The Last Days of Krypton

by Kevin J. Anderson

  Zod would never again use this device as a weapon. Jor-El would make certain of that.

  He sprinted back toward the empty monitoring shacks as the crystal throbbed. Internal lightning bolts ricocheted in its facets as the giant gem swayed in its cradle. Shards of the scarlet beam flashed off the prisms, then turned in upon themselves. When the buildup reached its critical point, Jor-El expected the mechanism to burn out.

  But it was more spectacular than that. Wild and chaotic red beams splashed onto the crystal heart, striking the focusing rods and reflecting at the wrong angles. Spearpoints of light sprayed in all directions. Jor-El ducked into the shelter behind the dented shack moments before a swerving beam melted the roof clean away. The tall derrick began to shudder and thrum wildly. The vibrations increased.

  Strafing crimson bolts struck the support girders, cutting off the derrick’s legs, and the whole structure began to topple toward the steep cliffs. With a groan that sounded like a dying scream, the structure tilted farther over. Only one support leg remained fastened to the boulders now. The central crystal dangled, spun, and finally broke free of its support cable. It shattered on a cliff ledge far below in a hail of blazing light and broken glass.

  The flurry of beams died away, but gravity and leftover thermal energy continued to take their toll. With a wrenching noise, the last of the support legs tore free. Steel bolts sheared off, and the entire construction scraped down the cliffside like sharp fingernails on a polished slate board. The twisted derrick finally came to rest, while boulders pummeled the wreckage.

  Unnerved yet exhilarated, Jor-El went to the edge of the precipice. He could barely make out the tangled ruin wedged into the boulder field far below. At last he felt satisfied. He had disarmed Zod, at least temporarily.

  Now he had to race back to Kryptonopolis before anyone noticed his absence. His alibi needed to be perfect.

  CHAPTER 67

  After the annihilation of Borga City, all those who had signed Shor-Em’s inflammatory declaration knew they could not stand against Zod. They had already seen the towering nova javelins, and now the boiling scar in the middle of the marshes was a stark reminder of what any continued defiance would earn them. The many survivors of the city lived in squalid temporary encampments out in the marshes, while others made their way to Corril, to Orvai, to the villages in the mountains or river valleys or the coasts. After the disasters of Kandor and Argo City, this was one more wave of people who saw their very planet falling apart.

  Now Zod had to convince them that he was the only person who could hold their civilization together.

  Bowed and beaten, the sullen city leaders traveled to Kryptonopolis for the summit meeting, as commanded. Though not entirely contrite, they were clearly afraid to cause any trouble. The refugees and witnesses of the blasted city had already spread the word, told of the horrors they had seen. They feared Zod now—feared him completely.

  He observed the supposedly meek representatives from his government palace. He wanted to kill them one at a time until someone revealed who had committed the sabotage at the Rao-beam installation on the very night of his triumph. His inner fury had not abated since he’d learned that some terrorist had wrecked the facility. The gall! He’d had no immediate plans to use the beam weapon again—mainly because no other major city lay in the correct path—but Zod was outraged that someone had defied him. He could not tolerate that.

  Loyal Sapphire Guards brought the individual rebel leaders into his office as they arrived, nineteen of them so far. The intimidating guards had clubs and hand weapons, but Zod’s control was firm enough that the mere threat of violence made actual violence unnecessary. Each city leader stood before him; some looked broken, while others retained a foolish but impotent anger.

  “Who sabotaged my Rao-beam installation?” Zod demanded of them one at a time. “Who committed this traitorous act against all of Krypton?”

  No one gave a satisfactory answer. No one knew anything.

  Since these men had capitulated so swiftly and willingly, Zod was certain they did not have the strength of character to do anything so bold and defiant. They paid lip ser vice to their resistance but didn’t have the spine to stand up to him. They were, however, pleased that some mysterious stranger had dared to do something they had not. Three of the men who showed a last spark of defiance warranted additional questioning, and Koll-Em took great glee in inflicting pain. Again, none of them knew anything.

