The Last Days of Krypton

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by Kevin J. Anderson




  The Last Days of Krypton

  Kevin J. Anderson

  Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

  Contents

  TO JULIUS SCHWARTZ

  FOREWORD

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  CHAPTER 1

  The red sun of Krypton loomed in the sky, an…

  CHAPTER 2

  Working with her fellow apprentice artists around the wonderfully exotic…

  CHAPTER 3

  Rao’s turbulent storm created a silent light show of auroras…

  CHAPTER 4

  Kandor’s grand stadium was a perfect ellipse with high walls,…

  CHAPTER 5

  Even in Zor-El’s beloved Argo City, most Kryptonians were too…

  CHAPTER 6

  Even though he viewed the world in terms of mathematics…

  CHAPTER 7

  Two blocks from the majestic governmental ziggurat, the Commission for…

  CHAPTER 8

  After Jor-El departed in frustration, Zod could barely control his…

  CHAPTER 9

  The arena stables were Nam-Ek’s own place, and he enjoyed…

  CHAPTER 10

  When his battered silver flyer finally arrived back in Argo…

  CHAPTER 11

  Angry, but not surprised that Commissioner Zod had confiscated the…

  CHAPTER 12

  As soon as Jor-El had departed for Kandor, Lara began…

  CHAPTER 13

  From atop the Council temple the holographic image of Rao…

  CHAPTER 14

  Jor-El arrived back at the estate long after the artists…

  CHAPTER 15

  Without sending a message ahead through the communication plates, Zor-El…

  CHAPTER 16

  The pulsing red heat of early afternoon drove most Kandorians…

  CHAPTER 17

  When Jor-El came back to the estate, Lara could tell…

  CHAPTER 18

  On her own in the wilderness, surviving by her instincts…

  CHAPTER 19

  During their time together, Lara had seen more of the…

  CHAPTER 20

  Once his brother had listened to his story and interpreted…

  CHAPTER 21

  The arrival of the alien visitor threw all of Kandor…

  CHAPTER 22

  Though uneventful, the trip from Kandor aboard Donodon’s vessel was…

  CHAPTER 23

  He had already made up his mind that the alien…

  CHAPTER 24

  Returning home, Zor-El drew a deep, exhilarating breath of Argo…

  CHAPTER 25

  In the fresh early morning light, Jor-El finished adjusting the…

  CHAPTER 26

  The Kryptonian Council reacted to Donodon’s death with horror, disbelief,…

  CHAPTER 27

  Disgraced, Jor-El saw no alternative but to place himself in…

  CHAPTER 28

  Xan City was a metropolis of ghosts and ruins and…

  CHAPTER 29

  Lara contacted her parents in Kandor to announce that she…

  CHAPTER 30

  Only seven days remained before the scheduled inquisition. Jor-El had…

  CHAPTER 31

  Zod and Nam-Ek flew back to Kandor at night in…

  CHAPTER 32

  The palace of solitude in the arctic snowfields was breathtaking.

