The Last Days of Krypton

by Kevin J. Anderson

  He continued his speech. “I have clear evidence that Commissioner Zod’s overzealous followers have committed grave crimes, perhaps even murder. Other leaders who spoke out against him have been kidnapped or killed. One of my close friends has vanished—it was the only way Zod could ensure his silence.”

  Worried muttering rippled through the crowd. “The evidence is simply too alarming to ignore, and so I have come to a difficult decision: Those who disseminate Zod’s propaganda are no longer welcome in Argo City. They must leave, voluntarily or by force. I have to draw the line, take a stand.” He nodded sternly. No one in the audience argued with him.

  “Since our normal city guard is not equipped to meet this challenge, I call upon the rest of my citizens to form a Society of Vigilance. All of us must watch for threats from Commissioner Zod. He wants no organized resistance to his rule.”

  “So how do we stand up against him?” called an older leathery-skinned man from the audience. Zor-El recognized him as a wealthy fisherman who owned five ships, two of which had been destroyed by the tsunami.

  “But we have no army!” said someone else. “And you can bet Zod is gathering one. While we’re trying to rebuild Argo City, he’s preparing for war.”

  “War on Krypton?” a young man said in a high voice filled with disbelief. “A civil war?”

  Zor-El said, “Shor-Em is about to issue a declaration challenging the Commissioner for leadership. Many other cities, towns, and villages are also rejecting the authority of Kryptonopolis. Here in Argo City, I declare that we are an independent city-state. We do not accept the rule of Zod.”

  As soon as he spoke the words, Zor-El knew he had stepped across a line and dragged all his people along with him. He had thrown down a gauntlet that Commissioner Zod could not ignore.

  Argo City had to be ready.

  CHAPTER 60

  As night fell after a long day, Jor-El and Lara ate a quiet dinner on the small, flat rooftop of their designated quarters in Kryptonopolis. Even here in the city, Jor-El loved to sit under the stars and stare up into space, letting his imagination roam free. For a while he could forget the close scrutiny he and Lara had been receiving from Zod’s security. Out in the shadowy streets, he suspected someone was surreptitiously keeping track of him.

  Now, near the horizon after sunset, they watched a silvery arc of cosmic mist, the periodic comet called Loth-Ur’s Hammer, which returned to Krypton only once every three centuries. The event was marked on public calendars, and at any other time, the arrival of Loth-Ur’s Hammer would have drawn far more attention, inspiring artists and astronomers, providing an excuse for celebrations and cultural events. The Priests of Rao might even have called it an omen. With the continuing political turmoil, though, the comet sparked very little popular interest.

  In ancient times, Jax-Ur had named the comet after his cruel father. According to legend, the gauzy apparition had crossed the sky during the warlord’s seizure of power; now the comet had returned, just as Commissioner Zod seemed to be following in the footsteps of Jax-Ur. The obvious parallels troubled Jor-El.

  “I think Zod actually reveres the old warlord, though he tries not to let it show,” Lara said. “Look at this.” On her sketchpad she called up archived engravings from the ancient records of Jax-Ur’s court historians. In the middle of a great plaza called Execution Square stood a statue of the stern warlord looming over his subjects. “See any similarities?”

  Jor-El stared at it. Even the position of the figure’s arms, the expression on the face, and some trappings of the carved uniform were identical to Zod’s newly erected statue. “It can’t be a coincidence. And he has Jax-Ur’s nova javelins, too.” He shook his head and tried to enjoy the clear night, but his eyes strayed from the misty comet to the spangled remnants of the shattered moon. Nova javelins had done that…. But Zod insisted the weapons were to be used only for the defense of Krypton.

  “The Commissioner is a brilliant man, but one moment he impresses me with his willingness to support new science or the way he handles a situation, and the next moment he bewilders me with one of his unconventional announcements. Zod wants to think he’s the best thing to happen to Krypton, but he may be the worst.”

  “We’d better decide soon.” Lara put a hand on her rounded belly. “Not only do we have the future of Krypton to worry about, but we’re about to have a baby.”

