The Last Days of Krypton (16 page)

Only seven days remained before
the scheduled inquisition. Jor-El had planned his defense, rehearsed his speech so that he might sway the eleven Council members, though he doubted more than a few of them would listen. Nevertheless, he did not intend to go down without a fight.

In the meantime, Zod had sent the samples of chemical residue back to Kandor for analysis, but they had heard no results yet. Jor-El did not know how the chemical proof could help his case, but he very much wanted to know what had gone wrong. He needed to understand.

But another problem presented itself. “We should find someone to marry us.” Jor-El turned to Lara with bright blue eyes.

She stood with him inside the main research building where she had first rescued him from the Phantom Zone. “I will not let you face the Council unless I can tell the whole world that we’re husband and wife. We will show them our strength together. Just let them try to keep me from accompanying you when you receive your sentence.”

Commissioner Zod entered the large laboratory carrying selected excerpts from old Council sessions and citations of archaic passages from Kryptonian law. He had stayed at the estate for two days, assisting Jor-El with his legal defense, finding documentation and historical precedents that might allow the Council to change their minds. Lara still wondered why the Commissioner would devote so much attention to the scientist’s case, but they could not afford to turn down his assistance. Zod seemed to be their only powerful ally.

“Forgive me for eavesdropping. You two are to be married? A last-minute romance?” She found something unsettling about his smile. “Intriguing.”

“We haven’t had the time to prepare,” Jor-El confessed. “And time is running out.”

The Commissioner seemed to be making mental calculations. He looked sidelong at her, as if he still didn’t remember her name. “And would marrying this woman make you happy?”

“Yes,” Jor-El said, without a tinge of doubt in his voice. “Lara makes me feel not only happy, but at peace.”

Zod’s whole demeanor shifted. “Then I shall perform the ceremony myself. I insist.”

Jor-El and Lara looked at him in surprise. “I thought we’d find a priest of Rao or, considering the circumstances, a dutiful civil official.”

“As Commissioner, I have the full authority to perform legally binding ceremonies. This wedding will be my gift to you, and I do it because I am your friend. Worry no further. It will be done.”

Though she was happy, some instinct told Lara that the Commissioner wasn’t quite as altruistic as he pretended to be. But she shook those thoughts from her mind, for Jor-El’s sake. They didn’t have the luxury of being choosy right now.

The small ceremony would take place at the dacha in the forested foothills, with only a few attendees. Jor-El’s mother would host the event, whether or not Yar-El was aware of what was happening around him.

On the morning of the wedding Jor-El sent a priority message to Argo City, briefly pulling his brother away from the salvage efforts. “You know, it’s my wedding day, but it seems that nothing is the way I would have planned it.”

Zor-El looked haggard, though still fiery-eyed, on the communication plate. His manner was gruff from making snap decisions every hour for the past several days; he looked as if he had not slept in a very long time. “It’s not the wedding that counts, Jor-El, but the marriage. Are you satisfied with what you’re doing?”

“Lara is the right woman for me, of that I’m completely certain.”

“Then I am happy for you. I wish I could be there to stand beside you.” He spread his hands helplessly. “The power is still not restored in all areas. Much of the water supply is contaminated. We haven’t even tallied the dead—”

“I understand, Zor-El. So many tragedies all at once. Do what you have to. We will get through this.”

When they departed for the dacha, Jor-El stroked Lara’s hair tenderly. “If I ever get my life back again after this trial, I promise we’ll have a reaffirmation ceremony. We will do it right.”

She clasped his hand. “This is all we need, Jor-El. I don’t need choirs and mirror-kites. I don’t need pavilions decked with banners, banquets of fantastic delicacies or a guest list that includes all the prominent personages of Kandor.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “All we need is each other. That’s enough.”

Charys greeted them on the wooden porch, beaming with an excitement and satisfaction that Jor-El hadn’t seen on his mother’s face in years. She had strewn the small house with flowers picked from her gardens, and each breath was heady with sweet perfume.

Yar-El sat in his chair, a blanket on his lap. His wife had combed his hair and dressed him in a fine formal robe, and she herself had donned an ornate gown. The old man wore a distant smile, as if he had at least a nebulous grasp of what was happening. Jor-El rested a hand on his father’s bony shoulder; he seemed to have much to say to Yar-El, but was unable to say it.