  CHAPTER 33

  Zod stood by himself on the edge of the vast…

  CHAPTER 34

  All of Krypton reeled from the sudden loss of the…

  CHAPTER 35

  Jor-El and Lara’s brief bit of solitude and joy in…

  CHAPTER 36

  Even as the people of Argo City pulled together to…

  CHAPTER 37

  While he waited for Aethyr to arrive for their special…

  CHAPTER 38

  Now unexpectedly exonerated, Jor-El began to assist Commissioner Zod in…

  CHAPTER 39

  Hoping to secure his power base, Commissioner Zod had already…

  CHAPTER 40

  After the setback from the severe quake, Jor-El revised his…

  CHAPTER 41

  By the time Zod returned from Xan City, satisfied and…

  CHAPTER 42

  When the distant early-warning outpost was completed on the empty…

  CHAPTER 43

  The next day, Jor-El went to his father’s enigmatic translucent…

  CHAPTER 44

  The next day Nam-Ek arrived at the estate, brusquely handing…

  CHAPTER 45

  Commissioner Zod’s announcement that he would reestablish his capital at…

  CHAPTER 46

  The city grew with remarkable speed. With so many political…

  CHAPTER 47

  Lara loved watching the wheels turn in Jor-El’s mind as…

  CHAPTER 48

  On the night before Jor-El was to return, Commissioner Zod…

  CHAPTER 49

  After a rushed two days, Jor-El returned from the arctic…

  CHAPTER 50

  The visitor came to Argo City in secret. After crossing…

  CHAPTER 51

  From memory, Jor-El redrew his plans for the Rao beam,…

  CHAPTER 52

  While Jor-El was gone for weeks setting up the huge…

  CHAPTER 53

  The intense red beams continued to pound into the crater…

  CHAPTER 54

  The next day, the scarlet beams shot downward again, and…

  CHAPTER 55

  As he left the mountain installation long before the Commissioner’s…

  CHAPTER 56

  Since being asked to write the official history according to…

  CHAPTER 57

  After discovering that Tyr-Us was truly gone, Zor-El did not…

  CHAPTER 58

  No matter how carefully she applied her brushstrokes to the…

  CHAPTER 59

  Though he had grave concerns about the Commissioner, Zor-El wasn’t…

  CHAPTER 60

  As night fell after a long day, Jor-El and Lara…

  CHAPTER 61

  Under a clear, star-filled night sky, Alura and Charys went…

  CHAPTER 62

  With a tremendous sense of urgency, Jor-El went to see…

  CHAPTER 63

  Seeing Zod’s reactionary response to the growing defiance of other…

  CHAPTER 64

  Inside Zod’s newly designated war room, Aethyr and Koll-Em studied…

  CHAPTER 65

  After warning his brother about Loth-Ur’s Hammer, Jor-El ignored all…

  CHAPTER 66

  While the foolish dissidents in other population centers were shocked…

  CHAPTER 67

  After the annihilation of Borga City, all those who had…

  CHAPTER 68

  After humiliating General Zod in such a spectacular and public…

  CHAPTER 69

  The time for subtlety had passed. Now that he had…

  CHAPTER 70

  The female doctor pronounced Lara’s baby healthy and strong in…

  CHAPTER 71

  Looking down at the contoured gel model of Argo City…

  CHAPTER 72

  Zor-El knew that General Zod’s army would be coming with…

  CHAPTER 73

  After Zod took his army on the march, the only…

  CHAPTER 74

  Like a slap in the face, the force-field dome over…

  CHAPTER 75

  General Zod’s army swept back into Kryptonopolis like a swarm…

  CHAPTER 76


  Blinding shafts of yellow light and fire spat from exhaust…

  CHAPTER 77

  In the confusion and chaos after the missile launches, Jor-El…

  CHAPTER 78

  Zor-El’s allied rebels were converging on Kryptonopolis when they saw…

  CHAPTER 79

  Despite their exhaustion, Zor-El and his rebels spent many hours…

  CHAPTER 80

  General Zod seethed inside the transparent prison. Together, defeated, he…

  CHAPTER 81

  In the middle of the Square of Hope the broken…

  CHAPTER 82

  After so many nightmarish months, Jor-El wished he could just…

  CHAPTER 83

  The day after the new government was formed, Zor-El bid…

  CHAPTER 84

  Jor-El retreated from public view for a few days after…

  CHAPTER 85

  In the few weeks since defeating General Zod, Argo City…

  CHAPTER 86

  The huge telescope dishes stood as silent sentinels, still watching…

  CHAPTER 87

  The red sun of Rao dawned on the last day…

  CHAPTER 88

  To Zor-El, the impending loss of Argo City, of Krypton,…

  CHAPTER 89

  Kryptonopolis began to fall. The people in the glorious new…

  CHAPTER 90

  The lone crystal-studded ship sailed off into space, escaping Krypton’s…

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Credits

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  To Julius Schwartz

  I’ve always considered Julius Schwartz, or “Julie,” as his friends called him, to be Superman’s “fairy godfather.” He worked for DC Comics for forty-two years and edited the line of Superman comics from 1971 through 1985, and after that he was a fixture at many conventions and gatherings. Years ago he gave me a gold Superman “S” pin at the San Diego Comic Con, and then when he saw me again months later he scolded me severely for not wearing it. I certainly learned my lesson, and I made a point of wearing that gold pin at every convention where our paths crossed (and he made a point of tracking me down to make sure I was). Julie died in 2004. Since I can’t give him a signed copy of The Last Days of Krypton, I can at least put his name here. Thanks for everything, Julie!

  FOREWORD

  Science fiction fandom began in the 1930s, and two such fans were Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the former a writer, the latter an artist. From their singular passion came the ultimate science fiction creation, Superman, that strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond… No reason to continue; you know the rest. Everyone knows the rest.

  Superman was born out of a love for science fiction, so it should be no surprise that the story of Krypton, Superman’s doomed home planet, would be trusted to Kevin J. Anderson, one of the best science fiction writers working today.

  Kevin was given a task as daunting as any of Superman’s legendary deeds. He had to put together a history of a world that over the past sixty-eight years has had countless conflicting stories created for it. Did Krypton die of an earthquake? Or did a comet hit it? Or maybe the sun went nova and destroyed it in its burning wake? What were Krypton’s people like? Were they benevolent, self-indulgent, emotionless, or loving? And what about Brainiac…what about Argo City…what about…what about…?

  These are questions that have been asked and answered by millions of fans many, many times.

  But now it is time for a new story that brings those diverse histories together, yet forges its own path. We all know Krypton’s outcome, but Kevin gives us a new, thrilling tale unlike any we’ve seen before. It is both familiar and surprising.

