The Last Days of Krypton - Kevin J. Anderson [144]
Now Zod had to convince them that he was the only person who could hold their civilization together.
Bowed and beaten, the sullen city leaders traveled to Kryptonopolis for the summit meeting, as commanded. Though not entirely contrite, they were clearly afraid to cause any trouble. The refugees and witnesses of the blasted city had already spread the word, told of the horrors they had seen. They feared Zod now—feared him completely.
He observed the supposedly meek representatives from his government palace. He wanted to kill them one at a time until someone revealed who had committed the sabotage at the Rao-beam installation on the very night of his triumph. His inner fury had not abated since he’d learned that some terrorist had wrecked the facility. The gall! He’d had no immediate plans to use the beam weapon again—mainly because no other major city lay in the correct path—but Zod was outraged that someone had defied him. He could not tolerate that.
Loyal Sapphire Guards brought the individual rebel leaders into his office as they arrived, nineteen of them so far. The intimidating guards had clubs and hand weapons, but Zod’s control was firm enough that the mere threat of violence made actual violence unnecessary. Each city leader stood before him; some looked broken, while others retained a foolish but impotent anger.
“Who sabotaged my Rao-beam installation?” Zod demanded of them one at a time. “Who committed this traitorous act against all of Krypton?”
No one gave a satisfactory answer. No one knew anything.
Since these men had capitulated so swiftly and willingly, Zod was certain they did not have the strength of character to do anything so bold and defiant. They paid lip ser vice to their resistance but didn’t have the spine to stand up to him. They were, however, pleased that some mysterious stranger had dared to do something they had not. Three of the men who showed a last spark of defiance warranted additional questioning, and Koll-Em took great glee in inflicting pain. Again, none of them knew anything.
For good measure, at Aethyr’s suggestion, Zod also called in No-Ton for questioning, as well as all the technicians who had originally worked at the installation. When destroying the Rao beam, the saboteur had known exactly what he was doing. Since he was a member of the Ring of Strength, No-Ton was indignant at the very idea of the Commissioner’s suspicions, and Zod was quickly convinced that none of those workers had been involved, either.
When he summoned Jor-El, however, Zod was surprised to sense a change in the scientist’s mood. Before he could even ask, Jor-El said, “Is it a crime for me to be thankful that you have lost a deadly weapon? You have ignored the real threat of the comet. Loth-Ur’s Hammer is coming in less than four months. You have just wasted another week. I beg you to turn your attention to that far more critical situation.”
The Commissioner sighed. “As you requested, I passed the data on to a team of scientific advisers. They have assured me your projected orbits are inconclusive. There is nothing to worry about.” In fact, he’d been hard pressed to find any scientist besides Jor-El with a working knowledge of celestial mechanics.
Hearing this, Jor-El’s disbelief was quickly replaced by a wash of anger. “Commissioner, when have you ever questioned me before? Can you afford to take the chance now?” Zod was troubled. Indeed, he had accepted Jor-El’s science and theories in every previous instance, but now he obviously didn’t want to believe. Jor-El pressed the issue. “Are you sure the others aren’t just telling you