The Last Days of Krypton - Kevin J. Anderson [114]
Zod tapped his fingers together, fully focused on Jor-El rather than on the still-growing crystal spires behind them. “I seem to recall it. But if the plans were confiscated, what will you do now? Start again from scratch?”
Jor-El gave him a wry smile. “Commissioner, just because you took my drawings and destroyed my prototypes doesn’t mean that the idea is destroyed.” He tapped his temple. “Every invention I ever created, every design and every process is right here, in my head. I remember them all perfectly.”
Zod took a moment to process the startling revelation. “Intriguing.” He nodded slowly to himself, then responded with a thin smile, as if he had suddenly decided on a different strategy for playing this game. “And could your Rao beam also be configured as a weapon? Something we could fire at attacking alien ships if they should come against us? It would help the defense of Krypton.”
Jor-El considered. “I suppose. Once the Rao-beam generator is erected, installed, and calibrated, I see no reason why its target point couldn’t be shifted.”
“And if I allow you to build this Rao beam, I presume you intend to drill some sort of shaft through the crust? Like a pressure-release valve?”
“That is the theory. The best drilling site may be the crater of Kandor, though the project will cause substantial damage to the area. There’s no way around it—”
“That doesn’t concern me. Kandor is already a no-man’s-land. Best to put it to some use,” Zod said. “But I am more troubled by the fact that your own brother has been less than accepting of me. Perhaps if Zor-El issued a statement of wholehearted support for me from Argo City?”
Jor-El wanted to snap at the Commissioner for worrying more about personal politics than the fate of the whole world. “Then show him that you’re completely different from the weak Council. With your leadership, Commissioner, we can prevent a worldwide disaster. Aren’t you the man who swore to take any action necessary to protect us?”
Aethyr leaned close to the Commissioner with a strangely hungry look in her eyes. She said in a quiet, breathy voice, “Zod…the savior of Krypton.”
He seemed to like the sound of that very much.
CHAPTER 50
The visitor came to Argo City in secret. After crossing one of the bridges, he arrived in the middle of the night and made his way toward Zor-El’s villa. Under his dark hood, he refused to reveal his identity, but insisted to the household sentry that the city leader would see him.
Zor-El dismissed the volunteer guards who had dutifully blocked the stranger’s entry. He frowned at the mysterious guest. “You can’t expect my guards to blithely let you enter as if you were an old friend.”
The man came into the light and pulled back the hood. “But I am an old friend.”
Zor-El was shocked to see the man’s haggard appearance, the haunted look in his reddened eyes, his sunken cheeks, as if he hadn’t slept or eaten well in days. “Tyr-Us! Why didn’t you inform me you were coming? What’s happened to you?”
“The same thing that will happen to all of us if we’re not careful.” He looked over his shoulder toward the sentries as if they couldn’t be trusted, toward the night as if something dangerous were after him. “Please let me inside. I need shelter, just for a little while.”
Zor-El hurried the man through the door as he snapped to his guards, “Make sure no one else enters my home. See that we’re not disturbed.” Their master’s abrupt reaction seemed to frighten them more than anything else.
Alura saw the troubled expression on her husband’s face, and quickly led him and Tyr-Us into a withdrawing room filled with exotic plants. She lit several solar crystals.
Tyr-Us stood weak and shaking in the middle of the room. He touched the enormous flowers with fingers that trembled with wonder. “It rejuvenates me to know that something is flourishing on Krypton while our government festers and rots.” He drew a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Tell me everything,