Part 25 (1/2)

”This is not why I helped you. It goes against all that I believe-”

Aethyr interrupted them smoothly. ”The beam is ready, Zod. You may give the order.”

”It is given.”

”Stop!” Jor-El tried to push his way to the control shack, but two Sapphire Guards grabbed his arms. He thrashed against them. Even though he had sent out his most urgent warnings, even though he had begged Shor-Em to evacuate his people and Lara had continued to make calls, he knew for certain that there hadn't been enough time. Many would have gotten away, believing the call of Krypton's greatest scientist, but others would have tarried. He doubted Shor-Em had taken him seriously at all. ”Commissioner, if you do this you are not the savior of Krypton, but its destroyer destroyer!”

Zod gestured across the mountains and into the eastern marshes. ”Fire!”

Appalled, Jor-El yanked one arm free from the guards, struggled to drag himself toward the control shack, but the familiar whining hum sang up through the energy conduits of the derrick. At the last instant, he averted his eyes from the dazzling heat and from the horror.

The Rao-beam projectors spewed forth a gout of pure red light. Zod watched with clear contentment on his face as the scarlet lance shot toward the lowlands on the horizon. The beam, powerful enough to cut through a planet's crust, slammed into Borga City.

From their vantage point in the distant mountains, Jor-El saw only a flash, but he knew exactly what was happening. The incinerating beam engulfed the huge balloons that supported the city's interlocked platforms. The explosion would be instantaneous and terrific, igniting the giant cavities of volatile marsh gas that bubbled up from below. He hoped, prayed, that most of the people had already fled, racing to safety across the marshes.

But he knew they weren't all safe. He couldn't bear to think of the burning bodies falling from balloon platforms, the fiery eruptions raging across the swamp. He knew it signified thousands of deaths at the very least, people whose only crime was to disagree with Zod's leaders.h.i.+p.

Though the devastation was complete in moments, Zod let the beam continue to pound its target, minute after endless minute. Any evacuees who had remained in the area would be watching in horror at the horrific pummeling, the destruction of everything they had known.

When he was finally satisfied, Zod told No-Ton to shut down the apparatus.

Moving ponderously, as if weary beyond description, the other scientist s.h.i.+fted the prisms away from the focal point. The air still thrummed with vibrant energy. Leftover ripples of heat dissipated from the column of ionized air along the beam path.

”We have annihilated one nest of traitors,” Zod said. ”Let us hope this ends the nonsense, once and for all.”

CHAPTER 66.

While the foolish dissidents in other population centers were shocked and sickened by the obliteration of Borga City, Zod used the opportunity to strengthen his position. Even before his small victorious group paraded back into Kryptonopolis, he had made his preparations. other population centers were shocked and sickened by the obliteration of Borga City, Zod used the opportunity to strengthen his position. Even before his small victorious group paraded back into Kryptonopolis, he had made his preparations.

Aethyr raced ahead to distribute glorious propaganda so that his followers would learn of the event in exactly the way he wished. Towering information screens portrayed the retaliatory strike as reasonable and necessary. Most of the citizens of Kryptonopolis would already accept whatever Zod told them; anyone who expressed concern or seemed overly distressed-particularly if the person had connections to Borga City-was efficiently removed from the crowds and quietly rea.s.signed far from the others.

Zod returned to his capital, bearded chin held high, eyes bright with victory. Nam-Ek strode boldly beside his master, his muscles bunched, his hands clenched into fists the size of large rocks.

No-Ton and the other technicians had also been recalled from the isolated mountain outpost; Zod didn't want any of them near the Rao-beam generator, at least until the uproar had died down.

Riding among them all, watched carefully by the guards, Jor-El looked broken and deflated, as if deeply ashamed that his invention had been used in such a manner. The pale-haired scientist kept his gaze turned away, but the Commissioner noticed an occasional flash of anger in his eye. Maybe Jor-El wasn't as much under control as Zod had hoped. He wondered if the defeated mood might only be an act. What if Jor-El decided to turn his considerable talents against Zod?

On the journey back, Jor-El had defiantly revealed that he'd sent a warning to Borga City, that he'd informed Shor-Em of the impending destruction. At first Zod had been outraged by the defiance, but then he grudgingly realized that survivors-witnesses-would only tell the tale and emphasize the lengths to which the Commissioner would go. No one could doubt his seriousness now. The many refugees would spread out, seeking food and shelter, and Zod was not inclined to help them. They still had to prove they had learned their lesson.

