The Last Days of Krypton

by Kevin J. Anderson

  He knew that even among his own followers a few might not believe the convenient stories. Outside, some people were bound to express their suspicions, claim evidence of conspiracies…and his own people would make such comments sound ridiculous. There would always be complaints, but complaints could be dealt with.

  And so the Commissioner moved forward with fewer roadblocks. The construction of Kryptonopolis continued.

  CHAPTER 49

  After a rushed two days, Jor-El returned from the arctic carrying seed crystal chips he had cut from the key spires of Yar-El’s wondrous palace of solitude. From his laboratory at the lonely estate he took the catalysts he needed, metallic powders and liquid impurities that would be drawn into the lattice as the great towers grew.

  The manor house, the research building, the mysterious tower that still held Donodon’s spaceship—all were quiet and empty. As he surveyed the grounds, an eerie sense of déjà vu reminded him of the abandoned ruins of Xan City. Jor-El felt very alone without Lara….

  While he was there, he received a message from Argo City. Zor-El appeared flushed, both exuberant and angry. “I have the data, Jor-El. The accumulated readings are exactly what I expected, exactly what I saw before. The core buildup is progressing with astonishing speed, and a planetary explosion is imminent, possibly in less than a year!”

  “Unless we do something,” Jor-El said. He remembered how easily the Commissioner had approved his plans for the listening outpost. I trust you to do what is best for Krypton, Jor-El. “I will make Zod listen. Don’t worry, Zor-El. We will take the necessary action.”

  Back in Kryptonopolis, he found Lara happily working with a crew of artisans to install the panels of an intricate frieze along the lintel of a government building. He watched her unobtrusively for a moment, his heart full of love for her. When she noticed him, Lara ran forward, wiping a smear of paint from her cheek. She excitedly told him how Aethyr and Zod had asked her to participate in the resurrection of the capital city. She felt it was a job to which she was immensely well suited.

  Lara had expressed her doubts about the Commissioner’s intentions, but Zod seemed to have won her over by giving her this grand project. Much the same way, he realized, as Zod had ingratiated himself to Jor-El by allowing him free rein to conduct the research he had always wanted to do. Tempting Jor-El with unfettered science and Lara with a history-making art project. He could see that the Commissioner was a very effective manipulator, but the man was also sincere in his passion. He and Lara had not seen any more altruism from any of the outspoken city leaders.

  Taking the dark bag that contained the seed crystal chips he had harvested, he met with Commissioner Zod and three members of the Ring of Strength inside the government palace. On blueprint films, Jor-El described the structures he could create with the materials he’d found, and how much of the landscape they would dominate. “Once I trigger the accelerated process, the chain reaction of crystal growth will occur without any further guidance from me. I need to get it right the first time.”

  The Commissioner’s eyes had a bright gleam. “I am anxious to get started.”

  Jor-El shook his head. “We’ve got to wait until nightfall to do our preparations. The seed crystals must remain covered until everything is ready. Once they’re exposed to light, the chain reaction begins.”

  Zod glanced up at the deepening sky color through the tentlike fabric that covered the damaged ceiling. “Rao will set soon. Tomorrow, Kryptonopolis will no longer be my dream, but a shining reality.”

  In the dark of the night Jor-El set out his seed crystals at the four corners of the Square of Hope and atop Lookout Hill at the outskirts of the ancient city. He positioned each brittle seed carefully, measured, checked, and double-checked. Zod, Aethyr, and Nam-Ek accompanied him, watching every step of the process, their excitement tangible in the cooling night air.

  An hour before midnight, Jor-El added the catalysts and liquid impurities, checked the angles and positioning yet again, and stepped back, satisfied. “Tomorrow,” he told them, “be here exactly at sunrise.”

  The next day, when he and Lara arrived in the Square of Hope in the predawn darkness, Zod was already there, pacing impatiently. Nam-Ek stood motionless, as big as a statue; aloof, Aethyr lounged on a new stone bench. No-Ton and Koll-Em also joined them, rubbing their sleepy eyes.

