Part 30 (1/2)

Other hapless citizens insisted they had meant only to help in the wake of the Kandor disaster. They had come under Zod's spell, plunging one step after another down a slippery slope. Artisans, builders, civil engineers, people of all cla.s.ses had just wanted to do the right thing.

In the aftermath, the people of Kryptonopolis reviled General Zod's actions. Torn blue armbands littered the ground, still showing Zod's family crest. Soldiers discarded the military uniforms the General had forced them to wear; they piled the garments in great mounds in the Square of Hope and set them alight in large bonfires. All of the former city leaders who had bent their knees and submitted to Zod abdicated in shame.

Inside the throne room Zod, Aethyr, and Nam-Ek remained trapped in their hemispherical bubble, irate and totally helpless. In addition to Koll-Em, two Ring members had been killed during the fighting. Jor-El spoke on No-Ton's behalf, explaining how the man had alerted him to the Rao-beam attack on Borga City and how he had subtly resisted the General in numerous ways. The remaining twelve were placed in restraints and brought forward, heads bowed, so they could observe their General in his total defeat.

Before any sort of trial could begin, however, before the Ring members could plead their cases, beg for mercy, or snarl justifications, Jor-El and Lara made a chilling discovery.

Inside the government palace, Lara turned in slow circles, studying the architecture of Zod's primary office. Looking at the intersection of walls and using her artist's spatial perception, she realized that something was wrong. ”This wall isn't where it's supposed to be, Jor-El. See this load-bearing column here?” She stepped around the weathered statue of Jax-Ur's kneeling victim and studied the perfectly interlocking wall blocks. ”He's hidden something behind here. There must be a latch or a lock.”

Already dreading what they might find, Jor-El tested the panel, listened for sounds of resonance, then returned to Zod's desk. With his arrogant confidence, the General would not have worried about being discovered in his own office. He would have made the controls easily accessible.

Inside one of the drawer panels, Jor-El located a small set of crystals, one of which caused the stone-block wall to slide aside to reveal a staircase that led down to a deep vault. He and Lara looked at each other, neither convinced that they wanted to see what Zod had hidden, but both knowing they had to go down there.

Though she was in the last few weeks of her pregnancy, Lara still moved with an agility that allowed her to keep up with him. At the bottom, they found a dimly lit set of chambers with thick walls and numerous alcoves, stands, cases, and sealed chests. The objects were arrayed like exhibits in a museum.

Jor-El recognized a handheld device-a reflective scrambler that could block incoming communications, effectively preventing anyone from sending a message. He himself had invented the device years ago, but the Commission for Technology Acceptance had banned it. Just another one of the inventions that Zod had kept for himself.

With widening eyes, Jor-El went to the next display deck and found the original plans for the Rao-beam generator, then rocket engine designs, satellite launchers, thrust enhancers, heat concentrators. Jor-El wondered how often Zod had censored scientific work for the express purpose of keeping it for his own private a.r.s.enal.

”I should have ignored the Commission, never brought any of my inventions to Zod.” His throat was dry, and his eyes burned. ”d.a.m.n the old Council and its foolish rules!”

Lara had moved out of view into a small side chamber. Her voice shook when she called out. ”Jor-El, you'd better come in here. You need to see this.”

In a small room of its own, Jor-El saw the greatest secret that General Zod had been hiding. Along with a complete control console studded with crystalline rods, a silver-ringed frame hovered in the center of the room, holding open the singularity Jor-El had created.

The Phantom Zone.

And in the flat opening between dimensions, he saw hundreds of despairing faces crowded against one another, flattened and overlapping. Their open mouths shouted. Their eyes pleaded.

He didn't need to recognize any of the faces to know who they were. ”So this is what happened to anyone who spoke out against Zod.”

Some of the more vehement dissidents had probably been killed outright-he guessed the brutal work of Nam-Ek there-but the Commissioner would have considered the Phantom Zone to be a much neater, more satisfying way to dispose of his enemies.

Jor-El froze, feeling his anger increase even further. ”We have to get them all out of there.”

When the imprisoned faces spotted the two of them, their expressions changed as they begged, but the dimensional barrier muted all sound. Jor-El went to the control console and raised his hand, trying to rea.s.sure the trapped ones.

”I'll help you release them.” Lara's lips quirked in a smile. ”I've done this before, remember?”

On the control panel, he changed the polarity of the crystals so that the glowing red shards became green. Amber s.h.i.+fted to white, reversing the flow into the Phantom Zone and releasing the first prisoner. As if he'd been ejected from the other universe, a man spilled out of the vertical, flat circle, so weak he collapsed to his knees. Trembling and unable to speak, he looked at Lara and Jor-El with haunted eyes. Lara helped him up.

Jor-El recognized the man as Tyr-Us, son of the old Council Head Jul-Us, and a friend of Zor-El's. He had vanished under mysterious circ.u.mstances.

The remaining faces continued to clamor in total silence while Jor-El worked the control crystals. A second man, balding with a long walrus mustache, collapsed onto the stone floor. His eyes looked sunken and hollow. Gil-Ex. ”We've spent...an eternity in there. It's Zod. Do not trust Zod!”

”No one needs to worry about Zod anymore.”

