The Last Days of Krypton - Kevin J. Anderson [168]
Large filmplates were set up around the force-field enclosure, and Zod knew that this spectacle would be transmitted to viewers across all of Krypton. How the weak masses relished seeing a mighty man fall.
His accusers came forward one at a time. First Gil-Ex described how, after he had spoken out at the construction camp of old Xan City, Zod had asked for a private discussion. But Nam-Ek had seized him in the tent, and the two had thrown Gil-Ex into the Phantom Zone. “An awful place! No light, no movement, no heat or cold. I didn’t even have an existence.” His face flushed red. “It was just empty silence except for the other prisoners trapped there, all of us disembodied.”
Tyr-Us spoke next, trembling as he explained how Zod’s secret minions had hunted him for weeks. Having sought help from Zor-El and other like-minded critics, he tried to find safety, but had finally been captured in Yar-El’s empty dacha. He, too, had been thrown into the Phantom Zone.
No-Ton discussed in a stuttering voice how he’d been forced to help blast Borga City with the Rao beam and then modify the nova javelins, which had almost destroyed the planet. Next came the bent-backed and scrawny servant Hopk-Ins, who sobbed as he told the story of Zod using him to test the Phantom Zone.
General Zod quickly became deaf to their string of complaints, the whining, the pathetic calls for sympathy. He closed his eyes to their pitiful expressions as they recounted their ordeals. The accusations droned on in an endless litany.
Zor-El showed images of the abortive attack on Argo City. Lara described how she had been imprisoned, both to coerce her husband’s help and because she’d written the truth in her journal.
Finally, Jor-El stepped forward and fixed his eyes on Zod’s. Before the scientist could speak, Zod shouted at him, “Are you their puppet now, Jor-El? Have they offered you a position on the new Council? Was that what you wanted all along? Political power?”
Jor-El seemed surprised. “Political power? Hardly. I merely wanted to save Krypton, even as you did your best to destroy it.” With a proud and wise demeanor, he turned to face the men who acted as judges. “Yes, Zod did all the terrible things you’ve heard in other testimony. He seized power in our time of greatest need, and he maintained the state of emergency to keep his followers close. He should have let Krypton settle back into a normal rule of law and government.”
“You are just as much to blame, Jor-El.” Zod could not keep the smugness from his voice. “You built the Rao beam that destroyed Borga City. Your weapon designs armed my entire military. You repaired the nova javelins so they could be launched. You created the Phantom Zone, where so many political prisoners were held. Without you, I could never have wielded such power.”
From behind the force-field barrier, he watched the scientist’s flustered expression, but Jor-El did not back down. “Your Commission warned that even simple inventions could be corrupted and misused by an evil man. That evil man was you, Zod.” He turned back to the group of glaring judges, many of whom now seemed to regard him with uneasy suspicion. “Under the auspices of his Commission, Zod banned technologies that would have helped Krypton, while hoarding the designs for himself. He stole my inventions, corrupted advances that should have benefited everyone, and developed weapons that he turned against his own people.”
From inside the dome, Zod shook his head. How he despised the man and his revisionist view of events. Instead of shouting further, General Zod clamped his lips together and waited. He was painfully reminded that Jax-Ur, too, had been defeated by the disloyalty of a trusted companion. He took no satisfaction from the historical parallel. Damn Jor-El!
Not surprisingly, the ruling of the provisional Council was unanimous. When his sentence was read, Zod didn’t even need to hear it. He spoke through the shimmering barrier. “These other men are fools, Jor-El, and I expected nothing else from them. But you