  The colors presaging sunrise flooded across the eastern sky. “Any minute now,” Jor-El said. The air was thick with anticipation.

  The roiling red fringe of Rao rose above the horizon, spilling crimson light across the landscape. When the first rays struck the seed crystals, the reaction was instantaneous. At the four corners of the Square of Hope the first crystals began to sparkle. Energized by the sunlight, they drank in the catalyst powders like dry sponges absorbing a flood.

  A hexagonal spire shot upward, four times the size of the original crystal, and it kept growing, thickening. It spread out subsidiary crystal branches that followed the design Jor-El had programmed into the base lattice. The extraordinary rush of growth made a thunderous cracking and popping sound. Perfectly symmetrical with the upreaching spire, the crystal’s anchor root plunged downward, drawing more material from the rocks and soil. Stone paving tiles at the square’s perimeter buckled and broke.

  At all four corners of the square, shining spires seemed to be competing with one another as they raced toward the sky, rapidly dwarfing the other structures in Kryptonopolis. On Lookout Hill outside the city, a fifth gleaming tower rose higher and higher.

  Commissioner Zod’s face showed deep satisfaction. Nam-Ek reacted with childish glee as the components continued to erupt and unfold like a puzzle made of diamonds and emeralds. By the time Rao had risen fully, the red giant shone down upon an entirely new city.

  “This does indeed rival Kandor!” Zod clasped the scientist’s shoulders. “You have done everything I expected—and more. I knew you would not let me down. Krypton owes you a debt greater than I can ever repay.”

  Jor-El seized the moment. He had been considering how to bring up the matter. “Then it’s now my turn to ask you a favor, Commissioner. It is vitally important to our planet’s survival.”

  Zod’s eyes took on a calculating look; then his expression shifted again. “You have never asked for any kind of boon before. If it is within my power to grant…”

  “As you know, my brother discovered dangerous instabilities in the core of our planet. The Council refused to take any action until Zor-El provided them with extensive data.”

  Zod nodded slowly, cautiously. “Yes, I was present when you and your brother made those claims. And the Council, as usual, chose to ignore problems rather than address them.” His voice held a heavy undertone of caution.

  “We’ve all experienced the increasingly severe quakes. More than one tidal wave has struck the coast, and massive volcanic eruptions continue in the southern continent. The core pressure is still growing—and now I do have a full set of data. The situation is precisely as bad as I feared. Trust me, Commissioner. The evidence is indisputable.”

  He could see Zod trying to decide how to respond. “Even if I accept your warning, what can we do about it?”

  Jor-El’s words came in a breathless rush. “I’ve been thinking about the old prototypes I submitted to your Commission. Do you remember an intense cutting laser I called a Rao beam? At the time I felt it would be useful for boring tunnels through mountains, for mining, and for construction. Your Commission decided it was too risky.” He lowered his voice to a grumble. “As usual.”

  Zod tapped his fingers together, fully focused on Jor-El rather than on the still-growing crystal spires behind them. “I seem to recall it. But if the plans were confiscated, what will you do now? Start again from scratch?”

  Jor-El gave him a wry smile. “Commissioner, just because you took my drawings and destroyed my prototypes doesn’t mean that the idea is destroyed.” He tapped his temple. “Every invention I ever created, every design and ev
ery process is right here, in my head. I remember them all perfectly.”

  Zod took a moment to process the startling revelation. “Intriguing.” He nodded slowly to himself, then responded with a thin smile, as if he had suddenly decided on a different strategy for playing this game. “And could your Rao beam also be configured as a weapon? Something we could fire at attacking alien ships if they should come against us? It would help the defense of Krypton.”

  Jor-El considered. “I suppose. Once the Rao-beam generator is erected, installed, and calibrated, I see no reason why its target point couldn’t be shifted.”

  “And if I allow you to build this Rao beam, I presume you intend to drill some sort of shaft through the crust? Like a pressure-release valve?”