Zod wore his Commissioner’s outfit, adorned with a prominent gold sash. Burly Nam-Ek stood outside the door of the dacha, as if guarding the wedding against outside attack. Lara chose her best dress from among the possessions she had brought with her to Jor-El’s estate. She didn’t know why she had ever packed a clinging lavender gown of the softest ruffled fabric, but now it became a perfect wedding dress.

Lara’s mother and father, having postponed their work on the crystal silk tapestries, arrived at the last moment, though they had hoped to decorate the dacha for the wedding. Her little brother looked as if he had dressed hurriedly for the event. All three were very impressed to meet Commissioner Zod in person. They had brought three looping glass sculptures (handmade) and a bell-mouthed vase for display during the ceremony.

Lara’s parents graciously greeted Jor-El’s mother, and Lor-Van talked pleasantly to Yar-El. “I don’t know if you can hear or understand me, sir, but I must express my admiration for your work. I am an artist, a fairly well-respected one, but you were both a scientist and an artist. The things you created were so very influential….”

The old man gave no sign that he knew Lor-Van was speaking to him.

Ora took her husband’s arm. “The ceremony is about to start.” A fidgeting Ki sat next to his parents, flashing a wide grin every time Lara glanced his direction. She stood beside Jor-El in front of the broad windows that let in streams of sunshine. Lara grasped his hand as if she never intended to let go.

Commissioner Zod chose an abbreviated ceremony, getting right down to business. The dacha’s skylights had been opened so that even more of the late afternoon’s sunshine poured down upon them. “Together you stand beneath the face of Rao. You declare your love to the universe, to your friends and family, and to each other.”

“We do,” Jor-El and Lara said in unison. They hadn’t even needed to rehearse.

“Your love is like gravity, a force that pulls you forever toward each other. Let nothing pull you apart.”

“Let nothing pull us apart.” Jor-El and Lara clasped hands.

To signify the marriage, Lara’s parents had brought two pendants they had designed specially for the occasion. Each pendant sparkled with a ruby struck from the same stone; the gems were joined down to the very molecules of their crystal structure.

Now Zod looped one pendant on a chain over Jor-El’s snowy head, then placed its identical partner over Lara’s. “Let these hang over your hearts, which now beat as one.” Zod raised his hands, as if he had just sealed a bargain. “You are now wed. Let me be the first to declare you husband and wife.”

Jor-El faced Lara, and she stared into his eyes, finding everything she had hoped for there. Her parents applauded loudly, and her little brother let out a raucous whistle.

With tears in her eyes, Charys squeezed her husband’s shoulder. Yar-El stared off into space while she stroked his hair, then kissed him on the forehead. The older woman looked up at the newlyweds. “And now for a gift from me. From us. You need time alone, even if it’s only for a day or two.”

“Not now, Mother. My inquisition is—”

She wouldn’t be dissuaded. “If not now, then you will never take it. I don’t care about your trial or your other troubles or your plans and experiments. You need this, and I have just the place.” Her expression became wistful. “When we were married, Yar-El constructed a fabulous palace for us up in the arctic. He called it a palace of solitude, a retreat where we could be by ourselves, unbothered by the cares and stresses of Krypton.

“That palace is still there out on the ice cap. I wanted Zor-El and Alura to use it, but instead they went to the reefs outside of Argo City for their honeymoon. I’ve waited for you to be married, Jor-El, so that you and your lovely wife—” She reached out to clasp Lara’s hand; her voice shuddered, and tears welled up in her eyes. “It is a perfect place for a newly married couple.”

Lara was barely able to catch her breath. “It sounds beautiful.”

“No, we can’t.” Jor-El shook his head. “I have to stay here. My defense—”

Zod stepped up to them with a smile, though his eyes seemed troubled. “Your mother is right. No one on Krypton believes the renowned Jor-El will break his word and flee. If you give me your promise that you will return in time, then as Commissioner I grant you leave to go. Be happy while you can.”

Lara said cautiously, “That’s very generous, Commissioner. But with all that’s going on, the preparations—”

“It is the least I can do. You both know that we have done all we can. There are no further preparations, no additional studies, no new evidence. Jor-El will face the Council, and I am confident we will prevail. Remaining here serves no purpose. Once Jor-El receives a pardon, we will have a vast amount of work to do. And if he is sentenced…” Zod spread his hands helplessly and looked at Nam-Ek standing by the door. “Then that is all the more reason for you to take this opportunity before it’s too late.”