  Jor-El stroked her stomach, and she placed her hand over his. He felt something move beneath his fingers. Lara pressed his hand down. “Did you feel that? It was the baby. It kicked.” She winced. “Another one!”

  “Our child is a strong one already.” Jor-El felt such a sense of wonder that he promptly set aside all his other concerns, his political worries, and his suspicions. For the moment, that love was stronger than his doubts about Zod. He and Lara were going to be parents!

  Keeping the baby’s health paramount, Lara had been eating well and taking care of herself. Not content just to accept the advice of doctors, she kept herself well informed about the progression of her pregnancy. She wanted nothing to go wrong.

  Jor-El had doted on her and pampered her. Every day he did his best to prepare the foods she craved, though he couldn’t remember the last time he had done any cooking before her pregnancy. He allowed himself to enjoy these times with her and realized that he was happier now than he could ever remember being before.

  In his younger years, Jor-El had thought that only scientific pursuits could give his life true satisfaction—the thrill of discovering new things, developing new ideas. But his feelings toward Lara, and his paternal instinct to love, protect, and teach this baby surprised him with their intensity. He promised himself that he would create the brightest possible future for his child. On Lara’s beautiful face he saw an expression of complete fulfillment. Her smile seemed almost too big for her face, and he realized that his own smile was just as broad.

  As Lara relaxed in her chair next to him, humming an old folk song, his attention wandered back to the pale smear of the comet’s tail. Jor-El had never been able to switch off his analytical mind, his ever-curious observations. He had been so preoccupied with emergencies that he had never gotten around to studying this astronomical marvel in detail. Even so, evening after evening in Kryptonopolis he had taken a few moments to look at the majestic comet on its ancient path.

  Tonight, though, he realized that what had been the smooth and graceful arc of a wispy tail now had strange knots and kinks. Even with his naked eyes, he could see that some areas in the head of the comet appeared brighter, as if jets had exploded from its frozen surface.

  “Jor-El, I know that look on your face, so don’t even try to keep secrets from me.”

  “I need to contact the telescope listening post before Loth-Ur’s Hammer drops below the horizon. There’s something I’d like to check.” He and Lara left the open rooftop, climbed down the stairs, and went out into the brightly lit streets. She matched his brisk pace, wanting to find out what had piqued his interest so.

  Though he would rather have been at the telescope array himself, or at least at the observatory monitoring center on his estate, he could get the information he needed from a substation building here. Using his codes to control the receivers remotely, he could realign the twenty-three receiver dishes in Zod’s distant early-warning system in order to get the best images possible.

  With Lara looking over his shoulder, Jor-El worked swiftly, entirely focused on the combined images from the telescopes. “I’m not an expert on cometary behavior, but this seems most unusual.” He back-calculated the comet’s path from the archive of images over the past several weeks, and then he plotted variances in its expected orbit.

  From the largest optical magnifiers, he found a high-resolution image of Loth-Ur’s Hammer. The silently tumbling comet was made of black ice laced with rocky inclusions and pockets of gas. White plumes volatilized out, erupting in unexpected jets of fine dust and frozen gases.

  “Those are impressive
explosions,” Lara said.

  “Yes…yes, they are.” Jor-El summoned up the data recorded by the rest of the telescope cluster. The distant early-warning system had not been designed to look for anything like this, but Jor-El could sift through the recordings to find what he needed to know.

  Because Krypton’s swollen red sun was larger and more furious than at any other point in its history, the turbulent solar radiation had had a dramatic effect on the comet as it swung around Rao. The resulting explosions in the thawing iceball had shifted its rotation and changed its orbit.

  Jor-El felt his heart sink as he went over his calculations again and again. “Just when I thought we were safe…”

  “Jor-El, you’re scaring me.”

  “You should be scared.” He stared back at the now-ominous image of the immense comet. “Loth-Ur’s Hammer has changed course. The comet is hurtling directly toward us, and if my estimates are correct, in four months it’s going to smash into Krypton.”

