The Last Days of Krypton - Kevin J. Anderson [182]
There was a chance.
Jor-El and Lara had spent precious moments on an important task, each recording their heartfelt wishes and advice into a special crystal, dictating letters that their son would hear one day. As he grew older, Kal-El would have only these few hints of who his real parents had been. It had to be memorable.
With so much to say, Lara found herself at a loss for words when she recorded her message. Jor-El had struggled as well, reminded of how he had lost his own father to the Forgetting Disease and how Yar-El had found the strength and focus one last time to record a poignant message sealed into the wall of his mysterious tower. How could Jor-El do any less for his own baby?
Standing out in the open beside the small ship, Lara gazed around the beautiful estate, choked with emotion. “This is where we first met. This is where so much has happened.”
“And now here is where everything is coming full circle,” Jor-El said.
The ground shuddered beneath them, a wrenching, disorienting twist that made the couple stumble. He and Lara caught each other, kept each other from falling. Jor-El knew it would only get worse—and swiftly. Soon they would have no choice but to send the infant away forever.
After he had completed his frantic work on the new spacecraft, Jor-El then spent another hour poring over his calculations until his head pounded and his eyes ached. He had to be absolutely convinced he wasn’t wrong, that there was no flaw in his reasoning. If he sent his innocent, helpless baby off into the unknown, and Krypton did not explode, then he would never forgive himself for what he had done. Kal-El would be lost to them forever.
Lara loaded the last few memory crystals into the strange hybrid ship, remaining brave. “Where will we send Kal-El?”
He gave her a rare smile. “I think I found the perfect place.”
She suddenly remembered. “Earth? That beautiful world near Mars. In Donodon’s recorded images, those people looked very much like Kryptonians.”
“We can’t tell exactly how different Kal-El will be from them. Simply growing up under a yellow sun may impose unpredictable physiological changes. Who can say? But on Earth, maybe our son won’t be alone. Maybe those people will accept him.”
She forced strength in her voice. “At least it’s a chance.”
When the crystal-inlaid ship was prepared, they had only to pack up the baby, say their farewells, and make sure that Kal-El got safely away before it was too late.
The ground shuddered more violently than before, and Lara fell to her knees on the grass. The surface heaved as if some monstrous subterranean thing were squirming, breaking free. The baby began to cry. These tremors were just the precursors. All of Krypton’s continents were buckling, twisting as the world’s interior spasmed.
Fro-Da came running out of the large manor house still wearing his apron; flour and cooking oil had spilled down his chest. The chef blinked as a jagged black crack snaked its way up one thick wall. Then, for reasons he must have considered urgent, he rushed back into the building. Jor-El shouted a warning, but his voice remained unheard as the load-bearing pillars buckled. The entire wing of the house fell in upon itself, burying Fro-Da with his kitchens.
In the Redcliff Mountains by the now-abandoned Rao-beam outpost, the cliffsides cracked, and avalanches slid down the slopes. House-sized blocks of stone broke free and tumbled into the valleys.
The sky overhead became a turmoil of spoiled-looking clouds,