  “That is the theory. The best drilling site may be the crater of Kandor, though the project will cause substantial damage to the area. There’s no way around it—”

  “That doesn’t concern me. Kandor is already a no-man’s-land. Best to put it to some use,” Zod said. “But I am more troubled by the fact that your own brother has been less than accepting of me. Perhaps if Zor-El issued a statement of wholehearted support for me from Argo City?”

  Jor-El wanted to snap at the Commissioner for worrying more about personal politics than the fate of the whole world. “Then show him that you’re completely different from the weak Council. With your leadership, Commissioner, we can prevent a worldwide disaster. Aren’t you the man who swore to take any action necessary to protect us?”

  Aethyr leaned close to the Commissioner with a strangely hungry look in her eyes. She said in a quiet, breathy voice, “Zod…the savior of Krypton.”

  He seemed to like the sound of that very much.

  CHAPTER 50

  The visitor came to Argo City in secret. After crossing one of the bridges, he arrived in the middle of the night and made his way toward Zor-El’s villa. Under his dark hood, he refused to reveal his identity, but insisted to the household sentry that the city leader would see him.

  Zor-El dismissed the volunteer guards who had dutifully blocked the stranger’s entry. He frowned at the mysterious guest. “You can’t expect my guards to blithely let you enter as if you were an old friend.”

  The man came into the light and pulled back the hood. “But I am an old friend.”

  Zor-El was shocked to see the man’s haggard appearance, the haunted look in his reddened eyes, his sunken cheeks, as if he hadn’t slept or eaten well in days. “Tyr-Us! Why didn’t you inform me you were coming? What’s happened to you?”

  “The same thing that will happen to all of us if we’re not careful.” He looked over his shoulder toward the sentries as if they couldn’t be trusted, toward the night as if something dangerous were after him. “Please let me inside. I need shelter, just for a little while.”

  Zor-El hurried the man through the door as he snapped to his guards, “Make sure no one else enters my home. See that we’re not disturbed.” Their master’s abrupt reaction seemed to frighten them more than anything else.

  Alura saw the troubled expression on her husband’s face, and quickly led him and Tyr-Us into a withdrawing room filled with exotic plants. She lit several solar crystals.

  Tyr-Us stood weak and shaking in the middle of the room. He touched the enormous flowers with fingers that trembled with wonder. “It rejuvenates me to know that something is flourishing on Krypton while our government festers and rots.” He drew a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut.

  “Tell me everything, Tyr-Us. When did you leave Corril? So many other noble sons have abruptly stepped out of public view. When I’d heard nothing from you in weeks, I thought maybe you had joined them.”

  Tyr-Us’s eyes were wild. “I could have vanished, too! The Commissioner’s thugs have been following me. I saw dark figures in Corril walking down the metal streets, pretending to be visitors, but they all had those armbands Zod’s followers wear.”

  “I’ve seen them in Argo City as well. I don’t like them.”

  “Watch yourself, Zor-El—for they are certainly watching you. You should cast them out of your city before they cause further damage.”

  Zor-El was disturbed by the suggestion. “I can’t just arrest them and say that their views are forbidden, no matter how fanatical they may seem. That would turn me into a dictator as bad as you claim Zod is.”

  Alura picked a flower and pushed it into Tyr-Us’s face. “Smell this.” Involuntarily, the shaken man drew a quick breath, and the stimulant perfume made him stand straighter. “Eat these.” She held out two berries, one blue and one red.

  “What do they do? Will they drug me?”

  “No, they will strengthen you.”

  Eyes narrowed, Tyr-Us looked at the berries. “How do I know I can trust you? How do I know I can trust anyone today, even the two of you?”

  Zor-El grabbed the man’s arm. “You know you can trust me because you know me. What has changed you so much? You’re frightening us.”

  “You should be frightened! Do you know how many others have disappeared? Shor-Em has been attacked twice, but managed to drive off the assault. His guards were unable to capture or interrogate the ones who struck out at him. Fully fourteen of us who spoke out against Zod have ‘retired,’ and no one has heard from them again. Think of it, Zor-El. You know it makes no sense.”

  “Yes, I was surprised to hear that Gil-Ex had decided to support Zod. It made no sense after everything he’d been saying.”