Zod and Nam-Ek flew back
to Kandor at night in an open vessel. They stood side by side on the humming platform with the night air blowing gently around them. The stars overhead were veiled with colorful streamers of auroras, and three bright orange meteors streaked across the blackness like the slashes of a bloody knife.

His time with Jor-El had gone well, and Zod was sure he had the scientist in his pocket, no matter what happened. He certainly hadn’t expected to add a wedding to the activities, but that had tied the bonds of loyalties even tighter. By now the brilliant scientist had seen enough proof that Zod could get things done even when the Council members hesitated. Jor-El also had a passion for progress, though of a different sort. Ah, if Zod and Jor-El had the same goals, what things they could achieve for Krypton!

“I am glad Jor-El wasn’t killed in the explosion after all,” Zod mused aloud to Nam-Ek. “We still need him. Fortunately, everything turned out to our benefit, if only we can convince the stubborn Council to place me in charge of Krypton’s defenses.” His bearded companion nodded. “I have to be very careful, though. I cannot appear biased during the inquisition. However, if the great scientist is brought low and then I save him, Jor-El will be forever in my debt.” So far everything had fallen perfectly in place.

After the wedding, Zod and Nam-Ek had briefly returned to the estate with the happy couple. While Lara packed for the wedding trip to the arctic place, the Commissioner and Jor-El went over a few last details, completing an inventory of the scientist’s remarkable and useful inventions over the years. Zod promised to present the list at the upcoming inquisition, sure that it would portray Jor-El in the best possible light. Finally, late at night, Jor-El and his wife had flown away to the north, and the Commissioner began his return journey to Kandor.

Soon the glowing lights of the capital city lit the horizon, like an island of soaring towers, pyramids, and monuments in the middle of the broad valley. Kandor was a cluster of habitation and technology surrounded by sprawling outer settlements, suburbs, support industries, and warehouses. Agricultural fields quilted the flatlands in geometrical patches. Other vehicles and aircraft shot along main thoroughfares, fellow travelers like himself, though he had told Nam-Ek to take a quieter overland path. He didn’t want to be near any traffic.

Zod could feel the energy and the pulse of Kandor as they approached. “I’ll be glad to get home.” He patted his companion on the shoulder. “And you want to see your animals, of course.” With a boyish expression of pleasure, Nam-Ek nodded.

As they reached the outskirts of the shining city, Zod heard a strange humming in the air. Static electricity crackled along his skin, making the fine hairs on his arms and neck stand up. Sensing the disturbance, Nam-Ek also looked around, then turned his face to the night sky.

High above, a dazzling white light flitted about like a rogue spark from a campfire. Zod’s brow furrowed. Another ship? Then he felt a cold lump in his stomach. What if Donodon’s people had come back after all? As the single bright spot dropped lower, orbiting over the city skyline, growing larger and larger, he felt a thrill rush through him.

Earlier, he had raised the specter of a vengeful outside race only to manipulate the Council. It was a straw man threat to rile the already nervous citizens so they would be willing to consider drastic changes—changes that would benefit Zod. He had never actually believed Donodon’s companions would come so soon!

When he studied the vessel more carefully, though, he saw that it was far more ominous than that other small ship. The strange new craft descended unhurriedly toward Kandor’s skyline, and only when Zod could view it in relation to the towering buildings did he realize its sheer immensity. The new spacecraft seemed to be made of shadows and bright metal, sharp creases and precise geometrical planes that tapered to a lower point, like a gem that had broken free of its setting. The vessel had a grace despite its enormity, reminding Zod of a flower with razor-edged petals.

The thrumming in the air grew more overbearing. Nam-Ek pulled back on the controls of the passenger craft, bringing them to a dead stop far outside of the city. In the distance Zod could hear the faint sounds of people crying out, crowds rushing from buildings and looking up into the sky. Although traffic was minimal this late at night, he still saw ground vehicles and illuminated floater rafts swirling in eddies at the edge of Kandor. Some groups of travelers tried to rush back to their homes, while others struggled to evacuate the city.

