Part 15 (1/2)
Jor-El couldn't keep the bitterness from his voice. ”Your Commission destroyed most of my best work.”
”I have great faith in your abilities. I give you full permission-in fact my most enthusiastic encouragement-to work without restrictions or inhibitions. Is that not what you always wanted?”
Jor-El wondered if Zod finally understood how deeply the Commission had hurt him over the years. Again and again, the man had capriciously declared Jor-El's greatest ideas to be unacceptable or dangerous. To expend so much effort and see it all wasted would have shattered a lesser man, yet even with his confidence undermined, he had continued to work, to invent, and to achieve breakthroughs.
Now the ground rules had changed, though, and the Commissioner needed more from him.
”Do what you were born to do. The whole planet is counting on you.”
Jor-El realized he had been waiting all his life to hear those words.
CHAPTER 36.
Even as the people of Argo City pulled together to recover from their own disaster, the loss of Kandor struck Zor-El with great dread. ”Our world is in danger,” he told Alura. They stood together in his observation tower, looking out at the deceptively calm sea. ”Volcanic eruptions, quakes, giant waves, the buildup in the core-and now an alien attack. There's got to be something more I can do.” Argo City pulled together to recover from their own disaster, the loss of Kandor struck Zor-El with great dread. ”Our world is in danger,” he told Alura. They stood together in his observation tower, looking out at the deceptively calm sea. ”Volcanic eruptions, quakes, giant waves, the buildup in the core-and now an alien attack. There's got to be something more I can do.”
Alura was levelheaded and matter-of-fact. ”Commissioner Zod is directing the Kandor volunteers and refugees well enough. You need to keep doing the same thing here. Argo City is your city. Rally and rea.s.sure them.”
Zor-El wished he could send more a.s.sistance up to Kandor to help his brother, but he was barely able to cope with his own disaster. All along the coast, the ma.s.sive rebuilding efforts continued. Since the tsunami had smashed the piers and battered the seawall, the people of Argo City had labored with remarkable solidarity. Rescue teams scouring the long sh.o.r.eline had found only a few survivors among the hundreds of dead. Funerals were held day after day; Zor-El had personally spoken at forty of the ser vices. During their mourning, however, the citizens also grew more determined.
Medical centers were overflowing; several of the city's power generators and water-purification plants remained damaged. A few main piers were repaired first so that boats could be launched again, and fishermen worked overtime to bring in aquatic harvests. When they produced more than enough for their own needs, they rushed extra supplies to the refugees at the crater of Kandor. It was the only aid they could offer.
Although Zor-El had been too overwhelmed to attend his brother's recent wedding, at least he knew Jor-El was married, no longer facing a trial, and a.s.sisting Commissioner Zod-all of which was comforting news. Krypton couldn't ask for a greater help.
In the meantime, construction crews reinforced and raised Argo City's seawall, after which Zor-El took the extra step of augmenting it with a greatly expanded protective field, based on the one that he had designed for his diamondfish probes. Unless something fundamental was done to relieve the pressure in the planet's core, though, more quakes would strike, further tsunamis would batter the coast, and restless volcanoes would continue to erupt.
Amid all the turmoil, Zor-El had finally dispatched a new survey team to the southern continent. Soon he would have all the evidence he needed...but instead of a useless, stagnant central government, Krypton had no government at all. With Kandor gone and Argo City brought to its knees, Zor-El didn't know how anyone could manage a project of such magnitude.
More swiftly than anyone could have expected, however, Commissioner Zod had jumped into the power vacuum. Zor-El wondered if the other man would acknowledge the far greater problem. ”Maybe now I can speak to someone who will see reason.”
”Do you think Zod has that vision?” Alura asked. ”Will he hear you?”
His dark eyebrows drew together skeptically. ”I don't know about Zod. He is intelligent and ambitious, but he's proved an impediment to progress so many times in the past.”
”Many things have changed...”
”Yes. Let's hope that his mind has changed.”
He and Alura left the villa and walked together through the bustling streets, along the burbling ca.n.a.ls, crossing one ornate pedestrian bridge after another. The center of Argo City had recovered quickly, but still the sounds of construction reverberated everywhere. They pa.s.sed homes bedecked with beautiful flower vines, multicolored herbs, blossoming ferns, and spore trees. b.u.t.terflies and pollinating bees descended in droves, adding a pleasant background hum to the air. For today, at least, nature seemed oblivious to impending geological disasters and alien attacks.
Thin streams cascaded off the sides of buildings, trickling down in small waterfalls to strike fountain basins. Weary people came out to stand on their colonnaded balconies, took seats on stone benches, or leaned up against hedges. Even after the disaster, children still found reasons to play in the streets, resiliently discovering joy in life.
Since Kandor could not possibly be rebuilt, Zor-El considered suggesting that Argo City become Krypton's new capital, at least in the interim. Though he had no interest in serving as planetary leader, he and the heads of other population centers might provide the basis of a new council. A competent council. Zor-El began to doubt, however, that Commissioner Zod had any inclination to hand over the reins of power. That concerned him.
