The Last Days of Krypton - Kevin J. Anderson [137]
That night, sailing off the coast, Zor-El sat brooding with Alura on the benches of their gently rocking boat. He had told no one but his wife about Jor-El’s disturbing news.
Their boat, a cat’s cradle of silver struts and cables, glided across the calm sea. Ninety small sails of different geometric shapes were loosely connected to one another like a vast fabric puzzle, catching errant breezes from any direction. Glowing crystals lined the masts, turning the craft into a spiderweb of colors.
Zor-El stared at his beloved metropolis on the peninsula. Lit up at night, the spires and hemispherical buildings shone like a mirage. A faintly visible shimmer from the extended force-field barrier above the seawall distorted the stars at the horizon.
“It seems so peaceful out here, Alura.” It was the first he had spoken in many minutes. “Quite a paradox.”
The night breeze stirred her dark hair. “How did Shor-Em respond when you warned him about Zod’s attack plans?”
“Borga City was already on high alert. Shor-Em will remain vigilant, but I have no idea how Zod intends to strike. My brother didn’t offer any details. He was much more concerned about the comet.”
Alura, as usual, was frank. “Shouldn’t we be concerned about the comet? Jor-El is rarely wrong.” The boat rocked as rippling waves passed them by. Deep beneath the water, a yellowish glow flowed and stirred, like a pool of sentient phosphorescent liquid, then dove deep.
Zor-El let out a long, sad sigh. “Yes, he’s right. I looked at his data. There’s no question about it.” The black vault of night overhead was peppered with frequent meteors, many from the debris ejected by the spewing lava jet. What drew his attention, though, was the pearlescent cometary arc, as if some ghostly painter had used a wide brush to spread a trail across the night.
“So beautiful,” Alura said. “And deadly.”
“Jor-El saw something that none of us noticed while we were preoccupied with ourselves. He said I was falling prey to false priorities, just like I accused Zod of doing. And I can’t dispute that.”
“So what will you do?” Alura asked.
“How can I stop a comet? We don’t have the technology. Anything powerful enough to do that would have been squashed by the Commission for Technology Acceptance long ago.” He gritted his teeth as the thoughts grew more definite in his mind. “I can expand my protective barrier. Maybe it can save our city from a cometary impact.”
He nodded, already planning how to install simple generators. He could raise a whole hemisphere to cover Argo City. “I could offer the barrier to other cities as well. If Jor-El’s worst-case scenario happens, at least some of us might be saved.” Their boat continued to drift on the gentle currents, but Zor-El knew it was just the calm before the storm. “Unless the whole planet is smashed to bits.”
CHAPTER 64
Inside Zod’s newly designated war room, Aethyr and Koll-Em studied terrain simulations modeled out of transparent gel. Beside them, Nam-Ek looked on with silent interest. The dark blue fabric of the big mute’s uniform was stretched tight across his muscles; a crimson sash draped from his left shoulder to a gold belt at his waist.
“The marshes around Borga City are going to pose extreme difficulties for frontal assault,” Aethyr pointed out. “The ground is uncertain, the canals are a maze, and the mud will prevent us from using heavy siege machinery.”
“Then we’ll bring in wave after wave of large floater platforms filled with soldiers.” Koll-Em sounded eager. “My weakling brother won’t put up much of a fight. He talks a lot, but I doubt his meek followers would find the courage even to throw pebbles down at us from their balloons!”
Zod said with finality, “There will be no direct military assault.”
“Then how are we going to defeat them?” whined Koll-Em. “My brother has defied you. You can’t simply ignore that.”
“I will not ignore it. But I plan to use a much more efficient