The Last Days of Krypton - Kevin J. Anderson [140]
Next, he contacted Zor-El and enlisted his aid as well. “Even with the comet coming toward us, this is happening now.” His brother knew more officials and administrators in Borga City, and soon the alarm spread from person to person. Lara hunkered over the communication plate, promising Jor-El that she would continue to access any person she could find in the distant metropolis.
He kissed her quickly. “I have to go up there myself—face Zod and demand that he not do this. Only I can stop him.”
But he feared that the Commissioner had stopped listening to him.
He departed immediately on the fastest floater raft he could find and flew through the night. He wrestled with his own arguments, seething at what Zod was trying to do. By the time his vehicle arrived at the mountain outpost, dawn’s first light had begun to creep into the eastern sky. Very little time remained.
Nam-Ek had swiveled the derrick into its new position, and following orders, the technicians had shifted the focal point, reinstalled the solar batteries, and aligned the prisms and lenses. Flushed and anxious, No-Ton was giving the equipment its final test while waiting for sunlight to brighten.
Jor-El’s abrupt arrival startled Zod. The Commissioner’s smile looked like a curved blade. “I did not call for you.”
“The situation called for me.”
No-Ton stepped hesitantly closer to the other scientist. “I contacted him, Commissioner. I felt it might be necessary for you to…discuss your plans with him.”
Zod scowled. “My plans are my own, and my mind is made up.”
Jor-El trudged across the compound and stopped under the tall derrick structure. Cold wind blew his pale hair back from his face. Above him, the massive central crystal hung suspended at the nexus of where the solar beams would reflect and converge. “What are you doing with the Rao beam, Commissioner?”
“Only what is necessary. The fabric of our society is unraveling because of a few ragged ends. Those traitors in Borga City want to throw our world into anarchy. They established their own sham Council strictly to set Kryptonians against each other. How can we afford that?” He sounded so reasonable. “You saw Shor-Em’s defiant message. Your own brother was duped by that inflammatory declaration and signed it.” Zod struggled to regain his composure, fighting back a murderous fury, and took a deep breath. “Because we owe Zor-El much, and because you love him, I am willing to withhold judgment on Argo City. For now. I will give you one chance to talk sense into your brother. But for the people of Borga City, I hold out no hope. No hope at all.”
The mountain winds made the Rao-beam derrick creak, as if it were shuddering. Zod raised his head, as if inspired to continue his speech. “Our old, weak society produced far too much deadwood—people who exist but do not live, whose hearts beat but do not pound! They are not like you and me, Jor-El. They must be swept away before a new Krypton can be born from the ashes.” Staring into the blaze of the rising red sun, he spoke to Aethyr. “Power up the beam! We have waited long enough.”
With icy confidence, she issued the necessary commands. The prisms in the beam apparatus began to hum with a harmonic tone, and the batteries hungrily gulped the raw energy.
Growing desperate, Jor-El grabbed Zod by the arm. “Stop this, Commissioner! You can’t mean to destroy a whole city.”
With an expression of distaste, Zod plucked the scientist’s fingers away from his sleeve. Deaf to further protestations, he gave Jor-El a withering frown. “Do not act innocent. You created the Rao beam and presented the plans to me. You knew full well that the technology could be used in this way.”
“The Rao beam is a tool, not a weapon!”
“Any tool can become a weapon.”
“But—against our own people?”
“Against our enemies, whoever and wherever they might be. And when this is over, maybe we can look at the approaching