The Last Days of Krypton - Kevin J. Anderson [102]
His message was old, from a far-off star system, yet his grief seemed fresh. The Martian man overlaid old images of his beloved world as he spoke, showing red cliffs and rock pinnacles, domed cities and dusty arches now in ruins, green-skinned people like ghosts walking through now-empty complexes, then fading into blurred smoke. Lara saw idealistic images of another green Martian, a female with supple skin and a pointed head crest, standing beside two children. They looked happy. She was sure these must be the alien man’s family.
Then came monstrous white-skinned counterparts to the peaceful green people. The pale ones had severe features, angular heads, deep-set dark eyes, and sharp teeth.
The grieving survivor said, “All died…white Martians, green Martians. Except for me. I survived. I am alone. I beg you to help me—or if that is impossible, then please at least remember.”
Remember. Just as Jor-El’s father had said with his last breath.
The heart-wrenching message replayed, and Lara also felt the longing, the loss. She was reminded of Kandor and her own parents. “That magnificent civilization. Did you see their cities, Jor-El? Those people, how intelligent they were! And yet it’s gone. How could that happen?”
Jor-El shook his head, unable to comprehend how the Mars in the transmission could have been swept into the dusts of time. “There’s nothing I can do to help them, is there? It’s too far away and too long ago.”
Lara saw what he needed, and she knew she could give it to him. She had learned the news only that morning, and she’d been waiting for the right moment to deliver her announcement. There could be no better time than now.
“I know things seem bleak, but there is always hope.” She smiled and hugged him. “I’m pregnant, Jor-El. I’m going to have our child.”
CHAPTER 43
The next day, Jor-El went to his father’s enigmatic translucent tower and cracked open the temporary resin barrier he had used to seal the broken doorway and lock the components of Donodon’s dismantled ship inside. In recent months he had been tugged in many different directions—by the threat of the inquisition, the loss of Kandor, the death of his father, the giant telescope array…and Lara’s pregnancy! He was going to be a father. Even now, Jor-El still hadn’t had time to fully absorb the wonderful news Lara had given him. They were going to bring new life to Krypton in the wake of so much recent tragedy and suffering. One baby could do little to counteract all that grief, yet Jor-El felt a new hope.
Now, after hearing the message from Mars, he was eager to begin his long-delayed work of studying Donodon’s vessel. The blue-skinned alien had been a curious investigator; he would have wanted Jor-El to learn as much as possible from him. Each one of the components the Commissioner had delivered was like a piece of a much larger puzzle.
And maybe in his explorations Donodon had learned something about the lost civilization on the dusty red planet….
The thought of the curious, insightful alien explorer brought back memories of his own father as a vibrant and incisive man. Both of his sons had looked up to Yar-El, awed by all the things he had accomplished. For years, Jor-El had left the odd corkscrewing tower intact, preferring to savor the mystery rather than digest the answers.
When Commissioner Zod had urged him to hide the alien’s spacecraft from the Council, Jor-El had not taken the time to fully investigate the interior of the tower. Now he stepped inside and looked around, drinking in the details, smelling the cool and faintly metallic air.
Why had his father built this odd structure? The laboratory was a perfectly ser viceable space, well stocked with analytical tools and references. Yar-El had designed and constructed this remarkable place, and then just sealed it off. Had the older man been waiting for something? His cryptic comment