The Last Days of Krypton - Kevin J. Anderson [117]
Before even discussing the overall plan with his brother, Jor-El dispatched construction teams up into the mountains overlooking the Kandor valley. Excavators plowed a road up to the highest summit of the range, the perfect spot from which to perform the high-energy drilling project. From the peak, the vantage offered an unobstructed view of the deep, ugly scar where the capital city had been gouged out, leaving an incredibly deep hole.
When Zor-El finally arrived from Argo City, the dark-haired man was taken aback to see how much Jor-El had already completed. “I thought we would be working on this together—sharing theories, calculations, designs.”
Jor-El couldn’t believe his brother’s attitude. “When did this become a competition?”
“It’s not supposed to be.”
“Good. I don’t care about glory or awards. I simply want to stop the core buildup, and I didn’t think you would want me to waste any time. Haven’t we waited long enough already, or did you want to do things like the old Council?”
Zor-El was thrown off guard. Though he had a difficult time seeing past Tyr-Us’s frightened accusations, this was his brother. Jor-El was a powerful scientist with many brilliant ideas, and his one and only priority was science. He was not a conspirator. “Sorry I jumped to conclusions. Yes, let’s get this done before Zod changes his mind. What is your plan?”
Jor-El pointed down to the near-bottomless pit, explaining that the Rao beam was the only viable way to drill so deeply into the crust. “The thickness of the crust varies around the world, and here it’s relatively thin. By my measurements, the crater is already almost a kilometer deep. We can use that as a starting point.”
Zor-El studied the beam design and admitted that he could not have done better.
Jor-El continued, “The building quakes we keep feeling are the planet’s attempts to relieve pressure where the stresses are greatest and the crust is weakest, as are the volcanoes in the southern continent. But if we create a second release point here, we may—and I emphasize may—dampen the instabilities in the core.”
Zor-El scratched his dark hair, still thinking. “Have you given any thought to what happens once we start burning down into the mantle? How were you planning to hold the integrity of the shaft when the walls are melting in every direction?”
“That does pose a problem.”
Zor-El gave him a steely look. “You aren’t the only one who can invent things! Remember the powerful field I developed to protect my diamondfish probes? I expanded the concept to reinforce Argo City’s seawall after the recent tidal wave. We can use the same field to maintain the integrity of our drilling core.”
Jor-El’s eyebrows went up. “Like a protective liner?”
Zor-El’s hard expression broke into a smile. “You always understood me better than anyone else, Jor-El.”
“Great minds think alike,” he joked. “And Krypton certainly needs ‘great minds’ right now.”
“To act decisively—something the old Council could never do.”
Jor-El clapped his brother on the shoulder. “Then we should get drilling.”
The tent encampment and outlying settlements were now entirely abandoned, the last stragglers sent down to Kryptonopolis. Fortunate timing, because once the Rao beam drilled through the crust, the lush Kandor valley would become a disaster zone. The scientist No-Ton was on-site as Zod’s representative to observe the preparations, but the Ring member clearly felt out of his league, and left the decisions to Jor-El and his brother.
“We should calculate the projected magma outflow,” Jor-El said. “How much will we need to release in order to bring the unstable core back to safe levels?”
“According to the data I collected, the eruptions in the southern continent were too widespread, and the depth was incorrect.” In the