Fortunately, according to initial reports, Shor-Em and his haughty sham Council had insisted on staying inside the city. They had been annihilated along with everyone else who believed in them. A perfect solution. This had indeed been a successful undertaking, and he would make certain everyone knew it.

As the small band of troops pa.s.sed between the crystal towers and into the Square of Hope, Zod raised his hands and his voice. ”Borga City and its corrupt and dangerous leaders brought this fate upon themselves. It was a painful decision for me, but now we must put an end to this debilitating struggle, this civil disagreement. There are some survivors, innocents who evacuated in time, and they are dispersed to other cities. Let us hope they have accepted the truth now. Krypton is at last safe from traitors to our way of life.”

The members of the Ring of Strength and their deputies lined the streets of the capital. They automatically responded with shouts and cheers. Koll-Em was the loudest of them all, barely able to contain his vindictive joy that his older brother had just been vaporized.

Zod gave a preoccupied nod, as if he were talking only to himself. ”In seven days I will hold a vital summit in Kryptonopolis. I command that all city leaders present themselves to me. Anyone who does not attend will be seen as an enemy of Krypton.” He marched forward with his loyal followers, sweeping into the government palace with Aethyr and Nam-Ek beside him.

Jor-El pointedly remained outside.

Lara was physically sick after hearing of the destruction of Borga City. She clutched her rounded stomach. ”All those people! Even if two-thirds of them escaped in time...”

Jor-El rocked her in his arms. ”I don't know what to believe anymore, but I certainly don't believe him him. He will not focus on any problem other than how to achieve his own ambitions.” He felt the crus.h.i.+ng weight on his conscience of having created a tool that killed an entire city. ”Zor-El was right. For too long, I tried to convince myself that the Commissioner was the lesser of two evils, that his actions would ultimately benefit Krypton. But after this...after his minions attacked our mother and Alura...” He raised his head. ”Now I've got to do something about it. I can't hesitate. The responsibility is mine.”

Lara reacted with alarm. ”Zod will be watching you more closely than ever.”

He shook his head. ”Speed is my best ally. If I slip away tonight while the Commissioner is still reveling in his victory, I can blindside him. He withdrew everyone from the Rao-beam installation. Now is my chance.” Jor-El held her by the shoulders, feeling steel inside. ”What kind of world will our baby be born into if I let Zod wipe out entire cities on a whim? Whatever happens to me, at least my child can be proud.”

”Then I'm going with you, whatever it is you intend to do.”

”You can't, Lara.”

Her eyes narrowed indignantly. ”Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I'm incapable. I won't let you leave me out in the cold.”

He smiled with great love for her. ”That's not why I want you to stay. I need you here to cover for me. Give me an alibi if Zod suspects anything.”

”Oh, he will suspect-but I'll find ways to deflect him.”

”Lock down our quarters. If anyone asks, tell them I cannot be disturbed, that I'm focused on my cometary calculations. Zod should believe that.” He kissed her. ”I'll be back as soon as I can. Hold off any questions until then.”

In the darkest, quietest hour of the night, Jor-El crept through a window in their bedroom and furtively made his way out of Kryptonopolis. He dodged the overconfident Sapphire Guards patrolling the streets. After Zod's recent show of strength, most of the people were cowed and cooperative. But not him.

When he reached the Rao-beam facility high in the mountains, the ever-present smoke and soot in the air made him think of the funeral pyres of burned innocents. He shuddered. This Rao beam had been constructed to save Krypton from the pressure buildup in the core, not to annihilate entire civilian populations. Zod had smeared Jor-El with their blood, and he felt violated.

Though the rig's solar-generating crystals were dim and the focusing mirrors had been removed, enough charge remained in the central battery for Jor-El to do his work. In his hubris, Commissioner Zod had left the facility empty during his ”celebration” in Kryptonopolis, but soon he would surely send a contingent of soldiers to guard the equipment. Jor-El had to act swiftly.

Working alone in the dimness, he knelt to remove the access panel from the central generator. He s.h.i.+fted internal crystals, rewired control circuits, and built a feedback loop. Sparks began to swirl inside the main dangling crystal. Then he climbed up the high derrick, hand over hand on the cold metal bars, to the heart of the Rao-beam projector. After using a prybar to twist the focusing rods into near-impossible angles, Jor-El scrambled back down. The metal handholds were already growing hot as the beam projector built up to an overload.

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 gla.s.s.

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 sc.r.a.ped 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.