very tall, looking to be at least seven feet tall. Surrounding him were two kryons, and as Jude looked around he saw more and more kryons moving out of the rubble. Each one brandished a weapon, all wielding kryon weapons, although some resembled human guns more than kryon guns.

The man, obviously the leader of the group, spoke a single word to them, which was obviously a command. He then turned and faced Jude.

"Greetings," he said, eyeing Jude and the weaponry that he held. "What brings you here to these parts?"

Jude was not sure as to how to respond. "I come from the island from the direction in which the sun rises. I am here seeking out the answers."

The man looked back. "Answers? Answers to what?"

And then Jude realized that he wasn't entirely certain what it was that he sought, and he certainly had no idea how to respond to the man.

The man turned spoke to Jude again. "I don't have all day. If you don't respond, I will have to do something that I will regret."

Jude remained silent.

"I apologize in advance for this." He called out to the kryons, and issued another one word command to them.

The kryons turned up the power setting of their guns.