The Last Days of Krypton - Kevin J. Anderson [11]
“Yes, I understand. Well, not those things, specifically. I’ve never been able to figure out tone symphonies or opera tapestries. Clinically, I recognize that they require significant work and imagination, and a certain level of skill. However, I can’t help but scratch my head and wonder what it all means.”
Her laughter was like music. “Ha! Now you know how most people feel about your science. It’s all a mystery to them.”
“I never thought of it that way.”
“You don’t know this, Jor-El, but I insisted on participating in this project with my parents because of you. You’ve always fascinated me—you and what you represent. I wanted to be where real history is taking place.”
“History?”
“History isn’t always old legends or records. History is being created every day, and you’re creating more of it than any Kryptonian alive. You may well be the greatest genius ever born on this planet.”
Jor-El had heard such things before, but always discounted them. Now he felt embarrassed to have her say it. She laughed softly when she saw him blush.
He quickly pointed up at the sky. “Look, the meteors are about to start.” He was too shy to look at her, but he knew she was staring at him with that warm expression on her face. Each month as the moon’s rubble orbited Krypton, gravity tugged at the debris. Fireworks streaked across the night sky, radiating from Koron as if the moon were still exploding.
Lara was captivated as the shower intensified. Streak after streak, meteors scratched like bright fingernails across the sky. Shooting stars flared out, then vanished. “I’ve never seen so many.”
“That’s the advantage of living outside the city where the skies are dark. In Kandor, the bright lights make it impossible to see most of the meteors. The trails are made by ionized gas caused by the frictional heating of—”
She brought his words to a halt with more laughter. He couldn’t understand what was funny, but Lara continued to grin. “Sometimes, Jor-El, a scientific explanation serves only to dilute beauty. Just watch and enjoy it.”
Sitting close to her, he forced himself to lean back and stare at the night. “For you, I’ll try.” He did indeed see the beauty of the meteor shower for its own sake, and he felt a surprising elation to be watching it with her.
While Lara continued to marvel at the particularly bright bolides, Jor-El’s thoughts wandered back to the Phantom Zone. Even under such pleasant circumstances he couldn’t stop his scientific mind from working. He had created a hole to another dimension, though it wasn’t what he had expected. Not a doorway to wondrous new worlds, but a trap. He had hoped to venture into numerous parallel universes, but now he could see no benefit to that empty place where he’d been trapped alone and adrift. Before the Commission for Technology Acceptance allowed him to keep such a discovery, he would have to demonstrate some incontrovertibly practical application.
When the meteor show had died down, Lara stretched. “It’s late.” Jor-El realized that the sparkling rubble of Koron was close to the western horizon; he had been lost in thought for a long time. “Thank you, Jor-El, it’s been an unforgettable evening.”
“An unforgettable day. And tomorrow I will take the Phantom Zone to Kandor.” He stood to lead her back toward the guest quarters where her parents, younger brother, and all the artist apprentices were staying. “I need to meet with Commissioner Zod.”
CHAPTER 4
Kandor’s grand stadium was a perfect ellipse with high walls, colonnades, and stately arches. All strata of Kryptonian society attended the spectacular hrakka races, sitting shoulder to shoulder in seats carved from polished bloodstone.
Pennants bearing the crests of Krypton’s prominent noble families adorned the parapets of the grand stadium, and the spectators sat within section boundaries so they could cheer for their favorite charioteers. They whistled and shouted for whichever