Zod took the controls from Nam-Ek and accelerated the vessel forward again. “If this is an attack, the Council will never know what to do. I can rally the people to me, but only if I am there!” He suddenly saw this as a great and unexpected opportunity. “I can lead them—now!”

Deeply alarmed, the big mute grabbed his master’s sleeve and shook his head, but Zod insisted on rushing toward the city, his city. “I know you want to keep me safe, but I have to try—”

Bright sparkles along the edges of the huge spacecraft’s angled seams flared from orange to white, interrupting Zod’s words. The ship lowered itself until it hovered directly above the central ziggurat of the Council temple, where the throbbing hologram of Rao blazed into the night. The outer metal planes of the alien vessel folded and rearranged themselves like the images in a dimensional kaleidoscope, and the razor-edged flower opened to reveal a tiny core of searingly bright light.

A moment of sickening silence hung in the air. Zod couldn’t even blink. His heartbeat pounded in his ears; the whole Kandor valley seemed to be holding its breath.

A blinding pillar of solidified light dropped down to cover the small image of the red sun, as if using it as an anchor point. From the corners of the alien ship’s folded hull planes, three perfectly straight beams lashed out like deadly whips, extending over the building tops. Separated by equal angles, the beams struck the ground at the perimeter of Kandor, blasting and boring into the ground. The bright lights fanned outward, sweeping around like the blades of a container opener. With the ease of a stylus scraped across a piece of paper, the three equidistant rays gouged a deep furrow all the way around the city, scribing a perfect circle.

Caught in the path of the piercing rays, several unfortunate ground-cars exploded. Outlying structures toppled, severed by the blast. The sounds of vaporizing rock and hissing steam roared like unending thunder. Bridges and roadways collapsed. Numerous hapless homes were simply erased in the path of destruction. A tethering field for Kandor’s private dirigible airships vanished as the wave of disintegration passed by; frantically, two pilots cut loose their airships and attempted to float away, but both were caught in the beam, incinerated in an instant.

A city full of people screaming created an oddly operatic sound that rose into the air, but the alien ship continued its destruction, heedless of their cries. The beams cut a circular moat, encompassing most of Kandor, and then cut even deeper into the crust.

Just as the slash of light passed in front of the passenger platform, Zod veered the flying vehicle aside. He barely avoided slamming into the high-intensity blast. The Commissioner struggled to reassert control over the wobbling vehicle while gale-force thermal currents slapped against him in the open vessel, and molten debris spattered the side of the hull. Nam-Ek turned sideways, intentionally shielding Zod with his burly body; tiny embers sizzled into the big man’s back, making his shirt smolder.

Nam-Ek knocked Zod away from the controls and brought the raft down in a rapid descent, slamming them into the dirt. They skidded to a halt only meters away from the deep, smoking cut in the ground. From the angry turmoil on the mute’s face, Zod wondered whether Nam-Ek would physically drag him away if he persisted in trying to get back into Kandor.

The Commissioner brushed himself off and stared in awe. “By the red heart of Rao!” He could smell the electric ozone in the air, felt a wash of heat sear his face like the exhalation of a blast oven.

The three brilliant beams continued to wreak havoc, sweeping along the circumference again and again, cutting deeper into the crust with each pass. Streets were severed, outbuildings blasted into rubble. Dirt and smoke sprayed upward, accompanied by fountains of sparks and jets of steam from underground conduits.

When the sizzling boundary circle was finally complete and the smoke began to clear from the air, Zod could once again hear screams and panicked shouts, mingled with a cacophony of internal alarms. Sapphire Guards from their training barracks outside the city must be rushing into position, calling all reinforcements.

But the ominous alien ship wasn’t finished yet. With the deep gouge ringing the core of Krypton’s capital city in a perfect circle, a shimmering curtain spilled out of the invading ship and dropped until it enveloped the metropolis under a hemispherical bubble that sealed itself inside the mammoth groove.

Zod reeled, staring at the enormous artificial dome that now covered Kandor. “It’s like a child’s dollhouse in a terrarium.” Everyone in the city was imprisoned, specimens in a gigantic zoo. Zod’s mind raced, wondering if this might indeed be a retribution force of Donodon’s people, or the powerful police force the alien had mentioned…or something entirely different.