  CHAPTER 61

  Under a clear, star-filled night sky, Alura and Charys went out to install new light crystals on the Eloquin Bridge, the southernmost of the five graceful spans connecting Argo City to the mainland. The two women worked their way along the bridge, embedding clear white gems that glowed with inner fires. They had volunteered for the task because it was a way they could aid the new Society of Vigilance. The improved lighting would make it easier for volunteers to keep watch after dark.

  Overhead, the intact moons had risen, and the remnants of Koron sparkled like frozen fireworks. The long arc of Loth-Ur’s Hammer had already dipped below the western horizon. Alura and Charys were alone on the bridge, since few travelers passed back and forth this late at night. The Society of Vigilance patrolled the city now at all hours to make certain Zod’s fanatics caused no trouble.

  Over the past several days, anyone wearing a sapphire-blue armband emblazoned with Zod’s family crest had been evicted from the city. Protesting as they left, groups of the Commissioner’s adherents marched defiantly over the bridges out of Argo City, vowing that they would return once Zod had “consolidated” all of Krypton. Alura was certain that by now the Commissioner had received word of what Zor-El had done, and she was just as certain that many of his followers remained in the city, posing as normal citizens until they could find a way to wreak havoc.

  The two women worked their way along the Eloquin Bridge in silence, weighed down by heavy thoughts as they checked and installed illumination crystals. Finally Charys said with forced cheer, “So I am finally going to be a grandmother. Jor-El and Lara didn’t waste any time. I can’t wait to spoil that little baby.”

  Alura felt her mother-in-law’s implied question hanging in the air. The darkness covered her blush. “Zor-El and I have talked about having children, and we will someday. I’ve always wanted a little girl. We keep waiting for a better time.”

  “There’ll never be a perfect time if you always look for excuses.”

  Awkwardly Alura tried to change the subject. “Now that you’re settled here, have you considered continuing your psychological studies? Weren’t you writing a treatise on the anomalies in Krypton’s population?”

  Charys seated a palm-sized crystal in a connecting socket, and it glowed around her hand. “I still make observations. Our entire society is a laboratory. My own Yar-El deviated from the norm, and both of my sons qualify as geniuses. I only hope you and Lara can anchor the two of them, because Krypton needs their brilliance. Especially now.” The older woman continued to muse. “Even Commissioner Zod is an example of political genius. He has both the foresight and the fortitude to be a great leader, but alas, like Yar-El, he has gone too far beyond the pale. A man like Zod is effective primarily in crisis situations. And so in order to hold on to his power, he has to create or maintain the state of emergency.”

  “And that’s what he’s been doing,” Alura said.

  The conversation stopped as a pair of shadowy men walked toward them across the bridge from the mainland. They carried no personal lights, which in itself seemed odd. Though crime was almost unknown in Argo City, Alura felt a shiver of fear. She had been edgy ever since her husband had cast out Zod’s fanatics. Fortunately, the Society of Vigilance patrolled the bridge ramps to be sure no unwanted visitors crossed over during the night. Even so, Alura hesitated before installing another crystal, holding it in her hand.

  Out of long habit, Charys nodded politely as the two men came closer. “Good evening.”

  One of the men said to Alura, without any pleasantries, “I know you. You are the wife of Zor-El.”

  “The other one is his mother,” said the second man. “We’d better take them both.”

  Before either woman could answer, the first man lunged for Alura, arms extended, as if he thought he could just grab her and carry her off. She swung the fist that held the illumination crystal and opened her fingers at the last moment. The sharp-edged jewel smashed his left cheek just under his eye, and the man reeled backward, cursing. Something dropped from his hand and clattered on the span of the bridge. A stunner!

  Charys lashed out with surprising violence at the other man, thrashing and flailing her hands as she yelled at the top of her lungs, “We’re being attacked! Guards! Help!” The old woman startled her attacker by striking him hard in the nose with an openhanded blow, sending a gush of blood down his face. He roared and tried to throw himself on her.

