Part 28 (1/2)
When Jor-El finished his activities in the nova javelin bunkers, he shoved sheets of incomprehensible numbers and projected trajectories into Koll-Em's hands. ”As you can see, everything is in order.” The angry young man would never be able to interpret them.
Leaving the underground chamber, he ascended to the surface, emerged at the edge of the Square of Hope, and boldly walked to the complex gla.s.sy spire where Lara was being held. An uncertain-looking Sapphire Guard blocked the way. ”I am here to see Lara,” he said.
”No one is allowed to enter.”
”I am allowed to enter. I am Jor-El.”
Koll-Em hurried up, fl.u.s.tered and trying to show that he was in control of the situation. ”Oh, let him inside. Seeing his hostage wife will remind Jor-El why he has no choice but to a.s.sist us.” His thin-lipped grin was little more than a slash across his face.
Jor-El gave him a scornful look. ”There are always always choices. But sometimes every choice is flawed.” choices. But sometimes every choice is flawed.”
Close on his heels, Koll-Em followed him down the colored gla.s.sy corridors. ”It's not too late for you, Jor-El. If you help us achieve a smooth victory and thwart Argo City's resistance, General Zod may yet forgive you. You could still have an important place in our new order.”
”Before or after the comet destroys Krypton?”
Koll-Em was clearly uneasy. He respected and feared Jor-El's scientific talent. ”Zod will protect us. He can do anything.”
Jor-El rounded on him. He did not comprehend the young man's att.i.tude, his enthusiastic a.s.sumption of his position of power. ”General Zod killed your brother. He annihilated Borga City, yet you still support him. Aren't you angry?”
”My brother only got what he deserved,” Koll-Em sneered. ”Time and again over the course of our lives, he belittled me, held me back, ignored me.” The nervous veneer of his bravado could not entirely conceal his real feelings. ”Borga City is gone now, just like Kandor. What happened has happened. We can't wallow in the past. We must look to the future.”
Disgusted with the pointless parroting of Zod's propaganda, Jor-El kept walking until he reached the barricaded door to Lara's cell. A lattice of thick crystal entirely blocked the opening. The translucent walls blurred the details of his wife's lovely face. Nevertheless, when she spotted him she moved quickly to the faceted wall. ”Jor-El! I knew you'd come.” Her voice carried through the clear crystal.
He pressed as close as he could. ”I came to make sure you were still safe.”
”She's safe for now, for now,” Koll-Em taunted from behind him.
”May I have a moment of privacy with my wife?”
”No, you may not. Who knows what secret information you two might exchange?”
Jor-El placed his palm flat against the wall of interlocked crystal; behind the blurry barrier, Lara did the same. ”Be strong, Lara. We'll get through this.”
”Tell me what's happening out there. Is Argo City safe?”
Koll-Em grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away. ”She doesn't need to know all that.” The Sapphire Guard began to manhandle Jor-El back out.
”I love you!” he called to her.
Lara's voice vibrated through the facets. ”Do what you have to, Jor-El!” She pressed herself against the crystal barrier, but he couldn't see her clearly.
He longed to look at her face, to touch her. ”I don't intend for my child to be born inside a cell.”
”Then you'd better help this war end very soon,” Koll-Em said.
The fear and suspicion that permeated Kryptonopolis now worked in Jor-El's favor. He went about his plans, feigning bold confidence; any furtiveness would only invite suspicion, and he had no intention of explaining himself.
The new devices he had secretly a.s.sembled were simple enough, remarkably brilliant in fact. He intended to pa.s.s along his appreciation to Zor-El-if they both survived the next few days.
In a small pocket, he still held the fragment of a message crystal he'd received from a haggard-looking secret courier shortly before the army marched for Argo City. The hidden recording it held from Zor-El offered vital information: ”Others might be uncertain of your loyalties, Jor-El, but you are my brother. I believe you'll do the right thing with these designs.”
He'd been saddened to learn that this was the third covert message Zor-El had tried to send him. None of the other volunteers had found him, and Jor-El never saw the haggard messenger again. Had he slipped away, been forcibly recruited into the army, or been killed? Every day, Jor-El expected to be thrown into a crystalline cell himself; he prayed at least it would be next to Lara's.
Moving as if he were walking on fragile gla.s.s, he determined an appropriate installation point on the perimeter of the city, another one in the Square of Hope, another outside the main offices. After slipping into the government palace, he measured carefully and found a hiding place to install the last small object in the large main chamber that Zod had been using as a kind of throne room.
Just as he finished, Koll-Em stormed into the room. The man's pointed face flushed upon seeing Jor-El there. His loose brown hair had a wild look. ”What do you think you're doing? This is a restricted area.”
Jor-El stood up to him. ”General Zod asked me to run a special scan. I am confirming that no a.s.sa.s.sination devices have been planted in his absence.”
”The General told me nothing of this!”
Jor-El let a mysterious smile creep across his face. ”Precisely who do you think he's worried about? You've made your ambitions clear, not even showing mercy to your own brother. The General has every right to be suspicious of you.” He pressed his point. ”Shall we contact him now? We might be able to break through the interference caused by the solar storm. General Zod won't be pleased by the interruption, of course, but he will confirm what I'm saying. The call will also give me a chance to inform him of certain suspicious items I found in your own quarters.”
Koll-Em paled. ”What items? You were in my quarters?”
”I was doing my job.”
The young man seethed for a long moment. ”I don't trust you, Jor-El.”
”The feeling is very mutual. And Zod trusts neither of us.” Then he added with an ironic smile, ”All hail, the new Krypton.”
He walked out of the government palace, leaving Koll-Em fuming with helpless anger.
CHAPTER 74.
Like a slap in the face, the force-field dome over Argo City made General Zod's cheeks burn. He knew that Zor-El and his people must be laughing at him from inside the city. He did not find it intriguing at all. ”Bring forth our weapons and blast through that barrier. Show these deluded fools that they cannot resist Zod.” face, the force-field dome over Argo City made General Zod's cheeks burn. He knew that Zor-El and his people must be laughing at him from inside the city. He did not find it intriguing at all. ”Bring forth our weapons and blast through that barrier. Show these deluded fools that they cannot resist Zod.”
Aethyr chose her words carefully. ”Are you willing to destroy Argo City after all? How much do you think that force field can withstand?”
”We shall see.”
Unable to control the anger he felt on behalf of his master, Nam-Ek marched forward, fists balled, and pounded against the crackling barrier. His strongest blows barely elicited a humming sound. Frustrated, the mute stepped back, scowling at his knuckles and flexing his tingling hands.
”Pull back! Prepare for our first bombardment.”
When the initial rounds exploded against the golden dome, the shock waves blew backward with such force that the sound nearly deafened the soldiers who stood too close to watch; holding their ringing ears, the men staggered away. The most powerful detonations produced little more than ripples of color across the force field.
Zod's army cheered hopefully as the next group of demolitions experts planted even more powerful bombs. They unleashed a truly apocalyptic chain of explosions, also to no effect.
”Try the bridges. Maybe those are weak points.” He still couldn't believe Zor-El had actually cut off the magnificent spans that had been the pride of the city for many centuries. The remaining superstructure, half out of the water outside the protective dome, resembled the skeleton of a beached sea beast. Zod fumed, incensed that he'd underestimated the sheer irrationality of Jor-El's brother.