  For good measure, at Aethyr’s suggestion, Zod also called in No-Ton for questioning, as well as all the technicians who had originally worked at the installation. When destroying the Rao beam, the saboteur had known exactly what he was doing. Since he was a member of the Ring of Strength, No-Ton was indignant at the very idea of the Commissioner’s suspicions, and Zod was quickly convinced that none of those workers had been involved, either.

  When he summoned Jor-El, however, Zod was surprised to sense a change in the scientist’s mood. Before he could even ask, Jor-El said, “Is it a crime for me to be thankful that you have lost a deadly weapon? You have ignored the real threat of the comet. Loth-Ur’s Hammer is coming in less than four months. You have just wasted another week. I beg you to turn your attention to that far more critical situation.”

  The Commissioner sighed. “As you requested, I passed the data on to a team of scientific advisers. They have assured me your projected orbits are inconclusive. There is nothing to worry about.” In fact, he’d been hard pressed to find any scientist besides Jor-El with a working knowledge of celestial mechanics.

  Hearing this, Jor-El’s disbelief was quickly replaced by a wash of anger. “Commissioner, when have you ever questioned me before? Can you afford to take the chance now?” Zod was troubled. Indeed, he had accepted Jor-El’s science and theories in every previous instance, but now he obviously didn’t want to believe. Jor-El pressed the issue. “Are you sure the others aren’t just telling you what you want to hear?”

  “Does that make the conclusion wrong?” Zod rose to his feet. “I admire your science, Jor-El—I always have. But you do not see the larger picture. If I pull back all of my manpower right now to work on this theory of yours, then the other city leaders will pounce like carrion dogs! I don’t dare show weakness or hesitation. My glorious plans for our future will go up in smoke if I lose Krypton!”

  “If we don’t do something about the comet, we will all lose Krypton.”

  “If you’re right.”

  “I’m right.”

  “You sound rather arrogant and self-assured.”

  “I’m right.”

  “In that case, do everything in your power to help me achieve a swift and decisive resolution to this civil war. Then I would have no other distractions.” Zod lowered his voice, abruptly changing the subject. “You know something about what happened at the Rao-beam facility. I can see it in your eyes.” He realized he would have to play this carefully. Too much was at stake, and he had too many unfinished projects for which he needed Jor-El’s expertise. While the Commissioner had a host of other scientists and engineers in his employ, none of them could hold a candle to Jor-El.

  The ivory-haired scientist didn’t answer, and Zod suddenly drew the obvious conclusion. Jor-El was protecting his brother! Yes, of all the city leaders he had summoned, Zor-El remained among those conspicuously absent. Zor-El knew the installation’s vulnerabilities as well as his brother did. Yes, Zor-El the firebrand…intelligent like his brother, but also a loose cannon, prone to precipitous actions without thinking through the consequences. Destroying the Rao beam was exactly the sort of thing such a man would do.

  But Zod had learned not to ask questions when he did not want to know the answers. He couldn’t afford to lose Jor-El. Not yet. “I will be watching you carefully.” He called the Sapphire Guards waiting outside his office door. “Take him back to his quarters. Make sure he and his wife are prepared and cooperative for our presentation later today.”

  Aethyr came to wait with Zod
in his office as the fateful hour approached. He stared out the window into the plaza where crowds had already gathered. “This is the dawn of a bright new day,” he said to her, as if starting his long-anticipated speech.

  Aethyr’s red lips pressed together in a frown. “It would be brighter if Zor-El had come.”

  Zod’s expression darkened. “I have already decided that we must deal with Argo City. I am convinced Zor-El is the one who destroyed the Rao beam.”

  She was startled but not surprised. Zod straightened his dark uniform. “Come, it is time.” He took her by the arm. Surrounded by guards, he and his consort walked together out to see the noisy crowds in the Square of Hope.

  Zod took his place at the foot of the towering statue, with Aethyr and Nam-Ek nearby. The Sapphire Guards had cleared a wide area around the beaten city leaders. Zod wondered how many of those defeated men knew the story of what Jax-Ur had done to those he had vanquished. A smile crept onto his lips.