  Alura snatched up the fallen stunner and pointed it at the man fighting Charys. She shot quickly, without aiming, and the sizzling beam caught his legs below the knees, making him crumple.

  She could already hear people running to offer their assistance. Lights began to glow in the sleepy buildings of Argo City as volunteers were alerted.

  The man facing Alura got to his feet and wiped blood from his cheek where the crystal had cut him. He glared at the two women, spun, and bolted as fast as he could back across the bridge toward the mainland.

  As Vigilance guards arrived, Alura pointed into the darkness. “One ran that way. See if you can capture him!”

  Charys shook herself off, more indignant than injured. Alura turned to look at the man whose legs she had paralyzed. She was shocked to see that through sheer force of will, the fanatic had dragged himself to the edge of the bridge and used his arms to pull himself up onto the crossbars. “Stop him!”

  Blood still streamed from his broken nose. With a defiant leer, he flung himself through the gap. He didn’t scream, didn’t shout any last words, but simply plummeted into the darkness. After a very long moment, Alura heard the hard slap of a body striking the still water.

  “Now we’ll never know who they were,” Charys said.

  Alura looked toward the mainland in dismay. The other attacker had already gotten away. “We know exactly who they were.”

  CHAPTER 62

  With a tremendous sense of urgency, Jor-El went to see Zod early the next morning. The impending celestial impact was imminent and definite. Four months! Unless something deflected the hurtling ball of ice, it would smash into Krypton only days after the birth of his baby. It was straightforward celestial mechanics, and the numbers did not lie.

  However, if Commissioner Zod pulled together all of his resources and diverted manpower from his other projects, Krypton just might be able to do what was necessary. After the obvious success of the Rao-beam project in mitigating the instabilities in the planet’s core, Jor-El hoped the Commissioner would listen to his warning now. After all, the man prided himself on getting things done.

  Jor-El strode purposefully toward the government palace, taking no time to notice the glory of the towering crystalline spires; he walked right past the intricate mosaics and murals that Lara had designed; he cut across the center of the Square of Hope, passing Zod’s ominous new statue. Behind him, he saw a Sapphire Guard noting his movement.

  With every minute, he could feel the comet coming closer.

  Nam-Ek stood before the entrance to the Commissioner’s
offices, a barricade more impenetrable than any door. The mute’s shoulders were squared, his heavily muscled arms crossed over his chest. Carrying copies of his records and projection crystals, Jor-El approached him. “I have important information for Commissioner Zod. He’ll want to see me.”

  Nam-Ek shook his bearded head, clearly following orders to keep visitors out, but Jor-El stepped closer until they were almost touching, chest to chest. “Has the Commissioner ever instructed you to keep me out? And have I ever demanded to see him without good cause?”

  Nam-Ek shook his head to both questions, and Jor-El pounced on the brief hesitation. Slipping around the large man, he entered the cool, stone-walled office. Startled, the Commissioner looked up from a map on which he had marked the locations of Krypton’s cities. He drew lines connecting them, adding up numbers—troop strengths?—beside each line, as if he were making some sort of military plan. With a grimace of annoyance, he pushed the papers aside. “I told Nam-Ek that I was not to be disturbed.”

  “Disturbed? What I’m about to say is very disturbing indeed.” Taking charge of the moment, he found a clear spot on Zod’s desk and set down his crystals, inserting them into the open slots in a projection device. “You asked me to monitor space so we could be forewarned about threats from outside. That is exactly what I’ve done.”

  Now the Commissioner gave him his full attention. “Are we about to be invaded?” Judging by his startled expression, Jor-El suddenly realized that even Zod had never truly believed there would be an attack; he had simply used the threat to unify a frightened people under his banner.

  Jor-El displayed the high-resolution image of the steaming, tumbling comet. He spoke firmly, with no doubt in his voice. “This is Loth-Ur’s Hammer. Outgassing from the main body has knocked it into a different orbit.” Next he projected ellipses that showed the orbit of Krypton, the comet’s previous orbit, and then he displayed a new red arc that exactly intersected Krypton.