Feeling isolated and helpless, Zod looked at the stranded citizens and vehicles on the nearest main thoroughfare outside of Kandor. A squad of Sapphire Guards rushed forward, firing their weapons to no effect. He wondered if he should take command of that guard contingent and tell them what to do. But
he
didn’t know what to do, either.

“How do we free them? How do we drive away that enemy ship?” For the first time he could remember, Zod felt completely out of control, unable to do anything. He should never have let Jor-El go to the arctic. Not now.

Suddenly Zod swallowed as he realized that if he had not stayed to perform the wedding, or even if he had left Jor-El and Lara’s estate one hour earlier, then he and Nam-Ek would also be trapped beneath that impenetrable dome. By sheer fortunate coincidence, they had been away from Kandor.

The dome throbbed, and the gigantic angled ship hung overhead, just waiting. He heard the pulse of energy from the containment dome mix with the still-sizzling sound of melted dirt and rock. Every breath he drew was filled with cold static electricity and metallic ozone. Despite his instinctive fear, he couldn’t help but admire the incalculable power the craft possessed. Zod feared that something even worse might be in store.

Finally, after a long moment of building tension, the air itself groaned. The terrarium dome flared and began to contract, like a tightening noose. At first Zod couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Nam-Ek stared, then shielded his eyes.

The dome pressed inward, encapsulating Kandor within a smaller and smaller boundary. Zod realized that the whole enclosed skyline was
shrinking.
Exotic lenses or condensing fields inside the projected dome reduced the size of the capital city, leaving behind only a ragged crater. As the boundary retracted, the alien ship followed it down above the containment dome.

Nam-Ek urgently tried to convince Zod to fly away to safety, but the Commissioner would hear none of it. Instead, he placed his hand on the mute’s chest, easing him off the landed raft. Nam-Ek retreated onto the open ground, looking forlorn.

Zod’s entire life was there in the capital city: his Commission, his strings of power, his connections, his home. None of the people there were his friends—in fact, he genuinely despised the Council members and many other bureaucrats who had stood against him over the years. Nam-Ek was the only one he really cared about, and the big mute was here with him.

But how could he stand by and simply
watch
this unprecedented act? He was angry, afraid, and almost wild to realize that he was utterly helpless in the face of this strange attack. Zod grabbed the controls of the flying platform, tried to take off, but Nam-Ek defiantly stood on the ground and gripped the side rail of the raft, holding back the vehicle with brute strength.

Zod spoke sharply from the control pedestal. “Do not challenge me, Nam-Ek! I am going closer, but I cannot do what I must do unless you are out of harm’s way. Otherwise, I will be too worried about you.” He softened his tone. “Besides, if I don’t leave you here, then who will come and rescue me if I need it?”

Unable to argue with that, the big man reluctantly released his grip. He seemed convinced he would never see his mentor again, but Zod tried to sound reassuring. “I will be careful.” He took one last glance at Nam-Ek’s forlorn expression, then focused on the millions of Kryptonians trapped inside the shrinking city. Maybe he could get close enough, ram the invader ship, find some way to undo this disaster. He could save them all.

Lifting the floating raft again, he accelerated toward the ever-growing crater as Kandor continued to shrink. By the time he reached the edge, Zod could no longer see the alien vessel. The city had all but vanished deep inside the giant ragged hole, shrunk down to an unimaginably small size, and the enemy ship had followed it down into the depths.

Zod brought the craft to a lurching halt just before the abrupt drop-off, smelling the smoke and sulfur rising up into his face. He felt disoriented by the unreality of what he had just witnessed. Kandor…
gone!
He stepped off the landed platform and walked cautiously toward the edge, then stared down.

He was so shaken that at first he didn’t see the bright light sweeping up toward him. Having done its awful work, the ominous alien ship began to climb out of the great pit. Zod staggered, pinwheeling his arms to get back from the edge.

As the ship rose above him, Zod stared up into the white light that still shone from the bottom of the complex craft. Dangling by an invisible thread beneath its hull, miniaturized Kandor hung like an absurd toy, a city in a bottle. The flat metal surfaces of the outer armor shifted and opened again like geometric petals, showing the interior of the strange vessel. Zod watched it draw tiny Kandor up through the gap, and then the plates folded shut like mandibles, swallowing the capital city.