Chapter 52 - Journey to the Capital

The Free Council left the burnt remains of their former home. They were now a group of nomads, having no choice but to wander towards the capital. They needed to find the tower, so that they could unlock the secrets that The Messenger had said were hidden within.

The days were growing cold again, and the people were happy as they realized that the weather got warmer as they went farther. They did not know what caused this phenomenon, but it was doing wonders for their morale.

They ate well, having caught a number of foxes and even a deer or two on the journey. In general, they were well nourished and healthy. No one had fallen behind because of exhaustion or a similar ailment.

Jude had taken to reading the Kryonomicon nightly, but nothing in it seemed vastly important. It spoke more of the schism between humanity and kryonity, and spoke a small amount on the psychic powers that the kryons had. First-generation half-breeds had the powers, but no one else.

However, a small group, of which Jude was a part, had been affected by kryon genes manifesting within them, not from a return of the kryons. This bit interested Jude, however the Kryonomicon did not touch on the subject often.

The Kryonomicon also spoke of the fall of a city known as Beijing. Jude did not know where the city was, but it spoke that O’Conner, in his gathering madness, had tried to eliminate cities entirely from the planet. He tested a new weapon, the positron bomb, on the city.

The book did not go into detail on the workings of the bomb, but it claimed that it annihilated all matter, leaving only charged vapor hanging in the air. People were vaporized, and most people never even knew of the destruction. The watching kryons, however, knew of the destruction.

Earlier in the day, one person had fallen ill from what seemed to only be a cold, so they stopped early for the night, in the light. Jude looked through the children’s book of starships more, reading the information on the wasp-ship more closely.

It was indeed described as the backbone of the human fleet, and the most powerful ship that humanity possessed. This frightened Jude, as he knew that it was the wasp-ships that fired upon New York City, and presumably other cities throughout.

He sat down next to Tyra. She climbed into his lap, and he removed the cube from his pack. Tyra looked at it questioningly, so Jude explained it to her.

“The cube was something I found shortly after arriving on the mainland. It was scrambled when I found it, and I have this feeling that it is a puzzle, where you are meant to turn the faces in order to arrange them in a colorful manner. I have yet to succeed on it.”

He let Tyra try it, however she made no more progress than he had on the first night. When she fell asleep, he tried it a bit more, and got it up to four faces complete. The last two were only off by one color on each.

They walked for several more days. There was no sign of Lukäski again, as he had probably fled because of the death of his squad. They had since passed between two central metropolises, into a new city. Ralyn, who had looked at the world map quite extensively, claimed that it had been called “Philadelphia” during humanity’s golden age.

They camped in the city for the night. Ralyn said that it was about halfway between New York and the capital city.

Tonight, Tyra sat next to Jude as he worked on the puzzle. He turned the faces, his mind exerting itself to solve its mysterious colors, and he had a revelation.

He turned it as fast as he could, his mind barely thinking about the next move before making it. And in just a few short minutes, the faces were complete.

He had solved the cube.