  Re-creating a rich, real, complex history out of such convoluted lack of continuity is an undertaking I would never have wanted to do. But Kevin did and succeeded, and he has now given us a history of a world most of us grew up knowing and caring for. And somehow, with that same flash of inspiration Siegel and Shuster showed when they created Superman all those years ago, he has put it all together in an extremely fast-paced book that has something for every fan of Superman, no matter which era they love, which Krypton they grew up with, which Superman they idolize.

  —Marv Wolfman, author of Crisis on Infinite Earths,

  writer/creator of New Teen Titans and Blade the Vampire Hunter

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE

  JOR-EL—Krypton’s most revered scientist

  ZOR-EL—Jor-El’s brother, an accomplished scientist in his own right and leader of Argo City

  ALURA—Zor-El’s wife, an expert in botany

  YAR-EL—father of Jor-El and Zor-El, a genius who now suffers from the Forgetting Disease

  CHARYS—mother of Jor-El and Zor-El, a researcher in psychology

  FRO-DA—Jor-El’s head chef at his estate

  LOR-VAN—a well-respected artist and muralist

  ORA—Lor-Van’s wife

  LARA—Lor-Van’s daughter, also an accomplished artist as well as a historian and aspiring writer

  KI-VAN—Lor-Van’s young son

  DRU-ZOD—head of the Commission for Technology Acceptance in Kandor

  COR-ZOD—Dru-Zod’s father, former head of the Kryptonian Council and legendary politician

  NAM-EK—Dru-Zod’s ward, a burly mute

  BEL-EK—Nam-Ek’s murderous father, killed by Kryptonian Sapphire Guards

  AETHYR-KA—an independent woman cut off from her noble family, a former classmate of Lara’s

  BUR-AL—fourth-level assistant in the Commission for Technology Acceptance

  VOR-ON—young man from a minor noble family

  HOPK-INS—minor worker in the Commission for Technology Acceptance

  GUR-VA—an insane criminal known as the Butcher of Kandor

  SHOR-EM—the leader of Borga City

  DONODON—alien visitor to Krypton

  KIRANA-TU—dry and humorless female doctor

  THE KRYPTONIAN COUNCIL

  JUL-US (Council Head)

  AL-AN

  MAURO-JI

  BARY-ON

  CERA-SI

  SOR-AY

  POL-EV

  RUL-AR

  KOR-TE

  JUN-DO

  SILBER-ZA

  ANCIENT HISTORICAL FIGURES

  JAX-UR—ancient warlord, generally considered Krypton’s most terrible tyrant

  LOTH-UR—cruel father of Jax-Ur

  SOR-EL—ancestor of Jor-El, one of the leaders of the Seven Armies

  KOL-AR—one of the leaders of the Seven Armies

  POL-US—one of the leaders of the Seven Armies

  NOK—ancient chieftain

  KAL-IK—adviser to Nok, who sacrificed his life to speak the truth

  HUR-OM—legendary star-crossed lover depicted in a Kandor opera tapestry

  FRA-JO—legendary star-crossed lover depicted in a Kandor opera tapestry

  DISSIDENTS

  GIL-EX—leader of Orvai in the lake district

  TYR-US—leader of the metal city of Corril in the mountains

  GAL-ETH—vice mayor of Orvai

  OR-OM—industrialist in a mining town

  KORTH-OR—refugee from Borga City

  ZOD’S RING OF STRENGTH

  KOLL-EM—younger brother of Shor-Em, head of the Ring of Strength

  NO-TON—a nobleman and scientist

  MON-RA

  POEL-OR

  RAN-AR

  BAL-UN

  DA-ES

  WRI-VO

  ZHON-ZA

  MIR-XA

  FRER-SI

  NAER-ZED

  CREN-TE

  YRI-RI

  OEL-AY

  TRES-OK

  CHAPTER 1

  The red sun of Krypton loomed in the sky, an unquiet giant. In its gaseous layers, planet-sized convection cells churned like the bubbles in a hellis
h slow-motion cauldron. Wispy coronal streamers danced across the gulf of space, disrupting planetary communications.

  Jor-El had been waiting a long time for a flare storm like this. In his isolated laboratory he had monitored his solar probes, eagerly making preparations. The moment was at hand.

  The visionary scientist had set up his equipment in the large, open research building on his estate. Jor-El had no assistants because no one else on Krypton understood exactly what he was doing; in fact, few others seemed to care. The people of his planet were content. Too content. By contrast, Jor-El rarely let himself feel complacent or satisfied. How could he, when he could easily imagine so many ways to improve the world? He was a true anomaly in the “perfect society.”

  Working alone, he calibrated beam paths through crystal concentrators, used laser-alignment tools to adjust the angles of intersecting reflector disks, checked and double-checked his gleaming prisms for any flaws. Because his work pushed the envelope of standard and uninspired Kryptonian science, he had been forced to develop much of the basic apparatus himself.

 

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