The Last Days of Krypton - Kevin J. Anderson [158]
Aethyr chose her words carefully. “Are you willing to destroy Argo City after all? How much do you think that force field can withstand?”
“We shall see.”
Unable to control the anger he felt on behalf of his master, Nam-Ek marched forward, fists balled, and pounded against the crackling barrier. His strongest blows barely elicited a humming sound. Frustrated, the mute stepped back, scowling at his knuckles and flexing his tingling hands.
“Pull back! Prepare for our first bombardment.”
When the initial rounds exploded against the golden dome, the shock waves blew backward with such force that the sound nearly deafened the soldiers who stood too close to watch; holding their ringing ears, the men staggered away. The most powerful detonations produced little more than ripples of color across the force field.
Zod’s army cheered hopefully as the next group of demolitions experts planted even more powerful bombs. They unleashed a truly apocalyptic chain of explosions, also to no effect.
“Try the bridges. Maybe those are weak points.” He still couldn’t believe Zor-El had actually cut off the magnificent spans that had been the pride of the city for many centuries. The remaining superstructure, half out of the water outside the protective dome, resembled the skeleton of a beached sea beast. Zod fumed, incensed that he’d underestimated the sheer irrationality of Jor-El’s brother.
Taking a different approach, he ordered his construction engineers to dig tunnels under the narrow neck of the peninsula. If they could get under the protective dome, they would come up from beneath. But no matter how deep they dug with their best tunneling apparatus, they still encountered the shimmering barrier many meters underground; the force field had sliced easily through dirt and stone. His diggers emerged from their tunnels, dirty and discouraged.
The General now began to grow impatient. Sensing his mood, Aethyr pushed him. “You are the savior of Krypton, my love. You don’t take half measures, and no one thwarts your will with impunity.”
“Correct on all counts.” The two of them stepped back onto the command platform, cruised back over the troops, and turned to survey Argo City. Under the seething red sun, the very intactness of the defiant city mocked him. “Bring forth our heaviest weapons. The city is forfeit. Let loose a bombardment that will make even the ghost of Jax-Ur shudder! I want a complete and utter holocaust here.”
Argo City remained silent behind the faint hum of the force field.
His army lined up seventeen wide-bore thermal cannons, pointing the flame launchers’ muzzles toward one section of the barrier. Conventional crystal-tipped penetrators were loaded into field guns on the bottleneck of land. Catapults, vibrational thundershocks, flash-enhanced mortars—everything was aimed toward the thrumming dome.
When General Zod gave the command, every weapon fired at once. The sound and the fury roared through the skies. Flames and flashes billowed upward in blinding intensity. Aethyr watched the furious explosions; their colors and heat reflected off her skin, as if suffusing her with energy. Nam-Ek wore an expression of boyish delight. Zod didn’t blink, refusing to miss a moment of the spectacle.
Raging flames and caustic smoke surrounded the golden dome. The General tried to will the force field to collapse. His armies kept launching their weapons, exhausting half of his arsenal.
But when the smoke cleared, the dome remained intact.
A sickening sense of failure assailed Zod, threatening to overwhelm him. Finally, he barked orders for the attack to cease. Continuing the pointless waste of firepower would simply make him look like more of a fool. He could lay siege to Argo City and starve them out, though that might well take months or years, depending on their stockpiles. And all the while, his military would be embroiled here, squandering valuable time, as other towns took advantage of the situation for their own petty rebellions. By remaining entrenched, waiting for the shield to flicker