Jor-El continued to release prisoners from the Phantom Zone. One after another, they emerged, terrified, breathless, and glad to be freed from the maddening dimension. Dozens of those who had tried to issue warnings against Zod, those who had complained about his policies...those who had supposedly ”retired from public view.”

The last to emerge was a servant named Hopk-Ins who had worked in the halls of the Commission building in Kandor-the first person Zod had exiled to the Phantom Zone, just on a whim.

One by one, the rescued people staggered up the stone steps, out of the dim museum chamber, and into the fresh air and warm red suns.h.i.+ne, emerging to a whole new Krypton.

CHAPTER 80.

General Zod seethed inside the transparent prison. Together, defeated, he and his companions stared through the impenetrable dome at the accusers who paraded through the government palace- transparent prison. Together, defeated, he and his companions stared through the impenetrable dome at the accusers who paraded through the government palace-his government palace. They had tricked him, brought him down, and Jor-El had betrayed him most of all. government palace. They had tricked him, brought him down, and Jor-El had betrayed him most of all.

The people eyed him with expressions of lingering fear, disgust, even hatred. The hatred puzzled him most. He was, after all, the savior of Krypton.

”I feel like an animal in a zoo, on display for foolish visitors to gawk at,” he said to Aethyr. ”Maybe it was merciful for the Butcher of Kandor to slaughter all those animals.” Nam-Ek flashed him a startled glance.

”Unlike the Butcher of Kandor, these people will never have the nerve to take any definite action,” Aethyr said. ”They'll debate us and study us for years.”

”And all the while, we will be trapped here.” Zod's whole body trembled with the effort of containing his emotions. He wanted to shout at them, but that would only entertain the watchers and make him appear weak. He did not intend to appear weak.

Nam-Ek, though, had no such self-control. Every hour or so he let out a wordless roar and pummeled his fists uselessly against the dome s.h.i.+eld. A few in the audience chamber glanced up at the disturbance. Several were embarra.s.sed; others simply ignored him. Two officials smiled confidently at the force field, then went about their business.

Zod wanted to kill them all.

One by one, as if wrestling with their fears, the dissenters who had been imprisoned within the Phantom Zone came to glare at the General. Puffed with bravado (since he was caged), they railed at him, cursed him. At first he laughed at their ridiculous posturing. Eventually he ignored them.

Zod paced the cell like a prowling predator. Aethyr watched him, her lips curled. Now that they had been arrested and he could offer her nothing, Zod wondered if she would still love him. What if this woman had simply agreed to be his consort because of the mantle of power he wore?

But Aethyr did not denounce him.

Several times, their captors had expanded the dome to encompa.s.s a few small amenities. They had food, water, a bucket, and little else. There were no tools Zod could use to plan an escape. He had only his own voice and powerful personality to influence his captors. At one time, that might have been sufficient, but not anymore.

He deserved reverence, not humiliation, after what he had accomplished for Krypton. No one else would have taken the necessary actions after the loss of Kandor. History would prove that he had saved his race from their own indecisive helplessness. He had done what was right, had nearly reached the pinnacle of achievement-when it all came cras.h.i.+ng down. If he had made any bad decisions, he would not admit to them.

Keeping Kryptonopolis as a provisional capital, the people scrambled to form a new government...or, more likely, rehash the old one. The b.u.mbling leaders were looking to precedents that had already proved weak and useless. Gil-Ex and Tyr-Us talked openly about forming a new Council, just like the old one in Kandor. Apparently, during their time inside the Phantom Zone, their delusions had grown. They remembered nothing. Idiots!

Zod vindictively hoped that some outside invader would attack Krypton right now, just to prove him right. After all, he he was perfectly safe under this protective dome.... was perfectly safe under this protective dome....

After two days of turmoil, the provisional government announced the beginning of Zod's trial. The General stood straight, clasped his hands behind his back, and raised his voice to be heard through the humming s.h.i.+eld. ”You have given me no time to prepare. I must have counsel. I must have access to my accusers. This goes against the laws of Krypton.”

”We are are the new Kryptonian law,” said Gil-Ex, still looking ridiculous with his long mustache and his glistening pate. ”You've had enough time to contemplate your crimes. Plead your case, beg forgiveness if you wish. No one doubts your ability to speak articulately.” the new Kryptonian law,” said Gil-Ex, still looking ridiculous with his long mustache and his glistening pate. ”You've had enough time to contemplate your crimes. Plead your case, beg forgiveness if you wish. No one doubts your ability to speak articulately.”

Aethyr gave a bitter laugh. ”Oh? And what about Nam-Ek? He hasn't spoken a word since he was a child.”

The members of the provisional government looked fl.u.s.tered at that. Zod knew these men would do whatever they wished to do. He didn't press the matter.

Large filmplates were set up around the force-field enclosure, and Zod knew that this spectacle would be transmitted to viewers across all of Krypton. How the weak ma.s.ses relished seeing a mighty man fall.

His accusers came forward one at a time. First Gil-Ex described how, after he had spoken out at the construction camp of old Xan City, Zod had asked for a private discussion. But Nam-Ek had seized him in the tent, and the two had thrown Gil-Ex into the Phantom Zone. ”An awful place! No light, no movement, no heat or cold. I didn't even have an existence.” His face flushed red. ”It was just empty silence except for the other prisoners trapped there, all of us disembodied.”