  On cue, Aethyr turned to face him and shouted, “We all bow to Zod.” She bent her knee before him and lowered her head. Nam-Ek followed suit, the massive silent man submitting to his leader.

  “We all bow to Zod,” said Koll-Em as all sixteen members of the Ring of Strength did the same.

  The Commissioner raised both hands as if dispensing a benediction. “And now, my city leaders, all those who join us in a united Krypton—kneel before Zod.”

  Hesitantly at first, ashamed and obviously feeling coerced, the gathered leaders got down on their knees. Like ripples spreading out from a stone dropped into a still pond, all the people in Kryptonopolis submitted, dropping to their knees around the colossus statue.

  Zod found it all quite satisfactory. “Shor-Em once sneered that my title of Commissioner was insufficient for a man who would rule Krypton. In this one thing, he was correct. So I no longer call myself a Commissioner, for my Commission is gone. Nor will I take the title of Council Head, for that would serve only to remind us of our weakness.

  “Defending Krypton requires an entirely different sort of thinking—military thinking.” He drew a deep breath. Some of the people turned their faces to gaze adoringly at him, while others averted troubled eyes. “From this day forward, I shall be General Zod.”

  General Zod. The title felt so appropriate, so perfect. That announcement should have been the climax of his day.

  But then, stealing his glorious moment, the newly grown crystal spires around the square began to shimmer. Flares of light skirled along the facets like electrical bursts, tracing lines of inclusions and flaws.

  “What is this?” Zod demanded, forgetting that the voice amplifier patch remained at his throat. His alarmed voice rolled like thunder across the square.

  People milled about in confusion; the defeated city leaders cringed, as if this were some sort of punishment from Zod. The crystal spires shone brighter, and the smooth facets began to display an image, a dark-haired man with a steely expression. Cold claws raked down Zod’s spine as he recognized the man.

  Zor-El’s voice boomed out. “You do not speak for Krypton, Zod! Argo City defies you. I defy you. And in their hearts, I know that all those here defy you.” His image shouted at the uneasy crowd. “Zod is a criminal against our race. May his reign be as short as it is unwelcome. He tried to abduct or kill my wife and my mother—my wife and mother!” He made a sound of disgust.

  Zod shouted, “Stop that signal! How is Zor-El doing this?”

  Out in the audience, Jor-El turned quickly away. Lara whispered something in his ear. Then Zod knew that the pale-haired scientist must have modified the tall crystal structures to function as gigantic communication plates.

  Before Zod could call the Sapphire Guards to seize Jor-El for interrogation, the Argo City leader called out through his many identical images projected through the facets, “I call on all Kryptonians, all true Kryptonians, to stand against this man who claims to ‘protect’ us by destroying our cities, who resorts to murder to prevent anyone from criticizing him. Zod has shown his true colors.”

  The face of Jor-El’s brother flickered and vanished. The crystal spires stopped glowing. And the uproar began.

  CHAPTER 68

  After humiliating General Zod in such a spectacular and public forum, Zor-El knew that his days were numbered. He had to build up Argo City’s defenses and bring together any others who would fight the tyrant.

  While the destruction of Borga City had driven many people into frightened submission, it had also galvanized an uneasy ragtag rebellion into a genuine force. Shor-Em had not gone far enough, and he had never dreamed how Zod would be willing to respond.

  The Borga refugees had lost everything, and now they joined any resistance they could find, offering to stand and fight against the tyrant. As they drifted to temporary new homes, they began to build an army that was much more widespread than anything the General had imagined.

  In his private villa Zor-El met with powerful merchants, industrialists, deputy leaders, and other volunteers who wanted to join the new resistance. A handful of people had come directly to him after he’d warned them to evacuate from Borga City, making no secret of the fact that they owed him their lives. More and more volunteers came from all across Krypton, and determined members from the Society of Vigilance vigorously sought to weed out any spies sent by Zod.