Instead of delivering ponderous speeches to swelling audiences, Zor-El simply walked through squares and gathering points, talking personally to the people, who listened and helped to spread his words.
”What do we do now, Zor-El? Is there a plan?” called a citizen with long white hair and a clean-shaven face. Zor-El recognized him as a man who designed and built barges.
”Krypton has no capital, no Council, no Temple of Rao.” Zor-El straightened. ”But Krypton still has its most important resource-people like you and me. And we have our determination.”
”Is Argo City safe?” called someone else. ”What can we do if Brainiac shows up here?”
He nodded sagely. ”That is my challenge to you: prepare for the unthinkable. We've got to consider the long term. How do we save Krypton? How do we all survive?” Zor-El raised his burned hand as if it were a badge of honor. ”Take heart. Argo City will carry the flame now. I'll remain in contact with my brother Jor-El, and we will get through this.”
As the sun set over the mainland to the west, the sky presented a blazing and colorful spectacle. Every day the dusk grew increasingly beautiful, but Zor-El could think only of more ash, more fire, and more turmoil being thrown into the atmosphere.
CHAPTER 37.
While he waited for Aethyr to arrive for their special planning session, Zod stood at the flap of his headquarters tent and looked across the expanse of hastily erected huts in the deepening twilight. to arrive for their special planning session, Zod stood at the flap of his headquarters tent and looked across the expanse of hastily erected huts in the deepening twilight.
Settling in for what they expected to be long months or years of work, the people had already begun to decorate their shelters with ta.s.sels, family symbols, and reflective streamers as a way to defy the grimness all around them. As darkness fell, the many mourners gathered to sing and tell stories in what had become an impromptu tradition. Already numerous ballads and poems had been written about lost loved ones, lionizing the wealth and beauty of Kandor.
Spontaneously, refugees joined with well-meaning volunteers to make pilgrimages to the edge of the crater and throw flowers, ribbons, and other mementos into the deep emptiness. Priests of Rao had set up small temples to attract new wors.h.i.+ppers in their prayers to the great red sun. Little shrines of glowing crystals and treasured images of loved ones littered the perimeter, so many that Zod worried they would soon begin to get in the way. Did every single lost person deserve his or her own memorial?
Six hollow-eyed boys and girls played together, throwing rocks into a deep puddle, but they seemed to take no joy in it. In the first week many survivors had drifted away from the crater to find temporary housing with distant friends or relatives. Others, without options or without the will to go anywhere, remained in the camp.
The Commissioner had waited long enough for this evening, but Aethyr treated it as no more than a casual event. She arrived wearing comfortable tan field clothes and a brown vest with pockets for tools or samples. Her billowy sleeves were smudged with dust. If she had worn a fine gown, costly jewelry, or intoxicating perfume, Zod would not have been so attracted to her.
Inside his command tent, a small table had been covered with fabric and set with a selection of savory appetizers. Warm, glowing crystals were distributed in the corners and on shelves. Aethyr lounged back in a seat across from him. ”So, Commissioner, is this to be a romantic meal between the two of us? Shall I expect to be seduced, or is this a strategy session?”
Zod leaned across the table. ”I've watched you, Aethyr. You're like me in many ways.”
She chuckled. ”What do you mean by that? And you didn't answer my question.”
”People like us find nothing more intense than tactical and political discussions. Tonight you and I could decide the future of Krypton. Isn't that intriguing?”
With a confident smile, she reached over to clasp his hand. ”So, the answer is seduction, then.”
He called for the main course, a freshwater fish stuffed with nuts along with spiced vegetables roasted over an open fire. Jellied fruits crusted with sugar crystals and mounted on tiny skewers made a festive dessert.
Upon learning that Jor-El's personal chef had joined the ever-growing group of volunteers, Zod had quickly taken advantage of the man's talents. Fro-Da worked wonders producing great quant.i.ties of palatable, nutritious food for the camp's population. Tonight, though, the chef had prepared a very special meal for Zod and his guest.
With the bounty spread in front of them, Zod sent the smiling chef away with his thanks. When he curtly told Nam-Ek to keep away any eavesdroppers, he was satisfied that the bearded mute would kill anyone who tried to defy those wishes.
Zod got down to business with Aethyr. ”I secured my position by acting swiftly. The people needed a leader, and I offered myself. No one else rose to the challenge. No one else has offered an alternative. I want to keep it that way-for the good of Krypton, naturally.”
”Naturally. It must have been quite a shock for everyone to see government acting swiftly.” She smiled. ”Krypton's n.o.ble families are incapable of responding to sudden needs, but you can expect to hear complaints once they recover from their shock.” Aethyr was persistent. ”This is our window of opportunity. Right now, the people in this camp are united by tragedy. They're yours to command. They'll do anything you ask of them.”
”But that won't last,” Zod finished for her. ”They rushed here, desperate to help, but soon they will realize that nothing can be done. There is no one here to save, no city left to rebuild. The suburbs and outlying fields and some industrial areas remain, but they are extremities without a heart or mind.”
”Then buy time before the people begin to disperse. Give them something to do. Make up a harmless project in the short term and give them guidance for the long term.”