The Last Days of Krypton - Kevin J. Anderson [180]
Red-eyed with weariness, Jor-El tried to decipher the alien engines and systems, relying on logical guesses. It would be impossible to manufacture other vessels like Donodon’s to begin a mass exodus from Krypton—but if he was lucky and worked hard enough, perhaps he could reassemble and expand this one, placing the still-functional components in a single ship.
He remembered when Donodon had originally demonstrated the controls of the vessel, proudly telling him that the spacecraft was so sophisticated it could fly itself, explaining that its life support could adapt to other races. But Jor-El didn’t know how anything worked. He couldn’t unravel it in time.
“I could install the heart of Donodon’s small ship in the framework of a larger vessel. Large enough for the three of us.” He looked intently at Lara. “Just the three of us. It might work.”
“What about the rest of the people on Krypton?”
Jor-El hung his head. “It’s not possible, Lara. In my entire life I’ve rarely admitted that, but this is one of those times. Do I save my family…or do I save no one? Those are the only two choices now.”
“Tell me how I can help.” Lara assisted him, working herself to exhaustion helping him and taking care of their baby. There was no time for sleep. Fro-Da kept them fed, but didn’t ask what they were doing. Believing his master’s conviction that the end was near, the chef found contentment in his daily routine.
Jor-El took components from several of his enclosed personal vehicles—a dome from a floater raft, seats and cabin from a groundcar, concentrated food supplies, medical kits. He needed to make a structure large enough for two adults and a baby, to last them for the unknown length of an interstellar voyage. Even the expanded ship would be cramped for an extended journey, and he had no idea how long their flight would be or even where they might go. But if Jor-El succeeded, then he, Lara, and the baby would be alive…at least for a little while longer. Alive. At the moment, that was the most Jor-El could strive for.
Taking precise notes, Lara captured images of his every step to make certain he could put the components back together. Jor-El finished reconnecting the engines, the power source, the navigation grid, and the planetary databases. Those were the most important parts.
Using a levitator crane, he installed the systems into the makeshift vessel he had constructed, a ship large enough to save the three of them. Though he tried not to, he continued to glance at the chronometer, feeling each moment drop away to vanish forever. He worked faster.
Meanwhile, Lara tackled another important task. From the library on the estate, she began to load as much of Krypton’s knowledge as she could cram into memory crystals—history, culture, legends, geography, and science. She couldn’t save the planet itself, but she could save its essence. She included the long and detailed journal recordings she had kept for so many years, the story of Kandor, her romance with Jor-El, the dark reign of Zod. The ship would take not only the three of them, but also all the information they might need.
With very little time remaining, Jor-El hooked up the engines and the power source to the large vessel. With Lara beside him, her expression hopeful and her faith in him complete, he tried to activate the systems.
When nothing happened, he tried again.
The power drain was too large. The sophisticated systems that had been precisely designed and calibrated for Donodon’s small blue-and-silver spacecraft refused to recognize the much larger vessel built to accommodate Jor-El and his family.
The rapidly assembled ship would not function. The engine readings flickered, powered up, but failed to reach sufficient levels. The navigation computers refused to recognize the new framework he had built. Everything automatically shut down.
The ship would not function.
Sweating, fighting down panic, Jor-El double-checked all of the systems, reconnected each component. But still nothing. He had made