  “General Zod already has an army, powerful weapons, and most of Krypton under his thumb,” said Gal-Eth, the vice mayor of Orvai. He had bristly blond hair and a ruddy face. He had fled his beautiful city in the lake district after the reluctant replacement for the lost Gil-Ex had trudged off to bend his knee in submission to Zod. “How can we protect ourselves against that?”

  “We’re the people of Krypton,” Zor-El said. “We can do the impossible.”

  “It’s been a long time since we did the impossible,” grumbled shaggy-haired Or-Om, a prominent industrialist from a small mining town in the mountains north of Corril. “The old Council beat that out of us for so long that we forgot how to be innovative.”

  “Then we’ll find a way to remember,” Korth-Or insisted. His sandy-brown hair was streaked with gray, as if he had rubbed ashes it in; his face was narrow, his lips generous, and he spoke with a faint lisp. He had escaped with his family on the night before Zod destroyed Borga City. Korth-Or had temporary quarters in Argo City, but he made no secret that he would have been much happier on the march against General Zod.

  In the bright morning, Zor-El faced the sunlit room full of anxious but determined men and women. Alura had placed verdant potted plants along all the walls. “Those of you who can, go back to your own cities,” he advised the secret group. Korth-Or sat fuming with indignation, reminded that he had no home. “Speak to your populations, find volunteers. We have to gather an army strong enough to stand against Zod—and soon—or we are lost.”

  “Are you sure we aren’t lost already?” Or-Om had been imagining disasters since long before Krypton had actually faced one, and it had taken much convincing for him to join this gathering, leaving his industries behind. “Our resistance to Zod was based in Borga City, and now that’s gone.”

  Such talk angered Zor-El. “The resistance is here now. But if that’s how you truly feel, then go to Kryptonopolis, and bend your knee to Zod. Be my guest.”

  No one took him up on the offer.

  As soon as she found the mysterious message crystal left just inside the villa’s portico, Charys carried it to Zor-El in his high tower laboratory.

  He had been struggling day and night to increase the scope of the force field. When it was no more than a small bubble around the diamondfish, the design had been simple. But to form a whole hemispherical dome over Argo City was a nearly insoluble problem. Red-eyed, he continued to test his shield, raising the shimmering barricade higher and higher above the seawall. There must be no weak point against an attack from Zod’s minions.

  His mother held out the crystal, and he realized exactly who had sent the message. “It’s
from Jor-El.” He had been angry after their recent argument about Zod, but his brother had also made possible the defiant transmission through the facets of the towering crystals, and—much to Zor-El’s astonishment—he had also revealed that he’d sabotaged the Rao-beam generator. And Jor-El was absolutely right about the threat of the comet, and he had sent urgent warnings to Borga City, which allowed many of the people to escape.

  Charys thrust the crystal at him. “You can’t change the message by avoiding it.”

  As soon as Zor-El cupped the message crystal in his warm hand, the image began to form. The ivory-haired scientist spoke to him insistently, “We need to help each other. No matter how terrible Zod’s actions, we both know that our most pressing problem is Loth-Ur’s Hammer. Our time grows shorter day by day, and we’ve already lost a month during which we should have pooled all our resources and brainpower to divert the comet. Zor-El, you and I might be Krypton’s only hope, the only ones who can see.”

  Charys did not take long to speak her mind after the message faded. “He’s right—and you know it. You’ve got to help him.”

  He shook his head slowly. “You’re my conscience and my sounding board, Mother, but what if Zod forced him to send that message? Jor-El has a wife, and they’re about to have a baby. General Zod has ways to coerce him.”

  She stared intently at him. “And do you believe that?”

  He looked at her for a long moment before he finally shook his head. “No.”

  “The two sons of Yar-El can find a way. Share your defensive shield with him.” Charys gestured to the calculations strewn on his table. “Maybe he’ll show you how to expand it to help other cities.”

  “I can’t do that! Do I dare risk letting the shield fall into Zod’s hands? He would use it to make his defenses impregnable. How can we ever defeat him if he hides behind an impervious barrier?”