  “You know he was a vain and self-righteous man. Do you think Gil-Ex would just quietly hide himself? Never. I am the son of Council Head Jul-Us, and I should have had a seat on the Council someday. So should you, Zor-El.”

  “I have Argo City.”

  “You won’t if Zod takes it away from you.” Tyr-Us finally ate the two berries and sighed. He looked at Alura. “I’m sorry to have distrusted you.”

  Two staff members brought in a hurriedly prepared meal and a large pitcher of herbal tea that Alura brewed for its strengthening properties. Tyr-Us was startled by the unexpected servants and looked as if he might bolt, but Zor-El took the tray of food and quickly dismissed the helpers.

  The haggard man sat down on a bench surrounded by lush herbs, shaking his head miserably. “The risk increases with every person who sees me. Just by being here, I increase the danger to you both.”

  “Tell me more after you’ve eaten.” Zor-El nudged the plates closer.

  Tyr-Us seemed queasy and apparently uninterested, but once he tasted the food, he ate so ravenously that Zor-El feared he might become sick.

  “You haven’t supported Zod and his overthrow of the true Krypton government,” Tyr-Us said between bites. “But you’ve been careful not to openly oppose him, either.”

  “Shor-Em thinks I should have done so long ago, but I had my own disaster here, remember. Argo City still has much rebuilding to do.”

  “If you had resoundingly supported our claims, you’d quite possibly be dead like all the others—like I am soon to be.”

  “Nonsense!” Alura said. “You can stay here. We will protect you.”

  “You can’t protect me, and I’ll only endanger you if I stay here. I won’t do that.” He looked up at Zor-El. “You are my friend, an ally. If we don’t organize all of our supporters, soon Zod will have the whole planet in his grip. He’ll do whatever he wants, and I believe he wants a war. If we ever receive another alien visitor like Donodon, Zod is likely to open fire just to test all the new destructive toys he’s creating.”

  “You must be exaggerating. What proof do you have?”

  “His agents continue to destroy all proof and silence any criticism. Can you afford to take the risk that I might be wrong? I need to hide, but I have to go somewhere they won’t think to find me.”

  As Tyr-Us looked down at his empty plate, Zor-El had an idea. “There’s an isolated dacha in the hills near my old family estate. My father lived the last years of his life there, but he died recently. My mother abandone
d the house and came to live here in Argo City. No one goes there. No one would find you. You’d be safe, and you would put no one else at risk.”

  Tyr-Us’s face lit up. “Are you certain?”

  “We insist,” Alura said.

  Their guest suddenly became anxious again. “But you must not tell your brother. Jor-El is conspiring with Zod. He’s helping him to conquer the world.”

  Zor-El scowled. “My brother is working for the good of Krypton. He always does.”

  “But he cooperates with the Commissioner. Many have seen it.”

  “Jor-El is a good man who has no interest in politics whatsoever.”

  “Zod may well be fooling him!”

  Zor-El held up his hands. “My brother is not easily fooled, and Commissioner Zod did step up to lead the people during the crisis…which is more than Gil-Ex or anyone else did.” He sighed. “Nevertheless, I will keep your secret. You have my promise.”

  The gaunt man nodded, relieved.

  “We will find a place for you to sleep,” Alura said. “We’ll pack up some clean clothes and any supplies you need.”

  “It would be good to wash…and rest.”

  Zor-El led him to a room reserved for guests, and Tyr-Us was so exhausted that he fell asleep as soon as he collapsed onto the blankets. Without disturbing him, Zor-El and Alura set out clean garments and towels. Cleansing crystals in the adjacent bathing room would be ready for him whenever he chose….

  But the next morning when Zor-El went to check on his guest, Tyr-Us was gone. The desperate man must have taken the clothes, washed quickly, and slipped away without anyone seeing him. He left no note, no indication that he had ever been there—presumably to protect them.

  Alura stared at the empty bed, the dirty clothes in a pile on the floor, which they would have to destroy. “Do you think he was abducted? Those people following him, did they get to him in our house? Past our guards?”